Poster of the Day

O'Neill's The Emperor Jones. 1926 Broadway production.

(Artist: Lew Parrish, of the Provincetown Players.)

The Emperor Jones

Poster of the Day

To bring back a popular feature of the blog...

Here's a nice curiosity item:

You may not be familiar with this Rodgers and Hammerstein title. That's because it only became a hit after it dropped "Away We Go!" and became..."Oklahoma!" So this is a poster from the tryouts.

It was this incarnation of the show--today widely considered the seminal modern American musical--that was dubbed by dismissively described by one critic as: "No legs, no jokes, no chance."

This and happily many more theatre poster images can actually be found at AllPosters.com, where, of course, they're for sale!

Happy hunting...

Poster of the Weekend

From Alisa Solomon, an historical edition:

One-Third of a Nation, Federal Theatre Project, 1938.

Happy Labor Day!

Poster of the Day

From Eric Grode...

Sondheim's Assassins. London, Donmar Warehouse, 1992.

Poster of the Day

From Alison Croggon down under...

Five Men by Daniel Keene, production of Compagnie du Passage-Neuchâtel, Le Poche-Genève et Neuchàtoi, 2006.

(Deisgn by Garance of Logox)

Poster(s) of the Day

Apparently the most beloved poster designer of many, many of you is Paul Davis, for years the image-maker for the Public Theatre.

Some Davis faves above, all of Public productions: (from l to r) Threepenny Opera, Streamers, and Caroline, or Change.

Poster of the Day

Thanks to Rob Kendt for this pretty jarring Polish film poster (by artist Gorka) for the movie of Cabaret.

Would work just as well for the play, no? (If not for the Joel Grey face. Or is that Liza...?)

Poster of the Day

Another personal pick of mine.

Ok, here's a very recent production in NY, that I didnt see, but I've kept the Smarttix email just for this image. I have no idea who did the poster, or the show, or whether the show was any good. If you know, go ahead and let us know.

I just dig how it gives a completely fresh spin to a very familiar classic, yet stays utterly true to its particulars. (And yes I mean the "garters.")

Five Twelfths (an adaptation of Twelfth Night). Played at the Producers Club, NYC, June 2007.

Poster of the Day

Thanks to Kelly from the UK for this.

Potestad by Argentine playwright Eduardo Pavlovsky. Toronto's Tarragon Theatre, 1989. Designer, Theo Dimson.

Poster of the Day

Berg's Wozzeck, Teatr Wielki, Polish National Opera, 1964. Designed by Jan Lenica.

Sent in by pianist Marilyn Nonken.

Yes, it's an opera--but based on a play!

Poster of the Day

Senaca's Oedipus, by way of the Akropolis Performance Lab, Seattle, 2006.

Says the Akropolis member who sent it to me:

Many businesses either declined to hang it, or would only display it if the
photo was edited so that the woman's cleavage was hidden. Other establishments
loved it and couldn't keep it on the walls because patrons kept taking it home.

I take it this doesn't mean Senaca's is any racier than Sophocles'?

Poster of the Day

Ok, not an unfamiliar one this time. But worth having at least one from the ubiquitous James McMullan, Lincoln Center Theatre's resident poster-man for the last umpteen years.

I agree with reader Brian that this is one of McMullan's best--for Nicholas Hytner's revisionist staging of Rodgers and Hamerstein's "Carousel," at the Vivian Beaumont, 1994.

Says Brian:

In a sense it's a traditional American musical image, but it conveys the sense of underlying darkness and menace that Hytner's direction brought out in this great great musical. Like the production itself...I think it cuts through a lot of the accumulatedcultural baggage of how Rodgers and Hammerstein have come to seem to contemporary audiences and returns us to the primal (and youthful) energies and passions that drive this show.

Must be that campfire-like, low front-lighting effect, eh? And those out of control horses. Which I just realize recall that classic Platonic image (from the Phaedrus?) of the passions as an unruly chariot, don't they?

Poster of the Day

From reader Scott:

The Odyssey, Willow Cabin Theatre (NYC), 2002. Design by Fraver.

What's your favorite theatre poster? Email it to me at playgoer [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks to all who have emailed already!

Tip: I'm especially interested in non-Broadway and just the generally unfamiliar/underexposed.

Your Favorite Posters

From George Hunka:

Caspar Neher, Threepenny Opera (1928), the original Berlin premiere.


Thanks for your emails. Keep 'em coming!

For more on our "Poster of the Day" feature, read here.

Poster of the Day

I know I posed this earlier, but I'm bumping it up again just to encourage more submissions. Thanks to those who have emailed already!

How's this for a new Playgoer feature: show us your favorite theatre posters! Email me--at playgoer_[at]_gmail_[dot]_com--a jpg of a poster for a theatrical production--a real-life production--that you just think is really, really cool, whether or not the production itself was, or whether or not you even saw it. I'll post the highlights as they come in. Tell me just what the show was, where, and when. (If you have the poster design credits, too, great.)




I'll go first. Here is an image I've never forgotten from the BAM lobby in 1992 when I saw Richard Eyre's original stage version of Ian McKellan's "fascist" Richard III on tour. It was, of course, later adapted to a successful film. But, as much as I enjoyed both incarnations, nothing in either captured the concept as eloquently and elegantly (and chillingly) as this almost minimalist collage of black, white and smoke. It's all there--the time period, the royalty, the menacing cynicism. McKellen's blank averted gaze and implied crouching posture help, too, of course.

I've actually sought this poster from one end of civilization to the other ever since. (I even shelled out on eBay for a poster from the movie--similar pose but in color and too cluttered.) But a happy ending to the quest came when I stumbled upon this site--the near-complete inventory of Royal National Theatre posters for sale! So it's mine now. Not cheap, given the exchange rate and the shipping. But mine.

Royal National Theatre, Richard III, 1991. Poster designed by Michael Mayhew, photograph by John Haynes.