Early Booking Of Mormon For Broadway Begins
Want to be among the very first to get tickets for
The Book Of Mormon musical on Broadway?
Then you must visit its creators' "
South Park" site where they say, "tickets are now on sale to 'South Park' fans only." Truth is, all anyone needs to do is click on the link and they'll have access to the tickets.
Since yesterday's
news release doesn't really say much about what to expect from the musical itself, you'll have to follow the
link to tickets to unearth any real description of the show:
From Trey Parker and Matt Stone, four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of "South Park" comes this hilarious Broadway musical about a pair of mismatched Mormon boys sent on a mission to a place that’s about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get. The Book of Mormon is written in collaboration with Robert Lopez, the Tony Award-winning writer of Avenue Q, and co-directed by Mr. Parker and three-time Tony nominee Casey Nicholaw (Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone). Performances begin at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on February 24, 2011. Contains explicit language.
Honestly, a better understanding of the upcoming work can be found in this video:
Why do I have a suspicion that the powers that be in Salt Lake City will be keeping a close eye on this show?
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.
Labels: Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Matt Stone, Musical, Robert Lopez, South Park, The Book Of Mormon, Trey Parker
Elf Spreads Early Christmas CheerNo doubt banking that the best way to spread Christmas Cheer, is singing loud for all to hear,
Warner Brothers Theatre Ventures is returning to the Great White Way with the musical version of one of my recent Holiday film favorites:
Elf (2003).
Elf - The Musical is set to play Broadway's
Al Hirschfeld Theatre beginning on November 2, 2010. The tuner will open on November 14, just in time for the Holiday season that begins in earnest over Thanksgiving.
The musical will star
Sebastian Arcelus as Buddy,
Amy Spanger as Jovie,
Marc Jacoby as Walter,
Beth Leavel as Emily, and the most natural actor I can think of to fill Santa's shoes,
George Wendt.
Currently scheduled through January 2, 2011, the limited engagement will get a boost this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. when
Arcelus officially opens the Hirshfeld box office with prize giveaways including chances for young audience members to win walk-on roles.
On the official
Elf - The Musical website, the stage adaptation is
described as follows:
One of the most beloved Hollywood holiday hits of the past decade is now a full grown Broadway musical! Featuring an all-star creative team led by three time Tony-nominated director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw (Spamalot), Tony-winning book writers Thomas Meehan (The Producers) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) and the Tony-nominated songwriting team of Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (The Wedding Singer), Elf is the one present everyone wants this holiday season.
Will audiences be willing to pass through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and perhaps even walk through the Lincoln Tunnel just to see this stage adaptation? As Broadway's only real Holiday show this season, the production just might provide the elfin magic Warner Brothers is hoping for.
This is
Steve On Broadway (SOB).
In keeping with the new 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. Labels: Amy Spanger, Beth Leavel, Bob Martin, Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Chad Beguelin, Elf-The Musical, Film, First Word On New Show, George Wendt, Marc Jacoby, Matthew Sklar, Musical, Sebastian Arcelus, Thomas Meehan
Confirmed Broadway Booking For "Mormon"Yesterday, producers confirmed dates for the upcoming Broadway musical
The Book Of Mormon.
A collaboration among "
South Park" creators
Trey Parker and
Matt Stone and
Avenue Q's
Robert Lopez, the
Casey Nicholaw-helmed tuner will begin previews at the
Eugene O'Neill Theatre on February 24, 2011, and open one month later on March 24.
According to
MTV:
The story follows two modern-day Mormons in Africa, with scenes from the life of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saints movement, peppered throughout.
New York Post columnist Michael Riedel last week
labeled the show as:
Hilarious, audacious -- and guaranteed to offend just about everybody ... I know of several insiders who are still sore from laughing so hard.
With no sacred cows among this team, you can no doubt expect an idiotically irreverent, completely crude and overtly politically incorrect musical.
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.Labels: Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Confirmed, First Word On New Show, Matt Stone, Musical, Robert Lopez, The Book Of Mormon, Trey Parker
Did LA Critics Think Minsky's Worth Raiding For Musical?No doubt wistfully hoping for a Main Stem three-peat of sorts, Los Angeles'
Center Theatre Group -- which hosted the launch of two would-be Rialto musicals that would go on to be Tony nominated for Best Musical:
Bob Martin's
The Drowsy Chaperone and
John Kander and
Fred Ebb's
Curtains -- is currently producing the long-gestating, Broadway-aimed
Minsky's.
