Million Dollar Quartet (The SOB Review) - Nederlander Theatre, New York, New York
** (out of ****)
It must have seemed like million dollar idea at the time.
Take a page out of the Jersey Boys playbook, corral a famed group of singers from the 50s and build a jukebox musical around them. Oh, and be sure to remove any crude language, too.
If Million Dollar Quartetstrikes you as Jersey Boys-lite, you're not alone. Resembling something like one of those family-friendly fare for which Branson is famous, this likeable if milquetoast tuner aims to please.
While Jersey Boys provided the Four Seasons' milestones through the years, Million Dollar Quartet centers on a single December evening when some major forces in music history came together. Back in the earliest days of rock and roll, visionary recording impresario Sam Phillips (a terrific Hunter Foster), owner of Memphis' famed Sun Records, had an unusual knack for spotting extraordinary talent.
Million Dollar Quartet offers several admirable individual performances, particularly that of the excellent Levi Kreis. Picture Harry Connick, Jr. doing Jerry Lee Lewis without coming across as stilted and you've got an appropriate image. A master of the keyboard as well as a gifted actor and singer, Kreis is one great ball of fire unto himself. He displays so much spunk and charm that they could have built the entire show around him.
As Johnny Cash, Guest expertly walks the line, not only sounding like the Man in Black, but lending an air of his humble demeanor as well. But Lyons' powerhouse Perkins next to Clendening's demure Presley will have you scratching your head how the former's superstar status ever eluded him. Clendening's Presley so pales in comparison with the other three that he blends into the recording studio's soundproofing.
There's nothing terribly insightful about the evening that's offered by Mutrux and Colin Escott's book. After all, the music's the thing here. So if it's a pleasant diversion you're after, Million Dollar Quartet just might fit the bill.
But in terms of a solid-gold Broadway show, I felt a little shortchanged.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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Come Fly Away (The SOB Review) - Marquis Theatre, New York, New York
* (out of ****)
That scream you heard wasn't the one from Karine Plantadit-Bageot near the top of Come Fly Away's tortured second act. No, it was what accompanied the loud thud of this dreadful turkey as if dropped from the sky.
Please don't get me wrong.
I've long admired choreographer Twyla Tharp's exceptional skills beyond the world of modern dance and ballet. Her inspired movements made "Hair" and Movin' Out sing.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't profess to being a fan of Frank Sinatra's incredible oeuvre that spanned the last two-thirds of the 20th Century and then some. With a silky voice and cool swagger, there's a reason why "Ol' Blue Eyes" was popular music's "Chairman of the Board."
But it's hard to imagine Sinatra wanting to sit at the head of this table. It's hardly set with any real book (Tharp receives credits for concept and book) or captivating choregraphy. Instead, it feels as if we've gone to a bar for an after-after-after party where all the decent people have already headed home. With the exception of Marty (Charlie Neshyba-Hodges), a forlorn waiter with eyes for one of his patrons, there's rarely any sizzle and certainly no sparkle.
Least among all the shows opening on Broadway this past year, Come Fly Away masquerades as a musical in the way Burn The Floor did earlier in the season. But unlike Burn The Floor, which at the very least had cohesive, exhilarating choreography, this lackluster snoozefest never really soars, let alone takes wing.
But then again, turkeys simply can't fly very well, can they?
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La Cage Aux Folles (The SOB Review) - Longacre Theatre, New York, New York
***1/2 (out of ****)
Chalk my earliest appreciation for Jerry Herman's La Cage Aux Folles to a backyard conversation I had with my childhood next-door-neighbor Virginia Hug back in 1983. Mrs. Hug made routine visits to New York City to get her fix of Broadway shows.
After coming back to Mequon, Wisconsin, from seeing the original Tony-winning production, this meek and mild -- and traditional -- grandmother had nothing but raves to share. Never mind that Harvey Fierstein's book centered squarely on a family that was anything but traditional. Mrs. Hug was captivated by its universal themes of love's unbreakable bonds and was practically singing its joyous score for me. Sadly, I never had a chance to see that incarnation.
Fast forward to 1996 when I was absolutely repulsed by the film "The Birdcage" (based on the same source material ), which I detested for its stereotypical, self-loathing gay characters. I couldn't help but think, "I don't know any gay people like this." I remember leaving the movie theatre beside myself.
So when I finally saw the first Broadway revival of La Cage in 2004, I was bracing myself for the worst. Instead, I was swept away and cheering for Albin's declaration, "I am what I am." Even if it wasn't a perfect production, I liked it.
I love this La Cage Aux Folles even more. Revived with unmistakable sparkle, however tarnished, by director Terry Johnson, this downsized La Cage is what it is. It's a solid period piece populated with men who may dress in drag, but have more guts, ironically enough, in coming to terms with who they are than their less flamboyant counterparts.
While standing up to homophobia, Harvey Fierstein's book and Jerry Herman's glorious tunes get to the heart of how any relationship, gay or straight, endures. And as performed by Kelsey Grammer (Georges) and Douglas Hodge (Albin), it's not only deeply moving, it's practically heartbreaking. Hodge in particular scores with his defiant and scorching "I Am What I Am."
La Cage Aux Folles still may not be the perfect Broadway show -- the second act just doesn't measure up to the first -- but it may be the best version of the show you're ever likely to see anywhere. I only wish Mrs. Hug was still around to see it.
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Red (The SOB Review) – John Golden Theatre, New York, New York
**** (out of ****)
Abstract paintings created by artists such as Mark Rothko used to leave me cold. But that's largely because I never took the time to really study them closely or scrutinize their fluidity in movement.
That's forever changed now that I've seen John Logan's magnificent Red, masterfully directed by Michael Grandage. Imported directly from London's Donmar Warehouse, Red intrigues and titillates the senses with its potent examination of the internal conflicts Rothko (an excellent Alfred Molina) may have endured in accepting a commission to adorn the walls of the (then) new Seagrams Building's Four Seasons Restaurant with his works.
Molina portrays Rothko with a tortured, self-conscious brilliance that turns ferocious on dime, including on his young protégé Ken (a captivating Eddie Redmayne, in an absolutely stunning Broadway debut). When Ken presses Rothko on whether he has compromised himself in taking the commission, Rothko seeks to redeem himself by declaring contemptuously that what he's creating is "something that will ruin the appetite of every son-of-a-bitch who ever eats in that room."
