Check out the thoroughly charming Brooks Ashmanskas in this behind-the-scenes video from the recording sessions for the original cast recording of the Broadway hit musical’, The Prom.
You may recall last November, the production made news when their performance on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade ended, as it does in the show, with two females leads kissing.
Ashmanskas plays an egotistical, self-involved Broadway actor, Barry Glickman, whose recent stage flop leads him to find a way to show the world he’s not ‘all about Barry.’
He and several Broadway colleagues head to Indiana to take up the cause of a high school student being bullied over taking her female crush to the prom.
And then, as they say, hilarity ensues.
In reviewing the show, The New York Times praised Ashmanskas, a Broadway veteran of over a dozen productions on the Great White Way(The Producers, Sunday in the Park with George, Promises, Promises), for threading the needle of playing an over-the-top gay character without offending.
Quite the contrary, The Times says his flamboyant character stylings “somehow wind up as poetry instead.”
This song comes as the young high school girl, nervous to head to the prom, asks if he would go with her. Barry, who never went to the prom himself because he was self-conscious as a young gay, is thrilled as he sings, “Barry Is Going To Prom.”
“Who cares if you’re a big old girl, just get into that gym and twirl!”
And he does 🙂
You can find more info about the musical here. Watch below and enjoy.
The latest installment of live television presentations of Broadway musicals arrived last night as theater fans sat down to take in the 1996 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning RENT by the gone-too-soon Jonathan Larson on FOX TV. It’s important to note that Brennin Hunt, the actor in the lead role of Roger, broke his ankle near the end of the dress rehearsal on Saturday. With no understudy waiting in the wings, FOX decided to (mostly) air the recorded dress rehearsal. Cast member Jennifer Leigh Warren shared on Facebook that Sunday evening’s presentation was, indeed, live for the last two segments (from the parents’ calls to the end). The final scene was restaged with Hunt sitting with his foot propped up and the other actors working around him. For those interested, while the filmed dress rehearsal made up much of the presentation Sunday night, the live audience in the studio were still treated to ‘concert’ performances during the telecast. https://twitter.com/ItsAHardG/status/1090028998694920193 https://twitter.com/Foreverayoung/status/1089701474399973376 Some say it’s unfair to judge dress rehearsal performances that were never intended to be seen as some performers might have been ‘holding back’ or saving themselves for the real deal Sunday night. However, I’m not sure how much of that might be true. The dress rehearsal was performed in front of a live audience, and having been an actor on Broadway and in national touring companies since the mid-1980s, I don’t know any folks who hold back in a final dress rehearsal with 1,100 people in attendance. In any case, the version that landed last night on FOX was very enjoyable, if a bit uneven.
For those who are new to the piece, RENT is a musical riff on the classic opera, La Boheme, adapted to tell the story of a group of struggling artists inhabiting a loft on the lower East Side of Manhattan It’s amazing that RENT was even on television when you consider much of the play centers on a two queer relationships: one between a black man, Tom Collins (the amazing Brandon Victor Dixon), and a drag queen named Angel (played by RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Valentina); the second pairing the pragmatic Joanne (Kiersey Clemons) with flighty, flirty performance artist, Maureen (Vanessa Hudgens). Rounding out the principal players are the aforementioned Hunt, whose Roger falls in love with Mimi (R&B singer Tinashe), Jordan Fisher as Mark, and their longtime friend turned landlord, Benny (singer Mario). Overall, the production won the day with creative staging, excellent lighting and some tremendous performances. Brandon Victor Dixon’s powerful, gut-punch reprise of “I’ll Cover You” was undeniable. If folks were ‘holding back’ for dress rehearsal, they forgot to tell Dixon. Raw, vocally on point, emotionally open – this is what RENT is about. Easily one of the high points of the production. https://twitter.com/BroadwayTube/status/1090085799733985280 Fox TV’s RENT: Live was powerfully moving. And, the show put queer relationships and the AIDS epidemic back in front of a television audience. https://youtu.be/iJwxf22nPlw
After spending some years working on television series like The CW’s Supergirl and NBC’s SMASH, oh-so-talented Jeremy Jordan returned to Broadway last fall in the new play, American Son.
