“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.
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Posted at 12:34 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Technorati Tags: art, Avenue Q, Broadway theatre, New World Stages, Performing Arts, Puppet, The New York Times Company, Theatre
At a recent performance of “Next to Normal,” the Broadway musical at the Booth Theater on West 45th Street, Alice Ripley, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Diana, a suburban mother with bipolar disorder, was reaching to answer a cordless telephone when she knocked it off the stage. Fourth wall broken, Ms. Ripley asked, with a smile, “Could you hand that to me?” Audience members were suddenly on all fours, but when they could not find the prop, a woman in the front row held up her cellphone, which Ms. Ripley accepted and spoke her lines into before tossing it back, to laughter and applause. It is, it turns out, strangely fitting that a theatergoer’s cellphone should play a role in a “Next to Normal” performance, since many people have been introduced to the musical by the devices. In early May, six weeks after opening, the production began what is by all accounts a Broadway first: over Twitter, the social networking site, an adapted version of the show began to be published in the form of short text messages, or tweets — just a line from a character at a time. Several times daily over 35 days, followers of N2NBroadway eagerly awaited the arrival of the tweets on their cellphones and computers. On May 12, about a week into the serialized Twitter performance, “Next to Normal” had 30,000 followers; when it ended on June 7 with the last line of text and audio from the final song, “Light,” about 145,000 had signed up. Then, as the cast began text messaging back and forth with followers, their numbers continued to grow, recently topping 550,000.
Posted at 09:47 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Broadway tuner "Avenue Q" will shutter in the fall after a run of six years. Comedy, in which a cast of humans and puppets play twentysomethings struggling to find their way in New York City, was one of the first of a new generation of small-scale offerings that carved out a stable foothold on a Rialto landscape more often associated with splashier fare. Broadway production has grossed almost $120 million so far, and, according to reps for the show, returned $23.5 million to its investors. The last several months of its Main Stem run have seen sales diminish, with weekly box office sometimes dipping below the $200,000 mark. Both the production's low running costs and its berth at one of Broadway's smaller venues, the John Golden Theater, helped extend its longevity. The show became the epitome of an underdog legit success when the musical beat out big-budget competitor "Wicked" for the top tuner Tony in 2004. Also picking up trophies for score (for composer-lyricists Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx) and book (for Jeff Whitty), "Avenue Q" was notable as well for a tongue-in-cheek, unusually aggressive awards campaign seemingly modeled after the high-profile pushes of Oscar contenders. (A year later, the administrators of the Tony Awards issued regulations limiting such campaigns.)
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Technorati Tags: Arts, Broadway theatre, Entertainment News, Jeff Marx, Jeff Whitty, Robert Lopez, Theatre, Tony Award
Once upon a time, there was a writer named Neil Gaiman who really wanted to see his children's book "Coraline" become a musical. Then along came Gaiman's indie rocker friend Stephin Merritt and writer-performer David Greenspan to grant his wish. Staged in a nest of pianos with Jayne Houdyshell as the eponymous 9-year-old protag and Greenspan in drag as the otherworldly villain who turns Coraline's family life into a waking nightmare, the unconventional new Off Broadway musical is already selling out the Lucille Lortel theater prior to its June 1 opening. For that bit of magic, producer MCC Theater has Gaiman and Magnetic Fields frontman Merritt's sizable fan bases to thank. That's not to mention those of Greenspan and Houdyshell, the fiftysomething thesp who has emerged in a string of raved-about New York perfs during recent years in offbeat shows such as "Well," "The Receptionist," "The Pain and the Itch" and "The New Century." "I'm a little worried that the same people who will see absolutely anything Jayne does are the same people who will see anything David is in," frets Merritt. "But they may not be the same who will see anything I do."
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Posted at 07:04 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
“Billy Elliot: The Musical,” the story of a British lad from a coal-mining town with a secret gift for ballet, received 15 Tony Award nominations Tuesday morning, tying the 2001 hit musical “The Producers” for the most nominations in Broadway history.