Resplendent with a mesmerizing recreation of how this artist may have placed paint brush to his canvas, Grandage cleverly leaves nothing to the abstract in framing Rothko's lasting artistic expressions. At that point, just as one of Rothko's works now has a power to do, this enthralling play suddenly snuck up on me and sent chills down my spine.
Red is a masterpiece -- far and away, the best new play I've seen all year. Don't miss it.
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Broadway Box Office Tweets - Week Ending May 23, 2010
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that each Monday, I offer my quick analysis of each preceding week's box office on Broadway.
For your viewing pleasure, here are my tweets in chronological order for the week ending May 23, 2010:
4:40 pm May 23rd - WICKED, LION KING, ADDAMS FAMILY, PROMISES PROMISES, BILLY ELLIOT, JERSEY BOYS all have million $ weeks on Broadway
4:41 pm May 23rd - Sold-out WICKED is once again Broadway's top grossing show last week with $1,576,010. Average ticket price is $108.90
4:43 pm May 23rd - FENCES once again Broadway's top grossing play w/$985,577. Also week's highest capacity: 101.7%. Av tix priced $112.30
4:44 pm May 23rd - Week's highest average ticket price: $115.67 for A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. Show grossed $751,745 on just 87.3% capacity
4:46 pm May 23rd - NEXT FALL was Broadway's lowest grossing show last week: $150,982. Capacity just 54.3%. Average ticket price: $59.05
4:47 pm May 23rd - HAIR had Broadway's lowest capacity last week: 51%. Grossed $407,172 with average ticket price of $70.71
4:49 pm May 23rdh - Broadway's cheapest ticket last week was COLLECTED STORIES' $45.79. Grossed only $156,680 on 65.8% capacity.
4:50 pm May 23rd - Snap! ADDAMS FAMILY gets last laugh as box office increases to $1,312,216 gross. Av tix priced $109.79/98.4% capacity
4:53 pm May 23rd - CHICAGO has Broadway's biggest capacity increase of week: 13.5% to 89%. Grosses $597,460. Average ticket price: $77.72
4:55 pm May 23rd - HAIR has Broadway's biggest capacity decline last week of 10% to 51%. But gross increases from $401,681 to $407,172
4:57 pm May 23rd - With several weak weeks in a row, could HAIR be showing danger signs exhibited by most Broadway fare before they announce closings?
Feel free to comment and let me know if you're surprised by any of these results.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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RIP Michael Kuchwara (1947-2010), Associated Press Theatre Critic
Last evening, longtime Associated Press (AP) Drama Critic Michael Kuchwaradied in a New York hospital after suffering from complications from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He had entered Beth Israel Hospital on May 10. Kuchwara was 63.
I was stunned and very saddened to learn of Kuchwara's death through an e-mail sent to me from his own AP e-mail address at 8:21 p.m. EDT Saturday evening.
According to the New York Drama Critics's Circle, of which he was past president, Michael Kuchwara was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was a graduate of Syracuse University. He earned his master's degree in journalism at the University of Missouri. He initially worked for AP out of Chicago as a general assignment editor before transferring to the news service's New York bureau.
Just one month ago, I had the distinct honor and privilege of meeting this beloved theatre critic and writer through friends at that favorite theatrical restaurant and watering hole, Angus McIndoe. While I had known he was following me on Twitter, I was quite surprised and downright flattered to learn how well acquainted he was, not only with my writing, but also with this blog.
Ever the theatre enthusiast, Kuchwara was as every bit as genial and gracious in person as his extraordinarily fair-minded reviews continually demonstrated since he first took over his role in 1984. The two of us briefly discussed American Idiot and La Cage Aux Folles -- the respective shows he and I had just come from.
Sadly, the posting for Michael Kuchwara's final review for The Kidcoincided with his entry into the hospital. Reports have indicated that his passing came last night as family was gathered around him. Those same reports also say he was listening to music from Gypsy, his favorite musical.
Michael Kuchwara's love, enthusiasm and passion for live theatre was always evident in everything he wrote. His contributions will be sorely missed.
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Admittedly, I knew absolutely nothing about this show (including who wrote it) going into it, other than that it had been highly recommended to me personally by the West End Whingers.
Although I studiously avoided reading anything about the play from the moment I purchased my ticket -- well in advance, which, given the deserved popularity of this play, is a must -- I had seen online the costumes of the production's principals, Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw, creating the perception that this was a period piece.
But upon arrival at the National, I found a poster like the one above and then received my programme with the same image. Was this to be some sort of time-traveling performance?
Lest there be any question in your mind, let me provide my own assurance.
There is nothing contemporary about the setting for London Assurance, which was written in 1841 near the beginning of the Victorian era. Yet, Boucicault's immensely clever and witty dialogue, as delivered by this august cast under the precise direction of Nicholas Hytner, sounds as crisp and fresh as if it were written yesterday. Indeed, with so many double entendres, it's amazing this play even got past the Lord Chamberlain's Office initially.
As Sir Harcourt Courtly -- a fiftyish foppish dandy obsessed with marrying the same 18 year old Grace Harkaway (Michelle Terry) whom his son Charles (Paul Ready) is wooing under an assumed name -- Simon Russell Beale is a genuine comic genius. Singularly providing just about the campiest performance I've ever seen on stage, Beale is a sheer, swirling force of energy as he sweeps around the stage like a tornado, spinning laughs at every turn.
But his Harcourt meets his match in the delightfully robust Lady Gay Spanker, portrayed to brilliant perfection by Fiona Shaw. The Lady possesses an ability to toy with Sir Harcourt's heart, creating her own hurricane of humor to successfully buffet his blowhard of vanity.
Just as layer after layer is revealed in this folly, likewise each portion of Mark Thompson's magnificent scenic design is exposed, helping make London Assurance one of this year's most sumptuous revivals in every way. It may have only been 13 years since the last Broadway revival, but I can assure you that if Hytner's incarnation were to transfer there, it just might sweep you away while landing a direct hit on your funny-bone.
