"As for me, prizes are nothing. My prize is my work."
-- Katharine Hepburn
The grosses are out for the week ending 5/19/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: CINDERELLA (14.4%), ANNIE (13.8%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (12.6%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (10.0%), ORPHANS (8.4%), MACBETH (6.9%), THE NANCE (6.1%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (5.6%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (5.4%), ONCE (4.9%), THE BIG KNIFE (3.2%), ROCK OF AGES (2.8%), CHICAGO (1.9%), JERSEY BOYS (1.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1.6%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (1.3%), ANN (0.9%), LUCKY GUY (0.8%), KINKY BOOTS(0.8%),
Down for the week was: THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (-11.3%), MAMMA MIA! (-3.9%), THE LION KING (-1.0%), WICKED (-0.6%), NEWSIES (-0.2%), PIPPIN (-0.2%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, May 20, 2013 @ 8:02 PM
Top Stories You Missed on BWW This Weekend
Below are BroadwayWorld.com's most popular articles that you might have missed from this weekend Sunday, May 19, 2013 - Sunday, May 19, 2013. Catch up below!
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 InDepth InterView: Susan Stroman Talks PBS Mel Brooks Doc, BIG FISH, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, SCOTTSBORO BOYS In LA/UK, BLAZING SADDLES & More
by Pat Cerasaro - May 19, 2013
Today we are talking to a five-time Tony Award-winning director/choreographer celebrated for her stupendous work on CRAZY FOR YOU, THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT, THE FROGS, THOU SHALT NOT, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS and many more - the master musicals director Susan Stroman. In discussing a vast array of topics, Stroman and I touch upon many of her past projects as well as look ahead to her current and future endeavors - that is: the forthcoming Broadway bow of the new musical BIG FISH, starring Norbert Leo Butz, as well as the world premiere of Ahrens & Flaherty's LITTLE DANCER next year. Most importantly, Stroman shines a light on her enduring artistic partnership with Mel Brooks in bringing to life the screen-to-stage musical adaptations of both THE PRODUCERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, with BLAZING SADDLES on the way - their rich collaboration also being highlighted in this week's AMERICAN MASTERS tribute to Mel Brooks on PBS. Additionally, Stroman reflects on some of her lesser-known entities and casts a light on some of her foremost influences as well as candidly discusses her specialty work for a bevy of major stars - such as at SONDHEIM: A CELEBRATION AT CARNEGIE HALL in 1992 - and the finer points of working with Stephen Sondheim and Nathan Lane on Sondheim's most recent original Broadway musical, THE FROGS. Plus, Stroman shares first details of her upcoming collaboration with comedy master Woody Allen on the musical stage adaptation of Allen's Academy Award-winning BULLETS OVER BROADWAY and also offers the 411 on the upcoming Los Angeles and West End productions of Kander & Ebb's THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS - including the real-life role the musical has played in the pardoning of the originally accused nine just last month. Stroman also comments on her work with Hal Prince on the career revue PRINCE OF BROADWAY, opening in Japan in 2015, and also touches upon her ongoing desire to pursue a film adaptation of her multi-Tony Award-winning and genre-redefining 2000 Best Musical, CONTACT. All of that and much, much awaits in this wide-ranging conversation! (more...)
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4)
 ORPHANS, Starring Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster & Tom Sturridge Closes on Broadway Today
by BWW News Desk - May 19, 2013
The Tony Award-nominated play ORPHANS will play its final Broadway show TODAY, MAY 19 after 27 previews and 37 regular performances at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street). The production began performances on March 26 and opened on April 18. The Broadway production of Lyle Kessler's ORPHANS stars Alec Baldwin, Ben Foster and Tom Sturridge and is directed by Daniel Sullivan. (more...)
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6)
 STAGE TUBE: On This Day 5/19 - SHOW BOAT
by Stage Tube - May 19, 2013
Today in 1946, the second Broadway revival of Showboat opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre, and ran for 418 performances. Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, from 1880 to 1927. The show's dominant themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. (more...)
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7)
 STAGE TUBE: KINKY BOOTS Media Montage - Billy Porter, Cyndi Lauper and More!
by Stage Tube - May 19, 2013
The Tony nominated Kinky Boots put together a montage of the media craze since the announcement of its 12 nominations last month. Click below to watch interviews and clips featuring stars Stark Sands and Billy Porter, and the musical's creative team, including Cyndi Lauper, Harvey Fierstein and more! (more...)
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8)
 Man Survives Fall Onto Broadway's Lyceum Theatre Marquee
by BWW News Desk - May 19, 2013
According to the NY Post, a man survived with minor injuries after falling out of a window above Broadway's Lyceum Theater this afternoon, May 19. He landed on the marquee, as reported by fire officials, just 2 or 3 feet down from the window. (more...)
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9)
 Steven Weber, Cathy Rigby, Tracie Thoms and More Present at 2013 Jerry Herman Awards Tonight
by BWW News Desk - May 19, 2013
The Nederlander Organization and Pantages Theatre, Hollywood have announced that the 2nd Annual Jerry Herman AWARDS, a celebration in the achievement and excellence in high school musical theatre in Los Angeles will be hosted at the Pantages Theatre tonight, May 19, 2013 at 7pm. Red Carpet celebrity arrivals will begin at 6pm on Sunday evening. Single tickets for this awards celebration are now on sale to the general public. (more...)
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10)
 BWW's On This Day - May 19, 2013
by - May 19, 2013
Here are the Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End shows which opened on May 19 along with all of the upcoming show openings, closings and special events!
(more...)
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11)
 Ann Harada, Telly Leung and More Featured in AEA's THE ASIAN AMERICAN COMPOSERS AND LYRICISTS PROJECT Tonight
by BWW News Desk - May 19, 2013
In celebration of Asian Heritage month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of Actors' Equity Association and ReImagined World Entertainment will present 'The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project,' a free evening of original works created and sung by Asian American theatre artists. This one-night only concert event will take place tonight, May 19 at 8PM at the Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10thAvenues). (more...)
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Posted by Robert Diamond
on @
How I Voted: Drama Desk Awards
Earlier this week I posted how I voted for this season’s Outer Critics Circle Awards, so now here are the picks from my ballot for the Drama Desk Awards, which will be presented Sunday night.
My votes are highlighted in bold, but remember, there are no write-in votes so my choices here may not necessarily reflect what I would pick as the best of the season. And because of the different categories and different nominations, many of my picks are different from my Outer Critics Circle choices.
Outstanding Play
Annie Baker, The Flick
Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Joe Gilford, Finks
Richard Greenberg, The Assembled Parties
Amy Herzog, Belleville
Deanna Jent, Falling
Richard Nelson, Sorry
Outstanding Musical
A Christmas Story
Giant
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
Matilda
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Revival of a Play
Golden Boy
Good Person of Szechwan
The Piano Lesson
Uncle Vanya
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
Cinderella (Though I still insist this is a new musical.)
Passion
Pippin
The Golden Land
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Working
Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Uncle Vanya
Daniel Everidge, Falling
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Shuler Hensley, The Whale
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Outstanding Actress in a Play
Maria Dizzia, Belleville
Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Julia Murney, Falling
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist
Miriam Silverman, Finks
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Eric Anderson, Soul Doctor
Brian d'Arcy James, Giant
Jim Norton, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Ryan Silverman, Passion
Anthony Warlow, Annie
Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Giant
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Lindsay Mendez, Dogfight
Donna Murphy, Into the Woods
Laura Osnes, Cinderella
Jenny Powers, Donnybrook!
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Chuck Cooper, The Piano Lesson
Peter Friedman, The Great God Pan
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Aaron Clifton Moten, The Flick
Brían F. O'Byrne, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Tasha Lawrence, The Whale
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Kellie Overbey, Sleeping Rough
Maryann Plunkett, Sorry
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
Laila Robins, Sorry
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Stephen Bogardus, Passion
John Bolton, A Christmas Story
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Bertie Carvel, Matilda
John Dossett, Giant
Andy Karl, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Melissa Errico, Passion
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Jessie Mueller, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Christiane Noll, Chaplin
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Kate Wetherhead, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Director of a Play
Lear Debessonet, Good Person of Szechwan
Sam Gold, Uncle Vanya
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Restoration Comedy
Pam MacKinnon, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lynne Meadow, The Assembled Parties
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
John Doyle, Passion
Diane Paulus, Pippin
Emma Rice, The Wild Bride
Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love
Matthew Warchus, Matilda
Outstanding Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On
Warren Carlyle, A Christmas Story
Peter Darling, Matilda
Josh Rhodes, Cinderella
Sergio Trujillo, Hands on a Hardbody
Chet Walker and Gypsy Snider, Pippin
(Note: I voted for Cinderella for this award on my Outer Critics Circle ballot but I’m voting for Pippin on this ballot because Pippin’s OCC nomination was only for Chet Walker’s work, but this nomination also includes Gypsy Snider’s gymnastics.)
Outstanding Music
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Lyrics
Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Tim Minchin, Matilda
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Dennis Kelly, Matilda
Sybille Pearson, Giant
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Jeff Whitty, Bring It On
Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody
Outstanding Orchestrations
Trey Anastasio and Don Hart, Hands on a Hardbody
Larry Blank, A Christmas Story
Bruce Coughlin, Giant
Larry Hochman, Chaplin
Steve Margoshes, Soul Doctor
Danny Troob, Cinderella
Outstanding Music in a Play
César Alvarez with The Lisps, Good Person of Szechwan
Jiri Kaderabek, Mahir Cetiz, and Ana Milosavljevic, Act Before You Speak: The Tragical History of
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Glen Kelly, The Nance
Eugene Ma, The Man Who Laughs
Steve Martin, As You Like It
Jane Wang, Strange Tales of Liaozhai
Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!
