At 2 PM today, I'll be celebrating 30 years of attending Broadway shows. Yes, on Saturday, August 20, 1983, I entered the the recently newly re-named Gershwin Theatre and marveled at how HUGE the place was! I mean, as if the parking garage/driveway right outside the door wasn't enough, there were escalators to the seating area, and giant waiting areas with bars! Surely, all Broadway theatres has to be this enormous and glamorous, right? But where were the rest of them? Weren't they all on Broadway in one big, fabulous row with flashy marquees? And why wasn't this theatre on Broadway? As we waited for the tuxedo-ed (yes, they had on black tuxes!) ushers to open the doors, all of my questions were answered by my drama teacher, who had been so amazing as to take a group of us drama kids to see her favorite show of all time.Mame was the show, and it starred its original lead (and many from the original cast as well), Miss Angela Lansbury. I knew her voice from hearing her on the Cast Recording, which my teacher played over and over, as well as the Cast Recording of a weird show called Sweeney Todd, which played this same theatre when it was still called the Uris. And I saw her in Bedknobs and Broomsticks when I was a kid. Did many people know who she was? Apparently, the audience did. That day, she got three standing ovations: one when she entered, blowing a bugle at the top of a spiral staircase in a sparkling gold pant suit, then at the end of "Bosom Buddies" which she and Anne Francine killed - it was AMAZING, and of course, at the curtain call. 
The Playbill title page
A flyer for the 1983 production of MameMy seat was Orchestra row T112. It was an expensive ticket at $37.50. (That exact seat at this Saturday's matinee of Wicked, would cost $142.00, including the restoration fee, but before any fees for buying elsewhere than the box office.) Boy, did we get out money's worth! Tons of scenery - drops, staircases, huge set pieces that moved by themselves! And the costumes! The huge cast! The dancing! The orchestra! It was way better than the record!I just looked through that Playbill and smile at the flood of memories. And I get a huge kick out of the show listings in the back! Who would have known that A Chorus Line would run another full seven years? Or that the newest Best Musical, Cats, would eventually run even longer to become Broadway's longest-running show? And how cool that the very next day, a little show called La Cage aux Folles would open, starring George Hearn, and would change theatre history?! It tickles me that Diahann Carroll, soon to star this season in A Raisin in the Sun, would be finishing up the acclaimed run of Agnes of God, and that Cicely Tyson was in previews for The Corn is Green, the last show she was in before this year's Tony-winning turn in The Trip to Bountiful! Amadeus was advertising "last weeks," and a play called Passion was playing the Longacre, starring Frank Langella. Other theatre greats on Broadway that day included Chita Rivera(Merlin at the Mark Hellinger), Harvey Fierstein (La Cage at the Palace AND Torch Song Trilogy - the newest Best Play at the Helen Hayes), Tommy Tune (fresh off a double Tony win for My One and Only at the St. James, while his Tony winning Best Musical, Nine, at the 46th Street), and legends Jason Robards and Colleen Dewhurst were starring in You Can't Take It With You at the Plymouth. Talk about your star power!Among the shows not listed is 42nd Street, the show that would end up being my second Broadway show. It was in the middle of its own record-breaking run at the Majestic Theatre. Yes, 30 years ago, that theatre was not home to The Phantom of the Opera. Times sure were different!August 20, 1983, as it turns out, is one of the most important dates in my life. That was the day a high school activity became my true passion.Tomorrow, I'll talk about the 10 biggest changes in Broadway theatre-going over the past 30 years. And how many things really haven't changed, too!Jeff4.309Source:http://jkstheatrescene.blogspot.com/2013/08/august-20-1983-my-first-broadway-show.html
August 20, 1983: My First Broadway Show Images
Broadway Shows || Jaunted
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... Broadway Photo Stop | Broadway's Best Shows | Broadway's Best Shows
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Nick Pitera One Man Tribute to Disney's The Lion King on Broadway
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Extraordinary Stories From An Ordinary Guy: August 2011
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Hosts Thailand pulled off a magnificent come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Vietnam, while Indonesia struggled to beat Myanmar in hard-fought five-set thriller on the first day of the Southeast Asian Zonal Men’s Qualification Tournament for the 2014 World Volleyball Championship.Wednesday’s results Single round-robin matches Thailand vs. Vietnam 3-1 (28-30, 25-23, 25-21, 25-17) Indonesia vs. Myanmar 3-2 (25-21, 21-25, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11) Match schedule Thursday, June 27, 2013 3pm: Vietnam vs. Indonesia 5pm: Thailand vs. Myanmar
