Broadway Questions and Recommendations

[The Benniest]

Well, I hope I'm not the only one on this forum that is obsessed with musicals and plays. I recently heard about the stagehand strikes in the theater district and was very angry when I heard of the news.

Have any of you New Yorkers heard any new information on the subject? Anything would be helpful.

Thanks!
Ben

EDIT: I'm sorry if this is the wrong place. If it is, can a mod please move it to the correct place? Thanks!

[BrooklynRider]

The strike is still on and I believe it still affects around 23 shows. Some shows are still running as they had negotiated separate contracts with the union. Off-Broadway is unaffected.

I'm an avid theatergoer as well, but I fully support this strike. Broadway has posted record profits and yet producers are forever trying to cut back on the production staffs (including musicians.)

Producers are no longer patrons of the arts as much as corporate pockets for crappy formulaic drivel presented to appeal to those same jerks that visited the city during the RNC.

If shows like Wicked, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mama Mia closed, the world would be better for it.

Shows affected by the strike:

A Bronx Tale
A Chorus Line
August: Osage County
Avenue Q
Chicago
The Color Purple
Curtains
Cyrano de Bergerac
The Drowsy Chaperone
Duran Duran: Red Carpet Massacre
The Farnsworth Invention
Grease
Hairspray
Is He Dead?
Jersey Boys
Legally Blonde
Les Miserables
The Lion King
The Little Mermaid
Mamma Mia!
The Phantom of the Opera
Rent
Rock ‘n’ Roll
Spamalot
Spring Awakening
The Seafarer
Wicked

[The Benniest]

Thanks BrooklynRider. I truly do hope that this strike ends before Spring Break because the trip I'm taking during that time period is almost a once in a lifetime chance for me and we are planning on seeing 3 broadway shows, including Wicked. We even have private backstage passes for Wicked and will actually get to walk on the stage. :)

I heard from other sources that producers and others are meeting tomorrow sometime to discuss other negotiations. Is this true?

The Benniest

[BrooklynRider]

I am sure that you will see your show. Wicked has been one of the most profitable shows of all time, so it should weather the strike without much impact.

Despite the portrayl of the strike in the news, it has the support of most other theater unions. If producers had their way, a few years ago they would have done away with orchestras in favor of recorded music. Although Broadway is doing a booming box office in recent years, we really have one of the worst crops of producers in Broadway history. A good example of how they operate is the recently closed Beauty & the Beast. When it was at the Palace Theater is was on a grand musical scale with full ensemble of musicians, singers and dancers. It later moved to the Lunt-Fontaine Theater, where Disney proceeded to reduce the ensemble by half, while increasing ticket prices. The acclaimed Broadway musical was reduced to a theme park show and out-of-towners had no idea that the great things they heard about the show had no bearing on what they were seeing.

Tickets for shows are now at $135 for Young Frankenstein and Billy Elliott. A ticket-paying theater-goer won't see $135 dollar worth of theater in NYC on any night in any theater with this latest crop of producers. It's a total rip-off and the theater needs to go through this kind of action to shake out the crap producers.

[ablarc]

It's a total rip-off and the theater needs to go through this kind of action to shake out the crap producers.
Hope it actually produces this outcome.

[The Benniest]

Ok. Thank you BrooklynRider. I had no idea Beauty and the Beast was canceled and closed in New York. I saw the touring musical in Omaha a few years ago and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen! Why would anyone close that?!

Can these producers who are stirring the strike and closing awesome shows be fired?! I know it may take a while to hire new producers of the show, but hey, it's better than keeping the current crap that the shows have.

Thanks!
The Benniest

[lofter1]

It's not just the Broaday Producers who have made demands for changes in the contract for the Workers (Stagehands) but also the Broadway Theater Owners -- together the Producers & Owners comprise the League of American Theaters and Producers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/league_of_american_theaters_and_producers/index.html?inline=nyt-org).

There is an existing thread on the current situation:

Broadway Strike to Shut Down All Shows Except for Eight (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15906&highlight=broadway)

[MidtownGuy]

Give the creative people what they deserve!!!

A good example of how they operate is the recently closed Beauty & the Beast. When it was at the Palace Theater is was on a grand musical scale with full ensemble of musicians, singers and dancers. It later moved to the Lunt-Fontaine Theater, where Disney proceeded to reduce the ensemble by half, while increasing ticket prices.

And so it goes, another great American art form is slaughtered at the altar of soulless capitalist douchebags. They're too greedy to want to share the profits with the gifted people who actually write everything, or the live orchestras that make it special? Artists always get the shaft.
To start, I wish Walt Disney corporate headquarters would be swallowed by a gigantic sinkhole, producers' houses in the Hamptons wrecked by a biblical hurricane, and the rest of these self-important producers and owners would be the subject of a national shame campaign. I also love the way the corporate media, owned by the same conglomerates that own everything else, frame this issue. OR should I say, NOT frame it.

[lofter1]

Interestingly, a Disney show (Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam) is one of the few Broadway shows still up and running during the strike, as Disney negotiated a separate contract with the Stagehands Union for MP.

The owner of the New Asterdam Theater (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam_Theatre) is NY City / State, so it is not a part of the League of Amercian Theaters & Producers (the group which compelled the Stagehands to go on strike for the FIRST time in its 121 year history):



In 1990, after a court battle, the State and City of New York assumed ownership of the New Amsterdam and many other theatres on 42nd Street. Disney Theatrical Productions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_Theatrical_Productions) signed a 99 year lease for the property in 1993.

[The Benniest]

Hmmm. I'm still confused about these contracts that everyone has with each other. Can someone explain it in a simple way?

Please & Thank You...
The Benniest

[lofter1]

In regards to this strike it is quite simnple:

The Bosses (Producers & Theater Owners = The League) have a Contract with the Workers (Stagehands Union).

The Contract recently expired. Most work Contracts run for a period of years and then must be renewed, at which time both sides may renegotiate specific points of the Contract. In this case the Bosses wanted to make major changes in the previously established working arrangement (the Contract) which had guided the relationship between the Bosses / Employers and the Workers / Employees for over 100 years.

[lofter1]

Food for thought ...

What are playwrights waiting for?

The issues underlying Broadway's shutdown are rife across the U.S.

LA TIMES (http://www.calendarlive.com/stage/cl-et-strike26nov26,0,4644820.story?)
By Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 26, 2007

The stagehands' strike in New York threw a monkey wrench into Broadway's fall season, darkening all but nine shows and leaving a slew of highly anticipated dramas, including Aaron Sorkin's "The Farnsworth Invention," Tracy Letts' "August: Osage County" and Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer," in a state of fretful limbo.

Although the strike appeared to be approaching its endgame Sunday, writers would do well to pause to reflect on the tacit concern that has been inadequately addressed on our stages of late -- the roiling, polarizing mess of what has been called the "new gilded age." If conflict is the soul of drama, a writer could hardly ask for more combustible material than the eternal battle for a bigger piece of the pie, which has become harder for ordinary Americans to come by in an age in which globalization, deregulation and a never-ending war have rewarded the money pushers, oil barons and governmental cronies with the biggest slices of all.

Whichever side you come down on -- the stagehands or the theater owners and producers -- the background issues underlying the Broadway shutdown are rife across America. No, most of us aren't busy negotiating the Byzantine hiring regulations for loading in the set of a new musical. But all of us can relate to the fierce struggle wrought by an economy that has transformed housing and healthcare (forget dentistry altogether) into luxuries, given us job security on a wing and a prayer and forced upon businesses a risk-reward ratio that most professional gamblers would smirkingly walk away from.

Why aren't more playwrights offering us images of an age that's perhaps best characterized by the fetishization of the Dow Jones industrial average on the nightly newscasts? Where is the new "Six Degrees of Separation," John Guare's acute comedy of materialism, when we could really use a glimpse of the deception going on inside those megamillion-dollar condos that have been cropping up like Starbucks in the last few years?

What about a new "Caroline, or Change," Tony Kushner's challenging musical memoir of growing up in Louisiana in the early-civil rights '60s, transplanted to post-Katrina New Orleans to help us better understand why, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll, only one in five African Americans feels they're doing better than they were five years ago? How about a sequel to Lorraine Hansberry's classic "A Raisin in the Sun" to fill us in on what happens to the Younger family after the house they fought so valiantly to attain goes into foreclosure with the rest of the homes built on sub-prime quicksand?

Conventional wisdom tells us that American dramatists haven't been as keen to tackle economic issues as their British counterparts. George Bernard Shaw, the grand theatrical observer of the way money makes the world go round, returned to Broadway this fall in the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of "Pygmalion" with Claire Danes and Jefferson Mays. The play that gave rise to "My Fair Lady" might be hazily remembered as a loquaciously witty entertainment, but it's actually a critique of capitalism artfully disguised as a Cinderella romance, sans the usual happy ending.

Yet the great subject of our national literature has been the American dream, and no novelist or poet has revealed the corrosive effect of a family's empty-handed pursuit of its promise better than Arthur Miller in his masterpiece, "Death of a Salesman." There is a pipeline, in other words, of serious social drama that runs from Elmer Rice, Clifford Odets and Miller to David Rabe, August Wilson and Kushner, straight to Rebecca Gilman and Christopher Shinn -- and boy, do we need the spigot to be open right now.

Comedy has historically been more adept at reflecting contemporary crises, and America's tradition here is just rich. Whatever you may have thought of Wendy Wasserstein's final play, "Third," seen at the Geffen Playhouse this fall, it was heartening to encounter a protagonist ambling about her darkly humorous plot as nonstop TV coverage of the Iraq war sharply impinges on her daily consciousness.

Consider this an APB to the ablest of our comic playwrights -- David Mamet, Craig Lucas, Paula Vogel, Richard Greenberg, Lisa Loomer, among countless other talents known and not yet known -- to assist us in recognizing the tectonic shift that's been widening the disparity of wealth in American society and threatening the equilibrium of democracy. Rich or poor, all of us are affected by the new reality, one that makes it hard to feel secure about retirement even if you're lucky enough to live in a house that has tripled (at least on paper anyway) in value.

Striking TV and film writers, who are trying to protect their economic interests in a rapidly changing new market, would enlighten us enormously by heeding this call as well. But it's addressed primarily to playwrights because the theater throughout its long history has been more welcoming of this kind of expansive analysis than TV and film. And theater critics such as Shaw, George Jean Nathan, Kenneth Tynan, Eric Bentley and Frank Rich have never hesitated to remind artists of their higher mission.

Broadway, chockablock with tourist trash, hasn't been a particularly hospitable environment for trenchant social vision lately. Blame it on the impossible cost of doing business, which has caused some to hold striking stagehands responsible. No parent should have to shell out 500 bucks to take the family to see a musical. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that the producers of Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein," one of the nine Broadway shows left running, as Mammon would have it, will lower their premium ticket prices of $450 if they could get cheaper labor.