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Michael Greif sensed something was wrong. It was February 2008, and Mr. Greif — the director of the Tony Award-winning musicals “Rent” and “Grey Gardens” — was watching his latest production, “Next to Normal,” night after night during its Off Broadway run at Second Stage Theater. In a recent interview he recalled feeling that many audience members were not gasping or flinching at a pivotal revelation in Act I: the main character had just tried to kill herself
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Now Playing: Musicals April 27 - May 3
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After struggling this winter to attract investors, prompting an uncomfortably public shake-up of its lead producers, the Broadway musical “Hair” has emerged as one of the financial and artistic successes of the spring theater season. The sighs of relief among its producers and creative team are practically audible.
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Some Enchanted Musical - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com.
Members of the current and original casts of “South Pacific” posed for a photograph on the stage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.
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After a rocky road to Broadway and divided reviews, "Pal Joey" has received a two-week extension. The Roundabout Theater Company's revival of the 1940 Rodgers and Hart tuner stirred up chatter along the Rialto last month when its star, Christian Hoff, was replaced in the eleventh hour by understudy Matthew Risch. Press response to the show, which opened Dec. 18, varied widely.
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Link: Broadway’s ‘Grease’ to Close - ArtsBeat Blog - NYTimes.com.
Summer heat, boy and girl meet, but uh-oh: those closing notices. The current revival of “Grease” has become the latest Broadway show to announce that it will close soon after the new year; it will play its final performance at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on Jan. 4. This latest revival of the musical tribute to fast cars, faster women and 1950’s nostalgia was spawned by the NBC reality series “Grease: You’re The One That I Want,” whose winners, Laura Osnes and Max Crumm, became the show’s original Sandy and Danny; the “American Idol” contestants Taylor Hicks and Ace Young have also played key roles in the show. At its closing, “Grease” will have played 554 performances and 31 previews.
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Link: Young Frankenstein Celebrated First Year on Broadway 11/8.
Robert F.X. Sillerman and Mel Brooks and the company of The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, a new musical comedy from the creative team of the 12-time Tony Award winning smash The Producers, recently celebrated their one year anniversary.
The show opened on Broadway November 8th 2007 at the Hilton Theatre (213 W 42nd St). Previews began October 11th 2007
The production stars Roger Bart (Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), Shuler Hensley (The Monster), Beth Leavel (Frau Blucher), Fred Applegate (Inspector Kemp/Hermit), Christopher Fitzgerald (Igor) Michele Ragusa (Elizabeth), and Kelly Sullivan (Inga).
Young Frankenstein features a book by three-time Tony Award winner Mel Brooks and three-time Tony Award winner Thomas Meehan and music and lyrics by Brooks. Young Frankenstein is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman. Musical supervision is by Glen Kelly.
Young Frankenstein was named Best Broadway Musical 2008 by the Outer Critics Circle Award and won 5 Broadway.com Audience Awards, including Favorite New Broadway Musical.
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Link: 'Two Cities' to shutter on Broadway - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Broadway musical "A Tale of Two Cities" will shutter Nov. 16 after a wobbly few months at the box office.
Since it began previews Aug. 19, weekly grosses for the show have never topped $450,000. During the frame that ended Nov. 2, the production took in $303,755 and played to auds at about 45% of capacity.
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Link: 'Spamalot' shutters on Broadway - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
King Arthur and his knights will abandon their quest for the Holy Grail when "Monty Python's Spamalot" closes Jan. 18 on Broadway after a successful three-year run.
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Link: 'Hairspray' to close on Broadway - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Six years after it elevated John Waters from underground bad-tastemeister to Broadway baby, the Tony-winning musical “Hairspray” is expected to shutter its Rialto production in January, with original star Harvey Fierstein poised to step back into the slingbacks of Edna Turnblad for an encore stint.
While terms of the closing were still in flux Friday, cast members were told Thursday night that the tuner would play its final performance at the Neil Simon Theater on Jan. 18. Reportedly no contracts have been signed, but Fierstein, who won a lead actor Tony for his colorful turn as the heavyweight Baltimore hausfrau, is slated to return to the role sometime in November.
If that plan pans out, it’s not inconceivable the show could receive a fresh shpritz to keep it on Broadway longer, the same way rallying fans prompted producers this year to postpone the planned closing date of “Rent” by several weeks.
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Link: Legally Blonde Sets Broadway Closing Date, Broadway.com Buzz.
he Broadway production of Legally Blonde has set a closing date of October 19 at the Palace Theatre. The show, which opened on April 29, 2007, will have played 30 previews and 595 regular performances upon closing.
