2007-2008 Tony Award Nominees May 13, 2008

 

I am disappointed in the number of Tony nominated shows I saw this year. Last year I saw all but one of the Best Musical nominees. Oh well…I guess it’s time for another trip to NYC! The nominees are as follows:

Best Play:
August: Osage County
Rock ‘n’ Roll
The Seafarer
The 39 Steps

Best Musical:
Cry-Baby
In the Heights
Passing Strange
Xanadu

Best Book of a Musical
Cry-Baby, Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
In the Heights, Quiara Alegria Hudes
Passing Strange, Stew
Xanadu, Douglas Carter Beane

Best Original Score
Cry-Baby, Music & Lyrics: David Javerbaum & Adam Schlesinger
In The Heights, Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda
The Little Mermaid, Music: Alan Menken and Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater
Passing Strange, Music: Stew and Heidi Rodewald Lyrics: Stew

Best Revival of a Play
Boeing-Boeing
The Homecoming
Les Liaisons Dangereueses
Macbeth

Best Revival of a Musical
Grease
Gypsy
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Sunday in the Park With George

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Play
Ben Daniels, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Laurence Fishburne, Thurgood
Mark Rylance, Boeing-Boeing
Rufus Sewell, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Patrick Stewart, Macbeth

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Play
Eve Best, The Homecoming
Deanna Dunagan, August: Osage County
Kate Fleetwood, Macbeth
S. Epatha Merkerson, Come Back, Little Sheba
Amy Morton, August: Osage County

Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Musical
Daniel Evans, Sunday in the Park With George
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
Stew, Passing Strange
Paulo Szot, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Tom Wopat, A Catered Affair

Best Performance By a Leading Actress in a Musical
Kerry Butler, Xanadu
Patti LuPone, Gypsy
Kelli O’Hara, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Faith Prince, A Catered Affair
Jenna Russell, Sunday in the Park With George

Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Play
Bobby Cannavale, Mauritius
Raúl Esparza, The Homecoming
Conleth Hill, The Seafarer
Jim Norton, The Seafarer
David Pittu, Is He Dead?

Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Play
Sinead Cusack, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mary McCormack, Boeing-Boeing
Laurie Metcalf, November
Martha Plimpton, Top Girls
Rondi Reed, August: Osage County

Best Performance By a Featured Actor in a Musical
Daniel Breaker, Passing Strange
Danny Burstein, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Robin De Jesús, In The Heights
Christopher Fitzgerald, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Boyd Gaines, Gypsy

Best Performance By a Featured Actress in a Musical
de’Adre Aziza, Passing Strange
Laura Benanti, Gypsy
Andrea Martin, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Olga Merediz, In The Heights
Loretta Ables Sayre, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Direction of a Play
Maria Aitken, The 39 Steps
Conor McPherson, The Seafarer
Anna D. Shapiro, August: Osage County
Matthew Warchus, Boeing-Boeing

Best Direction of a Musical
Sam Buntrock, Sunday in the Park with George
Thomas Kail, In The Heights
Arthur Laurents, Gypsy
Bartlett Sher, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Choreography
Rob Ashford, Cry-Baby
Andy Blankenbuehler, In The Heights
Christopher Gattelli, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Knechtges, Xanadu

Best Orchestrations
Jason Carr, Sunday in the Park with George
Alex Lacamoire & Bill Sherman, In the Heights
Stew & Heidi Rodewald, Passing Strange
Jonathan Tunick, A Catered Affair

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps
Scott Pask, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Todd Rosenthal, August: Osage County
Anthony Ward, Macbeth

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
David Farley and Timothy Bird & The Knifedge Creative Network, Sunday in the Park with George
Anna Louizos, In the Heights
Robin Wagner, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein
Michael Yeargan, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Costume Design of a Play
Gregory Gale, Cyrano de Bergerac
Rob Howell, Boeing-Boeing
Katrina Lindsay, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Peter McKintosh, The 39 Steps

