Tag: Broadway

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Casting For Broadway CATS Revival To Include SYTYCD Winner Ricky Ubeda

Ricky Ubeda to play “Mr. Mistoffelees” in Broadway revival of Cats

Ricky Ubeda, season 11 winner of So You Think You Can Dance, will be featured in the upcoming Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats as “the magical Mr. Mistoffelees.”

Previews will begin July 14 prior to an official opening July 31 at the Neil Simon Theatre (250 W. 52nd Street).

From Playbill:

The company will include Giuseppe Bausilio as Carbucketty, Quentin Earl Darrington as Old Deuteronomy, Jeremy Davis as Skimbleshanks, Kim Faure as Demeter, Sara Jean Ford as Jellylorum, Lili Froehlich as Electra, Daniel Gaymon as Macavity, Shonica Gooden as Rumpleteazer, Christopher Gurr as Gus/Bustopher Jones, Tyler Hanes as Rum Tum Tugger, Andy Jones as Munkustrap, Kolton Krouse as Tumblebrutus, Eloise Kropp as Jennyanydots / Gumbie, Jess LeProtto as Mungojerrie, Georgina Pazcoguin as Victoria, Emily Pynenburg as Cassandra, Arianna Rosario as Sillabub, Ahmad Simmons as Alonzo, Christine Cornish Smith Bombalurina, Corey Snide as Coricopat, Emily Tate as Tantomile, Ricky Ubeda as Mistoffelees, and Sharrod Williams as Pouncival,as well as Richard Todd Adams, Aaron Albano, Callan Bergmann, Claire Camp, Francesca Granell, Jessica Hendy, Harris Milgrim, Madison Mitchell, Nathan Patrick Morgan and Megan Ort.

Casting for the role of “Grizabella” will be announced at some point in the near future. Elaine Paige won the Olivier Award for her powerful turn as the “Glamour Cat” in the original London company, and Betty Buckley won the Tony Award for her powerful portrayal on Broadway.

I have a personal interest in the production, and in Ubeda’s casting, as I spent two years of my early career playing “Mistoffelees” on the national tour of Cats back in the 1980s when the show first hit the U.S.

Congrats to Ricky and all the new kitties!

Me as “Mr. Mistoffelees” in Cats
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Idina Menzel & Kristin Chenoweth Sing “For Good” Together For First Time In 12 Years

Tony Award-winners Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel sing “For Good” together for the first time in 12 years.

The ladies got together to duet once again for a Second Stage Theatre’s gala honoring Wicked producer David Stone on Monday.

The two created their iconic roles of “Glinda” and “Elphaba” (respectively) in the original cast of Wicked, which recently crossed over $1 billion in box office for the Broadway company alone, and over $4 billion worldwide.

Years later, the connection between the two is just as magical.

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Broadway: Five Burning Questions With Terrance Mann

I’ve been a fan of Terry’s work going all the way back to his rocking turn as the original “Rum Tum Tugger” in CATS on Broadway. I got to know him a bit when I was doing Chicago the Musical with his wife, the luminous Charlotte d’Amboise.

I agree with every answer he gives here – especially his best piece of advice to young actors.

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Broadway Honors Prince With Curtain Call Love

Last night, the cast of Broadway blockbuster (and recent Pulitzer Prize winner) Hamilton rocked out at their curtain call in honor of Prince to his mega-hit “Lets Go Crazy.”

And over at The Color Purple, Jennifer Hudson and company brought down the house with their rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain.”

I love my tribe.

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Broadway Blockbuster HAMILTON Wins Pultizer Prize For Drama

The Broadway blockbuster Hamilton joins a distinguished group of only eight other musicals to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

The producers of the show shared the news on Twitter this morning.

The award is given with an emphasis on “a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.” In addition to the honor itself, there is a $10,000 cash prize.

The most recent musical to win the Pulitzer was Next To Normal in 2010. The other seven musicals to be awarded the honor, since the Pulitzer began bestowing the honor to dramatic pieces, are:

• Rent (1996)
• Sunday in the Park With George (1985)
• A Chorus Line (1976)
• How To Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1962)
• Fiorello (1960),
• South Pacific (1950)
• Of Thee I Sing (1932)

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Broadway: Rosie O’Donnell Skewers Trump With Parody GREASE Song

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Last night, Rosie O'Donnell joined us for a VERY special #DisasterRelief performance with her own Donald J. Trump version of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do" from Grease! #PrepareForDisasterPosted by Disaster – On Broadway on Friday, April 8, 2016

For those who aren’t aware, after each performance of the new parody musical DISASTER, the cast is having guest stars come up on stage and perform to help raise money for Broadway Cares (my favorite charity which helps countless men and women with HIV/AIDS) as a “bonus” to the DISASTER experience.

