David Shay

#TBT: BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Opens With Marin Mazzie and more!

Five years ago, Broadway favorites including Zach Braff, Betsy Wolfe, and the late Marin Mazzie opened the musical adaptation of the classic Woody Allen film Bullets Over Broadway! In honor of the occasion, we're looking back at the show's starry opening night! Check out all the footage below!

Photo Flash: Foothill Music Theatre Presents BULLETS OVER BROADWAY

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents Bullets Over Broadway The Musical, the Tony Award-nominated musical based on Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath's screenplay for the hit film Bullets over Broadway. A love letter to the golden age of Broadway, Bullets Over Broadway The Musical brings the classic musical comedy back with a bang. Loaded with the songs that made the 1920s roar, this splashy musical features Jazz Age standards including 'Let's Misbehave,' ''Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do,' "Tiger Rag," and 'Up a Lazy River.' In this madcap comedy, a young playwright finally gets his play produced on Broadway, but discovers there's a catch: the mobster putting up the funds wants a vehicle for his ditzy, talent-free girlfriend. Throw in an aging diva, dancing gangsters, and a bevy of beautiful chorus girls, and comedic capers ensue. Under the direction of Milissa Carey and music direction of Louis Lagalante, 

Photo Flash: NightBlue Performing Arts presents BULLETS OVER BROADWAY

NightBlue Performing Arts's production of Woody Allen's stage musical based on his Academy Award-winning film a hilarious and high stepping homage to both the gangster films and movie musicals of the 1930's - opened to press on Monday, September 11. The production will run through Sunday, October 8 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago.

Casting Announced for NightBlue's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY

Woody Allen's stage musical based on his Academy Award-winning film - a hilarious and high stepping homage to both the gangster films and movie musicals of the 1930's - will be staged for the first time by a Chicago company when NightBlue Performing Arts opens its production of the musical on Monday, September 11, following previews from Friday, September 8 through Sunday, September 10.  Press opening is Monday, September 11 at 7:30 pm. BULLETS OVER BROADWAY will run through Sunday, October 8 at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago.

BWW Review: BULLETS OVER BROADWAY: Woody Allen's Roaring Twenties

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY brings Woody Allen's New Yorker sensibility to the seaside community of Ogunquit, Maine, along with a coterie of thugs, hoofers, show people, and one adorable pug. Based on Allen's and co-writer Douglas McGrath's 1994 film of the same name, the musical incorporates old songs from the 1920s to ground the madcap action in the era of prohibition, when bathtub gin and gangsters with pistols and fedoras were equally prevalent. Jeff Whiting recreates Susan Stroman's original direction and outstanding choreography, and the amazing ensemble dancers tilt and whirl with foot-stomping abandon that resonates through the Ogunquit Playhouse.

Vincent Pastore and Sally Struthers Star in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, Starting Tonight at Ogunquit Playhouse

The Ogunquit Playhouse takes audience on a hilarious trip back to the Roaring Twenties with their production of the musical adaptation of Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath's madcap film, Bullets Over Broadway on stage from tonight, July 5, through July 29.

Vincent Pastore and Sally Struthers to Star in BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at Ogunquit Playhouse

The Ogunquit Playhouse takes audience on a hilarious trip back to the Roaring Twenties with their production of the musical adaptation of Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath's madcap film, Bullets Over Broadway on stage from July 5 - July 29.

BWW Review: BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at Starlight Theatre

It's guns, gangsters, flappers, and booze. BULLETS OVER BROADWAY takes the audience back to the 1920's with a rowdy performance that will have you laughing in your seat.

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Makes Dallas Premiere This Month

The national tour of the new musical comedy BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath for the 1994 film, will make its Dallas premiere June 14-26 at the Music Hall at Fair Park presented by Dallas Summer Musicals.

BWW Review: Lively and Hilarious BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at The Peabody Opera House

If you think about it, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY is the perfect Woody Allen film to turn into a Broadway musical, especially since it pokes fun at the process of producing one. Add some particularly well drawn characters (book by Allen, based on the original screenplay written with Douglas McGrath) and a copious amount of humor, and combine that with a score that cherry-picks a wealth of classic period music, and you've got a winning combination. The current touring production, which is stopping briefly at The Peabody Opera House (one night only - May 5, 2016), is a hilariously engaging show, full of flashy song and dance numbers from a bygone era, that shouldn't be missed.

BWW Review: Sweating Bullets at BULLETS OVER BROADWAY to Little Effect

Woody Allen's film is promising source material for a musical. This is what we got.

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Tour Coming to Providence Performing Arts Center, 5/31-6/5

Bringing musical comedy back with a bang! Tickets are on sale now for the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC)'s engagement of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, May 31 - June 5, 2016. In Providence, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY is a part of the Encore Series and is sponsored by Coastway Community Bank.