Old Hats
Old Jews Telling Jokes
Outstanding Set Design
Rob Howell, Matilda
Mimi Lien, The Whale
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy
David Zinn, The Flick
Outstanding Costume Design
Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz, Chaplin
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Cinderella
Chris March, Chris March's The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
Loren Shaw, Restoration Comedy
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Lighting Design
Ken Billington, Chaplin
Jane Cox, Passion
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
Justin Townsend, Here Lies Love
Daniel Winters, The Man Who Laughs
Scott Zielinski, A Civil War Christmas
Outstanding Projection Design
Jon Driscoll, Chaplin
Wendall K. Harrington, Old Hats
Peter Nigrini, Here Lies Love
Darrel Maloney, Checkers
Pedro Pires, Cirque du Soleil: Totem
Aaron Rhyne, Wild With Happy
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Hands on a Hardbody
Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy, Chaplin
Tony Meola, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Brian Ronan, Bring It On
Brian Ronan, Giant
Dan Moses Schreier, Passion
Abstain
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Ien DeNio, The Pilo Family Circus
Steve Fontaine, Last Man Club
Christian Frederickson, Through the Yellow Hour
Lindsay Jones, Wild With Happy
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Fergus O'Hare, Macbeth
Outstanding Solo Performance
Joel de la Fuente, Hold These Truths
Kathryn Hunter, Kafka's Monkey
Bette Midler, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Julian Sands, A Celebration of Harold Pinter
Holland Taylor, Ann
Michael Urie, Buyer & Cellar
Unique Theatrical Experience
Bello Mania
Chris March's The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
That Play: A Solo Macbeth
The Fazzino Ride
The Man Who Laughs
Abstain
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Saturday, May 18, 2013 @ 1:54 AM
Colin Quinn's Unconstitutional & The Trip To Bountiful
The Constitution is the only document you get more knowledge of it, the drunker you get. Why? It was written during a four month drunken binge. The bills from those days show thousands of dollars in wine, port, beer. They were all drinking.
Colin Quinn’s politically sharp blue collar deconstruction of our national blueprint, Unconstitutional, is 70 hilarious minutes of plainspoken wit. In these days when the most relevant interpretation of The Bill of Rights seems up for grabs, Quinn fuels the debate with the kind of common sense even Thomas Paine wouldn’t have concocted.
Beginning with the preamble (“’…in order to form a more perfect union.’ Not perfect. That’s fine for other people. ‘More perfect.’”) and working his way through the amendments (“Piss Christ? Asshole move, but it’s covered.”) Quinn’s fast and furious rant, directed by Rebecca A. Trent, is enhanced by projections of the historic text, but you won’t want to remove your attention from the comic’s keen observations.
Though he sometimes tangents into questionably relevant gags involving pop culture celebs (“If Bruce Springsteen was really the working man’s musician why does he have a four and a half hour concert on a Tuesday night?”) Quinn is at his funniest when delving into subjects like the difference between free speech and accepted speech, the effectiveness of American presidents in proportion to how ugly they were and why Barack Obama feels it necessary to make jokes about himself.
As far as the right to bear arms is concerned… well, despite describing himself as “pro-gun” he isn’t exactly pro-NRA. But you’re better off hearing that from Quinn himself.
Photo of Colin Quinn by Mike Lavoie.
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It wouldn’t be fair to say the new Broadway production of Horton Foote’s beautiful drama The Trip To Bountiful misses the mark, because director Michael Wilson was obviously aiming at a different target. Less than eight years ago Lois Smith picked up every major award an Off-Broadway actress can get for starring in Signature Theatre Company’s emotionally thick production of the play. But for Cicely Tyson’s return to Broadway after 30 years, Wilson seems to be going more for cozy warmth and charm. Moving pathos is replaced by cute laughs. If you’ve never seen a production of the play before there are plenty of reasons to expect to have a fine evening. Wilson, after all, has developed an excellent reputation for interpreting the plays of Mr. Foote, having mounted exceptional New York productions of The Day Emily Married, Dividing The Estate and The Orphans' Home Cycle. But if you’re aware of how enthrallingly powerful The Trip To Bountiful can be, his new staging might just not be enough.
Tyson plays elderly Carrie Watts, who has not seen her home town of Bountiful in twenty years and, given her current situation, will most likely never set foot again on the farm where she grew up. It's 1953 and her days are mostly spent sitting in the living room, which doubles as her bedroom, of her son Ludie's (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) small Houston apartment, looking out the window and watching the traffic race by while singing hymns to comfort herself.
An illness had kept Ludie out of work for two years, depleting his savings, and his new job doesn't pay enough to support himself and his wife, Jessie Mae (Vanessa Williams) without the help of Carrie's monthly pension. Needing her money, but frustrated by her continual presence, Jessie Mae tends to treat Carrie like a child, scolding her for running in the house and ordering her not to sing in her presence. ("You know what those hymns do to my nerves.")
So when her next pension check arrives in the mail, Carrie takes the opportunity to hide it until her chance to run off to the bus depot and buy her ticket home. With Ludie and Jessie Mae on her trail, fearing she might want to make good on her stated desire to live in Bountiful for the rest of her days, taking away the pension money they depend on, Carrie must fight her failing health and fading memory to reach her goal.
Tyson’s Carrie is a feisty woman who projects impish charm as she plots her getaway while pretending to adhere to Jessie Mae’s rules of the house. And while her humorous performance gets plenty of laughs, what’s missing is any hint of the devastating loneliness the woman must be suffering as she spends her time separated from the place where she feels at home without anyone of her own age to connect with. The scene where Carrie begs not to be taken back to Houston when she’s just made it to the town next to Bountiful makes little impact because it isn’t preceded by much of an emotional foundation. Just before that moment comes a spot where, from what I’ve read and heard, audiences have been consistently singing along to Tyson’s choruses of “Blessed Assurance.” Many were in full voice the night I attended and while the star wasn’t exactly waving a baton and yelling, “Everybody!,” the staging rather slyly doesn’t exactly discourage the audience participation. It’s a memorable moment for Cicely Tyson but it doesn’t serve Carrie Watts very well.
Gooding and Williams play Ludie and Jessie Mae in a Walter Mitty fashion, with the henpecked husband finally standing up to the domineering wife before the final curtain. What we don’t get is a strong sense of Ludie’s feelings of emasculation for being an adult still having to depend on his mother for income, nor Jessie Mae’s frustration in being denied the kind of life she expected to marry into.
The production’s most pleasing moments come in a scene featuring the fine stage veteran Arthur French as a helpful bus employee and in the sweet simplicity of the scenes between Tyson and Condola Rashad, who does lovely work as the young wife who Carrie meets in the bus station and becomes her travel buddy. Since the play was not written with the intention of Carrie and her family to be played by black actors, subtle, unscripted reminders of the times are made by signs in the bus depot designating segregated sections and by having the pair riding in the back seat.
But the non-traditional casting sticks out when Tom Wopat enters as the sheriff looking to put a halt to Carrie’s journey and bring her back to Ludie. The time, place and racial differences between them make the white man’s polite and respectfully cordial manner when addressing the elderly black woman seem unexpected. His attitude is certainly not an impossibility, but something seems missing without at least an acknowledgement that this would not be considered the norm.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Cicely Tyson and Condola Rashad; Bottom: Vanessa Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Friday, May 17, 2013 @ 6:47 PM
I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers
“Gossip is the lube by which this town slips it in.”
That’s about the cleanest quip I can quote you from John Logan’s dishy I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers; a ninety minute solo piece that turns a visit with one of Hollywood’s first superagents into something resembling a stand-up comedy act, except the star stays seated on her comfy couch all night.
That star, of course, is Bette Midler; not in concert, but acting on Broadway for the first time since she last told Tevye to ditch the matchmaker because she wanted to marry Motel.
Not planning a brunch, but nevertheless lounging in her caftan, the conceit of the play has the woman who became one of the left coast’s most powerful career-molders (“Why be a king when you can be a kingmaker?”) finding her own career a bit on the skids. It’s 1981 and after already losing some high-profile clients, she’s been informed by lawyers that her crown jewel, Barbra Streisand, will no longer be requiring her services. Ensconced in designer Scott Pask’s sumptuous rendering of Mengers’ Beverly Hills home (It used to belong to Zsa Zsa Gabor, she tells us.) she waits for a phone call from the star herself.
Her love for movies developed when she was a little girl, learning English from Hollywood offerings after her Jewish family escaped to America from Hitler’s Germany. (“That’s why I still talk like a gum-cracking Warner Brothers second lead.”) The risk-taking attitude she acquired from dealing with anti-Semitic neighborhood kids served her well in her climb up the William Morris ladder.
As far as the dirt goes, there are plenty of anecdotes involving her professional dealings with names like Gene Hackman, Sissy Spacek, Faye Dunaway, Ali McGraw and Steve McQueen. And the names of successful films Ms. Streisand turned down act as punch lines.
But I’ll Eat You Last is far more interesting when she’s describing how her profession fits into the off-screen machinations of the industry, particularly when describing the exclusive dinner parties she hosts, where alcohol-loosened tongues provide vital deal-making information.
