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

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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

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

Interview: Jamie Anne Allman On ‘The Killing’ and Taking Risks at Auditions

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:11 — 13.9MB)

If you’re not watching AMC’s The Killing, then you are missing out on some great work by one of the best cast’s on TV.

The show revolves around the murder of teenager Rosie Larsen and as the story deepens, we’re finding out that Rosie’s aunt Terry, played by Jamie Anne Allman also has some secrets she’s been hiding. 

I talked to Jamie recently and had a really fun conversation with her about the show and what it’s like on-set when you have to deal with such a depressing subject. She also talked about taking risks when you audition and had a perfect example on when she auditioned for The Shield. She took a chance, nailed it and walked away with a recurring role on that show.

At the end of The Killing‘s season, we’ll find out who killed Rosie and that will unfortunately end Jamie’s time on the show. But, you can soon check her out in the upcoming film, Any Day Now (which also stars Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt).

Want more of The Killing? Check out our interview with Eric Ladin! Read more

Linda Emond on her ‘Death of a Salesman’ Role: “It really is a process for me of digging and saying those words and trying to find out who that person is”

The latest Broadway revival of Death of a Salesman has been both a critical and financial smash (it has already turned a profit and still has a few weeks of shows left), and director Mike Nichols and stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield have gotten the lion’s share of the praise. 

But let’s not forget about the other cast members: Linda Emond, who stars as Linda Loman, has also received great reviews for her challenging role. In an interview with Broadway.com, Emond explains how she got the role and how she developed her interpretation of the tragic character.

Curiously enough, Emond didn’t so much audition for the part as she was told she would be doing it!  She explains, “Mike [Nichols] called me in July of 2010 on a random day and said they were going to do this production, and Phil was going to play Willy and would I play Linda. To get that phone call was nice! I had first met him through Tony Kushner. We were doing one of the first productions of Homebody/Kabul when Tony and Mike were working on Angels in America for HBO, and I met [Mike] and loved him from the beginning. He has been incredibly supportive of my work from that time on.” Read more

Liam Neeson Keeps a Straight Face When Talking About ‘Battleship’: “It’s got thrills and spills and very good character development, too”

I always liked Liam Neeson as an actor even before he revealed himself to be a middle-aged bad ass in movies like Taken, Unknown, and The Grey.  So while I am not surprised to see him in another action movie, I was surprised when I found out that he was starring in Battleship, which, believe it or not, is based on the Milton Bradley board game. 

How did Neeson find the inspiration to act in a movie based on putting plastic pegs into plastic ships?  According to Neeson, he found it in the script and the filming locations.

Though Neeson speaks positively about how the script initially attracted him to the project, I think he relies a bit heavily on cliches when describing it.  He says, “The foundation stone is the script, and this one was a real page-turner. That’s the litmus test. If I’m reading through it and I’m suddenly at page 78 and haven’t stopped for a cup of tea or a glass of water, it’s got me. I thought this was very gung ho. It’s got thrills and spills and very good character development, too.” 

I’m sure he was very serious when he said this (as Neeson always seems to be), but I would’ve loved to have seen the expression on his face when he said that. Read more

Director John Tiffany on How Alan Cumming Came to Play Both MacBeth and Lady Macbeth in His Upcoming One-Man Show

Alan Cumming is currently in Scotland rehearsing a one-man version of Macbeth in which he stars as Shakespeare’s tragic King of Scotland and also… all the other roles in the play.

The show will have it’s premiere in Glasgow on June 13th and move to New York’s Lincoln Center on July 5th.

The Wall Street Journal talked to the director, John Tiffany – who is also the director of the Tony Nominated Once – about how he and Cumming came up with the idea of a one-man Macbeth.

He said when he and Cumming previously worked together – on The Bacchae – they talked about doing the show. Cumming said that “he’d love to play Macbeth, but also Lady Macbeth. So we did a reading with a large cast in 2011, and my good friend Andrew Goldberg, I was staying with him in New York and he came to see it and he thought Alan was incredible.” Read more

Michael Caine was Accidentally Locked in an Attic Overnight During Latest Film Shoot

Sir Michael Caine will turn eighty next year, yet he still makes a habit of appearing in two or three films every year.  He’s not known for turning down work, and he hardly takes a break from acting.  But considering what happened when he took a break on the set of Now You See Me (also starring Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg and Morgan Freeman), he might be onto something with his “no break” policy.

The Dark Knight Rises actor was in his dressing room, which was in the attic of an old New Orleans theater, and fell asleep for what he intended to be a quick nap.  The staff figured that Caine had left for the evening and locked up the theater for the night — trapping the Oscar-winner in the attic — which had no electricity! Read more

Watch The Trailers for All of the New FOX Fall Shows

FOX has 5 new scripted shows coming this fall: The Following, The Mindy Project, The Goodwin Games, Ben & Kate and The Mob Doctor.

I put all of the trailers in order of my favorites. The Following stars Kevin Bacon and looks pretty damn good. The Mindy Project with Mindy Kaling is a show that I’ll definitely try out.

Check them all out below! Read more

Matt Walsh Talks ‘Veep’ and Comedy: “A fat guy is guaranteed to get the highest laugh count”

Upright Citizen’s Brigade veteran Matt Walsh may not have the most familiar name, but he’s appeared in some of the most popular comedies of the last decade, including The Hangover, Old School, and I Love You Man. 

He’s taken that success to a number of small roles on television, but now has a much more significant role on HBO’s Veep opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Mike McLintock, Director of Communications.  Walsh talks about working with show creator Armando Iannucci and his comedy background in an interview with New York magazine.

Walsh reveals that Iannucci allows the cast some room for improv, especially to make the language more “American.”  He explains, “We get these 40-page scripts, and there’s tons of great jokes in there, but once we start rehearsing, we play with it. We’ll paraphrase some of the more British stuff, make it American, and he’ll write down what we say and take what he likes from that. And on our filming days, we’ll get one or two loose takes — not to be self-indulgent, but to look for things to discover. And he’ll shoot in this open, documentary-style, which is very forgiving — it’s not about hitting the marks. The show is pretty truthful about portraying Washington, but it’s not The West Wing. It’s not idealistic. It’s shabby. Some of us don’t have desks and work on a couch. We have bad coffee. Papers are everywhere. And we seem to be dressing like people did in D.C. about twenty years ago! No cutting-edge fashion.” Read more

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