Pat Cerasaro - Page 191

The moment Broadway babies have been waiting for has at long, long last finally arrived - the LES MIZ movie trailer just hit the internet in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. As many suspected - and as the leaked, low-quality work print teaser indicated a few weeks back - the song selection showcased was, indeed, Anne Hathaway's impassioned and plaintive "I Dreamed A Dream", and, just as suspected, the trailer absolutely delivered in giving us the decadence, drama, epic imagery and all-consuming emotion we expected.

Today we continue our expansive look at the most memorable moments from the sixty-plus years of the Tony Awards by saluting one of the biggest hit musicals of all time that is about to hit the silver screen in a big budget adaptation starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway - the emotionally devastating and faith-affirming LES MISERABLES.

Continuing our extensive countdown considering many of Broadway's best clips as represented on Tony Awards telecasts recent and distant, today we look to the third and final clip from a Michael Bennett musical on our countdown - and, many would argue, the creme de la creme of them all - the only; the one; A CHORUS LINE. A 5, 6, 7, 8...

Today in the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown we are setting our sights on one of the most notable early examples of mega-star casting on Broadway - that of none other than the iconic Katharine Hepburn - in a brand new musical composed by Andre Previn and staged by a young Michael Bennett: COCO. One of the most celebrated clips in Tony Awards history, the fifteen-minute dialogue scene and ensuing production number is nothing like we have ever seen on the show before or since - this puts the razzle in razzle dazzle, for shizzle.

Yesterday in the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown - a look at the finest moments in theatre history as shown on the Tony Awards telecasts over the last sixty years - we focused on the 1982 Best Musical winner, NINE. While Tommy Tune's Fellini-inspired fever dream won the big prize, Michael Bennett's innovative and visionary R&B pop opera DREAMGIRLS won many of the night's most significant awards and has certainly firmly established itself as a firmament of the history of the modern musical in the intervening years. Among the prizes won by the DREAMGIRLS cast and creative team: Best Actress for Jennifer Holliday, as well as wins in the Featured Actor In A Musical category, Best Book for Tom Eyen and wins in the technical categories for the unprecedented, hi-tech design.

Today we are continuing our 30-day Tony Awards countdown - ending, of course, on the 2012 Tony Awards, June 10 - with a salute to a Tony-winning Best Musical directed and choreographed by the one and only Tommy Tune and composed by Maury Yeston - NINE. Based on Federico Fellini's 8 ½, NINE is a surrealistic concept musical that concerns itself with the mid-life crisis of a glamorous Italian film director and the many, many women in his life - his wife, his mother, his mistress, his muse, his agent and many, many more.

Today we continue our extensive consideration of the best Tony Awards clips of all time, culled from over sixty years worth of shows, as we look ahead to the 2012 ceremony on June 10 by saluting a true triple-threat times two whose Tony-winning Best Musical, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, provided fodder for yesterday's selection - actor/director/choreographer Tommy Tune.

Today we are kicking off the 2012 InDepth InterView Tony Awards Series with the director/choreographer of the hottest hit of the 2011-2012 theatrical season, NEWSIES, that was recently awarded with a boatload of Tony Award nominations, in addition to a short-running show that has a very vocal group of advocates and supporters that also received a handful of Tony noms, BONNIE & CLYDE - the passionate and visionary Jeff Calhoun. Discussing all aspects of his mega-hit with Disney's NEWSIES and his success d'estime with Frank Wildhorn's BONNIE & CLYDE, as well as all about his years spent developing both, Calhoun illustrates his process and sheds some light on many aspects of the creation of the wildly different vehicles, as well as his opinions on the theatrical environment of today. Additionally, Calhoun outlines his experiences working with NEWIES and BONNIE & CLYDE breakout stars Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes - both Tony nominees - as well as his many years spent as an associate choreographer for legendary Tony-winning master director Tommy Tune creating many remarkable musicals such as GRAND HOTEL and THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES. Plus, Calhoun conveys his infectious enthusiasm for his craft and discusses what drives him to create while also sharing his humbled appreciation for the recognition of both his new musicals this season by the Tony Award committee and reflecting on his vast multitude of experiences in the theatre so far in his career - everything from starring in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS and MY ONE & ONLY on Broadway to choreographing THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and BUSKER ALLEY with Tommy Tune and transitioning into directing/choreographing with the hit revivals of GREASE, BIG RIVER, PIPPIN, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (with Graciele Daniele), BELLS ARE RINGING, as well as GREY GARDENS and the rest. All of that and much, much more in this career-spanning conversation with one of Broadway's best!