As directed by Joe Mantello, Midler slips perfectly into the role of a bawdy fast-talking quipster. Her comic sense is impeccable and her ingratiating star quality is the kind that sucks you in with the promise of a good time. The blonde wig and oversized glasses she wears are authentically Mengers, even though they do make her look like a decadent Gloria Steinem.
Oh, and if you’re a good-looking gentleman sitting near the front… be prepared.
Photo of Bette Midler by Richard Termine.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 @ 9:52 AM
Bunty Berman Presents...
If Betty Comden and Adolph Green were both born in Bombay, Singin’ In The Rain might have wound up resembling The New Group’s new musical, Bunty Berman Presents…. Not that Ayub Khan Din (book, music and lyrics) and Paul Bogaev’s (music) Bollywood-set musical comedy is on the same level as that masterwork, but the spirit of silly 1950s MGM hijinks abounds throughout the evening. It’s got laughs, it’s got tunes and it offers a fun, mindless time.
Stepping in for another actor who was injured in previews, Din himself plays the title character, a legendary 1950s Bollywood filmmaker (“Wasn’t I the first producer to put six monsoons in one picture?”) who has been bombing as of late because his studio’s regular leading man, Raj (Sorab Wadia), has grown a bit old and flabby to play handsome young heroes. Knowing that it would break his pal’s heart to fire him, Raj disappears, so Bunty makes a deal with infamous gangster Shankar Dass (Alok Tewari), who will finance his studio out of bankruptcy in exchange for making his son the new star.
But Raj reappears in various disguises to help train Saleem (Nick Choksi), the talented young flunky whose job is to serve everyone’s tea, to become the studio’s next star. Saleem is anxious for the job because the leading lady, Shambervi (Lipica Shah), is his childhood crush from the old neighborhood, though she refuses to acknowledge that past life now that she’s a star.
While the book only lightly spoofs the Bombay film industry (An upcoming project is described as, “A story with a social conscience, ten songs and a spectacular dance with elephants.”), the show is crammed with old-fashioned belly laughs, the more than occasional groaner and some time-honored sexual puns. (When Raj, disguised as “Fatima, the Blind Soothsayer of Sind,” starts referring to his balls… well, you know the bit.) A few gags do give off an “Are they really doing this?” vibe, like the moment when Bunty and his cohorts disguise themselves as women completely covered in black burkas to secretly listen to the audience’s reaction to their new film, or when Raj pops out of one of his hiding places, an elephant’s anus. (I’ll spare you the Mein Kampf joke.)
The fluffy lyrics are pleasant, if predictable, but the music really succeeds in capturing the spirit of 1950s Hollywood musicals. The melodies of “Let’s Make A Movie” and “It’s Great To Wake Up In Bombay” are catchy as all hell. There’s a nice bluesy torch song for Gayton Scott, who’s terrific as the button-down secretary with a thing for the boss (Yes, there’s a scene where she enters looking like a knock-out in a tight dress.) and an enchanting fantasy dance number for Choksi and Shah, who make for a charming pair of young romantics.
Given the circumstances, Din does well as Bunty but the role would work better with an actor with sharper presence and a stronger singing voice. Wadia’s vain, but loyal Raj is a bundle of comic energy, performing even the silliest of routines with crackling timing and flair.
While The New Group’s Off-Broadway mounting, directed with traditional musical comedy buoyancy by Scott Elliot, is certainly entertaining, Bunty Berman Presents… would most likely benefit from a larger production that can replicate the overblown glamour of its setting. But as it stand now, the show still delivers a fun night out.
Photos by Monique Carboni: Top: Ayub Khan Din and Company; Bottom: Nick Choksi and Lipica Shah.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 @ 11:38 AM
Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/12/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week
"Music can name the unnameable and communicate the unknowable."
-- Leonard Bernstein
The grosses are out for the week ending 5/12/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: JEKYLL & HYDE (11.2%), THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (9.2%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (7.6%), JERSEY BOYS (7.0%), NEWSIES (6.6%), ORPHANS (6.5%), ROCK OF AGES (5.7%), ANNIE (5.0%), WICKED (2.6%), THE LION KING (2.4%), PIPPIN (2.1%), THE NANCE (2.1%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (1.7%), ONCE (1.6%), THE BIG KNIFE (0.9%), LUCKY GUY (0.9%), CINDERELLA (0.8%), KINKY BOOTS(0.5%),
Down for the week was: MAMMA MIA! (-6.4%), MACBETH (-1.6%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-1.5%), ANN (-1.2%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (-0.9%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (-0.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-0.5%), CHICAGO (-0.4%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, May 13, 2013 @ 7:45 PM
Old-Fashioned Prostitutes (A True Romance)
I suppose Richard Foreman doesn’t have many talkbacks after performances of his plays because, really, how many times can you respond to an audience member asking, “What the f***?”
But then, he might regard such a question as a badge of honor. Conventionality was never a strong point for this legendary playwright, director and designer.
Whether they realize it or not, Foreman’s work is often the template from which satirists would spoof the wildest forms of abstract, avant-garde theatre. If you’ve seen his work before you probably know already if you’re interested in seeing Old-Fashioned Prostitutes (A True Romance). If you haven’t, and you’re the sort who would like to be exposed to all that American theatre has to offer, I would strongly suggest a visit to The Public to see the work of an original who has lasted long enough to make his inventiveness seem almost cliché.
As with the other 50+ theatre pieces Foreman has created since founding the Ontological-Hysteric Theater back in 1968, Old-Fashioned Prostitutes provides a tapestry of visuals and sounds that enhance a mood rather than convey story.
The set, typically Foreman, is decorated with an eclectic mish-mash of objects, including framed glossy headshots, framed black boxes, candelabras, chandeliers, wires stretched the length of the stage and random letters painted in white on the black walls.
The text is primarily spoken in a weary southern monotone by Rocco Sisto, an actor who, fortunately, can command attention through a wealth of distraction. His character is haunted by the words of a shabbily-dressed passer-by, "Go to Berkeley, make film.”
On the other side of the stage, two mindlessly coquettish prostitutes in flapper garb, played by Stephanie Hayes and Alenka Kraigher, ponder if the advice was not a reference to the California city, “But possibly the long dead Irish philosopher of idealism, Bishop George Berkeley himself, whose view of reality might be poetically re-imagined as a vision of the world in which experience itself was but a thin film, spread in illusionary fashion upon human consciousness.”
While they debate over that one, Nicolas Norena makes random entrances carrying various items such as a mirror, drums, flowers and an oversized playing card while dressed as the iconic advertising symbol, the Michelin Man. (As Anna Russell would say, I’m not making this up, you know.)
A detached voice occasionally commands, “Hold it!” At other times it lets out an, “Okay.” An alarm clock buzzes, gunshots are heard and lights flare out into the patrons’ eyes.
At one point I faintly heard the voice of an operatic tenor vocalizing in the hallway and I honestly couldn’t figure out if it was part of the play or an actor preparing for another show.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Nicolas Norena and Rocco Sisto; Bottom: David Skeist, Alenka Kraigher and Stephanie Hayes.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, May 13, 2013 @ 4:15 AM
Top Stories You Missed on BWW This Weekend
Below are BroadwayWorld.com's most popular articles that you might have missed from this weekend Sunday, May 12, 2013 - Sunday, May 12, 2013. Catch up below!
2)
 Murphy Confirms LuPone & Bassett For AMERICAN HORROR STORY
by Pat Cerasaro - May 12, 2013
GLEE mastermind and multi-award-winning creator and executive producer Ryan Murphy has just announced that none other than Tony Award-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone will be joining the new season of AMERICAN HORROR STORY, subtitled 'Coven', along with Oscar nominee Angela Bassett. (more...)
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3)
 InDepth InterView: Benj Pasek & Justin Paul Talk Tony Noms, DOGFIGHT Album, A CHRISTMAS STORY Coming Back, SMASH & More
by Pat Cerasaro - May 12, 2013
Today we are talking to a terrifically talented twosome who are being touted as the next songwriting duo to take New York by storm - and, with DOGFIGHT appearing Off-Broadway at Second Stage last year and A CHRISTMAS STORY setting Broadway alight for a limited run this past holiday season, they are certainly on the fast-track to success - Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Revealing their reaction to last week's 2013 Tony Award nominations for their stupendous score for the screen-to-stage adaptation of A CHRISTMAS STORY as well as all about the creation and ultimate execution of the show itself, Pasek & Paul open up about their creative process and illustrate what makes their music work so well in a theatrical milieu. Most importantly, the songwriters discuss DOGFIGHT - the inspiration for it, writing of it, the recent Off-Broadway production directed by Joe Mantello, and, now, the absolutely spectacular cast album now available on Ghost light - to say nothing of next week's concert celebrating the album release. Additionally, Pasek & Paul share stories of the songs that make up their popular and frequently-produced EDGES, new and old, as well as their plans for future shows. Plus, all about the new material recently written by the duo for NBC's musical drama series SMASH, details about their stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's seminal children's book JAMES & THE GIANT PEACH as well as opinions on fellow songwriting teams and other influential musical theatre icons, as well as much, much more! (more...)
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4)
 BWW Flashback: 'Here's to the Night' - A Toast to JEKYLL & HYDE, Closing on Broadway Today
by BWW Special Coverage - May 12, 2013
The new Broadway production of JEKYLL & HYDE, starring Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox, plays its final performance today, May 12, 2013, after 15 previews and 30 regular performances at the Marquis Theatre. Direct from a 25-week national tour which launched in October 2012, JEKYLL & HYDE began previews on Broadway on April 5 and opened on April 18, 2013. The production was originally scheduled to run through June. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you back through the musical's journey across the country and onto the Great White Way! (more...)
