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Entries tagged with 'Broadway'
Posted Aug. 7, 2008,
Ang Lee Brings Broadway Babies to the Big Screen in Taking Woodstock
By Whitney Spaner
Ooh I'm so excited to see Ang Lee's upcoming film Taking Woodstock, about the folks who owned the farm the famed festival was on, which he just finished raiding Hell's Kitchen, I mean casting, for. Broadway stars such as Jonathan Groff -- who is getting his Summer of Love training, starring in Hair, which opens tonight at the Delacorte -- will appear in the film as well as Mamie Gummer (last seen in Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway), Jeremy Shamos (remember that play Reckless with Mary-Louise Parker?),
Pictured is cute couple Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan
Posted Jul. 18, 2008,
Blood, Sweat and Tears at [title of show] on Broadway
By Whitney Spaner
OK, I'm lying about the blood part but you can't say sweat and tears without it and there was definitely both of those the other night when I saw a preview of [title of show] which opened on Broadway last night to a rave review in the Times. The show, by two likable theater buffs Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell is about the making of their show -- which they wrote in three weeks to meet a musical theater festival deadline. The show documents everything that happened as they wrote the musical, down to what they ordered for takeout, and includes many witty Broadway insider jokes -- there's a mention of actress Mary Stout's run-in with a hot dog cart and Jeff's cell-phone has a Cats ringtone. The show, which naturally stars Jeff and Hunter along with their friends Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, now also covers their experience off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theater and their move to Broadway. Maybe it was their journey from temping to starring on Broadway, or maybe it's just that I'm a big sap, but I couldn't help but cry when near the end I noticed that Heidi was trying very hard to control some serious sobs on stage! Hunter, Jeff and Susan seemed a little choked up as well and I leapt to my feet when they said their last line -- which happens to be "This is the last line of our show." This is why I love live theater -- you can't find that raw spontaneous emotion on film!
Posted Jul. 17, 2008,
Stage Notes: [title of show]
By Tom Murrin
Do you remember that childhood story, The Little Engine That Could? Well, this is that story come to life. A few years ago, Hunter Bell and Jeff Owen submitted a last-minute proposal to the NY Musical Theater Festival; it was so last-minute, they proposed that their show would be “about” the making of a musical for the festival. The idea was accepted, and they had to come up with a show, which, along with two female performer friends, they did. [title of show], which included all the doubts, false starts and stumbles any original musical goes through, all the personal back and forth, highs and lows, was so unique, and honest and entertaining, that it became an instant festival hit. Then it was a hit at Ars Nova, and later at a prestigious off-Broadway house, The Vineyard, and now, that little engine has climbed the mountain, and it’s opening on Broadway! Michael Berresse directs, and the two original women actors, Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff, complete the four-person cast. I saw it at Ars Nova and loved it. I spoke with Hunter Bell, whom I have known from downtown theater for years.
First of all, Congratulations, Hunter. This has to be something amazing.
It’s great. We’re in the thick of it. Full tilt rehearsals. It’s insane.
So, have there been many changes?
Yes. We have been doing a reincarnation with each pass at it: first, the New York Theater Festival, then off-Broadway, the Vineyard, how it came about creating a show off-Broadway. Now we are incorporating what it takes, artistically and emotionally, trying to get a show like this on Broadway. Half of the show (now) is how to incorporate that situation, and what’s come up.
What are some of the new Broadway elements?
When Jeff and I first began writing it, it was for the festival; but in our minds, because we are dreamers, we were always writing it as a Broadway musical. We closed our eyes and had a Broadway audience in mind.
Posted Jul. 10, 2008,
Downtown Brooklyn TKTS Booth Opens Today!
By Whitney Spaner
As of today it will be much easier for all you Brooklynites and/or Times Square-a-phobes to satisfy your theatrical cravings when a new TKTS booth opens in Downtown Brooklyn on Jay and Myrtle Streets on the ground floor of the MetroTech Center. Just like the booths in Times Square and the South Street Seaport, they will sell discount tickets up to 50 percent off for Broadway and Off-Broadway shows as well as music and dance performances and Brooklyn performing arts events. The booth will be open from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on weekdays selling tickets for same night and next day performances. Since most tourists won't make the trek I bet this location will be much more pleasant -- you could get your tickets to Gypsy and be back in time to grab a drink and laugh at the long sweaty line of people in Times Square hoping to get that last ticket to Thurgood.
Photo from gowanuslounge.com
Posted Jul. 8, 2008,
Hot off the Screen onto the Stage: Big Stars on Broadway
By Whitney Spaner
The stage will be star-studded this fall with big name celebrities flocking to up their theater cred on Broadway and the West-End. Some of the names you can see here and abroad are:
Jeremy Piven playing a producer torn between making art or making money in a Broadway revival of David Mamet’s Speed the Plow. The original production starred Madonna in 1988.