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In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Apart from live theatre, two of my other passions in life are traveling and history.
For me, London is one of those spectacularly thrilling destinations to visit on a routine basis because it's both steeped in history and has exceptional theatre. Every now and then, those passions dovetail nicely like they did last week when I took in a performance of the current Hairrevival.
While I don't think I'll ever quite get used to having to spend the equivalent of $5 simply for a stage programme (there are no complimentary Playbills to be found), better productions at least ensure that they're chock full of informative nuggets. Such is the case of the Hair programme, which describes in great detail how the earliest transfer of this show nearly 32 years ago may not have occurred at all.
The programme describes how the show first opened in London on September 27, 1968, exactly one day after the formal abolition of theatre censorship in the United Kingdom by an Act of Parliament known as the Theatres Act of 1968.
Prior to that, since 1737, the government mandated that scripts must be licensed for performance by the Lord Chamberlain's Office, which could censor virtually anything it felt was against common decency, including -- initially -- political satire. The office exercised that power forcefully, prohibiting any play "for the preservation of good manners, decorum or of the public peace."
With such strict censorship maintaining a tight grip on British norms right up through 1968, Hair could never have opened the way it did at the Shaftesbury Theatre on that September night without that Act of Parliament. Indeed, the musical's opening -- with stars Tim Curry, Elaine Paige and Paul Nicholas -- was delayed until the laws changed.
Hair forever altered the course for theatrical expression in the United Kingdom. Not only was it the first rock musical to ever freely discuss drugs and "Sodomy" on stage, but it was also the first with full frontal nudity and a mixed race cast. The show enjoyed 1,998 performances, and it only closed when the ceiling of the Shaftesbury Theatre collapsed.
And now you know the rest of the story on why Hair remains a milestone in London theatrical history.
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Outstanding New Broadway Musical American Idiot - WINNER Everyday Rapture Fela!
Outstanding New Broadway Play In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play) Next Fall Red- WINNER Superior Donuts Time Stands Still
Outstanding Broadway Revival of a Musical Finian's Rainbow La Cage Aux Folles - WINNER A Little Night Music Ragtime
Outstanding Broadway Revival of a Play Brighton Beach Memoirs Fences Lend Me A Tenor Oleanna A View From The Bridge - WINNER
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play Circle Mirror Transformation - WINNER Clybourne Park The Orphans' Home Cycle The Temperamentals
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Bloodsong Of Love Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson The Scottsboro Boys YANK! - WINNER
Outstanding Off-Broadway Revival (Play or Musical) The Glass Menagerie - WINNER A Lie Of The Mind Twelfth Night
Outstanding Off-Off-Broadway Show Alice In Slasherland Girls In Trouble In Fields Where They lay Lear MilkMilkLemonade Rescue Me Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History Of The Robot War The Soup Show Viral - WINNER
Outstanding Solo Show (All Venues) A Boy And His Soul - WINNER Zero Hour
Outstanding Unique Off-Off Broadway Experience Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge
Citation for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre Company XIV (Brooklyn)
Outstanding Ensemble Performance (All Venues) Circle Mirror Transformation - WINNER A Lie Of The Mind Twelfth Night
Citations for Excellence by Individual Performers (All Venues) Nina Arianda - Venus In Fur Kate Baldwin - Finian's Rainbow Desiree Burch - The Soup Show Rebecca Comtois - Viral Viola Davis - Fences Jon Michael Hill - Superior Donuts Douglas Hodge - La Cage Aux Folles Sarah Lemp - The Pied Pipers of the Lower East Side & Happy In The Poorhouse Laura Linney - Time Stands Still Jan Maxwell - The Royal Family & Lend Me A Tenor Bobby Steggert - Ragtime & Yank! Amy Lynn Stewart - Viral
Formed in 2009 by a group of the most passionate theatre bloggers on the World Wide Web, the Independent Theater Bloggers Association (ITBA) is currently comprised of over 50 bloggers from New York and well beyond who actively write about live theatre.
The members of the association regularly blog about all aspects and all varieties of both commercial and non-profit theater, from big Broadway musicals performed in Times Square, to the most unique forms of entertainment performed off-off Broadway on the Lower East Side, as well as productions all over the country and all over the world. Collectively, we see thousands of productions, and, without being paid or prodded, we write about them.
The Association was formed out of a desire to provide structure to the quickly growing theatrical blogosphere, as well as to give new media voices a chance to recognize excellence.
I'm proud to be a member of this fledgling organization, and I'm delighted to have cast my ballot for the 2010 ITBA Awards. I may not agree with all the choices, but it just demonstrates the broad range of interest within, and for that, I'm all the more proud.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
What a pity, especially now that the show is finally in about the best shape I've ever seen it, and that includes performances on both sides of the Atlantic.
With original London cast member Janet McTeer taking on the role of Vernonica, plus Jeff Daniels now portraying Michael -- which honestly is much better suited to his talent -- the riotous play is even funnier and more fierce than ever. Topping it off in losing her lunch is Lucy Liu alongside Dylan Baker as her smarmy attorney spouse.
My only quibble with the Broadway production is a seemingly tiny change en route from the West End to the Great White Way. I never had any real issue with the comedy's setting being altered from Paris to New York, which was the biggest change between the two productions, along with the characters' names being tweaked accordingly.
But when I first saw God Of Carnage in London two years ago, there was a line there that struck me to the point I even wrote about it in my initial SOB Review there. Janet McTeer's character essentially shouted at one key point, "We're all fundamentally uncouth." The line and its delivery gripped me. It brilliantly exposed the incivility of this and every other conflict in our modern world.
When I first saw the show on Broadway last year, I was waiting for, yet never heard, that remarkably transformative line. Neither did I hear it when I returned to see it with its current cast. I was left puzzled. Had I actually remembered the London incarnation incorrectly?
Since McTeer would certainly know, I decided to visit the stage door and pose the question to her directly to see if my recollection was just plain wrong. She told me that the line was replaced with "we're all f***ing neanderthals" for American audiences. Was I ever dismayed, particularly since the line had worked so well in London. Guess it just shows to go you what the director, the playwright and the translator must really think of their American audiences -- we're apparently so uncouth that we can't even understand the meaning of the word.