Today we are tying together the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown selection with BroadwayWorld's extensive and exclusive InDepth InterView Tony Awards Edition premiere entry spotlighting NEWSIES and BONNIE & CLYDE director/choreographer Jeff Calhoun by focusing on Calhoun's first major choreographic contributions showcased on a Broadway stage, as seen in the 1991 Tony Award-winning Best Musical helmed by multi-Tony-winner Tommy Tune, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES.

Today we are kicking off the 2012 InDepth InterView Tony Awards Series with the director/choreographer of the hottest hit of the 2011-2012 theatrical season, NEWSIES, that was recently awarded with a boatload of Tony Award nominations, in addition to a short-running show that has a very vocal group of advocates and supporters that also received a handful of Tony noms, BONNIE & CLYDE - the passionate and visionary Jeff Calhoun. Discussing all aspects of his mega-hit with Disney's NEWSIES and his success d'estime with Frank Wildhorn's BONNIE & CLYDE, as well as all about his years spent developing both, Calhoun illustrates his process and sheds some light on many aspects of the creation of the wildly different vehicles, as well as his opinions on the theatrical environment of today. Additionally, Calhoun outlines his experiences working with NEWIES and BONNIE & CLYDE breakout stars Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes - both Tony nominees - as well as his many years spent as an associate choreographer for legendary Tony-winning master director Tommy Tune creating many remarkable musicals such as GRAND HOTEL and THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES. Plus, Calhoun conveys his infectious enthusiasm for his craft and discusses what drives him to create while also sharing his humbled appreciation for the recognition of both his new musicals this season by the Tony Award committee and reflecting on his vast multitude of experiences in the theatre so far in his career - everything from starring in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS and MY ONE & ONLY on Broadway to choreographing THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and BUSKER ALLEY with Tommy Tune and transitioning into directing/choreographing with the hit revivals of GREASE, BIG RIVER, PIPPIN, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (with Graciele Daniele), BELLS ARE RINGING, as well as GREY GARDENS and the rest. All of that and much, much more in this career-spanning conversation with one of Broadway's best!

The Boss to the Beatles to Madonna to Rod Stewart, GLEE's emotional and invigorating season finale was pretty much everything a gleek could have asked for in a grand send-off to the original crew of McKinley High's New Directions - at least insofar as we have seen them thus far - as the musical dramedy series ends its third season and heads into uncertain new terrain with Season Four and the purportedly revolutionary new dual-show concept GLEE mastermind Ryan Murphy and company plan to incorporate while bringing in guest stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Hudson and THE GLEE PROJECT winners. As seen in "Goodbye", the future looks quite uncertain for many of the McKinley graduates - Rachel (Lea Michele) may have gotten into NYADA at the eleventh hour and arrived on Broadway to fulfill her theatre dreams, but Finn (Cory Monteith) and Kurt did not get into their performing arts academies of their choice. So, what now? So, too, will Quinn (Dianna Agron) assumedly head for the East Coast and Princeton, while Santana (Naya Rivera) will apparently be joining Rachel in New York - but, to do what? The future is evidently more promising for some than for others, but what we will see play out is infuriatingly indeterminable at this stage of the game. Anticipation is building, in any event - and GLEE continues to entice. What's next for the rest of the glee club we will have to wait until next season to witness, but we can rest assured that Blaine (Darren Criss), Sam (Chord Overstreet), Joe (Samuel Larsen), Sugar (Vanessa Lengies) and Artie (Kevin McHale) will be around, with the fates of some of the original glee clubbers who graduated a little less cut and dry as far as their character's trajectories are concerned - particularly Puck (Mark Salling), Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.), Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) and Mercedes (Amber Riley). And, as for Mr. Shu (Matt Morrison), Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), Coach Beiste (Dot-Marie Jones) and Emma (Jayma Mays)? We will definitely be seeing much more of them in September. While we can always rely on GLEE to provide us with outrageous jokes, outlandish characterizations, unexpected dramatic and thematic twists and turns, shockingly touching domestic drama and many incredibly heartwarming moments and socially progressive messages, the music - more importantly, the musical numbers - is what makes GLEE stand out from every other serial television series before or since and why the show will unquestionably be remembered as something revolutionary and indisputably idiosyncratic in the scheme of TV history.

