Theatre Talk: In Our Own Little Corner

[aradia22]

 

I am very keen to learn more about this Anastasia production.  The film has a wonderful score but Rasputin woulld need a bigger part to play and a darker edge.  Bartok would have to go.  It would be amazing to see Angela L play Marie on stage but I doubt it would happen.  Ditto for Bernadette as Sophie.  Is this just being developped or has it hit a stage already?

I am too. I think their going to have a big struggle with the entire Rasputin plotline. That movie is half It Happened One Night and romantic period drama and half... pfft Rasputin. Unlike the Disney movies I think it really struggles to get that balance between sinister and ridiculous. Think about Ursula or Scar. Their villain songs make sense and all that posturing doesn't detract from their evil. But Rasputin? They could go in another direction and make him just dark like Frollo in Hunchback but then he wouldn't be the same character. I don't see them getting rid of Bartok since the plucky sidekick role keeps a lot of Broadway character actors employed. As far as I know, it's just in development.

[Rick Kitchen]

Are the housewares in the upcoming live action Beauty and the Beast going to be live actors, or CGI?

[aradia22]

I might add more stories later in the day but here's the Theatre News Roundup so far.

• Special Snow Day Ticket Deals
• A fun little slideshow with Frozen inserted into iconic Broadway Playbills
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory extends on the West End
• What's playing on Broadway tonight (right now only the Disney shows have cancelled)
• Chita Rivera filmed her Great Performances appearance. It will air as part of PBS' Fall Arts Festival whatever that means. I swear, they're trying to annoy me.
• If you missed Dogfight and still want to see it, they will be performing it in NJ. No Lindsay Mendez or Derek Klena though.

 

Edited to add a few more stories

• If/Then, Cabaret, Beautiful and Bullets will tour, stopping in L.A.
• Kyle Taylor Parker replaces Billy Porter in Kinky Boots after leading the tour
• Nick Jonas signs on to Scream Queens
• Helen Hayes Awards Nominees 
• John Tartaglia takes on Buyer and Cellar in NJ
• The Heidi Chronicles will begin performances on Monday, February 23, 2015, with an official opening on Thursday, March 19, 2015, at the Music Box Theatre.
• Bobby and Kristen Lopez are writing something for NPH to perform on the Oscars February 22
• American Songbook dates

 

second season of American Songbook at NJPAC will air beginning January 28th at 8pm on NJTV

The series will also air weekly on THIRTEEN beginning Saturday, March 21 at 1pm (check local listings), and be scheduled on WLIW21 in the spring.

Wednesday night's episode featuring Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana.

Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana, John Pizzarelli, Nellie McKay, Maureen McGovern, and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman each perform a program of classics from the American songbook followed by a Q&A session conducted by Ted Chapin

• Ratings were up for the Galavant finale. Kind of. I don't know if this will be enough for a second season. With how boring the first season could be and the non-ending I'm not really enthusiastic about the prospect of it coming back unless they try a little harder.
• Susan Egan weighing in on her experience playing Belle and commenting a bit on Emma Watson's casting

 

Also, completely off topic I decided to listen to A Little Night Music on Spotify today. I am an idiot for not realizing that Erin Davie played Charlotte all through watching her in Side Show.

Edited January 28, 2015 by aradia22

[DisneyBoy]

Gah....I have trouble typing on my phone.  Sorry for past and future typos and incomplete sentences.

 

Mrs. Doubtfire the Musical feels in poor taste to me.  It was Robin's masterpiece performance in a way.  I get the brand is an easy sell, but I wish they would leave this one be.  Bad enough to see someone else step in as the Genie.  Next Up....Home Alone and Free Willy the musicals?  Lets mine the 80s and 90s dry!!

 

I'm pretty "meh" on Emma Watson for Belle.  I'll likely ignore the whole film.  Disney - please stop.  Maleficent was bad enough.  Find or create NEW stories, please.

 

I'm curious to know more about Hamilton.  It seems to be getting good buzz.

 

If anyone knows where I could *watch* a copy of the Side Show revival that was recently on Broadway, please PM me.  I think I saw that there was a copy of it from the pre-Bway run, only to discover it was pulled.

 

Unlike the Disney movies I think it really struggles to get that balance between sinister and ridiculous. Think about Ursula or Scar. Their villain songs make sense and all that posturing doesn't detract from their evil. But Rasputin? They could go in another direction and make him just dark like Frollo in Hunchback but then he wouldn't be the same character. I don't see them getting rid of Bartok since the plucky sidekick role keeps a lot of Broadway character actors employed. As far as I know, it's just in development.

 

I definitely think Frollo would be the direction to go for Ras.  In other words DARK.  I didn't mind the Christopher Lloyd/Jim Cummings version, but I wouldn't use it as a template for a new production.  He was too much of a clown.  And Bartok would be annoying as hell on stage.

[aradia22]

I finally had time to watch that Great Performances: American Voices with Renee Fleming special. I wish they'd filmed even more of it. I wanted more of both the performances and the master classes. Everyone had some contributions but obviously some were stronger than others. I thought the quality declined a bit throughout the special. Sutton and the opera singer and Kim Burrell had something to impart to their students. I don't feel like Ben Folds/Sara Bareilles had as much to say and I wish Sara had done one of her own songs. Allison also didn't seem to help her student much though I love her voice. The business talks didn't seem that interesting but I would have liked to hear more from the other experts on the medicine and vocal training side.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup

• Rita Moreno will appear on Jane the Virgin (which I'm debating whether or not to stop watching) on episode 18 as Jane's paternal grandma
• At the same link, there is a Lionel Bart musical movie (?) in the works with Geoffrey Rush, Stephen Fry, etc.
• Lots of Broadway talent tapped for the NY Pops at Carnegie Hall 2015-2016 season. I think I told you how I felt about the sound from the balcony with Stephanie J. Block and Andrew Rannells. I've got a ticket for the Sutton Foster concert so I'll update you then.
• Lots of fans showing up for Hedwig. I hope it isn't impossible to get a lottery/standing room ticket. It's my top priority at the moment.
• Three performances of West Side Story will take place March 4-6, 2016, at the Knockdown Center, a restored 50,000-square-foot factory located in Maspeth, NY.
• Everything You Touch premiers at Cherry Lane Theatre. Ignore the Harry Potter thing. You'd have to be a real fan to recognize the actor or his name from that.
• Texas in Paris premiers after a hold up due to the storm
• Let The Right One In extends into March
• Celebrate Valentine's Day at 54 Below with some Broadway couples
• Some photos from Gigi ...I like some of the costumes?
• Rumors of An Evening at the Talk House maybe transferring to Broadway. That's it. Seriously, there's barely a point in clicking the link.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup

• Video of Lady Be Good (at Encores) rehearsal
• Cheyenne Jackson will be performing at the Grammy's February 8/The Side Show revival cast CD will be available February 24
• The cast is set for Hunchback at Papermill Performances will begin at the New Jersey venue on March 4 and run through April 5. Opening night is set for March 15.
• GET EXCITED! Sam Waterston will star in The Tempest, directed by If/Then's Michael Greif, as part of the Public’s Shakespeare in the Park's upcoming season. The production is set for a limited engagement May 27 through July 5. Also joining the 2015 line-up will be Cymbeline, which will be helmed by Daniel Sullivan and play July 27 through August 23.
• If/Then will be going on tour but casting isn't determined
• Amanda Seyfried will be replacing Tatiana Maslany in The Way We Get By. Directed by Leigh Silverman, the world premiere will now begin previews earlier on April 28 and play a limited engagement through June 14. Opening night is set for May 20 at the Tony Kiser Theatre.
• Jim Parsons will play God (the Almighty) in An Act of God, the previously announced stage adaptation of The Last Testament: A Memoir By God. The production will begin performances on May 5 at Studio 54 (can you imagine a more sacred space on Broadway?). Opening night is set for May 28.
• Kerry Butler cast in Clinton the Musical
• If you know a Broadway hopeful in grades 9-12 who can make it to Oklahoma, they can audition for Kristen Chenoweth's Broadway Boot Camp and Master Class. So jealous.
• Some 92Y talks and concerts
• It's Only a Play might have extended as tickets are on sale through June
• More The Last Five Years concerts
• Want to feel old? Lilla Crawford is offering a workshop for children and teens in March.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup

• Is anyone planning to watch NPH's NBC variety show? Oh, NBC. Smash. Live musicals. Hollywood Game Night. Never stop being you.
• New leads will be stepping into Les Mis on March 3. It's both an excuse to see the show again or run to see the original (revival) cast before they exit. Ramin Karimloo and Will Swenson are not part of the group that's leaving.
• Additional casting for The Visit with Chita Rivera. Jason Danieley is included and with Kate Baldwin in John & Jen it seems like Can Can isn't transferring after all?
• Honeymoon in Vegas continues to struggle at the box office
• Ellen DeGeneres' company is working on a half hour comedy for Idina Menzel. Because that always goes so well.

 

Is anyone going to go see Lady Be Good at Encores? There are still a bunch of tickets but I'm not really feeling it. Plus I'm going to be using most of my days off playing the lottery game. ;)

[Rinaldo]

Yes, of course I'm seeing Lady, Be Good! at Encores. I've been a subscriber since they began, and I've missed only 2 shows in that time (once because a blizzard shut down my state, once because I was hospitalized). And that's a 3-hour drive each way from where I live. One never knows, of course, but this has the makings of a very special event, with the unique format of a mid-20s musical comedy (just as the form was starting to solidify), and a classic Gershwin score including "Fascinating Rhythm." Just try and keep me away.

[Milburn Stone]

Yes, of course I'm seeing Lady, Be Good! at Encores. I've been a subscriber since they began, and I've missed only 2 shows in that time (once because a blizzard shut down my state, once because I was hospitalized). And that's a 3-hour drive each way from where I live...Just try and keep me away.

 

I would give anything to live within a navigable radius of Encores. If I did, you can be sure my attendance record would be similar! So aradia, to read that you're "not really feeling it" fills me with bafflement (and just a hint of rage, but that's my problem). :) Of course, not everyone needs to like the same things, but for someone to like musicals at all, and not love Encores, well, I don't get it. Again, my problem. Nothing to see here.

[Charlie Baker]

This morning there was Tommy Tune looking great and tapping away in rehearsal for Lady, Be Good! on my cable news channel's theater show this morning.  But I probably won't be able to make it to this show.  Sigh.

[aradia22]

 

I would give anything to live within a navigable radius of Encores. If I did, you can be sure my attendance record would be similar! So aradia, to read that you're "not really feeling it" fills me with bafflement (and just a hint of rage, but that's my problem). :) Of course, not everyone needs to like the same things, but for someone to like musicals at all, and not love Encores, well, I don't get it. Again, my problem. Nothing to see here.

I have Encores tickets for The Wild Party and Little Shop. As for Lady Be Good... I know none of the actors. I don't know any of the songs. The brief synopsis on wikipedia isn't really selling me on the plot. And nothing in the promotional materials really grabbed me. I need something to hook me to take a chance on something. 

[aradia22]

So I watched that Laura Osnes/Santino Fontana special. Underwhelmed. I neither regret not seeing them in Cinderella nor not going to see that Carnegie or Lincoln Center concert they kept emailing me about. If someone else watches it maybe you can explain what sounded so off about it. It was almost discordant. Maybe the blend was off. Sometimes he was a little flat. It just didn't sound right for most of it. And I wish she'd push harder. I feel like Laura is someone who would actually make a good pop album. I don't really enjoy her interpreting songs most of the time but I feel like she could sound gorgeous on songs that played to her specific strengths. The Ted Chapin interview portions weren't that enlightening. It's not a must watch but if you do plan on taping the later showing my suggestion would be to tape it and feel free to fast forward.