Peter Sarsgaard will be making his Broadway debut alongside Kristin Scott Thomas and Zoe Kazan in Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull about a bunch of artists living on a Russian estate -- and well, use your imagination about what happens there.
Katie Holmes will attempt to revive her career in the revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons also starring fellow screen stars -– but not stage strangers, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson and John Lithgow.
Weeds star Hunter Parrish (he plays the hotter and older of Nancy's two sons) will be making his Broadway debut as the lead, Melchior, in Spring Awakening. He takes over for Jonathan Groff.
Hottie Josh Hartnett will be starring in the London production of the new stage adaption of Rainman. He’ll play the Tom Cruise role of course, and X-Files actress Gillian Anderson will also be seen on the West End this spring in a production of A Doll’s House.
Posted Jun. 16, 2008,
Broadway's Biggest Night
By Whitney Spaner
There are more photos in this gallery. View them all.
Last night was the 62nd Annual Tony Awards and it was a hard year to predict winners making for an interesting evening with a few surprises. The big winners were Lincoln Center’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific, the Washington Heights tribute In the Heights, August: Osage County and Boeing-Boeing. Paulo Szot the opera singer turned musical theater star (who is amazingly sexy and had me gasping for air as he gave his speech in a Brazilian accent) won Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as Emile de Becque in South Pacific which beat out Gypsy for the Best Revival of a Musical despite the fact that Gypsy picked up all the other acting categories -- most notably Patti LuPone who plays the legendary role of Mama Rose. She had a lot to live up to with two out of the four previous Mama Roses winning the Tony before her excluding Bernadette Peters and the original Ethel Merman. Patti’s speech was amazing and channelled her inner Mama Rose when she yelled “turn that off it’s been 29 years!” when the “wrap it up” music started playing, referring to the last time she won a Tony for her role as Evita.
Posted Jun. 12, 2008,
MM Hard-Ons... Ummm Hearts Cheyenne Jackson!
By Mickey Boardman
MM knows everyone excited for the Tony Awards this Sunday and MM will naturally be parked in front of the TV with his Theater Queen friends from Movie Club. Sadly the hottest man on B'way isn't nominated: Cheyenne Jackson from Xanadu!! Take a peek at this photo and then tell MM that Cheyenne is a churnin hunk of burnin funk! Luckily his costar Kerry Butler is nominated as is the show. MM loves Broadway!!!
Posted May. 20, 2008,
Tom, Katie and Suri Are Broadway-Bound!
By Whitney Spaner
Everyone's favorite Scientology crusaders, Tom and Katie, will be coming to New York this fall when Katie Holmes tries to resurrect her career by making her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Her co-stars will be Broadway vets Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson and John Lithgow. Katie, Tom and Suri were just here for the MET Costume Institute Gala and I heard they also visited Serendipity where Tom suddenly tapped his glass with his fork and announced that he now wanted to kiss his wife and he and Katie engaged in a made-for-the-screen makeout. I wonder if Crazy will let his wife sign some Playbills after the show or if he'll simply whisk her away in the spaceship after the curtain each night.
I have to say as a fellow Ohioan I'm rooting for Katie -- I'd love to see her make a career comeback, and I hope she doesn't experience the same critical wrath her Hollywood colleagues like Julia Roberts, Ashley Judd, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore felt in their Broadway experiences. Here's a pic of Katie and Tom at the MET Costume Institute Gala taken by Caroline Torem Craig.
Posted May. 15, 2008,
"Be Italian" Daniel Day-Lewis!
By Whitney Spaner
Thee Tony-winning 1982 musical Nine is heading to the silver screen. Written by Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeaston, Nine was revived in 2003 and starred Antonio Banderas as Guido Contini, a film director and modern day Casanova, juggling the many women in his life while struggling with an artistic block. The musical is now being made into a movie, (Nine was originally inspired by Federico Fellini's film 8 1/2) but there has been some speculation as to who's going to play the suave Contini now that Javier Bardem has pulled out saying he needs a rest after winning an Oscar. His girlfriend Penelope Cruz however is still signed on. I read in Variety today that fellow Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is in talks to play Guido. Hmm a Brit as an Italian lover? As my favorite song from the show says he'll have to "Be Italian" to be a great lover, but Daniel is pretty sexy nonetheless!
And Antonio usually doesn't do it for me -- but seeing him in this musical was one of the sexiest things I've seen on Broadway and it's going to be hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Here is a clip of him performing with the 2003 cast of Nine (including Chita Rivera and Jane Krakowski) at the 57th Annual Tony Awards where the show won for Best Revival of a Musical.