Oh well. Irrespective of that nit, my third time with the show was the charm. And Janet McTeer? Well, she's just plain charming.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
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Sweet Charity (The SOB Review) – Theatre Royal Haymarket, London, United Kingdom
*** (out of ****)
So, let me get right to the point.
I don’t pop my cork for every production of Sweet Charity I see. Aside from Dorothy Fields and Cy Coleman’s wonderfully fizzy score, it’s Neil Simon’s clunky and largely unsatisfying conclusion that usually makes me wonder what’s going on in his mind.
Yet the minute the exceptional Tamzin Outhwaite walked in the joint, er, on the stage, I could tell Matthew White’s was a revival of distinction. Good looking, yet remarkably (and appropriately) unrefined in Menier Chocolate Factory's inherently gritty fashion. As Charity Hope Valentine, this charismatic triple threat has plucky charm to spare, making this Sweet Charity a sheer, shimmying delight.
Mark Umbers proves a quadruple threat in terms of effortlessly taking on Charity’s four (yes, four) romantic interests from start to finish. Josefina Gabrielle and Tiffany Graves turn in respectable trades as Nickie and Helene, respectively. Their breathtaking turn on "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" with Outhwaite is a triple threat cubed. And unlike the last Broadway revival, there's no need to relegate this Charity almost entirely to the sidelines since Outhwaite is more than up to the choreographic challenge.
If you want to have fun, more than a few laughs and above all else a good time -- all while touching your heart -- you've got to get up, you've got to get out to London's Theatre Royal Haymarket and see this Sweet Charity live it.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Broadway Box Office Tweets- Week Ending May 16, 2010
If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know that each Monday, I offer my quick analysis of each preceding week's box office on Broadway.
For your viewing pleasure, here are my tweets in chronological order for the week ending May 16, 2010:
3:40 pm May 16th - WICKED, LION KING, ADDAMS FAMILY, PROMISES PROMISES, BILLY ELLIOT, JERSEY BOYS all earned $1 million+ last week
3:41 pm May 16th - Sold-out WICKED was Broadway's top earning show last week again with $1,549,754 and average ticket price of $107.09
3:42 pm May 16th - FENCES swung for second $1 million week and missed by a hair. Show still top earning Broadway play with $992,252
3:43 pm May 16th - FENCES attracted week's highest capacity on Broadway of 101.7% with average tickets selling for $113.01
3:45 pm May 16th - Broadway's top average ticket price last week was for LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC: $115.37.Show earned $821,698. 95.6% capacity
3:47 pm May 16th - Broadway's lowest earner last week was NEXT FALL: taking in just $152,021. Capacity at 52.8%. Av tix priced: $61.10
3:49 pm May 16th - GOD OF CARNAGE had last week's lowest capacity of just 51.9%. Show earned $292,793 with average tickets priced $65.37
3:50 pm May 16th - EVERYDAY RAPTURE may have had last week's lowest average ticket price-$49.19-but earned $206,516 on 70.9% capacity
3:52 pm May 16th - MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET looks almost like 1/2 million w/ week's top capacity increase of 8.3% to 57.7%. Earned $462,545
3:54 pm May 16th - HAIR had week's biggest capacity drop of 6.9% to 61%. Earned $401,681, which was up from last week.
3:55 pm May 16th - Despite critics, ADDAMS FAMILY & PROMISES PROMISES improve at box office by $20K and $43K respectively.
Feel free to comment and let me know if you're surprised by any of these results.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Everyday Rapture (The SOB Review) – American Airlines Theatre, Roundabout Theatre Company, New York, New York
*** (out of ****)
Dismiss Sherie Rene Scott’s Everyday Rapture as nothing more than Broadway navel-gazing at your own peril. It’s Scott’s very soul that’s laid completely bare in this most improbable of Great White Way shows.
All attention in this "semi-autobiographical" show is skillfully redirected away from her covered midriff -- she is, after all, Amish-lite. Wearing her enormous heart on her sleeve, Scott manages to win ours as she shares her journey from simply being a devout disciple of Jesus to one who becomes inquisitive enough to also ask what would Judy do.
In one of the year’s most hilarious scenes, Scott’s show-stealing tune from Aida takes center stage as she tries reaching out to a young fan (a riotously funny Eamon Foley) with questionable success. But succeed, Everyday Rapture does in a very winning, surpising and often poignant way.
How much is fact or fiction is immaterial. Possessing both a sly self-deprecating wit and one of Broadway’s most beautiful singing voices, Scott enraptures you throughout with talent that’s anything but everyday.
You can’t help but wonder when this self-professed semi-superstar will be able to toss aside all semi-statuses for good.
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That Love Never Dies is merely a shameless rip-off of the original becomes painfully clear after Christine (Sierra Boggess) arrives at New York’s Coney Island to perform a new aria she and Raoul (Joseph Millson) discover has been written by her rejected and disfigured suitor (Ramin Karimloo) from the Paris Opera House. When the words, “We’re just in this for the money” is spoken, the jig is up for all involved.
To Love Never Dies’ credit, both Karimloo and Boggess are in exceptional voice. And there’s a visually arresting projection design from Jon Driscoll. But with the exception of a first act tune “Beauty Underneath” in which director Jack O’Brien must have decided that the time had come to show at least a little money up on the stage, Love Never Dies comes up short in terms of spectacle for which the first show is known.
Instead, this sequel is mostly overwrought that's overdone. (Also overdone the night I attended was the incessant fog machine, which obscured all action on the stage for at least three or four minutes of the climax, making the unintended disembodied voices seem like the true phantoms. It left me thinking "Fog Never Dies.")
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Hair (The SOB Revisit) – Gielgud Theatre, London, United Kingdom
***1/2 (out of ****)
Fresh off a long overnight flight to London, hardly sleeping a wink, I did something risky I had never dared to do before.
Instead of going straight from the airport to my hotel to freshen up (or nap), I opted to zip directly into the West End and purchase a ticket for the Thursday matinee performance of Hair. All fears of dozing off quickly parted. With most of the original Broadway cast intact, Hair reinvigorated me like a desperately needed shampoo, leaving me tingling from my head right down to my toes.