[aradia22]

Theater News Roundup

• The first ever Broadway-con co-created by Anthony Rapp will be held January 22-24, 2016. Tickets for BroadwayCon range from $125 for a day pass to $600 for a VIP pass and will go on sale on March 15. At this point with no information I'm not sure why the comments section for this article is freaking out.
• Teal Wicks cast as Mary Barrie in Finding Neverland
• Broadway.com Odds and Ends including Sutton Foster's Carnegie Hall guests, David Yazbeck penning for Fish in the Dark, and the misleadingly titled Big Love
• Some highlights of future 54 Below performances
• The Roundabout Theatre's Underground initiative launches its ninth season with the world premiere of Ugly Lies the Bone, by Lindsey Ferrentino, to be directed by Patricia McGregor. Previews will begin Sept. 10 at the Roundabout's Black Box Theatre. The cast and creative team will be announced at a later date.
• WSJ interview with John Cameron Mitchell on Hedwig

Edited February 3, 2015 by aradia22

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup

• Odds and Ends Including: Andy Mientus leaving Les Mis March 1, Home Street Home punk musical, Frozen Fever
• Chicago Shakespeare Theater has announced complete casting and creative team for the world premiere of Sense and Sensibility (musical) which will play the Courtyard Theater April 18-June 7.
• Karen Olivo will perform in concert at the George Street Playhouse on April 2 at 7:30 pm. All seats are $35 and tickets are available through the GSP box office at (732) 246-7717 or gsponline.org.
• Annaleigh Ashford's solo show Lost in the Stars will play Chicago's Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place March 21
• The Last Five Years will be released in theaters and also on VOD
• Some vague information on Broadwaycon. I'm still going to need some more details.

•  

  Tickets, which go on sale March 15, will include built-in access to autographs and photo opportunities with Broadway professionals. In addition, a portion of all proceeds from tickets benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

  While programming is still being mapped out, Rapp revealed a few ideas on his wish list.

  "We've already begun asking fans what they'd like to see via our Twitter account, but I think it would be great to have panels on some of the classic shows from Broadway – a roundtable forum with the creators on how those shows happened. There's also performance opportunities, where people could come together who might never get together and then perform songs they'd never sing. I've always been fascinated how rock and theatre influence each other. Also, having master class situations where young composers get to come on and share a new piece and then an established composer gets to talk to them about what they wrote. Tech people could do panels, too."

   

[aradia22]

I listened to the 2005 album for Lady Be Good (available on Spotify). I think this one is going to be a skip for me. It wasn't an awful experience but it's a very repetitive score that seems built for mainly showcasing the dancing. I'd go if I had some reason to believe that the dancing would be fantastic. Do fill us in on your thoughts when you get back, though, Rinaldo. I'm interested to hear what they do with the production, particularly the costumes as I assume this will only be partially staged. 

[aradia22]

I'm going to be so sad when I turn 30 and I'm no longer eligible for these special offers. Anyway, if you're also under 36, I highly suggest signing up for Lincoln Center Theatre's new LincTix program. I just bought my April 1 ticket for The King and I. If Kelli O'Hara is somehow not there I may murder someone.

[aradia22]

Hello everyone!

 

I am back from the Met Live in HD showing of Les Contes d'Hoffmann. This makes it my fourth after Cosi Fan Tutte, La Cenerentola, and The Merry Widow. I think overall (taking the entire cast into consideration) this was the best sung performance I've seen so far. Bear in mind that I am still a neophyte when it comes to opera as I ramble on. I liked the music. It was the lush and lyrical romantic passages with dominant violins but it also wasn't at the other extreme that's more fast paced and sharp. I loved pretty much all the principals and I'd see them in other things. 

 

So what were my issues? I'm relatively fluent in basic French and I found most of the French to be unintelligible. I think I could make out 25%-40%. That was annoying because I felt like there were some things being lost in the translation and also my brain's attention was divided between trying to make out the words (without a lot of consonants) and trying to focus on everything else. Maybe we just stick to Italian and German for a while. 

 

I could not figure out what was going on with the muse and the villain. Were they real? Was it a metaphor? Were they in cahoots or at cross purposes? Was he actually a devil? Why did they keep talking to each other? From the first, when she was in half her costume (dress+hat+jacket) and spying on him as the Counselor and then he saw her and started singing to her I was unsure if she was the muse or the friend or if they were conspiring together or not. And what did she want? Was the point to let him get his heart broken so he'd have inspiration? I feel like Hoffmann's not a fantastic poet after all because if those three stories were somehow to reflect his relationship with Stella and the Counselor I got very little out of it. How literally was I supposed to take it? Maybe someone can explain it to me. I also felt like the three stories weren't compelling enough on their own. Olympia's plot worked the best and it all went downhill from there. Why was he in love with them? Really baffled. 

 

The Kleinzach thing felt kind of pointless.

 

I was not really sure what the motivation for all the scantily clad chorus girls was except to keep straight male audience members awake. I'm not just talking about the courtesan section. What were they doing in the Olympia part? And yeah, in the Giuletta section, why was that necessary? She was a courtesan but it seemed like she was just throwing a party. And that underwear is anachronistic. 

 

I think it's not always easy to incorporate singing into an opera. That is, characters are like "now, I'm singing" or in Giuletta's case "I'm forbidden to sing" while all the while they continue to sing. 

 

I LOVED Olympia's aria. And Giuletta's songs were very enjoyable as well. I can't figure out why Belle nuit, o nuit d'amour is so familiar to me.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup. Kind of a slow news day.

