‘The Playbill Broadway Yearbook: June 2011 to May 2012′ Book Review
November 30, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
The annual Playbill Broadway Yearbook is out and like every year, I’m glued to it.
Covering all 72 shows that have appeared on Broadway from June 1st, 2011 through May 31st of this year, this edition is chock full of features, pictures and memorabilia that any Broadway lover will eat up.
You get every single Playbill for each show that opened (and some that quickly closed) throughout the year, complete with cast bio’s & headshots and show synopses.
This years shows include Clybourne Park, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, Newsies, Once, One Man, Two Guvnors and old favorites like The Book of Mormon, Wicked and Mamma Mia! When I get to New York, I try and see as many shows as I can, so I particularly like to check out the shows I missed that I really wanted to see, which this year were The Columnist, Death of a Salesman and Follies. Read more
In NYC this Weekend? Check out Broadway on Broadway!
September 7, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
Broadway on Broadway, a free outdoor concert in Times Square featuring performances from some great Broadway shows, is happening this weekend!
On Sunday, September 9th at 11:30am, head on over to Times Square to kick off the 2012-2013 Broadway season with performances from new and long-running shows. Read more
Interview: La Cage aux Folles’ Christopher Sieber on Playing Albin/Zaza, Touring and Tripping on Set Pieces
August 9, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater, Interviews
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:03 — 13.8MB)
Christopher Sieber, the two-time Tony Nominee (Spamalot, Shrek) is currently on tour as Albin in La Cage aux Folles and if he’s not perfect in the role, I’m not sure who could be. I saw him in the show and his performance alone is worth the price of admission; he’s quick, funny, sings the hell out of Jerry Herman‘s songs and will make your heart sag at some points. If the show is coming to your town, definitely grab some tickets.
Christopher isn’t new to La Cage, he actually starred in the Broadway run as Georges, the role that the great George Hamilton is performing on the tour. He told me that even though playing Albin/Zaza is showier and exhausting, the part is “just so much fun.” And you can tell when he’s on stage that he’s having a blast doing it.
Christopher and I talked about the tour, working with George Hamilton, his Tony Nominations and being thrust into the Broadway run of La Cage with only 7 days of rehearsal. You’ll definitely want to check this interview out!
La Cage aux Folles is now playing in San Diego. Next up: Las Vegas, Kansas City, Denver. For Tickets and more tour dates, click here
For the full interview, click the audio link above or download it from iTunes Read more
All the Musical Performances from the 2012 Tony Awards including ‘Once,’ ‘Newsies,’ and ‘Porgy & Bess’
June 11, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
You want the musical numbers from last night’s Tony Awards? Well, here they are!
From the opening numbers, Once, Porgy & Bess, Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. Yup, watch Godspell just to see the Corbin Bleu and the cast destroy their number. And I don’t mean destroy in a good way.
Check ‘em all out below! Read more
List of Winners for the 2012 Tony Awards
June 11, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
Once was the big winner in last night’s Tony Awards with a big 8 wins. And for me, they were the big winner in acceptance speeches with Steve Kazee‘s moving speech for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical. I’ll post that in a few minutes.
The show, my absolute favorite of all the awards shows, wasn’t as fun for me as the past couple of years. I thought Neil Patrick Harris was spot-on as usual but something just didn’t keep me as attentive as I would have liked to have been.
There were some great moments though. As mentioned above, Kazee’s speech as we all Audra McDonald‘s (Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess), the Once performance and James Cordon‘s… monologue (?). I also loved the Godspell performance just because I thought Corbin Bleu was singing amazingly off-key.
And, if you missed the show last night or just want to re-watch it again, CBS has it streaming on their website: CBS.com
Check out the list of winners below! Read more
Highlights from the Tony Nominated Musicals including ‘Once’ and ‘Newsies’
June 7, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
The Tony Award’s are almost here and with that, The Broadway League has given us a highlights from some of the nominated m usical and revivals of musicalsfor the 2011/2012 Broadway season.