Posted Apr. 30, 2008,
This Month in Theater: May 2008
By Tom Murrin
There are more photos in this gallery. View them all.
May is the last chance for shows to open before the Tony Awards. Here are five that hope to be in the competition.
TOP GIRLS
This is a revival of a Caryl Churchill masterpiece from the early '80s, set at the Top Girls Employment Agency in London. An ambitious business woman, in a male-dominated world, achieves results; but at a cost. James Macdonald directs an all-female cast, which includes a quartet of top-rated actors: Mary Catherine Garrison, Elizabeth Marvel, Martha Plimpton and Marisa Tomei. (See photos of the show above.)
Biltmore Theatre, 261 W. 47th St., (212) 239-6200. Previews Apr. 15, opens May 7.
BOEING BOEING
Boeing-Boeing is a 1960's sex comedy of errors by the very successful French playwright Marc Camoletti, that English director Matthew Warchus has reinvented for today. It involves a Parisian playboy (The West Wing's Bradley Whitford), who is able to juggle the affections of three flight attendants, with the aid of his housekeeper (star of many mediums, Christine Baranski), until an old pal (British classic actor Mark Rylance) shows up to bunk at his apartment. Two of the flight attendants will be played by Gina Gershon and Mary McCormack.
The Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., (212) 239-6200. Previews Apr. 19, opens May 4.
Posted Apr. 18, 2008,
Harvey Fierstein's Back on Broadway in A Catered Affair
By Whitney Spaner
Broadway's favorite scratchy-voiced songstress Harvey Fierstein, known most recently as taking over for Alfred Molina as Tevye in David Leveaux’s 2004 production of Fiddler on the Roof and for his hilarious turn as the mother in Hairspray, is back on Broadway in A Catered Affair. In addition to starring in the production, he also wrote the book, based on the teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky and the screenplay by Gore Vidal. He hasn’t written a script since the '80s when he had huge hits with Torch Song Trilogy and La Cage aux Folles, and some not so big hits like Legs Diamond and Safe Sex and it's hard to say if Affair will be his strike at gold.
Posted Apr. 17, 2008,
Reality Bites: Step It Up and Dance's Cody Green
By Whitney Spaner
I first saw dancer, actor, singer Cody Green in this year’s Broadway revival of Grease starring the You’re the One That I Want reality show winners, and wrote about how cute and talented he was. Now he’s starring in Bravo's new reality show Step It Up and Dance, although when I asked him last August if he would ever take part in a reality show, he said no! But this one -- a competition between 12 dancers following a Project Runway or Top Chef type format hosted by Saved by the Bell’s Elizabeth Berkeley and star choreographer Jerry Mitchell in the sort of Tim Gunn role -- seems like it might have been a good choice. The show premiered two weeks ago and Cody's off to a slow start (one castmember said he had cliché white guy moves) and was put in an elimination group on the first episode -- but soon he won over the judges’ hearts and libidos when he gave it his all during a choreographed dance to the Spice Girls' “Spice Up Your Life”! Hope he keeps wowing them tonight! Of course how long he lasts on the show is a big secret, but he’s now back in Grease on Broadway, possibly $100,000 richer, and my dream man either way! I recently spoke to him over the phone.
Posted Apr. 8, 2008,
Have an Eggroll Patti LuPone!
By Whitney Spaner
Tonight I’m going to see Gypsy on Broadway starring the Patti LuPone and I’m so excited! I just saw the Encores! version at City Center in July with the exact same cast, and it is supposedly much better now on the St. James stage. Maybe a few of you remember when I wrote about the opening night party for the show last week. Well today I was listening to the cast recording of the last Broadway performance of Gypsy starring Bernadette Peters as Momma Rose today prepping for the show when the song “Mr. Goldstone, I Love You” came on I remembered Boyd Gaines (who plays Herbie in the current version)’s opening night gift to Patti that she showcased at the party. It was a purse in the shape of a Chinese takeout box for all the Chinese food Momma Rose and her brood eat in the show! Brilliant! That Boyd Gaines is so thoughtful! Here’s a pic of her at the party carrying the cute little memento!
Posted Mar. 31, 2008,
Gypsy Is Back on Broadway and Patti LuPone Is the New Diva in Town
By Whitney Spaner
The fifth production since the first in 1959 of what's said to be the best American musical ever written, Gypsy opened last Thursday at the St. James Theatre to wonderful reviews. New York Times critic Ben Brantley did backflips for Patti LuPone the latest to play the notorious stage mother Momma Rose the ultimate part for the Broadway Diva -- evident by the big names before her, Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Bernadette Peters.
