Theatre Blog of Darryl Maximilian Robinson

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON OF THE EXCALIBER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY LOS ANGELES ARCHIVAL PROJECT, TAKES A MOMENT TO RECALL THE GIFTED AND RESILIENT LATE ACTOR WHO WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED AS REB TEVYE IN THE MUSICAL CLASSIC "FIDDLER ON THE ROOF"! REMEMBERING CHAIM TOPOL. Recently, at the age of 87, we lost the great and acclaimed Israeli actor Chaim Topol, who caused a sensation in London in 1967 with his critically-praised performance as Tevye in Bock and Harnick's smash hit musical "Fiddler On The Roof," for which he won The London Evening Standard Award for Best Actor In A Musical. ( If possible, listen to the Original London Cast Recording as it's quite good ). In 1971, after he bypassed Broadway's acclaimed American Tony Award-winning Tevye, the late, great Zero Mostel, to win the role of Tevye in the film version of "Fiddler," Topol not only won a 1972 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor In A Come...

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON OF THE EXCALIBER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY OF CHICAGO, IS THRILLED TO THE DISCUSS ONE OF THE GREATEST STAGE AND SCREEN PERFORMANCES IN THE HISTORY OF THEATRE AND FILM. THE TRULY INCREDIBLE WORK OF A LIVING LEGEND. Yes, he is noted as one of the most distinguished stage and screen and television performers in The History of Acting. He is acclaimed in all major mediums of the entertainment industry. With his GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING DRAMATIC VOICE alone, he is instantly recognizable to millions of movie goers around the world as THE VOICE OF DARTH VADER OF THE STAR WARS UNIVERSE, as Mufasa in the classic Disney film "The Lion King," and for years familiar to legions of viewers on an international cable news network when as an Announcer he intoned:"THIS IS CNN". He has been honored with A 1992 National Medal of Arts from President George H. W. Bush. He has been bestowed with A 2002 Kennedy Center Honor ...

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON OF THE EXCALIBER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY, WOULD LIKE TO TAKE A MOMENT TO ADDRESS THE LEGACY OF THE GREATEST BLACK SHAKESPEAREAN ACTOR EVER, MR. IRA ALDRIDGE. As I may have mentioned in articles about other great artists I have homaged in recent months, it is not always easy or enjoyable or fun TO BE THE FIRST. For a human being, particularly A BLACK HUMAN BEING FACED WITH CLEAR SYSTEMIC RACISM AND DISCRIMINATION, being the first can not only be a personal nightmare, but, on occasion, dangerous as well. And, sometimes, in order to make your true artistic aspiration HAPPEN, you have to give up everything you know, everything you have, even, EVERYTHING YOU LOVE, to achieve your highest goals and fulfill your dreams. And to put this person who lived and died in the 19th-century in a context that a citizen of the 21st-century can possibly understand, imagine what the late, great 20th-century African-American baseball legend ...

YOUR HUMBLE SERVANT IN THE THEATRE, DARRYL MAXIMILIAN ROBINSON OF THE EXCALIBER SHAKESPEARE COMPANY OF CHICAGO, IS DELIGHTED TO SHARE NOTES ABOUT ANOTHER AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTIST BEING THE FIRST! Richard Kiley And Diahann Carroll In "No Strings" Starred On Broadway In A 1962 Richard Rodgers Composed And Produced Musical That Made History In Multiple Ways. The highly-talented Richard Kiley had already won a Tony Award for Best Leading Actor In A Musical in the late 1950s as the leading man opposite Tony Award Winner for Best Leading Actress In A Musical Gwen Verdon in "Redhead" when he was cast by Composer / Lyricist and Producer Richard Rodgers ( with his first solo score since the death of his longtime collaborator Oscar Hammerstein II ) to play a disenchanted, Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer, David Jordan, suffering from severe writer's block, roaming Europe, and who unexpectedly falls in love with a respected, African-American fashion model, Bar...