Rosie O’s lyrics (penned by herself and Seth Rudetsky) are pretty clever.

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Broadway’s WICKED Reaches $1 Billion Mark At The Box Office

Variety reports that Broadway juggernaut Wicked has become the third production on the Great White Way to notch over $1 billion at the box office.

The show has achieved the milestone faster than any other Broadway production that has topped $1 billion in New York sales alone — an elite pantheon of which there are only two other members, “The Lion King” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” Disney juggernaut “The Lion King” was the first to do it in 2013, 16 years after its 1997 bow, and evergreen “Phantom” followed in 2015, some 27 years after its 1988 premiere. (Back when “Phantom” opened, a sold-out smash translated to about $550,000 in late-80s dollars, a far cry from the $3.2 million “Wicked” scored over a record-breaking holiday week in 2013.)

“Wicked” has spent the majority of its run at or near the top of Broadway’s weekly sales chart. The $1 billion cumulative take accounts for about one quarter of the title’s $4 billion worldwide sales; more than $2.8 billion of that comes from the show’s other North American companies, including tours and sit-down productions in Chicago, L.A. and San Francisco.

Internationally, the musical has played to 50 million people in 14 countries, including Japan, Mexico and Australia, and been translated into six languages. A West End outpost has been running in London since 2006.

Interesting footnote: Wicked did not win Best Musical or Best Score at the 2004 Tony Awards (Avenue Q snagged those prizes). As a matter of fact, the show only won 3 Tony Awards.

I’d say living well is truly the best revenge 🙂

(tipped by Randy Report reader John)

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Yesterday: Laurie Beechman Sings “Tomorrow” On Merv Griffin

I was a fan of the fabulous Laurie Beechman the first time I heard her featured vocal in the song “NYC” on the original cast recording of Annie. She played the “Star To Be” and sings the chorus at the key change in the song. As a teenager drawn to Broadway at a very young age, I think I played the song ten times in a row. I couldn’t get enough.

As most folks know, Laurie went on to create the role of the “Narrator” in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway, and starred in Les Miserables (“Fantine”) and CATS (“Grizabella”).

My hubby Michael worked as her publicist for her two solo albums of Broadway songs back in the 90s, and was instrumental in her singing at the closing of President Clinton’s second inaugural where she brought down the house with her version of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

When I was performing in the Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly!, Laurie made a point to come and find me (collecting money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS) in the lobby of our theater. I went total “fan-boy”  as she approached me saying, “You’re Randy?” and I almost screamed “And you’re LAURIE BEECHMAN!” I calmed down a moment later and composed myself 🙂

Sadly, we lost Laurie way too early due to her battle with cancer. But she fought the good fight. Hard. So strenuously, in fact, that she returned to the Broadway cast of CATS even towards the end of her time with us.

I’ve never seen this clip before. It was recently posted on Facebook by Laurie’s nephew.

Although she didn’t sing “Tomorrow” in Annie, she sings the hell of out it here. The word “thrilling” doesn’t even begin to capture the magic her voice commanded.

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1st Video: Laurie Beechman sings Tomorrow.
Tonight I am sharing a project many years in the making. My Aunt Laurie Beechman remains in my memory as a majestic and vibrant singer. I loved her first as my Aunt Laurie, and in the summers I spent weeks with her and her husband, my Uncle Neil who built all the sets with his company Hudson Scenic. In the summer of 1996, after we got home from a day in the city, we listened to a message on the answering machine. It was the Broadway producer of Cats, asking her to come back and join the show, despite her cancer. She had given up on this call, because even with her health improving, Broadway had never cast anyone unless totally healthy and in perfect shape. Well, she bucked that trend. Why? Well, because she was the most incredible talent in the world. Here she is in 1982, the year she stared in Joseph.
Posted by Reid J. Cohen on Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Laurie’s nephew also posted this performance from the same appearance on Merv Griffin of Laurie singing from her Tony Award nominated performance in JOSEPH…

It’s all fantastic, but check that moment at the 2:50 mark.

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Untitled
This is the same night in 1982- This time Laurie Beechman sings “Pharaoh’s Song” to promote Andrew Loyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Laurie was nominated for the Tony- Best Female Lead in a Musical.
Posted by Reid J. Cohen on Wednesday, February 10, 2016