Theatre Talk: In Our Own Little Corner

DisneyBoy · April 21, 2015

Happy 15 pages!

(Also, I never knew you were a GIRL. I assumed you were a guy.)

Finally watched the La Jolla Hunchback bootleg and....it was....in need of an experienced director. It really felt like the actors were left to sink or swim on their own. Hellfire was bland as hell. Didn't think they could get that number wrong, but they did.

Overall, Frollo's singing voice was terrific but his characterization was really sympathetic and sad...not scary. That didn't work.

Esmeralda was the standout. Passionate performance, great voice, just terrific. And unexpected - she really isn't the kind of actress I thought would get the part, from her attitude to her physicality. You'd think they'd hire a dancer who can sing well, really thin and maybe European. It was a pleasant surprise to see her rock it up there.

I HATED the narration. The ensemble were royally misused to fill in gaps everywhere. The moving of the props around (and in the climax especially!!!) was infuriating. They dropped the three Gargoyles to create an ARMY of people with the exact same dialogue? Dumb move.

The whole *SPOILER* idea of Frollo's brother was rushed, half-baked and unneeded. Nun said.

I was moved in the end though. The music is still powerful and so is the story. I'm just really glad they didn't move this to Broadway. Set aside, it would have still crashed and burned. Waaaaay too much of a Community Theatre vibe here.

Charlie Baker · April 22, 2015

A few links... but hey, I'm no aradia! :-)

Reviews for Dr. Zhivago NSG: http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-DOCTOR-ZHIVAGO-Opens-on-Broadway-Updating-LIVE-20150421

Reviews for the Broadway reopen of Fun Home, however...http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Review-Roundup-FUN-HOME-Opens-on-Broadway--Updating-LIVE-20150419

Two beloved stars in a revival of a Pulitzer winner: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/james-earl-jones-and-cicely-tyson-will-star-in-broadway-revival-of-the-gin-game-347392

But star power didn't prevent this revival of a Pulitzer winner from closing early: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/21/heidi-chronicles-to-close-on-may-3/?smid=nytimesarts

Guess Sutton Foster won't be back on stage for a bit. http://tvline.com/2015/04/21/younger-renewed-season-2-tv-land/

Rick Kitchen · April 22, 2015

"Between Riverside and Crazy" won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

I ordered my tickets for the Sacramento Music Circus Season - My Fair lady, Bye Bye Birdie, West Side Story and Hair.

aradia22 · April 24, 2015

"(Also, I never knew you were a GIRL. I assumed you were a guy.)"

Was that directed at me? If so... really?

Yes, you guys, I'm back. I've missed you so much. I skipped the entertainment on the cruise many nights. Let's just leave it at that. *shudders* TNR will resume tonight.

aradia22 · April 24, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: What Did I Miss? Edition OK, I couldn't resist. I'm picking and choosing some interesting stories that were posted while I was away. Today's regular TNR will be posted after that. By the way, I feel like the I Wanna Be A Producer and A Musical sections are at war right now. I'm not sure how to fix it. In my mind "In the Works" should be for things in development while A Musical is for all the musical stories that don't fit neatly in other categories and should include productions that might transfer to Broadway. Tell me if you have any ideas.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

The international and Edinburgh Fringe Festival hit Nirbhaya makes its U.S. premiere Off-Broadway beginning April 16. The award-winning docudrama is based on the Delhi bus gang rape in 2012 and features performers' testimonials of female violence.
New York's Public Theater Lab production of Toast, the new play by acclaimed poet and playwright Lemon Andersen (Def Poetry Jam), begins April 21 Off-Broadway. Leading the cast is Broadway vet Keith David. (David gets to have some fun in season 6 of Community. Not as much as he should but if you gave up on the show at some point it might be worth checking it out again. Might.)
Irish Repertory Theatre presents the New York premiere of Nate Rufus Edelman’s The Belle of Belfast, which officially opens April 23 featuring Patricia Conolly.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

The first Broadway revival of The Heidi Chronicles, which officially opened at the Music Box Theatre March 19 following previews that began Feb. 23, will play its final performance May 3, according to the New York Times.
Application Pending, the new Off-Broadway comedy starring Christina Bianco, ended its run April 19 at the Westside Theatre.
The long-running production of Mamma Mia! will now play its final performance Sept. 12, following 5,773 performances on Broadway. The original closing was scheduled for Sept. 5.
The West End premiere run of a revised version of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is to shutter May 23. It had previously announced an extension through Aug. 22.

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN THE WORKS)

The complete creative team has been announced for the Drury Lane Theatre's upcoming production of Beaches, the new musical adapted from the 1985 novel by Iris Rainer Dart — which premiered last year at Virginia's Signature Theatre starring Mara Davi and Alysha Umphress. Beaches, which is billed as "pre-Broadway," will begin performances at the Oakbrook Terrace, IL venue June 24 and continue through Aug. 16.

Everyone’s a Critic (REVIEWS)

It Shoulda Been You Reviews
Finding Neverland Reviews
The King and I Reviews (Weirdly mixed on the Ken Watanabe diction issue and more positive than I was on Kelli O'Hara. I still want to see it again though I probably won't. Tickets are still beyond my budget and will probably be even more difficult to secure now.)
Reviews of the Broadway production of Fun Home
Living on Love Reviews
Doctor Zhivago Reviews
Something Rotten Reviews
Airline Highway Reviews
The Visit Reviews (By the way, if you've been waiting on me, you've got a LOT of reading to do. ;) )

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Complete casting has been announced for the City Center Encores! production of Zorba!, which will play the famed Manhattan venue May 6-10.
Jessie Mueller will star in American Repertory Theater's world-premiere production of Sara Bareilles' musical Waitress starting Aug. 1, A.R.T. representatives confirmed. (I have yet to get the love for Jessie Mueller. Maybe if this comes to Broadway it'll be the show that converts me.)
Casting is now complete for the world-premiere of the musical Marley at Center Stage, the State Theater of Maryland.
The Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced additional casting for its 2015 summer season, which includes the anticipated staging of Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten starring Audra McDonald and Will Swenson.
A number of key cast changes are to occur at the West End return of Miss Saigon beginning performances May 11 as it enters its second year at the Prince Edward Theatre. (There are not enough changes to suggest that they will be moving the production to Broadway, just that people are leaving as their contracts are probably up.)
Heather Headley, will star as The Witch in The Muny's upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods. The show will play the St. Louis venue July 21-27.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Emma Stone is currently in negotiations to star as an actress in the new movie musical "La La Land," according to TheWrap. Damien Chazelle will direct the film based on his own screenplay. Ryan Gosling is also circling the project, according to Deadline.com. TheWrap describes the film as "a two-hander that follows a pair of dreamers--aspiring actress Mia, who’s lonely desperate to fit in, and cocky yet charismatic jazz pianist Sebastian--who fall in love in Los Angeles. However, the city that brought them together may tear them apart, as they soon discover that balancing love and art in such a cutthroat climate isn’t easy."
Madonna, who attended the April 18 evening performance of Hamilton, was not invited backstage following the performance after texting throughout the second act. Madonna's representative, Liz Rosenberg, issued a statement to Us Weekly, saying, "It's not true. She was invited backstage four different times. She texted post show when they were doing their fundraising pitch. Madonna had already made a generous donation." (DRAMA!)

Brush Up Your Shakespeare (SHAKESPEARE)

Northern Sky Theater in Door County, WI, has announced that its 2015 season will feature a unique musical re-imagining of the Shakespeare classic, Romeo and Juliet. The loosely based adaptation is titled No Bones About It and is aptly set at the Verona National Ribfest.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music will stage the Royal Shakespeare Company's acclaimed productions of Shakespeare's Richard II and Henry IV Parts I and II, helmed by RSC artistic director Gregory Doran. The productions will run in repertory at the BAM Harvey Theater March 24-May 16, 2016. The special presentation will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, with special performances also set to be staged in London's Barbican and in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The Drilling Company returns to Bryant Park with three free outdoor productions of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. The troupe is known for its "Shakespeare in the Parking Lot" stagings and made their Bryant Park debut last year with Hamlet. Kicking off the Bryant Park season will be the Bard's romantic comedy about mismatched lovers, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, to be directed by artistic director Hamilton Clancy. The classic story will be re-imagined in New York City's very own Little Italy neighborhood. Performances will run May 15-31, Friday through Sunday at Bryant Park.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

"Broadway's Future Songbook Series" — presented by Arts and Artists at St. Paul — will continue April 27 in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
A starry group of Broadway veterans will appear at the Prospect Theater Company's 2015 gala concert and reception May 16. A Concert Evening Celebrating Women Making Musicals will be held at the Times Center.
Mark Cortale, who is the producing artistic director of The Art House in Provincetown, has announced a star-studded season for summer 2015. Performers include Melissa Ferrick, Rosie O'Donnell, Laura Osnes, Sutton Foster, Lea DeLaria, Deborah Voigt, Norm Lewis, NPH and David Burtka, Kerry Butler, Audra McDonald, Jane Krakowski, and Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner.
Patti LuPone will bring her acclaimed concert Far Away Places to the Schimmel Center at Pace University on May 9 as part of their Broadway/Cabaret series.
Musical theatre stars, including Chita Rivera, Raul Esparza, Norm Lewis and Marin Mazzie, will perform classic numbers from Kander & Ebb musicals at the annual Classic Stage Company gala May 11.
Nicole Parker will offer an evening entitled Suitcase Full of Lies April 26 at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. (A very original premise. I'll give it that. I enjoyed most of her musical skits on MadTV.)
Performers from Broadway Bares will perform solo, choreographed stripteases May 10 at 42West in Broadway Bares Solo Strips. The evening, hosted by Matilda's Lesli Margherita, will raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The 27th Broadway Spring Festival will feature the annual Shana Farr Cabaret Competition on May 3, where 25 vocalists will perform and compete on an outdoor stage at Broadway and 93rd St. in New York City. The competition will run from 2-5 PM and will be judged by a panel which includes cabaret performer Shana Farr, opera singer Victoria Casella, entertainment publicist Les Schecter and talent manager Lewis Ehlers. The festival, sponsored by the Broadway Mall Center, is free and open to all.
Jacob Langfelder will present Broadway the Hardway's Spring Break Festival, featuring Sky-Pony (led by Tony nominee Lauren Worsham) with special guest Grace McLean and The Deafening (led by Tony winner Lena Hall), May 21 at 42West.