A musicalization of the popular feature film starring Reese Witherspoon as stylish Harvard Law student Elle Woods, Legally Blonde received seven 2007 Tony nominations, including nods for actors Laura Bell Bundy as Elle, Orfeh as Paulette and Christian Borle as Emmett and a best choreography nomination for Jerry Mitchell (who also directed). The show features a book by Tony nominee Heather Hach and score by the Tony-nommed team of Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe.
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Link: [title of show] to End Broadway Run at Lyceum on 10/12, Broadway.com Buzz.
The musical [title of show] is ending its Broadway run on October 12. The show, which features Jeff Bowen, Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, will have played 13 preview and 102 regular performances at the time of closing.
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Link: Wicked's New Behind the Emerald Curtain Welcomes Espinosa, Fitzgerald and Maguire, Broadway.com Buzz.
ormer Wicked cast members Eden Espinosa and Christopher Fitzgerald will help introduce a new version of the show's popular Behind the Emerald Curtain tour. Celebrating its fourth year of taking Wicked fans behind the scenes, the tour will welcome special guests throughout the fall, with Espinosa appearing on September 27 and Fitzgerald on October 11. Also scheduled as a guest is author Gregory Maguire, who wrote the novel on which the musical is based.
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Link: Broadway's Xanadu Announces Closing Date, Broadway.com Buzz.
Broadway's Xanadu, the musical comedy based on the 1980 movie, will close on October 12 at the Helen Hayes Theatre. At the time of the closing, it will have played 49 previews and 528 performances.
Xanadu tells the story about a magical muse named Kira who comes to earth in 1980 (disguised in roller skates, leg warmers and an Australian accent) to inspire what the gods call truly great work and discover the meaning of the universe's greatest secret: the gift of Xanadu. Kira meets the handsome artist Sonny, who needs her help in achieving his greatest dream.
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For some 21st-century Americans, teenage pregnancy may not have precisely the same scandalous — or sorrowful — significance it did just a couple of weeks ago. But in provincial 19th-century Germany, the prospect of an unmarried adolescent giving birth was definitely a family calamity.
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Link: 'Phantom' Closes Doors To Upgrade Sound System Starting 8/24 (BroadwayWorld.com).
This August, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh will take the extraordinary step of closing down THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the longest-running show in Broadway history, for four performances to install a brand-new Digital Sound System to bring the production's sound design technology into the 21st Century. The producers are investing an estimated $750,000 into installing the state-of-the-art system. Now in its phenomenal 21st Year at The Majestic Theatre (247 West 44th Street), the record-breaking production, directed by Harold Prince, continues to play with no end in sight.
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Link: Photo Flash: Meet the 10th Anniversay Cast of 'Naked Boys' (BroadwayWorld.com).
NAKED BOYS SINGING!, the fifteen-song celebration of the male form hit yet another milestone: it began its tenth year on Saturday July 26th. The Naked Boys are appearing on New World Stages Stage 4, graciously shared with the other (clothed) Boyz of New World Stages: Altar Boyz! New World Stages is located at 340 West 50th Street, between 8th & 9th Avenues. Naked Boys plays Fridays at 10:30pm and Saturday evenings at 6pm. Naked Boys Singing! is produced by Jamie Cesa, Carl D. White, Hugh Hayes, and Tom Smedes. It is directed and was conceived by Robert Schrock, and choreographed by Jeffry Denman. The show opened Off-Broadway at The Actors' Playhouse in July 1999. The film version was released last year by TLA Releasing. The lighting design has been updated by the original designer, Aaron Copp, and the set design has been reinterpreted by the original designer, Carl D. White. Ticket prices are $69.50, which includes $1.50 facility fee. Tickets for Naked Boys Singing! are available through Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200 or at the New World Stages Box Office. For Group Sales, call 212-302-4848, ext 18. The show runs at a lean, hard 70 minutes, without an intermission.
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Link: The Songs of Patrick Frankfort & Tammy Smith At Beechman 7/18 (BroadwayWorld.com).