Posted Feb. 28, 2008,
Passing Strange Opening Tonight on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
Passing Strange, a musical/concert combination written and narrated by rock 'n' roll cult figure, Stew and his partner Heidi Rodewald, is opening up at the Belasco tonight. It opened at the Public Theater last year to rave reviews, and has made the transfer uptown with the same cast of six. The story follows a restless young boy growing up in a middle-class community in L.A., as he travels to find himself in Amsterdam and Berlin where he runs into a cast of characters along the way while dancing and singing to a bluesy, pop, and rock 'n' roll soundtrack played by Stew, Heidi and their onstage band.
It's definitely something to see, if not just for the change in Broadway musical scenery. Also the cast is amazing -- they all play multiple roles except Daniel Breaker who plays the young man and his mother, played by Eisa Davis. At the matinee I attended the crowd was lined up half-way down the block and they were forced to hold the curtain 20 minutes just to get everyone seated. Maybe Passing Strange could be the next Rent?
Posted Jan. 17, 2008,
A Star Studded Evening at November
By Whitney Spaner
The stars came out last night to see November, David Mamet's new play, that opens tonight on Broadway. November follows a fictional American president (obviously based on you know who) trying desperately to get re-elected on the eve of the election, starring Nathan Lane as the Commander in Chief with Laurie Metcalf (remember her from Roseanne?) as his lesbian, Chinese-child-adopting speech writer and Dylan Baker as his sleezy lawyer.
Despite the fact that tonight is opening night proper, last night's performance was fairly star-studded. Nathan Lane pal Mel Brooks, was laughing out loud two seats down from me, and Don Rickles was chatting with Mel from the row behind us. David Schwimmer and his Caine Mutiny Court Marshal co-star Zelijko Ivanek were also in the house. David was looking very cute in a winter hat, Blackberry in hand. I love a Broadway-loving celebrity!
Pictured above is Nathan Lane in the "Oval Office." Photograph by David Hume Kennerly
Posted Jan. 17, 2008,
Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps Opens on Broadway
By Whitney Spaner
On Wednesday night, Alfred Hitchcock came to Broadway in the form of his 1935 film (starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll), The 39 Steps -- a comedic thriller about a man on the run from assassins who have killed a mysterious woman with a very thick German accent who warned him that there has been a plot to steal British military secrets. Ben Brantley gave it a rave review in the New York Times yesterday. Having seen the show this past weekend I wholly agree with his opinion that "This fast, frothy exercise in legerdemain is throwaway theater at its finest. And that’s no backhanded compliment."
The four performers (Jennifer Ferrin, Arnit Burton, Charles Edwards and Cliff Saunders) were very good at being both clownish and quick-witted. I love love love Jennifer Ferrin, who played multiple characters, including the aforementioned mysterious woman with the German accent, a farm hand and the love interest. I remember her from her soap star days, when she played the ailing Jennifer who married Dusty on her death bed on As the World Turns. Priceless!
Photographs from the production by Joan Marcus
Posted Jan. 2, 2008,
May The Muses of Xanadu Visit You in '08!
By Ann Magnuson
Gotta love those long-limbed dancers! (Leg warmers notwithstanding.) I remember seeing this movie when it played at the legendary St. Mark's Cinema ( closed to make way for, you guessed it, The Gap.) It was a midnight show and packed. We laughed our ironic butts off -- just like folks are supposedly doing at the camp revival on Broadway now. Irony aside, there is something very life-affirming about this clip. Good for beginning the New Year! May you all be inspired by your favorite muse all during 2008! (I just hope my muse can dance better than Olivia Newton-John, fetching though she may be... especially on those roller skates.)
Posted Nov. 29, 2007,
Broadway is Back in Business!!
By Whitney Spaner
Broadway is back on tonight! After 19 days of the stagehand strike, the 27 shows that have been dark are opening back up tonight. Today was craziness in Times Square with photo-ops for all the shows and open rehearsals. The Chorus Line cast even performed a number in the middle! I stopped by Grease’s three hour refresher rehearsal this afternoon at Chelsea Studios and asked stars Laura Osnes and Max Crumm what they’d been doing with all their free time!
True to Danny form, Max said he was kind of a bum spending his time drinking and hanging out with friends, something he doesn’t get to do very much of when he has to be on as Danny eight times a week. Although he said it was a much-needed vacation, he’s happy to get back to work tonight. “It’s going to be such a fun show -- like another opening night!”
Laura, 22, who married her longtime boyfriend in May said she was happy to get some alone time with her new husband. “I got to go on date night! But it was weird at the same time because I was missing doing the show. I’m really excited to be back and the break is ready to be over.”
Although many tourists missed their scheduled shows over the holiday weekend, both Laura and Max said their own friends and family who came in to see them in Grease over the holiday missed the show, but got to see a lot more of them!
