Interview: Joe DiPietro Talks Writing ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It,’ His Tony Nomination and Casting Stars in Broadway Shows

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 16:53 — 11.6MB)

The new Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It has been nominated for a whopping 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Kelli O’Hara), Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Michael McGrath) and Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Judy Kaye).

Nominated for Best Book of a Musical and one of the main forces behind the hit show is Joe DiPietro.

Joe is already a two-time Tony Winner for Memphis for Best Book and Best Score, wrote The Toxic Avenger, All Shook Up and I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – which has the distinction of being the longest running musical revue in off-Broadway history.

Nice Work If You Can Get It stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O’Hara and features songs by George and Ira Gershwin and tells the story of bootleggers, chorus girls, playboys and politicians is set 1920s.

Joe is terrifically funny and an all-around great guy. I talked to him recently about his nomination, how he came to write Nice Work, his writing process and his thoughts on casting stars in Broadway shows.

Oh, and if you ever see Joe on the streets of NYC, stop him and tell him he needs to take a vacation. He needs a break!

For tickets and more information about Nice Work If You Can Get It, click here Read more

Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Written by Gywn Gilliss

Winning Concept – The 20 Mile March

Creating a Successful Marketing Campaign

I love reading about adventurers, explorers, those who dared to strike out and accomplish something major. Even if they didn’t change the world, their stories are worth hearing about… inspiring to say the least. And there’s a lot to be learned in reading biographies of these extraordinary people. You can apply their choices to your life as a Warrior- Actor.

For example, THE SOUTH POLE. A story of two adversaries. Amundsen and his counterpart, Scott, were both extremely courageous men, two very different (and probably difficult) personalities. Jim Collins, best selling author who wrote Good to Great, and Great by Choice, explores the personality traits of highly successful CEO’s and of each explorer. Because that’s what it gets down to in life- PERSONALITY. PERSONAL TRAITS. Read more

Philip Seymour Hoffman on Playing Willy Loman in ‘Death of a Salesman’

The cast of Death of a Salesman held a panel for Tony Award voters recently with none other than Meryl Streep moderating. The panel included the cast (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andrew Garfield, Linda Emond) and Director Mike Nichols and while the press wasn’t admitted, the New York Post‘s Michael Riedel dispatched some of his operatives to ferret out the happenings. 

You can read the article here, but the one thing I found interesting was a quote from Hoffman on playing Willy Loman.

Willy Loman takes over your life, he said. “You wake up, you’re Willy Loman. You go to lunch, you’re Willy Loman. You go to dinner, you’re Willy Loman. You’re Willy Loman all the time.” Read more

7 Clips and an Interactive Trailer from ‘Snow White & The Huntsman’

Here are 7 clips from the upcoming film, Snow White & the Huntsman, which opens wide on June 1st. 

The film stars Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Bob Hoskins and Ian McShane and as the official synopsis writes, is about Snow White, “the only person in the land fairer than the evil queen, who is out to destroy her. But what the wicked ruler never imagined is that the young woman threatening her reign has been training in the art of war with the huntsman who was dispatched to kill her.”

Also, be sure to check out the new interactive trailer for the film.  Read more

Barry Sonnenfeld Talks Shooting ‘Men in Black 3′ Without a Finished Script and Josh Brolin Channeling Tommy Lee Jones

Men in Black 3 arrives in theaters this weekend after perhaps the most tumultuous production periods of a major blockbuster in recent memory. But don’t take my word for it. Ask director Barry Sonnenfeld (who also directed the first two installments), who reveals that like other rushed-into-production “threequels” Jurassic Park III and Alien 3, Men in Black 3 started production without a finished script.