Check out these videos from Once (11 nominations), Ghost (3 nominations), Newsies (8 nominations), Nice Work If you Can Get It (10 nominations), Leap of Faith (1 nomination), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (10 nominations), Jesus Christ Superstar (5 nominations), Evita (3 nominations), Follies (8 nominations), End of the Rainbow (3 nominations), Bonnie & Clyde (5 nominations), On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1 nomination) and Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark (5 nominations).
For more Tony Award goodness, here are our interviews with these Tony Nominees: Clybourne Park’s Jeremy Shamos, Jesus Christ Superstar’s Josh Young and Joe Dipietro, book writer for Nice Work If You Can Get It! Read more
Presenters and Performances for the 66th Annual Tony Awards
June 4, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
My favorite of all the award shows, the Tony Awards, are coming up this Sunday on CBS at 8:00 – 11:00 p.m. Delayed on the West Coast…. Thanks CBS!
Hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, the show will have appearances by Ellen Barkin, Candice Bergen, Jessica Chastain, Sheryl Crow, Nick Jonas, Angela Lansbury, James Marsden, Jim Parsons, Mandy Patinkin, Tyler Perry, Bernadette Peters, Christopher Plummer, Paul Rudd, Amanda Seyfried, Trey Parker and Matt Stone among others.
As for the performances, the absolute best part of the show, they are as follows: Read more
Thoughts on the 2012 Tony Nominations
May 1, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
First of all, congratulations to all the 2012 Tony Award nominees!
The Tony Awards are my absolute favorite of all the award shows so getting up this morning to see who had been nominated was the very first thing I did. What, you didn’t think I’d actually get up at 5:30am LA time, did you?
Since I didn’t make my regular April trek to New York to see the shows, I can only rely on what I saw this past December, my love of the actors in the shows and all the buzz surrounding them. Will I know what the hell I’m talking about?
Absolutely not.
And with that, let’s begin! Read more
Nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards (with video)
May 1, 2012 by Lance Carter
Filed under Broadway & Theater
Best Play
Clybourne Park
Author: Bruce Norris
Producers: Jujamcyn Theaters, Jane Bergère, Roger Berlind/Quintet Productions, Eric Falkenstein/Dan Frishwasser, Ruth Hendel/Harris Karma Productions, JTG Theatricals, Daryl Roth, Jon B. Platt, Center Theatre Group, Lincoln Center Theater, Playwrights Horizons
Other Desert Cities
Author: Jon Robin Baitz
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, Bob Boyett
Peter and the Starcatcher
Author: Rick Elice
Producers: Nancy Nagel Gibbs, Greg Schaffert, Eva Price, Tom Smedes, Disney Theatrical Productions, Suzan & Ken Wirth/DeBartolo Miggs, Catherine Schreiber/Daveed Frazier & Mark Thompson, Jack Lane, Jane Dubin, Allan S. Gordon/Adam S. Gordon, Baer & Casserly/Nathan Vernon, Rich Affanato/Peter Stern, Brunish & Trinchero/Laura Little Productions, Larry Hirschhorn/Hummel & Greene, Jamie deRoy & Probo Prods./Radio Mouse Ent., Hugh Hysell/Freedberg & Dale, New York Theatre Workshop
Venus in Fur
Author: David Ives
Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove, Jon B. Platt, Scott Landis, Classic Stage Company Read more
Broadway Continues to Turn to Movies For New Musicals
April 17, 2012 by Chris McKittrick
Filed under Broadway & Theater
It used to be that a Broadway show would be a hit on stage, then be made as a movie. But as anyone who has followed Broadway in the last twenty years knows, with the success of Disney Theatrical Group and the the success of Mel Brooks‘ The Producers at the turn of the twenty-first century, that trend has been mostly reversed — hit movies are now becoming Broadway shows, with a significant amount of Broadway shows of the last dozen years being based on popular movies.
This trend is more evident than ever, with Newsies, Once, Leap of Faith, Ghost: The Musical, Sister Act and Priscilla Queen of the Desert all currently on the Great White Way. And in the works are Broadway shows based on movies that one would likely never suspect of making a good musical: Rocky, Back to the Future, and Animal House. Read more