• Hamilton will now run an additional four weeks through May 3. The extended engagement was originally scheduled through April 5. Also buzz about a Broadway transfer.
• Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey working on Freaky Friday musical. I'd rather see Mean Girls. Then it could join Legally Blonde and Heathers. Can you even imagine?
• Additional casting has been announced for Kenyon Phillips' 90-minute autobiographical rock opera, The Life + Death of Kenyon Phillips, which will play a four-performance engagement at The Box beginning Feb. 20.
• If you can get to Australia Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and Squabbalogic Independent Music Theatre Inc. will present a rare concert performance of George and Ira Gershwin's musical Of Thee I Sing at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall Sept. 26-27.
• Lab of Top Hat with new book (compared to West End version)
• Younger will premiere March 31. They better not switch premiere dates again. It's already asking a lot for me to watch TVLand.
• Ricki and the Flash. I have no idea if this will be amazing or horrible.

[Sara2009]

The full cast for " Finding Neverland" is finally out:

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/179139/complete-casting-announced-for-finding-neverland-on-broadway-teal-wicks-to-play-mary-barrie/

Despite all of the Harvey Weinstein induced drama, I'm still very excited for this show. It has a great cast and crew.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup. Read this one. 

• John Cameron Mitchell, has extended his run in the revival of Hedwig. He will continue through April 26. He was originally scheduled to perform through March 14.
• Producers Lorenzo Thione and Andrew Treagus announced Feb. 5 that the new musical Allegiance will open on Broadway next season at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Previews are set to begin on Broadway Oct. 6 with an official opening Nov. 8.
• Producer Jordan Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theaters, announced Feb. 5 that William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony-winning musical Falsettos will return to Broadway in spring 2016.
• The new musical Cagney, about legendary screen star James Cagney, has replaced the New York premiere of Harold and Maude on the York Theatre Company's season roster due to a scheduling conflict. Cagney, which features a book by Peter Colley and music and lyrics by Robert Creighton and Christopher McGovern, will begin previews at the Off-Broadway venue May 19. The limited engagement will continue through June 22.
• The Rockettes will debut the opening number from their all-new live theatrical production, New York Spring Spectacular, at the 64th NBA All-Star Game. The Rockettes performance at the NBA All-Star Game will be part of the "Entertainment Series presented by JBL" Feb. 15 at Madison Square Garden. The game will air live at 8 PM ET on TNT.
• Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical, a production featuring country music songs inspired by the CBS TV series, will receive its world premiere at the Dallas Theater Center. Performances of Moonshine, which features a book by Robert Horn and a score by Grammy nominee Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, will begin Sept. 2 and continue through Oct. 11. Gary Griffin will direct.
• Christine Dwyer, most recently seen on Broadway as Elphaba in the hit musical Wicked, will co-star in two free performances of 2 Very Dangerous People Sharing 1 Small Space Feb. 22-23 at 7 PM at the Alchemical Theatre Laboratory. The Alchemical Theatre Laboratory is located at 104 W. 14th St., 3rd Floor. Reservations can by made by emailing constructiveoutrageproductions@gmail.com. Tickets for this production are free, but donations are accepted.
• Academy Award nominee Diane Lane and Tony nominee Tony Shalhoub return to the New York Stage in Bathsheba Doran's The Mystery of Love and Sex, which begins previews Feb. 5 at Lincoln Center Theater's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Opening night is set for March 2.
• Workshop presentations of the new Broadway-aimed musical Somewhere in Time, which stars Drama Desk Award nominee Ryan Silverman and Tony Award nominees Laura Osnes and Marc Kudisch, begin Feb. 5 in New York City.

[Rick Kitchen]

George Takei's musical "Allegiance", written by Takei and starring him, will appear on Broadway in the fall.  It tells the story of his family's internment during World War II.

[aradia22]

Guys, I'm sorry to be rude, but are you even reading the Theatre News Roundup?

[Sara2009]

I am. You never said anything about " Finding Neverland"( unless I missed it), so that's why I posted about it.

[aradia22]

@Sara2009 I have been posting about it. Check the February 2 post for the specific notice about Mary Barrie. 

[Charlie Baker]

Definitely reading the Round Up.  And thanks for posting!

[Sara2009]

@Sara2009 I have been posting about it. Check the February 2 post for the specific notice about Mary Barrie.

Sorry I didn't see it.

[SilverShadow]

Anybody planning to see It Shoulda Been You? I definitely want to because I adore David Hyde Pierce, who is directing, and Sierra Boggess.

[P2C2E]

Anybody planning to see It Shoulda Been You? I definitely want to because I adore David Hyde Pierce, who is directing, and Sierra Boggess.

I saw it before Broadway at a regional theatre, so I don't know how much has changed in the show since then. It was a few years ago but I remember enjoying it. I don't think it was spectacular, but it certainly wasn't terrible. It may have undergone rewrites since then and casting will always make a difference.

[aradia22]

Listening to Ella Fitzgerald while doing tonight's Theatre News Roundup.

• Churchill, a new play adapted and performed by Ronald Keaton, begins previews Feb. 6 at New World Stages.
• Previews for On the Twentieth Century, will begin Feb. 13 at the American Airlines Theatre, one day later than originally announced. The date is being changed because they lost a day of tech due to the blizzard. If you have tickets you can exchange them.
• The box office at the Palace Theatre, which will soon be the home of the new musical An American in Paris, opens for business Feb. 6.
  AAIP will arrive at Broadway's Palace March 13 prior to an official opening April 12.
• Collected reviews for Lady Be Good. They are on the whole very positive though the Vulture one has some information I was interested to hear about how they put things together. I remember hearing that there was an accompanying talk for Lady Be Good.

•  

  The story is so threadbare that even Adele Astaire, who starred in the original with her brother, Fred, called it “tacky” and “weak.”

