Yesterday, during my ritual of hitting all the major theatre websites and blogs, I came across an entry from Playbill.com's "Play Blog" about a fascinating new interview series. It is called The Legacy Project and it is produced by the Dramatists Guild Fund. In the series of 10 interviews, modern masters like David Zippel, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Brian Yorkey interview true legends of theatre - playwrights like Edward Albee, and composer/lyricists like Stephen Sondheim, Bock and Harnick, and John Kander. Underscoring the importance of such a series is the noticeable absence of Fred Ebb, and the presence of recently deceased Joesph Stein, among others. Apparently more are planned as everything about the current set indicates that it Volume 1.
Unfortunately, upon further investigation at http://www.dramatistsguildfund.org/, I found that the entire series is only available at colleges and universities with performing arts majors. Understandable, of course - and I hope you college kids get to use this invaluable resource - but disappointing for theatre enthusiasts beyond their college years!
Still, even the 2 or 3 minute samples of each are interesting and insightful. Notice the gleam in the eyes of the younger set as they prepare to meet their lifetime idols! That even comes across in this introduction to the series:
To whet your appetite, I also thought I'd post this most interesting snippet of the Arthur Laurents interview. The notoriously crabby genius shows a surprising side to himself and a pretty nice self-deprecating wit.
To see all of these gems, The Dramatists Guild Fund has their own channel on YouTube.
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Jeff
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