Best Costume Design of a Musical
David Farley, Sunday in the Park with George
Martin Pakledinaz, Gypsy
Paul Tazewell, In the Heights
Catherine Zuber, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Kevin Adams, The 39 Steps
Howard Harrison, Macbeth
Donald Holder, Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Ann G. Wrightson, August: Osage County

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Ken Billington, Sunday in the Park with George
Howell Binkley, In the Heights
Donald Holder, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Natasha Katz, The Little Mermaid

Best Sound Design of a Play
Simon Baker, Boeing-Boeing
Adam Cork, Macbeth
Ian Dickson, Rock ‘n’ Roll
Mic Pool, The 39 Steps

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Acme Sound Partners, In the Heights
Sebastian Frost, Sunday in the Park with George
Scott Lehrer, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific
Dan Moses Schreier, Gypsy

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre
Stephen Sondheim

Regional Theatre Tony Award
Chicago Shakespeare Theater

Special Tony Award
Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981), in recognition of his historic contribution to American musical theatre in the field of orchestrations, as represented on Broadway this season by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific.

How many nominations each show received:
In The Heights, 13
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific , 11
Sunday in the Park with George, 9
August: Osage County , 7
Gypsy, 7
Passing Strange, 7
Boeing-Boeing, 6
Macbeth, 6
The 39 Steps, 6
Les Liaisons Dangereuses , 5
Cry-Baby, 4
Rock ‘n’ Roll , 4
The Seafarer , 4
Xanadu , 4
A Catered Affair, 3
The Homecoming, 3
The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, 3
The Little Mermaid, 2
Come Back, Little Sheba, 1
Cyrano de Bergerac , 1
Grease , 1
Is He Dead?, 1
Mauritius, 1
November, 1
Thurgood , 1
Top Girls , 1

 

Wow! The Color Purple Musical may make it to the big screen March 8, 2008

 

I saw The Color Purple on Broadway and the Chicago production. I hope the musical finds itself on the big screen. The MTV Blog posted the following…

Given that he’s the most popular and successful director of all time, not many people would have the chutzpah to re-make a Steven Spielberg classic, let alone one that was nominated for eleven Academy Awards.

But, then, Oprah Winfrey ain’t exactly most people, Fantasia Barrino told MTV News, revealing that a movie adaptation of “The Color Purple” musical was in the works.

“That’s going to happen and I’m going to do it,” the former “Idol” champ said, smiling broadly.

Fantasia just ended her run as Celie in the popular show, a role made famous twenty years ago by then up and coming actress Whoopi Goldberg. Celie’s return can wait one more year, Fantasia teased, insisting that before she can commit to the flick, she has to go off and make some of her own music first.

“We haven’t started yet because I’m going to work on my album. I think it’s fair that I committed myself, and promised that after I finish going on a tour, I’ll be ready to come back and commit myself to Miss Celie again,” Fantasia explained. “I miss my music”

So impressed with her command of the role, Oprah & Co. are going to wait for Fantasia to be ready before moving ahead with the movie to musical to movie musical adaptation, the singer beamed.

“They’re going to work with me. They don’t have to [but] that’s a favor,” Fantasia said. “Working with someone like Miss Oprah who’s so talented and amazing - It’s a blessing.”

The movie musical will be the third big budget adaptation of the popular work about the struggles of a young, black girl in early 20th century America. Celie began life in the novel by Alice Walker.

Schu’s in NYC! :) January 17, 2008

Another Movie on Broadway January 17, 2008

 

Shrek The Musical, based on the William Steig book and the DreamWorks film, will arrive on Broadway in November 2008 following an out-of-town tryout.

Shrek will make its world premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre. The musical will play the Seattle venue August 14-Sept. 21. The production will then head to Broadway for a November debut at a theatre to be announced.

The musical features book and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori. Avenue Q’s Jason Moore will direct. The creative team will also include set and costume designer Tim Hatley, lighting designer Hugh Vanstone, choreographer Josh Prince and music director Tim Weil.

