Tag: Broadway

Posted on

Broadway: Alex Newell & Cast Of Once On This Island Slay “Mama Will Provide”

One of my favoritest Broadway musicals ever, Once On This Island, is back on the Great White Way in a gorgeous new revival.

Check out Alex Newell (Glee) as “Asaka,” Mother Earth, singing “Mama Will Provide” with the luminous company on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

The role, traditionally cast as a woman, is sung with vigor and warmth by Newell. Score a point for non-traditional casting that totally delivers.

The show tells the tale of “Ti Moune” who is sent on a journey by the gods of the island to prove the strength of love over death.

If you are in NYC, make sure you see it.

My longtime friends Norm Lewis (Tony Award nominee for Porgy & Bess) and T. Oliver Reid are both in the cast weaving their powerful gifts into the tapestry this is Once On This Island.

Watch below.

Posted on

Broadway Stars Ben Platt & Patti LuPone Deliver Powerful Performances At 2018 Grammy Awards

Patti LuPone delivers stunning “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”
at 2018 Grammy Awards

Last night’s Grammy Awards included tributes to Broadway legends Andrew Lloyd Webber and Leonard Bernstein performed by Tony Award winners Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) and the one and only Patti Lupone (Evita).

Platt delivered a stirring “Somewhere” from Bernstein’s West Side Story, but it was LuPone’s electrifying “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” from the original Broadway production of Evita in 1979 (a true diva who can still deliver like a boss 39 years later) that stunned the Grammy audience.

LuPone quickly began trending on Twitter.

It was also a big night for Platt as the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording took home the 2018 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, moving Platt to the halfway mark to EGOT status ― that is, winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

Watch both performances below.

Two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy chimed in with praise as well:

Posted on

Music Review: Shoshana Bean “Remember The Day” From Upcoming Album, Spectrum

Stop, drop and scroll down to hear “Remember The Day,” the first single from uber-pop/R&B diva Shoshana Bean’s upcoming album, Spectrum, due out February 9.

Bean’s three independent solo releases have all topped the iTunes R&B and Blues charts in the US and UK in peak positions including #1. Her 2014 release, Shadows to Light, earned her a Hot Shot debut at #10 on the Billboard Blues charts.

Her body of work is as wide-ranging as her voice. She made her Broadway debut in the original cast of Hairspray on the Great White Way; starred as the first replacement for “Elphaba” in the Broadway mega-hit Wicked. In regional theater, she’s won awards and nominations for starring performances in Funny Girl and the pre-Broadway production of Beaches.

She’s performed sold-out concerts around the world, worked on countless voiceover projects for film and TV, and performed with Ariana Grande, David Foster, Postmodern Jukebox, Brian McKnight, and Michael Jackson.

On her fourth studio album, Spectrum, Bean is living large with her fresh collection of standards and newly-penned songs recorded in the classic tradition of big band.

Drawing inspiration from Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, and Frank Sinatra, Spectrum swings and sways the Shoshana way.

Eighteen – count’em eighteen! – big band musicians kill it on ten tracks arranged by Grammy Award-nominated Alan Ferber.

And then there are the vocals. Lord have mercy.

Bean has long been known for her incredible power and visceral, emotional range. And it’s all on display here.

Every track on Spectrum is a gold, and Bean’s song selection is genius in giving you a little piece of everything in her arsenal of vocal weaponry.

You can trust and believe Aretha would be proud to put her name on Bean’s soulful cover of “With A Little Help From My Friends.”

Totally flipping the script, her Streisand-inspired “If Ever I Would Leave You” is a master class in artful musicianship and restrained passion. Ferber’s subtle, moody arrangement percolates to the perfect boiling point for an evocative emotional meltdown that will leave you breathless.

A soulful “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You;” a swing-a-ding-dinging “I Wanna Be Around;” and an emotionally raw, closing-time take on “How Deep Is The Ocean” all contribute to sonic bliss.

Listen to her Bond-worthy, backbeat-driven “Remember The Day” below. You’re gonna be glad you did.

You can also check out this live music video performance of “Never Loved A Man” below. #Dang

Posted on

Nyle DiMarco Books New TV Series “This Close” As He Heads To Broadway

(Nyle DiMarco in “This Close” – image via screen capture)

America’s Next Top Model/Dancing with the Stars champ Nyle DiMarco is one busy, busy man.

First of all, the former Chippendales celebrity host has booked a new TV series for the Sundance Channel titled, This Close.

According to reports, this will be Hollywood’s first series from a team of deaf writers, producers, and creators. Stars/co-creators Shoshannah Stern and Josh Feldman are deaf as well.

From Sundance: The six-episode half-hour series explores the relationship between best friends Kate (Stern), who is newly engaged, and Michael (Feldman), who is attempting to move on from his ex-fiancé.

ETonline also announced yesterday that DiMarco will be a producer on the upcoming Broadway revival of the play Children of a Lesser God.

The revival of the 1980 production follows the story of a deaf student and her teacher.

This new adaptation will feature Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff.

The show will start preview performances on March 22 at Studio 54, with opening night on April 11.

Watch the trailer for This Close below.

Posted on

Podcast: America’s 1st Out Winter Olympian, Possible Once-A-Week HIV Pill On The Horizon, Bette Midler Says “So Long” To Hello, Dolly!