Robert Anderson's famous quote about the theater, "You can make a killing, but not a living," has never been truer than it is for the new Broadway, which grossed almost a billion dollars last season.

That number might sound like a reason to celebrate, until you hear about the extent of the casualties. The shipwreck of "The Pirate Queen," the infamous 2007 Broadway flop, could alone commission several generations of writers with its sunken treasure chest, reportedly valued at close to $18 million.

The game, in short, is broken on all ends. Still, when the salaries of stagehands, which admittedly seem high compared to those of measly journalists, are tossed around as evidence of union extortion, it's worth considering that few of these skilled workers could afford to live in one of the high-rises recently erected in the now-desirable Times Square-Hell's Kitchen neighborhood where they work.

More to the point, how much does one have to earn to be considered middle class anymore? In days gone by, that meant being able to afford your own home, send your kids to college and tuck away a sufficient senior nest egg. Today that seems more like a package of expectations that only Wall Street instant millionaires and their seven-figure chums can bank on.

And if that doesn't stir our playwrights' dramatic juices, then I'm afraid not even the Fed can save us this time.

Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times

[Canadian]

I'm visiting NYC next Friday & have ticket for Cyrano. If the strike is still on do I get a refund? BTW, while I know all the Christmasy tourist spots does anyone have a fav place that goes all out for the holidays? Store, restaurant, any place

[The Benniest]

The broadway strikes are done! Woot!! :D :D :D :D I was extremely excited at school today when a friend approached me with the good news.

There are quite a few articles on it online and in the paper today.
Google News (http://www.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Broadway&btnG=Search+News)

[manos]

Hi everyone!

I'm new in the forum, and first of all I'd like to congratulate you all!

I'm visiting the city with my wife (we are 3Oers), on January 2008 for the first time, (for 10 days), and we'd like to see some broadway show, but we don't know which one to choose. Does anyone have any suggestions? Do you think I should make a ticket reservation earlier, or
are we going to find tickets when we come?:confused:
Is there another post on this subject?

Thanks in advance!

[BrooklynRider]

I think the best musicals out right now are:

Chicago
Hairspray
Jersey Boys
Lion King
Spring Awakening
Xanadu

New Musicals I've not seen, so can't comment on:

The Little Mermaid
Young Frankenstein

There's a whole new crop of plays coming up.

You might want to go to Playbill.com. Register on the site (it's free) and then see "special offers." You can usually get coupons or TicketMaster code numbers to receive up to 40 - 50% off.

Also, Off-Broadway is a great alternative.

[manos]

BrooklynRider, thank you for your reply, I found it really helpful. As for Off (and Off-Off) Broadway, I am open to suggestions, I just find it more difficult to choose, not knowing the plays.

Finally, I have to tell you that I don't understand what you mean by
If shows like Wicked, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, and Mama Mia closed, the world would be better for it.

Thanks

[manos]

And Chicago, yes, it is fantastic show, I saw it two years ago, in Athens, Greece!

[The Benniest]

In my opinion, The Lion King is one of the best musicals out today. I did not see it in NY City, but the tour show was awesome, so I'm guessing the original Broadway show will be great too! A few years, I had seen Beauty and the Beast in Omaha, NE with some friends and we all loved it! But unfortunately, that show has closed.

:(

[manos]

I think I'm going to see The Phantom of the Opera and Lion King. Or maybe an Off Broadway show instead.

Btw, I intend to visit Detroit, Michigan for a couple of days in January 08, after visiting NY, but I think of cancelling it. Dou you believe it could become difficult to return to NY, in case of bad weather conditions?

[BrooklynRider]

Hi Manos-

You will LOVE The Lion King. Truly, there has never been anything like it on Broadway.

In my post regarding Les Mis, Mama Mia, etc...

For someone new to the theater or who doesn't see shows very often, almost any show can be a "wow!" spectacular. I go to the theater fairly often, so I think with that privilege (few cities have as much live theater) it becomes easier to sort between the good, bad and ugly.

I am no fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber or his shows and Phantom is no different. I think the music is rather blah and I find myself looking at the list of songes in the Playbill to see how far the show is from the finale. The show is "of a time" and that time is past.

Les Miserable was looooong and it was a valiant, woefully marching into war, histrionic, begging to be heroic, operatic melodrama. I was hoping every character would just die. In that respect, it didn't disappoint. If these characters ate a bowl of jalapenos, they would heroically stand atop the sets singing about their buttholes burning.

For Mama Mia, someone went through the ABBA greatest hits catalogue, picked their favorite songs, then created a weak, lame story to weave them together. When they realized they couldn't find a way to get the best known songs into the story line, they simply tacked on a mini ABBA concert at the end. The concert has nothing to do with the story and leaves one wondering "what the f***?" The tv ads claimed: every night this show has everyone on their feet dancing in the aisles. In reality, it was a concert style finale in which the performers yell for everyone to get up and dance. There's a difference. If you want a truly great jukebox musical, see Jersey Boys - that was worthy of it's Tony Award. Oh - and the choreographer for this show ought to be banned from further work. The dancers seemed to be loitering n stage in oblivion rather than actually dancing.

[manos]

Hmmm, now that's a point.

First of all, I must thank admins for changing the title to "Broadway Questions & Recommendations", I think it is a very useful topic for theatergoers and NYC visitors.

I think am convinced, I'll go see Lion King and some Off Broadway play...

Thanks.

[BrooklynRider]

"Die Mommie Die" got good reviews and it is Charles Busch.

I had a lot of fun at "Altar Boyz," which I've seen twice.

[The Benniest]

LOL BrooklynRider. I'm sorry, I couldn't help to laugh about your comments about Les Mis and Mama Mia. :P Oh, and thank you WNY staff for changing the topic name. As manos said, I'm sure this thread will help NY visitors when deciding what show to see.

-ben :)

[turkishann]

we have booked to see Grease in 3 weeks, has anybody seen it?

[lofter1]

Mama Mia, etc...

For Mama Mia, someone went through the ABBA greatest hits catalogue, picked their favorite songs, then created a weak, lame story to weave them together ... the choreographer for this show ought to be banned from further work. The dancers seemed to be loitering n stage in oblivion rather than actually dancing.
Besides, why spend $100 for that crud on Broadway?

Just wait until next summer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyID773V2UQ&feature=related) for the movie (http://www.mamma-mia-themovie.co.uk/):

http://www.playbill.com/images/photos/mammamiaposter350.jpg

[BrooklynRider]

I saw Young Frankenstein and it was one of the worst musicals in years.

[Front_Porch]

Not a musical but really liked November, the new Mamet comedy.

[BrooklynRider]

^Ah, with Nathan Lane. Was it funny?

If you haven't seen it yet, go see August:Osage County. The best play in years.

[Front_Porch]

Yes, and will do. In-laws had already loved August: Osage County, so BR, you are the tipping point.

ali r.

[BrooklynRider]

we have booked to see Grease in 3 weeks, has anybody seen it?

Grease is a show that seems to play on Broadway every 5 or 6 years. It's initial reviews weren't great, proabably because of the Amercian Idol type of casting they employed. Yet, with the current crop of crap-a-doodle musicals currently playing, critics gave it a second look and it did make some top-ten lists for musicals of the year.

It's grosses for the last week were at 80%. That should be fine to keep it going. Plus, producers are usually ready to infuse their shows with some cash to get them to the Tony's. Either way, Grease is a show where they'll start bringing in TV stars and has-beens to have a "marquee star" in lights.

Have a good time at the show. I see a lot of theater, so I'm a bit jaded. If you don't get to see live theater often, it will be a wonderful experience.

[turkishann]

thanks Rob I am sure I will enjoy it, we do go to the Theatre quite a lot here in England, I love going to the Ballet and would have loved to have gone on our visit, sadly I could not persuade my husband :(

[BrooklynRider]

Hi Ann-

I just noticed you're from Manchester. I have a good friend there (31-yrs-old). I was hoping to buy him a gift card/certificate for dinner for two at a Manchester restaurant. Can you recommend any that might be nice for a celebratory dinner? He doesn't drink, so the "pub" thing is out.

[turkishann]

hi Rob

here are a couple of our favourites

http://www.efes.co.uk/ this is turkish

http://www.milanrestaurant.co.uk/ this is italian, infact I am going there tonight with a friend :)

http://www.croma.biz/manchester.htm this is really nice also, they have one your way in Boston

hope this helps

ann

[Meerkat]

we have booked to see Grease in 3 weeks, has anybody seen it?

I saw Grease a few years ago over here. Initially i didn't want to go (my ex forced me into it) but ended up really enjoying it. Andy Garcia played the lead role - very nice.

[turkishann]

ha ha meerkat, same here, he had a choice between Mary Poppins, Grease, Hairspray, Mama Mia or a Ballet, so he settled for Grease :D

[The Benniest]

For my trip in March, we are scheduled to see the following shows:

Chiacgo
The Little Mermaid
SpamalotAnyone seen these? Comments? Did you like them?

Thanks!
Ben

[BrooklynRider]

Chicago is great.

Watch the movie Spamalot before you visit. It enhances the theatre experience greatly.

I saw Little Mermaid last night. I go to theater often, so I'm a little jaded and I didn't like it.

If this is your first trip to Broadway shows it will entertain you.

[The Benniest]

Chicago is great.

Watch the movie Spamalot before you visit. It enhances the theatre experience greatly.

I saw Little Mermaid last night. I go to theater often, so I'm a little jaded and I didn't like it.

If this is your first trip to Broadway shows it will entertain you.

Ok. I will definitely go and rent Spamalot sometime before I leave. What about The Little Mermaid didn't you like? I like to know these things before I leave. Haha! :D

[BrooklynRider]

Little Mermaid was just not a very good show. For me, I thought the costumes were unimaginative. The sets and costumes looked extremely cheap. The choreography was very "high school repertory".

The first act was dreadful. The second act less so.

Every song was pretty much screamed with arrangements that were over the top. The songs were utterly forgettable; other than two from the original movie.

The show basically reused special effects from last year's Tarzan. Throughout the show, I was hoping for a Broadway oil spill to come and kill all the sea life in this production or for Japanese tuna trawlers to cast a net and haul off the incredibly annoying Ariel character and her ver lame side kick.

You come back and tell me what the guy in the red suit is supposed to be - a crab? a lobster? a can-can girl?

The rolling around by the cast was dreadful. Disney on ice. It was an amusement park show. Not a Broadway-worthy production.

Um.... Enjoy it! :(

[BrooklynRider]

Ok. I will definitely go and rent Spamalot sometime before I leave. What about The Little Mermaid didn't you like? I like to know these things before I leave. Haha! :D

Oh, and the movie version is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

[The Benniest]

Little Mermaid was just not a very good show. For me, I thought the costumes were unimaginative. The sets and costumes looked extremely cheap. The choreography was very "high school repertory".

The first act was dreadful. The second act less so.

Every song was pretty much screamed with arrangements that were over the top. The songs were utterly forgettable; other than two from the original movie.