  Hearing how those numbers shoot so far ahead of 1924 that they still feel modern today, you may wonder why the rest of the score (despite lyrical references to “each raggy measure”) does not. One answer is that a lot of the music was written long before the show; as Jack Viertel, the Encores! artistic director, relates, Ira specifically urged George to pull as many unpublished numbers from his trunk as possible, and let him rejigger the words. (“Fascinating Rhythm” was once “Syncopated City.”) The book writers then shoehorned them into the story however they might fit, which is not a way of achieving musical coherence, let alone inspiring a composer’s newest sounds.

  (Original orchestrations were found for only about a fifth of the songs.) Most of what you hear at Encores! (splendidly played, by the way, with the lovely, light textures of the ’20s intact) was inferred from period recordings made by the Astaires and by the original pit pianists, as well as from those wild, difficult-to-transcribe piano rolls. A fragment of one number, recently found at the Library of Congress in Gershwin’s own hand, was played for the first time in public in 90 years last night.

   

• Patti Lupone is part of the workshop of the new musical War Paint, which is based on the Helena Rubinstein-Elizabeth Arden rivalry. The new musical is from the Grey Gardens writing team, with music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and a book by Doug Wright.
• Anyone looking for a job?
• String, a new musical by Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond, was awarded the 2015 Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theater. The show will receive a studio production. String, according to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which administers the Rodgers, "is a modern-day twist on the story of the three Greek Fates: Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho. Atropos, a workaholic goddess, gets tangled up with a security guard in the basement of the tallest building in the world. One mistake leads to another (a lost pair of scissors, a kiss, a stolen string) and soon, Atropos, the oldest Fate, breaks her own rules to offer immortality to an ordinary man."
• I was super excited when I heard Baz Luhrmann had a Netflix deal. Then I heard about the show. I don't need this. I already have Empire. Guys, are you watching Empire? It is crazy. But oddly it's running more smoothly than Nashville and Smash.
• DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company will put on an all-male production of Shakespeare's The Taming of Shrew with Billy Porter as Kate. 
• Billy Porter is also developing a TV series entitled "SoHa," about a group of black, gay friends in their 40s who live in Harlem
• Hugh Jackman might be returning to Broadway in another solo show, this time emphasizing dance. I think he lost me sometime while I was watching Australia but I'm sure plenty of people would be excited if this comes together.

[Charlie Baker]

Not to go too much OT about Empire, but I've been watching.  I'm hardly the demo, but it pretty much works for me.  Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson are terrific.  It amazes me, old as I am, how much story these serialized shows burn through so quickly these days.  My issue with Empire is that I am not all that impressed with the sons, as written and performed, and so I can't get with the parents thinking they're so remarkable and wanting the company to be theirs.

 

Looking forward to Rinaldo's thoughts on Lady, Be Good! 

 

ETA: Really enjoying Shakespeare Uncovered. A documentary series, with each episode focused on one play, hosted, or as the Brits would say, presented, by an actor with a connection to the play at hand. Interviews, rehearsal and performance clips from various productions.  I believe it's streaming nationally on pbs.org. 

Edited February 8, 2015 by Charlie Baker

[aradia22]

The Theatre News Roundup is a little slow again today. I feel like I should skip the weekends but then something might happen. I'm loving Empire for the record. I cannot believe some people don't like Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson. I think the sons do some good work but the writers haven't succeeded in making me care about them. There are scenes here and there but as characters I don't feel much for them. Jamal is the strongest because he has the most compelling story. Hakeem has a lot to do but he's not terribly sympathetic. Andre is just odd. I know what they want to do but what they've actually written... especially with his wife, makes no sense. I want to see the little boy who had to hide his father's gun grown up. The backstory is good but I don't believe that's the character they've actually presented us with. I'm also counting the theatre references. So far we've gotten Mama Rose (Jamal to Cookie), a possible Phantom joke (Cookie about Andre standing there with the rose) and one more I'm forgetting right now. 

 

I'm also looking forward to Rinaldo's review. FOMO almost convinced me to get tickets tonight but I had a dinner to attend. And tomorrow I'm going to the 92Y again.

 

• The week ahead including: The Ice Man Cometh, last chance to see The River, James Barbour taking on Phantom on Monday, John and Jen in previews, On the Twentieth Century in previews, The Last Five Years in select theaters
• LA Opera The Ghost of Versailles with Patti Lupone
• The new pop-rock musical One Day is given its New York premiere at the innovative downtown performance space 3LD Art & Technology Center. Performances begin Feb. 7. Opening night is set for Feb. 19 for a run through March 1. (Oy. I'm sorry but it cannot be overstated how little I care for anything described as a punk musical or a musical for/about teenagers. Unless it's something like Legally Blonde or Heathers. The second I hear that they're going to seriously tackle angst, rebellion, and/or sexuality my brain turns off.)
• James Lecesne's solo play The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey begins performances Feb. 7 at Dixon Place. Performances continue through March 28. "In The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, Lecesne portrays various characters of a small Jersey shore town as "they struggle to understand the mysterious disappearance of a 14-year-old," according to Dixon Place. "The secrets of the townspeople are slowly brought to light and everyone is forced to examine his or her own individual life, as well as the knit of the fractured community."
• Sweet short interview with Alan Cumming's longtime dresser

[Wishing Well]

Saw Carousel last night in Seattle. Just stunning.

[Rinaldo]

You could make a case that LADY, BE GOOD was actually the birth of American musical comedy as it came to be known. It was the first musical with a score by brothers George and Ira Gershwin (book by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson), and thereby was one of the first to showcase the up-to-date “jazz sound” (as it was called then) of the period.

