Tag: Broadway

Posted on

Broadway: CHICAGO the Musical to celebrate 7,000th performance

On Tuesday, September 24, the Tony Award-winning stage musical CHICAGO will celebrate a huge milestone with its 7,000th performance on Broadway.

Only twice before has this occurred in Broadway history — by CATS (which closed in its 18th year after 7,485 performances) and The Phantom of the Opera (now in its 26th year).

When I first read the news about the 7,000th performance, I thought of my friends still in the Broadway company now for many, many years. And I warmly reflected “God, think of their pension accounts.” 🙂

Feels cool that I reconnected with the show again this year at the Hollywood Bowl and Sacramento Music Circus. I was lucky to be a part of the show on Broadway and in the national & international touring companies for over 8 years. And I’ve been fortunate to explore the show as a choreographer several times.

I never get tired of the show. Clearly audiences feel the same 🙂

Congrats to the kids down at the Ambassador Theatre. And all that jazz…

Me this past July performing in the Hollywood Bowl production of CHICAGO

(source)

Posted on

First look: “IF/THEN” starring Idina Menzel

Cast and creative team share their excitement as they start their first rehearsal, reunite with old friends and bring you a brand new musical.

Idina tweeted this pic of herself and LaChanze (both Tony Award winners) on Day Two of rehearsals:

PRE-BROADWAY WORLD PREMIERE
The National Theatre
Washington, DC
November 5 – December 8, 2013

BROADWAY ENGAGEMENT
Richard Rodgers Theatre
New York, NY
Performances begin
March 4, 2014

For more information and tickets, visit the official website at:
http://www.ifthenthemusical.com/

Posted on

Broadway: Don’t miss the 27th Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction

 Be a part of the biggest day of the year for Broadway fans at the 27th Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction.

Find one-of-a-kind showbiz treasures, meet your favorite cast members and bid on exclusive backstage experiences.

Free and open to the public, the annual event takes place September 22nd from 10 AM-7 PM in the heart of the theatre district along West 44th Street (between Broadway and Eighth Avenue) and in Shubert Alley.

In addition to memorabilia and other items to purchase, theatre fans have the opportunity to get autographs and pose for pictures with their favorite stars from Broadway and Off-Broadway in exchange for donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS – a charity near and dear to my heart.

Broadway stars scheduled to appear include Len Cariou, Harriet Harris, Shuler Hensley, Cherry Jones, Aaron Lazar, Judith Light, Debra Monk, Donna Murphy, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, Billy Porter, Faith Prince, Alice Ripley, Laura Benanti, Robert Cuccioli, Jeremy Jordan, Jan Maxwell, Julia Murney, Rory O’Malley, Laura Osnes, Christopher Sieber, Matthew James Thomas, Patrick Wilson and more.

You never know who’ll show up or what you’ll find. For an up-to-date list, visit broadwaycares.org.

Posted on

Broadway’s Bobby Steggert casually comes out in interview

Did Broadway’s Bobby Steggert just come out?

The musical adaptation of the film “Big Fish” opens on Broadway on October 5, and Bobby,  one of the leads in the show, seems to have casually come out in a new interview with “OUT” magazine:

The role also marks Steggert’s most mature, complex portrayal to date. Up until his turn as a gay dad in Mothers and Sons—”I think it’s a gay actor’s responsibility to give full-blooded life to gay characters”—the 32-year-old actor spent years starring in coming-of-age stories.

He played a conflicted gay soldier in the Off-Broadway World War II musical Yank! and earned a Tony nom for his performance in the 2009 revival of McNally’s Ragtime. His work in the latter actually inspired the four-time Tony-winning scribe to write a role for him in Mothers. “Now I’m playing men dealing with adult issues,” Steggert says.

“Big Fish” makes its way to Broadway after an out-of-town run in Chicago, with direction by Susan Stroman (“The Producers”), music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by John August (the screenwriter of the film who, along with Lippa, also happens to be gay).

Currently in previews, the musical is one of Broadway’s most anticipated shows of the season and opens officially October 5. For more information on the show click here.

(source)

Posted on

Kinky Boots’ Tony Award-winner Billy Porter on The Artie Lange Show

I love that the host says “What’s up, Bill?” at the top of the interview.

And the idea that Keith Richards came to Kinky Boots but didn’t know Billy wasn’t a “biological lady” when meeting Billy.

Fun interview. Love seeing Billy do all kinds of press.

Get it, Billy!

Posted on

Broadway: Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams to star in Cabaret revival opposite Alan Cumming

The Roundabout Theatre Company is expected to announce that Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams will star as “Sally Bowles” in a 2014 Broadway revival of the Kander and Ebb musical Cabaret.