The show basically reused special effects from last year's Tarzan. Throughout the show, I was hoping for a Broadway oil spill to come and kill all the sea life in this production or for Japanese tuna trawlers to cast a net and haul off the incredibly annoying Ariel character and her ver lame side kick.

You come back and tell me what the guy in the red suit is supposed to be - a crab? a lobster? a can-can girl?

The rolling around by the cast was dreadful. Disney on ice. It was an amusement park show. Not a Broadway-worthy production.

Um.... Enjoy it! :(
Hmm... from this review (especially from a New Yorker), I really do not want to see it now. I was talking with another forum member (not going to mention names) who also, just like you BrooklynRider, gave the same kind of review.

She gave me advice to excuse myself from the show, and use that night to walk around Manhattan and take some pictures. I like the idea, but there is just one person that I have to get that around: Mom. :confused:

If I can get permission from both her and the tour guide (yikes!), I'll definitely do this because I really do not want to see The Little Mermaid ... of all things! I googled the show and saw some pictures of what the show looks like on stage and some of the cast members outfits. I'd like to question the two pictures I attached at the bottom. When in the show do they go from "under the ocean" to space? It looks like an alien outfit!

And to think, we were supposed to go see Wicked and go backstage at that show... what a pity.
Oh, and the movie version is "Monty Python and the Holy Grail".
I will definitely rent this movie. Thanks! :)

[lofter1]

B: If your Mom doesn't want you wandering about and you like plays then you could use the opportunity to see "The Seafarer (http://www.seafarertheplay.com/)" at The Booth Theater.

It is mean, funny and brilliantly acted -- and closes at the end of March.

Chances are you could get a seat at the TKTS line (they've just started a special window dedicated to tickets for Plays, so the time in line can be much shorter). You could also try directly at the theater for standing room (they sell those the day of), which is cheap -- and for a youngster like you ;) the standing should be no problem.

(Pssst: OR you could simply tell your Mom you're going to see a play -- and then secretly do the walk-around thing you were talking about :cool: )

[The Benniest]

Hmm. Interesting. I'll put that on my "options" list. From the preview on the website, it looks like a really good play. Thanks lofter. :)

Youngin? I'm old ... 18 years old. I'm getting up there in my old age pretty quick lofter. You have no idea. :p But then again, maybe you do. Haha!!

*runs*

[karenp]

I'm enjoying reading these reviews. We're heading to NYC in March with the kids (8 and 12). Any recommendations for a Broadway show that'd we'd all enjoy? I don't want to do the Disney thing. NYC is so expensive that it's a rare treat to go there, so I want them to see a "real" show, but one they'd enjoy. The 8yo doesn't scare easily, so I was wondering about Phantom. My 12yo has watched Hairspray the movie about 100 times, so that is a consideration. Or Grease? Thoughts or other recommendations? Thanks.:)

[The Benniest]

Here are some shows that I have wanted to see for a really long time and one that I really recommend .. although that one is Disney, which you said you did not want.
Good Shows:
Wicked (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=30434)
Phantom of the Opera (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=1235)
I saw this show in Omaha, NE and loved it. Very nice show.
Grease (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=542245) (that you mentioned)
Hairspray (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=19072) (also, that you mentioned)
Like The Phantom, I saw the traveling version of this show in Omaha, and liked it a lot. I said that I'd also strongly reccomend a show as well. This is The Lion King. (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=523223) I saw the travelling group for this show in Des Moines and loved every single moment of it. The effects are amazing and the music is awesome. A really great show..

Now.. I'm not a New Yorker so I have not seen any of these shows ON Broadway (yet). You may want to get some advice from an actual New Yorker before actually picking your show(s). This is just my honest opinion and advice. Hope it helps!

Ben

[BrooklynRider]

Ben made some good suggestions.

Despite the very good inclination not to head directly toward Disney, I think you ought to consider The Lion King. It tells the same story as the movie, but it is presented in a very creative and moving way. It is totally original and I doubt they'll ever be anything like it on Broadway again. This is my top pick for you. Both adults and kids are blown away by it.

Wicked is an extremely popular musical with kids and, because it is basically the story if the "Land of OZ" pre-Dorothy, the kids will get it. It and Lion King are the two most popular shows on Broadway right now (based on ticket sales). I think it was lackluster in a couple of areas, but I go to theater often and am likely more jaded than most. I can't deny its popularity and, as I said, kids love it.

Other kid-friendly shows include Mary Poppins, which is similar to the movie, yet a little darker. It's a solid show and the theater that hosts it is a wonder for kids and adults alike.

Hairspray is a top notch musical and is certainly one of the best shows in years. It has memorable music, fun characters and the razz-ma-tazz you want in a Broadway show. It has racial integration as a theme, but nothing too racy for kids (in my opinion). I think it is one everyone will enjoy.

I haven't seen this production of Grease. I do recall a car (smooch) scene in the show that might be a bit mature for your kids.

Curtains is a show that is very much in the mold of the great old musicals. I think your kids will get bored.

Avenue Q is wonderful and akin to Sesame Street, however, it has very mature themes. Definitely try to see it some time, but not with your kids.

Jersey Boys is a great show. It deserved the awards it received and leaves the audience wanting more. Excellent - but not a show for kids.

Phantom of the Opera is Andrew Lloyd Weber. Either you love him or you hate him. I hate him. It's an opera. The kids will be bored.

Stay away from The Little Mermaid - it is an absolute stinker.

So, here's my recap

# 1 - The Lion King
# 2 - Hairspray
# 3 - Wicked
# 4 - Mary Poppins

You might want to go to www.playbill.com (http://www.playbill.com). Register for free with the site and you will be able to access the special offers. You'll find discount tickets for many major shows.

Good luck!

[karenp]

Thanks so much for the responses, especially the advice to ignore the usual no-Disney inclination. The advice is much appreciated! Now we'll see what tickets we can get. I'll check out playbill.com.

Thanks again! We're really looking forward to the trip!

[Edward]

Xanadu at Helen Hayes theater! A lot of fun for kids and adults alike.

[BrooklynRider]

^ So far, that's the best new musical of this season. Young Frankenstein and Little Mermaid were beyond bad.

[The Benniest]

Xanadu at Helen Hayes theater! A lot of fun for kids and adults alike.
I'll be sure and add Xanadu to my July trip that I make.

Thanks,
Ben

[The Benniest]

When I move to New York, I would like to continue my love for the theater/drama, as well as Photography and Graphic Design.

Where can I find websites/magazines that list the current auditions for Broadway? I wouldn't want a *HUGE* part, but if so, that'd be another way to pay rent. :cool:

Thanks,
Ben

[pacz]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents on this catagory. My favorite musical is RENT (which, unfortunately, is closing June 8th) with a close second being Spring Awakening. Both are absolutley amazing!!!

I thought that Mamma Miawas just too contrived, although the music was great if you are an ABBA fan. A Chorus Line was very good, albiet somewhat dated.

There are many shows that will raffle off the first couple of rows for $20.00 each, with a limit of 2 tickets on the day of the show. Check out each shows website to see if they do this. I have seen RENT many times by getting these tickets. Wednesday afternoons are usually the best bet for getting these tickets.

You can also check out Playbill.com for discount tickets. I have never paid full price for tickets and have gotten excellent seats!

[BrooklynRider]

Hi Pacz-

I tend to agree with you. My favorite rock musicals would definitely be RENT (saw it 6 times + went to the tenth anniversay performance by the original cast), Spring Awakening (saw it off broadway once + saw it on Broadway four times) and Off Broadway it was Hedwig and the Angry Inch - I saw that around ten times.

However, the guy asking for advice was bringing younger kids and I would not recommend any of them for anyone under 16.

[BrooklynRider]

I saw a number of shows recently all of which I'd highly recommend:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Terrence Howard, and Anika Noni Rose. Excellent show with top notch performances. Sizzling Tennessee Williams script.

The Seafarer - I saw this with no knowledge of the story or plot. Riveting acting and story.

Gypsy - Patti Lupone is unforgettable. A definite Tony-winning performance with excellent staging. Goes to the top of the current musical revival list.

[The Benniest]

While in the city, the tour group I went with saw the following shows:

Chicago: Loved it. Although, a part of me that thinks this is the fact that I got to sit front row (middle) at this show. (mix up in the tickets). It was a fantasic show with a fantastic cast. I definitely reccomend it and would definitely see it again. Bianca Marroquin, who plays Roxie Hart in the show, is fantastic as the role, who can definitely sing a note.

The Little Mermaid: This was interesting. The music was alright and the actor who plays Flounder (who is only "12" years old) is both hysterical and brilliant. He is a fantastic singer and next to Sierra Boggess, who plays Ariel. Both were quite good performances. This, just from seeing it, is a VERY expensive musical, as seen from the set designs and costumes, but certainly not one of Disney's best musicals .. that is for certain.

Monty Python's Spamalot: Hilarious. I enjoyed every minute of this show. If you see it recently, you can see a remarkable cast who, in my opinion, should get a standing ovation every night! This includes Jonathan Hadary, Clay Aiken and Hannah Waddingham. All three put on amazing performances and Clay's role as Sir Robin was hysterical. His facial expressions and timing in this musical are hilarious.

I was "lucky enough" to get a seat next to an elderly chinese woman who seemed to LOVE Clay Aiken. It was also apparent that she had seen the show before because she would laugh before the jokes even happened! :p


Overall.. I reccomend the above three shows!

[brianac]

As a Musical Winds Down, the Writing’s on the Wall

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/29/nyregion/29rent01_600.jpg Christian Hansen for The New York Times
Caroline Willauer, of Maine, wrote on the wall outside the Nederlander Theater, where showgoers over the years have left admiring grafitti, all soon to be painted over.

By TINA KELLEY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/tina_kelley/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: March 29, 2008

At the lime-green wall, soon to be whitewashed, all the elements are there for poignant remembrances: a curtain scheduled to come down, forever; a creative genius who dies young, before his dreams come to life; a show about an exotic dancer who dies young and musically and slowly; and a doorway where the fans, more devoted than most, wait longer than usual, before and after each show.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/28/sports/29rent02_650.jpg
Christian Hansen for The New York Times

Add a felt-tipped pen or two, and the tributes are spreading on the wall of the Nederlander Theater, where “Rent,” one of the longest-running musicals on Broadway, is approaching its final act, with the closing date set for Sept. 7.

Since the play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama, opened in 1996, theatergoers who have lined up outside the theater on West 41st Street have left a little love on the walls, doors and even ceilings.

The graffiti took off after celebrities started signing a hidden passage backstage. The theater is unusual in not having a tucked-away stage door for actors. Instead, to get to their dressing rooms, they enter through the main entrance, walk the length of the building and go down an outside alley.