A Musical (MUSICALS)

Amazing Grace, a new musical about the creation of the spiritual song of the same title, will open on Broadway July 16 at the Nederlander Theatre. The new musical features music and lyrics by Christopher Smith and a book by Christopher Smith and Arthur Giron, directed by Gabriel Barre and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. Performances will begin June 25. The cast will include Josh Young, Erin Mackey, Chuck Cooper, Chris Hoch, Stanley Bahorek, Harriett D. Foy, Laiona Michelle, Rachael Ferrera and Elizabeth Ward Land. (I've seen this mentioned here and there but I don't know anything about it really. Still, always nice to see a new musical making its way to Broadway.)
The world premiere of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice A Musical plays the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts April 17-May 10. The cast comprises Bets Malone as Jane Austen, Jill Van Velzer as Cassandra Austen, Andrew Arrow as Mr. Gardiner, Brandon Andrus as Fitzwilliam Darcy, Mathew D'Amico as Dream Soldier, Eddie Egan as Mr. Bingley, Samantha Eggers as Jane Bennet, Arielle Fishman as Lydia Bennet, Kimberly Hessler as Mary Bennet, Matthew Kacergis as Mr. Wickham, Jamison Lingle as Caroline Bingley, Katharine Kelly McDonough as Kitty Bennet, Patricia Noonan as Elizabeth Bennet, Gregory North as Mr. Bennet, Amanda Naughton as Mrs. Bennet, Jeff Skowron as Mr. Collins, Brian Steven Shaw as Dream Soldier and Leigh Brian Wakeford as Dream Soldier. The musical, according to press notes, "springs to life when the author re-imagines the world of her novel. As the compelling love story of Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy unfolds, Austen learns to see both the story and herself in a new light." (Putting Austen in the story sounds like it's over-complicating things but who knows, it could be good.)
Speaking of Austen, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's world premiere of Sense and Sensibility, a musical adaptation of Jane Austen’s beloved novel, plays the Courtyard Theater April 18-June 7. Featuring book, music and lyrics by Tony nominee Paul Gordon, the production is helmed by artistic director Barbara Gaines. The cast is headed by Megan McGinnis as Marianne Dashwood, Sharon Rietkerk as Elinor, Wayne Wilcox as Edward Ferrars, Sean Allan Krill as Colonel Brandon, Peter Saide as Willoughby, Michael Aaron Lindner as John Middleton, Paula Scrofano as Mrs. Jennings, David Schlumpf as John Dashwood, Tiffany Scott as Fanny Dashwood and Emily Berman as Steele. The ensemble also features Elizabeth Telford, Megan Long and Colin Morgan.
ZM, the latest musical by the team that wrote Urinetown, will be one of three new musicals that will be developed this summer at 38th annual National Music Theater Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. There will also be a musical based on Kurt Vonnegut's classic novel, "Slaughterhouse Five," and another set in the midst of the 2011 revolution in Egypt.
Emily Padgett will lead the cast of of Waterfall, a new Maltby and Shire romantic musical set during the changing political landscape of Thailand in the 1930s, having its world premiere at Pasadena Playhouse in June. The production has Broadway in its sights. Waterfall previews begin May 29, with the official press opening set for June 7. Based on the Thai novel "Behind the Painting" by Sriburapha, the new musical will be directed by Tak Viravan, who also staged an earlier musical incarnation of the novel in Thailand. According to the creators, "Waterfall is an epic love story, set in Bangkok and Tokyo between the turbulent years of 1933 and 1939, as a monarchy falls in Thailand and Japan is on the brink of war. A young Thai student falls in love with the American wife of a Thai diplomat, and the story of their forbidden love parallels history as the new democracy of Siam moves into the vortex of the increasingly anti-American Japan. With a gloriously romantic score, Waterfall is a modern love story of timeless scale." (I had issues with her Daisy but I am intrigued by the material and creatives.)
Because of Winn-Dixie, the new musical by songwriter Duncan Sheik and lyricist Nell Benjamin, has extended its run at the Delaware Theatre Company.
Lincoln Center Theater has announced casting for the LCT3 production of Preludes, the new musical by Dave Malloy, developed with and directed by Rachel Chavkin. The world premiere will feature Tony winners Nikki M. James and Gabriel Ebert. Performances of Preludes will begin May 23 and continue through July 19 at Lincoln Center's Claire Tow Theater. Official opening night is set for June 15. From the creators of the acclaimed Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, the show is inspired by the music of Sergei Rachmaninov. The story follows the Russian composer's struggle to overcome writer's block following a disastrous first premiere. Played by Ebert, the young Rachmaninov begins daily sessions with a hypnotist.
The world-premiere musical Come from Away, inspired by the story of a small town hosting people on Sept. 11, will receive its world premiere at California's La Jolla Playhouse. Come from Away will begin performances May 29 prior to an official opening June 11. It will continue through July 5. The musical features book, music and lyrics by the Canadian husband-and-wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein. The cast includes Jenn Colella as Beverly, Chad Kimball (Nope) as Colin 1, Joel Hatch as Claude, Rodney Hicks as Bob, Caesar Samayoa as Colin 2, Q Smith as Lana, Sharon Wheatley as Diane, Petrina Bromley as Bonnie, Lee MacDougall as Nick, Astrid Van Wierenas Beulah, Geno Carr as Oz and Allison Spratt Pearce as Janice. "Come from Away is an original, rock-infused world-premiere musical based on the true story of when the isolated town of Gander, Newfoundland played host to the world," "What started as an average day in a small town turned in to an international sleep-over when 38 planes, carrying thousands of people from across the globe, were diverted to Gander on September 11, 2001. Undaunted by culture clashes and language barriers, the spirited town cheered the stranded travelers with music, an open bar and the recognition that we're all part of a global family."
Theater Row's Clurman Theater Off-Broadway will present the world premiere of Nancy Harrow's jazz musical For the Last Time, set in 1950's New Orleans and inpsired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Marble Faun." For the Last Time features a book by Will Pomerantz and Harrow, based on the story of a beautiful artist who finds herself hunted by a mysterious man. Performances are set to begin May 19 with an official opening night scheduled for May 28.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

The Public Theater has announced that Grounded, starring Anne Hathaway, will extend through May 24.
Tony Award winners James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson will co-star in a Broadway revival of D.L. Coburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Gin Game, which will begin previews Sept. 21 at the Golden Theatre.
Cuckold, a short play written by Wesley Taylor, will premiere this summer at the Manhattan Repertory Theater 2015 One Act Competition.
Latvia's New Riga Theatre has announced that actor, choreographer and dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov will perform in Brodksy/Baryshnikov this October, with an international tour planned. The show will be an interpretation of Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky's work, with whom Baryshnikov shared a close friendship for 22 years.
Second Stage Theatre has announced the cast for the world premiere of Emily Schwend's ghostly drama The Other Thing, part of its Uptown Series presented at the company's McGinn/Cazale Theatre. Notable among them is John Doman. The Other Thing follows journalist Kim on her assignment to cover a team of ghost hunters in rural Virginia. Taking place outside a haunted barn, the show follows Kim as she waits for the spirits to reveal themselves--only to find that the ghosts are closer than she thinks.
The 2015 Carnaval of New Latina/o Work. The event will take place July 23-25 at Chicago's Theatre School at DePaul University.
Nick Cordero is among the cast for the world premiere production of Melissa Ross' Nice Girl, presented by the Labyrinth Company. Also featured are Diane Davis, Kathryn Kates, and Liv Rooth. Performances of Nice Girl are set to run May 7 through June 7 at Bank Street Theater. Ross' latest play is set in a small, middle class suburb outside of Boston in 1984. It follows Jo Rosen, a 37-year-old woman with a dead-end job who still lives at home with her mother. "When a chance flirtation with an old classmate and a new friendship at work give her hope for the possibility of change, Jo dusts off the Jane Fonda tapes and begins to take tentative steps towards a new life," say press notes. (I don't know if this was the intention but that description makes the play sound like a rom-com/chick flick. I mean that in the bad way.)
Gingold Theatrical Group’s Project Shaw, which is under the leadership of founding artistic director David Staller, will continue May 18 at 7 PM with a reading of George Bernard Shaw’s Overruled.
Roundabout Theatre has announced the participants for the fourth annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series, a five-night event that will feature readings of new plays written and directed by emerging artists. The readings will be held May 4-8 at the Black Box Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.
Alan Campbell will star in the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater's upcoming production of Theresa Rebeck's Seminar, which will begin previews May 14 at the Massachusetts venue. A provocative comedy from Pulitzer Prize nominee Rebeck, Seminar, according to press notes, is a "story of four aspiring young novelists who sign up for private writing classes with Leonard (Alan Campbell), an international literary figure. Under his recklessly brilliant and unorthodox instruction, some thrive and others flounder, alliances are made and broken, sex is used as a weapon and hearts are unmoored. The wordplay is not the only thing that turns vicious as innocence collides with experience in this biting Broadway comedy." (This sounds far from interesting or original but I was not going to ignore a Smash connection.)
The long-running Off-Broadway thriller Perfect Crime, which first opened in 1987, celebrates its 29th anniversary–and 11,482nd performance–today at the Anne L. Bernstein Theater in the Theater Center near Times Square. (I've only heard terrible things but it's still an accomplishment so congrats to them.)

One Song Glory (ALBUMS)

Ghostlight Records has announced plans to record the original Broadway cast album of Something Rotten! The album will be released digitally June 2, with a July 17 in-store and online release to follow.
A cast album of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit starring two-time Tony Award winner Chita Rivera, will be released June 26. The cast will record the album April 27.
Multi-platinum-selling singer-songwriter Adam Lambert will release his third studio album in June. Titled "The Original High," the new recording will be available beginning June 16 through Warner Bros. Records.
A recording of Tokio Confidential, a new musical with words and music by Eric Schorr that had its Off-Broadway world premiere in 2012, will be released by Broadway Records on CD and digitally May 12.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

Finding Neverland will launch a U.S. national tour in October 2016.
Bryce Ryness will star as Miss Trunchbull in the national tour of Matilda The Musical, which officially launches this May in Los Angeles. Young actresses Gabby Gutierrez, Mia Sinclair Jenness and Mabel Tyler will share the title role with a cast that includes Jennifer Blood (Miss Honey), Quinn Mattfeld (Mr. Wormwood) and Cassie Silva (Mrs. Wormwood).