SuCa Productions presents The 2nd Songwriter's Showcase: The Songs of Patrick Frankfort & Tammy Smith featuring some of New York's newest voices: Suzanne Carrico, Brandon Cutrell, Booth Daniels, Jennifer Furman, Kenny Holcomb, Molly Pope, Angela Schultz, Jonathan Whitton, and The Tracy Stark Band. On Friday, July 18th at 8pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. PATRICK FRANKFORT is constantly writing music & can be found roaming around NYC doing gigs here & there, singing his songs with his very own guitar licks, that can only be described as groovy in the retro cool one-four-five chord way. His debut cd, Shame, recorded at JGB Studios with fellow songwriter & friend, John Barwick, will be available this fall. 50% of the highly acclaimed musical comedy duo BOOTH & PAT & a member of the MAC Award nominated Sketch Troupe "City Hall," Patrick appeared in such outstanding productions as Pokemon Live! at Radio City Music Hall & the national tour of Superfudge for Theatreworks USA. TAMMY SMITH burst onto the New York City Cabaret scene this January, with the debut of her hilarious song "You Don't Get to Quit Your Day Job," performed by Ben Cherry at the Metropolitan Room. SuCa Productions is the brain child of NYC singer, Suzanne Carrico. As a singer, Suzanne was always challenged t
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Link: The Phantom of the Opera Plans a Four-Day Shutdown, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera will close down for four performances in August in order to install a $750,000 state-of-the-art Digital Sound System at the Majestic Theatre. The final performance before the change-over will be Saturday, August 23, and the new system's debut performance will be on Thursday, August 28.
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Link: Hayes, Krakowski bless 'Yankees' - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
THE REMARKABLE "Encores!" summer series hits a triple home run with its stunning casting of the season's opener "Damn Yankees." What a winner it is. Sean Hayes, best known for TV's "Will & Grace," is fabulously wicked making his NYC theater debut as the Devil. Tony-winner Jane Krakowski, currently starring in TV's "30 Rock," is simply gorgeous as the seductive Lola who is known for getting what she wants! And the handsome Cheyenne Jackson, current star of "Xanadu" on B'way, slides into home plate with his voice, charm, humor and pathos intact as Joe Hardy. The Dick Adler/Jerry Ross music is grand and Bob Fosse's choreography lives on. You have till July 27 to catch this brief shining theater offering. THE MOST under-rated talent in show biz remains my pal Sam Harris, a guy who can do it all. His turn as Carmen Ghia in "The Producers" was unforgettable. Sam's new album "Free" (he has done eight CDs) bows this week and he will be hosting a new daily talkshow on Lifetime. A veteran from "Star Search," Sam has toured the world and now YouTube loves him. See him at Birdland from July 30-Aug. 2.
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Link: 'Damn Yankees' steps up to plate - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Will Encores! Summer Stars hit "Damn Yankees" out of the park? Expectations are high among theater fans in the bleachers, since Summer Stars, the series of tuner revivals that stemmed from the popular springtime Encores! program of concert readings of overlooked musicals, batted 1,000 in its initial outing. Summer Stars' 2007 staging of "Gypsy" went on to a strong-selling Broadway transfer that picked up three Tonys June 15, including one for Patti LuPone as the musical's ferocious stage mother. Alums of the 12-year-old original Encores! series include "Wonderful Town," which played Broadway for more than a year beginning in 2003, and the long-running 1996 revival of "Chicago." But Encores! toppers insist that a Rialto home run is never their guiding goal. In fact, they have a far more modest model for success. "It's like we're doing summer stock, but on the highest level you could do it," says Encores! music director Rob Berman. "In the middle of July, it's fun for the theater crowd to have something like this to come to." Sean Hayes, Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson topline the familiar 1955 Richard Adler & Jerry Ross tuner about a baseball fan who makes a deal with the devil. "Because we're doing a well-known show with bankable stars, I think there
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Link: Passing Strange Sets 7/20 Closing Date, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Broadway musical Passing Strange will end its run at the Belasco Theatre following the matinee performance on July 20. The show will have played 20 previews and 165 performances upon closing. The closing date is one day after Spike Lee shoots two performances before a live audience for a forthcoming film version of the musical, which received 2008 Best Musical Awards from the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Village Voice Obie Awards. Stew also received the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical.
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Link: Arts, Briefly - The End of ‘A Catered Affair’ - Brief - NYTimes.com.