Performing in the much more intimate Gielgud Theatre, the cast shines with more luster than ever. Aside from Will Swenson’s added riffing on the kinds of Berger he is near the top of the show -- fueled in part by a late comer in the audience -- I noticed very few differences from what I had seen on Broadway just a year ago.
However, seeing the show again has made me appreciate the incredible talents of Andrew Kober in his various guises throughout. This actor blew me away and left me wondering how I had neglected mentioning him in my review of the Broadway show.
As the Messianic yet conflicted Claude, Gavin Creel is as strong and astonishing as ever. I’m not sure if it was my jetlag, but his performance sent chills down my spine even more this time around.
After working together for well over a year as part of a true tribe, this cast is firing on all cylinders, making Hair even more powerful than I remembered it one year ago. Hair proved to be just the buzz I needed.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Earlier today, shortly after I landed at London's Heathrow Airport, I made my way almost directly to the West End's Gielgud Theatre so I could see the Broadway transfer of Hair, which just opened.
Jetlag aside (I had virtually no sleep on the flight over), this was truly a Hair-raising experience, partly because most of the original Broadway cast transferred. But what truly made my experience complete was the chance to join the cast on stage for the rousing finale of "Let The Sun Shine In." Nothing like making my West End debut.
It gave me the needed jolt of adrenaline to make it through most of the rest of the day without even so much as one cup of coffee. As for my caffeine fix, I finally got it with Andrew of The West End Whingers immediately prior to taking in Love Never Dies tonight. Was that ever wise.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Getting Reale - Q&A With Tony-Nominated Composer Robert Reale (Part II)
Yesterday, I provided the first part of my recent sitdown with Tony-nominated composer Robert (Rob) Reale.
Today, I'm pleased to provide the second part of my interview in which Reale, discusses the world premiere of Johnny Baseball, which begins performances this Friday at the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Boston.
ART describes Johnny Baseball as follows:
It traces the origin of the Curse to a collision of three orphaned souls: Johnny O’Brien, a hard-luck right-hander on the 1919 Sox; his idol, Babe Ruth; and Daisy Wyatt, a dazzling African-American blues singer and the love of Johnny’s life. These three lives contain both the reason for the Curse and the secret to its end off the bat of Big Papi in 2004. Johnny Baseball packs a thoughtful commentary on American social history into a fun and spirited musical that will bring cheers and tears to baseball fans everywhere.
Here's the second part of my interview with Reale, conducted jointly with Patrick Lee of Just Shows To Go You:
Reale on Getting Started in Musical Theatre
I think at the very beginning, I was most struck by -- it was 25 years ago when I moved here -- and we were doing shows with the 52nd Street Project and we had people donating their time. Like A-List people coming in to help out with these inner-city kids, and I was struck by generous the community is. One of the things I love about theatre in New York and the reason why I think it’s very hard to create theatre outside of New York unless you’ve got an extraordinary town is the support from your peers. That’s extraordinary.
I like to think we’re getting to some of the sweeping stuff. You start out writing musical theatre and you sort of know your own musical history.
For me it was a lot of jazz. I started late. I started at 17. I learned guitar and tried to go to music school and then found out I loved all kinds of music, not just rock and roll. I didn’t get into as much opera in the beginning, but jazz … jazz ensemble … I discovered that.
My brother who founded the 52nd Street Project called me up -- and I was living in Phoenix before I finished school -- he said, “Hey what’s up? Have you thought about writing a musical?” Which I had not. He said, “Because I wrote a play for these seven kids -- a Christmas play -- and now the next year 30 of them showed up, and I don’t know what to do with them. I’ve got to give them a dance number or something.”
So he flew out to Arizona -- we went up to Sedona for a week -- and wrote some songs together and we decided we liked it. I quit the band I was in and moved back here. You know I was out of work for the next ten years. But it was really fun learning to write together. So that’s how we started together. My influences were James Taylor, rock and roll of the time and then a lot of jazz, so I incorporate that.
Reale on Writing Johnny Baseball's Score
This score, it was interesting, and it sounds like a recipe for disaster. It starts in 1919 (but) it’s couched in the 2004 (World Series) Game Four Yankees-Red Sox when Red Sox are on the brink of elimination from the Series, and we’re in the middle innings and a couple characters start telling us the story that happened of why they think the Curse exists, and it’s not in fact the curse of the Bambino -- Babe Ruth had nothing to do with it -- but the curse was based on something else.
In this case, (the curse was) based on racism. The Red Sox were the last team to integrate. So we have an interracial love story, plus love for baseball, and not just Red Sox fans but Yankee fans and any other baseball fans.
It does spread from 1919 to 2004 with the big stops in 1919, 1948 and then back to 2004. So in 2004, I can write whatever I want, obviously. For 1919, I’m restricted to really simple harmonies and then in ’48 I can stretch out a little bit more swing wise, you know. You can still take liberties so when the characters are singing material that is just character-driven, you take a little bit more freedom, liberties with what they’re singing from that point of view.
(In Johnny Baseball, there are) basically three (musical stylings) – 1919, 1948 is a little more advanced harmonically, and then 2004 or what we call our main musical suit for this show.
Reale on Working with Diane Paulus You know, we did a reading with Diane before Hair. We were doing a play called The Last Snowman and we needed a director. (My brother's wife) Jenny said, “You should really meet with Diane Paulus -- you’d really like her.”
Of course, she hadn’t done any of the good stuff we all know now. But she was great. We did a one week workshop with her and Willie and I felt like this is our first reading, can we have her all the time.
And then we asked her to do this production -- a reading, a workshop, of Johnny Baseball -- and then she got the ART position. So then the stars lined up. She’s in Boston. We have a show about the Red Sox. It made sense.
Reale on Diane Paulus' vs. the Volcano
Diane Paulus was stuck by the volcano.
We had an extra week of rehearsal built into the schedule, it was great. And she was here for the first two days, we did read throughs, we started working on the big strokes and with this great music department, we had the cast to ourselves for ten days. So they really know that score cold. Before you go ripping songs out and putting new ones in, they knew it, and the steps and some of the movements with the choreographer and all that sort of thing.