The alley became a haunt of boldface names who did not want to mingle with the masses at intermission, Nick Kaledin, the company manager, explained.
They left their autographs on the wall there, and some hint at the play’s longevity. Here’s Nicole Kidman (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/nicole_kidman/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and Tom Cruise (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/tom_cruise/index.html?inline=nyt-per), divorced since 2001, who wrote: “Brilliant, superb, wonderful. Thank you.”

Al and Nan Larson, the parents of Jonathan Larson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/jonathan_larson/index.html?inline=nyt-per), left their own tribute.

Their son, the show’s composer and librettist, died of an aortic aneurysm at age 35, two and a half weeks before the show opened. “Sexiest, most talented group of actors in New York (and Tim),” they wrote, referring to Tim Weil, the show’s musical director. “Thank you for bringing Jonathan’s vision to life.”

“What an exciting night. Joan Rivers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/joan_rivers/index.html?inline=nyt-per). Thanks xoxo” is encircled by a big heart. “Where did all these talented people come from?” Billy Joel (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/billy_joel/index.html?inline=nyt-per) wrote. From the playwright and actor Christopher Durang (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/christopher_durang/index.html?inline=nyt-per): “What a journey this must have been. You are all amazing. Jonathan would be so proud.”

Farther along the white walls, there are the actors Chazz Palminteri (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/chazz_palminteri/index.html?inline=nyt-per), James Earl Jones (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/james_earl_jones/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and Kevin Spacey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/kevin_spacey/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the drag performer RuPaul (“Rock on”) and Vaclav Havel (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/vaclav_havel/index.html?inline=nyt-per), a playwright and the former Czech president who is mentioned in a “Rent” lyric.

And while a wall like this could sell for big money on eBay, “in all likelihood it will all be whitewashed,” Mr. Kaledin said.

He said that a few Rentheads, the show’s diehard fans, who have seen the show dozens of times, had probably seen what he calls Autograph Alley and started to replicate it out front.

There, the graffiti includes testimony to the life-changing powers of the show, which is based loosely on Puccini’s opera “La Bohème” and celebrates art and community in the face of poverty and death: “Rent is bigger than Jesus. Michelle B. 1-22-08.”

Other entries include “Much love from Virginia Beach,” and, from when before the show’s run was extended: “6/1/08 Broadway dies. Please don’t close.”

The front of the Nederlander has more visitors than many theaters do, because fans line up for a 5:30 p.m. lottery of 34 front-row tickets, at $20 each.

Sonny Curry, who manages the lottery and the line, said at first that he thought the graffiti would be a problem for the theater’s management.

“Usually if I see them I tell them to stop, but they wait for autographs” long after he’s gone for the night, he said. “Or they’re here, waiting for the lottery.”

“Essentially, they’re really love notes,” Mr. Kaledin said.

“I don’t think it would work on any other show,” Mr. Curry said. “There’s a rebellious thing in the show.”

But after the show ends, the curtain will go down on the graffiti as well.

Mr. Curry looked at the doors to the theater, which since opening night have been covered with pictures of the show’s actors. “Especially these doors, I would say somebody would have to preserve them,” he said.

Mr. Kaledin added, “We’ll pop those off.”

And the walls?

“They’ll be painted for the next show,” which has not yet been announced, he said. “Broadway abhors a vacuum.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times.

[The Benniest]

What is this?? Has anyone heard any more news on this show?

http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=559922

:confused:

[brianac]

What more is there to know, your link probably say's it all for the moment.

[brianac]

Unless you want to audition.

################################################## #

Shrek, Donkey Sought for Broadway

Tuesday, May 01, 2007
By: Ryan Ball (http://www.animationmagazine.net/author/6)
http://www.animationmagazine.net/images/articles/shrek_donkey_150.gif
The upcoming DreamWorks Animation and Neal Street Prods. Ltd. Broadway production of Shrek is trolling the swamp to find two actors to play Shrek and Donkey. The creative team, led by producers Sam Mendes and Caro Newling, is seeking male performers in their 20s or 30s, from all cultural backgrounds, to bring the iconic animated characters to the stage. A two-week reading is being planned for this summer (July 23-August 3) in New York, followed by a Broadway opening in 2008.

For Shrek, they’re looking for someone with a powerful presence and strength with true rock or R&B vocals, preferably a baritone. Donkey hopefuls should have a contemporary, urban edge and good comic timing. Performers with backgrounds in slam poetry, comedy, and hip hop are preferred.

Anyone can audition for these role by making a video recording of themselves singing one song (no lip-syncing). The video must be copied to a DVD clearly labeled with a name and contact information. The submission packet must also include a headshot or recent photograph and a resume or list of background experience complete with current contact information (address, phone number and e-mail). All three items are to be mailed by Friday, May 18 to:

DreamWorks Animation
I Want To Be Shrek
PO Box 2693
New York, NY 10108

Featuring music by Jeanine Tesori, and book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire, Shrek on Broadway is being directed by Jason Moore. The show is based on the children's book by William Steig and DreamWorks Animation’s hugely successful feature films. The series will officially become a trilogy when Shrek the Third arrives in theaters on May 18. For information updates on the Broadway auditions, go to http://iwanttobeshrek.com.

Copyright Animation magazine.

[The Benniest]

Rent Extension: Hit Show Will Close Sept. 7
By Kenneth Jones (kjones@playbill.com)
26 Mar 2008

Due to ticket demand, Rent will not close on Broadway June 1, but will play to Sept. 7, the producers announced March 26.

Those who rushed out to buy tickets to Rent in anticipation of its announced closing have an option to attend later performances at the Nederlander Theatre. The final performance is now 6:30 PM Sept. 7. Ticketmaster.com indicates that tickets are on public sale to Sept. 4.

"In consideration of the Rent fans who have purchased tickets for the currently-announced final week, ticket holders wishing to exchange tickets purchased for performances from Monday, May 26, 2008 through Sunday, June 1, 2008 for performances during the extension period are welcome to do so subject to availability," the producers announced.

Ticket holders wishing to exchange can do so in either of the two ways:
They can take their tickets to the Nederlander Theatre box office (208 West 41st Street, New York City) during regular box office hours (Monday-Saturday from 10 AM-8:30 PM; Sunday from 11 AM-7:30 PM) Tickets must be in hand.
They can call the box office mail room at (212) 921-8000 and arrange the exchange over the phone. Tickets being exchanged must be mailed or brought to the box office by May 11 to complete the exchange.In addition, the limited amount of loyal Rent fans who have purchased tickets to the currently announced final performance on Sunday evening, June 1, 2008 may exchange into the final performance on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008 subject to some restrictions.

These fans must have purchased their tickets prior to March 15, 2008 and verifiable proof of purchase for these tickets must be presented: Ticketmaster account information or credit card receipt or statement. The hard copy of proof of purchase must be brought or mailed to the box office along with tickets to affect the exchange. This will be checked.

Please note that Sept. 7, 2008 tickets may not necessarily be in the same locations as those purchased for June 1, 2008. The new tickets will be exchanged only for face value of the old tickets.

Rent, which has book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson, is the seventh longest running show in Broadway history.

The performance schedule will remain unchanged throughout the summer: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday at 8 PM, Saturday at 2 PM and Sunday and 2 PM and 7 PM. There will be two exceptions: the show will be dark on Independence Day, Friday, July 4 and there will be an added performance that week on Wednesday, July 2, at 8 PM; and there will be no performance on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1, and special added performances Wednesday, Sept. 3, at 2 PM and 8 PM.

Rent, directed by Michael Greif, opened on Broadway April 29, 1996, following a sold-out, extended limited engagement at Off-Broadway's New York Theatre Workshop. The musical went on to win every major best musical award, including the Tony Award, New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award.

Rent is one of only seven musicals to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Copyright © 2008 Playbill, Inc.

---

I'm certainly not complaining about this extension, since I really wanted to see this show before it closed. Now I can! :D

[alonzo-ny]

Im not a big broadway goer but I saw Phatom of the Opera with my parents yesterday, I was quite blown away its very good.

[The Benniest]

I agree. I saw the traveling production of The Phantom of the Opera a couple of years ago with family and I was very much impressed.

Of course ... I'm a big theater and acting person so I really enjoy that kind of stuff. :D

[The Benniest]

Pop Star Mya to Join Broadway Company of Chicago
by Broadway.com Staff (editorial@broadway.com)

http://www.broadway.com/site_images/560479.jpg
Mya as Velma Kelly

Grammy Award-winning recording artist Mya is set to make her Broadway debut as merry murderess Velma Kelly in Chicago (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=22374) beginning May 12 at the Ambassador Theatre. Mya has signed on for a nine-week limited engagement, though July 13.

Mya is best known for her hits "Case of the Ex," "Ghetto Superstar," "My Love Is Like...Wo" and the Grammy Award-winning "Lady Marmalade," sung with Lil' Kim, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott. She is also featured in the new (RED) campaign with Dell & Microsoft and will act as a spokesperson for the North Shore Animal League's 2008 Tour For Life. In 2003, she appeared as Mona ("I loved Alvin Lipshitz…") in the Rob Marshall's film version of Chicago.

The cast of Chicago currently includes John Schneider as Billy Flynn, Brenda Braxton as Velma Kelly, Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart, Roz Ryan as Matron Mama Morton, Ron Orbach as Amos Hart and R. Lowe as Mary Sunshine.

[brianac]

The Shows Must Go On, but Not Until They Change Theaters

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/24/nyregion/move-600.jpg Ruby Washington/The New York Times
“Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps,” is migrating five blocks to the Cort Theater from the American Airlines Theater. It is one of two hit Broadway plays to move on the same day.


By GLENN COLLINS (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/glenn_collins/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: April 25, 2008

The computer-controlled lights and the fog machines were waiting in the wings. More than 600 props — including the maroon queen-sized pullout couch and the Zippo lighter — had been packed away. The sets that weren’t being bashed into shape to fit new stages had been muscled onto scenery trucks. And as the week wore on, a brigade of carpenters, electricians, sound and prop people performed a chaotic symphony for hammer, saw and drill.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/24/nyregion/move2-650.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/04/24/nyregion/24move-inline1.html', '24move_inline1', 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Ruby Washington/The New York Times
The “August” move will cost $650,000.

Getting from Point A to Point B has always been daunting in Manhattan, but rarely has any New York moving van saga been as operatic as the simultaneous transfer of two hit Broadway plays to new theaters on the same day.
This year’s Pulitzer Prize (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/pulitzer_prizes/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier)-winning play, “August: Osage County,” a sprawling drama about a dysfunctional family inhabiting a rambling Oklahoma home, is moving to the Music Box Theater from the Imperial Theater next door. And “Alfred Hitchcock (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/alfred_hitchcock/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s The 39 Steps,” a witty, quick-change take on the 1935 movie thriller, is migrating five blocks to the Cort Theater from the American Airlines Theater.