“A Catered Affair” is calling it off. The musical, by Harvey Fierstein and John Bucchino, will close after the matinee on July 27, after 27 previews and 116 regular performances at the Walter Kerr Theater. While the show, which received mixed reviews, has been doing decent business, it was all but overlooked at the Tonys and lean times were on the way. “I think the fear is that we’re not a summer show,” Mr. Fierstein said, adding that advance sales dropped off steeply in the summer. “I’m neither beaten nor bowed,” he said. “I am a little ashamed of the treatment we got, but I also know people weren’t being malicious. I knew you were either going to get this piece or not. That’s not going to stop me from doing it again.”
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Link: 'Cry-Baby' to close on June 22 - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Cry-Baby" is the first post-Tony casualty of the summer, with the tuner posting a closing notice for June 22. Like the 2002 Tony-winning hit "Hairspray," "Cry-Baby" is based on a John Waters pic, but this time out the Waters-inspired material never found traction at the box office or with critics. Sales have been consistently low since the production began previews March 15. Weekly tallies never topped $350,000, with the cume hitting $3.7 million last week.
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Link: Tonys to include 11 musical tunes - Entertainment News, Tony Awards, Media - Variety.
In a break from Tonycast tradition, eleven of the season’s new tuners will perform Sunday during the 62nd annual Tony Awards ceremony on CBS. Usually only the musicals nominated for the top tuner trophies get a performance slot, which comes with the marketing benefits of a segment on national network television. This year, however, “The Little Mermaid,” “Young Frankenstein” and “A Catered Affair” -- all of which received Tony nods, but not in the best musical category -- will join the lineup of nominated new tuners (“In the Heights,” “Passing Strange”) and revivals (“South Pacific,” “Gypsy”) doing numbers during the ceremony. Only musical offering from the 2007-08 season to go missing is “Glory Days,” the short-lived flop that closed last month on the same day it opened. Big-budget productions “Mermaid” and “Frankenstein” received just a handful of Tony noms between them, but they were the two highest-profile offerings of the year, thanks in part to the well-known movie properties on which they were based. By including segs from those shows -- plus excerpts from branded long-runners “The Lion King” and “Rent” -- the producers of the ceremony%
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Link: ‘South Pacific,’ ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Sunday in the Park’ - Again, for the First Time - NYTimes.com.
Weighty is not an adjective commonly attached to musicals, which were born to divert, to tickle. They came into existence as the paler, thinner cousins of light operas, for heaven’s sake. Yet after experiencing, in recent weeks, the Tony-nominated Broadway revivals of “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific,” “Gypsy” and “Sunday in the Park With George,” I’m carving out new space for these shows on my list of all-time favorite literary masterpieces, right near the top.
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Link: A Chorus Line Sets 8/17 Closing Date, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Broadway revival of A Chorus Line has announced a closing date of August 17 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The show will have played 18 previews and 759 regular performances upon closing, directed by its original Tony Award winning co-choreographer Bob Avian. Following a six-week run at San Francisco's Curran Theatre, A Chorus Line returned to Broadway for the first time since its original run on September 18, 2006, and opened on October 5. A national tour just opened at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, its second stop on a 29-city tour scheduled thorough June 2009.
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Link: ‘South Pacific,’ ‘Gypsy,’ ‘Sunday in the Park’ - Again, for the First Time - NYTimes.com.
WHEN your high school English teachers talked about the rewards of revisiting the classics, they probably didn’t mean musicals. Most likely they were referring to fat, dense novels (“Middlemarch,” “Anna Karenina”) and long, lofty plays (“Hamlet,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night”): works of weight, they liked to tell us, dragging out a favorite dog-eared phrase, with “universal human truth
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Link: Off Broadway's 'I Love You' ending - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Long-running Off Broadway musical revue "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change" will end its run this summer after a dozen years on the boards. Show will have played slightly more than 5,000 perfs, making "I Love You" the second-longest running Off Broadway tuner after the 42-year stint of "The Fantasticks." Producer Jonathan Pollard attributes the closing to an increasingly challenging economic climate off the Main Stem, complicated by the Broadway strike in November that gave Off Broadway a temporary boost in biz before sales migrated back to the Rialto once shows resumed. "We had our Christmas come early, and then all of a sudden the bottom dropped out," Pollard said. "Off Broadway itself has been slowing, and I believe that will continue for the foreseeable future."