He tells Reuters, “We had a script and knew where we were going, but only the first act was ready to shoot. So we shot the first act up until just before Christmas. We scheduled the movie to have a several-month hiatus because the other acts still needed additional pre-production. So instead of coming back from Christmas break two weeks later, we came back and started pre-production on those next two thirds of the movie. We didn’t start shooting for another six or eight weeks after that” (Note: shooting didn’t actually start up again until March). Read more

Steve Martin on Writing the Songs for Shakespeare in the Park’s Production of ‘As You Like It’

Nearly every year an established acting star or two is featured in New York City’s Shakespeare in the Park productions, and this year is no different. 

Well, actually it is quite different because one of the major names involved in this year’s production of As You Like It is none other than Steve Martin.

But don’t expect to see Martin on stage speaking in iambic pentameter.  Building on his recent success as a bluegrass musician, Martin is composing original music for the production.  However, Martin tells the Associated Press that he’s been having trouble working with the Bard of Stratford, quipping, “He’s very difficult to work with.”

The director of As You Like It, Daniel Sullivan, set the production in the rural American South of 1840 and wanted original music for the production.  Sullivan and his team must have thought that the banjo-playing Martin would be an ideal choice, or as Martin puts it, “It could have been that I’m the only bluegrass artist they know, frankly.” Read more

Michael McKean Hit by a Car in Manhattan

Michael McKean, who is currently starring on Broadway in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, was stuck by a car yesterday on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He suffered a broken leg and is currently listed in stable condition.

His publicist, Harriet Sternberg, said that it was “pretty devastating” but “He’ll be okay, hopefully he’ll be fine.”

McKean was scheduled for last night’s 8 p.m. show of The Best Man. “It’s the first time he will have ever missed a curtain in his entire life,” Sternberg said. “He’s never missed stage, screens in film or television. His understudy has never gone on in 40-plus years,” she said. Read more

Trailer: Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’ starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan & Isla Fisher

Like all Baz Luhrmann films, I love the look of this film. The colors and costumes look perfect. The cast is great and I’m totally looking forward to it.

Why wasn’t this around when I was in High School? Anyone remember having to watch that dreadful Robert Redford version?

The Great Gatsby: From the uniquely imaginative mind of writer/producer/director Baz Luhrmann comes the new big screen adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby. The filmmaker will create his own distinctive visual interpretation of the classic story, bringing the period to life in a way that has never been seen before, in a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. “The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy, and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan. It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, Elizabeth Debicki, Amitabh Bachchan
Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

In Theaters: December 25th  Read more

Sutton Foster on Her Move to TV and ‘Bunheads’: “I just wanted a new challenge”

Despite having a title that a five year-old might make up, the upcoming ABC Family television series Bunheads stars Broadway veteran Sutton Foster.  Having earned her fame in her Tony Award winning roles in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes, Foster tells Broadway World why she is making the transition to television for the series written by Rosanne and Gilmore Girls writer Amy Sherman-Palladino.

When asked why the long-time stage star is now taking a starring role in a television series, Foster reveals, “There were a couple of reasons.  Amy Sherman-Palladino being one of my favorite writers. Also, the show is based around dance and its affording me a lot of opportunities to do some pretty cool stuff. Already we’ve shot one song and dance routine and I know there’s more down the pike. But the thing that I’m most excited about is really the character and the writing. And being really able to showcase my comedic stuff. She’s just a really awesome character who is a dancer, so I’m sure as the series grows and grows they’ll be throwing lots and lots of stuff at me. I always say I’ll try anything once, so they’ve already thrown a bunch of stuff my way. I’m sure a lot more is coming. I don’t think theater fans will be disappointed!” Read more

‘Smash’ is Cleaning House: 4 Actors Gone from the Show

It was just reported that 2 series-regulars and 2 recurring actors were axed from NBC’s Smash.

Let’s get the semi-good news out of the way: Jamie Cepero the actor who plays Ellis, probably the most hated character on the show, is getting the boot. I say semi-good news because while I too despised him, it’s always sad to hear an actor getting fired. I not only thought he was a badly written character but I just thought Cepero was an awful actor. Maybe in another role he’d be fine but Ellis certainly wasn’t it. Read more

Next Page »