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

The Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company has announced a year-long residency of five productions that will be staged at the West End's Garrick Theatre, beginning in October. Actors already confirmed to appear include Judi Dench, Lily James, Richard Madden and Rob Brydon, as well as Branagh himself in three of the productions.
Dreamgirls is London bound, according to a report in the Daily Mail. Slated to begin in early 2016, the Tony-winning musical will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw.
Matthew Warchus has announced his inaugural season as artistic director of London's Old Vic, where he has succeeded Kevin Spacey's ten-year tenure. Groundhog Day, a musical version of the 1993 film of the same name, which has already announced Broadway plans to open March 9, 2017, will be premiered at the Old Vic first in 2016. Drew McOnie will direct and choreograph a new dance thriller Jekyll and Hyde, inspired by the Robert Louis Stevenson story, that has been specially commissioned by the Old Vic as part of its new dance collaboration with the McOnie Company.   Also programmed is David Greig's new stage adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax.
The U.K. premiere of Simon Stephens' Carmen Disruption opens officially at London's Almeida Theatre April 17, following previews that began April 10, for a run through May 23. (Lots of Carmen adaptations. Did copyright expire? Is there an anniversary I'm not aware of? I feel the same way about all the Peter Pan adaptations.)
John Goodman, Tom Sturridge and Damian Lewis star in the new West End revival of American Buffalo, which begins performances April 16 prior to an official opening April 27 at Wyndham's Theatre, where it will play a limited season through June 27.
What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, which originally premiered at Off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop in 2013, is to receive its U.K premiere at London's Menier Chocolate Factory, beginning performances July 3 prior to an official opening July 15, for a run through Sept. 5.
London's Lyric Hammersmith is to present the world premiere of Tipping the Velvet, a new adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel that will reunite writer Laura Wade and director Lyndsey Turner. The story is set in 1887. Nancy Astley sits in the audience at her local music hall. She doesn’t know it yet, but the next act on the bill will change her life. Tonight is the night she'll fall in love, with the thrill of the stage and with Kitty Butler, a girl who wears trousers. Giddy with desire and hungry for experience, Nancy follows Kitty to London where unimaginable adventures await.

I Want to Go to Hollywood (MOVIE NEWS)

The film adaptation of the Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical Lucky Stiff, featuring Tony winners Jason Alexander, Nikki M. James and the late Dennis Farina, will be released in New York July 24 at the AMC 25, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Ewan McGregor is in final negotiations to join Disney's live-action movie musical Beauty and the Beast as Lumiere according to the Hollywood Reporter. (No one could be Jerry Orbach. As much as I loved Moulin Rouge I don't see it but he joins a cast that is otherwise strong... not necessarily in musicals... but still.)
Stanley Tucci is the latest actor to join the cast of Disney's live-action movie musical Beauty and the Beast, according to Variety. Tucci will play the newly added character Cadenza, a grand piano described as "a neurotic maestro." (So like the Tim Curry character in the Christmas movie we don't talk about?)
It looks like Universal Studios has won the bidding war to produce the new untitled movie musical project being pitched by a creative team of composer Alan Menken, lyricist Stephen Schwartz, writer-director Jeremy Garelick and Tony-nominated star Josh Gad, according to Deadline. The title was not revealed, but Deadline reported that the film will be "a contemporary vehicle for Gad to play a domestic who integrates into [a] family with a busy single mother, and becomes an important part of the clan."
The final dramatic film featuring the late Robin Williams will head to cinemas this summer. Titled "Boulevard," the motion picture will open in New York and in several other markets July 17, according to EW.com. Williams, according to the entertainment website, portrays a "married but closeted bank manager whose life changes when he picks up a young male hustler (Roberto Aguire)."

Let Me Be Your Star (TV NEWS)

The upcoming FOX-TV broadcast "Grease: Live!" will be staged by Thomas Kail. The live performance will be broadcast 7-10 PM (ET live/PT tape-delayed) Jan. 31, 2016, on the Fox network.
As kindly mentioned by someone else on the thread, TV Land has renewed "Younger," its new series starring two-time Tony Award winner Sutton Foster, Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar and Miriam Shor, for a second season, according to Deadline.com. (I still haven't watched it but I will get to it now that I'm back from vacation.)
Santino Fontana has landed a role in the new NBC series "Shades of Blue," according to Deadline.com. The drama, which will star Jennifer Lopez, will also feature the previously announced Ray Liotta, Drea de Matteo, Vincent Laresca, Warren Kole, Hampton Fluker and Sarah Jeffery. Directed by Barry Levinson, "Shades of Blue," according to the media outlet, "follows a tight-knit crew of police officers who are effective at keeping the streets safe but also corrupt when it comes to lining their pockets and protecting their own. When one of the officers (Lopez) is forced to become a federal informant, she must decide between her own family’s welfare and that of her police family." (Yaaay... another cop show.)
Steven Pasquale will star in the new comedy series "Almost There" for DirecTV, according to Deadline.com. The show "tells the story of Jackson Cooper (Pasquale), a handsome, eternally single psychiatrist living in New York City. Serial dating and workaholic behavior have successfully helped him avoid long-term commitments, until he meets the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately he fails to get her name, number or any other information. The series follows Jackson on his quest to find her and to finally go about the task of finding himself along the way." (At the beginning of the description I was waiting for the part where he solves crimes... or medical mysteries. But no it's a romance. And while I liked them more or less last pilot season was NOT kind to the romance-based TV series.)
Cush Jumbo has been tapped for a recurring role on the popular TV series "The Good Wife," according to E! Online.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

The 29th Annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition raised a new all-time record $4,711,386 in six weeks of nightly curtain-call appeals. That total eclipsed the $4.53 million previous record set one year ago.
Classic Stage Company has announced its 49th season. In December the company will present Bertolt Brecht's most famous play, Mother Courage and Her Children, with a new musical score by Sheik, directed by Brian Kulick and starring Pinkins. The Tony winner will play the unshakeable Mother Courage in her timeless tale of war and business.
Hamilton has been so busy at the box office that producers decided to put a new block of tickets on sale starting 10 AM ET April 24 that will allow audiences to buy seats through March 27, 2016. Single tickets range in price from $55-$157.
Sundance Institute has announced the nine projects selected from 827 submissions for its highly sought-after 2015 Theatre Lab.
The Second Annual Davenport Songwriting Contest, in which songwriters compete for the title of Best Song and a $500 grand prize, April 30 at the Davenport Theatre.
Meryl Streep is helping fund The Writers Lab, a program devoted to female screenwriters over the age of 40, Deadline.com reports. The program will be held Sept. 18-20 at Wiawaka Lodge on Lake George in upstate New York with eight writers participating.
San Diego's Old Globe Theatre has announced its 2015-16 season. The season will kick off on Sept. 16 with the world premiere of In Your Arms, a dance-musical event led by director/choreographer Christopher Gattelli in collaboration with Ragtime composer Stephen Flaherty. On Sept. 26 Oscar and Tony winner Mercedes Ruehl will once again dazzle in Full Gallop, the one-woman-show based on the life of Diana Vreeland. March will see the world premiere of the new Michael John LaChiusa and Sybille Pearson musical Rain.
Second Stage Theatre, the not-for-profit Off-Broadway company founded in 1979 by director Carole Rothman and producer Robyn Goodman, has purchased Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre, it was announced April 18. With this new home, Second Stage will be the only theatre company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to developing and producing works by living American playwrights.
The critically acclaimed Deaf West Theatre production of Spring Awakening — performed simultaneously this past September in American Sign Language and spoken English — will be presented at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills beginning May 21. Casting including Andy Mientus and Krysta Rodriguez at the link.
An immersive version of Mamma Mia! will make its debut in 2016 at Grona Lund, an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden, according to the New York Times. Titled Mamma Mia! The Party, performances will begin in January in the amusement park's beer hall, which will be converted into a Mediterranean restaurant, one similar to the Skopelos tavern seen in Mamma Mia!
As part of its summer line-up of developmental works and conferences, the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center will continue its National Puppetry Conference program. The eight-day event will give puppetry artists the opportunity to develop and rehearse new works.
The high-flying acrobatic spectacle Cirque du Soleil has been purchased by a group of private equity investors that includes TPG and the Chinese firm Fosun, according to CNN Money. (No idea what this means for the proposed takeover of a Broadway theatre.)
Broadway at the National has announced its 2015-16 season

Edited April 25, 2015 by aradia22

aradia22 · April 25, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Dolly'll Never Go Away Again (Back From Vacation) Edition

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Katori Hall's The Blood Quilt, about four sisters exploring their history and heritage, which received its first reading at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., begins performances April 24 at Arena's Kreeger Theater.

Closed for Renovations (CANCELLATIONS)

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS executive director Tom Viola announced that the planned May 10 edition of Broadway Bares Solo Strips, which was to take place at nightlife venue 42West, was canceled after the venue's owners hosted a meeting with anti-LGBT Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
Kristin Chenoweth will be out of tonight's Friday evening performance of On the Twentieth Century due to illness, Playbill.com has learned.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Megan Hilty revealed that she is currently in negotiations for a yet-unnamed new play and will also be seen this fall in a City Center Encores! concert.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

54 Below will present a one-night-only abridged version of the Broadway-bound musical One For My Baby, featuring the music of Harold Arlen and starring Vivian Reed and Daniel Jenkins. Other performers slated for the evening show include Luba Mason, Kevin Earley, Anneliese Van Der Pol, Julie Tolivar, Danny Gardner, T. Oliver Reed, Carly Hughes and Tari Kelly. The ensemble includes Barrett Davis, Michael Roberts McKee, Mikki Sodergren and Sydney Ruf-Wong.

A Musical (MUSICALS)

Fantastic news, Anastasia fans! The stage musical adaptation of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's animated feature "Anastasia" will have its world premiere at Hartford Stage next spring. It will premiere May 12-June 12, 2016.

One Song Glory (ALBUMS)

Part of the Live at 54 BELOW series, "Marin Mazzie: Make Your Own Kind of Music" will be available beginning May 12.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

The new Broadway musical An American in Paris announced April 24 that it will launch a national touring company in the 2016-2017 season.

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

Nicole Kidman is to return to the London stage for the first time since 1998 in the UK premiere of Anna Ziegler's Photograph 51. It will begin performances Sept. 5 prior to an official opening Sept. 14, for a run through Nov. 21 at the Noel Coward Theatre. Kidman will play Rosalind Franklin, the woman who cracked DNA, the chemical blueprint for life. (She doesn't look anything like Rosalind Franklin but I am very interested in this.)
Cats, which ends its current sell-out run at the London Palladium April 25, will return there for a further 10-week season, beginning performances Oct. 23 for a run through Jan. 2.
A new stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is set to launch at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, beginning performances Dec. 2, prior to an official opening Dec. 10, for a nine-week season though Jan. 30. It will then embark on a major U.K and Ireland national tour.
Killian Donnelly and Matt Henry are to star in the West End premiere of Kinky Boots, beginning performances Aug. 21 prior to an official opening Sept. 15, at the Adelphi Theatre. They will play Charlie and Lola respectively.