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Link: 'Passing Strange' to Celebrate Album Release On May 27 (BroadwayWorld.com).
The eagerly anticipated original cast recording of the Broadway musical PASSING STRANGE - which was recorded in front of a live audience at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street) last month - will be released as the first-ever iTunes "Digital Exlusive Release" on Tuesday, May 27 at (time of day). There will be a Brick and Mortar retail availability of the original cast album of PASSING STRANGE in July, 2008. Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records President Kurt Deutsch and Bill Rosenfield are Executive Producers for the original cast recording, and PASSING STRANGE co-creators Stew and Heidi Rodewald have produced the CD.
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Link: Final RENT Performance to Be Shown In Movie Theaters Around US & Canada (BroadwayWorld.com).
America's top entertainment and cultural events will be presented in state-of-the-art digital theaters in the U.S. and Canada through The Hot Ticket, Sony Pictures Releasing's new business unit, which will report to SPR President Rory Bruer. The Hot Ticket will distribute event programming, including popular music concerts, the performing arts, and sporting events in high definition digital projection to select movie theaters nationwide. The Hot Ticket offers an opportunity for entertainment consumers to experience highly anticipated and sold-out events in an enhanced theater setting with one-of-a-kind programming. For fans of Broadway shows, rock concerts, or premier sporting events, The Hot Ticket will provide a community experience to see some of the world's best entertainment on larger-than-life digital screens. As part of its inaugural slate, The Hot Ticket will launch the following high profile events: This September, The Hot Ticket will take audiences to the heart of New York City to celebrate the conclusion of the 12-year Broadway run of "Rent," the revolutionary, landmark musical. This memorable presentation will feature special closing night extras, when original cast members of the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical are expected to join and celebrate in the farewell festivities. The presentation is produced by the
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Link: Broadway.com Presents: A World Premiere Music Video! "96,000" with the Stars of In the Heights.
First looks at the video 96,000 from "In The Heights" .... more than worth seeing
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1551055064/bctid1552561825
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Link: Cast Member Adrian Bailey Injured Onstage at The Little Mermaid, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Little Mermaid cast member Adrian Bailey was injured prior to the start of the May 10 matinee performance of the musical. The actor fell through a trap door, falling 20 feet onto the stage. Bailey broke both wrists during the fall but was conscious and taken to Bellevue Hospital for evaluation, according to a press representative for the show. Bailey, who appears in the ensemble of The Little Mermaid and understudies the role of King Triton, is a Broadway veteran. He made his debut in Your Arms Too Short to Box With God and has been seen in Sophisticated Ladies, My One and Only, Legs Diamond, The Prince of Central Park, Jelly's Last Jam, The Who's Tommy, Smokey Joe's Cafe, The Wild Party, Dreamgirls, La Cage aux Folles and Hot Feet.
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Link: No 'Sex' allowed in pre-Tony special - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety.
CBS' flagship O&O in Gotham has nixed a musical number from Broadway tuner "Passing Strange" from its pre-Tony special after the net's standards and practices department declared the song "We Just Had Sex" inappropriate for broadcast. Producers of "Passing Strange" feel they cannot prepare a new number in time for a taping skedded for Friday, according to Oskar Eustis, a.d. of the Public Theater. The Public, which gave "Passing Strange" its Off Broadway preem last year, is an associate producer of the Broadway transfer. The WCBS-TV pre-Tony special, featuring segments on a number of the season's new Rialto tuners, is skedded to air June 7.
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Link: Tony talk reaches new 'Heights' - Entertainment News, Legit News, Media - Variety.
Is it too soon to predict who'll win the Tony for best musical? Well, certainly. "Cry-Baby" is barely open, and nobody knows much at all about still-previewing "Glory Days." But that hasn't stopped legiters from placing their bets on "In the Heights." Among those inclined to talk early and often about the annual Tony Award horse race -- which is to say, pretty much everyone -- the tuner about life in uptown Manhattan looks like the show to beat.