The Broadway-to-Broadway transfer of even one play is more rare than a total solar eclipse. According to the Broadway League (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/league_of_american_theaters_and_producers/index.html?inline=nyt-org), the last time was nearly eight years ago when “Waiting in the Wings,” starring Rosemary Harris (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/30676/Rosemary-Harris?inline=nyt-per) and Lauren Bacall (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/lauren_bacall/index.html?inline=nyt-per), segued from the Walter Kerr to the Eugene O’Neill (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/eugene_oneill/index.html?inline=nyt-per) in May 2000.

But the strange coincidence of two plays transferring on the same day “is almost stratospheric,” said Charlotte St. Martin, the executive director of the Broadway League. In both cases, their theaters had been booked for other shows; but because they were unexpected hits, their producers decided that the considerable expense of a transfer was worth the gamble.

Because “39 Steps” has only four onstage actors in a seemingly bare-bones set, and is only moving to 48th Street from 43rd street, its transfer might be expected to require little more than a van and something of a plan. And since “August” is literally moving to the playhouse next door — to 239 West 45th Street from 249 West 45th Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues — it might appear that stagehands could move the show with a few handcarts and a dolly or two.

But no. In all, the two shows will employ more than 60 stagehands, carpenters, electricians, prop people, sound technicians, teamsters and wardrobe workers toiling for more than a week, transporting 90,000 pounds of sets and equipment in 27 trucks, including four tractor trailers.

And the total moving bill for both shows? In excess of $1.25 million.

At the completion of this grand effort requiring, at times, 11-hour days, both plays will officially transfer on the same night: next Tuesday, when the casts will perform before paying audiences (though “39 Steps” has designated May 8 as its official reopening).

Jeffrey Richards (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/jeffrey_richards/index.html?inline=nyt-per), one of the producers of “August,” said that “more musicals make transfers because they have longer lives,” adding, “The audience for plays is smaller, and moving costs can be very high, so a lot of them don’t transfer.”

The “August” move will cost $650,000, and the “39 Steps” transfer not that much less, $600,000, even though its tiny cast of four actors plays 124 roles. That’s because the seemingly Spartan, brick-walled set and its large proscenium is, in reality, scenery.

The shows ankled for different reasons. A play glut and consequent theater crunch forced “39 Steps,” which had its out-of-town shakedown cruise at the Huntington Theater Company in Boston, to open in January at the American Airlines Theater, the signature house of the nonprofit Roundabout Theater Company. Roundabout, though, had already committed to “Les Liaisons Dangereuses,” the drama of aristocratic French seduction that opens next Thursday.

The transfer to the Cort is justified because “we had a greater demand for tickets than we could supply,” said Bob Boyett, lead producer of “39 Steps,” which moves with a comfortable advance of more than $1 million.

“August” was going to be “a limited engagement,” Mr. Richards said. “And then the reviews came in. The play has been a phenomenon, there was an overwhelming demand for tickets, and suddenly we have an open-ended engagement.” He added that the advance going into the Music Box is $1.4 million.

The show must transfer because the Imperial has to ready itself for “Billy Elliot: The Musical,” the Elton John (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/elton_john/index.html?inline=nyt-per) show based on the movie, to open Oct. 1.
March 29 was the last performance for “39 Steps,” and “August” has been on hiatus since last Sunday in preparation for the move.

The “39 Steps” production, despite its diminutive cast, has more than 40 costumes and more than 100 props (and 6 pairs of shoes). “August” has 13 actors and 7 understudies, 100 costumes, 50 pairs of shoes and 500 props — not including 400 books and 200 magazines on the set’s shelves.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/24/nyregion/move3-190.jpg Ruby Washington/The New York Times
“August” is literally moving to the playhouse next door.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/24/nyregion/move4.jpg Ruby Washington/The New York Times
“39 Steps” at its new home at the Cort Theater.

It took two days for the “39 Steps” crews to load out of the 43rd Street doors of the American Airlines Theater at 227 West 42nd, and it has taken four days to unload the scenery, props and wardrobe at the Cort at 138 West 48th.

The show’s traveling proscenium “had to be retrofitted, so it’s smaller in the Cort,” said Joe Traina, house manager of the classic 1912 theater which, originally, he said with a laugh, “was going up as the Titanic was going down.”

On a recent morning, electricians were clambering up ladders toward the 48-foot-tall ceiling to install some of the show’s 338 computer-controlled lights. Even the six machines supplying stage fog, smoke and haze effects — crucial to the show’s spy-drama atmospherics — were reconfigured to the Cort’s ventilation system, according to Ben Heller, a manager from Aurora Productions, which has overseen the “39 Steps” move.

The transfers have been like a chess game at times. For “August,” trucks have been loaded from the stage-door side of the Imperial on West 46th Street, so the shortest possible delivery route, between adjacent theaters, has been the drive east to Seventh Avenue, then around the block to the Music Box.

But some scenery trucks have headed to theatrical shops to resize the “August” sets. And still other trucks have actually reached the Manhattan theater by way of Rahway, N.J., and even in Connecticut, in New Haven. The trucks were placed in secure storage in those places until the Music Box stage could be prepared to receive the sets.

“We have to move everything sequentially, so we take C and B and A out of the theater and into the trucks,” said Christopher Smith, production supervisor of Theatersmith Inc., which is coordinating the “August” move.

“Then when the trucks come back, we put it all back as A and B and C.”
Mr. Richards, the “August” producer, said that the move made sense “since we are getting repeat visitors and a surprising amount of tourist business.”

He added, “We hope this play will settle in on Broadway now for one of the longest runs for a straight play in recent theatrical history.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/nyregion/25move.html?pagewanted=1&ref=nyregion

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[The Benniest]

New York Times review for the broadway musical Cry-Baby, now showing at the Marquis Theater. Anyone seen it?

Swivel-Hipped Rebel and Restless Virgin Meet Cute
By BEN BRANTLEY (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/ben_brantley/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: April 25, 2008

Brace yourself for a shock, gentle theatergoer. There’s no delicate way of putting this. “Cry-Baby,” the latest Broadway musical based on a John Waters (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/john_waters/index.html?inline=nyt-per) movie, is ... tasteless.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/25/theater/CryBaby1650.jpg
"Cry-Baby: The Musical," with James Snyder and Elizabeth Stanley, center, at the Marquis Theater.


Why aren’t you shocked? Oh, I see. You thought that I meant the show that opened last night at the Marquis Theater was in bad taste. A perfectly natural assumption. That would be expected of any project associated with Mr. Waters, the maker of “Pink Flamingos” and “Polyester,” who helped put America in touch with its hidden, forbidden appetites for the vulgar, trashy, tacky, freakish and seriously offensive.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. The mild-mannered “Cry-Baby: The Musical,” inspired by “Cry-Baby,” the 1990 film about a high school rock ’n’ roll rebel in 1950s Baltimore, shouldn’t offend anyone, despite its inclusion of a singing man in an iron lung, a love ballad devoted to kissing “with tongue” and blithe references to people dying in electric chairs.

When I said “tasteless,” I meant without flavor: sweet, sour, salty, putrid or otherwise. This show in search of an identity has all the saliva-stirring properties of week-old pre-chewed gum. (Not to be tasteless.)

As a fail-safe business venture, the idea of movie-director-based franchises in Broadway musicals is looking dubious. Previously this season we had “The New Mel Brooks (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/1548265/Mel-Brooks?inline=nyt-per) Musical Young Frankenstein,” the shrill and clumsy descendant of the blissfully idiotic “Producers,” also taken from a Mel Brooks movie.

Now with the ebullient “Hairspray,” the smash hit musical adaptation of Mr. Waters’s 1988 movie, still running at the Neil Simon (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/neil_simon/index.html?inline=nyt-per) Theater, “Cry-Baby” arrives like a weaker, shyer younger sibling, bidding uncertainly for its moment in the sun. As if that’s not enough pressure for a shaky new kid on the block, a revival of “Grease” — like “Cry-Baby,” a good-girl-meets-bad-boy 1950s romance — opened earlier this season to decent business, despite a critical chorus of disgust.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/04/25/theater/CryBaby2650.jpg
From left, Alli Mauzey, James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley and Christopher J. Hanke in “Cry-Baby: The Musical.”

For the record “Cry-Baby,” on which Mr. Waters serves as creative consultant, isn’t monstrously pushy like “Young Frankenstein” or dispiritingly inept like the latest “Grease.” It might be more fun to write about if it were.

Instead the show, which has a book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan (who did the Broadway “Hairspray”) and songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, is most notable for lacking a style to call its own.

Admittedly, the movie “Cry-Baby,” which featured a dewy young Johnny Depp (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/johnny_depp/index.html?inline=nyt-per) on the cusp of stardom, posed special problems for its adapters. A homage to early Elvis Presley (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/elvis_presley/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and rock ’n’ roll flicks, this tale of class warfare in Baltimore had only a cobweb of a plot. The main characters — Mr. Depp’s motorcycle-riding outcast and the restless virgin from the right side of the tracks (played by Amy Locane) — were as set as figures in a passion play, one retold countless times in Top 40 songs of star-crossed love.

By Mr. Waters’s standards the movie is restrained, as if he were striving to retain the mainstream audience he won with “Hairspray.” But it did allow his camera to make love to the insolent, epicene sexiness in Mr. Depp’s face and to parade his usual stock company of eccentric types and has-beens, including Patricia Hearst (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/patricia_hearst/index.html?inline=nyt-per), Iggy Pop (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/iggy_pop/index.html?inline=nyt-per), Joey Heatherton and Joe Dallesandro.

Nobody, alas, seems genuinely eccentric in “Cry-Baby: The Musical,” which is directed by Mark Brokaw (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/mark_brokaw/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and choreographed by the ever-aerobic Rob Ashford. Nobody seems genuinely sexy either.

Though the musical borrows assorted raunchy characters from the film — like the strange-looking girl named Mona, known as Hatchet-Face (Tory Ross), and Pepper the hard-drinking pregnant 16-year-old (Carly Jibson) — the performers all seem like good kids impersonating bad kids for kicks.

Make that good grown-ups impersonating bad kids, since even the young cast members somehow lack the hormonal glow of rampaging youth. I sometimes felt I was watching a junior chamber of commerce revue, devoted to those silly ’50s.

As the show’s heroine, Allison the never-been-kissed society girl, Elizabeth Stanley looks as if she knows from kissing — and then some. She’s a robust, brassy creature, more suited to playing a gung-ho biology teacher than a blushing student. She is also required to sing out of her range, and you feel the strain.

As her misfit boyfriend, Cry-Baby, James Snyder has the unenviable job of channeling the particular tough-but-sensitive charisma associated with James Dean (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/723022/James-Dean?inline=nyt-per) and Elvis Presley (not to mention Mr. Depp’s earlier variation on that theme). For whatever reason, no Broadway actor in recent memory has provided a convincing take on this oft-recycled type (including Cheyenne Jackson in the short-lived “All Shook Up”). And Mr. Snyder, with his slipping white-trash accent and choir-boy face, never registers as remotely dangerous.