I Want to Go to Hollywood (MOVIE NEWS)

The long-in-the-works Disney film "Bob the Musical" may have found its star. Tom Cruise is "circling" the project, according to TheWrap. "Bob the Musical," according to the entertainment website, "follows a regular guy who can suddenly hear the inner songs of everyone’s heart after suffering a blow to the head. His reality instantly becomes a musical, much to his dismay." (Yes. That is an idea. Err...)
London Road, the new film musical based on the 2011 National Theatre production about a real-life serial killer, has set a June 12 opening in the U.K. Olivia Colman and Tom Hardy star in the movie version of Alecky Blythe's (book and lyrics) and Adam Cork's (music and lyrics) musical which uses verbatim quotes and transcripts from the case of Steve Wright, who killed five prostitutes in the city of Ipswitch in 2008, as its lyrics and dialog.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

Fantastic promotional photos of Barrett Wilbert Weed and Wesley Taylor in their Cabaret costumes and makeup
New York Mayor de Blasio appointed composer-actor Lin-Manuel Miranda and producer Daryl Roth and reappointed director George C. Wolfe to the Theater Subdistrict Council April 24.

aradia22 · April 25, 2015

Gorgeous version of Roxie from Brandy. A little sad she can't do it this way on Broadway. Her straight version isn't bad either.

And now for some Friday silliness.

ebk57 · April 25, 2015

Welcome back aradia!! Hope you had a lovely vacation.

That's quite a lot of work you did there. So much to absorb...I'm gonna have to back and reread. I really need to work on my attention span :-)

aradia22 · April 25, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: So here's where I am. The week of May 3 is going to be busy for me. But this week isn't. I kind of want to see Ghosts at BAM. I'd really like to see The Visit. Just for the heck of it I want to sit through Doctor Zhivago and also I'm worried it might close soon after those savage reviews. Any thoughts? I'm thinking Ghosts is priority #1 if I can figure out how to get to Brooklyn without leaving work early/being tired the next day. If not, I might just see The Visit with a friend. And Zhivago is my plan if everything else falls through or can't be arranged.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

The Gallery Players production of Evita runs in Brooklyn April 25-May 17.
That Bachelorette Show! officially opens April 25 following previews that began March 21 at 42West.
Colman Domingo directs the New York City Children’s Theater production of A Band of Angels by Myla Churchill, beginning April 25. A Band of Angels, adapted from the book by Deborah Hopkinson, examines important issues concerning race and education and features traditional African-American rituals, performed a cappella. Performances run through May 10 at Theatre 3.

Closed for Renovations (CANCELLATIONS)

Kristin Chenoweth will be out of the Saturday, April 25 matinee and evening performances of On the Twentieth Century due to illness, a show spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com. (Sadly a friend saw the show when she was out the other night but he said her understudy was great.)

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

The Off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks, the longest-running musical in world history and the longest-running play of any kind in American history, announced today that it was rescinding its closing notice and will continue its run indefinitely at the Jerry Orbach Theatre.
Matthew Morrison will sing the National Anthem at the final game of the first leg of the 2015 Subway Series.

Charlie Baker · April 25, 2015

Welcome back, aradia! Keep us posted on what you see.

Rick Kitchen · April 26, 2015

Vanessa Hudgens interview with Kelly and Marc and performing a song from "Gigi".

aradia22 · April 26, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Random foot pain started this afternoon. Hopefully this won't get in the way of me running around in the next few weeks. Also, I got my ticket to Ghosts at BAM. In the nosebleed seats, but I'll bring binoculars. ;) Oh, and unrelated to anything I discovered the Supremes album covering Funny Girl last night. It's OK. I've never found Diana Ross' voice that remarkable. If A Girl Isn't Pretty is fun arrangement. It's on Spotify if any of you are interested.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Grounded officially opens Off-Broadway April 26, following previews that began April 7.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

John Cameron Mitchell, the co-creator and original star of the Off-Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, gives his final performance in the Broadway revival of that Tony-winning musical April 26.

Closed for Renovations (CANCELLATIONS)

Kristin Chenoweth will be out of the Sunday, April 26 at 2 PM matinee of On the Twentieth Century due to illness, a show spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com. Mamie Parris has stepped into Chenoweth's role while the actress recovers. (I'm starting to get worried. I hope she's alright and she's just taking the necessary time to fully recuperate so she can finish the run.)

Everyone’s a Critic (REVIEWS)

One review of Nirbhaya. In summary, it's a positive review but it repeatedly reminds the reader that this is a difficult piece to sit through because of the subject matter and the play's depiction of it.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Samantha Barks is apparently Amelie in the workshop of the musical. (I put this in rumors because none of the other sites have this as a story. Her version of On My Own wasn't my favorite but I still haven't watched Les Mis so I don't have much of an opinion on her. She doesn't quite have that Audrey Tatou Gallic gamine vibe and she seems a bit young. Is it Gigi again?)

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

An early reminder that Tony nominations will be announced 8:30 am April 28 on CBS. And also NY1? (I don't want to weigh in as I haven't seen all the shows this season but I'm interested to see how this will affect the shows I do want to see.)
Despite igniting controversy and a last-minute walkout by five of the cast members, Odyssey Theatre's Theatre Verité production of Ferguson forges ahead April 26. Writer and creator Phelim McAleer published a statement on his Indigogo funding page that said the actors had abandoned the production April 23 due to his "conservative politics." Performances are still set to run through April 29 at the Odyssey.

DisneyBoy · April 27, 2015

Yes, Aradia, I was talking to you :) Apologies for mistaking your gender!

VERY psyched about Anastasia. Hope it comes together better than Hunchback. Did you see Hunchback (or the bootleg)?

aradia22 · April 28, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Sorry I'm late. I was out at a talk with Christopher Wheeldon hosted by Rita Moreno. Maybe I'll tell you about it tomorrow. Then I had to make myself dinner (quinoa pasta with oyster mushrooms). Anyway, I'm also not feeling very well. I'm fairly certain that I'm sick. So let's just get the TNR done quickly tonight.

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN THE WORKS)

Today is the final day of callbacks for Allegiance. Two hundred days from now they open on Broadway.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Confirmed: Samantha Barks will star in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's world-premiere musical adaptation of Amélie. The musical is written by Craig Lucas (An American in Paris, Prelude to a Kiss) and features music by Daniel Messé with lyrics by Nathan Tysen (The Burnt Part Boys, Tuck Everlasting) and Messé.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Fran Drescher is developing a Broadway musical that she would be a writer and producer on.

One Song Glory (ALBUMS)

The cast album of the Imelda Staunton London production of Gypsy is released by First Night Records April 27.
The actors and musicians of the new Broadway musical Something Rotten! are in the studio today to record its original cast album for Ghostlight Records.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

A holiday tour of Irving Berlin's White Christmas is scheduled to launch Nov. 6 and continue through Dec. 27, according to an Actors' Equity casting notice.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

The Tony Awards Administration Committee has announced that John Cameron Mitchell will receive the 2015 Special Tony Award.
Mary-Louise Parker and Bruce Willis will announce the nominees for the 69th Annual Tony Awards April 28 at 8:30 AM.
The Descendants trailer featuring Kristin Chenoweth. (It looks appropriately terrible. Why is Kathy Najimy the Evil Queen from Snow White? I don't know. They're clearly not trying very hard. Will I watch it anyway? Probably. It's almost better that it's bad. The early popularity of OUAT had me worried for a hot second that I'd have to take it seriously.)
Your bit of Monday fun.

JustaPerson · April 28, 2015

Not sure how to feel about a Amélie musical. It's one my all time favorite movies and I would be heartbroken if they screwed it up.

Charlie Baker · April 28, 2015

Nothing too surprising in the Tony nominations. I don't know that I thought An American in Paris would do as well as it did, but then it seems to be doing better at the box office than I thought it would, too. And Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming will host the show. Fine choices--though I saw somewhere a suggestion that James Corden (with his new found CBS connection and buzz and a Tony of his own) might have been a good choice.

List of nominees: http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/nominees/index.html

Rinaldo · April 28, 2015

James Corden may well host it in the future; I'd say give him a year to become a beloved household name for the US.

I wonder if Chenoweth hosting will make voters feel that they should vote for her. Otherwise I would have said Best Actress in a Musical was a battle between O'Hara and Rivera. Once again Kelli gives a recognition-worthy performance but is up against a powerhouse (Chita in what will surely be her last stage role). I guess she'll never win.

I'm a bit surprised that Honeymoon in Vegas got absolutely zero recognition. It was an oddity: a crowd-pleasing musical comedy that didn't actually please the crowds, or at least didn't draw them to come -- as David Spencer wrote, it had the reviews of a hit, it played like a hit, but it wasn't a hit. But surely it might have been remembered for orchestrations or lighting or Tony Danza or something.

bosawks · April 28, 2015

Damn, that Featured Actress in a Musical Category.

Do the Fun Home nominees cancel each other out?

aradia22 · April 28, 2015

Yup. Definitely sick. Still undecided about plans for tomorrow. Part of me wants to stay home and do errands and laundry and finish unpacking from vacation. Part of me wants to head out to Brooklyn and treat myself to the cherry blossoms. And then the part of me that's in a panic from spending too much time on the BWW boards wants to see Doctor Zhivago before it posts a closing notice. I think The Visit will be safe at least for a little longer with 5 nominations. The TNR will be coming tonight unless I pass out right after getting home from work.

aradia22 · April 28, 2015

As for the nominations, there aren't big surprises. I don't have a horse in a lot of the races as I haven't seen those shows yet. All the love for Fun Home and An American in Paris has left a lot of shows shut out. But if they didn't feel the quality was there I guess it's better to give the good shows more nominations than make an effort to spread things around.

I don't know if they were big surprises so much as things I wasn't counting on. It's nice to see Ruth Wilson get in there for Constellations. And I'm happy to see Ken Watanabe recognized. Thank goodness they highlighted Ruthie Ann Miles for The King and I though she's going to have a hard time taking it from one of the ladies from Fun Home unless they split the votes.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical is quite random.

I don't have a strong opinion on the hosts. I like them both but they don't strike me as natural choices. I don't think they know how to control a crowd as well as a talk show host or stand-up comedian might but they're going to be playing to a crowd that already loves them so it shouldn't be difficult.

Rinaldo · April 28, 2015

Do the Fun Home nominees cancel each other out?