The New York Times reports that Williams (“Brokeback Mountain,” “My Week With Marilyn”) has been tapped to play “Sally” opposite the previously reported Alan Cumming (Macbeth) as the “Master of Ceremonies.”

Cumming earned a Tony Award for playing the role in the 1998 revival of Cabaret.

Tony and Academy Award winners Sam Mendes (Gypsy, “American Beauty”) and Rob Marshall (“Chicago,” Kiss of the Spider Woman) will repeat their work as director and co-director/choreographer, respectively. The two earned acclaim for the 1998 revival for the Roundabout.

(source)

Posted on

NYC: Donna McKechnie launches new talk/variety series at Birdland

Tony-winning Broadway favorite Donna McKechnie will be jazzing things up at Birdland beginning January 6, 2014, when she’ll premiere her new talk and variety show Donna McKechnie In Good Company.

The bi-monthly event will feature special guests, including Tommy Tune, Faith Prince, Jerry Mitchell, Andrea McArdle and more. Specific appearance dates to be announced shortly.

Donna McKechnie In Good Company will feature the actress telling stories and chatting with special guests, and performing musical numbers with Broadway artists.

The new show will be a part of the “Broadway at Birdland” concert series.

(source)

Posted on

Broadway star & 5-time Tony Award winner Julie Harris passes away at 87

Julie Harris, Broadway star and 5-time Tony Award winner passes away at the age of 87

Broadway star Julie Harris, who won an unprecedented five Tony Awards for best actress, has died. She was 87.

Actress and family friend Francesca James says Harris died Saturday at her home in West Chatham, Mass. She had previously suffered two strokes.

Harris’ first Tony Award was for the free-spirited Sally Bowles in John van Druten’s I am a Camera in 1952, her second in 1956 as St. Joan in Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s The Lark, a third in 1969 for Forty Carats, followed four years later as Mary Todd Lincoln in The Last Mrs. Lincoln by James Prideaux. In 1977, she won her unprecedented fifth Tony as Emily Dickinson in William Luce’s play The Belle of Amherst (directed by Charles Nelson Reilly).

Miss Harris also carries the laurel of receiving more Tony Award nominations than any other actor. She received four additional nominations for her work in The Au Pair Man (with Charles Durning), Marathon ’33, Skyscraper (starring opposite Charles Nelson Reilly), and Lucifer’s Child.

Television viewers knew her as the free-spirited Lilimae Clements in the 1980s series “Knots Landing.”

Harris leaped to fame at age 24 playing a lonely 12-year-old tomboy in “The Member of the Wedding.” She repeated the Broadway role in the 1952 film version. She was also James Dean’s romantic co-star in “East of Eden.”

(source)

Posted on

Broadway: “Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark” adds another injury to long list of accidents

The Friday night performance of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” will go on despite a cast member’s onstage injury one night earlier.

The Thursday show was interrupted near the start of its second act when dancer Daniel Curry’s right ankle became trapped in a hydraulic stage lift inside the Foxwoods Theater.

Witnesses said the 42nd St. theater echoed with Curry’s loud scream as stunned audience members looked on.

A black curtain descended to cover the stage for about 10 minutes before Curry, 23, was freed by emergency first responders.

A spokesman for the play said mechanical failure was not to blame for the mishap and the Friday night show would not be affected.

“The technical elements of the show are all in good working order and we can confirm that equipment malfunction was not a factor in the incident,” said spokesman Rick Miramontez. “Our thoughts are with Daniel and his family.”

Curry is listed in stable condition at Bellevue Hospital Center, but is the latest in a long list of injuries that have plagued the show.

(source)

Posted on

NYC: Billy Porter opens the new Monday Musicals series at XL Nightclub

Billy Porter opens the new Monday Musicals series at XL Nightclub

Monday Musicals has kicked off with an exciting lineup of special events at XL Nightclub beginning with a performance by Tony Award winning Kinky Boots star Billy Porter who helped launch the series last night.

New York City’s largest “straight-friendly” cabaret and dance nightclub is also welcomes a new face to its team. Dougie Meyer, the new Director of Promotions & Events for XL Nightclub,  will carry over the concept of Musical Mondays, which will be enhanced, supercharged and dubbed “MondayMusicals at XL,” to the Hell¹s Kitchen hotspot housed within THE OUT NYC urban resort.

“After an off the charts first year in business in 2012, the addition of Dougie Meyer will help maintain XL¹s position as the number one gay nightclub in NYC,” says XL Nightclub partner Ian Reisner.

For reservations, more information and the club¹s complete calendar of events, please visit www.xlnightclub.com, call 212.239.2999 or email info@xlnightclub.com.

Photos via Kevin Thomas Garcia.

Billy Porter and two of his co-stars – THE Kinky Boots!

(via Broadway World)