In this week’s Randy Report podcast:

• America has it’s first openly gay Winter Olympian – figure skater Adam Rippon

• The Human Rights Campaign released its annual report ranking state LGBT rights and protections

• A possible once a week pill for HIV patients looks promising in testing studies

• A Wisconsin school district is dropping its challenge to a transgender student’s lawsuit for bathroom privileges

• Woofy out Olympic freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy stars in a new Head & Shoulders commercial touting all kinds of pride

• Bette Midler says “So long, dearie” to Hello, Dolly! on Broadway

All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report

Posted on

Cyndi Lauper Reimagines Poignant, Acoustic “Not My Father’s Son” From KINKY BOOTS

With the original stars of Kinky Boots back in the Broadway company of the hit musical for a limited 15-week engagement, it’s no wonder the Tony Award-winning composer of the show Cyndi Lauper would take time to reflect and reimagine one of the most impactful songs in the show.

Via press release:

Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award winning artist and activist Cyndi Lauper today released the poignant music video for “Not My Father’s Son,” the heartbreaking and inspiring song from her smash hit, Tony Award winning musical, Kinky Boots.

Lauper re-imagined the song, producing and arranging a new, acoustic version of the track, which features original cast members Billy Porter and Stark Sands, released today by Sony Masterworks Broadway.

The music video, which Lauper conceived and directed herself, features gives visual to one of the most important songs from the hit show – telling the story of two very different people from wildly different backgrounds who find common ground through their shared trauma. Exploring the pressure of growing up with a parent’s very narrow expectations, the song celebrates finding peace in your own skin. The video, shot in stark black and white on New York City streets, only leaps into color as the two men, who are on a physical as well as metaphorical journey, are reunited in their safe space.

“Now felt like the right time to do this,” Lauper explained. “I wanted to tell the story of two totally different men, from different walks of life, that come together to realize that it’s our differences that should bring us together. That’s inspiring. And I think we could all use some of that these days… It’s also a great way to welcome Billy and Stark back to Broadway!”

Porter and Sand continue in Kinky Boots on Broadway through January 7, 2018.

Posted on

Broadway: Ryan Murphy Announces All-Star Out Actor Casting For “The Boys In The Band”

The film cast of “The Boys in the Band”

Some of the most famous out actors in Hollywood have been cast in the upcoming Broadway production of The Boys in the Band to be produced by megaproducer Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson”).

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Ryan Murphy will team with Wicked producer David Stone to bring a 50th-anniversary revival of The Boys in the Band to Broadway, assembling a deluxe cast that significantly includes some of the most prominent out-and-proud gay actors in Hollywood.

Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer and Andrew Rannells will head the ensemble in a production directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.

First produced in 1968, Crowley’s biting comedy drama is a groundbreaking work among pre-Stonewall depictions of LGBTQ characters, chronicling the fun and frictions that emerge when a group of gay male friends gather for a boozy birthday party in New York City. The play is loved and loathed to an equal extent, with some calling it a perpetuation of negative bitchy stereotypes and others hailing it as a breakthrough in its intimate exploration of the attitudes and behavior of gay men at a time when cultural representation was minimal.

“The significance of The Boys in the Band cannot be underestimated,” Murphy said Wednesday in a statement. “Mart Crowley made history by giving voice to gay men onstage, in this uncompromising, blisteringly honest, and wickedly funny play. While some attitudes have thankfully shifted, it’s important to be reminded of what we have overcome and how much further we still have to go.”

Added Stone: “Everything has changed. And nothing has changed.”

Also featured in the cast will be Robin de Jesus, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington and Tuc Watkins. The role of “Cowboy,” a hunky hustler presented by one of the guests as a gift to birthday boy Harold (played by Quinto), remains to be cast.

This production will mark Matt Bomer’s Broadway debut.

The comic drama debuted off-Broadway in 1968 hoping to run for five performances. The production became an instant sell-out and ran for over 1,000 performances.

The movie adaptation, released in 1970 featuring the original stage cast, continues to be a milestone in queer cinema.

While being touted as a “revival,” this will actually be the first appearance of the play on the Great White Way.

The Boys in the Band will begin a limited 15-week run at the Booth Theater on Broadway April 30, 2017.

From the film:

Posted on

Podcast: HIV Undetectable=Untransmittable; Will & Grace Returns; Eli Lieb’s “Kissing Your Tattoos;” And Cher On Broadway

On this week’s podcast:

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree that when an HIV+ person’s viral load is undetectable there’s zero chance of transmission to an uninfected person

• The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says transgender military members who meet physical and mental requirements should be able to serve in the U.S. military

• Azerbaijan is now rounding up and torturing gay men

• A new musical based on the life and music of Cher is heading to Broadway

• Will & Grace triumphantly returns to network TV after 11 years

• Eli Lieb’s latest single, “Kissing Your Tattoos”

All that and more on this episode of The Randy Report podcast.

Listen below. Catch up on LGBT headlines in only a few minutes, and if you like – hit the Share button for your social media 🙂

Posted on

60 Years Ago Today: West Side Story Opens On Broadway

Sixty years ago today, a rumble began at the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway as West Side Story took the theater world by storm.

With a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, direction and choreography by Jerome Robbins, the edgy, urban musical has returned to Broadway several times and the movie adaptation went on to win 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture.

I made my debut as a professional actor in West Side Story back in 1984, and appeared in the show several times again. Along the way I played “Riff,” “Action,” “Snow Boy,” and “Baby John.” So the brilliance that is West Side Story resonates deeply for me.

My last experience with the show was choreographing a production in San Diego where I got to pass on some of what I learned over those years as a member of the “Jets.”

I don’t think there’s an actor/singer/dancer alive in the musical theater that isn’t inspired by the creative genius and visceral acting opportunities of WSS.

Me sitting in front rehearsing the Sharks in “Prologue” in 2016