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Theater Review: Little House on the Prairie: The Musical - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: Little House on the Prairie: The Musical - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

In the first hour of "Little House on the Prairie: The Musical," now embarking on a nationwide tour starting with New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, the Ingalls family starves, freezes, battles scarlet fever and watches the wheat crop disastrously burn on the Fourth of July. One half-expects locusts to descend after intermission. Instead, musical-comedy gears spring into action with a villainess in Shirley Temple ringlets wearing bright pink bunny slippers. Those slippers, in small-town South Dakota circa 1880, are indicative of this ambitious but disjointed show's problems.

Theater Review: Come Fly With Me - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: Come Fly With Me - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

In earlier pieces, Twyla Tharp proved that songs sung by Frank Sinatra could inspire great dances. The question for "Come Fly With Me," her latest musical-theater work, premiering at Atlanta's Alliance Theater, is whether an evening-length show can be more than a suite of terrific dances. The answer is a qualified -- but jubilant -- yes. Those reservations are largely beside the point in terms of pure audience entertainment and touring prospects. The show will reportedly hit the road beginning in summer 2010 and is being eyed as a candidate for Broadway

Zeta-Jones, Lansbury revive 'Music' - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

Zeta-Jones, Lansbury revive 'Music' - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury are confirmed to topline the cast of the Broadway revival of "A Little Night Music," opening at the Walter Kerr Theater in December. Long-rumored duo of Zeta-Jones and Lansbury are joined by a cast that includes Alexander Hanson, an import from the Trevor Nunn-helmed revival's original staging at London's Menier Chocolate Factory. Broadway ensemble also will include Aaron Lazar ("Les Miserables") and Erin Davie ("Grey Gardens"). Zeta-Jones makes her Broadway debut in the show, although she starred in the 2002 pic version of Rialto longrunner "Chicago." In the 1973 Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler tuner, she'll play central character Desiree, an actress in fin-de-siecle Sweden. Hanson plays Fredrik, her former lover, with Ramona Mallory ("The Fantasticks") cast as Frederik's young wife. Lansbury portrays Desiree's mother, who is raising Desiree's young daughter (a role yet to be cast). Lazar and Davie play a count and a countess, respectively. Musical, based on Ingmar Bergman's 1955 film "Smiles of a Summer Night," has not been seen on the Rialto since its original 1973 run. A buzzed-about benefit performance presented by the Roundabout Theater Company in January starred Natasha Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave. London incarnation of the revival, which starred Hannah Waddingham, kicked off at the Chocolate Factory in November 2008 and went on to a limited West End run that ended this summer. Design team for the revival includes Lynne Page (choreography), David Farley (sets and costumes), Hartley T A Kemp (lights) and Dan Moses Shreier and Gareth Owen (sound). "Night Music" is produced in Gotham by Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, the Menier Chocolate Factory, Roger Berlind, David Babani, Andrew Fell and Sonia Friedman Prods.

'39' steps off on Jan. 10 - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

'39' steps off on Jan. 10 - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

After two years, three theaters and 771 Broadway perfs, "The 39 Steps" will shutter Jan. 10. The play, a small-scale, comic take on the Alfred Hitchcock film, started its Gotham life as a Roundabout Theater Company offering at the American Airlines Theater in early 2008. The show then migrated to the Cort Theater in April 2008 for a commercial run that eventually picked up and moved to the Helen Hayes early this year. Production, which has aimed to attract a tourist crowd, has not yet recouped, but producers say they hope to do so by the time January rolls around. Show is produced by Bob Boyett, Harriet Newman Leve/Ron Nicynski and Stewart F. Lane/Bonnie Cromley, among others, along with the Roundabout and Boston's Huntington Theater, where the production had its American preem in 2007. Original London incarnation of the show has been running since 2006.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz - Friends Play Enemies in ‘Othello’ - NYTimes.com

Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Ortiz - Friends Play Enemies in ‘Othello’ - NYTimes.com.

JOHN ORTIZ and Philip Seymour Hoffman have been close friends for 15 years, both off stage and on. They played best buddies in the 2007 production of “Jack Goes Boating” at the Public Theater, and Mr. Hoffman directed Mr. Ortiz to rave reviews in “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” in 2005. They were co-artistic directors of a downtown theater company, LAByrinth Theater, for more than a decade; during that time they celebrated the births of each other’s children and commiserated over the highs and lows of their beloved New York sports teams.