Shrek The Musical, DreamWorks Animation’s first venture in legitimate theatre, is being produced by DreamWorks Theatricals (Bill Damaschke, president) and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. (principals Sam Mendes and Caro Newling).

Playbill.com has learned that Christopher Sieber (Spamalot, The Triumph of Love) will be part of the Shrek cast. Additional casting and creative team members will be announced shortly.

Retrieved from Playbill

Mermaid Opens Tonight January 10, 2008

 

I’m seeing The Little Mermaid next Saturday!  

A seagull kick line, an evil sea witch with monstrously sized tentacles and electric-charged villains are just some of the visuals in the underwater fantasy world of mermaids and assorted sea creatures in The Little Mermaid, which officially opens on Broadway Jan. 10.

Retrieved from Playbill

The Little Mermaid Cast Recording December 15, 2007

In approximately one month my friend Donna and I will be in NYC! We have an orchestra date “Under the Sea!”

The original cast recording of the new Broadway musical The Little Mermaid, which will officially open at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Jan. 10, 2008, is now available for pre-sale on-line.

DisneyShopping.com is currently selling the recording, which will arrive in stores in February 2008, for $18.99. CDs will ship Feb. 5.

The recording, according to the Disney site, will feature the following tunes:
Overture
“Fathoms Below”/”Where I Belong”
“Daughters of Triton”
“The World Above”
“Human Stuff”
“I Want the Good Times Back”
“Part of Your World”
“Storm at Sea”
“Part of Your World” (Reprise)
“She’s in Love”
“Her Voice”
“The World Above” (Reprise)
“Under the Sea”
“Sweet Child”
“Positoovity”
“Beyond My Wildest Dreams”
“Les Poissons”
“One Step Closer”
“I Want the Good Times Back” (Reprise)
“Kiss the Girl”
“Sweet Child” (Reprise)
“If Only (Quartet)”
“Her Voice” (Reprise)/”The Contest”
“Poor Unfortunate Souls” (Reprise)
“If Only” (Reprise)
Finale Ultimo

Retrieved from Playbill

Xanadu has Seoul December 12, 2007

 

Xanadu…on Broadway…seriously, originally uploaded by libookperson.

Xanadu, the new Broadway musical, will make its Asian debut in Seoul, South Korea in 2008. I taught in Seoul for a year…is this an excuse to take a field trip back?

Info retrieved via Playbill.

Playbill Insider Digital Edition December 2, 2007

 

The Playbill Insider Digital Edition, an on-line version of the Playbill Insider’s Guide — the new monthly theatre guide available throughout the Manhattan area — makes its premiere on the internet Dec. 2.

The web version of the Playbill Insider’s Guide, which launched in August 2007, is now available by clicking here. A virtual version of the monthly magazine, readers can flip through the on-line content as they would the printed magazine. The Insider Digital Edition features hot links, embedded video and audio features, so readers can see, hear and link to the shows and stars featured in the magazine.

Among the features in the December issue are interviews with actors Norbert Leo Butz (Is He Dead?) and Natalie Venecia Belcon (The Glorious Ones) and director Scott Elliot and playwright Mike Leigh (Abigail’s Party, Two Thousand Years) of The New Group. Each issue also boasts exclusive backstage photos: This month the Guide visits Broadway’s Spring Awakening and Off-Broadway’s Gone Missing.

The Guide also includes over 140 listings for Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off Off-Broadway theatre as well as a dining guide, maps, family-fare recommendations and a crossword puzzle.

Andy Buck, the Guide’s editor-in-chief, says, “In theatre we often talk about the fact that, on any given night, anything can happen. Each month we hope to translate that feeling into the Insider. You never know who will show up in our pages (doing what).”

Retrieved from Playbill. The Playbill Insider Digital Edition is located on the internet at www.playbillinsider.com .

Linney Returns to Broadway November 27, 2007

 

Laura Linney blew me away  in Sight Unseen. It looks like another Broadway trip will occur between April and June.

Stage and screen star Laura Linney will return to Broadway in the forthcoming Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Christopher Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

Rufus Norris (Festen) will helm the work scheduled to play the American Airlines Theatre this coming spring. The run is tentatively slated for April 11-June 29, 2008.