The songs by Mr. Javerbaum (a producer for “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/jon_stewart/index.html?inline=nyt-per)”) and Mr. Schlesinger (of the pop group Fountains of Wayne) include plenty of rockabilly riffs and soulful wails (for a Little Richard (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/little_richard/index.html?inline=nyt-per)-like character played by Chester Gregory II), but they often feel stuck in a groove, repeated until they go dry. Only the closing number, “Nothing Bad’s Ever Gonna Happen Again,” a sendup of the innate optimism of both the 1950s and the musical comedy, has any original spark.

It was a mistake, by the way, to include a character (Allison’s uptight fiancé, played by Christopher J. Hanke) who wants to be thought of as witty but keeps seeing his jokes wither and die on the vine. That’s pretty much what happens to most of the gags and one-liners here, victims of soft timing and tentative delivery.

While Harriet Harris, an ornately stylish pro, as Allison’s blue-blooded grandmother, does everything she can to make her lines sound like something out of a Douglas Sirk (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/111684/Douglas-Sirk?inline=nyt-per) melodrama, the text doesn’t support her. No satiric conceit is sustained long enough for her to work with it effectively. And Mr. Brokaw, a gifted director of small-scale quirky plays, seems incapable of imposing a cohesive sensibility here.

Mr. Ashford brings his customary gymnastic vigor to the choreography: lots of revved-up jumping jacks, push-ups and leg lifts, usually led by a trio of athletic muscle boys. A foreplay sequence with said boys and three female dancers makes clever use of the dancers’ remarkably extendable legs. A fantasy wedding routine was kind of cute. But what’s with that scary fascist police number?

It goes without saying that the show features the requisite crinoline-skirted dresses and varsity sweaters for the rich kids and tight pants and T-shirts for the greasers. (Catherine Zuber designed the costumes.) Scott Pask’s set includes many rolling cutouts to create the mood for the obligatory courtroom, jailhouse and theme park scenes. These bright pieces of scenery summon the 1950s in regulation shorthand. But when they’re rolled off, you see they’re just storefronts. This seems all too apt a metaphor for a show that is terminally flat.

Copyright 2008 New York Times Company

[The Benniest]

Trials and Triumphs on the Road to Justice
By CHARLES ISHERWOOD (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/i/charles_isherwood/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: May 1, 2008

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/01/theater/Thur600.jpg
"Thurgood" at the Booth Theater, with Laurence Fishburne in the title role as the Supreme Court justice.

It’s a safe bet that “Thurgood” is the only play on Broadway at which the announcement of a famous legal verdict is greeted by a burst of heartfelt applause.

Does that make it sound less than thrilling? Well, yes, this solo show starring Laurence Fishburne (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/23625/Laurence-Fishburne?inline=nyt-per) as the venerated Thurgood Marshall (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/thurgood_marshall/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is a no-frills documentary in the first person, essentially an opportunity to watch a movie star deliver a history lecture. But since Mr. Fishburne is an effortlessly compelling actor, and the history in question is charged with a moral urgency that still resonates today, “Thurgood,” which opened Wednesday night at the Booth Theater, is surprisingly absorbing, at times even stirring.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/01/arts/thur2650.jpg
Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall in a one-man show that documents his role in the landmark Brown v. Board case.

For audiences nostalgic for the progressive era in American history in which Marshall played a crucial role, the show may actually feel like a sweet escape to happier times, every bit as cheering (and a whole lot more edifying) than the giddiest of Broadway musicals. At the end of the play Marshall recites from a Langston Hughes (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/langston_hughes/index.html?inline=nyt-per) poem opening with the following line: “Oh, let America be America again.” If those words elicit either a sorrowful sigh or a stirring of fierce hope in your heart, you may find this superficially dry evening of theater as restorative as a long soak in a bubble bath.

That brief contribution from Hughes is about the extent of the play’s lyricism. Written by George Stevens Jr., a writer, producer and director of television and film making his debut as a playwright, “Thurgood” is not distinguished by psychological depth or dramatic intensity, although it has been given a tasteful production by the director, Leonard Foglia. (The stucco-colored flag sculpture that doubles as a video screen is a nifty touch from the set designer Allen Moyer, presumably inspired by Jasper Johns (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/jasper_johns/index.html?inline=nyt-per).)

Mr. Stevens, who wrote and directed the mini-series “Separate but Equal,” about the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, has studied his subject thoroughly and with passionate interest. He may cling doggedly to linear chronology, textbook style, but he does have the smarts to use verbatim quotations from Marshall as often as he can, seasoning the trek through autobiography and legal procedure with anecdotes that reveal Marshall’s playful sense of humor.

While arguing a case of discrimination against black servicemen in Korea, for example, Marshall slyly criticized Gen. Douglas MacArthur for denying that he approved the segregation of those under his leadership. Pointing to the regiment’s all-white brass band, Marshall observed, “Don’t tell me you can’t find a Negro who can blow a horn.”

Mr. Fishburne enters as an aged but still vigorous Marshall, retired from the Supreme Court (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/supreme_court/index.html?inline=nyt-org) and returning to Howard University, where he earned his law degree, to give a speech. (The University of Maryland (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_maryland/index.html?inline=nyt-org), which had the best law school in his home state, would not admit blacks; one of Marshall’s early civil-rights victories helped end that policy.)

The black-framed eyeglasses, the halting step and the cane are dispensed with quickly. Mr. Fishburne’s Marshall sheds the infirmities of age as he plays tour guide to his illustrious past, and he doffs and dons his jacket as his recollections vary in formality.

After a few minutes of colorful family history (the Marshalls were partial to lively names like Fearless and Olive Branch; Thurgood was the young Marshall’s own revision of a longer handle, Thoroughgood), Marshall tosses out a question that draws the focus to the courtroom cases that shaped his life and led to the reshaping of American law and indeed American society. “How many of you’ve heard of Homer Adolph Plessy?”

Not ringing a bell? It was the Supreme Court’s 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, Marshall reminds us, that gave federal legal sanction to “separate but equal” public facilities for the country’s black and white citizens. Although he is probably best known today as the first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court, Marshall’s profound impact on the culture derives from the long series of legal cases he won (and occasionally lost) as chief counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_association_for_the_advancement_of_colore d_people/index.html?inline=nyt-org). The battle to end the de facto racism enshrined in the Plessy decision culminated in Marshall’s victory in the Brown v. Board of Education case of 1954, which laid the legal groundwork for the civil-rights movement of the next decade.

If Marshall’s life story is related with no great theatrical invention here (the artful “Primo,” written and performed by Antony Sher (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/antony_sher/index.html?inline=nyt-per), was a far more stylish stage memoir), the plain facts inevitably stir powerful feelings — of admiration for his steadfast championing of the ill-used, of delight in his ability to find humor in dark circumstances, of dismay at the recalcitrance of institutional discrimination in America. With the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per) putting a renewed focus on the legacy of racism, as it is viewed by Americans both black and white, the play serves as a healthy reminder that separate drinking fountains, to cite one shameful practice, are just a generation or two in the past.

The role does not allow Mr. Fishburne to draw deeply on his rich resources as an actor, even if it requires significant stamina. (The play clocks in at 90 minutes.) The smoldering gravity he brought to his roles in movies like “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and the “Matrix” trilogy is replaced by a more genial variety. Mr. Fishburne also brings a subtle physical dynamism and a sly humor to the role, which gives the material a useful buoyancy.

“Thurgood” naturally climaxes in the scenes depicting the arguments and the verdict in the Brown case. The last half-hour or so, taken up with Marshall’s later career as a federal judge, as the country’s solicitor general and as a Supreme Court justice, almost feels like an afterthought.

Eventually Marshall plops down in a chair and simply starts reviewing his general opinions on significant cases from his tenure on the high court, sometimes in language bathed in banality. (“Sure, we know how far we’ve come — but we also know how far we still have to go.”)

This passage does, however, serve as a stark reminder of how radically the court evolves over the years as its makeup changes. (I’d almost forgotten that for a period of several years during Marshall’s tenure, capital punishment was illegal in this country.) Depending on your view of the jurisprudence practiced by the court when Marshall served, and of the kind on view today, the reflections “Thurgood” evokes may be sobering or even dispiriting.

But the heroism of Marshall’s life’s work and the hard-fought civil-rights victories achieved under his stewardship are truly uplifting. As I left, I found myself misty eyed, recalling a celebrated line from a speech by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/martin_luther_jr_king/index.html?inline=nyt-per) that I have always found moving, in which he cites a belief that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Copyright 2008 New York Times Company

[Bob]

Choices, choices. The other day we had the good fortune to be able choose between Broadway shows starring Lawrence Fishburne, Morgan Freeman, Patrick Stewart, or James Earl Jones.

My pick was James Earl Jones, but after some negotiation with my lovely bride, we ended up seeing The Country Girl, starring Morgan Freeman.

The show: average
Morgan Freeman: excellent.
Supporting cast: average to poor. (poor casting!)
Scenic design/sets: good to excellent
Lighting: good
Costumes: excellent

[The Benniest]

Being a huge theater fan, when I make my next visit I want to see 2-4 broadway shows .. if I the money. :confused: Musicals I have been looking into...


Avenue Q
Mary Poppins
Monty Python's Spamalot (for the second time ... i loved this musical!)
Rent
Wicked
Young Frankenstein

Does anyone have a personal review of any of these shows? I'm definitely going to be seeing Rent, since it will be leaving Broadway in September. I'm not sure about the others...

Also, any suggestions? I'm not huge on off-broadway shows, but am keeping this (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=216646&postcount=43) suggestion from Lofter open and will take any other suggestions for off-broadway shows.

Thanks!
Ben

[BrooklynRider]

I saw "Passing Strange" tonight. Easily the best musical of the season. Original. Intelligent. Memorable. Provocative. It's a real shame that this show hasn't found its audience yet. It is up there with Rent, Spring Awakening, and other shows that were out of the box and pushing the envelope.

The music is inspired. The cast fantastic. And, with the same lighting designer as Spring Awakening, it deserves a special Tony nod for achievement in lighting design. This lighting designer is a master.

A great, great show.

[BrooklynRider]

This was a fun and hysterically funny new comedy by Paul Rudnick. If you want a night out of laughter and good cheer, I highly recommend it. It will especially resonate with New Yorkers and even more so with gay New Yorkers, although it was a predominantly an older married crowd.

Two thumbs up!

[eddhead]

Being a huge theater fan, when I make my next visit I want to see 2-4 broadway shows .. if I the money. :confused: Musicals I have been looking into...


Avenue Q
Mary Poppins
Monty Python's Spamalot (for the second time ... i loved this musical!)
Rent
Wicked
Young Frankenstein

Does anyone have a personal review of any of these shows? I'm definitely going to be seeing Rent, since it will be leaving Broadway in September. I'm not sure about the others..
Ben

I have seen all but Young Frankenstien.. it is still on my list. i am kind of a sucker for Broadway, you won't get to many bad reviews from me. these are great bug Ave Q is probably my favorite followed by Spamalot, Wicked and Rent. My G/F would rank Wicked first followed by Ave Q than Spamalot than Rent.