I’m glad everything is back to normal!
At top is a pic I took of the cast during their welcome back rehearsal and bottom is the onstage couple at the studio!
Posted Nov. 15, 2007,
Scoping out the Strike. The Real Show Stopper.
By Whitney Spaner
Last night I went up to Times Square to check out the striking stagehands on Broadway (I haven't had another reason to go there for about a week, since 27 out of the 35 shows have been shut down since Saturday.) I walked down 44th St., home to some of Broadway's biggest hits, and stopped to talk to the folks on the picket line outside of Phantom of the Opera, where a younger man was there picketing with his father who he called "the general" and another who they called "the private." They said they had been there since noon and that the hotels and restaurants nearby had been kind enough to bring them food.
Next door at Spamalot, the picketers where walking around in the normal oblong circle in front of the entrance where the audience would normally be waiting in line to get in, and all of the sudden someone yelled, "about face!" and they spun on their heels and walked the other way. When I stopped and looked they told me they had to keep it entertaining! You know what's entertaining? A Broadway show!!
I'm supposed to see The Little Mermaid and The Homecoming in two weeks and I was looking forward to it, so I hope it is settled soon -- although shows are definitely canceled through this Saturday. But at least the strikers seem to be keeping their wits about them!
Photo courtesy of Broadwayworld.com
Posted Nov. 13, 2007,
Mo Rocca Says He Doesn't Love the '80s as Much as VH-1 Says He Does
By Whitney Spaner
With the stagehands on strike and most of Broadway gone dark, the stage stars kept their voices warm last night singing to the tunes of the 1980's for the Joey DiPaolo AIDS Foundation and Camp TLC at Joe's Pub. Mo Rocca was the host, opening the show saying that contrary to the VH-1 I Love the '80s shows he appears on regularly, he doesn't love everything about the '80s. However, judging from his appearing last night, he does however love wearing a Goonies T-shirt while acting out scenes from '80s TV shows including Quincy and Little House on the Prairie, and singing a hilarious version of a Sonny and Cher duet with Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
Marty Thomas from Xanadu didn't hide his love of the decade when he belted out an amazing rendition of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and then, still high from his performanc,e bid $250 for an autographed Debbie Gibson box set. Luckily Xanadu is one of the few shows still running!
Posted Nov. 9, 2007,
August: Osage County: Three and a Half Hours Well Spent!
By Whitney Spaner
Pullitzer Prize nominee Tracy Lett's new play August: Osage County about a Plains state family's dysfunction opens on Nov. 20th at the Imperial Theatre. A direct transfer from the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago, the Tennesee-Williams-like play has an early 7:30 p.m. start time (all Broadway shows start at 8 p.m.), because of it's long running-time. Normally this kind of time commitment is not something I would be interested in, but with this show I didn't mind. I would have stayed another hour (OK, maybe just a half! ) but the point is the amazing cast (most of which are transfers from the Chicago production and long-term members of the Steppenwolf company) and the story, with its many plot twists, kept me wide awake.
The action never leaves a large three story house in Pawhuska, Oklahoma (designed by Todd Rosenthal) and I swear I could smell a mix of Rapture perfume (which my grandma in Ohio wears), cigarettes, liquor and chicken baking in the theater, which helped me to feel the miserable suffication the large family felt as they gathered in the house to comfort the pill-popping matriarch after her husband went missing.
I hope it gets good reviews on the 21st. The talented cast deserves them!
Pictured is the set of August:Osage County at the Steppenwolf and Amy Morton (the eldest daughter) and Deanna Dunagan (the mother).
Posted Nov. 7, 2007,
Jessica Alba on Broadway? Stranger Things Have Happened...
By Whitney Spaner
You heard right -- Jessica Alba is being courted to play Karen, the naive secretary trying to make it big, in a revival of David Mamet's Hollywood satire Speed-the-Plow. The role was originated by Madonna in 1988, who at the time, like Alba, had no stage experience and the reviews punished her for it.
I polled the straight 20-something boys in our office (that's two) to see if they would hike it up to Broadway to see Alba (who is always at the top of Maxim's hottest women alive list, and they said "no," but they'd gladly grab drinks with her afterwards! Although, when I added she'd be playing a secretary they became a little more interested. These straight boys are hard to please!
Posted Nov. 7, 2007,
Rock 'n' Roll on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
Fall is here and despite the fact that the heating in my apartment was on the fritz this weekend and the time change had the sun setting at 4:50 p.m., I couldn’t be happier. The 2007/2008 Broadway season is in full swing. Tom Stoppard’s new play Rock ‘n’ Roll -- the play I was most excited for -- opened on Sunday at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater.