If you haven’t seen the play at the Booth Theatre, hurry up as it’s set to close at the end of the month.
That said, American Son isn’t Jordan’s only ‘return’ to Broadway material.
Having starred in musicals on the Great White Way like West Side Story, Newsies, and Bonnie and Clyde, folks might have forgotten what an gifted singer Jordan is.
Until now.
The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization shares a new music video, the first in a series titled, “R&H Goes Pop!,” of contemporary twists on timeless classics from the R&H catalog.
Jordan gets the honor of debuting this new take on the Oklahoma opener, “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’.”
I’ve been a fan of Jordan’s for years now. A terrific actor and vocalist, he’s the real deal who can deliver.
The arrangement and orchestration here is killer: bright, fresh and current.
I love reinvention, and I love this.
Jordan took to Twitter to announce the news, writing, “A while back, the fine folks at @RnH_Org asked me to reimagine a classic. Naturally, I enlisted the help of @brauhala & we came up with this take on “O What a Beautiful Mornin.” Then @nathanjohnsonny shot this video in the summer HEAT. Enjoy!”
A while back, the fine folks at @RnH_Org asked me to reimagine a classic. Naturally, I enlisted the help of @brauhala & we came up with this take on “O What a Beautiful Mornin.” Then @nathanjohnsonny shot this video in the summer HEAT. Enjoy! #RHgoesPophttps://t.co/LUV0ojC17U
So happy to share “O What a Beautiful Mornin”… I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it brought me such joy to infuse some of my musical personality into a classic. I encourage everyone to take something old & shape it into something new. Something YOU think is beautiful
My dear Carol Channing passed away this morning at the age of 97.
I celebrate this Broadway legend and my many years working with her.
What a gift.
Carol and Hello, Dolly! changed my life forever in 1994.
The experience gave me my first Broadway show; I met my husband of 24 years, Michael; supervising the national tour gave me the downpayment for my first home; and I have been lucky to stage almost a dozen major regional productions of the show passing on what I learned from Carol and our director, Lee Roy Reams.
Celebrate our fabulous Tony Award winning, Academy Award nominee (Thoroughly Modern Millie) Carol Channing today. She is, was, and always will be a national treasure.
I originally wrote some of this post years ago to celebrate her 90th birthday, but updated it with a couple more stories. Everyone always asks for the stories… 🙂
Back in 2010, I performed with her again (picture below) in the opening number of the Gypsy of the Year competition, which is a major charity event for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. She brought the house down as only she can.
The last time Carol and I danced together at the Gypsy of the Year event in 2010 Thank you, Bruce Glikas, for the photo 🙂
For those that don’t know, I spent two and a half incredible years performing with Carol in the last Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!. I eventually became the production supervisor, and she would ask me for notes – on how to perform the role of Dolly Levi!
As if I could tell her anything she didn’t already know.
Me with Carol at the 2010 Gypsy of the Year event on Broadway
A quick Carol story: when I was supervising Dolly on tour, one day we had a particularly long and dreadful travel day – two planes, a bus, a train and a donkey or two – to get to what Carol called “a soccer arena” where we would perform the show that night.
In the sound check Carol looked down and realized that the musician’s pit was 25 feet beneath us. This was the pit that I had to leap over every night in the middle of the Hello, Dolly! number. For the first time in 30 years of doing the show she decided this was dangerous.
After the sound check she came looking for me to ask if someone could put a net or something between the pit and the stage in case those of us who jumped over the pit happened to fall into it. At this point, I had 30 minutes before the performance and was taking a long shower to rid myself of the long travel day. This being a “soccer arena” the showers where open showers in a locker room.
Covered in soap and standing under the water I suddenly heard a very low baritone voice say “Randy”. I turned and there was Carol, in the open showers with me, smiling. She waited for me to turn and went into her concerns about the pit, a net and all sorts of other things as I stood there completely naked.