You know, I don't think they do, necessarily. I can think of a number of times more than one featured performance was nominated, and one of them won. Rummaging around in the archives a bit:

Patricia Elliott, A Little Night Music (against Hermione Gingold)

Sammy Williams and Kelly Bishop, A Chorus Line (against Robert LuPone and Priscilla Lopez respectively)

Nell Carter, Ain't Misbehavin' (against Charlaine Woodard)

Mandy Patinkin, Evita (against Bob Gunton)

Cleavant Derricks, Dreamgirls (against Obba Babatunde)

Liliane Montevecchi, Nine (against Karen Akers, Anita Morris)

Joe Mantegna, Glengarry Glen Ross (against Robert Prosky)

Judith Ivey, Hurlyburly (against Sigourney Weaver)

Ron Richardson, Big River (against Rene Auberjonois, Dan Jenkins)

--- along about now, I'm running out of research steam, so I'll just mention last year:

Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night (against Stephen Fry, Paul Chahidi)

bosawks · April 28, 2015

You know, I don't think they do, necessarily. I can think of a number of times more than one featured performance was nominated, and one of them won. Rummaging around in the archives a bit:

Patricia Elliott, A Little Night Music (against Hermione Gingold)

Sammy Williams and Kelly Bishop, A Chorus Line (against Robert LuPone and Priscilla Lopez respectively)

Nell Carter, Ain't Misbehavin' (against Charlaine Woodard)

Mandy Patinkin, Evita (against Bob Gunton)

Cleavant Derricks, Dreamgirls (against Obba Babatunde)

Liliane Montevecchi, Nine (against Karen Akers, Anita Morris)

Joe Mantegna, Glengarry Glen Ross (against Robert Prosky)

Judith Ivey, Hurlyburly (against Sigourney Weaver)

Ron Richardson, Big River (against Rene Auberjonois, Dan Jenkins)

--- along about now, I'm running out of research steam, so I'll just mention last year:

Mark Rylance, Twelfth Night (against Stephen Fry, Paul Chahidi)

Well, as a Judy Kuhn fangirl I certainly hope you're right.

dohe · April 29, 2015

Well, as a Judy Kuhn fangirl I certainly hope you're right.

The great Kuhn's biggest obstacle is not the Fun Home women cancelling each other out. It is Lucas who will almost certainly win.

aradia22 · April 29, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Anyone want to buy me tickets to the National Ballet of China at Lincoln Center? I need some nice cheap young people tickets, please. Listening to the OBC album of Sweet Charity. It's very... long. And you know, Gwen Verdon's not the best singer...

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Amanda Seyfried makes her Off-Broadway debut opposite Thomas Sadoski in the world premiere of Neil LaBute's The Way We Get By beginning April 28 at Second Stage Theatre.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

Having come away empty-handed from the 2015 Tony Award nominations, Living on Love posted its closing notice and will play its final performance this Sunday, May 3.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Chicago welcomes Brandy Norwood to the Ambassador Theatre beginning April 28. (I REALLY want to see this but I think I'll wait a bit longer into her run.)
Billy Porter returns to Kinky Boots April 28 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Porter returns after a leave of absence from the production that began Jan. 27. Porter, whose contract with Kinky Boots continues through January 2016, will also join the musical's national tour Aug. 4-9, when it stops in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA.

One Song Glory (ALBUMS)

Josh Groban releases his newest album, titled "Stages," April 28 on the Reprise Records label.

Let Me Be Your Star (TV NEWS)

Tony Award winners Alan Cumming and Kristin Chenoweth have been announced as hosts of this year's Tony Awards, which will be presented June 7 at Radio City Music Hall.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

The Tony nominees And the shows not nominated. (As you know I didn't think the Side Show revival was that great. With the competition, it's understandable that neither the talent or creatives were acknowledged with nominations. The word of mouth on It Shoulda Been You is not good. Personally I don't think the movie stars need a nomination just for coming to Broadway. Not even polite nominations for Finding Neverland or Doctor Zhivago.)
Tickets are now on sale to the general public for the 69th Annual Tony Awards, which will be given June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. Tickets are priced at $300 and $500 (plus a $5 utility charge). There is a limit of eight tickets per order.
Kristin Chenoweth was well enough to return to OTTC April 28, a show spokesperson confirmed to Playbill.com.
Phylicia Rashad will direct Paul Oakley Stovall's Immediate Family, a new comedy about secrets revealed at a family reunion, which will play the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles May 3-June 7.
Julie Andrews will appear June 6 at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT, to present an award to her ex-husband, set designer Tony Walton. The award ceremony, titled Razzle Dazzle will take place 6:30 PM June 6 at The Riverhouse at Goodspeed Station, 55 Bridge St. East Haddam.

Kris223 · April 29, 2015

Kind of surprised that most of the cast from It's Only A Play were shut out. I know the reviews weren't great, but I thought the cast (for the most part) did a terrific job.

Seeing It Shoulda Been You this weekend.

Rinaldo · April 29, 2015

Kind of surprised that most of the cast from It's Only A Play were shut out. I know the reviews weren't great, but I thought the cast (for the most part) did a terrific job.

I should probably keep quiet, not having seen it (I've read the play -- original version -- and been amused by it), but I'm speculating that, given the rather thin texture of the play as a delivery system for inside jokes about the theater and its personalities, the nominators didn't see it as an acting challenge so much as a place for big stage personalities to do their thing and get their laughs. How Micah Stock made it to a nomination is a mystery to me; the role of the catering temp (really just a coat overseer) must have been greatly rewritten in this version. (Obviously he's changed race, but in more substantial ways too.)

Kris223 · April 29, 2015

Actually Rinaldo, that's probably spot on.

aradia22 · April 29, 2015

I'm speculating that, given the rather thin texture of the play as a delivery system for inside jokes about the theater and its personalities, the nominators didn't see it as an acting challenge so much as a place for big stage personalities to do their thing and get their laughs.

This is how I feel about Andy Karl for On the Twentieth Century. I think all the characters are flawed and underwritten in that show but his is so slight that even though he has some fun with it I feel like there's certainly someone else they could have pulled in for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. And I haven't seen it but having two guys from An American in Paris? This is one category where I think they could have thrown some love to the shows that didn't get any nominations.

Rinaldo · April 29, 2015

This is how I feel about Andy Karl for On the Twentieth Century. I think all the characters are flawed and underwritten in that show but his is so slight ...

That's the role that Kevin Kline won a Tony for (and, I recall from seeing it and reading the award buzz) as close to a slam dunk as there's ever been with this award -- everyone agreed he was extraordinary). It's really the role that made him a star.

aradia22 · April 29, 2015

@Rinaldo I know about Kevin Kline but when I saw the revival, while Karl had some funny moments I didn't see anything extraordinary in his performance.

aradia22 · April 29, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: No Doctor Zhivago or The Visit today. I'm still sick so I'm taking it easy because things about to get busy.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Permission begins performances tonight

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Darren Criss steps into the role of Hedwig in the Broadway production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch April 29. Criss is playing a 12-week limited engagement at the Belasco Theatre. Criss is joined by Rebecca Naomi Jones, who began performances as Yitzhak April 14.
Casting has been announced for the upcoming concert featuring songs from the Broadway-aimed Akhenaten the Musical, which will be presented May 1 at The Triad cabaret in New York. The cast will feature Tony nominee Charl Brown, N'Kenge, Ted Keegan, Seph Stanek, John Lucas, Sahar Milani, Alia Munsch and Erik Ransom. Akhenaten the Musical has a book by Hisham Abdel Khalek and Mohamed Metwally, music by Hesham Nazih and lyrics by Metwally. (I read a very boring nonfiction book on Akhenaten and Nefertiti for a book report once. Not really sure how you dramatize a lot of aspects of the story in a commercial musical. This isn't just Aida.)

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, the co-creators of Fun Home, are collaborating on a new project.
To save you the read, Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Rink are maybe in the works but not really. I'll let you know if anything more definite happens.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

Audra McDonald goes it solo April 29 at Carnegie Hall.
Michael McElroy and The Broadway Inspirational Voices are joining forces with the Salem Missionary Baptist Church for a spring concert May 31 at Brooklyn's Salem Baptist Church. Titled Miracles, the evening will raise funds for the T.J. Boyd Scholarship Foundation. Show time is 7:30 PM.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

Karen Mason's new play with music, Unfinished Business, will be part of the annual New York Musical Theatre Festival.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

A brand-new production of The Sound of Music, directed by Jack O'Brien, will tour North America beginning in September.

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

1984, a stage version of George Orwell's book created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, is to return to the West End's Playhouse Theatre, where it previously played in 2014 after originating at Nottingham Playhouse in September 2013 and subsequently receiving its London premiere at the Almeida. It will begin performances June 12, prior to an official opening June 18, for a 12-week run that is booking through Sept. 5. Following the West End, it will tour again to Nottingham and Bath, before travelling to America for dates in Santa Monica, Boston and Washington DC between January and April 2016. (I didn't like the book when I read it. That is all.)

aradia22 · May 1, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: So I'm still coughing up a storm like a chain smoker. Seriously, it sounds so bad. I think I'm going to have to take something and bring a lot of cough drops to Ghosts at BAM tomorrow night. I have not forgotten about the ballet but I don't feel like I should be making decisions right now. I bought an $8 ticket to a 2pm performance at Carnegie when I'm supposed to be working today. I've clearly gone insane from the illness.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Jasper in Deadland, starring Matt Doyle, begins performances April 30 at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre.

Closed for Renovations (CANCELLATIONS)

On the Twentieth Century has canceled its 2 PM matinee Sunday, June 7 as Chenoweth prepares to co-host the Tony ceremony at Radio City Music Hall that evening, and the cast gets ready to perform on the broadcast. Chenoweth also will not appear in the 8 PM performance Saturday, June 6, which will go on with an understudy.

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN THE WORKS)

In Transit features a book, music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez in collaboration with James-Allen Ford, Russell Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth. Industry readings of the in-development musical will be held May 7 and 8. Christopher Gattelli will direct and choreograph. "Inspired by the vibrant rhythms and sounds of life on the subway, In Transit follows the intertwining journeys of an aspiring actress, a fledgling financier, a street-savvy beatboxer, a cab driver, and others as they find their way in New York City." In Transit was originally produced Off-Broadway in the fall of 2010 by Primary Stages at 59E59. The limited-run engagement was awarded the 2011 Drama Desk Award for “Outstanding Ensemble.”
The invitation-only presentation features a cast led by Lindsay Mendez, Erin Mackey, and Ben Crawford, along with Ryan Andes, Moya Angela, Adam Bashian, Colin Hanlon, Justin Keyes, Lulu Picart, Jamila Sabares-Klemm and Chesney Snow.
Invitation-only readings of the new play Sacrilegious, written by Tom Schulman will be presented in Manhattan May 7-8.

The cast will feature Reed Birney, Alexis Bledel, Rob McClure, Kevin Pariseau and Kenneth Tigar. Andy Sandberg directs.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Initial casting has been announced for The Hollywood Bowl’s upcoming production of Monty Python's Spamalot which will be presented July 31-Aug. 2. The cast will be headed by Merle Dandridge as The Lady of the Lake, Warwick Davis as Patsy, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Sir Robin, Eric Idle as the Historian and Craig Robinson as King Arthur.
Ari Itkin, Isabelle Ellingson, and Logan Fahey will star in the new three-person play Cuckold written by Wesley Taylor.