“For long-time friends and occasional lovers Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil, love is simply a game of chess,” reads Roundabout materials. “But in a few false moves, they find themselves locked in the ultimate checkmate. Filled with seduction, betrayal, and plenty of illicit passion, this dark comedy paints the pre Revolutionary French aristocracy in all its cynicism and decadence.”

Retrieved from http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112963.html

Ghost Brothers in Darkland County November 24, 2007

I cannot imagine a Stephen King musical. Will it be eight hours long?

I’ll pass your suggestion along. So you’re a news junkie?
I got hooked by my wife. You’d be surprised, or maybe you wouldn’t be surprised, being that I’m around John Mellancamp a lot — he and I are doing this play. But it’s the news 24-7. Always on.

What’s this play?
It’s called Ghost Brothers in Darkland County. It’s a musical.

What’s the plan with that?
Hopefully we’ll open out of town next year. Maybe in Atlanta, if they have any water left.

When next year?
My guess it probably like June or July. We’re at the point where we’ve got the director. The music’s set. The book’s set. We’re fairly set. At least until audiences turn up. If they turn up their noses then things change. We’re supposed to be, maybe in Atlanta, maybe in Boston, I’ve heard talk about California. But we’ve got to open out of town and see if people like what we’ve got.

What’s the gist of the story?
[Mellencamp] had bought a place in Indiana by a lake, and he said that the person had told him the place was haunted. Well, you hear that — when you buy a place that’s been around for a while in the woods, people are going to say it’s haunted. [Apparently], there was some kind of tragedy that involved two brothers and a girl in the fifties — one of the brothers shot the other one apparently in some kind of a drunken game. Killed him. So the other brother and the girl jumped in the car to take the kid to the hospital, because they thought maybe they could save him. They ran into a tree and they were both killed. So apparently the ghosts haunted the place. So John asked me, “Do you think we could turn this into a play?”
In a way, he came to me at the right time. He’s been doing what he does for a long time, and I’ve been doing what I do for a long time. John has tried things, he’s tried to keep the music fresh, he’s continued to release new music, [to] try different things and different formats. And he wanted to graze, to try this idea of doing dramatic music. I’ve always been up for something that was a little different — just keep turning the earth over, so you don’t dig yourself a rut and furnish it, you know what I mean? That’s how we got together.

So you expanded that little snippet of a story?
Yeah. That’s my job, to take something like that, which is fairly generic, and make a story out of it that’s unique. I [wrote a little and Mellencamp did some music] and then I went to him and said, “We’ve reached a decision point here. Neither of us knows s— about theater. The only thing I know is that, at this point, it either becomes like Andrew Lloyd Webber — and everybody sings everything — or it can be like My Fair Lady, where people actually talk in between the singing. They go blah blah blah and then [he sings] “I could have danced all night.” And then they blah blah blah some more.

 Visit Time for the rest

Welcome to the Great White Way November 16, 2007

 

I’m beyond excited; book my ticket now!  Alison Janney is the perfect Violet!

9  to 5, the musical based on the popular workplace film comedy, will have its world premiere at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in September 2008, CTG artistic director Michael Ritchie announced.

Principal casting will include Allison Janney as Violet Newstead, the super-efficient office manager; Stephanie J. Block as the frazzled divorcee Judy Bernly; Megan Hilty as the sexy executive secretary Doralee Rhodes; and Marc Kudisch as their sexist boss, Franklin Hart Jr.

Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Wicked, Assassins) will direct.

As previously announced, seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and musician Dolly Parton has written the music and lyrics for the new musical. She starred as Doralee in the popular 1980 movie.

Patricia Resnick, the film’s screenwriter, will pen the libretto.

Center Theatre Group will present 9 to 5 Sept. 3-October 19, 2008, as the first production in the Ahmanson’s 2008-2009 season. Opening is set for Sept. 21.

Choreography is by Andy Blankenbuehler (London’s Desperately Seeking Susan and New York’s In the Heights).