When she finished expressing her concerns I said, “Absolutely, Carol. But right now I’m soaking wet, taking a shower.”
She looked me up and down, smiled and said, “Oh! Yes, of course. (pause) Well, you know, we’re all just show folk,” and then turned and left me to finish my shower.
Nudity was nothing to this old pro who had changed costumes in the wings for decades.
For the Gypsy of the Year event in 2010, they asked many of the Dolly boys to come back and do the opening number with Carol as a tribute to her. As the number evolved, I ended up partnering with her much of the number.
While we were rehearsing for a few days, the producer of a documentary of Carol’s life asked us if we’d sit and talk about our time with her. About nine of us sat for about an hour and a half reminiscing and sharing.
I only had one particular story about Carol that I knew I wanted to share. As the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! was winding down, one of the male dancers in the show (who was very dear to me and to Carol) was dying of AIDS.
I was very grateful my brief story about Carol and Don Ives made it into the film, Larger Than Life.
Watch below.
RIP my dear, wonderful Carol. I am certain there is a standing ovation awaiting you as you enter immortality.
Freezing in the cold but loving life on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Having lunch floating down the San Antonio Riverwalk
Reunited at the Gypsy of the Year in 2010
The cover of Theater Week Magazine just after we opened the 1995 Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! A very young me on my knee on the left.
Colin O’Leary as ‘Liza Minnelli’ in Act II O’Leary Car Ride: Showtunes 2019′
Colin O’Leary, whose home video featuring him lip-syncing to hits from Broadway musicals went viral last year, has shared what he’s calling “Act Two” of his hilarious compilation of car rides with his perpetually unimpressed mom, Carol.
Watch below as the karaoke car rides get even more impressive in terms of costumes and set design as he mimes along to hits from Annie, Gypsy, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Newsies, and many many more!
God bless his mom, Carol, for keeping a straight face.
Pay attention and see if you know what musicals each ‘performance’ is gleaned from.
The new teaser for the upcoming FX mini-series Fosse/Verdon is perfection.
Starring Sam Rockwell as Broadway innovator/director/choreographer Bob Fosse, and Michelle Williams as his muse/wife, Gwen Verdon, the series will “tell the story of these two brilliant, complicated individuals — the love they shared, the art they created, and the price they paid in the pursuit of greatness.”
Anyone who is a fan of the brilliant Broadway power couple will recognize the iconic style in the rapid-fire series of images including finger snaps, toe-taps, bowler hats, fishnet stockings, red/blue mood light and, yes, jazz hands.
The project has the blessing of Nicole Fosse, the daughter of Fosse and Verdon, who will also act as an executive producer on the series.
“My mother and father have one of the greatest love stories ever known,” Nicole Fosse said in a statement. “They were extremely complex people with an indestructible bond, loyalty and trust that endured both fantasy and reality. Finally, we have a creative team with the talent and wisdom to tell the story.”
In addition to being a longtime fan, as many readers know, I was a cast member of the Broadway revival of Chicago the Musical. The experience led me to study and revere (even more!) the genius these two brought to the Broadway stage.
Watch below. Look for the series to debut in April. I can’t wait.
• Handsome InstaHunk Jim Newman (above) has been running a fabulous “Days of Christmas” campaign over on his Instagram taking daily pics au naturel with items in his home blocking just the barest of body parts. Well-worth clicking over to as this was the most tame I can post here 😉
• An amateur photographer from England received a 16-year jail sentence for drugging and raping male models. “I get a kick out of robbing a straight guy out of his masculinity,” he shared in a conversation.
• Donald Trump, who promised his infamous wall along the Mexican border would be paid for by Mexico, now says “The wall will pay for itself.”
“The wall will pay for itself on a monthly basis,” Trump said, contradicting his previous claim that Mexico would pay for the border wall and threatening a government shutdown if a spending bill doesn’t include his $5B demand for funding it https://t.co/QTj5qScUCnpic.twitter.com/NUNy53tGWX
• Even though the play opened to very good reviews, the Broadway revival of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, starring out actor Michael Urie, has announced it will close January 6.