I was looking forward to this play, which enjoyed a sold out run on London’s West End last year, after reading the rave reviews and interviewing one of the stars Alice Eve for the October issue of PAPER -- and I was not disappointed. I admit that when I saw Stoppard’s Tony-winning trilogy The Coast of Utopia last year I might have dozed off at a few points. As a theater-lover I can appreciate the importance of his work but I don’t always find that I connect to it emotionally. Rock ‘n’ Roll was different. Some of the material still went over my head, but I absorbed enough information and had enough interest in the story. The play -- which spans the years 1968 to 1990 -- is about the restrictions placed on rock music in Communist-era Czechoslovakia and focuses on the avant-garde band The Plastic People of the Universe, who became a symbol of the country's cultural repression.
Posted Nov. 5, 2007,
The Little Mermaid Comes to Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
Everyone’s favorite underwater princess, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, debuted in all her fishtailed glory on Saturday at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater -- former home of another Disney-blockbuster-turned-Broadway show Beauty and Beast. Broadway has been known to create some magic from time to time -- a jungle full of dancing animals, flying fairies and a junkyard full of cats, to name a few -- but to create a whole underwater world full of fish, mermaids, crabs and octupi while competing with people’s expectations of the beloved 1989 animated film... They had their work cut out for them.
I went to the press preview a few weeks ago at the The New 42nd Street Studios to see how the “magic” was going to happen. First off, they enlisted Francesca Zambello, an established opera director, for the expansive production. She said at the preview that it made sense to choose someone from the opera world, as she is used to working on a large-scale productions with lots of fantastical ideas involved.
Posted Oct. 17, 2007,
Soundtrack of the Week: Follies in Concert (1985 Live Performance)
By Whitney Spaner
After seeing the Encores! production of Follies this spring at the New York City Center starring Donna Murphy, Victoria Clark and Victor Garber, I fell in love with the musical. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Follies follows a group of women who all performed together in the Weismann's Follies musical revue (based on the Ziegfield Follies) and come back decades later for a reunion.
Hearing of my new obsession, PAPER's original Broadway Baby, Angelo Pitillo, was kind enough to give me this amazing live recording that I've been listening to on repeat. My favorite thing is during the big dance number "Mirror, Mirror" that the girls decide to perform from back in the day, Elaine Stritch says in her gravelly voice, "I haven't danced in 30 years!" and the audience laughs and applauds.
Posted Oct. 15, 2007,
Claire Danes Goes Cockney on Broadway
By Whitney Spaner
This past Saturday I saw the Roundabout's Broadway revival of Pygmalion as fellow Broadway Baby Mr. Mickey's plus one. Thanks MM!
The show, starring Claire Danes as Eliza Doolittle, the poor, Cockney-speaking flower girl who is transformed into a high-society duchess by master phonetician, Henry Higgins played by Jefferson Mays, opens this Thursday and is already sold out. (I heard the ticket salesman at the American Airlines Theater say that it was overbooked! What is this, JetBlue?) It was my first time seeing the George Bernard Shaw play which was the inspiration for the musical My Fair Lady, and I must say, I missed the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe tunes, like "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" and "The Rain in Spain," but it was a solid production of the play.
Posted Oct. 9, 2007,
Breaking: Bobby Cannavale Is Both Cute and Talented
By Whitney Spaner
Every once in awhile I love to spice up a Sunday with a little matinee action, so yesterday I headed off to the Biltmore to see Mauritius, a new play by Theresa Rebeck, which opened last week, about a valuable stamp collection that is left to two half-sisters to fight over after their mother dies. It was a bit of a stretch for a play, but with the help of all-star director Doug Hughes, there was enough action to keep me interested.
Well, I'll be honest, probably most of what was keeping me interested was Bobby Cannavale! I've never seen him act on stage before and it opened a whole other world for me! He's so cute in that firemen fantasy kind of way that I almost wasn't expecting to be blown away by his live theater skills -- but he was amazing! He plays a charming, fast-talking, stamp-pusher named Dennis whose heart is in the right place. He brings so much life and warmth to the stage that I wanted him to be in every scene (and he almost was, as Dennis, Bobby said in an interview, was written for him). This is his Broadway debut but he was also in Hurlyburly with Ethan Hawke at Playwrights Horizons and Fucking A at the Public. Hopefully he will sign on for more Broadway in the future!
Although I've been gushing about Bobby, the whole cast, which included Alison Pill, F. Murray Abraham, Dylan Baker and Katie Finneran, was really great, and I learned a thing or two about philatelics, which would be useful if I were ever to stumble upon a stamp collection.
Here's a funny picture of Bobby I found at this year's Lucille Lortel Awards. Check out his Big Poppa T-shirt! Ridiculous!
