LGBTQ news and entertainment
The fab Charlotte d’Amboise answers Facebook questions from her dressing room at the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway while preparing for her role of “Roxie” in CHICAGO.
Charlotte was by far my favorite “Roxie” I ever did CHICAGO with (and at one time it felt like I did it with every “Roxie” over 10 years).
I came across these videos this morning and it felt very Saturday morning. Plus, this is EXACTLY what Charlotte is like is real life. Great person, great artist.
Clint Eastwood’s film adaptation of the smash Broadway show Jersey Boys is projected to only bring in a low $13.5M this weekend at a cost around $40M. That estimate has already been revised down.
According to NikkiFinke.com:
The studio wanted the summer release, not Clint, who made more of a drama than a musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons based on the Broadway production nearing a decade-long run based on the original book written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice who also wrote this screenplay.
Unfortunately the knocks against the pic are that it’s slow, lacked a musical background (seriously), and didn’t come alive until the last 15 minutes including credits. Biggest mistake might have been not using more artists’ music to set the feel for the time period.
Obviously disappointing news for Broadway fans. The stage production, directed by Des McAnuff, is supremely entertaining, and the use of the Four Seasons music to tell their story is clever but never heavy-handed.
The Broadway production is still doing great business, as well as the touring companies world-wide.
Tony Award nominee for “The Book of Mormon” Andrew Rannells will assume the role of “Hedwig” in the hit Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” for a limited eight week run beginning in August.
The Broadway production recently won “Best Revival,” “Best Actor in a Musical,” and “Best Featured Actress in a Musical” Tony Awards.
In addition to “Book of Mormon,” Rannells is well-known for his recurring role on the TV series “Girls.”
#HEDWIG Alert! Tony nominee @AndrewRannells to replace @ActuallyNPH in August! @EW http://t.co/VXU2KwcSKR #MoreHED pic.twitter.com/M0IargOKqy
— Hedwig on Broadway (@HedwigOnBway) June 12, 2014
I couldn’t be prouder to be joining @HedwigOnBway ! I’m honored & excited to try and fill the big heels @ActuallyNPH will be leaving behind.
— Andrew Rannells (@AndrewRannells) June 12, 2014
A pair of past Tony Award®-winners will take the stage on Broadway’s biggest night to hand out American Theatre Wing Tony Awards in more than a dozen Creative Arts Award categories.
Billy Porter and Karen Ziemba will preside over the Creative Arts Awards portion of the 2014 Tony Awards ceremony on June 8, which will take place before the CBS telecast begins, as well as during the commercial breaks.
TonyAwards.com will offer exclusive on-demand video clips of the Creative Arts portions of the Tony Awards ceremony.
In addition, Porter and Ziemba will hand out the 2014 Tony Awards in various non-competitive categories, including the Regional Theatre Award (NYC’s Signature Theatre), the Isabelle Stevenson Award (Rosie O’Donnell), and the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (Jane Greenwood).
It’s just a little cool that I’ve worked with both in the theatre.
Karen was a neighbor of mine for years on the Upper West Side and we used to see each other often. I also did CHICAGO on Broadway with Karen when she was starring as “Roxie.”
Billy, as regular readers know, is a friend of mine for over 20 years. Two years ago I had the pleasure of choreographing SWEET CHARITY at the Lyric Theatre in Oklahoma City with Billy killing it each night as “Big Daddy” with the number “Rhythm of Life.”
It will be uber-cool to watch these two before and during the Tonys. Make sure you head to TonyAwards.com tomorrow night for all the extra fun.
Two-time Academy Award nominee (and People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive”) Bradley Cooper will star in a revival of the 1979 play The Elephant Man this fall at the Booth Theater.
The production will begin performances on Oct. 18th with an official opening on November 13th.
Cooper will be reprising his 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival performance under the direction of Broadway veteran Scott Ellis.
From the New York Daily News:
Bernard Pomerance’s award-winning drama concerns the real-life 19th-century Joseph Merrick, a highly intelligent but severely deformed British man who went from circus freak to society darling in Victorian England.
“The Elephant Man” won a Best Play Tony in 1979, as well as a Best Actor nomination for lead actor Philip Anglim. The play was revived in 2002 and starred Billy Crudup. The 1980 film version starred John Hurt.