Then the day she was supposed to come back, the volcano happened. So then we lost out on her for like another six days. So they really got to learn the music more than they ever wanted to.
But what was so impressive to all of us on the creative team was that she -- they always refer to her as “The Laser” -- because she knows what needs to be done immediately. She blocked the first act in three days.
It’s like you know how you get an assignment and you’ve got to write something. They give you three days to do it, but you know you can do it in a couple hours. But you still have the time allotted. She really asked if she could direct the whole musical in that time. She spent three days on the first act, three or four days on the second act. We got a good sense of what it would look like. So that was our first hurdle.
Reale on Johnny Baseball's Beginnings
Willie (Reale) and I talked about this while we were in this process over the last year because we got the idea for the show right after the 2003 Series when the Boston Red Sox collapsed. Rick Dresser -- writing the book -- is a rabid Red Sox fan.
They’ve been picking on me up in Boston a little bit because we’re Yankee fans and they’re saying “You’re not mentioning the fact that you’re a Yankees fan.” It’s not really about the team, it’s about how much you love the game and how much you love the story.
Rick and Willie -- Red Sox fan and Yankee fan -- having an idea that is so dramatic, such high drama, it’s this rivalry and this collapse of this team, how interesting the losers are in life, so we wanted to talk about it. So we started kicking it around and by about 2006, we had enough for a reading.
It goes back to what we were just talking about. Willie and I said look at how long it actually takes us to write a musical because we both write for television for a living to support our families that way. We figured out it took us roughly three months to do a first draft and really focusing on it. We could do it in six weeks, but in three months you have enough time to go away and come back and really write a draft.
Plus there’s everything to do with when are you going to get a director, is there a theatre interested, is this a commercially viable idea?
Reale on Comeuppance when Show Comes to New York:
The original title was Red Sox Nation. The people up there asked, “How come you changed the name?” Rick said, “You know, it’s really because this open to a lot more than just Red Sox fans." Red Sox fans should love it because it takes place in their town. But it’s about a lot more than that. And it’s really about this character Johnny O’Brien who they call Johnny Baseball in the play so it makes sense.
Reale on the Liberating Effects of Musical Theatre:
Once you get musical theatre gets into your blood, you’re thinking of any way whether it’s country western, rock and roll or operatic or light opera or even some jazz-type things. There are a lot of things you can do in theatre. You get to take liberties, which I love.
The love for Johnny Baseball just may begin this coming Friday when the Reale Brothers' musical world premieres at Boston's American Repertory Theater. I'd say "Break a leg," but they'll need them to slide into home.
Getting Reale - Q&A With Tony-Nominated Composer Robert Reale (Part I)
In the midst of the final openings of the Broadway season and on the very day that the would-be Times Square car bomber failed, I had the opportunity to sit down a few blocks away with forward-looking composer Robert (Rob) Reale.
A Tony nominee alongside his brother Willie for their collaboration on the underappreciated musical A Year With Frog And Toad, Reale has earned his keep as composer for television shows ranging from "Good Morning America" to "Inside Edition." But just talking with him, it becomes evident very quickly that his heart belongs in the realm of musical theatre, and his enthusiasm is contageous.
Reale and his brother are currently at work on an original tuner called Johnny Baseball, which begins performances this Friday at the American Repertory Theater (ART) in Boston. The Bean Town world premiere is apropos, given how the new musical is about the notorious Red Sox curse and its ultimate repudiation in 2004.
ART describes Johnny Baseball as follows:
It traces the origin of the Curse to a collision of three orphaned souls: Johnny O’Brien, a hard-luck right-hander on the 1919 Sox; his idol, Babe Ruth; and Daisy Wyatt, a dazzling African-American blues singer and the love of Johnny’s life. These three lives contain both the reason for the Curse and the secret to its end off the bat of Big Papi in 2004. Johnny Baseball packs a thoughtful commentary on American social history into a fun and spirited musical that will bring cheers and tears to baseball fans everywhere.
Here's the first part of my interview with Reale, conducted jointly with Patrick Lee of Just Shows To Go You:
Reale on Theatre Bloggers:
I love the fact that blogging is coming to the forefront in theatre. I mean, it’s a force to be reckoned with. Is it not? It’s more like, here’s the people’s critic. Here’s another voice.
Reale on Critical Response in Theatre:
We’re told when you start out in this business some people will say don’t go near what critics have to say because it will make yourself crazy. They can say that basically you’re the second coming and it won’t feel like enough given everything you’ve put into it.
You’ve been killing yourself off this play or this musical for three or four years and then they like it and you feel like, "What do you mean, you didn’t notice…" There’s a million things you could talk about that went into making that play. And then if they say they hate it, then you have all the more reason not to like them.
Reale on American Idiot vs. Rent and Spring Awakening:
The biggest disappointment for me so far (this season) was American Idiot. I saw that online there was a five minute video of them doing "21 Guns" and I thought, "Oh," because I was a huge Rent fan.
I saw it and I sat in front of Jon (Larson’s) parents at New York Theatre Workshop, and you’re swept up and in tears all night listening to the music, and you’re not hearing that the book isn’t working. You’re just sitting listening to the music and crying. And so, of course, it’s going to be great. I still like Rent. I still love the score to this day.
And then I loved Spring Awakening – I loved it. I really enjoyed the music.
I just want to hear some interesting music rather than the same old eight notes -- the tired eight notes we’re trotting out to get our points across.
I didn’t care about the story (in American Idiot). I went with my brother and a new collaborator on the show -- we wanted to get to know each other -- and my girlfriend and we went and checked it out.
We stopped talking about it seven minutes into the appetizer. We were no longer talking about it. There was nothing to talk about. It was like going to a concert. I was bummed. I had such high hopes for it.
Reale on Sondheim and Composers Following in His Footsteps: You have Sondheim. He’s the greatest. He’s certainly the greatest living. And you put him in with theGershwins, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter and lyricists and composers through the last century.
And I’ve also met him before and really loved him.
But there’s one tiny disservice he did us, and I think he spawned a generation of people who wanted to be him. And there’s only one him.
