Nicole Rosky - Page 217

'Broadway will never be the same,' says MAMMA MIA! alum Courtney Reed. It's true... later tonight, after the Dynamos take their final bows as the reigning dancing queens of the Great White Way, an era will end in New York CIty that has lasted a whopping 14 years. Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus' global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA!, inspired by the songs of ABBA, will end its historic, record-breaking run tonight, September 12, 2015, after 5,773 performances.

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company will present Broadway and film actor Anthony Rapp in this one-man musical theater event, based on his 2006 book Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent. Performances will take place September 9-13 at Carling-Sorenson Theater at Babson College. For tickets, visit:http://commshakes.org/performances/performance/107

DAMES AT SEA will set sail at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre (240 West 44 Street), beginning performances Thursday, September 24, 2015, with an opening night of Thursday, October 22, 2015. With a book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller, music by Jim Wise, and music supervision and vocal & dance arrangements by Emmy Award winner Rob Berman (Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Finian's Rainbow), Dames at Sea will be directed and choreographed by three time Tony Award nominee Randy Skinner (42nd Street, Irving Berlin's White Christmas). Below, watch as the ladies of the cast get tap-happy in the just-released commercial.

Broadway and booze- perhaps the perfect combination? Inspired by the Comedy Central series Drunk History, Shoshana Bean recounts the story of the musical Wicked in Drunk Broadway, starring Wicked alums Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty and more. Check out the hilarious video below!

Happy Birthday Tom Wopat! Wopat first appeared on the Broadway stage as a replacement in the 1977 musical I Love My Wife, as 'Wally'. He then appeared as a replacement in the stage musicals City of Angels, and Guys and Dolls. He finally appeared in the opening cast of the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun opposite Bernadette Peters, Susan Lucci and Crystal Bernard, who played Annie Oakley. In 2008, Wopat starred on Broadway as the father in the musical A Catered Affair, and received his second Tony nomination for that performance. Wopat recently originated the role of Frank Abignale, Sr. in the musical Catch Me if You Can.

Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming Broadway premiere of Fool for Love by Pulitzer Prize winnerSam Shepard, directed by Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin, will star Nina Arianda, Sam Rockwell,Tom Pelphrey and Gordon Joseph Weiss. The limited engagement of Fool for Love begins previews Tuesday, September 15 and opens Thursday, October 8 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). BroadwayWorld brings you a look inside the rehearsal room below!

After six long years, the wait is finally over! BroadwayWorld has just learned that the musical web series The Battery's Down, which wrapped up its final season in late 2009, will return for a reunion special later this fall. The episode will premiere on October 20, along with a concert that night with performances from original cast members (and some very special guests).Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for a full trailer!

Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is currently playing at San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre, where it will remain through October 4. With newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design, this new version of PHANTOM is performed by a cast and orchestra of 52, making this one of the largest productions on tour in North America. In the video below, Loni Stark goes behind-the-scenes with Chris Mann, who plays the man behind the mask.

And now, Randy Rainbow pays musical tribute to everyone's favorite Kentucky clerk, in his rendition of: 'The Kim Davis Cell Block Tango'...

They may be big stars now, but they've seen hard times just like the rest of us. Over the summer, BroadwayWorld caught up with some of Broadway's biggest stars to find out how they got by before making it big on the Great White Way. From professional gift wrapping to dressing up in a monkey suit, these actors know the grind. Check out what they had to say about their oddest jobs below.

It's not hard to stumble across an excess of reviews for any given Broadway show these days, but there is a group of theatregoers that is wildly underrepresented when it comes to opinions on Broadway- kids! BroadwayWorld is excited to launch our newest series, KID CRITICS, which gives parents and children alike a kid's perspective on Broadway's hottest shows.  We are launching the series with Tai (8), Isabella (10), and Charles (7), who just stopped by the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to check out Finding Neverland. Curious of what they thought about the show? Find out below!

Happy Birthday Jerry Zaks! Zaks won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play and Drama Desk Award for directing The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me A Tenor, and Six Degrees of Separation and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and Drama Desk Award for Guys and Dolls.

Today in 2009, 9 to 5 closed at the Marquis Theatre, where it ran for 148 performances. 9 to 5 is a stage musical with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton and a book by Patricia Resnick, based on the 1980 movie Nine to Five. Resnick had co-written the screenplay with Colin Higgins, the director of the film, in which Parton had her first screen role. The musical premiered at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in September 2008 and opened on Broadway on April 30, 2009. It was nominated for 15 Drama Desk Awards, the most received by a production in a single year. It was also nominated for four Tony Awards.

Today in 2000, Aida opened at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 1852 performances. Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang. Aida was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four Tony Awards in 2000, including Best Musical Score and Best Performance by a Leading Actress. Aida was also named by Time Magazine in 2000 as one of the top ten theatre productions of the year. The First National tour was nominated for nine National Broadway Theatre awards (now 'Touring Broadway Awards') and won five awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

Today in 2011, Catch Me If You Can closed at the Neil Simon Theatre, where it ran for 166 performances. Catch Me If You Can is a musical with a libretto by Terrence McNally and a theatrical score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It follows the story of con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. A majority of the plot is borrowed from the 2002 film of the same name, which in turn was based on Abagnale's 1980 autobiography. The production received four Tony Awards nominations, including one for Best Musical, winning Best Actor in a Musical for Norbert Leo Butz.

Today in 1989, Into the Woods closed at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre), where it ran for 765 performances. Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway in 1987. Into the Woods won several Tony Awards, including Best Score, Best Book, and Best Actress in a Musical (Joanna Gleason), in a year dominated by The Phantom of the Opera.

Happy Birthday, Chad Kimball! After moving to New York, he was hired for the Broadway musical, The Civil War, joining the show 3 weeks before it closed. He was in the Off-Broadway revival of Godspell (2000) and the Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods (2002) as Milky-White the cow. He appeared in the Broadway musicals Lennon and Good Vibrations in 2005. Kimball originated 'Huey' in the musical Memphis at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2008, starred in the Broadway production, and earned a Tony nomination for his performance.

The new musical Daddy Long Legs will have an open-ended run at the Davenport Theatre (354 West 45th Street). Starring Megan McGinnis (Broadway's LES MISERABLES, Side Show, Little Women) and Paul Alexander Nolan (Broadway's Once, Jesus Christ Superstar, Doctor Zhivago) and based on the 1912 novel by Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs features music and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Paul Gordon (Sense and Sensibility), book by Tony Award and Olivier Award winner John Caird (LES MISERABLES), and direction by John Caird. Daddy Long Legs begins previews on September 10, 2015, and will officially open September 28, 2015. Tickets are on sale now at Telecharge.com. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you inside the rehearsal room with the cast for a special performance preview!

Second Stage Theatre presents the world premiere production of Whorl Inside a Loop, a new play by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott, co-directed by Michael Mayer and Mr. Scanlan, the creative team behind the Tony-nominated, critically acclaimed hit, Everyday Rapture, which had its world premiere at Second Stage Theatre in 2009. WHORL INSIDE A LOOP just opened last week at Second StageTheatre's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street). BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action below!

On August 24, 2014, NEWISES closed on Broadway. Exactly one year later, cast members from the hit Broadway musical came together on the stage of 54 Below to reminisce. In the lineup were songs of various music styles, stories and memories of their time with the show. Below, watch as Andrew Keenan-Bolger, the original Crutchie, performs 'Letter from the Refuge'- a song that wasn't added to the show until the launch of the national tour.