Tag: Broadway

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2013 Broadway Backwards highlights

Broadway Backwards features show tune standards performed by the opposite gender for whom they were written. From the producers:

Broadway Backwards, the once-a-year celebration of the LGBT community, brought down the house March 18, 2013, while raising a record-setting $347,060 to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

The sold-out show left the audience cheering after unforgettable performances by an array of Broadway’s best, including Brian Stokes Mitchell, Karen Ziemba, Josh Young, Stephanie J. Block, Anthony Warlow and Tituss Burgess, who delivered a stirring recreation from Dreamgirls.

Look for this year and previous year’s events on DVD at this link. EAch of the DVDs feature fab and fun performances through the years from different events. (I participated in the 2010 Gypsy of the Year edition).

All funds go to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

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New Music: Megan Hilty – “It Happens All The Time”

Megan Hilty, star of NBC’s musical drama “Smash” as the seasoned triple-threat Ivy Lynn, has released her debut CD recording, “It Happens All The Time.”

Hilty was recently signed to Sony Music in a partnership between Sony Masterworks and Columbia Records. Her new album, It Happens All The Time, was released March 12, 2013.

Megan was most recently seen on Broadway as Lorelei Lee, the diamond-loving blonde made famous by Carol Channing, in the Encores! production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” to which she earned raved reviews.

Megan’s new CD is available at Amazon and iTunes.

A native of Seattle, Hilty moved to New York City after graduating from the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, and quickly made her Broadway debut as Glinda in “Wicked.” She went on to perform the role in both the national tour and in Los Angeles.

Follow Megan at her official site: www.MeganHilty.com

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Idina Menzel heading back to Broadway

Ok, musical theater fans, Idina Menzel is heading back to Broadway.

Next Spring, Idina will star in a new musical by the “Next to Normal” team of composer Tom Kitt and the lyricist and book writer Brian Yorkey.  Just to remind you they won 3 Tony Awards including Best Score plus a Pulitzer Prize for drama.  So they know a little something about the craft.

The show, called “If/Then,” is about a woman about to turn 40 who moves to NYC looking for a fresh start.

From the New York Times:

“Like “Next to Normal,” which centered on a mother struggling with mental illness, “If/Then” is a contemporary-sounding musical about a strongly drawn female protagonist, Elizabeth, who Ms. Menzel described in a statement as “complex, flawed, and surprising.” Beyond Elizabeth’s goals – a new home and friends, and hopes for a resurgent career – little else was revealed about the character in the announcement Thursday, although the titles of two of Elizabeth’s songs – “Here I Go” and “You Learn to Live Without” – offer some flavor. Ms. Menzel is expected to perform those songs on Friday at an American Songbook series concert featuring the work of Mr. Kitt and Mr. Yorkey.”

Hopes are to see the fab new show starting previews March 4, 2014 with a tentative opening on March 27, 2014.

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Opening number from 2004 Tony Awards with Hugh Jackman

Now, you know, THIS is how to open an awards show.

Over the top silliness and fab talent singing a great song from a Broadway musical.

I love Hugh kissing the puppet from AVENUE Q at the 3:09 mark. And coming downstage with the Rockettes is a great visual.

From the YouTube description:

Hugh Jackman performs “One Night Only”, the opening number from The 58th Annual Tony Awards with the “Dynamites” from Hairspray, the “Radio” from Caroline, or Change, and the “Urchins” from Little Shop of Horrors, along with members of the casts of Avenue Q, The Boy from Oz, Fiddler on the Roof, Wonderful Town, and Wicked, and the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes.

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San Diego: CHICAGO The Musical

In addition to juggling The Randy Report each day, I’m currently working with my dear friend Ron Kellum staging the music CHICAGO in San Diego, CA.

We open this Friday, February 15th, at the Birch North Park Theater in San Diego.

I’m having a great time with the cast and production team revisiting a show “near and dear to my heart.”

The theater posted this video highlighting much of the cast, along with Ron and I. If you are in the San Diego area, I’d love for you to come see the show over the next few weeks. Great cast, and of course, great material.

Ron and I spent years performing in the national, international and Broadway productions of the hit revival of CHICAGO, and have distilled that experience down for these actors into what we think is a fun, funny and fab evening in the theater.

Go to www.sdmt.org for more info.

And all that jazz…

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Betty Buckley to be inducted in Theater Hall of Fame

Michael and I with Betty Buckley during her 2012 concerts in Las Vegas

The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel (“How I Learned to Drive”) and the Tony-winning actress Betty Buckley (“Cats”) will be among the annual inductees to the Theater Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Jan. 28.

The organization, which recognizes lifetime achievement in American theater, is also honoring Trevor Nunn, the Tony-winning director of “Cats,” “Les Misérables” and several other musicals; as well as the actor Sam Waterston (“Law & Order”); the playwright Christopher Durang (“Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike”); the Lincoln Center Theater artistic director Andre Bishop; the director Michael Kahn, who also leads the Shakespeare Theater Company of Washington, D.C.; and, posthumously, the costume designer Martin Pakledinaz.

The Tony-winning actress Tyne Daly will be the emcee of the 42nd annual ceremony, which will be held at Broadway’s Gershwin Theater, where the plaques with the names of each year’s honorees are hung.

(via NYTimes)

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Sebastian Stan in “Picnic”

The Roundabout Theatre has revived William Inge’s classic play Picnic.

The original Broadway production starred a young Paul Newman as “Hal” – a young man who comes to town looking for a new start.  Sebastian Stan (“Bucky” from the Chris Evans ‘Captain America’ movie) and his high-definition abs take the role of “Hal” in this new production.

Unfortunately, most reviews have not been strong except in regard to the front and center prominence of Sebastian’s abs.

The New York Times practically insisted that Sebastian’s abs deserve “star billing.”

I won’t judge the performances until I get to see them, but until then I can share with you “the abs that launched a thousand ships.” 

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Bette Midler back on Broadway – first time in 30 years

Bette Midler returning to Broadway in John Logan’s new play, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers:

“Appearing on Broadway for the first time in 30 years, Tony and Grammy Award-winning superstar Bette Midler will play the legendary Hollywood agent Sue Mengers (1932-2011) in the new, one-character play.”