So what I tell the young people -- I write music for television and I have some composers who come in every day -- I just tell them to try and listen to their own voice. They can have all the influences they want, but go your way and don’t try to be somebody else. There was a lot of that in the last 20, 30 years I thought.
I think in terms of what’s on the score. So if I’m hearing a “Dah, dah, dah, dah, dah," it’s all the eighth notes are going long, and I want to hear like Gershwin open up, I want to hear Puccini, the operatic stuff. It’s like when I went to see Adam Guettel’s The Light In The Piazza. It was pretty great. What those guys were attempting was beautiful. I would love to see more of that stuff.
The second part of this interview will focus on Reale's current project, Johnny Baseball.
Nominations Announced For 2nd Annual Independent Theater Bloggers Association Awards
Earlier today, the slate of nominations for the 2nd Annual Independent Theater Bloggers Association (ITBA) Awards were announced. Award nominations were named for excellence in theatre on Broadway, as well as Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway.
The winners of ITBA Awards will be announced on May 20. In addition to specific show categories, ITBA winners will also include citations by individual performers from productions throughout New York City; however, the list of approximately 30 nominees is not being publicly divulged. Patrick Lee of Just Shows To Go You served as ITBA Awards Director.
The nominees include:
Outstanding New Broadway Musical American Idiot Everyday Rapture Fela!
Outstanding New Broadway Play In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play) Next Fall Red Superior Donuts Time Stands Still
Outstanding Broadway Revival of a Musical Finian's Rainbow La Cage Aux Folles A Little Night Music Ragtime
Outstanding Broadway Revival of a Play Brighton Beach Memoirs Fences Lend Me A Tenor Oleanna A View From The Bridge
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play Circle Mirror Transformation Clybourne Park The Orphans' Home Cycle The Temperamentals
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical Bloodsong Of Love Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson The Scottsboro Boys YANK!
Outstanding Off-Broadway Revival (Play or Musical) The Glass Menagerie A Lie Of The Mind Twelfth Night
Outstanding Off-Off-Broadway Show Alice In Slasherland Girls In Trouble In Fields Where They lay Lear MilkMilkLemonade Rescue Me Samuel & Alasdair: A Personal History Of The Robot War The Soup Show Viral
Outstanding Solo Show (All Venues) A Boy And His Soul Zero Hour
Outstanding Unique Off-Off Broadway Experience Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge
Citation for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre Company XIV (Brooklyn)
Outstanding Ensemble Performance (All Venues) Circle Mirror Transformation A Lie Of The Mind Twelfth Night
Formed in 2009 by a group of the most passionate theatre bloggers on the World Wide Web, the Independent Theater Bloggers Association (ITBA) is currently comprised of 50 bloggers from New York and well beyond who actively write about live theatre.
The members of the association regularly blog about all aspects and all varieties of both commercial and non-profit theater, from big Broadway musicals performed in Times Square, to the most unique forms of entertainment performed off-off Broadway on the Lower East Side, as well as productions all over the country and all over the world. Collectively, they see thousands of productions, and, without being paid or prodded, they write about them.
The Association was formed out of a desire to provide structure to the quickly growing theatrical blogosphere, as well as to give new media voices a chance to recognize excellence.
I'm proud to be a member of this fledgling organization, and I'm delighted to have already cast my ballot for the 2010 ITBA Awards.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
That came just hours after this year's slate of Tony nominations were announced. While British import Enron earned a respectable four nods, including almost improbably (but deservedly) in the Best Original Score category for its playwright Lucy Prebble and sound designer Adam Cork, the captivating thrill ride of a play with music failed to win any nods in the Best Play, Best Direction of a Play (Rupert Goold) and Best Lead Actor in a Play (Norbert Leo Butz) categories. So for a show about failure, it seemed to be living up to its name.
But hold on a minute.
I for one regret not writing enthusiastically about this highly stylized gem of a show earlier. In my humble estimation, this breathtaking work should have been nominated in each of the aforementioned categories. But I sensed that Tony nominators, if not New Yorkers in general, are weary of all things Wall Street, let alone allusions to 9/11, which is a shame because we cannot afford to have the complete collapse of either our economy or other towers ever occur again.
Perhaps we just don't like being lectured by the British, although I submit we can learn a lot from our mother country. In Enron, Prebble slyly portrays the slippery slope of self-deception onto which the company's principals placed themselves, beginning with the disingenuous mark to market accounting principles right through the creation of the deceptive LJM. Prebble presents plausible rationales, however deluded, under which Jeffrey Skilling (Butz), Andy Fastow (an exceptional Stephen Kunken) and ultimately Kenneth Lay (Gregory Itzin) were operating.
Butz, as you've never seen him before, is particularly brilliant in his first truly dramatic role on Broadway. Nailing the quirky behavior of an industry wonk, it's simply astonishing to watch his metamorphosis into a ruthless would-be titan. Despite what the nominators have said, I thought his to be the best performance I've yet to see him deliver on stage. Butz is a fierce force with whom to be reckoned.
As for reckoning, Wall Street would do well to remember the phrase coined by Spanish philosopher George Santayana's that, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Lucy Prebble's Enron should be required viewing for everyone associated with Wall Street. If it actually were, the show would be running for years.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
The top nominees are musicals Fela! (a new musical) and La Cage Aux Folles(a revival), each earning 11 nominations. The revival of Fences scored the most nominations among plays with ten nods. With 7 nominations, Redis the highest ranking new play of the season.
While I fully expected the Tony nominators to try and prove that they exude cool by selecting American Idiot among the Best Musical nominations, they also demonstrated an incredible degree of stodginess by placing Million Dollar Quartetin the same category. Fela! is the show to beat in this category.
It was great seeing some love shown for two musical revivals that closed prematurely: Ragtime (7 nominations) and Finian's Rainbow (3). Nevertheless, the critically-acclaimed La Cage Aux Folles is the odds-on favorite to win Best Revival of a Musical.
As for new plays, Red and Time Stands Stillwere expected to be nominated, but the eleventh hour Pulitzer Prize nomination (and ultimate snub) for In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)assured its place among Best Play nominees. Expect to see Red win. Fences will likely win Best Revival of a Play.