 

It also exemplifies the power structure of show business then: one started not with a story, nor even with a songwriter, but with the stars. In this case, brother-and-sister sensations Fred and Adele Astaire, who had been delighting audiences on two continents, with her as the dominant member (we can see her flapper prettiness in photos, and she seems to have captured the daffy spirit of the time in her singing and dancing). Around them was built a typical farce plot, with the upper-class siblings suddenly impoverished and homeless, a corrupt lawyer with a shady scheme to rescue them, rumors of a Mexican inheritance waiting for the right impostor, romantic partners for everybody, a silly Englishman, and a man-hungry hostess who throws two parties, one in each act.

 

And a special performer who shows up at both parties to do his special numbers. This was originally Cliff Edwards (otherwise known as Ukulele Ike, later to be immortalized as the voice of Jiminy Cricket), who would strum and scat-sing in his weird wailing style. Encores! justifiably decided that the crucial part was not the ukulele but the “special guest star” status, and so hired Tommy Tune. But it didn’t work out as I’d hoped. There was no pretense that he was entertaining a stageful of partygoers -- he appeared on a virtually empty stage and performed only for us, with new dialogue to emphasize his age and height. He had two great songs to work with, “Fascinating Rhythm” and “Little Jazz Bird,” and they were fun in their way, but they really broke the fabric of the show.

 

...which was otherwise in very good hands. Mark Brokaw kept it moving in suitably goofy, light-hearted style (after a couple of seasons with no visible scripts, they were back; in fact this was rather closer to a concert, especially in its costuming, than we’ve seen in some time). Randy Skinner, master of period choreography, worked his magic again. Rob Fisher returned to lead his (and orchestrator Bill Elliott’s) reconstruction with the style and spirit we know to expect from him. And let us never take the wonderful Encores! orchestra for granted.

 

We also had a very well-chosen cast, several of them little-known but all contributing happily to the occasion. Most familiar in advance were Douglas Sills (as the shyster lawyer who gets the title song), Jennifer Laura Thompson (more or less repeating her snooty society lady from Nice Work If You Can Get It), and Colin Donnell & Erin Mackey (as the requisite romantic partners for the siblings), and all were excellent. But the real finds were our Astaire stand-ins — a tough assignment but Danny Gardner and Patti Murin were easily up to it: He had the offbeat goofy look of a just-emerging Fred Astaire and the impressive dance skills to match; and she embodied the carefree giddiness of the 1920s and of Adele in particular.

 

So it was a most gratifying trip back to 1924, one that I’d never expected to experience (this is the farthest back that the series has gone). Having seen it, I now understand more about the form I love, AND I had a great time.

[Julia]

I still would love to see Tommy Tune dancing to Fascinating Rhythm. He always had a Ray Bolger/Buddy Ebsen thing going on which made me happy.

[aradia22]

I'm back from the latest Lyrics and Lyricists concert. It was called Here's to the Girls and featured a bunch of songs curated from various movie musicals that were sung by famous starlets. It was a very enjoyable evening and the performers they called in were all very talented. The Charles Busch interstitial narration tying everything together didn't blow me away but it was fine. I could go into all of the songs, though I'm not sure whether to put that here or take it over to the TCM. My one big disappointment was that Mitzi Gaynor was originally supposed to appear and then tonight they said Robert Osborne was going to appear instead and I was SO EXCITED. But Robert sadly has the flu and so there was no special guest. Sigh... But still, it was a great night of music. While I've never gotten into Ethel Merman hearing all these songs really highlights the kind of voices and performers we'd lose without revivals and throwback musicals. In fact, I kind of wish revivals would try harder to cast performers with these kinds of voices. And I stuck out like a sore thumb even more than usual tonight. 

 

Experience notes: Sat in the first row. Never doing that again. God, my neck hurts.

I'm so happy you enjoyed the performance, Rinaldo. Thanks for taking the time to type out your thoughts for us. Do you have any opinion on Paint Your Wagon and Zorba (the other two Encores productions this year)? I know nothing about either. They probably won't be quite as special because they won't have to reach as far back but hearing your positive opinion of Encores has peaked my interest.

[aradia22]

Theatre News Roundup

• Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba, John Bolton, and Ethan Slater take part in readings of the new musical Social Life, about the impact of social media and technology on modern lives, beginning Feb. 8. According to press notes, Social Life is an innovative new musical driven by electro-pop tracks that utilize "technical elements that have never been used in the theatre before." (Shakes head. NOPE.)
• The Lion, Benjamin Scheuer's autobiographical coming-of-age musical that played MTC Stage II at City Center this past summer, officially opens Feb. 8 at 5 PM at the Lynn Redgrave Theater following previews that began Feb. 3.
• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical beat out Disney's Aladdin, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and the San Francisco Symphony's live recording of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's West Side Story for Best Musical Theatre Album. (BOO. I mean Gentleman's Guide is really the only one with completely original music but still... BOO. It doesn't really matter though. The Grammy's are always shockingly out of date by the time they roll around, especially for a medium like music.)
• The Miranda Theatre Company's new version of Joe Pintauro's Snow Orchid officially opens Feb. 8 at 3 PM following previews that began Feb. 3 at Off-Broadway's Lion Theatre on Theatre Row.

 

Again, let me know if there are other sites you want me to scour, especially for when there are slow news days.

[Wishing Well]

Just got tickets to the POTO Tour...I'm iffy on it. I've seen the show four times and each time I've gotten amazing Phantoms, including the magnificent John Cudia, and being that it's my favorite musical I have a pretty high bar. Ramin Karimloo, despite what people say, and John Owen Jones set my standard despite only seeing them on film so I tend to be kind of harsh.

That said, current Phantom is...Chris Mann. Of Team Xtina on season 2 of The Voice. He did alright there but one of the biggest problems was that his voice was just pretty, there wasn't much emotional depth or power to it. He was just your typical baritenor singing the same array of songs that Groban and Bocelli sing. So I'm a little hesitant to see how this goes but I liked him well enough so...

