Hugh Dancy on the 2 Character Broadway Play ‘Venus in Fur’: “It leaves me with nowhere to run”

Hugh Dancy is currently in rehearsal for the Broadway première of Venus in Fur as playwright/director, Thomas, alongside Nina Arianda. The show, which closed off-Broadway two years ago, features only 2 characters and “it leaves me with nowhere to run,” Dancy said.

When it’s mentioned that Venus in Fur closed and is now re-opening in just a two-year span, Dancy responds, “Are you trying to make me tremble? You are always up against it, and not to get to precious, but it’s a little bit remarkable that you produce anything. We’re only one week into rehearsal, I’m sure we will cobble something together. Which is the worst pitch for a play ever. Yes, I do think we will be ready. Every time I’ve worked onstage,there’s been no pressure to be ready at the stage I’m at now. You only have to be ready, you want everything to fall into place at the very last minute. If it happens earlier, it’s wasted time.”

“There’s a part of it where you apply your experience with the play, but usually if a play is well-written it works in a unique way,” he said. “It will reveal itself as you work on it and for me the best way is to sit back and wait for it. It will click into place, usually that happens. And there are big shifts once you get into dress rehearsal and you are running the thing through.”    Read more

Broadway Stars Recall Their Worst Audition Stories

Even Broadway stars can’t nail every audition — as many actors know, even the smallest, most insignificant thing could stop an actor from getting a part. 

So it’s quite comforting to read Broadway stars recalling their worst auditions to the New York Post, especially since we know that they have all since gone on to great success.  After all, no one’s career is ever a path of success after success.

Nathan Lane brings up when he bombed an audition with Milos Forman for the part of Schikaneder in Amadeus.  He confesses, “Milos was exceedingly charming, and at the end of the meeting he asked if I wouldn’t mind reading a scene with him. I was happy to oblige.  I did the first line, and when I finished, he said, ‘No, more like this.’ Then he read the line. I did the next line, and then he said the same thing . . . this went on for the entire scene. Line by line. When we finally finished, I looked at him and said, ‘Well, I don’t know about me, but I think you’d be great in the part.’ He giggled, gave me a screen test — and Simon Callow was wonderful in the movie.”   Read more

As the Typically Weak Broadway Fall Season Approaches, Several Shows Hope for the Best

As I’ve covered in previous posts, Broadway shows don’t always enjoy the runaway success that The Book of Mormon is currently basking in.  In fact, more often than not Broadway shows rely on big-selling summers to prop up what typically are much weaker falls. 

But what happens when a show under-performs in the summer?

According to The New York Times, that is a problem that both Sister Act and Priscilla Queen of the Desert have been facing after both shows sold less than the expected number of tickets, as did even the once wildly successful Billy Elliot.  

All three hope that a few adjustments — such as changing the advertising and marketing, and, in the case of Billy Elliot, altering the show’s content to remove profanity to make it more “family friendly” — will provide the shows with a few more gallons in the tank.  Remarkably, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is even offering a money-back guarantee to groups in the event that group members object to the show’s content (which involves drag queens).   Read more

Kelli O’Hara to Star Opposite Matthew Broderick in Broadway’s ‘Nice Work If You Can Get It’

Three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara (South Pacific, The Pajama Game and The Light in the Piazza) will star opposite two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick (The Producers, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Brighton Beach Memoirs) in the new musical comedy, Nice Work If You Can Get It. 

Directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes, The Pajama Game, Wonderful Town), the show is scheduled to open on Broadway this April.

The show centers on Billie Bendix (O’Hara), a tough-as-nails bootlegger who meets up with wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter (Broderick) on the weekend of his wedding.  Read more

Broadway’s ‘The Book of Mormon’ Enjoys Sizeable Profits

Have you seen the line waiting for Book of Mormon lottery rush tickets and standing room only tickets outside the Eugene O’Neill theater on 49th Street?  It is so impossible to score affordable tickets to the show that people are willing to wait just for a chance to buy cheaper tickets to the hugely popular Broadway show. 

But just how successful has the show been?  Thanks to an article from Bloomberg, we can finally see that The Book of Mormon is paying off quite well for not only its creative personnel but also for its investors.