With score by the venerable
Charles Strouse and
Susan Birkenhead, this new tuner is being touted as a good old-fashioned musical comedy. It also marks another collaboration for Bob Martin and
Casey Nicholaw -- just as the former wrote
The Drowsy Chaperone's clever book with the latter directing and choreographing, they possess the same credits for
Minsky's.
If collaboration is the word, it may come as no surprise that their Tony-winning Best Featured Actress
Beth Leavel is also cast in this production. Leavel is joined by a truly terrific-sounding cast, including
Christopher Fitzgerald -- who is finally receiving his due as leading man in the eponymous role --
Kevin Cahoon,
John Cariani and
Rachel Dratch, along with two actors who made
Hairspray's Edna Turnblad their own as major Great White Way replacements:
Paul Vogt and
George Wendt.
So far, so good, right?
Minsky's opened Sunday night and the reviews were, well, a bit skimpy on the praise. But as
Michael Riedel points out, there's apparently enough, er, material there to keep moving forward -- albeit with some major tailoring -- to make it Broadway ready.
Leaving "
Minsky’s not with the tingly sensation of having seen something exciting and maybe a little sinful, but with the feeling that you’ve attended a comforting church service,"
The New York Times'
Charles Isherwood practically damns with the faintest traces of praise: "
Minsky’s is a musical comedy that too often seems to be looking back to familiar formulas, dusting off and sprucing up clichés from the showbiz trunk for another repurposing....
Minsky’s seems content to do the old steps in the old style, on the assumption that sentimental escapism presented with gusto and polish can turn the trick one more time.... They call it burlesque, and the sequins are used a little more sparingly, but it feels a lot like plain-vanilla Broadway.... The short and slightly portly Mr. Fitzgerald makes an appealingly offbeat leading man in the tough-talking but soft-hearted vein.... Ms. Dratch and Mr. Cariani as the matched misfits almost steal the show with a sour-grapes duet, 'I Want a Life.'... On the whole the score is bubbly and pleasant, with an accent on brassy energy."
Calling the show a "nostalgic and not terribly authentic backstage musical
," Los Angeles Times critic
Charles McNulty also offers a mixed review: "[T]hough far from terrible, isn’t quite the electric crowd-pleaser they’re intending. Intermittently delightful, the musical is just as intermittently bumbling, coming alive mostly in the colorful burlesque sequences and taking a sharp nose-dive when attempts are made to contain the parade of skimpily clad dancing girls and shamelessly hoary gags into a traditional book musical.... There are plenty of nifty one-liners and deliriously silly shenanigans, but the book, which has been transplanted from the mid-’20s (in which the film was set) to the Depression-clobbered summer of 1930, has that lumpy look of a dish that’s been fiddled with by too many cooks. Even its dire economic relevance feels belabored.... But the tone of the show could have benefited from a few more grains of documentary truth and a whole lot less musical-comedy fraudulence.... Fitzgerald, who possesses a great trumpet of a voice, excels when a gaggle of leggy showgirls is circling him to the rhythmic bleats of the live orchestra. Leading man he’s not, but he more than compensates with an offbeat charisma.... Leavel ... can be counted on for oomph.... An eccentric constellation of supporting players distracts from the musical’s more threadbare patches."
Despite declaring, "Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance,"
Variety's Bob Verini also gives the show a mixed critique: "The potential of a tuner titled
Minsky's ... is partly realized in its Ahmanson Theater premiere thanks to a strong Charles Strouse/Susan Birkenhead score and state-of-the-art musical staging by helmer-choreographer Casey Nicholaw. On the debit side are a thin, uninvolving storyline and curiously antiseptic take on the raffish art form the tuner purports to celebrate.... Irresistible throughout is the tuner's cavalcade of song and dance.... Aside from Leavel, tuner is light on top bananas and comics generally, though Paul Vogt, John Cariani and Rachel Dratch are amusingly off-kilter zanies. Fitzgerald juggles Billy's machinations with
Mike Todd's brash vitality until he's turned cute and doughy by the love plot, which practically evaporates even as he and (
Katharine) Leonard speak the lines."
Concluding that "the outlines of a well-shaped musical shine through
," The Orange County Record's
Paul Hodgins nevertheless lays bear what he sees as the show's shortfalls: "There are moments of great fun, inspiration and even brilliance in this show.... Indeed, on the level of simple entertainment it succeeds just fine. But in its present form, Martin's contributions to Hunter's original book result in touches of whimsy (mostly welcome) that don't always gibe with other parts of the tale.... The songs are one of
Minsky's strong points.... They smartly capture the sass and verbal adroitness of the time and place.... Nicholaw captures the libertine spirit of classic burlesque with a few elaborately choreographed breast-baring (but not nipple-revealing) moments. Nicholaw shows us that Golden Age burlesque was primarily spectacle and as much a comic as an erotic diversion. I suspect
Minsky's creators know there's plenty of work to be done.... The talented Beth Leavel is given too little to do as Billy's worldly sidekick, Maisie. Fitzgerald's performance is somewhat monochromatic."