[aradia22]

It's time. For the THEATRE NEWS ROUNDUP!!! (Imagine I'm shouting that like the X Factor announcer.) 

 

...but first, a question. I generally skip most of the West End and regional theatre news unless a big name is attached or it's just too interesting to not cover because we'd be here forever. How much of that stuff do you want to see in the Theatre News Roundup going forward? Also, if any of you are based in Chicago, California, etc. I can specifically keep an eye out for those stories instead of filtering them out. Let me know!

• The 14th edition of If It Only Even Runs a Minute is taking place at 54 Below night. Which means the videos will be on the web within the next few weeks. Hooray! If you haven't checked this series out on youtube, WHAT are you waiting for?
• You may have already heard but sadly, John Cameron Mitchell sustained an injury during a performance of Hedwig. Wishing him a speedy recovery!
• Well, this is an unusual gimmick. In keeping with the spirit of art historian Heidi Holland, the protagonist of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles, producers of the Broadway revival announced Feb. 9 that the production will offer a free one-year membership to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) with the purchase of two full-price orchestra or front-mezzanine tickets to any performance through April 16. Tickets must be purchased on or before Feb. 22. Those who are already MoMA members will receive a one-year extension on their membership.
• Gotta Dance, a new musical based on the acclaimed 2008 documentary of the same name, will make its pre-Broadway world premiere beginning Dec. 13 at Broadway In Chicago’s Bank of America Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, the production will continue through Jan. 17, 2016, before heading to Broadway in spring 2016. (I'm not that interested in the story or another dance show but the crazy mix of creatives is at least a little intriguing.)
• The Los Angeles premiere of the re-imagined, environmental and immersive production of Carrie will begin performances March 12, prior to an official opening March 18, at Southern California's La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.
• The box office at Finding Neverland opens Feb. 9 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Previews will begin March 15. This article also gives you a refresher on the cast and creatives and a 30 second spot.
• Amas Musical Theatre and The Amas Musical Theatre Lab present free staged readings of the new musical I Am, I Will, I Do Feb. 9 at 6 PM and Feb. 10 at 3 PM and 7 PM at Shetler Studios in Manhattan.
• Hunter Foster will direct the Bucks County Playhouse's 76th anniversary season's season's first two offerings, National Pastime and Company; New Hope, PA
• Heads up for any actors and also a look at what's in the works
• Odds and Ends including: The Tony Awards directing team getting honored at the DGA's and the first trailer for Bloodline 
• A playwright and a sculptor wage war in Posterity, a new play by Pulitzer and Tony winner Doug Wright premiering February 25, 2015 at the Atlantic Theatre Company.

[Rinaldo]

Before I try to answer your question, aradia, I should explain that I haven't responded on your question about theater roundups because I feel like they're not aimed at me in the first place -- I visit the theater websites daily on my own, always have. So there's no need for me to read them again here.

Do you have any opinion on Paint Your Wagon and Zorba (the other two Encores productions this year)? I know nothing about either. 

It's inevitably a very personal matter, as we're all interested in different things. I'm eager to see any title they schedule (with maybe 2 or 3 exceptions), as it's all part of the picture of the genre, the casting is often valuable (our current stars often aren't getting a chance to play the classics as they would like), and this is nearly the only place where we can hear the full orchestration, which means the world to me. (Other exceptions: NY Phil concerts like last year's Carousel, the current On the Town, and the imminent King and I.)

 

OK. Paint Your Wagon is especially enticing to me because it was Lerner & Loewe's big one between Brigadoon and My Fair Lady. It was on the same scale but didn't do as well. (Lerner kept trying to "fix" it later, doing rewrites for later productions and giving the movie a whole new story; I hope Encores! gives us what was originally done on Broadway.) Much of the music hasn't been heard since that original run: there's a ton of ballet music (unrecorded, of course), as when they couldn't figure out needed to happen in the plot Agnes De Mille would just create another 10-minute ballet. Loewe's music is atmospheric and beautiful as always, and there are some interesting casting possibilities. (Old prospector: John Cullum? His daughter: any of our current ingenues. Lonely young Mexican: ?? Robust baritone whose sole job is to sing "They Call the Wind Maria": Ben Davis?) This is one of the "famous but little-seen" titles that everyone knew they'd get to eventually. I'm excited it's finally come up.

 

Zorba was Kander & Ebb's next one after Cabaret, and it shares a bit of DNA with it (the ensemble "presents" the story and takes roles to enact it for us) and with Fiddler on the Roof, having been a vehicle for one of the later Tevyes (Herschel Bernardi) and used others of its original cast. I know it only from the CD, which clearly gives a very partial picture. Surely they must have someone in mind for Zorba if they scheduled it; I wonder who.

[Charlie Baker]

After his success with Nine, there was talk of a Zorba revival with Antonio Banderas.  Don't know if he would do Encores, but it's a tantalizing thought.

[Rinaldo]

He might. Nobody expected him to be anything but "movie star condescends to appear onstage" in Nine, but he was a total pro -- never missed a performance in 8 months, met every challenge, sang like a dream (his recording is all around the best-sung version of that difficult score). It all would depend whether he has a gap in his commitments at the right time. The 3-week-total window is what sometimes makes it possible for Encores! to get people who might otherwise seem out of reach.

 

I rather suspect, though, that they have more of a stage regular in mind; I just can't think who.

[Milburn Stone]

Rinaldo, thanks greatly for your insightful (and educational) review of Encores!'s Lady Be Good.

 

(What a pain to have to add a possessive to a word that already has punctuation.) :)

[aradia22]

 

Before I try to answer your question, aradia, I should explain that I haven't responded on your question about theater roundups because I feel like they're not aimed at me in the first place -- I visit the theater websites daily on my own, always have. So there's no need for me to read them again here.