• The stock market moved into bear territory this week as the Dow fell another 417.11 points today, closing the week with a loss of 6.75% – its worst weekly decline since October 2008. #ThanksTrump
• In a year of ups and downs, the world searched for “good” more than ever before — according to Google Trends. From the epic headlines to the everyday moments, here’s to all the good that people discovered in 2018.
Galt MacDermot, composer of the hit Broadway musicals HAIR and Two Gentlemen of Verona, passed away today, just one day shy of his 90th birthday.
Bombastic and timely, HAIR became a smash hit earning 2 Tony nods and winning the Grammy Award for ‘Best Score From an Original Cast Show Album.’
As an actor, I performed in a production of HAIR once, and surprisingly, loved it. It was incredible to see the power of the show reach out to an audience.
And some of the coolest songs in a Broadway musical ever.
“Age of Aquarius” rocks, and what is hotter than Treat Williams singing “I Got Life” in the movie?
The Cher Show, a new musical chronicling the life and career of the Oscar, Grammy and Emmy Award winner opened last night at the Neil Simon Theater on Broadway.
Starring Stephanie J. Block, Teal Wicks, and Micaela Diamond as the diva in different periods of her life, the production is directed by Jason Moore (Shrek the Musical), choreographed by Tony Award winner Chris Gattelli (Newsies) and features a book by Rick Elice (Jersey Boys).
The critics appeared to be mixed in their assessment of the production.
There’s a fine line between tacky and spectacular. In creating costumes for Cher over the years – costumes that often tell the story of a shy woman emerging triumphant from a chrysalis – the designer Bob Mackie has kept on the right side of the line by making sure the level of craft supports the extravagance of the gesture. Sadly that’s not the case with “The Cher Show,” the maddening mishmash of a new musical that opened on Monday at the Neil Simon Theater. Except for the dozens of eye-popping outfits Mr. Mackie gorgeously recreates for the occasion, it’s all gesture, no craft: dramatically threadbare and surprisingly unrevealing.
Is the show good? Certainly not in the sense of traditional musical-theater craft. Would I see it again? Duh, already planning on it. Director Jason Moore’s production, which breaks new frontiers on Broadway for bare midriffs, underboobs, wigs and paillettes, unashamedly embraces its abundance of trashy-flashy, tacky vintage-Vegas kitsch. But it’s also slyly fabulous and imbued with a plucky feminist spirit that’s quite stirring, basically recounting the story of how the innately shy Cherilyn Sarkisian stopped letting men tell her what to do and found the strength to run her own show.
Granted, the jukebox musical that opened on Broadway Monday night has some clumsy and dopey dialogue. The story – a 50-50 mix of narration (yawn) and not-quite-skin-deep dramatization – tracing the pop goddess’ personal and professional ups and downs won’t surprise those with even a passing knowledge of Cher. Or access to Wikipedia. Still, it’s thrilling watching the 72-year-old diva’s rags-to-riches-and-back-again life woven by wall-to-wall hits – “Bang Bang,” “The Beat Goes On,” “Half-Breed” and “Believe,” among them.
In addition to the drama onstage, there was also a bit of Twitter drama as well.
In attendance for the grand opening night were Kim Kardashian and hubby Kanye West, who apparently forgot that the actors onstage can see the audience.
Actor Jarrod Spector, who plays Sonny Bono in the show, took to Twitter to call out West for staring down at his phone during the show:
Hey @kanyewest so cool that you’re here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone you’ll see we’re doing a show up here. It’s opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much.
For his part, West did respond directly to that tweet with kind words about the show:
the dynamics of Cher and Sonny’s relationship made Kim and I grab each other’s hand and sing “I got you babe” please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece.
That said, according to sources, the audience did have a fab time at the premiere. Not only did the attendees experience the storytelling of Broadway, but the diva herself got onstage.
Cher surprised the audience by joining the cast for the curtain call, and even sang with Broadway veteran Stephanie Block on “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Watch below.
