Whoopi's Bringing Her Act To Broadway
UPDATE: October 5, 2010
Today,
it was announced that the
Sister Act musical will come to Broadway in Spring 2011.
Update: On October 5, it was further announced that Sister Act would play the Broadway Theatre with previews starting on March 24, 2011, and opening night scheduled for April 20.
This stage version of
Whoopi Goldberg's hit
1992 film originated at the Pasedena Playhouse in November 2006, but it's been in London where the show's been fine-tuned over the last year or so.
While the woman born as
Caryn Elaine Johnson will retain the production credit she earned in the current West End version,
Jerry Zaks is being brought in to direct the Main Stem incarnation.
Sister Act currently boasts a book from Cheri and
Bill Steinkellner and
original score by
Glenn Slater and
Alan Menken.
Patina Miller stepped into Goldberg's shoes as Doloris van Cartier for the London production, but Goldberg herself is
set to step into the habit of Mother Superior currently worn by British stage veteran
Sheila Hancock this August.
As for the Broadway staging, there is still no word on casting, venue or firm dates. But could Goldberg active participation in the London production serve as a harbinger of what's to come on the Great White Way?
I'm saying my prayers.
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: Alan Menken, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Glenn Slater, Jerry Zaks, Musical, Patina Miller, Sheila Hancock, Sister Act, Whoopi Goldberg
101 Dalmatians (The SOB Review) - Orpheum Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota*1/2 (out of ****)Given the wonderful seminal movie-going experience
Disney's 1961 animated feature "
101 Dalmatians" afforded me, I eagerly anticipated and chowed down on everything from its initial release on videotape and DVD to movie memorabilia to the
1996 feature film.
So when I learned that Tony Award-winning director
Jerry Zaks would be helming a stage musical version, how could I resist? Turns out this tale is far from man's best friend.
When it comes to the non-Disney touring production of
The 101 Dalmatians Musical that made its initial bow in Minneapolis last week, there's no beating around the bushes (which, parents should duly note, are apparently inhabited with dogs in serious heat). Unfortunately, it's all bow, with too little wow. Some of those gasps you're likely to hear are parents who are caught off-guard by several instances of off-color humor.
It would be easy for any wag to dismiss the tuner as one giant dog of a show, but that really wouldn't be fair to any canine. Its creators may insist that this
101 Dalmatians is meant to reflect Dodie Smith's original 1956 children's novel, but it readily becomes apparent that this is merely a feeble attempt to cash-in on the far superior Disney forebears.
Act One certainly shows some promise, including flourishes in its score reminiscent of the heyday for 70s rock band
Styx. That's in part because it's been written by the group's front-man
Dennis DeYoung. Unfortunately, the second act becomes hackneyed and the score is simply derivative.
But that's a mutt point if you deliver on what "101 Dalmatians" fans have enjoyed most about the earlier incarnations: the cute furry dogs and the fiendish Cruella DeVil. In this
101 Dalmatians, both aren't on stage nearly enough even if they represent the most satisfying aspects of the show.
With varying effect, the adult characters warily maneuver the stage in costumes built for stilts so as to appear larger than the the humans portraying Pongo, Missus and their own litter of puppies (played by children). To supplement these "dogs," up to 15 genuine dalmatians are used, along with what appear to be cardboard cutouts, to amass the quantities the title demands.
Sorry to say, these real dogs are only used at the end of each act. At the conclusion of the show, the real dalmatians chew the scenery quite literally by putting on a pleasing display of impressively stupid pet tricks. Considering that they elicit a much larger audience response than the rest of the show put together (with one notable exception that I'll get to in a moment), they demonstrate just how little meat is on this
101 Dalmatians' bones.
As for that exception, the enormously talented
Rachel York is a delirious delight as the devilish Cruella. Despite being criminally underutilized, the wickedly funny York radiates the musical's only real heat whenever she blazes across the stage. She really sinks her teeth into the production and employs her considerable vocal skills to tremendous effect. York is also one of the few actors in this production who seems truly comfortable on those stilts.