I'll be keeping a close eye on this show as it continues making its long journey to Broadway. But right now, the Los Angeles production perhaps seems as far away from its end goal as possible.
UPDATE (2.13.09, 1:45 p.m. EST): According to Playbill, Minsky's will bow on the Great White Way sometime during the 2009-10 Theatrical Season.This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Beth Leavel, Bob Martin, Casey Nicholaw, Charles Strouse, Christopher Fitzgerald, Critics' Capsule, John Cariani, Kevin Cahoon, Los Angeles, Minsky's, Rachel Dratch, Susan Birkenhead, Tryout
It Just Was Not To BeJust yesterday, I was in the
Manhattan Theatre Club's
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre to take in
Nick Whitby's adaptation of
To Be Or Not To Be.
At one point yesterday, I was asked if I thought the show would close early. Since Manhattan Theatre Club is a non-profit with a considerable subscriber base (myself included), my response was "no" for that reason.
Well, looks like I was only half right. Less than 24 hours later comes news that the play will close one week early on November 16 ... just as soon as the subcription portion of the run concludes.
Originally plagued by casting changes, then by rumors of conflicts between Nicholaw and Whitby, followed by roundly
bad reviews and finally by less than 50% capacity crowds, it's little wonder that MTC has chosen to close shop one week early. When the show closes, it will have "enjoyed" just 40 regular performances as opposed to the 48 initially scheduled.
Personally, the show wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but I'll provide my SOB Review a little later.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Closing Notices, Film, Manhattan Theatre Club, Nick Whitby, Play, To Be Or Not To Be
Answering The Critical Question Of To Be Or Not To BeLast evening,
To Be Or Not To Be --
Nick Whitby's adaptation of
Ernst Lubitsch's satirical
1942 film -- opened at the
Manhattan Theatre Club's
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (formerly the
Biltmore). Helmed by
Casey Nicholaw, the comedy stars
David Rasche, and
Jan Maxwell, along with
Peter Benson,
Robert Dorfman,
Steve Kazee,
Peter Maloney,
Michael McCarty,
Kristine Nielsen,
Brandon Perler,
Rocco Sisto,
Jimmy Smagula and
Marina Squerciati.
When answering the titular question, critics were largely saying, "No!"
Deadpanning that it's a "walking corpse of a comedy,"
The New York Times'
Ben Brantley sniffs: "Chalk it up as the latest confirmation of the principle that a classic movie does not a classic play make.... Like many of its screen-to-stage predecessors, this one feels like a faint, blotchy carbon of its prototype. And while I’m all for shows that give performers as talented as Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Rasche gainful employment, it hurts to see them squeezing themselves into shoes originally worn with devil-may-care comfort by
Carole Lombard and
Jack Benny."
Concluding that "we have endured far too many herring and hambone jokes to be manipulated,"
Newsday's
Linda Winer offers a bit of a mixed assessment: "Nick Whitby's new play ... has neither the macabre courage of the original nor the singular
Mel-ness of the
redo. What Casey Nicholaw's production does have is a cast, headed by Jan Maxwell and David Rasche, forced to work way too hard to find a twinkle of charm, much less hilarity and heartache, in this return to this odd trifle-within-a-tragedy."
Regretting this as a "nice idea, but at least in this clumsy attempt, it's not to be,"
Variety's
David Rooney laments: "Whitby's inert reworking of
Edwin Justus Mayer's screenplay for the Lubitsch movie simply slaps it onstage, with embellishments that add nothing and supposed expedients that slow things down. Part of the blame has to go to director Casey Nicholaw's poor feel for pacing, flow and transitions, resulting in a production with the lumpy sluggishness of a fatigued road show. But the writing is so pedestrian it's hard to gauge whether more confident handling might have made a difference."
Noting that "most of the laughs seem lost in translation in the adaptation,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News awards just two out of five stars: "The ingredients for comedy are in place -- a self-loving leading man, a flirty leading lady, backstage antics, espionage and impersonations. The show is hobbled by too many off-target jokes and off-putting pacing. The play should gallop, but the staging by Casey Nicholaw moves in sluggish fits and starts.... Rasche ... makes a suitably egotistical Josef, a ham down to the bone.... Maxwell, in Lombard tresses and clingy dresses, performs with signature panache."