Among acting nominations, Jan Maxwell has earned two well-deserved nominations both for her leading performance in The Royal Family and for her featured role in Lend Me A Tenor. It's interesting to note that in that latter category, she'll be competing against her Royal Family co-star Rosemary Harris, who herself was nominated for Best Actress in the same lead role as Maxwell back in the 1975-76 production.
Here is the full list of nominees. Those with an asterisk (*) were on my list if I had been nominating. Those with two asterisks (**) were among those I accurately predicted the Tony nominators would actually choose (that truncated list only went as far as lead acting nominations).
Best Play In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)** - Author: Sarah Ruhl Next Fall - Author: Geoffrey Nauffts Red* ** - Author: John Logan Time Stands Still* ** - Author: Donald Margulies
Best Musical American Idiot** Fela!* ** Memphis* ** Million Dollar Quartet
Best Book of a Musical Everyday Rapture* - Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott Fela!* - Jim Lewis & Bill T. Jones Memphis*- Joe DiPietro Million Dollar Quartet - Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux
Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre The Addams Family* - Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Enron* - Music: Adam Cork Lyrics: Lucy Prebble Fences* - Music: Branford Marsalis Memphis* - Music: David Bryan, Lyrics: Joe DiPietro, David Bryan
Best Revival of a Play Fences* ** Lend Me A Tenor* ** The Royal Family* ** A View From The Bridge**
Best Revival of a Musical Finian's Rainbow* ** La Cage Aux Folles* ** A Little Night Music* ** Ragtime* **
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play Jude Law - Hamlet** Alfred Molina - Red* ** Liev Schreiber - A View From The Bridge Christopher Walken - A Behanding In Spokane** Denzel Washington - Fences* **
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play Viola Davis - Fences* ** Valerie Harper - Looped* ** Linda Lavin - Collected Stories* ** Laura Linney - Time Stands Still* ** Jan Maxwell - The Royal Family* **
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Kelsey Grammer - La Cage Aux Folles Sean Hayes - Promises, Promises Douglas Hodge - La Cage Aux Folles* ** Chad Kimball - Memphis* Sahr Ngaujah - Fela!* **
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical Kate Baldwin - Finian's Rainbow* ** Sherie Rene Scott - Everyday Rapture* ** Montego Glover - Memphis* ** Christiane Noll - Ragtime* ** Catherine Zeta-Jones - A Little Night Music* **
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play David Alan Grier - Race Stephen McKinley Henderson - Fences Jon Michael Hill - Superior Donuts* Stephen Kunken - Enron* Eddie Redmayne - Red*
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play Maria Dizzia - In the Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)* Rosemary Harris - The Royal Family* Jessica Hecht - A View From The Bridge Scarlett Johansson - A View From The Bridge* Jan Maxwell - Lend Me A Tenor*
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical Kevin Chamberlin - The Addams Family* Robin De Jesús - La Cage Aux Folles* Christopher Fitzgerald - Finian's Rainbow* Levi Kreis - Million Dollar Quartet* Bobby Steggert - Ragtime
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical Barbara Cook - Sondheim On Sondheim Katie Finneran - Promises, Promises* Angela Lansbury - A Little Night Music* Karine Plantadit - Come Fly Away Lillias White - Fela!*
Best Direction of a Play Michael Grandage - Red* Sheryl Kaller - Next Fall Kenny Leon - Fences* Gregory Mosher - A View from the Bridge
Best Direction of a Musical Christopher Ashley - Memphis* Marcia Milgrom Dodge - Ragtime Terry Johnson - La Cage Aux Folles* Bill T. Jones - Fela!*
Best Choreography Rob Ashford - Promises, Promises Bill T. Jones - Fela!* Lynne Page - La Cage Aux Folles Twyla Tharp - Come Fly Away
Best Orchestrations Jason Carr - La Cage Aux Folles* Aaron Johnson - Fela!* Jonathan Tunick - Promises, Promises Daryl Waters & David Bryan - Memphis
Best Scenic Design of a Play John Lee Beatty - The Royal Family* Alexander Dodge - Present Laughter* Santo Loquasto - Fences Christopher Oram - Red
Best Scenic Design of a Musical Marina Draghici - Fela! Christine Jones - American Idiot* Derek McLane - Ragtime Tim Shortall - La Cage aux Folles*
Best Costume Design of a Play Martin Pakledinaz - Lend Me a Tenor* Constanza Romero - Fences David Zinn - In The Next Room (Or The Vibrator Play)* Catherine Zuber - The Royal Family*
Best Costume Design of a Musical Marina Draghici - Fela!* Santo Loquasto - Ragtime* Paul Tazewell - Memphis Matthew Wright - La Cage Aux Folles*
Best Lighting Design of a Play Neil Austin - Hamlet* Neil Austin - Red Mark Henderson - Enron* Brian MacDevitt - Fences
Best Lighting Design of a Musical Kevin Adams - American Idiot* Donald Holder - Ragtime Nick Richings - La Cage Aux Folles Robert Wierzel - Fela!
Best Sound Design of a Play Acme Sound Partners - Fences Adam Cork - Enron* Adam Cork - Red Scott Lehrer - A View from the Bridge
Best Sound Design of a Musical Jonathan Deans - La Cage Aux Folles Robert Kaplowitz - Fela!* Dan Moses Schreier and Gareth Owen - A Little Night Music Dan Moses Schreier - Sondheim On Sondheim
This year's Tony Awards will be televised on CBS during a three-hour live broadcast on Sunday, June 13.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles Limited run extended through May 31, 2011 (Show will go on hiatus starting January 15 and reopen at Brooks Atkinson Theatre on February 8)
Rock Of Ages - Open-ended run (Show will go on hiatus starting January 9 and reopen at Helen Hayes Theatre in March)
As someone who has been involved in both politics and public relations, it's no wonder I love watching theatre. Good or bad, it's the raw energy of seeing a live performance that gets my adrenaline pumping. From the moment I saw my very first Broadway show ("Annie" in London in 1979), I was hooked. Now I see as many as 70 shows each year ranging from soaring musicals to two-hander plays. And these eyes just may be in an audience near you!
Million Dollar Quartet (The SOB Review) - Nederlander Theatre, New York, New York