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (RUMORS)

Martha Nelly Wasserman, who is the widow of La Mancha librettist Dale Wasserman and who holds the rights to Man of La Mancha, hopes to bring that musical back to Broadway, according to The Washington Post.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker have joined the line-up of the Broadway @ Town Hall concert series in Provincetown hosted by Seth Rudetsky. Parker and Broderick will perform in two concerts on Aug. 17.
Lane Bradbury, who created the role of Dainty June in the original Broadway production of Gypsy starring Ethel Merman, will play 54 Below May 8. The evening, which is titled Lane Bradbury: Let Me Entertain You, Again, will begin at 7 PM.
Leslie Odom, Jr. will go it solo at Joe's Pub May 24. At the 7:30 PM concert, Odom, Jr. will celebrate his recently released solo album.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of On the Twentieth Century has extended its run by two weeks. It will now play through July 19 at the American Airlines Theatre.
The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis has announced the line-up for its 2015-16 season. Included in the slate are To Kill a Mockingbird; The Events, South Pacific, The Cocoanuts with music and lyrics by Irving Berlin, The Real Inspector Hound, The Critic, Harvey, Disgraced, and Trouble in Mind. (The Marx Bros. musical I knew nothing about is the most interesting to me.)
Stomp, the musical that has been playing Off-Broadway's Orpheum Theatre since 1994, will be able to move to a new uptown location, thanks to a Manhattan judge ruling on April 30. The court's ruling will allow the production to discontinue its contract and move on to a new theatre.

aradia22 · May 1, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Early TNR today because I'm going to be out tonight. Still not sure if I'm going to go in on ballet. It's hard enough to budget theatre and opera.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

The Las Vegas stage production of The Duck Commander Musical, based on the popular, yet controversial family from the A&E series "Duck Dynasty," will end its run after less than two months of performances.

A Musical (MUSICALS)

From the creators of Bayside! The Musical!, which will soon finish up a two-year run Off-Broadway, comes another 90's-inspired show, Full House! The Musical!, an unauthorized musical parody of the TV series.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

The Public Theater has announced a two-week extension of Elevator Repair Service's production The Sound and the Fury, which returns Off-Broadway. The show, beginning May 14 with an official press opening May 21, will now run through June 27.
What Was Lost, which chronicles The Glass Menagerie star Laurette Taylor's journey from the first rehearsal of that Tennessee classic through her legendary performance, will be presented at New York City's Clarion Theatre beginning May 8.

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

Amelia Lily is to star as Whatshername in a new London production of American Idiot. (She had a good performance or two but she was never one of my favorites on X Factor.)

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

Tickets go on sale May 1 for the seventh annual National High School Musical Theater Awards (NHSMTA), which will be held June 29 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. (I'm fine just watching on youtube.)
42nd Street Moon's 2015-16 season in San Francisco will feature four musicals, whose creators include Noël Coward, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Frank Loesser, George Abbot and Larry Grossman. Broadway's Jason Graae will also be part of the season, playing Ebenezer Scrooge in a new musical.
The Times Square Arts Center, an Off-Off-Broadway performing space on the West Side of Eighth Avenue at 43rd Street, announced it is shutting the doors of its two small theatres as of May 3, leaving at least one show without a home.

Julia · May 1, 2015

The Times Square Arts Center, an Off-Off-Broadway performing space on the West Side of Eighth Avenue at 43rd Street, announced it is shutting the doors of its two small theatres as of May 3, leaving at least one show without a home.

Is that the theater that used to be the West Side Arts?

JustaPerson · May 1, 2015

Any reason Finding Neverland didn't get much in terms of the Tonys? Has anyone seen it? Is it good?

Sara2009 · May 2, 2015

Any reason Finding Neverland didn't get much in terms of the Tonys? Has anyone seen it? Is it good?

The reviews were bad, but the general audience seems to like it.

Rinaldo · May 2, 2015

It seems to have a big advance sale and will run for a while, reviews (and awards) or not.

aradia22 · May 3, 2015

There aren't enough stories for a TNR today. I'll just let you know that John Lithgow is in talks to play former Prime Minister Winston Churchill in The Crown, the upcoming Netflix miniseries based on Peter Morgan’s The Audience. Also, National Theatre Live will present encore screenings of The Audience, filmed in the West End in 2013 starring current Broadway headliner Helen Mirren, around the world beginning on June 25.

Also, I have neither seen Finding Neverland nor heard the album so I won't comment on the quality of the show. There is some buzz that it's about Harvey Weinstein alienating critics and maybe some of the Broadway community. However, if the reviews are to believed, the show just wasn't that strong. And this year the people making the nominations haven't seen fit to spread the love around among the new shows. There are plenty of shows that didn't get a single nomination.

aradia22 · May 3, 2015

OK, now I want to tell you about Ghosts at BAM last night. First of all, it was actually pretty easy to get to the theatre so I might consider going back in the future. However, my $30 ticket in the gallery was definitely in the nosebleed section. If the actors weren't facing forward, I was looking at the tops of a lot of heads during the show. The stairs weren't bad. I can see how you might not want to climb them if you're older but if you're relatively fit it's like 3 flights of subway stairs. You should be fine. The theatre is in a sad state of disrepair. I can't think that it's intentional. It's not a romantic decay or a faded elegance. It looks dirty with peeling paint, exposed brick and exposed insulation or whatnot on the ceiling that genuinely made me a little concerned about asbestos poisoning.

As for the show, in my opinion both the play and the performances were flawed. They worked together to contribute to me not caring about the characters. Most of the action of the story seems to have occurred before the play even starts.

Helene's life with her husband, her love for the pastor and him turning her away, etc. etc.

Most of the exciting stuff is told to you. You don't see it. Thus a lot of the dialogue feels like exposition filling you in on all of these details and a lot of the rest of it is kind of cold. There are interesting ideas there but it's not an eloquent or compelling story. I'd almost rather read an essay of Ibsen's opinions than see it laid out in this fashion if it's not going to work as a narrative. I was neither scandalized nor moved emotionally. For a play about

love affairs with seminary students and wives running away from husbands and bohemian artists and incest,

etc. you'd think it would be more interesting. Sometimes good performances can drag a story to a compelling place. That didn't really happen here. I won't say the performances were bad. They just didn't really help. I believe that a genuinely strong performance is one that illuminates the text in some way. After watching the play, I know the plot of Ghosts. I don't think the performances gave me any depth of understanding. The style seems to be delivering the dialogue quickly and then pausing. This is annoying because you're working hard to catch all of the words (because Ibsen keeps dumping backstory) and then there are these spaces of nothingness. They aren't aching with tension or loaded moments. It feels choreographed and artificial. There are some good moments, of course. Leslie Manville has nice moments. The son had nice moments particularly at the end

around his death scene

. He was very convincing when

he was having his seizures

. I'd say the pastor was the weakest link. I didn't understand why Helene

would have ever been in love with him

and I don't know, his character didn't seem to make much sense with the way the actor played him. I think actually reading the play the character would have made more sense. There was something off about the performance. I think the younger female character, the maid

who learns French because she's in love with the son (before learning he's her brother)

was almost more compelling than Helene because she wasn't delivering those political points barely wrapped in plot but the performance didn't have much weight. I felt like any relatively competent actress could have given the same performance. It was mostly bluster.

I guess... I'm glad I didn't pay any more for my ticket than I did. And yet I'm maybe a little more motivated to read or watch more Ibsen in the future.

Edited May 3, 2015 by aradia22

dohe · May 3, 2015

Any reason Finding Neverland didn't get much in terms of the Tonys? Has anyone seen it? Is it good?

My friends who have seen it could care less about backstage politics. Each one has said the same thing. It is forgettable. They said plenty of other things but forgettable came up every time. That and Matthew Morrison turning in a good performance. There was also offense taken by a few that Finding Neverland is dominating the it was snubbed talk from the media. As one friend said, they can understand somebody taking issue with the new musicals Honeymoon in Vegas and It Shoulda Been You being shut out or that the revival of Side Show was shut out but Finding Neverland just isn't that good.

While politics may have played an issue, I think if anything Weinstein being so involved probably got far more attention for Finding Neverland than it would have gotten if some how it had made it to Broadway without him. The reality is a handful of musicals made such an impact that it did not leave much room. I had a friend who was upset Nancy Opel did not get in. Yet when I asked who she should have replaced, she said she was elated that all three Fun Home actresses got in - she thinks Skeggs gives the most underrated performance of the season*, that Miles was phenomenal in The King and I, and Clark was easily the best thing about Gigi. She said she could not contemplate any of them not being nominated and wished a 6th slot would have been opened for Opel.

It was a tough year. So while there is a desire by many to see this as a statement against Weinstein, I think it is more a statement for this being a tough, strong year.

*Skeggs is fantastic and, of all the nominations, this was my favorite.

Edited May 3, 2015 by dohe

SusieQ · May 3, 2015

Hello all. I enjoy reading this topic and many others on PTV. I don’t comment often unless I have some info that I think is interesting and that no one else has contributed.

In this case I wanted to explain why the Harvey Theater at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) looks the way it does. When I attended Beckett’s “Happy Days” back in 2010 or so in this theater I was shocked at the way the theater looked—just like aradia22 said. However turns out that IS the way they want it to look.

"Lichtenstein raised funds for what was an award-winning renovation of the theater, completed in 1987. Retaining original architectural elements, the theater's design maintained an aged look that creates a visceral bridge between the past and the future. In 1999, the Majestic was renamed in honor of retiring leader Harvey Lichtenstein." http://www.bam.org/visit/buildings/harvey-lichtenstein-theater

Crazy, but true. However, if you want to see a truly beautiful theater that’s also part of BAM check out the Howard Gilman opera house. http://www.bam.org/visit/venues/howard-gilman-opera-house

I’m a proud Brooklynite (from the NOT fashionable parts) and BAM is a very neat set of venues so I didn’t want folks to get a bad opinion of the place.

And again, thanks for all the interesting info you guys (esp aradia22) post.

Sara2009 · May 3, 2015

My friends who have seen it could care less about backstage politics. Each one has said the same thing. It is forgettable. They said plenty of other things but forgettable came up every time. That and Matthew Morrison turning in a good performance. There was also offense taken by a few that Finding Neverland is dominating the it was snubbed talk from the media. As one friend said, they can understand somebody taking issue with the new musicals Honeymoon in Vegas and It Shoulda Been You being shut out or that the revival of Side Show was shut out but Finding Neverland just isn't that good.

