I’m trying out a new feature where, every Friday, I accumulate a list of recent articles, interviews, news, and videos I found over the course of the week and enjoyed. Some of these news bites will be serious, while others are just very fun to squeal over. I certainly stumble across enough material during my procrastinating to keep this up for quite some time!

Film

The week kicked off with the announcement of the DuVernay test, a concept coined by New York Times critic Manohla Davis about African Americans and other minorities simply having fleshed out lives in movies rather than being background characters. The idea was inspired by the work of Ava DuVernay, who is known for directing Selma. Cinema already has the Bechdel test, which tests whether two women in a film talk to each other about something other than a man, so utilizing the DuVernay test feels very much like a step in the right direction.

Thank you Facebook for telling me about this news! Lionsgate has acquired the rights to all 54 books in the Magic Treehouse series. Author Mary Pope Osborne will be an executive producer, while her husband co-writes the first script. Seeing as this is kicking off with an adaptation of one of the later books (AKA past my Magic Treehouse reading days), I’m curious about how it will be organized and stay faithful to the books.

Articles

I may be a little biased because I edit and write for this site, but I loved this piece about the flaws of standardized testing and how one women has tried to fix them. One of the perks of this editing job is that I find out so much about national stories I wouldn’t have heard about otherwise.

Foreshadowing this post’s Fiddler on the Roof theme, the New York Times did a piece on sisterhood in current theater, and the three actresses playing Tevye’s daughters in the revival were briefly featured. The article talks about the bonds that actresses playing sisters onstage inevitably form. As I’ve said before, I love sister stories, so it’s great to see professional relationships that become closer and non-competitive.

Videos

It’s no secret that I miss London more every day. and my favorite YouTuber, Rosianna, made the feels a little realer when she was back in London for the holidays and posted videos of her city explorations. Now trying to make daily videos, Rosianna posted footage from when she was in the UK and visited London’s “secret beaches.”

Watching this made me very nostalgic for walking along the Thames, particularly when I went on a walk with my writing class and our professor snuck down to the shore even though the stairs were barricaded. It made me think of the cramped, winding streets of Southwark, the ivy-covered buildings I passed on my way to Tesco, and standing in Piccadilly Circus as the sun set.

Interviews

So, confession – I did not watch Grease Live all the way through, but I was bored by the parts I did watch. I really wish I could have stayed committed to it, because I’ve been an Aaron Tveit fan for several years and love what he does. I guess I just don’t like Grease enough to get excited about it. However, I may have fallen a little more in love with Tveit after reading this interview he did with Glamour.

Theater

Honestly, the Tonys have slowly become my favorite awards show. The team behind it doesn’t seem to care too much about drawing in an audience of non-theater people, so it feels like a very passionate atmosphere filled with people that genuinely love everything about this world. So, I love the fact that James Corden is hosting the ceremony this year. It’s funny how artists in Carpool Karaoke segments are so surprised when he hits high notes – Corden’s career truly kicked off in theater and he even has a Tony award himself!

It’s been confirmed that the Broadway revival of Fiddler of the Roof is releasing a cast album in March, and I’m so excited! I’ve yet to see the revival, but hopefully will soon. I have the entire film soundtrack on my iPod because I’m a total nerd, so I’m interested in seeing the differences in arrangements with this new release.

In other Fiddler news (didn’t I warn you?), Broadway.com has announced that their next backstage vlogger will be Adam Kantor, who plays Motel in the current revival. I’m all over these vlogs when they feature a show or actor that I like, so I’ll definitely be watching this series!

What about you? What were some of your favorite or most enjoyable news stories this week?