According to the article, The Book of Mormon cost $9.1 million — far cheaper than effect-laden shows like Shrek and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark — and has already recouped thirty percent of its cost for it’s investors and will pay off the investments completely by October.  That’s significant because most Broadway shows take years to break even, if they ever do.  And since the show is still sold out until 2012, the investors can already expect a profit.  Reportedly the show rakes in $1.2 million per week and costs just over $600,000 a week to operate (excluding royalties), so currently the show makes over twice what it spends per week — though that profit gets cut up to by the various royalty deals.  Read more

Broadway Cast Changes Coming to ‘Wicked’ and ‘Mary Poppins’

The Broadway companies of Wicked and Mary Poppins are about to get some new blood, some of it green.

Jackie Burns and Chandra Lee Schwartz are going to take over the roles of Elphaba and Glinda in the long running hit, Wicked.

Burns appeared on Broadway in Hair and Off-Broadway, she was a member of the original company of Rock of Ages. 

Schwartz has appeared on Broadway in Gypsy with Bernadette Peters, as Penny in Hairspray, and Sharpay in Disney’s High School Musical. In 2007 she was nominated for a Barrymore Award for Nerds, the Musical. 

Both actresses come directly from the First National Tour and will begin on Tuesday, September 27. Read more

Ghost the Musical is set to appear on Broadway

Looks like Ghost The Musical will be another addition to the upcoming Broadway season.

Adapted from the Academy Award winning film that originally starred Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, the show will be based on the same story of Sam, a man who is murdered and is trapped between this world and the next. When he learns his girlfriend Molly, is in danger, he enlists the help of psychic Oda Mae Brown in hopes of saving his true love.

The musical, directed by Tony Winner Matthew Warchus, will begin previews in March 2012 and open in April.

Below is the press release.   Read more

‘Catch Me If You Can’ to Play Final Performance September 4th

After playing 32 previews and 170 performances, Catch Me If You Can is closing Sunday, September, 4th.

Congratulations to the cast – especially Norbert Leo Butz who won the Tony for Best Actor in a Musical – and crew for a great run!

The press release is below.

Read more

Carla Gugino joins Rosemary Harris in the Broadway premiere of Athol Fugard’s ‘The Road To Mecca’

Carla Gugino, Rosemary Harris (Aunt May in Spider-Man) and Jim Dale are set to star in the Broadway premiere of Athol Fugard‘s The Road To Mecca.

The show will begin previews on December 16th and opens January 17th, 2012 at the American Airlines Theatre.

Gugino made her Broadway debut in Roundabout’s 2004 revival of Arthur Miller‘s After The Fall.

And good news, if there’s any trouble in the production with Harris, Spider-Man will swing from the FoxWoods Theatre and save the day.

About the show: “Set in the region of South Africa known as the Karoo, The Road to Mecca tells the story of an elderly woman who has spent the years since her husband’s death transforming her home into an intricate and dazzling work of art.  The reclusive Miss Helen (Rosemary Harris) has become depressed and appears increasingly unable to care for herself.  Pastor Marius Byleveld, who embodies the village’s conservative values, is determined to get Miss Helen into an old-age home.  Her friend Elsa (Carla Gugino), a young teacher from Cape Town who is deeply suspicious of the patriarchal traditions Byleveld represents, is just as determined that Miss Helen remain free.”

The press release is below.

Read more

Tony Award Winner Michael Cerveris Joins Upcoming Revival of ‘Evita’

Tony Award Winner Michael Ceveris joins Ricky Martin in the upcoming Broadway revival of Evita. Ceveris will play Juan Peron opposite Martin’s Che and Elena Roger‘s Eva.

I love Ceveris and probably listen to the cast recording of Tommy at least once a month. Can’t wait to see this!

TONY AWARD WINNER MICHAEL CERVERIS TO STAR AS JUAN PERÓN IN EVITA

JOINING PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED GRAMMY AWARD WINNING INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR

RICKY MARTIN as Che

AND IN HER BROADWAY DEBUT OLIVIER AWARD WINNING ACTRESS ELENA ROGER as Eva

SPRING 2012 AT THE MARQUIS THEATRE

Producers Hal Luftig and Scott Sanders announced today that Michael Cerveris will star as Juan Perón in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s landmark musical EVITA opening on Broadway in the spring of 2012 at The Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway.  Cerveris joins the previously announced world renowned music artist Ricky Martin (Che) and, in her Broadway debut, Olivier Award Winning Argentinean actress Elena Roger (Eva).  Olivier Award winner Michael Grandage and Tony Award winner Rob Ashford will direct and choreograph, respectively.  This is the first new Broadway production of the seven-time Tony Award-winning musical since it debuted on Broadway more than 30 years ago.

Read more

« Previous Page — Next Page »