Posted Oct. 3, 2007,
Tweeny Boppers on Broadway
By Whitney Spaner
I don't know whether to feel hopeful or disgusted. According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, Wicked, and to a larger extent Legally Blonde, have apparently paved the way for an onslaught of tween-targeted Broadway shows. Times reporter Campbell Robertson writes that after the surpise success of Wicked and the planned success of Legally Blonde with the 10-14ish-year-old female population, there are more shows in the planning stages geared towards this demographic that will grace the Great White Way in the coming years. They include 13, about a 13-year-old girl from New York who moves to India, Princesses, described by Robertson as "High School Musical meets Gossip Girl" and a musical based on the movie Clueless.
Posted Sep. 26, 2007,
Curtain Cutie: Cody Green
By Whitney Spaner
I haven’t posted a Curtain Cutie for a long time but my new crush Cody Green is the perfect one to get us back into the swing of things. I saw him recently in the new Broadway production of Grease, spawned from the first-Broadway related reality show You’re the One that I Want in which America and celebrity-ish judges picked Laura Osnes and Max Crumm to star as Sandy and Danny. (Max stopped by our interview and is also very cute!) Cody is part of the ensemble and is the understudy for Kenickie, who he will be playing on an upcoming weekend! He also is the runner-up in the hand-jive contest (pictured below). I was in awe of his amazing dance moves and charismatic facial expressions. He definitely made the show -- which I, (like most 20-somethings) have seen on stage and film a million times -- a very fresh experience!
He also has an impressive background, which includes Julliard and a starring role in the dance heavy Billy Joel musical Movin’ Out on Broadway, on tour and in London. During our pre-show interview at the Brooks-Atkinson Theater, I asked him if he could come back and dance around my living room for me. Kidding. But I did ask him these very important “get to know you” type questions.
Posted Sep. 14, 2007,
Broadway Soundtrack of the Week: Gypsy
By Whitney Spaner
It's been a long time Broadway babies, but I'm back blogging again! I got a little lazy in the summer heat but now that it's fall and a new Broadway season is underway I feel inspired, so I've decided to start a new feature called "Broadway Soundtrack of the Week." This week's featured soundtrack is Gypsy with Bernadette Peters as Mama Rose. I didn't get to see her singing the Sondheim songs on Broadway but I heard she had a few throat problems during the revival in 2003. On the soundtrack she sounds clear as a bell (well as clear as Bernadette Peters can sound) and seems to really nail the demanding role.
I did catch Patti Lupone in the City Center's production of Gypsy this summer (which I loved), but listening to this soundtrack I think Bernadette would have trumped her as an edgier Mama Rose to Patti's softer version of the notoriously ambitious stage-mom. I'm currently listening to "All I Need Is the Girl," a dance number right before the famous act one finale "Everything's Coming Up Roses." "Some People" and "Together, Wherever We Go" are also some of my favorite tracks, but the whole thing is brilliance. It's the perfect cultural purchase on amazon.com!
Posted Aug. 17, 2007,
Frankenstein and Foster Are Interchangeable on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
Broadway starlet Sutton Foster and her equally theatrical brother Hunter Foster will both be starring in Frankenstein-related musicals this Fall -- Sutton on Broadway in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein, which is currently taking a test run in Seattle and Hunter in Frankentstein, a more serious off-Broadway show about the monster at 37 Arts.
While Sutton's been on a short Broadway hiatus, her last appearance was in Drowsy Chaperone in 2006, and I've been watching her on one of my new favorite shows Flight of the Conchords on HBO. She played Bret's girlfriend Coco (for those of you who are fans of the show) and was so cute and funny on TV. but I'm so glad for the chance to see her again under the bright lights, as Inga the sex-bomb assistant of Dr. Frankenstein. Click here to watch a video from the press preview of Young Frankenstein that I found on one of my favorite sites for Broadway news, Broadway.com!
Here's a pic of Hunter and Sutton -- they're parents must be so proud!
Posted Aug. 14, 2007,
Matt Cavenaugh Back on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
One of my favorite Broadway cuties, Arkansas native Matt Cavenaugh (he has the cutest southern drawl!) will be back on Broadway next year in Harvey Fierstein and John Bucchino's new musical A Catered Affair. He was most recently seen playing a double role in the Tony-nominated Grey Gardens, which closed at the end of July after running almost a year.
Posted Jul. 31, 2007,
Kelly Osbourne in Chicago!