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY National Tour Coming to Memphis in May

The national tour of the new musical comedy BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath (Beautiful) for the 1994 film, will play in Memphis beginning Monday, May 16 and running through Sunday, May 22.

Tickets to BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at PrivateBank Theatre on Sale Friday

?Broadway In Chicago has announced that individual tickets for the Chicago premiere of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath (Beautiful) for the 1994 film, will go on sale on Friday, February 19.  The staged production of this worldwide smash-hit film will play the newly named The PrivateBank Theatre (18 W. Monroe) April 19 through May 1, 2016.

BWW Review: Don't Speak! Just Go See BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at the Paramount

Let me start by saying that I've never seen the original movie of "Bullets Over Broadway" all the way through. I'm just not a Woody Allen fan. So a musical interpretation of it didn't exactly thrill me. So what about the current production turned me around? Was it the story? It's cute but nothing life changing. Was it the music? All the songs are minor adaptations of old standards from the 1920's and 30's so not really. No, it was the cast currently playing at the Paramount that took this fun show and amped it up to zany hilarity and made it an absolute delight.

BWW Review: Non-Equity BULLETS OVER BROADWAY National Tour Kills in Fun L.A. Premiere

While certainly far from a perfect show (both in staging and execution), the bus-and-truck version of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY - THE MUSICAL---the quirky and highly-amusing stage musical adaptation of the 1994 big screen comedy penned by Woody Allen and Douglas McGrath---is nonetheless a supremely fun and engaging stage iteration had me in stitches for much of its two hilarious acts, which have been enhanced by lots of silly, old-fashioned antics and an array of surprisingly top-notch musical/acting performances from a solid, mostly young cast. I can honestly say that this production---now finishing up its Los Angeles premiere performances at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through January 24---is quite possibly the most enjoyable non-equity first national tour I've watched in a long, long time---a wonderful surprise considering such enterprises have a long, contentious history of enticing lots of industry controversy and skepticism even before the curtain goes up.

BWW Review: Unexpectedly Entertaining BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Spray Like Confetti

As Helen Sinclair (Emma Stratton) holds her hand over playwright David Shayne's (Michael Williams) mouth (picture above), fans of the 1994 film Bullets Over Broadway are bound to chuckle as they remember the famously unforgettable line spoken by the movie's Helen Sinclair Oscar winner Dianne Weist, 'Don't speak!' Weist, Jennifer Tilly as Olive and Chaz Palminteri as Cheech stole the brilliant film, so when I heard a couple of years ago that they were rehashing this for a Broadway musical, my reaction was 'Sacrilege! Why? Don't tamper with perfection!' Well, they didn't listen to me, obviously, as the musical went forward, and for some sketchy reasons, was a flop on Broadway. Let me tell you, as reluctant as I was to see the musical now onstage at the Pantages through January 24, I am glad I did, for it is actually quite good, with mostly sparkling performances, ingenious choreography recreated from Susan Stroman's original, fabulous costumes by William Ivey Long...and it's faithful to the film. No one dared to touch Woody Allen's uncannily sharp plot, dialogue and laugh lines. Yes, it could have an original score, but what is accomplished with the old standards aiding in moving the story forward, kind of like in Mamma Mia, works damn well. It's fun, ear and eye-filling entertainment!

BWW Interview: Jemma Jane About Her Role as Olive in the BULLETS OVER BROADWAY Tour

BULLETS OVER BROADWAY became a screwball Broadway musical comedy in 2014, written by Woody Allen (adapted from his film) and directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. The production, which consists of songs adapted from those popular in the Roaring Twenties, was nominated for six Tony awards. The BULLETS national tour will stop at Riverside's Fox Performing Arts Center for one show on the evening of Wednesday, January 27, 2016. BWW spoke to Jemma Jane, who plays Olive.

Tickets to BULLETS OVER BROADWAY at The Orpheum on Sale 12/18

The Orpheum Theatre announced today that individual tickets for the Memphis premiere of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, written by Woody Allen and based on the screenplay by Allen and Douglas McGrath (Beautiful) for the 1994 film, will go on sale Friday, December 18 at 10:00 AM.

CRITIC'S CHOICE: Get Ahead of the Holiday Rush

Turkeys are on-sale at your local supermarket, so there's no better way to know Thanksgiving is just around the corner - yep, less than two weeks away! - which means that local theater companies will be unleashing their holiday season productions with enough productions of A Christmas Story (both the musical and the play), It's A Wonderful Life and Ebenezer Scrooge-led shows that you could shake a stick at!