China Prepares for Das Kapital: The Musical

Multiplatinum American Idiot a coming-of-age story

(NEWSER) - Green Day’s multiplatinum album American Idiot is taking the stage as a 75-minute rock opera that will “challenge the very definitions of punk, theater, and musical,” writes David Downs in the East Bay Express. A 19-member cast will showcase a “Fight Club-esque story of self-discovery through death and destruction,” using only the lyrics from the album. More»

(NEWSER) - The woes of international capitalism are fueling renewed interest in the ur-texts of Chinese Communism, MSNBC reports. Sales of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital and Mao’s “little red book” are skyrocketing in China, where the publisher of Kapital has seen a fivefold increase in sales since late last year. The German publisher of the anticapitalist work is also doing swift business. “The financial crisis brought us a huge bump,” he said. More»

Production can be uneven, but still enjoyable

(NEWSER) - The highly anticipated revival of West Side Story on Broadway opened last night to solid reviews, with critics applauding an unusually tender interpretation in which the women rule. Highlights:

• “Even when they’re flashing switchblades and kicking people in the ribs, the teenage hoodlums who maraud through Arthur Laurents’s startlingly sweet new revival of West Side Story seem like really nice kids,” writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times.

Where? Where but Branson, Missouri?

(NEWSER) - Hold on to your camels, folks: A full-blown Biblical gala is opening tonight in Branson, Mo., in the form of Noah—the Musical. The show will feature more than 40 actors and 150 animals, half live, half animatronic, the Economist reports. More»

'Carrie' to open off-Broadway tomorrow

(AP) - When the musical Carrie had a sudden early death on Broadway in 1988, few were as unhappy as three men who worked hard to give it life. Lawrence D. Cohen, Michael Gore, and Dean Pitchford, who wrote the script, music, and lyrics, clearly were not happy with the final product, which closed after five regular performances, lost $8 million, and became the most expensive flop in Broadway history at the time. Despite offers to produce the show elsewhere, the trio refused—until now, 24 years later. More»