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5)
 Photo Flash: Saturday Intermission Pics, May 11, Part 2 - Sweaty Saturday at MATILDA, ROCK OF AGES and More!
by BWW News Desk - May 12, 2013
BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our May 11th SIP round-up. Yesterday evening's photos featured intermission pics from THE BOOK OF MORMON, MATILDA, ROCK OF AGES, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, HAIR, GOOD NEWS! at Goodspeed, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at the Stratford Festival, and tons of regional shows! (more...)
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7)
 VIDEO: Mel B Presents Adam Lambert With Davidson/Valentini Award at 2013 Glaad Awards
by TV News Desk - May 12, 2013
Mel B, Spice Girl and a new judge on America's Got Talent, presented international pop star Adam Lambert with the Davidson/Valentini Award Saturday night, May 11th, at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco. Lambert was also the co-recipient of the award for Outstanding Music Artist for his albumTrespassing; he tied with Frank Ocean for Ocean's debut album Channel Orange. Check out the video of Lambert's acceptance speech below! (more...)
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8)
 Photo Coverage: Jeremy Jordan and More at Paper Mill Playhouse's 75th Anniversary Gala
by Genevieve Rafter Keddy - May 12, 2013
Paper Mill Playhouse hosted its largest fundraising event of the year, The 75th Anniversary Gala, on May 10th, 2013. The 75th Anniversary Gala celebrated Paper Mill's legacy as a world-class producer of theater and its role as a pioneer in arts education for three-quarters of a century. The evening offered dinner, dancing, live and silent auctions and entertainment by students from Paper Mill Playhouse's arts education programs, The Eddie Bruce Band, and headliner Jeremy Jordan, star of Broadway's Newsies and NBC's Smash. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos from the festivities below! (more...)
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9)
 BWW TV Exclusive: Meet the 2013 Tony Nominees- Anna Louizos on Her Fresh Take on DROOD's Set
by BroadwayWorld TV - May 12, 2013
BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tonys Meet & Greet on May 1, 2013, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Anna Louizos, a nominee for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Check out what she had to say below! (more...)
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11)
 Jeremy Jordan and More Join WRITE NOW: THE MUSIC OF MICHAEL MOTT at the Laurie Beechman Tonight
by BWW News Desk - May 12, 2013
Tonight, May 12, composer/lyricist Michael Mott will present an evening of original work, sung by some of Broadway's best and brightest talents in 'Write Now: The Music of Michael Mott.' In addition to Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, NBC's 'Smash'), Ben Fankhauser (Newsies), and Ashley Spencer (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Rock of Ages), Michael will be joined by Michael Hunsaker (Faustus), Marissa McGowan (A Little Night Music, Bonnie & Clyde), Jacqueline Petroccia (Lincoln Center's Carousel). (more...)
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12)
 In the Spotlight: Tony Nominee Cicely Tyson
by Walter McBride - May 12, 2013
Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 67th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were announced on April 30 by Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Sutton Foster. Check out the full list of Tony nods here, and below you can check out photos of nominee Cicely Tyson in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In The Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride below! (more...)
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13)
BWW's On This Day - May 12, 2013
by - May 12, 2013
Here are the Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End shows which opened on May 12 along with all of the upcoming show openings, closings and special events!
(more...)
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15)
 Brian d'Arcy James and More to Join Kevin Cole for DreamCatcher Benefit Concert, 5/20 & 23
by BWW News Desk - May 12, 2013
Great American pianist Kevin Cole [fresh from Carnegie Hall, protege of Marvin Hamlisch], with special guests Brian d'Arcy James [Shrek; Next to Normal], Klea Blackhurst [Everything the Traffic Will Allow], and Ryan VanDenBoom [Annie] will perform a Benefit Concert to support DreamCatcher Entertainment, an independent theatre and film company, celebrating their 5th Anniversary. (more...)
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Posted by Robert Diamond
on @
How I Voted: Outer Critics Circle Awards
Yes, I know, it’s a secret ballot. But heck, I spend all year telling you what I think so I may as well reveal how I voted for this season’s Outer Critics Circle Awards, the winners of which will be announced on Monday.
My votes are highlighted in bold, but remember, there are no write-in votes so my choices here may not necessarily reflect what I would pick as the best of the season. After I cast my votes for the Drama Desk awards, I’ll be sharing those with you, too.
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Grace
Lucky Guy
The Nance
The Testament of Mary
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Chaplin
A Christmas Story
Hands on a Hardbody
Kinky Boots
Matilda
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Bad Jews
Cock
My Name is Asher Lev
Really Really
The Whale
OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
February House
Dogfight
Giant
Here Lies Love
Murder Ballad
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
Cinderella
Chaplin
Dogfight
Kinky Boots
Matilda
OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE
Chaplin
Dogfight
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
Kinky Boots
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
Golden Boy
Orphans
The Piano Lesson
The Trip to Bountiful
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
Annie
Cinderella (Although I still insist this is a new musical.)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Passion
Pippin
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Pam MacKinnon Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nicholas Martin Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Jack O’Brien The Nance
Bartlett Sher Golden Boy
Michael Wilson The Trip to Bountiful
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Warren Carlyle Chaplin
Scott Ellis The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus Pippin
Alex Timbers Here Lies Love
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Warren Carlyle Chaplin
Peter Darling Matilda
Jerry Mitchell Kinky Boots
Josh Rhodes Cinderella
Chet Walker Pippin
OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
John Lee Beatty The Nance
Rob Howell Matilda
David Korins Here Lies Love
Scott Pask Pippin
Michael Yeargan Golden Boy
OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
Amy Clark & Martin Pakledinaz Chaplin
Gregg Barnes Kinky Boots
Dominique Lemieux Pippin
William Ivey Long Cinderella
William Ivey Long The Mystery of Edwin Drood
OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
Ken Billington Chaplin
Paul Gallo Dogfight
Donald Holder Golden Boy
Kenneth Posner Cinderella
Kenneth Posner Pippin
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Tom Hanks Lucky Guy
Shuler Hensley The Whale
Nathan Lane The Nance
Tracy Letts Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Tracee Chimo Bad Jews
Amy Morton Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Vanessa Redgrave The Revisionist
Joely Richardson Ivanov
Cicely Tyson The Trip to Bountiful
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Bertie Carvel Matilda
Santino Fontana Cinderella
Rob McClure Chaplin
Billy Porter Kinky Boots
Matthew James Thomas Pippin
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Lilla Crawford Annie
Valisia LeKae Motown
Lindsay Mendez Dogfight
Patina Miller Pippin
Laura Osnes Cinderella
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Danny Burstein Golden Boy
Richard Kind The Big Knife
Jonny Orsini The Nance
Tony Shalhoub Golden Boy
Tom Sturridge Orphans
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Cady Huffman The Nance
Judith Ivey The Heiress
Judith Light The Assembled Parties
Kristine Nielsen Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Vanessa Williams The Trip to Bountiful
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Will Chase The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Dan Lauria A Christmas Story
Raymond Luke Motown
Terrence Mann Pippin
Daniel Stewart Sherman Kinky Boots
OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Annaleigh Ashford Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark Cinderella
Charlotte d’Amboise Pippin
Andrea Martin Pippin
Keala Settle Hands on a Hardbody
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Bette Midler I’ll Eat You Last
Martin Moran All the Rage
Fiona Shaw The Testament of Mary
Holland Taylor Ann
Michael Urie Buyer & Cellar
JOHN GASSNER AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Ayad Akhtar Disgraced
Paul Downs Colaizzo Really Really
Joshua Harmon Bad Jews
Samuel D. Hunter The Whale
Aaron Posner My Name is Asher Lev
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Sunday, May 12, 2013 @ 9:18 AM
On Your Toes
Five months… FIVE MONTHS after their previous musical comedy, Jumbo, opened at the Hippodrome, the trio of Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott had a brand new one at the Imperial. But far from seeming a rush job, their 1936 On Your Toes can easily be argued to be a huge step forward in refining musical comedy into a sophisticated art form.
After making his musical theatre debut as co-director of Jumbo, George Abbott, who as a director and bookwriter would become a major force in taking the humor of Broadway musicals from specialty bits performed by well-known comics to something that naturally evolved from the plot and characters, collaborated with R&H on his first book, using the then up-to-the-minute theme of how American jazz was still struggling for acceptance from “serious” classical institutions. On Your Toes concerns a childhood song and dance vaudevillian, Junior Dolan, now a grown up music professor for the WPA, who tries to get a jazz ballet composed by one of his students performed by a prestigious Russian dance company. But when the lead male dancer can’t adjust to the new syncopation, the former hoofer jumps in to save the day, though he winds up dancing for his life during the premiere while trying to avoid a hit man’s bullet.
The Rodgers and Hart score, a divine assemblage of wit and tenderness set to showtune, Broadway jazz and imitations of more cultured tones, sets a fine example of how the scores of musicals were growing more character specific. Two of the more jaggedly syncopated numbers are meant to be examples of the songwriting skills of the musical’s ingénue, Frankie Frayne (who has a crush on the professor) and are filled with jaunty quips like, “It’s got to be love. / It couldn’t be tonsillitis. / It feels like neuritis / But nevertheless it’s love,” and “They fly the clouds to come through with air mail. / The dancing crowds look up to some rare male / Like that Astaire male.” But when Frankie sings her own emotions as part of the plot, they come out in a simpler voice. Her duet with Junior, “There’s A Small Hotel,” is a lovely example of plainspoken sincerity and her second act solo, “Glad To Be Unhappy” is a torch song kept on a demurely low flame.