No problem, Rinaldo. It's here if you need it but I won't feel slighted if you don't. Out of curiosity, what websites do you check daily?

 

Thanks for your insight on Paint Your Wagon and Zorba. I might give the OBC albums a listen when I have the chance. I just re-listened to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (still holds up) and Honeymoon in Vegas (highs and lows but generally middle of the road) yesterday. 

 

Oh, and before I forget to ask, is there any benefit to signing up for the subscription series? I am so unclear on how it works and there's no FAQ about it on the Encores site. 

[aradia22]

Tonight's Theatre News Roundup is being brought to you by a very sleepy kitten. Apologizes in advance for any errors.

• A reading of Breaking Bobby Stone took place today. This new comedy, according to press notes, "tells the story of Bobby Stone a reclusive movie star with a reputation for eccentricity. When a young reporter (Ben Platt) puts everything on the line for an exclusive interview, it erupts into a chaotic frenzy neither of them could ever have imagined." Breaking Bobby Stone is aiming for a theatrical run in the 2015-16 season.
• The Kilroys schedule with works by female playwrights and directors. High-end realty, Native Americans vs. the KKK, and girls' basketball in the 1930's Midwest.
• JCM will return to Hedwig after his knee injury. Hopefully he doesn't aggravate the problem.
• The Off-Broadway revival of Rocket to the Moon, the Off-Broadway comedy Application Pending, and the Off-Broadway Andrew Lippa musical John & Jen premiere tonight.
• Showtime has opted not to proceed with "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," Rachel Bloom's half-hour comedy pilot with musical elements that featured Tony Award nominee Santino Fontana, Drama Desk Award winner Donna Lynne Champlin and Vincent Rodriguez III, according to Deadline.com. (Pretty cool with this as that's a terrible name for a show and I wouldn't watch anything on Showtime anyway.)
• The Children's Theatre Company season including Akeelah and the Bee and Diary of a Wimpy Kid
• MCC Theatre season
• Williamstown 2015 season with some marquis names
• Hollywood Bowl season. A little vague on the details.

[Rinaldo]

No problem, Rinaldo. It's here if you need it but I won't feel slighted if you don't. Out of curiosity, what websites do you check daily?

Thanks for your understanding. Let's see -- the ones I have bookmarked are Playbill (and its spinoff Playbill Arts), Broadway.com, TheaterMania, and Broadway World. I used to look at Talkin' Broadway but haven't felt the need in quite a while. Those are the main ones for me.

[aradia22]

I like the boards for Broadway World but I cannot figure out how to navigate that main page. The layout is such a mess.

[Rinaldo]

Agreed. So many sites seem to have a web-design person who thinks "it looks cool to me" is more important than "it's easy for users to navigate." I try to stay away from the boards there, as the conversations always degenerate in predictable directions. Once or twice a year, I'm weak and post something, and then regret it.

 

I saw Honeymoon in Vegas on Saturday too. Things can be said both for and against it, and there are some basic story problems that, even after this long, long development time, still haven't been dealt with. But I usually like the words and music of Jason Robert Brown, and he writes very enjoyably in the jazzy Rat-Pack 60s idiom that prevails here. (Weirdly though, they didn't set it in that era -- people make contemporary pop-culture references and have cell phones. Keeping it early 60s would help, at least marginally, with the whole whoring-out-your-fiancée premise of the story.) It helped my enjoyment that the conductor is a longtime friend of mine, and he and the band are featured onstage more than once, as if they were characters. 

[Unraveled]

George Takei's musical "Allegiance", written by Takei and starring him, will appear on Broadway in the fall.  It tells the story of his family's internment during World War II.

I'm looking forward to this. I know virtually nothing about the music. Hopefully we'll find out more.

 

Fingers crossed that Lea Salonga will be able to play the mother role again. Please!!

[aradia22]

Rinaldo: I'm enjoying the novelty of posting there right now. But I'm aware that it's dipping a toe out of the safe zone of previously and our little community here and into the wilds of the internet (I think I mixed metaphors) so let's just say I hold back from being as honest as I might be here.

 

I haven't listened to any JRB except for things in concerts and listening to the Honeymoon cast album recently. I think I'll wait to see the show until Brynn O'Malley is back in but all predictions say it's not long for this world. I don't understand the present-day setting either. It accomplishes nothing to make a Jay Z/Beyonce reference. Nothing. Compare that to the superior lyric in Great Big Stuff in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels where there's a point in referencing Sean Puffy Combs. Listening to the score, there were hits and misses. I didn't find it offensive, but I could have done without a lot of the negative stereotypes pushed onto the female characters. Not sure why carrying on the fetishization of Asian women is something we needed to do either. South Pacific, Miss Saigon... this isn't new. But at least those characters had the excuse of being in a desperate situation and doing what they did for survival, knowingly taking advantage of stereotypes and using it to their advantage. I don't know how they explain it in the plot here but I imagine it's more regressive that those plays which is kind of sad. I know people are upset with Out of the Sun but again it didn't bother me. I just didn't find it funny. Again compare DRS and the melanoma line in Oklahoma. My favorite numbers from the album were probably When You Say Vegas, Come to An Agreement, You Made the Wait Worthwhile, Isn't That Enough, and Airport Song. I don't really think there are classics in the score but I can see people doing some of the romantic songs in cabarets and at auditions. 

 

Unraveled: I'm looking forward to it, too. I think I heard two or three songs and wasn't that impressed but that was ages ago and they may have made changes. I think Lea expressed concern about being too old for the role but I still bought her (well, almost) in Cinderella a few years ago so I think she would be fine. Also, I don't know how necessary it is for her character to be a certain age so it could work as long as they cast the right actor alongside her. Plus, selfishly, I so want to stage door for that.