By Whitney Spaner
PAPER covergirl Kelly Osbourne will star as Matron Mama Morton in the West End production of Chicago beginning Sept. 10th and ending Oct. 27th. At only 22 years old she's the youngest Mama Morton in history! In the Broadway revival which opened in 1996, Marcia Lewis played the role at age 68! But Kelly's husky voice and no-nonsense attitude gives her a presence way beyond her years and I think she'll be great! I wish I could fly out to London to see her -- and Ozzy sitting in the audience!
Posted Jul. 23, 2007,
Randy Quaid to Star in Lone Star Love on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
Lone Star Love opened off-Broadway in December of 2004 and now has finally found a spot on the Great White Way at the Belasco, with an opening set for December 3rd. The musical is a country western take on Shakespeare's the Merry Wives of Windsor that has been an over-two-decade-long labor of love by the show's creators, John L. Haber and Jack Herrick of the Red Clay Ramblers.
Randy Quaid will star in the revised production, making his Broadway debut as Falstaff, the sloppy drunk of a Civil War soldier who works his "charm" to swindle the Windsor (that's Windsor, TX of course) town women out of their husbands' land and money. Tony nominees Dee Hoty (Footloose, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Will Roger's Follies) and Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll and Hyde), also star.
During the show's off-Broadway run, they had a special pre-show BBQ. The cast members handed out chili, cornbread and hot dogs, and played Texas hold up with the audience members to get everyone in a down home-mood each night. Yours truly donned a cowboy hat and pigtails to sell Lone Star beer. I also made my debut as part of the crew working the spotlight! It was an amazing time and it's a fun, upbeat show with great musical numbers that's better than a lot of shows that make it to Broadway these days. I'd sling chili for them any day!
Here's a pic of Randy as the infamous Cousin Eddie (standing next to Chevy Chase) in National Lampoon's Vacation.
Posted Jul. 13, 2007,
Claire Danes, the Next Big Star on Broadway!
By Whitney Spaner
It's just been announced this week that Claire Danes will star as Eliza Doolittle, the crass flowergirl who climbs the class ranks with the help of Professor Henry Higgins in the Roundabout's production of Pygmalion, which will begin previews on Sept. 18th. Interestingly enough, she'll not only be acting alongside her boyfriend Hugh Dancy's costar from this spring's critically acclaimed revival of Journey's End, Jefferson Mays, but she will also will be directed by Journey's End director David Grindley. It's amazing how insestuous the theater world can be!
Here's a cute pic of the pair snuggling up at an event.
Posted Jul. 11, 2007,
Curtain Cutie: Curtis Holbrook
By Whitney Spaner
Xanadu, the musical based on the infamous 1980 movie of the same name starring Olivia Newton-John opened last night at the Helen Hayes Theater to enthusiastic reviews. The movie was a campy nightmare for critics and most movie goers, and put a halt to the movie/musical genre for about two decades. But Xanadu’s saving grace was several chart topping tunes including it’s title song "Xanadu," making it a prime choice for a jukebox musical.
After the screenplay, about an Australian-accented, rollerskating muse who visits an uninspired artist and convinces him to build a roller disco called Xanadu, got a very funny facelift by Little Dog Laughed playwright Douglas Carter Beane, the stage show was ready to roll (quite literally -- all the actors are on skates). Xanadu stars Cheyenne Jackson (Chad in All Shook Up) who bravely filled original star James Carpinello’s skates after he broke his foot during previews, and Kerry Butler in the Olivia Newton-John role, along with Broadway vets Tony Roberts, Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman.
Posted Jun. 26, 2007,
Mary Wilson: Still Supreme!!!
By Mickey Boardman
On Friday Mr. Mickey had the overwhelming treat of seeing one of his all-time favorite glamour girls Miss Mary Wilson perform at Feinstein's at the Regency. Mary, as you all know, was the sexy Supreme driving men crazy with desire and making gays gag with her ensembles and blonde wigs! Mr. Mickey has met Mary before and actually had the pleasure of interviewing her in her New York apartment many years ago -- I am happy to say that Mary is still shockingly sexy for 63! Feinstein's is a fabulous place to see performers. The room is chic and small, the acoustics are great and the maitre'd is super sexy. Mary is performing this week as well so rush to Feinstein's website to buy tickets -- if they have any left! Mary's voice is phenomenal. She always felt she sang ballads best and that's what she sticks to in this show.
After the show, Mary mingles with fans who can purchase copies of her bestselling memoir, Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, as well as cds, dvds and photos. This lady is a star!!!! Broadway producers out there need to put her in a show! She'd be stellar as Muzzie in Thoroughly Modern Millie or as Mama Morton in Chicago!
Click here to read Broadway Baby Angelo Pitillo's interview with Mary Wilson!
Posted Jun. 14, 2007,
Curtain Cutie: Matthew Morrison
By Whitney Spaner
This week’s Curtain Cutie is the James Dean-esque