Tag Archives: Broadway Friday

Broadway Friday

According to New York Post critic Michael Riedel, Sean Hayes isn’t butch enough to play the lead in a proposed revival of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s Promises, Promises. Riedel: “That casting’s a little odd. Hayes doesn’t seem quite virile enough to play a role originated by Jerry Orbach, one of Broadway’s greatest leading men.” – A limited-engagement revival of …

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Broadway Friday

– A musical version of Armisted Maupin’s Tale Of The City will be coming to Broadway with music written by Jake Shears and John Garden of the Scissor Sisters. Shears will also write the lyrics. Look for Tales to debut in the 2009-2010 season. – Kathleen Turner is making her directing debut with Crimes of the Heart at the Roundabout …

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Broadway Friday

– After three weeks of previews, the all-black revival of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof officially opens today at the Broadhurst Theater. Stars: Phylicia Rashad, James Earl Jones, Giancarlo Esposito, and Terrence Howard. – Tony nominee Euan Morton (Taboo) is currently playing a solo show titled Here and Now at the Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room. I saw Morton in …

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Broadway Friday

– The Actors Fund will give a benefit performance of Seth’s Broadway 101 at the New World Stages on April 14th. The show was written by Seth Rudetsky, who recently hosted Broadway Backwards and features Laura Benanti, Jonathan Groff, Andrea McArdle, Norm Lewis, Pamela Myers and a full orchestra. “Rudetsky shows what is brilliant about Broadway, how the whole thing …

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Broadway Friday

– The fourth annual ABC Daytime Salutes Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit will take place Sunday, March 2nd at Town Hall. All My Children star and Dancing With The Stars contestant Cameron Mathison will host. A large cast of soap stars will participate with special appearances by Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Get tickets here. – The cast …

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Broadway Friday

The new musical Passing Strange begins previews tonight at the Belasco Theatre. The show made its New York premiere at The Public Theater last summer and opens with its original cast. – Cutting the nude scene from The Little Dog Laughed nearly cost Chicago’s gay About Face Theatre their production of the show, but playwright Douglas Carter Beane relented with …

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Broadway Friday

– The Broadway test run at Carnegie Hall of London smash Jerry Springer: The Opera was well received by most. But not by gossip columnist Cindy Adams: “Jerry Springer – the Opera is filth. The dregs. Despicable, debasing, disgusting, degrading, dehumanizing, revolting, repugnant, repulsive, frightful, awful, disgraceful, discreditable, shameful, terrible, horrible, horrendous, horrific, nauseating, offensive, depraved, loathsome, vile. It is …

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Broadway Friday

-The cast of Spring Awakening has been added to the performing lineup of Broadway Backwards 3, to be held at the American Airlines Theatre on Monday, February 4. Seth Rudetsky will host this gender-bending concert, which will feature a diverse cast of male singers performing songs traditionally performed by female singers, and vice versa, with all proceeds benefiting the LGBT …

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Broadway Friday

– AMFAR will honor Julian Schnabel, Carine Roitfeld (Editor in Chief, French Vogue) and Bobby Shriver (Chairman, PRODUCT (RED)) at its 10th Annual New York Gala on Thursday, January 31 at Cipriani.Appearing: Marc Jacobs, Lou Reed, Natasha Richardson, amfAR Chairman Kenneth Cole, Cheyenne Jackson, Maggie Rizer, Miss Universe Riyo Mori, Ben Gazzara plus a special performance by Barry Manilow. The …

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Broadway Friday

-The Little Mermaid, which opens today, is being widely panned. From the Washington Post: “In director Francesca Zambello’s confused production — a morass of mechanical characters, syrupy new songs and gaudily irrelevant set pieces — all the warmth and charm of the film manages to get away. The bloated, 2 1/2 -hour show — an hour longer than the 1989 …

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Broadway Friday

– The Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of the Olivier Award-winning Hitchcockian thriller The 39 Steps begins previews today at the American Airlines Theatre. Maria Aitken, director of the original hit London production, stages the work in New York. The limited engagement will officially open Jan. 15 and run through March 23.–The revival of Cyrano de Bergerac — which will play …

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Broadway Friday

Michael Kidd, the legendary and award-winning choreographer of Broadway shows such as Guys and Dolls and Finian’s Rainbow and movie classics such as The Band Wagon and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers died on Sunday at age 92. Kidd won five Tony Awards over his career and a 1997 Honorary Oscar “in recognition of his services to the art of …

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Broadway Friday

-Neil Patrick Harris, Gary Beach, Tituss Burgess, David Burtka, Charles Busch, Nancy Dussault, Malcolm Gets, Cheyenne Jackson, and Tastiskank (Kate Reinders and Sarah Litzsinger) will be among the performers of Broadway Backwards 3, to be held at the American Airlines Theatre on Monday, February 4. The concert will feature a diverse cast of male singers performing songs traditionally performed by …

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Broadway Friday

The trailer for the movie version of Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep, has been released. – Hairspray and Sweeney Todd have received Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. Other musical nominations: Best Actress – Nicki Blonski (Hairspray)Best Actress – Helena Bonham Carter (Sweeney Todd).Best Actor – Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)Best Supporting Actor -John Travolta (Hairspray). …

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Broadway Friday

John Schneider will join the cast of Chicago to play Billy Flynn for nine weeks beginning January 14th. Now in its 11th year, Chicago is the 8th-longest running show in Broadway history and the longest running revival ever. – The cast recording of Xanadu hits stores on January 8th but will be available online two weeks earlier. The disc has …

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Broadway Friday

Broadway’s Back! A free concert celebrating the return of Broadway takes place today at noon at the Marriott Marquis Theatre in Times Square. Appearing: Bernadette Peters, Angela Lansbury, Bob Martin, Fantasia, and cast members from every Broadway show. Midtowners: take your lunch early today, doors open at 11:30am for Broadway’s Back! The show will be broadcast live on Sirius 77, …

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Broadway Friday

– One week into Broadway’s strike, the stagehands union and the League of American Theaters and Producers return to the negotiating table today for the first time since Nov. 8th. Mediating are representatives from Disney, whose The Little Mermaid and The Lion King are both closed. Both sides are under tremendous pressure to reach an agreement before next week’s lucrative …

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Broadway Friday

– Let’s start off-off-off Broadway with some news from my pals Steve Schalchlin and Jim Brochu: Theater legend, Zero Mostel, comes back to roaring life in “Zero Hour,” a new play written and performed by Jim Brochu of “The Big Voice: God or Merman?” at San Francisco’s New Conservatory Theatre Center. In the play, which won Best Play at the …

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Broadway Friday

-Broadway’s lights were dimmed on Wednesday in honor of Grammy and Tony Award winner Robert Goulet, who died on Tuesday of lung disease. In 1968 Goulet won the Tony for Best Actor In A Musical in The Happy Times. He last appeared on Broadway in 2005 in La Cage Aux Folles. -Maxwell Caulfield and Jeff McCarthy will be the next …

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Broadway Friday

-One-man show A Bronx Tale, starring Chazz Palminteri in his Broadway debut, opens today after three weeks of previews at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Reviews have been great. Palminteri performed the show in Los Angeles and Off-Broadway in the late 80’s. -Minnesota’s Guthrie Theatre has commissioned Tony Kushner (Angels In America) to write a new play. The work, The Intelligent …

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