Suffice to say, without York,
101 Dalmatians would just sit there with no bark and no bite. And that's a doggone shame.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: 101 Dalmatians, Dennis DeYoung, Jerry Zaks, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Musical, Rachel York, The SOB Review, Touring Production
Were Critics Cheering Bronx Tale?Last evening, the 2007-08 Theatrical Season's first solo show opened at Broadway's
Walter Kerr Theatre. Directed by
Jerry Zaks,
A Bronx Tale is told by
Chazz Palminteri as he recalls his youth. Critics were lukewarm to positive.
Proclaiming it "enormously entertaining,"
Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press is pretty enthusiastic: "Theater these days is awash in one-person shows, but what makes this one particularly effective is its ability to conjure up a specific time and place, not to mention a parade of appealing characters, even if some are a little less than reputable....The craggy Palminteri, nattily dressed in gray slacks and a blue shirt, has a disarmingly simple way of bringing these people to life."
Despite what he characterizes as a "highly melodramatic climax,"
Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's
Daily News offers a mostly upbeat review: "There's a familiar mean-streets morality tale here. But Palminteri writes with vivid detail that makes the past come alive. Under Jerry Zaks' smooth direction (except for some maudlin music designed to pull heartstrings), Palminteri acts with gusto and bravado."
"A warm-hearted memoir" is how
Charles Isherwood of
The New York Times describes the tale: "As he strides across the stage with a lively gait, nimbly sliding from one role to another, he exudes a moment-to-moment engagement that suggests that this revival is not a lazy ego trip but a rejuvenating act of faith in the complementary powers of acting and storytelling....
A Bronx Tale may not possess the emotional breadth or sophistication of “The Sopranos.” But, appealingly, it lacks that show’s brutality too."
Downplaying this as "a harmless 90 minutes,"
Linda Winer of Newsday damns with faint praise: "A Bronx Tale," which opened last night at the Walter Kerr Theatre, is a walk down memory lane of what was already a walk down memory lane. Palminteri is a fine mimic and re-creates all the people who shaped his life with the confidence and affection of the man who lived it."
While noting that it's "mildly entertaining and impressively acted,"
David Rooney of
Variety offers a mixed assessment: "Charming or chilling, the recollections in
A Bronx Tale are touched by affection, sentimentality and the poignant distance of time. If the solo show is not exactly robust theater, it nonetheless gets by on the writer-actor's strong personal connection to the semi-autobiographical material."
In his two-star review,
New York Post's
Clive Barnes was hardly moved: "Palminteri is more a journeyman actor who has painted himself into a virtuoso corner. After a rather stilted start, he warms to the task, though some of his characters still seem more credible than others. Just how autobiographical and unadorned his tale is, I'm not sure - certainly, the long arm of coincidence is pulled like elastic, and the bile of life is much sweetened by the sugar of sentimentality."
A Bronx Tale performs at the Walter Kerr Theatre through February 10.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Click here for ticket information.Related Stories:A Bronx Tale (The SOB Review) (October26, 2007)
Bronx Boy Takes Bite Out Of Big Apple Tonight (October 25, 2007)
Bronx Tale Set To Begin Anew In Manhattan (August 8, 2007)
Labels: A Bronx Tale, Broadway, Chazz Palminteri, Critics' Capsule, Jerry Zaks, Play, Revival, Special Theatrical Event
Bronx Tale Set To Begin Anew In ManhattanAccording to Variety,
Chazz Palminteri is set to make his Broadway debut this fall when he resurrects his 1989 one-man show
A Bronx Tale under the direction of
Jerry Zaks. The limited run engagement is set to play the
Walter Kerr Theatre (recently vacated by a
surprisingly stormy Grey Gardens)
for 18 weeks beginning this October.
A silver screen version of "
A Bronx Tale" was brought to life by
Robert DeNiro in 1993.
Despite his well-deserved Academy Award nomination thirteen years ago for "
Bullets Over Broadway" and fine work in other films like "
The Usual Suspects," audiences have seen precious little of Palminteri recently. In fact, it's been five years since I caught him in
The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui -- staged by the late
Tony Randall's
National Actors Theater -- his last stage appearance in New York.
So I'll be interested in seeing whether this new version of Palminteri's old tale can put him back on the map. I'm hoping it does.
This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).
Labels: A Bronx Tale, Chazz Palminteri, Film, First Word On New Show, Grey Gardens, Jerry Zaks, One Man Show, Play, Revival, Robert DeNiro, The Resistible Rise Of Arturo Ui, Tony Randall