In contrast, Rodgers writes a light minuet as a duet for arts philanthropist Peggy Porterfield and Russian dance impresario Sergei Alexandrovitch that gets its title from twisting FDR’s fireside chat promise of a better life for the average man. Hart’s lyric derives punch lines from worldlier issues like psychoanalysis, elective surgery and reproductive rights. (“Lots of kids for a poor wife are dandy, / Girls of fashion can be choosy. / Birth control and the modus operandi / Are much too good for the average floozy.”)
But, of course, what On Your Toes is known for is the ballets that end each act. Rodgers composed La Princesse Zenobia in the style of Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, but Slaughter On Tenth Avenue is a striking composition based on multiple jazz themes – comical, sensual and frantic – that ranks up there with Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue as a great American orchestral piece. George Balanchine, the first ever to be credited as the choreographer of a Broadway musical (“dance directors” were commonly used to simply supply steps) is said to have taken great joy in spoofing his Russian roots for Zenobia (The Bolshoi Ballet, which was in town during the musical’s run, took out an ad in the program that proclaimed, “Only The Great Deserve The Darts of Satire.”) but Slaughter, the story of a sensual dance hall encounter between a strip-tease artist and a customer that turns violent, is a masterful achievement in musical theatre dance; illuminating the show’s theme of American popular arts evolving in complexity. Though both ballets can stand as individual pieces, Balanchine and the bookwriters incorporated events from the plot that spill into their performances, thus making them an essential part of the storytelling.
But what makes On Your Toes a perfect selection for the Encores! concert series is the chance to hear Hans Spialek’s extraordinary orchestrations; one of the 75 sets he created for Broadway, including the original productions of Anything Goes, Pal Joey and Where’s Charley? Under Rob Fisher’s baton, the 29-piece Encores! orchestra impersonates vaudeville pit musicians, a rousing big band, a chamber ensemble and a grand ballet orchestra.
Putting up a concert version of any musical with the limited amount of rehearsal time the unions specify is a difficult task, so while you can nitpick about details of director/choreographer Warren Carlyle’s production, the fact that so much is done so well is a reason to celebrate. Those familiar with Slaughter will recognize the Balanchine staging replicated by Susan Pilarre, assigned to the task by the late choreographer’s trust, but Carlyle mounts the rest, including an austere and regal Zenobia and the third major choreographed moment, a freewheeling challenge routine between American tappers and Russian pointe dancers, which is loaded with some dazzling inventiveness.
The lead role of Junior has been traditionally played by dancers with a knack for the eccentric (Ray Bolger originated the part and Bobby Van and Lara Teeter starred in Broadway revivals.), but Shonn Wiley, a fine performer, comes off more as a traditional juvenile and his comic moments fail to pop out. (It doesn’t help that Zenobia’s major sight gag involving Junior’s body makeup is altered to a far less effective bit.) Still, he sings with charm when paired with Kelli Barrett’s spunky Frankie.
Christine Baranski’s dry urbane way with wit fits perfectly into her role as a wealthy patron of the arts, especially when delivering the book’s most famous punch line, a reaction to Junior’s inquiry as to whether a good man can love two women at the same time. The thickly accented Walter Bobbie is delightfully snooty as Sergei and the trio of Karen Ziemba, Randy Skinner and Dalton Harrod get the evening off to a rousing start, singing and tapping as mom and pop Dolan and Junior as a lad.
Encores! raids the professional ballet ranks for the show’s two non-singing dance roles. In her first speaking part on stage, Irina Dvorovenko of American Ballet Theatre seems to be having a grand time as Vera Baronova, the Russian diva who flirts with Junior to infuriate her cheating lover, comically tempting him with her droll accent and sinewy sensuality. Her dancing shines with charisma, as does that of Joaquin De Luz who wows the patrons with his shirtless athleticism in Zenobia while playing her arrogantly masculine other half.
Meanwhile, almost exactly one year after On Your Toes opened, Rodgers and Hart opened Babes In Arms, with a score containing five songs that are still today considered classics of the American Songbook. Maybe we’d have better musicals on Broadway if people didn’t spend so much time writing them.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Shonn Wiley and Irina Dvorovenko; Bottom: Christine Baranski and Walter Bobbie.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Sunday, May 12, 2013 @ 12:34 AM
I'm A Stranger Here Myself & The Testament of Mary
Mark Nadler is one of those cabaret performers who serves up his entertaining antics with healthy portions of art education and history lessons. In I’m A Stranger Here Myself, now transplanted from its nightclub roots to the York Theatre stage, Nadler gives a frequently fascinating overview of the pre-Hitler period known as the Weimar Republic; Germany’s first democracy and a haven for individualists and eroticists who gleefully indulged in a period of artistic freedom.
This is no dates and facts textbook lesson but more of an exploration of the emerging attitudes of the era that gives context to the music and lyrics left behind. Nadler uses Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s “The Bilbao Song” to wax nostalgically about a rowdy, inclusive nightlife culture that gave way to bland bourgeois repressiveness. Though he wears a yellow boutonnière on his lapel with a folded pink handkerchief peeking out of his pocket, a continual reminder of the oppression to come, he’s not just singing about Germany. Parallel to his Weimar stories he also tells of his own journey from being an Iowa-raised lad to a young Greenwich Village piano player at the famed Five Oaks, a now defunct piano bar that boasted an atmosphere he compares with 1920s Berlin. Frederick Hollander’s “Oh, How We Wish That We Were Kids Again” sets the mood as Nadler explains how, “We glorify that time in our lives when we were young and broke.”
Weill takes center stage for much of the narrative. Nadler imagines the satisfaction it must have given him, once arriving in America, to be able to collaborate with Howard Dietz on a song like “Schickelgruber,” which not only spoofed the rise of the fuehrer, but teased him with his actual last name. But there was also the deep sadness he felt in being separated from his wife, Lotte Lenya, who, not being Jewish, remained in Germany where she took on several lovers. Though it was Maurice Magre who wrote the words for “Je Ne T’Aime Pas” (“I Don’t Love You”), Nadler suggests Weill’s music for the song expressed his feelings about his marriage.
Hollander’s “Oh, Just Suppose” has a coy lyric about imagining a homosexual relationship, and Nadler goes out into the audience to make sure the meaning of the song comes across, but in a more serious vein he marvels at the courage it took for Mischa Spoliansky and Kurt Schwabach to write “The Lavender Song," a protest anthem demanding gay rights, in 1920.
The running theme throughout the show, for both the German artists and for Nadler himself, is taken from Hollander’s lyric, “I don’t know who I belong to, I believe I belong to myself, all alone,” stressing the conflict between individualism and the comfort of assimilation. At one point he talks of the young boys who joined the Nazi movement and passionately insists, “I refuse to believe that every one of these kids was a monster. They just wanted to belong.”
Franca Vercelloni on accordion and Jessica Tyler Wright on violin help provide period texture and director David Schweizer’s production features an upstage screen where Justin West’s projections of photos and film clips illuminate the lecture. A particularly powerful moment comes when we see a sequence of names and faces of some of the artistic and scientific geniuses that escaped the Nazis to make great contributions to humanity, suggesting that the Weimar years nurtured what would have been a glorious era for German culture had Hitler not chased them away.
Photo of Mark Nadler by Carol Rosegg.
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Fiona Shaw’s depiction of a Jewish mother practically reached Molly Goldberg proportions when she flung both hands in the air and rolled back her eyes in sarcastic reverence to, “my son and his followers.” Of course, those who were expecting a more traditional portrayal of the mother of Jesus Christ most likely abandoned all hope once she took out a joint to calm her nerves.
Colm Tóibín’s stage adaptation of his novella, The Testament of Mary, which sadly closed last week despite a Best Play Tony nomination, never mentions her son by name, though we all knew who she was talking about. “Something will break in me if I say his name,” she concludes.
Director Deborah Warner gave audiences a sneak peek at a familiar vision of the BVM by allowing them on stage for a pre-performance art installation where the actress was sitting in a plexiglass display case, perfectly still as a wax figure in a humble, biblical pose, only slightly upstaged by the live vulture (named Pinhead) perched nearby. But once the patrons were seated, this Mary emerged from her enclosure as a theatre character created from thinking outside of the box.
The Playbill told us the time of the play was “Now,” so the protagonist has had quite a bit of time to stew over her child’s place in history. An inserted brochure explained the setting as a home in what is now Turkey where Mary was taken after the crucifixion to live out her life, which set designer Tom Pye revealed as contemporary biblical.
Though grief-stricken by the death of her son, she is also infuriated with those (again, never directly identified, but we know) who visit her daily and encourage her to confirm a version of his time on earth that’s consistent with the message they want to convey. “A group of misfits,” she calls his followers. “Only children, like himself.”
The ninety minute monologue is her considerably less-miraculous view of the events that highlighted those thirty-three years, such as the resurrection of Lazarus and the turning of water into wine. As proven in her last Broadway outing, Medea, Shaw is an actress who can whip up furious intensity – vocally, physically and emotionally – that teeters at the edge of believability without plunging into falseness, which she used here as a rail against a situation where Mary believes her son fell in with a fanatical group that raised him up to be their pawn.
But while the subject of the piece is attention-grabbing, the text itself was continually overshadowed by the star’s performance and the director’s high concept. Though certainly an exciting evening, it was more about the passion of the actress than the passion of Christ.