Theater Review: Ben Hur Live - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: Ben Hur Live - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

German producer Franz Abraham attempts nothing less than a redefinition of large-scale 21st-century live entertainment with "Ben Hur Live," a mega-spectacle featuring a cast and crew of 400, some 100 animals, and re-enactments of the 1959 film's famed chariot race and sea battle. Abraham claims the production constitutes a wholly new form called "monutainment," mixing ancient tragedy, musical theater and blockbuster. But a contemporary theatrical vision is almost wholly lacking from the enterprise, resulting in a magnificent failure. An $8 million budget also seems a relatively modest price tag to buy the kind of entertainment revolution for which Abraham is aiming. Abraham made his name in central Europe in the mid 1990s with large-scale open-air stagings of Orff's "Carmina Burana" and a pyrotechnical version of Verdi's "Aida." "Ben Hur Live" is his attempt to break into the Anglo-American market; show tours around Europe through mid-2010 and is hoping to add American and Australian dates. With the story of Judah Ben-Hur (Sebastian Thrun), a privileged Jew living at the time of Christ whose fortunes rise and fall in epic terms when he's betrayed by his childhood friend, the Roman Messala (Michael Knese), the production team has a sturdy, road-tested narrative framework. But the key problem lies in the "live" aspect: the show tries to realize too much ambitious stage business through literal means, but sensibilities honed on virtual media will be miles ahead of the effects attempted. In addition, adherence to contemporary health and safety regulations means nothing really risky can be at stake. The action primarily consists of huge set-piece scenes delivering key plot points -- Judah and Messala riding horses together as young men; a festive day in Jerusalem which sees Judah's fortunes turn when he is wrongly accused of trying to kill a Roman leader; Judah's near-death encounter with Jesus (Andreas Nagy) in Nazareth, and so forth. Dialogue is kept to a minimum and -- in an unusual set of moves presumably prompted by the fact that prod is touring internationally -- is spoken in the characters' original languages, Latin and Aramaic, with live narration provided in the local language. In London, the narration is performed by the show's composer, Stewart Copeland (founder of The Police), who -- in an ill-judged, anachronistic move -- is often visible onstage, wandering around the action in contemporary street clothes speaking into a hand-held mic (at other times the narration is delivered as a disembodied voiceover). Copeland's score accompanies virtually every moment of the action, and feels like a stylistic homage to sweeping movie music of yore, but with a Middle Eastern flavour. The featured performers avail themselves very well of the huge challenge of communicating strong emotion in obscure languages before a massive arena, in addition to doing extensive fight work, dancing and riding horses. But there's a literalism to the staging that creates a barrier to audience engagement. Abraham and director Philip William McKinley have made a clear choice to opt away from any contemporary forms of mediation (screens, for example) and from any attempt at theatrical metaphor.

Critics in tune with 'Idiot' - Entertainment News, The Verdict, Media - Variety

Critics in tune with 'Idiot' - Entertainment News, The Verdict, Media - Variety.

The Verdict looks at critical reaction to key productions opening Off Broadway, regionally and abroad that appear likely candidates for further life on Broadway and/or elsewhere. Gotham legiters already had their eye on "American Idiot," the Green Day musical that opened last week at Berkeley Repertory Theater. Its Broadway momentum now seems inevitable in the wake of mostly upbeat reviews. The "American Idiot" tuner -- or is it a punk opera? -- is based on the 2004 album of the same name by the Grammy-winning Green Day, with tunes from the record supplemented by material pulled from the band's latest, "21st Century Breakdown." Book is credited to Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, who also helms. Mayer is one of several alums of the Tony-nabbing team behind "Spring Awakening," including designers Christine Jones and Kevin Adams, lead thesp John Gallagher Jr. and producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman, who are involved with "American Idiot." Local press tended to think the story a little wan, but most found much to enjoy in the developing musical, and there's seemingly little in the reviews to discourage producers from bringing the show in to Gotham as early as the spring.

Theater Review: The Donkey Show - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: The Donkey Show - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

There's nothing like a party to let the new neighbors know exactly what type of person you are. With "The Donkey Show," Diane Paulus, the new artistic director of American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., is throwing a doozy of a rave -- one that partied hearty for six years Off Broadway. It's an infectious, celebratory and titillating event that starts Paulus' first season off with giddy good fun, empty calories and a full liquor license. It also reflects the form-busting helmer's sensibilities and her penchant for pushing theatrical boundaries for both actors and audiences.

Theater Review: Mistakes Were Made - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: Mistakes Were Made - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

On the one hand, Craig Wright's "Mistakes Were Made" is a straight-ahead showbiz satire, a portrait of an Off Broadway producer as craven commercialist. On that level, it's cleverly crafted and robustly entertaining, if unsurprising. But there's more. The play has been developed for and with the intense actor Michael Shannon ("Bug," "Revolutionary Road"), an expert portrayer of the deep inner wound who couldn't be further from the Zero Mostel/Max Bialystock-type figure of the producer who'll do anything, usually with cheerful desperation. Wright and Shannon infuse that desperation with a very different edge, pursuing, and mostly pulling off, a satire possessing psychological and even existential insight.