With music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, the grandson of Richard Rodgers, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA fulfilled its great promise by becoming one of the most enchantingly romantic and melodically moving musicals to come about in the new millennium and its Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Actress In A Musical, Best Orchestrations and a trio of technical prizes go a long way in justifying the notable place the Italianate musical has in American theatre history. Plus, what an original cast - besides Tony-winner Victoria Clark, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA also featured fellow nominee Kelli O'Hara, who appears this season in a leading role in NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, as well as crossover GLEE superstar Matthew Morrison, who would go on to make another strong impression in a pivotal role in a musical at Lincoln Center soon thereafter (also under the direction of Barlett Sher) - SOUTH PACIFIC.

Today we continue the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown - culminating in the final entry on June 10, aka Tony Sunday - with a focus on two tremendous theatrical talents who have crossed over from Broadway fame to international acclaim on Fox's hit musical dramedy series GLEE, which ends its third season tonight: HAIRSPRAY's Matthew Morrison and SPRING AWAKENING's Lea Michele.

RENT owned the 90s. No other Broadway show managed to have the dual impact on society by becoming not only a pop culture phenomenon, but also changing perceptions of what a musical on Broadway could be - and, most importantly, how it could sound. Contemporary, cool, caustic and engaging, RENT updated LA BOHEME to the East Village just as Jonathan Larson updated the way the general public looked at Broadway at a time when musicals had fallen farther out of fashion than they had since their early years approaching the turn of the last century. Yet, at the end of the millennium - to quote one of the show's lyrics - RENT represented the hopes, dreams and desires of many Broadway babies and what we hoped would be achieved on the Great White Way in the new century. While SPRING AWAKENING, AMERICAN IDIOT and NEXT TO NORMAL certainly stand as solid continuations of the rock musical formula recalibrated and made anew in the mold made by RENT, no show since RENT has quite managed to have the cultural impact and win over audiences and critics alike in as major a way as that Tony Award-winning and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical has - with the exception, perhaps, of WICKED, which obviously owes a debt to its Oz-ian source inspiration and the built-in audience that comes along with that. Yes, indeed, RENT represents an entire generation in its sound, style, ideals and overall feeling, mood and tone and the subsequent success of the many members of the simply astounding assortment of talents that comprised the original cast acts as evidence that the show may have had the cast of the decade, as well.

Today we celebrate Broadway's best and brightest moments at the Tony Awards - looking ahead the 2012 Tony telecast on June 10 on CBS - with this tremendous trio of triple-threat talents; all recreating the iconic roles and songs that brought them to Tony Award glory: Jennifer Holiday with "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from DREAMGIRLS, Patti LuPone with "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from EVITA and Betty Buckley with "Memory" from CATS. All original leading ladies; all performing the songs they introduced on the Great White Way - all as fabulous as always, if not more so.

While the Disney musical itself was suspiciously not nominated for Best Musical, the 2000 Tony Awards committee saw it fit to award Elton John & Tim Rice's stylish and emotional rock musical AIDA in four significant categories on June 4, 2000 - Best Actress In A Musical for Heather Headley charismatic lead performance, Best Score for Elton John and Tim Rice's moving and expressive music and lyrics, Best Scenic Design for Bob Crowley's stunning set-pieces and Best Lighting Design for Natasha Katz's enveloping illumination of the Palace Theatre's rightly famous stage. The show has gone on to a rich life around the world and in amateur productions, with generations of theatergoers hooked on the classic story once told in an opera by Verdi in a totally modern and dynamic new way - with some songs we are not soon to forget.

This weekend, BroadwayWorld will be presenting an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber all about the enchanting new performance capture film version of his PHANTOM OF THE OPERA sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES. Until that chat, let's take a look back at some of the finest Andrew Lloyd Webber-related performances related to the entertainment dynasty built upon his operatic pop musical version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel that is about to celebrate its 10,000th performance on Broadway later this month, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as well as its continuation, LOVE NEVER DIES, and the two revivals of his two classic 70s hit stage collaborations with previous InDepth InterView participant Sir Tim Rice coming back to Broadway in a big way - JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA. Plus, a look at the new Simon Phillips-directed production of LOVE NEVER DIES coming to Fathom-equipped movie theaters nationwide on February 28 and March 7, with DVD & Blu-ray after that, as well as the PHANTOM 25 DVD & Blu-ray being released in the US on February 7. It's a busy time of year for phans, clearly! Fetch your favorite mask and check out these four Andrew Lloyd Webber delicacies before they arrive!