Photo of Fiona Shaw by Paul Kolnik.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Thursday, May 09, 2013 @ 2:46 PM
BWW Awards Voting!
Voting opened on May 2, 2013 and runs through May 31, 2013 for the 11th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! I'm VERY excited to report that we've doubled last year's record breaking numbers over just the first few days of voting.
The BroadwayWorld.com Awards are unique in that they are the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results -- two very unique things. Click below to vote!
Posted by Robert Diamond
on Tuesday, May 07, 2013 @ 4:56 PM
Song of Norway & The Broadway Musicals of 1972
The popularity of the Broadway operetta was fading away when Song of Norway hit town in post-Oklahoma! 1944, but its two-year run proved there was still an audience for legit singer/actors performing classical melodies.
Nearly ten years before they adapted and added lyrics to the music of Alexander Borodin to create the score for Kismet, Robert Wright and George Forrest pulled the same trick for Song of Norway with the music of 19th Century Norwegian composer, Edvard Grieg, who is best known to American musical comedy fans as the guy who wrote the love theme for Rosemary and J. Pierrepont Finch’s first kiss. (For the record, he called it the Piano Concerto in A-Minor.)
Milton Lazarus’ book, which most often gets blamed for the show’s lack of post-Broadway longevity, tells a fictional tale based on the composer’s actual life. Beginning in Norway, his closest companions are his sweetheart and eventual wife, Nina, and poet Rikard Nordraak. (In real life Nordraak was also a composer and would write his country’s national anthem.) Though Grieg and Nordraak agree to collaborate on a loving composition for their homeland (A “Song of Norway,” if you will.) the young composer keeps setting aside the assignment as he becomes the pet project of a wealthy benefactor who promotes his career by taking him to meet the great musical artists of Europe.
Roger Rees trimmed the book to its barest essentials for The Collegiate Chorale’s charming one-night Carnegie Hall concert performance, allowing the sumptuous music to take center stage; provided by the 71-year-old vocal ensemble and the American Symphony Orchestra, both under the golden baton of Ted Sperling. Ballet dancers from Tom Gold Dance admirably performed within a very limited space.
The soloists included several Broadway favorites. Jason Danieley, as Nordraak, began the evening in rousing fashion with “The Legend” and was soon after joined by Santino Fontana and Alexandra Silber, as Grieg and Nina, for the unusual love trio, “Hill of Dreams” where the flirtatious young lady revels in being the inspiration for both young artists and the two pals don’t seem to mind.
Wearing elaborate designs by Han Fong, Judy Kaye was grandly comical and vocally thrilling as the grande dame who exposes Grieg to the high life. As socialite Count Peppi LeLoup, David Garrison delivered smarmy elegancy in a funny number about being a bon vivant. And it was delightful to see Walter Charles and Anita Gillette in the small roles of Grieg’s parents.
Jim Dale nimbly and humorously narrated the evening and played a few small roles. When it was introduced that he would be playing the role of Henrik Ibsen, he turned to the audience and advised, “Use your imagination.”
Photos by Erin Baiano: Top: Jason Danieley, Alexandra Silber and Santino Fontana; Bottom: Judy Kaye and Ted Sperling.
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1972 was a bit of a brutal year for Broadway musicals. Of the 19 new shows that opened that year, nine of them didn’t make it past the first week. Another four couldn’t make it to 25 performances. The transfer of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, after enjoying four and a half years Off-Broadway, shut down after seven weeks at the Royale. More encouraging was the fate of Melvin van Peebles’ allegorical Don’t Play Us Cheap, which opened in the spring and made it into autumn.
But when musicals succeeded that year, they made history. Grease became, for a time, Broadway’s longest running production. Pippin’s television commercial changed the way Broadway shows were marketed. Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, an urban review focusing on contemporary black issues, ran for over 1,000 performances and was mounted by Broadway’s first African-American female director, Vinnette Carroll. And while Sugar didn’t make history, the musical version of Some Like It Hot satisfied those seeking some traditional musical comedy with its Jule Style/Robert Merrill score and a crowd-pleasing star turn by Robert Morse.
So while Town Hall’s Broadway Musicals of 1972, the latest of creator/writer/host Scott Siegel’s 13-year-old Broadway By The Year series, was stocked with favorites from a couple of well-known hits, there was still room for some rarely-heard obscurities in the one-night concert directed by Mindy Cooper and music directed, as always, by Ross Patterson.
The Broadway By The Year Chorus, an ensemble directed by Scott Coulter and made up of performers at the early stages of their careers, was featured in energetic stagings (choreographed by Vibecke Dahl) of “Magic To Do,” “Summer Nights” (with soloists Graham Bailey and Jenna Dallacco) and “We Go Together”, and played the attentive youths for Patrick Page’s sage advice in “No Time At All.”
Earlier in the evening, Page and Carolee Carmello were matched for the delightfully wry, “Miserable With You,” a duet from the revue of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz ditties titled That’s Entertainment. (Which had nothing to do with the 1974 MGM film.) Carmello, an extraordinary lyric interpreter, gave a thrilling rendition the dramatic ballad, “All Of My Life” from Ambassador, a show that had a brief run on the West End before coming to Broadway for an even briefer run.
First rate musical theatre clown Christopher Fitzgerald added some cute nervous stammers to Pippin’s “Extraordinary,” belted a courageous “Corner Of The Sky” and he and Danny Gardner sang and danced Sugar’s “Penniless Bums” as a comical vaudeville bit. The charming Gardner also choreographed his own routines for Via Galactica’s “Dance The Dark Away” (performed with Brent McBeth and Derek Roland) and That’s Entertainment’s “How High Can a Little Bird Fly?”
The tender-voiced Bob Stillman introduced three folk/rock selections, Via Galactica’s “Home,” Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope’s “So Little Time” and “Stars of Glory” from The Selling of The President, a song that Siegel explained was included to pay tribute to the heroes of the recent tragic events in Boston.
Perky Lysistrata Jones star Patti Murin did fine jobs with Pippin’s “Without You” and two Grease numbers, “Freddy, My Love” and “There Are Worse Things I Can Do,” but for “It’s Raining on Prom Night” Broadway’s original Sandy, Carole Demas, made a special guest appearance, wearing a plain robe for the number, but removing it to reveal a smashing gown for her makeover reprise of “Sandra Dee.” At 72 years of age she looked and sounded just terrific.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, May 06, 2013 @ 5:37 PM
Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 5/5/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week
"Actors are rogues and vagabonds. Or they ought to be."
-- Helen Mirren
The grosses are out for the week ending 5/5/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: THE TESTAMENT OF MARY (4.9%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (4.7%), THE RASCALS: ONCE UPON A DREAM (3.8%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (2.8%), MAMMA MIA! (2.6%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1.8%), CHICAGO (1.7%), KINKY BOOTS (1.6%), LUCKY GUY (0.7%), MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL(0.1%),
Down for the week was: THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (-16.9%), THE BIG KNIFE (-11.5%), MACBETH (-6.1%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-5.4%), CINDERELLA (-5.4%), JEKYLL & HYDE (-4.9%), ROCK OF AGES (-3.7%), WICKED (-3.4%), THE NANCE (-3.2%), JERSEY BOYS (-2.8%), NEWSIES (-2.5%), ANNIE (-2.4%), THE LION KING (-2.2%), ONCE (-2.1%), PIPPIN (-1.6%), ANN (-0.9%), ORPHANS (-0.8%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (-0.6%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (-0.2%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, May 06, 2013 @ 4:11 PM
Top Stories You Missed on BWW This Weekend
Below are BroadwayWorld.com's most popular articles that you might have missed from this weekend Sunday, May 5, 2013 - Sunday, May 5, 2013. Catch up below!
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 VIDEO: New Promo for SMASH's 'The Transfer,' Airing 5/11
by TV News Desk - May 05, 2013
Below, get a first look at the May 11th episode of NBC's SMASH titled 'The Transfer'. In the episode, with his sights set on the Tony, Tom (Christian Borle) pulls out all the stops at a Houston & Levitt tribute night, but can Julia (Debra Messing) turn away from 'Hit List' long enough to help? Ivy (Megan Hilty) is afraid of damaging her reputation when Tom asks her to perform a risque number. The cast of 'Hit List' is rocked by a betrayal close to home. (more...)
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3)
 InDepth InterView: Rita Moreno Talks New Memoir, Broadway, Hollywood, Upcoming Projects & More
by Pat Cerasaro - May 05, 2013
Today we are talking to a legendary triple-threat performer who over the course of her unique career has become one of a select few in show business to have attained the entertainment quadruple crown - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, that is; commonly referred to as the EGOT - the exceptionally gifted Rita Moreno. Exploring many aspects of her revealing and absorbing new autobiography RITA MORENO: A MEMOIR, Moreno opens up about her unique and boundary-breaking career in Hollywood and on Broadway, having appearing in three of the greatest movie musicals of all time - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE KING & I and WEST SIDE STORY - as well as in the Mike Nichols classic CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, in addition to an impressive list of TV and theatre credits. Additionally, Moreno reveals her insights into the creative process itself and the strides she made in the industry as the first Latin American actress to win an Academy Award. Plus, memories of starring in Terrence McNally's THE RITZ on Broadway and its subsequent film adaptation, as well as a rich recounting of her time starring in the original West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD as the one and only screen icon Norma Desmond. Also, Moreno reveals plans to revisit her one woman show from which sprung her stupendous new book, titled LIFE WITHOUT MAKE-UP, as well as shares her thoughts on Broadway today, remarks upon favorite recent films, shows and performers as well as offers an update on her new family-friendly film MICKEY DEUCE and touched upon her current small-screen role in HAPPILY DIVORCED - and much, much more! (more...)