I know you are pretty stuck on Rent, but it probably ranks as no better than 4th on our list.

Good luck and have a great time.

[The Benniest]

Thank you eddhead. I'm definitely looking into Avenue Q right now because it looks like a really interesting, funny, and nice show.

-ben

[kliq6]

Being a huge theater fan, when I make my next visit I want to see 2-4 broadway shows .. if I the money. :confused: Musicals I have been looking into...


Avenue Q
Mary Poppins
Monty Python's Spamalot (for the second time ... i loved this musical!)
Rent
Wicked
Young Frankenstein

Does anyone have a personal review of any of these shows? I'm definitely going to be seeing Rent, since it will be leaving Broadway in September. I'm not sure about the others...

Also, any suggestions? I'm not huge on off-broadway shows, but am keeping this (http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showpost.php?p=216646&postcount=43) suggestion from Lofter open and will take any other suggestions for off-broadway shows.

Thanks!
Ben


Rent is amust as its last day is September 7th. just saw it for the second time saturday night. Id also just saw Young Frank and its very funny, so if your up for one drama and one comedy, thats your best route!

[Front_Porch]

In the Heights leads with 13; August Osage County racked 'em up as well.

BR's new fave, Passing Strange, which I love too, got half a dozen.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

[The Benniest]

More on the Tony Award nominations here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/theater/theaterspecial/13tonyslist.html?ref=theaterspecial

You can place your bet as to which plays/musicals will win HERE. (http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/index.html)

[The Benniest]

Pop Star Mya to Join Broadway Company of Chicago
^^ Cancel that..

Nancy Lemenager to Make Chicago Debut
by Broadway.com Staff (editorial@broadway.com)

Broadway veteran Nancy Lemenager will join the cast of Chicago (http://www.broadway.com/gen/show.aspx?SI=22374) at the Ambassador Theatre on May 19. Lemenager will play the role of murderess Velma Kelly, replacing Tony Award nominee Brenda Braxton. R&B star Mya was supposed to make her Broadway debut as Kelly on May 12, but bowed out due to a broken foot.

Lemenager last appeared on Broadway as Brenda in Billy Joel and Twyla Tharp's hit dance musical Movin' Out. Her other Broadway credits include a starring role in the Jerome Kern musical Never Gonna Dance and appearances in Kiss Me, Kate, Dream, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Guys and Dolls.

http://www.broadway.com/site_images/520220.jpg
Nancy Lemenager

Braxton played her final performance on May 11. Nicole Bridgewater will appear in the role until Lemenager steps in. Lemenager is scheduled to continue as Velma until July 13.

Chicago currently stars Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart, Jeff McCarthy as Billy Flynn, Raymond Bokhour as Amos Hart and Kecia Lewis-Evans as Matron "Mama" Morton.

On June 2, Michele DeJean will return to the role of Roxie Hart, replacing Bianca Marroquin.

Copyright 2008 Broadway.com

[lofter1]

R&B star Mya was supposed to make her Broadway debut as Kelly on May 12, but bowed out due to a broken foot.

A mere broken foot and she pulls out of a dancing role?

Clearly not a trouper :cool:

[The Benniest]

Haha!

I don't understand it though, because in one article, it says that the director hopes for Mya's best and can't wait till she can be in the production again, and in the above article, it seems like Nancy Lemenager will be the official, full-time Velma Kelly. Hmm...

:confused:

[lofter1]

"broken foot", much like the phrase "artistic differences", can cover a lot of ground -- and save some folks from a rather embarassing situation if and when they are deemed not to be able to cut the mustard (despite kind words tossed about by producers & directors).

such is a life in show biz ...

[The Benniest]

Again, I just don't see why anyone, especially someone playing Velma Kelly, wouldn't wanna show off their highly fashionable, in-all-the-magainzines, foot cast.

:D

[The Benniest]

Katie Holmes heading to Broadway
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tuesday, May 20th 2008, 1:14 PM

Katie Holmes (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Katie+Holmes) is looking to bounce back from a box-office flop with her Broadway debut.

The "Dawson's Creek (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Dawson%27s+Creek)" star and wife of Tom Cruise (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Tom+Cruise), who most recently starred in this year's "Mad Money" alongside Diane Keaton (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Diane+Keaton) and Queen Latifah (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Queen+Latifah), will hit the stage in a revival of Arthur Miller (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Arthur+Miller)'s "All My Sons" this fall.

Fellow castmembers include John Lithgow (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/John+Lithgow), Dianne Wiest (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Dianne+Wiest) and Patrick Wilson (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Patrick+Wilson). Exact dates and theater will be announced, producer Eric Falkenstein (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Eric+Falkenstein) said Monday.

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/05/20/amd_holmes.jpg

The play, first seen on Broadway in 1947, was Miller's first Broadway hit. It concerns businessman Joe Keller (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Joe+Keller) (Lithgow) whose factory supplied defective cylinder parts to the military, resulting in the deaths of 21 pilots during World War II. Yet it was his business partner who went to jail for the mistake.

Wiest will play Keller's wife; Wilson, his idealistic son; and Holmes, the son's fiancee and daughter of Keller's disgraced partner.

Holmes made a brief appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Oprah+Winfrey)" earlier this month when she welcomed Winfrey to the Telluride (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Telluride), Colo. (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Colorado), home that she and Cruise share. She then left her husband to conduct a tour, which included a peek at daughter Suri (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Suri+Cruise)'s playrooms, the home's kitchen, Cruise's collection of bound film scripts, and stunning views of snow-topped mountains.

Holmes costarred with Christian Bale (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Christian+Bale) in the 2005 blockbuster "Batman Begins," but will not join Bale to reprise the role in this summer's "The Dark Knight."

Simon McBurney (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Simon+McBurney) will direct "All My Sons," which was revived on Broadway in 1987 and was last seen in New York (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/New+York) 10 years later in a Roundabout Theatre Company (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Roundabout+Theatre+Company) production off-Broadway.

Copyright 2008 New York Daily News

[brianac]

Oh No, Tony! Broadway Attendance, Revenues Drop

by Tom Acitelli (http://www.observer.com/node/36094) | June 12, 2008

http://www.observer.com/files/imagecache/article/files/legallyblondenacaseven.jpg nacaseven via flickr.

Broadway theaters report that both attendance and reveneus dropped more than 10 percent from April 2007 to April 2008, according to the Federal Reserve's latest Beige Book (http://www.federalreserve.gov/fomc/beigebook/2008/20080611/2.htm). Attendance and revenues were down 3 percent annually in May, too.

Also, another tourist-dependent industry seems to have taken a mild hit recently. The Fed reports that Manhattan hotel room rates were up 7.5 percent in April from the same month last year and total revenues for hotels were up 6 percent during the same period. But! These are the smallest annual increases in more than two years.

http://www.observer.com/2008/oh-no-tony-broadway-attendance-revenues-drop

© 2008 Observer Media Group

[The Benniest]

The Tony Awards are happening as I'm typing this.

List of winners, updated each time someone wins ... here. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/theater/theaterspecial/16tonylist.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)

[The Benniest]

Has anyone here seen Gypsy?

After seeing Patti LuPone kick butt (http://youtube.com/watch?v=LXl10a9gJwA) at the Tony Award's last night, I'm kind of debating on seeing it.

Thanks,
Ben

[lofter1]

I saw it last summer at City Center -- with a few less production values than it now hs on Broadway. It's great production and all the Tony winners (Lupone, Boyd Gaines & Laura Benanti) are fantastic.

Having seen a number of productions / concert versions over the years I give this one the vote for best overall production of "Gypsy" I've ever seen.

Definitely worth the ~ $100 ...

[.pulchritudinous.]

Hearing about Rent was a pretty depressing moment for me, but not so much depressing as when I found out I wasn't going to be able to make it to New York by September - or really anymore this year.

I guess I'll have the pleasure of watching the dvd on my laptop over in Iraq. :rolleyes:

[BrooklynRider]

I saw Gypsy. It was a brilliant performance by Patti Lupone. Actually, all the performances were stellar. A very good revival.

I caught Phantom of the Opera last weekend. It was lavish, but the songs and music remain entirely forgettable.

I'm heading into Jersey City tomorrow night to see a limited run of Hedwig and The Angry Inch. I am stoked to see this once again.

I'm seeing The 39 Steps on July 3rd, which is supposed to be an excellent production.

[Fabrizio]

The last show I saw on Broadway was Showboat with Helen Morgan and Edna May Oliver... but I would LOVE to see SouthPacific. Has anyone here seen it?

[Sunnygirl]

I will be in NYC next week for 10 days, and plan on hitting as many shows as possible. Can anyone tell me how hard it is to score Rush tickets? Any tips? I figure the more Rush tickets I get, the more shows I can see.

I have a long list I want to see: In the Heights, August Osage County, Top Girls, Rent, South Pacific + Hamlet in the park (any tips on how I early I should get to the Delacourte to wait in line for these)... but my sister also wants to see Fuerza Bruta - has anyone seen this, is it any good?

[brianac]

Re. the Delacourte.

I don't know if it always the same, but I took this at about 7.30am on a Sunday morning last June.

Some of these people had their sleeping bags, so I suppose they had been in line for some considerable time. I hope you can fare better.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/Central%20Park/CPCampersOut.jpg

[Sunnygirl]

Brianac- Did you get tickets?

[BrooklynRider]

To get cheap tickets, go to Playbill.com to get discount tickets or the TKTS booth on the afternoons before the shows.

I saw Hedwig & The Angry Inch at the Barrow Mansion in Jersey City tonight. It was very good. Any HedHeads out there ought to get on the PATH train and go check it out. Tickets are $25.00 with Playbill discount.

[brianac]

Brianac- Did you get tickets?

No i didn't. I went for breakfast instead.

[lofter1]

Tickets for Shakespear in the Park / Delacourt are availble the day of the performance at both Delacourt in CP and at the Public Theater downtown on Lafayette Street south of Astor Place.

Week night performances are easier to get tickets to. And depending on the show / who is in it the tickets are either HOT or they are not.

The current production of HAMLET (http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/theater/reviews/18hamlet.html?em&ex=1214280000&en=a8926d274dd06ad0&ei=5087%0A) at the Delacourt might be considered a "not", and therefore tickets more easy to attain.

it used to be that the vast majority of tickets for shows at the Delacourt were free to the public, but in recent years corporate / individual donors to the Public Theater (who all get access to Shakes in the Park tix based on their donations) apparently get 50% + of the seats -- leaving far fewer tix available for the public to see FREE Shakespeare in the Park :mad:

[The Benniest]

5 open-air theaters besides Shakespeare in the Park

By JOE DZIEMIANOWICZ
Saturday, June 28th 2008, 4:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/img/2008/06/27/alg_twelfth-night.jpg
Iriemimen Oniha, Maria McConville, and Kwaku Driskell in The Drilling Company's
Shakespeare in the Parking Lot production of Twelfth Night'

1. HUDSON WAREHOUSE (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Hudson+Warehouse) "Much Ado About Nothing" runs July 10-Aug. 3 in Riverside Park, at 89th St. "Pericles" runs Aug. 7-31. (212) 560-6579; www.hudsonwarehouse.net (http://www.hudsonwarehouse.net/).