Theater Review: First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: First You Dream: The Music of Kander and Ebb - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

With "First You Dream," Signature Theater's long-running relationship with the music of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb has taken another inventive turn to open its 20th season. The company has packaged an eclectic selection of numbers from 15 K&E shows and films into a delightful revue that practically screams "tour me" -- which is precisely what its execs have in mind.

Theater Review - 'The Bereaved' - Thomas Bradshaw Has a New Play at the Wild Project - NYTimes.com

Theater Review - 'The Bereaved' - Thomas Bradshaw Has a New Play at the Wild Project - NYTimes.com.

The first scene of Thomas Bradshaw’s latest and funniest work, “The Bereaved,” finds Carol (McKenna Kerrigan), a corporate lawyer, walking in on her underemployed husband, Michael (Andrew Garman), as he snorts cocaine off the kitchen table. After a moment of disapproval, she tries some herself, collapsing on the ground before being sent to the hospital, where she makes an unusual deathbed request, asking her husband to marry her best friend. Michael, surprised at first, flashes a smile that seems to express one clear thought: Jackpot!

‘Avenue Q’ Downsizing, to New World Stages, Off Broadway - NYTimes.com

‘Avenue Q’ Downsizing, to New World Stages, Off Broadway - NYTimes.com.

“Avenue Q,” the satirical Broadway puppet musical that was to close after its Sunday performance won’t be shutting down after all. Instead it will transfer to an Off Broadway theater.

Theater Review: The Shawshank Redemption - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: The Shawshank Redemption - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

While it's based on the Stephen King novella and not on Frank Darabont's screenplay, this solid staging of "The Shawshank Redemption" ably exploits popular affection for the 1994 film. Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns' script makes what devotees may find surprising deviations from the film -- but which, by and large, suit the stage medium. However, by casting Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman look- and sound-alikes Kevin Anderson and Reg E. Cathey, the production makes it clear that buying into existing sentiment is the priority.

'La Cage' set for the Longacre - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

'La Cage' set for the Longacre - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

The incoming Broadway revival of "La Cage aux Folles" has set a date and a theater, with the Brit import bowing in April at the Longacre Theater. Staging of the 1983 tuner, directed by Terry Johnson, originated at London's Menier Chocolate Factory last year and then jumped to the West End, where the show is still playing. Douglas Hodge, who toplined the Blighty production, will reprise his lead role in the Rialto transfer. "La Cage" -- produced by Sonia Friedman, David Babani, Fran and Barry Weissler and Robert Bartner/Norman Tulchin -- begins previews April 6 ahead of an April 18 opening.

Theater Listings - Fall Theater Listings - NYTimes.com

Theater Listings - Fall Theater Listings - NYTimes.com.

SEPTEMBER THE RETRIBUTIONISTS Several young Jewish men and women plot to kill Germans in retaliation for World War II atrocities. The play by Daniel Goldfarb (“Modern Orthodox”) is based on the true story of the Avengers, a rebel group that devised just such a plan in 1946. Leigh Silverman (“Well,” “Coraline”) is the director. In previews. Opens Monday[Sept. 14]. Closes Sept. 27. Playwrights Horizons Mainstage Theater, 416 West 42nd Street, Clinton. Ticket Central; playwrightshorizons.org. BLIND LEMON BLUES Songs by Blind Lemon Jefferson, the Texas entertainer who was hugely popular in the 1920s, make up the soundtrack for this musical homage to him and his contemporaries, set in 1948. Created by Alan Govenar and Akin Babatunde, the show includes musical arrangements by Mr. Babatunde, Cavin Yarbrough and his wife, Alisa Peoples Yarbrough, and is directed and choreographed by Mr. Babatunde. It is being remounted by the York Theater Company, where it had a limited run in 2007. In previews. Opens Tuesday[Sept. 15]. Closes Oct. 4. Theater at St. Peter’s, 619 Lexington Avenue, at 54th Street. (212) 935-5820; yorktheatre.org. AFTERMATH Actors portray Iraqi civilians who were interviewed for this documentary play about their lives in wartime Iraq and in exile. Jessica Blank and Erik Jen

Theater Review: A Streetcar Named Desire - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: A Streetcar Named Desire - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

With Liv Ullmann at the helm as director, the Sydney Theater Company's enthralling production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" looks set to be an Antipodean hit and is on track to repeat similar acclaim as it travels to Washington, D.C., and New York later this year. The announcement that STC co-artistic director Cate Blanchett would play Blanche DuBois enraptured Sydney's theater set, and the consummate thesp fulfills her promise to strap auds into an emotional roller coaster. A strong ensemble not only supports Blanchett but also gives more heft to roles that are sometimes obscured by the power of Blanche and Stanley.