Unlike the movie, Merrick’s deformities aren’t rendered realistically with makeup or prosthetics on stage. As the star stands in a diaper-like loincloth, the audience has to use its imagination as each of Merrick’s cruel body-crippling maladies is discussed.
Cooper’s former cast mates, Patricia Clarkson (playing a famous stage actress who takes an interest in Merrick) and Alessandro Nivola (as Merrick’s doctor) will also join the Broadway production.
Nominated for 8 Tony Awards this year, the Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” will release the new cast recording on July 1.
The celebrated revival of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s cult rock musical opened April 22 at the Belasco Theatre with Neil Patrick Harris starring as Hedwig, a fictional East German singer living as a female after botched gender-reassignment surgery. Lena Hall costars as Yitzhak, Hedwig’s husband and backup singer, who’s desperate to unleash his inner drag diva.
Composer and producer of the album Stephen Trask on the new recording: “Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me in the last three months knows how excited I am by the new versions of these songs. The talents of Neil and Lena and this amazing f*cking band have made these the best version of the score ever.”
While you wait for the cast recording, don’t miss the cast perform on the 2014 Tony Awards June 8 on CBS.
More info on the new cast recording and tickets for the Broadway show – click here.
(via press release)
Broadway fans! Idina Menzel fans!
The “First Listen” for the Broadway Cast Recording of If/Then starring Idina Menzel is available now via USATODAY. Listen to the entire album here.
IF/THEN marks Idina Menzel’s return to Broadway for the first time since winning the Tony Award for Wicked.
If/Then reunites Tom Kitt (music), Brian Yorkey (book and lyrics), and Michael Greif (director), the creative team behind the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical, Next to Normal.
IF/THEN follows Idina Menzel’s character, “Elizabeth,” as she rebuilds her life in New York, a city of infinite possibilities. This contemporary musical is set where choice and chance collide. In one moment, Elizabeth will lead parallel lives. This is the story of both.
The CD will be available June 3, 2014.
From the New York Times “In Performance” series, five-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara sings “To Build A Home” from this season’s new musical “The Bridges of Madison County.”
The voice is clearly perfection. And the skill Kelli demonstrates here is jaw dropping.
I worked with Kelli some years in the first Broadway revival of Sondheim’s “Follies,” and we knew then what audiences would soon find out about Kelli.
I’m sorry to hear “Bridges” closed prematurely. All my friends on Broadway lament it’s passing saying it was true artistry on display. Hit the video below and enjoy real talent.
(via New York Times)
Broadway’s original “Pippin,” Tony Award-winner John Rubenstein, will return to the “castle” as it were when he joins the smash revival of PIPPIN for a month this summer as “King Charles.”
Via Broadway.com:
John Rubinstein, who made his Broadway debut in 1972 as the titular character in Pippin, will step into the Tony-winning Broadway revival as Charles, Pippin’s father. Rubinstein will join the Broadway big top at the Music Box Theatre beginning June 20 in a limited engagement through July 27, filling in during Tony nominee Terrance Mann’s leave of absence.
In addition to starring in Pippin, Rubinstein received a Tony Award for his performance in Children of a Lesser God. His other Broadway credits include Ragtime, Getting Away With Murder, Love Letters and M. Butterfly.
The current revival of Pippin was easily one of the best things I saw on the Great White Way last year. If you’re near NYC, head over to the Music Box Theatre for a dazzling few hours of live theater.
Check the video montage for the show below:
My husband just got home from a week in NYC on business, and while there he saw the magnificent Tyne Daly in four-time Tony Award winner Terrence McNally’s new play “Mothers and Sons.”
Michael couldn’t rave about Tyne and the play enough. Audiences and critics agree as the play and Tyne’s performance have been lauded and nominated every where possible in the Broadway theater world.
Can’t wait to see it my next trip. From the official website:
At turns funny and powerful, MOTHERS AND SONS portrays a woman who pays an unexpected visit to the New York apartment of her late son’s partner, who is now married to another man and has a young son.
Challenged to face how society has changed around her, generations collide as she revisits the past and begins to see the life her son might have led.