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

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

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

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

Video: Preview Broadway’s ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It.’ Nominated for 10 Tony Awards!

Nominated for 10 Tony Awards, the new Broadway musical Nice Work If You Can Get It, looks like a great old-school time at the theater.

The musical stars two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick and three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara and is directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall.

The show features music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin and has a book by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro – and keep a look-out for my upcoming interview with Joe!

The show is currently playing at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. Click here for tickets and more information.

Check it out the almost 7 minute preview below! Read more

Broadway Ticket Prices, Then and Now. My Wallet Today

The New York Times recently ran a great article about Death of a Salesman, the crux of the article being that even though the play centers on the middle class Loman family, the middle class is no where to be seen in the audience.

“Certainly few middle-class people, or at least anyone from any “middle class” that Loman would recognize, are among the audiences attending this production. What was once a middle-class entertainment has become a luxury item,” Lee Siegel writes. 

The Times writes that tickets for the 1949 original run of Salesman, tickets cost between $1.80 and $4.80. If you were to buy tickets for the 2012 version, they go anywhere from $111 to $840.

Read more

2011-2012 Drama League Award Winners

The Drama League announced today the winners for the 78^th Annual Drama League Awards at a luncheon ceremony hosted by Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities) and John Larroquette (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man) at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway).

The awards went to:

Distinguished Play, Other Desert Cities, presented by Philip Seymour Hoffman;  Distinguished Revival of a Play, Death of a Salesman, presented by Christian Borle;  Distinguished Production of a  Musical, Once, presented by Cynthia Nixon; Distinguished Revival of a Musical, Follies, presented by Kelli O’Hara; and Distinguished Performance, Audra McDonald, presented by John Lithgow. Read more

Biography: Hugh Dancy

Hugh Dancy most recently appeared in Our Idiot Brother directed by Jesse Peretz and Martha Marcy May Marlene, with both films receiving critical acclaim at 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to his leading man role in Hysteria, in 2012 Dancy will voice the character of Marshall Mallow in the animated Dorothy of Oz.

Dancy’s other film credits include: Adam, Confessions of a Shopaholic, The Jane Austen Book Club, Evening, Beyond The Gates, King Arthur, Ella Enchanted, The Sleeping Dictionary, Black Hawk Down and Young Blades.

On television, Dancy had a recurring role in The Big C starring Laura Linney, and has been seen in Tom Hooper’s critically acclaimed series Elizabeth I opposite Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons. Dancy received an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role as Earl of Essex, and the series received the 2007 Golden Globe® Award for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and the Emmy® Award for Best Miniseries. Read more

Biography: Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson has become one of the leading international motion-picture actors today. Whether it is his Academy Award®-nominated role of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s highly acclaimed Schindler’s List (1993), his award-winning portrayal of the legendary Irish Republican hero in Michael Collins (1996), or his role as controversial sex therapist Alfred Kinsey in the critically acclaimed Kinsey (2004), Neeson continues to display an acting range matched by few.

In January 2012, Neeson starred in the box-office hit The Grey. Directed by Joe Carnahan, this action-adventure featured an oil drilling team that struggled to survive after a plane crash that stranded them in the wild of Alaska. Hunting the humans was a pack of wolves that saw them as intruders.

In February 2011, Neeson was seen opposite Diane Kruger and January Jones in Unknown, a psychological thriller about stolen identity. Neeson also co-starred in the Warner Bros. remake of the 1981 film Clash of the Titans, which tells the myth of Perseus and his quest to battle both Medusa and the Kraken monster in order to save the princess Andromeda. A sequel is currently in the works for release in 2012. 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

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