New York Post's
Clive Barnes is back with a vengeancem, along with a one-half star rating: "
To Be or Not To Be is a shabby little play. It bears the marks of most bad comedies - it's not funny, and it's incomprehensible.... David Rasche as Tura and, especially, Jan Maxwell as his wife are both good, but certainly no patch on Benny, with his double-takes, or Lombard, with her voluptuousness. Most of the supporting cast -- including Michael McCarty, Kristine Nielsen, Peter Maloney and Rocco Sisto -- do their best to lighten the Stygian gloom cast on everything by Casey Nicholaw's ditch-water dull direction."
I'll be taking in this limited run over the next few days and will weigh in shortly thereafter. But for the time being, it sounds like this production was not meant to be.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Casey Nicholaw, Critics' Capsule, David Rasche, Film, Jan Maxwell, Manhattan Theatre Club, Nick Whitby, Play, To Be Or Not To Be
MTC Opening: Consider It "To Be"
MTC Opening: Consider It "To Be"This evening, the
Manhattan Theatre Club's first play of the 2008-09 Theatrical Season opens at the newly renamed
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (formerly the
Biltmore).
Based on
Ernst Lubitsch's satirical
1942 film of the same name,
To Be Or Not To Be is adapted for the stage by
Nick Whitby and directed by
Casey Nicholaw. The limited run of
To Be Or Not To Be is scheduled through November 23.
Originally,
Craig Bierko was to star, but he has since been replaced by
David Rasche, who is perhaps best known for his mid-1980s television show "
Sledge Hammer!" Rasche will be joined by
Jan Maxwell, along with
Peter Benson,
Robert Dorfman,
Steve Kazee,
Peter Maloney,
Michael McCarty,
Kristine Nielsen,
Brandon Perler,
Rocco Sisto,
Jimmy Smagula and
Marina Squerciati.
Whether critics think this is a show that should be or shouldn't be, that is now the question. Find out what they say in my critics' capsule tomorrow.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, David Rasche, Film, Jan Maxwell, Manhattan Theatre Club, Nick Whitby, Opening Night, Play, To Be Or Not To Be
Broadway Preview: To Be Or Not To BeOn Monday, the
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) announced principal casting for its upcoming world premiere Broadway production of
Nick Whitby's
To Be Or Not To Be.
The show will be headlined by
Craig Bierko (most recently seen on the Great White Way in the short-lived 2001-02 musical
Thou Shalt Not) opposite
Jan Maxwell (last seen on a Main Stem stage in 2007's short-lived
Coram Boy).
Based on
Ernst Lubitsch's satirical
1942 film that took aim squarely at the Nazis, this
Casey Nicholaw-helmed dark comedy will begin its limited run at MTC's
Biltmore Theatre on September 11, with opening night set for October 2. The play is scheduled to run through December 7.
Considering this play is a send-up of a film that was used to ridicule one of the United States' worst enemies, I find it an interesting coincidence that two of the key dates associated with this production's debut and end (
September 11 and
December 7, respectively) are dates that will forever live in infamy among Americans. The original flick premiered less than one year after the United States entered World War II (thanks to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941), and it famously starred
Carole Lombard opposite
Jack Benny, along with a very young
Robert Stack.
MTC's Web site describes the play as follows:
At the Polski Theatre in 1939 Warsaw, Joseph and Maria Tura are about to open yet another smash with their theatrical troupe. As the German invasion gets underway, the theatre is closed by the censors, forcing the troupe to face desperate times. But when a handsome young bomber pilot enlists their help to catch a spy, what is a group of actors to do? This hilarious black comedy is an ingenious commentary on the World War II era and an inspired tribute to the timeless joys of the theatre.
With some of the excellent works MTC has produced over the few years, this could be one heck of a production worth seeing.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Related Stories:Broadway Preview: The Seagull (July 1, 2008)
Broadway Preview: Equus (June 30, 2008)
Broadway Preview: A Tale Of Two Cities (June 28, 2008)
Broadway Preview: for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (June 25, 2008)
Broadway Preview: [title of show] (June 24, 2008)
Broadway: What's Next (June 20, 2008)
Labels: Broadway, Casey Nicholaw, Craig Bierko, Film, First Word On New Show, Jan Maxwell, Manhattan Theatre Club, Nick Whitby, Play, To Be Or Not To Be, World Premiere