Theater Review: Peace - Theater and Musical Production Reviews

Theater Review: Peace - Theater and Musical Production Reviews.

For one month, Latino comedy rascals Culture Clash transform the Getty Villa into the Getty Pancho Villa for their exuberant musical satire "Peace," Aristophanes' ancient (421 B.C.) antiwar tract rendered as timely as this morning's headlines. If you like your summer entertainment with a milewide raunchy streak, a little food for thought and a lot of heart, give "Peace" a chance.

'MASH' writer Larry Gelbart dies at 81 - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

'MASH' writer Larry Gelbart dies at 81 - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety.

Larry Gelbart, the seasoned comedy writer heralded for developing the small screen adaptation of "MASH" and penning the 1982 smash "Tootsie," died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 81.

Enron Expected to Arrive on Broadway in April 2010: Theater News on TheaterMania.com - 09/04/2009

Enron Expected to Arrive on Broadway in April 2010: Theater News on TheaterMania.com - 09/04/2009.

Lucy Prebble's play Enron, which begins a six-week run at London's Royal Court Theatre on September 17, will move to the West End this winter, and then open on Broadway in April 2010, according to published reports. The production, which premiered this summer at the Chichester Festival, is directed by Rupert Goold and designed by 2009 Tony Award winner Anthony Ward. The show stars Samuel West, Gllian Budd, Peter Caulfield, Howard Charles, Andrew Corbett, Amanda Drew, Susannah Fellows, Stephen Fewell, Tom Godwin, Tom Goodman-Hill, Orion Lee, Eleanor Matsuura, Tim Pigott-Smith, Ashley Rolfe and Trevor White.

Vets cue tuner tryouts - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

Vets cue tuner tryouts - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

Leslie Kritzer, Barbara Walsh and Felicia Finley are among the Broadway vets signed on to showcase the developing tuners at the 2009 New York Musical Theater Fest.

Rock legends headed to Broadway - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

1. Rock legends headed to Broadway - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins are coming to Broadway, with the tuner "Million Dollar Quartet" headed to Gotham for a planned spring run. "Million Dollar" has been playing to strong response in Chicago since it opened there in October. Show centers on the real-life 1956 gathering of rock-n-roll legends Presley, Cash, Lewis and Perkins, brought together for an informal jam session by influential record producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis. Score for the musical includes period chart-toppers such as "Blue Suede Shoes," "Fever," "Great Balls of Fire," "I Walk the Line" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." Production looks poised to tap the same demo of oldies-loving baby boomers that have helped turn "Jersey Boys," the bio-tuner about the Four Seasons, into one of the Rialto's top earners.

'Spider-Man' musical swings back - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety

'Spider-Man' musical swings back - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.

Marvel Comics characters never stay dead -- and neither will tuner "Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark." Word among legiters has it that production on the troubled musical will start up again Wednesday with a call to resume work on the show, which has been halted since early August due to what producers call a cash-flow problem. The industry had recently been hearing that "Spider-Man" could possibly pick up sometime this week or next, although no official confirmation has been issued by producers or the show's reps. It's also rumored that the production isn't quite out of the financial woods yet. Not everyone who was working on "Spider-Man" has been called back to work, it's said, which some point to as an indication that while producers have gotten hold of some of the cash needed to capitalize the massive tuner, not all of it has yet been secured. The forward momentum on the project is apparently unrelated to the recent announcement that Disney intends to acquire Marvel -- a $4 billion deal that will not be finalized for some time. The stoppage last month halted the extensive construction and prep work needed to stage the technically ambitious show, both in the scene shop and at the Hilton Theater, the Broadway venue skedded to house "Spider-Man." Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle, Martin McCallum, Marvel Entertainment and Sony Pictures Entertainment lead the producing team of the mega-budget spectacle. Capitalization costs are estimated at north of $35 million. So far there's been no indication of what the month-long delay in production will do to the proposed timeline for "Spider-Man," which for now remains skedded to begin perfs Feb. 25 ahead of a March opening.

‘Angels in America’ to Be Revived at Signature Next Year - NYTimes.com

‘Angels in America’ to Be Revived at Signature Next Year - NYTimes.com.

As part of its 2010-11 season dedicated to the work of Tony Kushner, Signature Theater Company will mount the first New York revival of his Pulitzer- and Tony-winning “Angels in America” since it closed on Broadway in 1994, Signature’s artistic director, James Houghton, said on Tuesday.