While politics may have played an issue, I think if anything Weinstein being so involved probably got far more attention for Finding Neverland than it would have gotten if some how it had made it to Broadway without him. The reality is a handful of

musicals made such an impact that it did not leave much room. I had a friend who was upset Nancy Opel did not get in. Yet when I asked who she should have replaced, she said she was elated that all three Fun Home actresses got in - she thinks Skeggs gives the most underrated performance of the season*, that Miles was phenomenal in The King and I, and Clark was easily the best thing about Gigi. She said she could not contemplate any of them not being nominated and wished a 6th slot

would have been opened for Opel.

It was a tough year. So while there is a desire by many to see this as a statement against Weinstein, I think it is more a statement for this being a tough, strong year.

*Skeggs is fantastic and, of all the nominations, this was my favorite.

From what I've read, " Finding Neverland" is polarizing. People seem to either be completely meh on it, or they think it's the best thing they've ever seen.

Charlie Baker · May 4, 2015

Thanks for the report on Ghosts, aradia. I wanted to get to BAM to see it (and yep, that theater is strange!) but knew it wasn't going to happen. If you don't know them, and are interested in more Ibsen, do check out A Doll's House and Hedda Gabler.

aradia22 · May 4, 2015

Thanks for the info SusieQ. I still think that if that was their goal it isn't communicated as effectively as it could be. I don't mind the exposed brick so much but the ceilings are a bit much and it still gives me the feeling that if we were in California, the whole thing could come crumbling down during a small earthquake. And thanks for the recommendations, Charlie. I had the chance to read both in high school for my final paper but I chose The Crucible instead. That was a terrible decision.

I finally went to the 92Y event. I was a few minutes late. Oops! But I saw both songs. I think they chose two songs that were more of the love songs since Tam and Kelli were there. There was nothing much to the lyrics (bear in mind my cold has moved to the sniffling, sneezing, sinus-clogged phase so I was a little out of it). It was just your normal pretty love song phrases. It did feel kind of talky though at the same time. Like, almost sung-through more than stand-alone songs. And I was definitely getting that Spamalot "A Song That Goes Like This" vibe even if they were doing their best to not shout in each other's faces in the small venue. I totally want to see the show though. I think it could be fun to see people really going for that big epic musical vibe. And they have gorgeous voices.

aradia22 · May 4, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Slow day today. Tomorrow night I have to trek back up to 92Y for a show. It's Irving Berlin though so hopefully it'll be a good time. We'll see how I'm feeling Wednesday. I want to try to catch the cherry blossoms at the BBG but also see Doctor Zhivago if I can wake up for rush tickets. But not if I'm out of it or I'll never be able to focus for almost 3 hours.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

Hamilton ends its sold-out, extended Off-Broadway run May 3 at the Public Theater. Hamilton will begin Broadway previews July 13 with an official opening set for Aug. 6.
The first Broadway revival of The Heidi Chronicles, which officially opened at the Music Box Theatre March 19 following previews that began Feb. 23, plays its final performance May 3.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

The Kennedy Center presents its 2015 Spring Gala, which is titled It Don’t Mean a Thing… A Celebration of Swing, May 3 in the Concert Hall. The 2015 Gala salutes the swing era of the 1930s and 40s with Megan Hilty, Cheyenne Jackson, Wayne Brady, Jennifer Holliday, Terence Blanchard, Paquito D'Rivera, The Puppini Sisters and Paul Taylor Dance, under the direction of John Clayton. (If anyone went, report back. I like most of those people. It sounds like a good night.)

aradia22 · May 5, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: Nothing much to report about the Irving Berlin show. He wrote a lot of songs. Some of them were not as good as others. The singers were not great but after those abysmal cruise ship performers they didn't seem too bad. There were some nice dancing moments. Randy Skinner has still got it.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

Forever officially opens at at the New York Theatre Workshop May 4 following previews that began April 22.

The Party’s Over (CLOSINGS)

Doctor Zhivago, starring Tam Mutu, Kelli Barrett, Tom Hewitt and Paul Nolan, will play its final performance May 10 at the Broadway Theatre. (God damn it. Well, now I have to try for tickets Wednesday. Friday if I can't do Wednesday but I don't want to do that because then I'll be tired for Zorba on Saturday.)

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN THE WORKS)

Vassar and New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater has announced a slate of new works to receive developmental stagings this summer in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Rain Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa: Based on the short story by Somerset Maugham. 1924. Two married couples find themselves quarantined on a small island in the South Pacific during a torrential storm. Enter Sadie Thompson, a woman with a dark past and a bottle of good whiskey.
Noir Music by Duncan Sheik: A heartbroken man never leaves his apartment, consoled only by the music on the radio. Through the thin walls, he hears almost every word of the couple next door—and before long, his eavesdropping becomes an obsession.
Lovinv V. Virginia Book and lyrics by Marcus Gardley: In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving, a black woman and white man, married in Central Point, Virginia, violating their state’s laws against miscegenation. Their love story ignited a firestorm in their communities, and sparked a landmark Supreme Court case.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! will receive a new staging from Bard SummerScape in the round. Directed by Daniel Fish, performances will begin June 25 and continue through July 19 at Fisher Center's LUMA Theater. The cast will feature Mary Testa as Aunt Eller, Damon Daunno as Curly, Amber Gray as Laurey, Patrick Vaill as Jud Fry, Allison Strong as Ado Annie and James Patrick Davis as Will. Benj Mirman will play Ali Hakim, Mitch Tebo will play Andrew Carnes and John Carlin will play Cord Elam.
Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater has announced casting for the Spring revival of David Mamet's Ghost Stories: The Shawl and Prairie du Chien, two haunting short plays helmed by Scott Zigler. The cast includes Jim Frangione, Jordan Lage, Jason Ritter, and Mary McCann. Performances will begin May 27 through June 28 at Atlantic Stage 2, with an official opening night slated for June 16.
Roundabout Theatre has announced casting for the fourth annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series, a five-night event that will feature readings of five new plays written and directed by emerging artists, along with special post-show receptions.
Arena Stage has announced the full cast and creative team for Dear Evan Hansen.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

Andrew Rannells will join The Citizens Band for a one-night-only concert at Irving Plaza in New York on May 14.
Tori Scott returns to Joe's Pub May 4 with her latest show Thirsty!, an evening of poor life choices and stories of her late night misadventures, featuring songs from Judy Garland, Beyoncé, Elton John, Amy Winehouse, Bette Midler and beyond.

One Song Glory (ALBUMS)

Finding Neverland will release an album of the show's songs reworked by pop stars June 9 on Republic Records, according to Entertainment Weekly. (I feel like this is a repeat story...)

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

Barbra Streisand attended Broadway's An America in Paris this weekend and received a standing ovation at the Palace Theatre. (I didn't get it when I first heard it and I still don't get it. Cool it with the standing ovations, people.)
2015 Fred and Adele Astaire Award nominees
Stage and screen actors Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen, who play a duelling gay couple in the BBC comedy "Vicious," have been named the grand marshals of the 2015 New York City Pride March.

aradia22 · May 6, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: So tomorrow I need to get up early to try to get a rush ticket to Doctor Zhivago. I can't decide whether to get there at 8 am or 9 am for a 10 am box office open. Anyway, wish me luck!

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

New York's Public Theater Lab production of Toast, the new play by Lemon Andersen officially opens May 5 following preview performances that began April 21 Off-Broadway.
The Flick returns Off-Broadway to the Barrow Street Theatre May 5, with opening night now set for May 18.
The Spoils by Jesse Eisenberg begins previews May 5 prior to an official opening June 2.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Celebrity Autobiography has announced the cast for its upcoming Broadway Edition on June 1 and 6 at The Triad nightclub in New York.

Come to the Cabaret (CABARETS/CONCERTS/ETC)

Charlie Rosen's Broadway Big Band will return to 54 Below May 18 to continue an official residence for 2015.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

The Public Theater will present The National Asian American Theatre Company's production of Awake and Sing!, one of playwright Clifford Odet's most acclaimed works. Set in the Bronx during the Depression era, the play about a Jewish family will be played by an all-Asian cast. The show will kick of NAATCO's 25th season in residency at the Off-Broadway theatre; with performances set to run July 6 through Aug. 1, with an official opening night slated for July 13.

We Open in Venice, We Next Play Verona (TOURS)

Tony Yazbeck he will take his performance in On the Town to the rest of North America in a 2016-2017 national tour. Dates, cities and the rest of the cast are yet to be announced.
Kristin Chenoweth has announced her lineup of 2015-16 concert tour dates and cities.

A Foggy Day in London Town (UK NEWS)

The West End return for Peter Morgan's The Audience opens officially May 5 at the Apollo Theatre, following previews that began April 21. The run is booking through July 25. Kristin Scott Thomas inherits the role of Queen Elizabeth II that Helen Mirren originated.

I Want to Go to Hollywood (MOVIE NEWS)

The film version of Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years comes out on DVD and Blu-ray May 5

Let Me Be Your Star (TV NEWS)

Mandy Patinkin and Rita Moreno have signed on to voice characters in the new animated children's series "Nina's World," which will premiere this fall on Sprout. Moreno will voice Nina's grandmother, with Patinkin as Mr. Lambert, the local librarian.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

Rita Wilson returns to Larry David's Fish in the Dark show May 5.
Churchill has announced it will extend its limited engagement at Off-Broadway's New World Stages once again, this time through September 13, due to a strong demand for tickets.
Fiasco Theater's The Two Gentlemen of Verona will also extend for two additional weeks. The show opened April 30 and will now continue through June 7 in downtown Brooklyn.
two-day "Broadway Hackathon" May 11-12, sponsored by The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, Masie Productions and Harvard University. The purpose of the "hackathon" is not to hack anybody, but to compete to build the latest, hottest Broadway apps for smartphones and laptops. In return, the library will provide meals, coffee, WiFi, and access to Broadway-related data from its extensive archives.

aradia22 · May 6, 2015

Theatre News Roundup: So I got my rush ticket to Doctor Zhivago! Hopefully I'm not in one of the seats that's blocked by that table. I'll fill you in either tonight or tomorrow depending on how late I get back.

Another Op’nin, Another Show (OPENINGS)

The City Center Encores! production of the classic Kander and Ebb musical Zorba! plays the famed Manhattan venue May 6-10.

I Wanna Be A Producer (IN THE WORKS)

Stephen Schwartz headed off to London to work on his new stage musical, Emanuel and Eleonore. The show tells the story of Mozart's frequent collaborator, Emanuel Schikaneder, librettist for The Magic Flute and other operas, and is scheduled to premiere in Vienna, Austria, in fall 2016.

I Hope I Get It (CASTING)

Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre has announced complete casting for its world premiere production of Whorl Inside a Loop, a new play by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott, co-directed by Michael Mayer and Scanlan — the creative team behind the Tony-nominated Everyday Rapture. In the new work, Scott will play a celebrity actress who ventures behind the bars of a men's maximum security prison in order to help them tell their stories.