Two of the innovations the team came up with were a piezoelectric wing actuator and a method of laser-cutting the RoboBee's carbon fiber and polymer film body material in such a way that it naturally transforms from 2D to 3D much like structures in a kid's pop-up book."It's really only because of this lab's recent breakthroughs in manufacturing, materials, and design that we have even been able to try this," Wood said. "And it just worked, spectacularly well."As might be guessed, tolerances at this tiny level were a bear to work out – the slightest deviations would cause prototypes to go haywire. One of the coauthors, Kevin Ma, told ScienceNow that even if the RoboBee's wings were the tiniest bit asymmetrical, the flying bug couldn't be controlled. But when he finally got it right, "It was an amazing feeling of having all of this hard work suddenly bear fruit," he said.That was the team's "Kitty Hawk moment," Wood recalls. The team still has a good deal of work to do before swarms of these little fellows can autonomously roam the skies. For example, they still require tethering for power and control, a limitation that may not be easily overcome.Ma, however, is optimistic – he hopes to get power and sensors onboard before he graduates in two years, and create a swarm of free-flying RoboBees. ® [Source]You can follow me on Twitter, add me to your circles on Google+or Subscribe to me on facebookor YouTube. You can also check my websiteand blogto keep yourself updated with what is happening in the ever changing world of technology
Introduction to the Unitary Patent and the Unified Patent Court. The (Draft) Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court is one of the longest book-titles to have emerged in the field of IP law this year. The title in question is highly topical, and the authors -- Pieter Callens and Sam Granata -- can be congratulated on the speed with which they have put it together. As the publishers explain:"The long-awaited European Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court will soon become a reality. Companies, research institutions, and individuals will be able to obtain not only a patent title with immediate effect in 25 EU Member States, but also a court decision on (for example) infringement or validity of a European or Unitary patent with effect in the participating Member States. Everybody involved in European patenting will find enormously welcome guidance in this extraordinary book. Written by two outstanding intellectual property experts – one being a lawyer who had a hand in the development of the unitary patent and the other being a reputed Belgian intellectual property judge – it describes in detail all the provisions regarding the new patent and the new court, explaining their rationales and the processes that led to them. Although the Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court still need to be finalized and adopted by the Court, the authors already unravel the proposed Draft Rules of Procedure. The book uses flowcharts [these being contained in a 40-page supplement] as well as plain words to represent each procedural stage of the Draft Rules of Procedure. In this way, a practitioner can focus on each distinct stage as required, while also gaining a comprehensive overview of the proceedings. The complex language issues arising throughout the proceedings are analysed in detail in a supplementary part. For its deeply informed insights into the expected practical functioning of this revolutionary new patent and litigation system, this work is a peerless contribution that will ensure the most effective practice as this new regime begins. For legal scholars, the book offers the opportunity to analyse, criticize, elaborate, and where necessary improve the current Draft Rules of Procedure of the Unified Patent Court before they are finalized, and advise the governments of the participating Member States on how to implement the new court system in their country".The book opens with an historical introduction and a little bit about how Belgium broke the deadlock -- something for which the tiny Kingdom will either be blessed or execrated in years to come -- and then goes on to provide an extensive analysis of the new scheme. The bit that covers the draft Rules owes much to the contribution to Willem Hoyng, as the authors acknowledge.I have no doubt that a second edition is already under preparation, subject to anything that the Court of Justice of the European Union might have to say about the legal basis for the EU's new patent regime, that is.Bibliographic data: hardback with paperback supplement. ISBN 9041147578; ISBN 13: 9789041147578 xxi and 298 pages. US$ $169. Web pages here and here.
San Antonio, TX - As SHOWTIME Championship boxing went live around the world from San Antonio, everyone anticipated a long hard battle between Omar Figueroa (21-0-1, 17 KO) and Abner Cotto (16-1, 7 KO), that was not the case. Abner Cotto would go down twice in the first round due to body shot and a kidney shot. Cotto would not be able to beat the count after the kidney shot. The official end time, two minutes and fifty-seven second in the first round. 