2. GORILLA REP "Hamlet" runs Thursdays thru Sundays in August beginning Aug. 7. At the Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. www.gorillarep.org (http://www.gorillarep.org/).

3. BOOMERANG THEATRE COMPANY (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/BOOMERANG+THEATRE+COMPANY) "As You Like It" runs July 19-Aug. 10, in Central Park (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Central+Park), at 69th St. (212) 501-4069; www.boomerangtheatre.org (http://www.boomerangtheatre.org/).

4. THE CLASSICAL THEATRE OF HARLEM (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Harlem) "Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death," by Melvin Van Peebles (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Melvin+Van+Peebles), runs July 25 and 26 in Herbert Von King Park, Brooklyn (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Brooklyn), and July 29, Aug. 1 and 2 in Marcus Garvey Park (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Marcus+Garvey+Park), Harlem. (212) 564-9983; www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org (http://www.classicaltheatreofharlem.org/).

5. SHAKESPEARE (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/William+Shakespeare) IN THE PARKING LOT "Twelfth Night" runs July 3-19 at the municipal parking lot, Ludlow and Broome Sts. "Henry V" runs July 24-Aug. 10. (212) 877-0099; www.drillingcompany.org (http://www.drillingcompany.org/).

Copyright 2008 New York Daily News

[BrooklynRider]

I saw The 39 Steps last night. Very good and very entertaining. It was a fun show with no agendas, no politics, no social commentary. Just good ol' fun.

It's a must for Hitchcock fans.

[The Benniest]

Will & Grace fans! -

Selling His Soul for the Part

By CELIA MCGEE Published: July 6, 2008

THERE’S a moment in an episode of “Will & Grace” when Sean Hayes’s Jack tries to resist a plea from Megan Mullaly’s Karen to masquerade as her ex-husband for a parent-teacher conference. He runs the emotional gamut from giggly gay guy to vulnerable young man still smarting from memories of being teased as a sissy in grade school. Suddenly, frenetically, he executes a razzle-dazzle few seconds of soft-shoe, hiding the hurt behind his smile.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/07/06/arts/Hayes450.jpg
Sean Hayes at a rehearsal for his New York stage debut, in the Encores!
revival of “Damn Yankees.”

Mr. Hayes won’t have to sneak in the song-and-dance moves any longer.
On Thursday he opens as the devilish Mr. Applegate in “Damn Yankees,” making his New York stage debut in the Encores! Summer Stars series at City Center, which last year mounted the production of “Gypsy” now on Broadway with three Tony Awards (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/theater/theaterspecial/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier). (“Damn Yankees” is currently in previews.)

Mr. Hayes, 38, isn’t sure how many Jack fanatics realize that taking a musical stage role is, for him, like crossing home plate. Trained as a classical pianist, he discovered musical theater as a teenager while assisting his piano teacher’s husband, Harold Bauer, then artistic director at the DuPage Opera Theater in Illinois. Later he acted in productions at Illinois State University — “in Normal,” he said, eyebrows raised — and worked as a musical director and actor in Chicago-area theater for several years. He was also active with the Steppenwolf Theater (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/steppenwolf_theatre_company/index.html?inline=nyt-org) Company and at Second City.

Or, he joked, entering an elevator in the Art Deco City Center building on West 56th Street on his way to a “Damn Yankees” rehearsal, he could just bypass all that with a one-line Playbill bio: “Sean Hayes is doing theater to legitimize himself as an actor.”

His particular comfort level with musical theater, though, presents its own red flag. In this 1955 American yarn about the middle-aged baseball fan Joe Boyd (P. J. Benjamin), who is lured by the Devil and his curvy accomplice (Jane Krakowski) into becoming a young hunk (Cheyenne Jackson) to help the Washington Senators beat the Yankees, Mr. Hayes is “delicious and delightful to watch,” said the director, John Rando. “But this sweet, smart, funny man has to be evil incarnate. There’s simply no room for heart in this character.”

Mr. Hayes will doubtless be able to locate a few mean bones in his body.

“I’ve been offered a lot of things on Broadway to replace people,” he said, “but I wanted to wait to originate a role rather than do the exact same blocking as the person before me. I have A.D.D. I like to do new things. It’s like when you’re a kid — you’d rather have new shoes than your older brother’s.”

Mr. Hayes had four older brothers and sisters growing up in Glen Ellyn, Ill. “My dad left when I was 5,” he said, “and my mom raised five kids by herself. How we all turned out functional in society was quite a feat.”

Instead of trading baseball cards, he collected pennants — “those fuzzy felt ones,” he said — and hung them on the wall of his shared bedroom. He played Little League. He still wears a red I.S.U. baseball cap.

“But I was really more into football,” he said. “I memorized every name of every Chicago Bear.” He hasn’t seen the movie of “Damn Yankees” since he was a teenager. He did enjoy the 1994 Broadway revival.

Just as Major League Baseball’s current scandals don’t seem quite as innocent as those of an earlier time, “sports has really changed now.” he said. “Corporations own all the teams. You’re not rooting for individuals anymore, because they could be anybody.”

Mr. Hayes’s full name is the very Irish Sean Patrick Hayes. “I certainly went to C.C.D. as a kid, and I hated it,” he said of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, where he learned about Catolicism. The musical’s Faustian underlay is all the theology he wants in his life these days.

To him “Damn Yankees” isn’t about sin and salvation, “it’s about how the grass is always greener on the other side, but in the end knowing who you are, being true to yourself and being happy with that.”

Yet he thinks about religion, a lot. His company, Hazy Mills Productions, is developing a series called “Cornerstone,” about two dueling churches. “I’m fascinated with religious extremism of any kind,” he said, “the righteousness of it, and with different interpretations of seemingly the same idea.”

His other series in the works, Mr. Hayes said, is “ ‘Bi-Coastal,’ about a guy with a wife and kids in California and a boyfriend in New York.” He also recently optioned Steve Martin (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/101485/Steve-Martin?inline=nyt-per)’s novel “The Pleasure of My Company.” Just out on DVD is his good-humored performance in “The Bucket List.”

Mr. Hayes recognizes that success for some actors can appear to issue from the same shifty source as the temptations visited on poor Joe.

“For me,” he said, “the basis of it all comes from a love of everything you do. But the byproduct of being a star or a celebrity may be that you have to give up certain pieces of yourself. And you do have to sell part of your soul when you’re an actor — because that’s what you’re showing people.

You have an audience, and if you don’t have an audience you’re just being weird in front of the mirror.”

But for a full theater he’d do anything.

Experimenting with one of the prop cigarettes that wink at the play’s hellfire motif, he said, “I’d eat it if it got me a laugh.”

There’s another little something he and Rob Berman, the music director, are contemplating, but it’s supposed to be a surprise.

Mr. Hayes instead decided to reveal the sexiest moment in a show that has Jane Krakowski playing the steamy Lola in various states of Marilyn Monroe (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/marilyn_monroe/index.html?inline=nyt-per) dishabille.

“The sexiest,” he said. “That’s my entrance, isn’t it?”

Copyright 2008 New York Times Company

[lofter1]

Now in Previews at The Lyceum Theater on Broadway ...

http://www.titleofshow.com/images/home_title_2.jpg

[title of show] (http://www.titleofshow.com/)


The great review (http://theater2.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/theater/reviews/27vine.html) from the NY TIMES when [tos] was Off Broadway

[The Benniest]

This show looks alright. The first time I saw the title of the show on Broadway.com, I thought, "Is this a typo?" :p

I personally like the first 4 lines of the show's website's blog. :p

[The Benniest]

Arts, Briefly
Theater for the Price of a Subway Ride

Compiled by STEVEN McELROY
Published: July 7, 2008


Cast members from several Off Broadway productions, including “Altar Boyz” and “Blue Man Group,” below, will participate in a concert in Union Square Park on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. as part of Summer in the Square 2008, a series of free events on Thursdays through Aug. 14 (unionsquarenyc.org (http://unionsquarenyc.org/)). ... New York Classical Theater will present a free outdoor production of George Bernard Shaw (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/george_bernard_shaw/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s “Misalliance,” July 31 to Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. at 103rd Street and Central Park West (newyorkclassical.org (http://newyorkclassical.org/)). ... Gorilla Rep will present free showings of Shakespeare (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/william_shakespeare/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s “Hamlet” on the Cloisters Lawn in Fort Tryon Park in Inwood, Aug. 7 to 31 (gorillarep.org (http://gorillarep.org/)).


Copyright 2008 New York Times Company

[lofter1]

Broadway Question of the Day:



"What is title of show? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlqXHKstV-o&feature=related)"

[The Benniest]

I saw "Gypsy" last night.

Absolutely BRILLIANT performance. I cannot express how great it was just over this. It's a must-see for anyone who enjoys theater ... and anyone who doesn't!

Patti LuPone is a genious. :rolleyes:

[The Benniest]

As ‘Rent’ Ends 12-Year Run, a Gathering of Fans Overflows With Emotion
By SHARON OTTERMAN
Published: September 6, 2008

It was only a matter of time before it happened. Bring together 50 young fans who have memorized every word of the musical “Rent,” provide free beer, pipe the show’s rousing songs through a set of restaurant stereo speakers, and sooner or later, they may well start dancing on the tables as the characters do in the play’s riotously joyous paean to freedom at the end of Act I, “La Vie Boheme.”

Add that it was the final weekend of the show’s 12-year Broadway run, and that these fans had won an online video contest to attend a party at the Life Café in the East Village, where that famous Act 1 scene is set, and it was little wonder that about midnight Friday, the fans spontaneously pushed the cafe’s tables together, creating an impromptu stage. They then got up on the tables and broke out in song. From the edges of the room, the restaurant’s management and a ring of marketing people watched with some amazement the storm of “Rent” passion they had helped unleash.

For Kathy Kirkpatrick, the owner of the Life Café, it was a moment she had resisted. During nearly all of the show’s run, she had done little more to capitalize on the cafe’s appearance in the show than to put up a poster signed by the cast and to hold occasional potluck-style dinners for the casts of “Rent” companies that came to New York from productions in other cities. The cafe also held a premiere party for the “Rent” movie in 2005.

The family of Jonathan Larson, the show’s creator, who died in 1996 of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm just before the play opened, had come to the events and become friends, she said.

“We thought if we did anything it would look like we were exploiting the show, and that’s not what we are about,” Ms. Kirkpat