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4)
 BIG FISH, Starring Norbert Leo Butz and Kate Baldwin, Ends Run in Chicago Tonight; Looks to Broadway
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
BIG FISH, a new musical based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the 2003 Columbia Pictures film written by John August, just had its pre-Broadway world premiere at Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street) in a limited 5-week engagement beginning performances on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, opening Friday, April 19, 2013, and playing through today, May 5, 2013. (more...)
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5)
 Photo Flash: Saturday Intermission Pics, May 4, Part 2 - Holland Taylor's First SIP from ANN, Christopher Lloyd and More!
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
BroadwayWorld collected as many of yesterday's evening Saturday Intermission Pics as we could to bring you Part 2 of our May 4th SIP round-up. Yesterday evening's photos featured a first SIP from ANN's Holland Taylor and THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE's Christopher Lloyd, as well as shots from NICE WORK, MATILDA, BOOK OF MORMON, LES MISERABLES, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, FLASHDANCE, HAIR, SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, TOMMY at the Stratford Festival and more! (more...)
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6)
 BWW TV Exclusive: Backstage with Richard Ridge - SAG Foundation Conversations Series with Vincent D'Onofrio!
by Backstage With Richard Ridge - May 05, 2013
Screen Actors Guild Foundation and Broadway World have partnered for an inaugural filmed Conversations Q&A series to recognize and celebrate the vibrant theatre community in New York City and the union actors who aspire to have a career on the stage and screen. The most recent event was a two hour career conversation with Vincent D'Onofrio moderated by Broadway World's own Richard Ridge, and you can check out highlights from the discussion below! (more...)
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7)
 THE WHALE, DOGFIGHT, THE PIANO LESSON & More Win Big at 2013 Lucille Lortel Off-Broadway Awards
by BWW Special Coverage - May 05, 2013
The Off-Broadway League today gave out awards in 14 categories and two additional special awards for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards were handed out on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at NYU Skirball Center, hosted by acclaimed stage and screen actors Aasif Mandvi and Maura Tierney. This year's event once again benefited The Actors Fund. (more...)
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8)
 BROADWAY BARES: SOLO STRIPS Returns Tonight
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
BROADWAY BARES returns again to its roots as the 2013 BARES season continues with BROADWAY BARES: SOLO STRIPS at 9 pm tonight, May 5 at XL Nightclub (512 West 42nd Street, NYC). (more...)
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9)
 BWW TV Flashback: Deborah Cox, Constantine Maroulis and More Talk JEKYLL AND HYDE Opening Night- One Week 'Til Closing!
by BroadwayWorld TV - May 05, 2013
It was announced on Friady that the new Broadway production of JEKYLL & HYDE -starring Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox - will play the final performance of its limited Broadway engagement on Sunday, May 12, 2013, after 15 previews and 30 regular performances at the Marquis Theatre. Direct from a 25-week national tour which launched in October 2012, JEKYLL & HYDE began previews on Broadway Friday, April 5, 2013 and opened on Thursday, April 18, 2013. The production was originally scheduled to run through June.
With just one week left to catch the show before closing night, BroadwayWorld brings you highlight's from the big opening, where Richard Ridge chatted with cast and creative team! (more...)
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10)
 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards Held Tonight at NYU; DOGFIGHT, Jake Gyllenhaal and More Among Nominees!
by BWW Special Coverage - May 05, 2013
The Off-Broadway League previously announced award nominations in 14 categories and two additional special awards for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out today, May 5, 2013 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00pm EST, and hosted by acclaimed stage and screen actors Aasif Mandvi and Maura Tierney. This year's event will once again benefit The Actors Fund. (more...)
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11)
 BWW Flashback: THE TESTAMENT OF MARY Closes on Broadway Today
by BWW Special Coverage - May 05, 2013
The Testament of Mary, the new play by Colm Toibin, starring award-winning stage and screen actress Fiona Shaw and directed by Deborah Warner, will end its run today, May 5, at the Walter Kerr Theatre (218 West 48 Street). The production, which began previews Tuesday, March 26 and opened on Monday, April 22, will have played 27 previews and 16 performances. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you back through the show's opening and run on the Great White Way! (more...)
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12)
 Heather Headley and More Perform at THE NIGHT OF 1,000 STARS Gala Tonight
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
Heather Headley, star of The Bodyguard at the West End's Adelphi Theatre, will sing two songs from Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along at The Night of 1,000 Stars gala at Royal Albert Hall, tonight, May 5, in celebration of Hal Prince. Denise Van Outen will also perform, and the evening will be hosted by Alan Titchmarsh. (more...)
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13)
 STAGE TUBE: On This Day 5/5- DAMN YANKEES
by Stage Tube - May 05, 2013
Today in 1954, Damn Yankees opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre), where it ran for 1019 performances. Damn Yankees is a musical comedy with a book by George Abbott and Douglass Wallop and music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. The story is a modern retelling of the Faust legend set during the 1950s in Washington, D.C., during a time when the New York Yankees dominated Major League Baseball. (more...)
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15)
 STAGE TUBE: Jared Zirilli Chats with KINKY BOOTS' Jerry Mitchell on 'Broadway Boo's!'
by Stage Tube - May 05, 2013
HELL HAS FROZEN OVER and I have somehow gotten THE JERRY MITCHELL to come aboard the Broadway Boo Interview Express! Just receiving Tony nominations for best direction AND choreography for 'KINKY BOOTS', and with a resume' full of Broadway hits, Jerry and I chat about: audition do's and dont's, fire island beach life, goats on tables AND MORE! Enjoy! (more...)
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BWW's On This Day - May 5, 2013
by - May 05, 2013
Here are the Broadway, Off-Broadway and West End shows which opened on May 5 along with all of the upcoming show openings, closings and special events!
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17)
 Evanna Lynch and Stuart Brennan to Star in 2013 UK Tour of HOUDINI?
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
According to WildAboutHoudini.com, Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter films) and Stuart Brennan will likely star in the upcoming UK tour of Houdini. The show is set to make its World Premiere on September 9, 2013 at the Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre, produced by Theatre Giant. (more...)
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18)
 ONCE's David Patrick Kelly Appears on WFUV Radio Today
by BWW News Desk - May 05, 2013
David PatRick Kelly from Broadway's 8-time Tony Award-winning Best Musical Once, will perform and talk about the hit show on WFUV Radio's 'Ceol na nGael' show today, May 5 at 12pm. WFUV Radio is found at 90.7 fm and online at www.wfuv.org. Once is currently playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. (more...)
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Posted by Robert Diamond
on @
Jekyll and Hyde
Quite appropriately, Jekyll and Hyde is one of the most polarizing musicals ever to hit New York. Despite running well over three and half years in its initial 1997 Broadway run, Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse’s pop rock adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic horror tale of a young scientist who uses himself as the guinea pig in an experiment to separate the good and evil in man and then proceeds to murder those who called him mad is regularly mocked as a prime example of Broadway ineptitude. And yet the show maintains a loyal following of fans that are no doubt thrilled at its return.
At the performance I attended of director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun’s new mounting, a road company that’s making a stop at the Marquis, the majority of the audience seemed to be offering polite levels of applause while pockets of fans throughout the theatre cheered enthusiastically. (To be fair, at curtain calls there was the obligatory Broadway standing ovation for the stars.)
And while I’m not denying the possibility that someone can be a connoisseur of the finer details of Lerner and Loewe classics and Cole Porter obscurities and also have a great affinity for the show that Gerard Alessandrini called, “for people who find Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music too complicated,” my completely unscientific experience indicates that Jekyll and Hyde is one of those musicals that gathers much of its following from people who typically don’t go to musicals on a regular basis.
Its pre-Broadway popularity was nurtured in a premiere production in Houston, a national tour and two popular concept albums featuring high-belting power ballads with lyrics that don’t seem overly concerned with being specific to characters and situations, let alone making a good deal of sense. (“This is the moment. / This is the time / When the momentum and the moment are in rhyme.) Aside from its original Broadway star, the very fine theatre singer/actor Robert Cuccioli, Jekyll and Hyde tends to be cast with performers better known for vocal gymnastics and displays of passion – motivated or not – than detailed lyric interpretation.
Calhoun’s competent mounting shouldn’t change anyone’s mind about the piece. Set and costume designer Tobin Ost and lighting designer Jeff Croiter team up to give the stage a look resembling a night out at one of those unmarked Brooklyn clubs on its weekly Victorian Goth night. In the title roles, Constantine Maroulis comes off as a skinny hipster dude a little too in touch with his feelings. Wildhorn’s music starts emotionally big and keeps the star at that level, like he’s singing an evening of 11 o’clock numbers, and Maroulis admirably performs his assignment of singing his face off all night. The one let down is that the musical’s (Dare I say it?) iconic number, “Confrontation,” where the actor traditionally tosses his hair from side to side as good and evil… confront… each other, is instead staged with Maroulis remaining as Jekyll as the good doctor’s portrait is transformed through video and recorded vocals into Hyde.
By comparison, the musical’s leading lady role – Lucy, the singing prostitute – is more of a supporting part. Deborah Cox benefits from getting to sing some of the score’s prettier melodies, but what can you really accomplish with lyrics like, “A new dream. / I have one I know that very few dream. / I would like to see that overdue dream…” Teal Wicks also puts in a game effort as the sweet Emma, who certainly deserves a prize as the world’s most understanding fiancé.