According to CTG, “In a series of farcical events, the women inadvertently remove Hart from the workplace and keep him otherwise engaged. Taking advantage of his absence, they begin instituting a host of new and welcomed office procedures such as flexible hours and day care, but their schemes quickly spin wildly and hilariously out of control.”

9 to 5 is presented by Center Theatre Group by special arrangement with Robert Greenblatt under the auspices of a new program initiated by Ritchie, in which CTG “presents original new musicals and large-scale productions through partnerships with Broadway producers.” The program recently saw the Broadway transfers of the critically acclaimed presentations of both The Drowsy Chaperone and Curtains.

Retrieved from Playbill

Broadway Strikes November 10, 2007

Who will strike next? It feels like teachers, writers, and stagehands all around are striking.  

After months of negotiations between Local One, the stagehands union, and the League of American Theatres and Producers, the union announced Nov. 10 that its members will go on strike, according to The New York Times. The strike is effective immediately.

For months producers and the union have been hashing out issues of work assignments, setting of a production’s run crew, load-in costs and labor minimums. Local One members have been working on Broadway without a contract since July 31.

The union and the League reconvened earlier this week, returning to the negotiating table for the first time in several weeks. Thomas C. Short, the president of I.A.T.S.E. — Local One’s parent union — attended the Nov. 7 and 8 meetings, which proved unfruitful. Following the meetings, Short granted final strike authorization to the union.

Most Broadway productions are affected by the strike; that is, the shows will not go on for August: Osage County, Avenue Q, A Bronx Tale, Chicago, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Curtains, Cyrano de Bergerac, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Drowsy Chaperone, Duran Duran, The Farnsworth Invention, Grease, Hairspray, Is He Dead?, Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde, Les Miserables, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mamma Mia!, Spamalot, The Phantom of the Opera, Rent, Rock ‘n’ Roll, The Seafarer, Spring Awakening, and Wicked.

The only Broadway productions still running are Xanadu, The Ritz, Mauritius, Cymbeline, Pygmalion, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Young Frankenstein and Mary Poppins. These productions are either presented by Broadway’s nonprofit sector or are housed in theatres whose contracts with Local One are separate.

Charlotte St. Martin, the executive director of the League, posted this statement on the League’s official website Nov. 10: “Local One has darkened most of Broadway. They have chosen to strike — without notifying us, rather than to continue negotiating. It is a sad day for Broadway, but we must remain committed to achieving a fair contract. Our goal is simple: To pay for workers we need and for work that is actually performed. Stagehands are highly skilled and highly paid. They are — and will remain — the highest paid stagehands in the theatrical world. We deplore the strike and the harm it does to the City, the industry, and the theatregoing public. Indeed, to all talented people who make Broadway the top tourist attraction in New York. A strike will have an economic impact of $17 million per day in direct and indirect costs. This could have been avoided had the union’s leadership chosen to act responsibly at the bargaining table. We extend our sympathy for the inconvenience caused to the theatregoing public, and assure everyone who has purchased tickets that they will get an exchange or refund.”

As of press time, the union has not issued an official statement.

Actors’ Equity released a statement Nov. 10 at 11 AM ET in support of the union. In its statement, spokesperson Maria Somma said, “Actors’ Equity Association strongly supports Local One/IATSE in their efforts to reach a fair and equitable contract. The responsibility for the shutdown of Broadway rests squarely with the League of American Theaters and Producers. The Equity Council, per the Union’s Broadway contract language, endorses and supports the strike, which has been sanctioned by Local One’s IATSE International President, and directs its members to honor the picket line. The men and women of Local One/IATSE deserve fair wages and working conditions and, most importantly, the respect of everyone who is part of the theatrical community.”

It is unclear at this time how long the stagehands strike will last. Broadway was last darkened by a musicians strike in 2003, which ended after four days.

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/112685.html

Happy Birthday, Little Edie! November 8, 2007

Today would have been Little Edie’s 90th birthday.

Xanadu Text Club November 8, 2007