Posted at 11:29 AM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Sunday in the Park with George Extends Again, to 6/29, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Roundabout Theatre Company has announced a third extension of its Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George, which will now play through June 29 at Studio 54. The critically acclaimed production, directed by Sam Buntrock and starring Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell, opened on February 21. Inspired by the Georges Seurat painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte", Sunday in the Park with George is a musical fantasy celebrating the art of creation and the creation of art. The first half, set in 1884, sees the painting itself and come to life in a world where, for Georges, art comes before love, before everything. In the second half, set in 1980s New York, we see the great grandson of Georges and his search for inspiration in the world of contemporary art.
Posted at 11:59 AM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Lincoln Center South Pacific Revival Extends Run into 2009, Broadway.com Buzz.
The first-ever Broadway revival of South Pacific, which was originally announced to play through June 22 only at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre, is now performing an open-ended run. The show is currently booking through January 4. Directed by Bartlett Sher, the production stars Kelli O'Hara as Nellie Forbush and Paul Szot as Emile de Becque. Also featured are Matthew Morrison as Lt. Cable, Loretta Ables Sayre as Bloody Mary and Danny Burstein, who supplies comic relief as Luther Billis.
Posted at 03:56 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: BroadwayWorld Exclusive Sneak Peek Contest #4: Xanadu The Book! Seriously! (BroadwayWorld.com).
The Producers of Broadway’s critically acclaimed surprise hit, XANADU, and the show’s Director of Merchandise Karen Davidov, are pleased to announce the XANADU THE BOOK! SERIOUSLY! Sneak Peek and contest presented by BroadwayWorld.com, which will lead to the upcoming release of XANADU THE BOOK! SERIOUSLY! The showbook was conceived by world renowned graphic designers and collaborators Mark Melnick and Chip Kidd, who USA TODAY called “the closest thing to a rock star in graphic design today”, with Xanadu’s own Karen Davidov as Creative Director. The book also includes a Foreword by Chip Kidd.
Posted at 10:29 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: As a Musical Winds Down, the Writing’s on the Wall - New York Times.
At the lime-green wall, soon to be whitewashed, all the elements are there for poignant remembrances: a curtain scheduled to come down, forever; a creative genius who dies young, before his dreams come to life; a show about an exotic dancer who dies young and musically and slowly; and a doorway where the fans, more devoted than most, wait longer than usual, before and after each show.
Posted at 12:14 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: ‘Rent’ Gets a New Lease on Life - New York Times.
Quick lesson in how to do business on Broadway: Say you have a popular show nearing the end of its run. First announce a closing date, perhaps the beginning of June. Then stand back and watch. If ticket buyers go nuts: Oh, did I say June? No, no, that was a suggestion.
Posted at 11:56 AM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Curtains Sets June 29 Closing Date, Broadway.com Buzz.
The Broadway production of Curtains has set a June 29 closing date at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The musical, which was directed by Scott Ellis and stars Tony winner David Hyde Pierce and Tony nominee Debra Monk, will have played 511 performances and 26 previews upon closing
Posted at 10:04 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Lin-Manuel Miranda - In the Heights - Washington Heights - Theater - New York Times.
TO be perfectly clear, Lin-Manuel Miranda did not grow up in Washington Heights, the physical and spiritual setting of his musical “In the Heights,” which opened on Broadway this week. He was raised in Inwood, an area some blocks north with a similar landscape of immigrants, Spanish speakers and urban decay softened by panoramic vistas. Why not stage a musical there?
Posted at 10:23 AM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Lin-Manuel Miranda - In the Heights - Washington Heights - Theater - New York Times.
TO be perfectly clear, Lin-Manuel Miranda did not grow up in Washington Heights, the physical and spiritual setting of his musical “In the Heights,” which opened on Broadway this week. He was raised in Inwood, an area some blocks north with a similar landscape of immigrants, Spanish speakers and urban decay softened by panoramic vistas. Why not stage a musical there?
Posted at 11:26 AM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
THE spring season’s small crop of new musicals is intriguingly diverse, signifying how the definition of the Broadway musical continues to expand. Artists grope their way forward, trying to invigorate the old forms, even as they search out new ones. Each represents one or another of the assorted impulses behind the making of the 21st-century American musical.
Posted at 06:53 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Link: Altar Boyz - Theater - New York Times.
For three years “Altar Boyz,” the little musical about a Christian boy band, playing at New World Stages, has been a classic example of commercial Off Broadway’s struggles.
Posted at 10:49 PM in Current Musicals | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