The script has been trimmed and the score has been revised with cuts and additions. Lucy’s new nightclub number, “Bring On The Men,” attempts to display the character as more of an erotic performer, but the intended sexiness of the production is broadly telegraphed instead of internally developed and falls miserably flat. Much of the time, Calhoun stages numbers with the “stand there and sing” technique, making the musical appear more as a concert than any attempt at drama.
And that’s probably how Jekyll and Hyde works best. Neither chilling, romantic nor even campy, the thrills of the show lie more in whatever excitement the performers can manufacture by singing loud and high. And if that’s your thing, then by all means help yourself to, as Bricusse puts it, “all the dreaming, scheming and screaming.”
Photos by Chris Bennion: Top: Constantine Maroulis; Bottom: Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Friday, May 03, 2013 @ 2:57 AM
The Memory Show
At separate moments early on in Sara Cooper (book/lyrics) and Zach Redler’s (music) ambitious and noteworthy The Memory Show, each of the musical’s two characters refers to herself as being a funny person while acknowledging that funny people are often the sad ones.
Both instances are certainly believable because the cast of Transport Group’s splendid new production consists of two actresses known for getting laughs, Leslie Kritzer and Catherine Cox. So the story of a 31-year-old single woman who moves in with her Alzheimer's stricken mother is played for a lot of humor – the Brooklyn Jewish kind – which serves as a coping mechanism for the pair and also eases the audience into the show’s unconventional musical theatre subject matter.
As suggested by the title, each character, referred to simply as “mother” and “daughter,” is putting on a bit of a show for the audience, whose presence they do acknowledge. Though the action takes place with the two of them in mother’s living room (The upstage wall of Brian Prather’s set is covered with picture frames, some filled, some empty and some that empty as more of her memories disappear.) most of the songs are solos directed to the viewers where they express their emotions about their past relationship and what it has developed into.
Two very strong solos begin the evening. First Cox reacts to a doctor’s question, “Who’s the President of the United States?” by complaining about what a ridiculous (Actually, the word she uses is fakakta.) question it is. She keeps expressing her annoyance until finally confessing that she doesn’t know. Kritzer follows with “Single Jewish Female Seeks Male,” a funny, character-driven song that goes beyond its familiar observations about Internet dating and expresses her hesitancy to become her mother’s caregiver, given their uneasy past.
Cooper’s lyrics tend to dominate the score, with Redler’s music, enhanced by gentle chamber orchestrations by Lynne Shankel, providing a conversational tone. I daresay few musical theatre writers would come up with a quirky number like “You and Me, Toilet,” where the daughter describes having to clean up after someone who doesn’t always remember how to perform a certain bodily function neatly. (Fortunately, the lyric doesn’t go into too much detail.) But when the realization of what the future has in store becomes too serious to laugh at, mother expresses her fears in the discomforting “I’m Unlovable” and the daughter sees how she has inevitably developed in the beautiful ballad “Apple and Tree.”
Under Joe Calarco’s direction, both give dynamic and detailed performances without overshadowing the delicacy of the relationship portrayed. With so little dialogue and interaction between the two characters, The Memory Show may not provide enough of the emotional impact the situation is capable of emitting, though there are plenty of lovely and heart-tugging moments. And the exemplary work of Cox and Kritzer certainly elevate the evening into a memorable night.
Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Catherine Cox; Bottom: Leslie Kritzer.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Wednesday, May 01, 2013 @ 1:52 PM
Orphans
For those who would enjoy David Mamet plays if there wasn’t so much cursing and misogyny, I offer Lyle Kessler's very funny, testosterone-laced drama, Orphans.
A significant early hit for Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre in the mid-1980s, which transferred to Off-Broadway and also had a successful London run, Orphans makes its Broadway debut in a sharply performed production directed by Daniel Sullivan.
Set designer John Lee Beatty’s appropriately dreary set puts us in the dilapidating North Philadelphia home of orphaned brothers Phillip (Tom Sturridge) and Treat (Ben Foster), who survive on petty thievery and meals of canned tuna and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise.
The brutish, hot-tempered Treat has convinced his mentally unstable, childlike brother that he has allergies that will kill him, which keeps him inside and out of harm while he’s out stealing a living.
Treat thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he brings home well-dressed and inebriated Harold (Alec Baldwin), who he figures they can hold captive for ransom, but the cool and devious stranger, who is a far more dangerous sort than the young man had bargained for, quickly turns the tables.
Sympathetic to their plight, Harold offers Treat a generous salary be his bodyguard and even offers to put Phillip on the payroll, though for doing what is never quite clear.
Soon their home is decked out properly and, under Harold’s tutelage, Treat is developing a sophisticated fashion sense while Phillip is being introduced to fine cuisine. Of course, both still have mental instability issues and although their exposure to the finer things is at first very funny, the dark subtext of what these boys are able to handle and what exactly Harold has in mind for them darkens the proceedings by the final curtain.
The dynamic chemistry between the three actors is a pleasure to watch. Baldwin’s Harold is glib, composed and sweetly paternal in his desire help the boys “better” themselves despite the fact that he sees Treat as a caged lion who would take a bullet for him if trained successfully. Foster keeps Treat on the edge of losing control, struggling with his survival instinct to react violently without thinking a situation through.
Cheerful and trusting, Sturridge’s Phillip spends much of the play avoiding contact with the floor by leaping from the stairway banister to the furniture like a kid on a jungle gym. He is the empathetic heart of the production.
Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Alec Baldwin; Bottom: Tom Sturridge, Ben Foster and Alec Baldwin.
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Posted by
Michael Dale
on Tuesday, April 30, 2013 @ 11:47 AM
Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 4/28/13 & Theatre Quote of the Week
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality but a hammer with which to shape it.”
-- Bertolt Brecht
The grosses are out for the week ending 4/28/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.
Up for the week was: THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (6.2%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (4.7%), MAMMA MIA! (4.5%), THE RASCALS: ONCE UPON A DREAM (3.8%), THE LION KING (1.5%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (1.3%), JERSEY BOYS (1.2%), CHICAGO (1.2%), KINKY BOOTS (1.0%), CINDERELLA (0.6%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (0.5%), ROCK OF AGES (0.4%), MATILDA (0.2%), ANN (0.2%), MOTOWN: THE MUSICAL(0.1%),
Down for the week was: THE TESTAMENT OF MARY (-20.4%), ORPHANS (-15.4%), JEKYLL & HYDE (-13.6%), MACBETH (-9.9%), THE BIG KNIFE (-8.3%), ANNIE (-5.8%), NEWSIES (-4.2%), THE NANCE (-3.8%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (-3.5%), ONCE (-2.7%), WICKED (-2.0%), LUCKY GUY (-1.5%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (-0.6%), PIPPIN (-0.5%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (-0.4%),
Posted by
Michael Dale
on Monday, April 29, 2013 @ 3:21 PM
SPECIAL COVERAGE: All the 2013 Drama Desk Award Winners - MATILDA, VANYA AND SONIA, PIPPIN, VIRGINIA WOOLF and More!
2013 Drama Desk Awards Are Tonight; Check Out the Nominees!
ATG Expected to Buy Broadway's Foxwoods Theater, Home of SPIDER-MAN, for $70 Million
Photo Flash: Tony Nominee Phillip Boykin Performs at GIVE MY REGARDS TO BROADWAY! in Morristown
Photo Flash: Miss NY, ANNIE Orphans and More Perform at West Side YMCA Benefit
Tim Federle, Seth Rudetsky and More Appear at Books of Wonder's FROM PAGE TO STAGE Today
LES MISERABLES' Jason Forbach Performs A NEW LEADING MAN Concert at Madden Theater Tonight
VIDEO: Sneak Peek - SMASH Goes to 'The Tonys' in 2-Hour Series Finale!
BWW TV: Chatting with the 2013 Drama Desk Nominees; The Musicals- Andrea Martin, Billy Porter, Donna Murphy & More!
Ryan Seacrest to Produce SUPERSTAR SHOWDOWN Hispanic Singing Competition Show
Martin Short to Pen Memoir for Harper
Samantha Mumba Signs $1 Million Hollywood Musical Deal; Could It Be ANNIE or INTO THE WOODS?
BWW TV Exclusive: Meet the 2013 Tony Nominees- CINDERELLA's Douglas Carter Beane on How He Uses His Five Tony Buttons
Bea Arthur Nude Sells For Nearly $2 Million At Auction
Drama Desk Award Winners - MATILDA, VANYA AND SONIA, PIPPIN, VIRGINIA WOOLF & More!
Gyllenhaal, Pine in Talks to Join INTO THE WOODS Movie?
John Bantay Talks to Richard Jay-Alexander About Musical Mondays Farewell
BWW TV Exclusive: Prince, Lewis & More Remember Kevin Gray
BWW Interviews - Jake T. Austin Chats ABC Family's New Series THE FOSTERS
Seth MacFarlane Will Not Host 2014 OSCARS
Rooney Mara is the Face for New Calvin Klein Scent
BWW Reviews: LEGENDS At 30 Is Still Lots of Fun
Shocker - Best Buy Reports Better Than Expected Q1 Results, Revenue & Online Sales Up
BWW Blog: Leah Edwards - Practice. Perform. Repeat
BWW Reviews: John Cranko's ONEGIN at American Ballet Theatre
2013-2014 Season Highlights at Carnegie Hall