It’s Only a Play (PLAYS)

Soho Rep will present the world premiere of 10 out of 12, by Anne Washburn. Her newest work takes place during the chaos of a stage show's technical rehearsal, offering the audience a unique glimpse into theatre-making. Performances will begin May 26 through June 21, with an opening night slated for June 10.

Stop! Wait! What?! (EVERYTHING ELSE)

The acclaimed Lincoln Center Theater revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I has extended its Broadway run indefinitely, while plans are also underway to take the production across the U.S.
Darren Criss will host Stars in the Alley, a free outdoor concert presented by The Broadway League. The event will take place on May 27 from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM in Shubert Alley, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue and 44th and 45th Streets.
Broadway stars Justin Guarini and Deborah Cox will host the seventh annual simulcast of the Tony Awards, June 7, in Times Square, presented by Clear Channel Spectacolor in partnership with the Times Square Alliance.
CBS-TV reported that the feds are threatening to withhold $90 million in federal highway aid–10 percent of New York's total–if the signs in Times Square are not removed or drastically reduced in size.

aradia22 · May 7, 2015

I have a massive headache right now and rants about the audience that I may or may not post tomorrow (seriously, just because the show is closing it doesn't mean all theatre etiquette goes out the window. The people around you also paid for their tickets.) and critiques of the performances and staging but the short of it is... I had a fabulous time. I'm totally going again. I just have to decide on Friday (tired for Zorba?) or Sunday (too tired from Zorba?).

More tomorrow.

aradia22 · May 7, 2015

So I thought, if you'll humor me, that we could try something different before I tell you about my thoughts on Doctor Zhivago tonight. I'm going to tell you the plot as I understand it from the musical. Remember, I have not seen the movie or read the book and I am not using anything to cheat. This is my sense of the story just from watching the musical. OK, here we go. Spoilers for Doctor Zhivago, obviously.

The musical starts with Lara at Zhivago's grave. Then we see Yuri Andreyovitch Zhivago as a little boy. His mother has died (forgot the reason) and after her death his father has lost the vast family fortune (more on that later). The Gromeko family is at the funeral and takes him in. He and the daughter of the family, Tonia, become playmates and she gives him a book as a present so he'll have somewhere to write his poems instead of the margins of his textbooks. Meanwhile, Lara's father has also died and she runs a dress shop with her mother. The Zhivago family and the Guishar (Lara's) family share a lawyer, Victor Komarovsky, who is schtupping Lara's mother, presumably for his assistance in helping them getting the dress shop, etc. and establish themselves after her father's death. Flash forward and Tonia and Yuri are getting married but an hour before the wedding he's rushing off to tend to revolutionaries (? this part is a bit hazy). Anyway, they do get married. Meanwhile, we learn that Lara is having an affair with Komarovsky/his mistress but she wants out. He says he'll come at midnight. She shows up at Yuri and Tonia's wedding reception and tries to shoot Komarovsky but misses. Instead she hits the hand of the DA(?) and Yuri patches him up. However, he is very intrigued by this mystery woman full of passion. Next scene we learn that Lara is in love with Pasha, a young, charismatic student at the university with revolutionary ideas. Pasha is going off to the war with a side goal of convincing his fellow soldiers to rebel against the czar and the war. His friends give him a going away party and one makes a play for Lara (this is never important later) but they tell them that they've already gotten married. On the wedding night, Pasha reluctantly tells Lara that he's a virgin and expects the same of her, hoping she won't be disappointed in his.... lack of prowess. She confesses her affair with Komarovsky and both the passion and her distaste for him. She begs for forgiveness but Pasha doesn't spurn her. However, he is filled with anger for what the "bourgeois bastard" did to her. She runs out looking for him and Yuri gives her his umbrella in the rain. Anyway, then it's off to war for Yuri as a doctor leaving behind his wife, her parents, and a servant in Moscow. There's a love ballad here between Yuri and Tonia. I'm foggy on this but I think it was him comforting her about him going to war/being at war. Cut to Pasha serving in the army. There's a brash commander that urges them to go forward in service of the czar. There's also a young soldier with a sweetheart back home named Katerina who doesn't know how he feels. (Eyeroll, he's gonna die.) Pasha seems to be a good soldier because he's kind of crazy and takes all these chances. He does try to stir revolutionary sentiment but the guys aren't really buying it. Meanwhile Zhivago is at a field hospital and who transfers there but volunteer nurse Lara? So they're working together all the time. I think it might be at this point that Yuri explains to Lara that he admired her not just for her passion but because she stood up to Komarovsky, the man Yuri blames for preying on his father's vices (gambling, drink, women) and getting him to fritter away his fortune and bring shame to the family name. The young soldier from Pasha's regiment is brought in and they patch him up together with Lara talking to him (partially about Katerina of course) and holding him down while Yuri finds the shrapnel in him or whatnot. The other nurses gossip about Lara and Yuri and how close they are when he comes in with a newspaper. I think it's something about how the soldiers are refusing to fight (?) so the czar has to either end the war or negotiate peace (?). Then they sing Somewhere My Love because they're going home and they dance around and Yuri and Lara dance. The war is still going on though. Lara bribes a guard. They find the young soldier on the battlefield with a mortal wound. When he dies they find the letter to Katerina Lara urged him to write in his hand. As they read it together the soldier's confession of love becomes their confession and they kiss. Meanwhile, that commander is still urging the troops forward but they've had enough and they refuse and call for retreat. He's waving his gun around and talking about the czar and Pasha shoots him. While his revolutionary spirit was initially more peaceful, it's become hardened by battle. He dips his handkerchief in the blood of the young soldier and wraps it around his arm and they sing about the comrades who have fallen in service of a pointless war. Back in Moscow, Zhivago learns that his family's home has been invaded by these two communists from the agricultural society who are essentially spying on the family and forcing them to live in the attic. Tonia and her parents have been joined by Tonia and Yuri's son who has aged quite a bit in his father's absence. He initially spurns his father who he does not know. Yuri is dragged before a committee with others to defend his poetry. He says it's apolitical but the communists insist there must be a message. Komarovsky intervenes (he's also on the committee) and suggests that in the future, Yuri's poetry will become more political (presumably in favor of the communists). He accedes but his friend who published his first poem is dragged away. By the way, there's a running theme about class and how Zhivago is from the ruling class which supported the czar and everyone knows his name as a poet and also because of his family's wealth and I guess misdeeds in the past. He also keeps on and on about his father and how he's not his father and how he doesn't want to leave the same legacy of shame. So anyway, the people who were with Yuri being questioned all get hanged (I don't know how they did it. I expected the lights to go out. It was kind of a cool effect. Lots of cool effects. I will get to that in the review.) Tonia's mother is kind of losing her mind. Her memories are regressing to the past. This inspires Yuri to want to move the family to their other home in the country outside of Moscow. They get train fare and sneak away from their captors. Meanwhile the czar and his family are killed. Also, I don't know how much time passed but Tonia's mother dies before they leave. When they arrive in... some place with a "Y"... it's a Russian word, the family goes off but Yuri is taken captive. He's presented to Strelnikov (who's actually Pasha) a very feared man who is leading the partisans and killing people left and right. Strelnikov is killing the former bourgeois partially in an attempt to purify Lara. He raises the gun and is almost going to kill Zhivago but instead let's him go in his one act of mercy though he's totes going to spy on him. So Zhivago goes back to his wife and her father and his son. The son is bored in the small cottage they're staying in and Zhivago snaps at him. Generally not the best father throughout the show. Tonia (in a very weird move) starts yelling at Zhivago that he needs to go to town to the library. She says they moved so he would have peace for his writing and it's quiet here and he hasn't been writing. Meanwhile, Lara was working with the women in the fields who sing about how all the men are gone, except the old ones. But then she's suddenly working in the library. Zhivago sees her in the library and they talk about how they each knew the other was there. He didn't want to come to the town because I think it's her hometown. She says that everyone has gossiped about the famous poet living in the cottage. She also tells him about how Strelnikov is Pasha and how she knows that he's spying on her. Yuri and Lara start an affair but then he wants to end it. Meanwhile there's a love pentagon song between Lara and Yuri and Komarovsky and Strelnikov and Tonia. I think some more stuff happens but I've forgotten it. Anyway, Strelnikov ends up sending Yuri to tend to the partisan soldiers. A commander asked him for a doctor because the men are dying of typhus. However, when he gets there the same commander doesn't let him use the morphine on the soldiers because he's a heroin addict and wants it for himself. However, he apparently engages in philosophical talks with the educated Yuri and keeps talking about how they're friends. For some reason they bring in this mad woman they think is a spy and want Yuri to get her to talk. He is kind to her and she tells him about sending her children in to the woods and then grabs a knife and kills herself. The commander tells a soldier to shoot her but the man cannot. To stop her suffering, Yuri grabs the gun. The commander tells Yuri that now he's one of them. Yuri rages against this though at this point I'm losing interest in his whole legacy of shame thing because he's not doing a great job of it (more in the review). Meanwhile, Tonia goes to the library with her son and sees Lara. She says Lara's coworker at the library came to her and told her things she thought she should know. They sing one of those Miss Saigon duets between the mistress and the wife. I forget what the hell is going on with Zhivago at this point. Whatever, stuff happens and Yuri escapes the partisans but he's exhausted when he gets back to the village. Lara finds him and nurses him back to health after her doesn't wake for many days. Then they start their affair again. She also tells him that she pleaded with Pasha to let his family flee. I think Tonia's father has died in this time or maybe before. Komarovsky shows up to say that they don't have much time. The whole village knows they're up there and it's only a matter of time until the soldiers come get them. Pasha/Strelnikov who spared Zhivago for Lara's sake (hoping to win her back) has been killed and so now they're in danger. Komarovsky (who's in love with Lara) says he'll get them all on a train with fake identities but Zhivago says no and wants to send Lara by herself with Komarovsky. Yuri tells Lara that he'll join them later and she tells him that she thinks she's pregnant (in an awkward bit of dialogue). So that happens and meanwhile Pasha/Strelnikov shows up while Yuri's writing his poetry. They talk and share vodka. Pasha wants to kill him but then he picks up his poem and reads it and feels Lara in it and instead walks outside and shouts her name and gets killed. Yuri apparently has heart trouble? Possibly some more stuff happens that I forgot. Anyway, he's dead. Lara and her daughter show up at the funeral. No idea how much time has passed but the daughter is old enough to read so... They're the only ones there. But then she starts reading the poem and others join them, including soldiers, and there's this idea of how Zhivago's poetry is so powerful that it unites Russia on a deeper, apolitical level.

Edited May 8, 2015 by aradia22

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