In honor of this week's US release of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL on DVD/Blu-ray - PHANTOM 25 for short - today we are focusing on the multitude of attributes that have made Andrew Lloyd Webber's unforgettable gothic musical the most successful entertainment of all time, now in its 25th year onstage and about to reach 10,000 performances on Broadway, where it is the reigning longest running show of all time. The gargantuan excitement generated by and the enthusiastic reception enjoyed by PHANTOM for audiences worldwide is unprecedented, yet, the new ultimate presentation of the show - PHANTOM 25 - is even more spectacular and thrilling than any iteration of PHANTOM on any stage or screen thus far. Bringing together the cast of a lifetime with the electricity of a live audience, the HD preservation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL is positively peerless in its sleekness, precision and polish of presentation. Never before - not even in the vaunted hands and cords of original show stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford - has the show been this contemporary, sexual and hypnotizing. Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom brings a rawness and austerity to the role that commands attention and Sierra Boggess is, in a word, supreme, as the young ingenue under the Phantom's watchful musical tutelage. So, too, does Hadley Fraser's perfectly painted Raoul hit the right mark, as do the rest of the exceptional cast in their commitment to making clear-cut, strong and colorful impressions in their roles. The LED-enhanced set is an imaginative reworking of the designs by Maria Bjornson and the musical staging is smooth and assured thanks to original show choreographer Gillian Lynne. Yet, the star of PHANTOM 25 is, unquestionably, Andrew Lloyd Webber's rapturous, rich and enveloping score. Bringing together an impressive and inspired assortment of genres in creating the quintessential pop opera, Lloyd Webber employs elements of grand opera, opera bouffe, operetta and musical theatre, as well as incorporates a diverse range of musical styles - even a little heavy metal guitar in the title song, as we shall see (and hear). The score of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's finest achievements and stands tall alongside his other classic scores for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, CATS, SUNSET BOULEVARD among many other international hit shows. Indeed, the story and score of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is so very complex and decadent as to allow for a continuation of the story, score, characters and overall themes in the form of the new musical, LOVE NEVER DIES, which premiered in a new version in Australia last year and whose story traces the relationship of the Phantom, Christine and Raoul from the end of the original show all the way from Paris to Coney Island ten years later where PHANTASMA is the show everyone must experience thanks to a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows beyond the carousel. In today's celebration of PHANTOM 25, we will take a look at the original music videos, the legendary Hal Prince production on Broadway and in the West End, the forthcoming LOVE NEVER DIES - coming to Fathom-equipped theaters nationwide later this month - all with a special spotlight on the most phantastic anniversary concert of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL.

Today we are talking to one of the stars of the hit revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING - which will be closing this Sunday after a 16-month run, so catch it while you can - who has also carved out an astonishingly accomplished resume on film and TV since her stunning, Emmy-winning small screen debut in a lead role as the young Judy Garland in ME & MY SHADOWS: LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND - the beautiful and tremendously talented Tammy Blanchard. Touching on many of her most memorable big screen and small screen roles and sharing her experiences of working with many of her impressive co-stars and creative collaborators - Bernadette Peters, Jessica Lange, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Sam Mendes, and her co-star on two films, the late Brittany Murphy - Blanchard eloquently illustrates her rise to stardom and the roles and performances she has given that she is fondest of - GYPSY to BELLA to THE GOOD SHEPHERD and beyond. Additionally, Blanchard clues us in on what we can expect from her multi-episode character arc on Showtime's hit dramedy series THE BIG C and what it was like to play such a unique and unusual character - as well as her feelings on sharing the screen (and the onscreen bedroom) with previous InDepth InterView participants John Benjamin Hickey and Brian d'Arcy James. Plus, Blanchard shares how her new role as a mom has shaped her craft and career as well as future plans post-HOW TO SUCCEED, observations on GLEE and SMASH and much, much more!

Having more influence on subsequent seasons than many a Tony Award-winning Best Musical before it or since, the pioneering and trend-setting jukebox Four Seasons biomusical JERSEY BOYS in many ways bucked the trends of previous song-catalog shows by utilizing a dazzling set design, inventive staging and fast-paced direction by Des McAnuff to tell the more-or-less true tale of Frank Valli and the other boys who rose to the top ranks of pop music in the 1960s with their falsetto-outfitted pop anthems and what the price of fame ultimately cost. Not since DREAMGIRLS had a music industry story been told so compellingly and innovatively and the show went on to win four awards that night: Best Actor In A Musical, Best Featured Actor In A Musical, Best Lighting and Best Musical.