Thursday, May 26, 2016

New B'way Musical To Close After 81 Performances

AMERICAN PSYCHO, the American premiere of the musical based on the iconic novel by Bret Easton Ellis announces that it will play its final performance on Sunday, June 5 at 7:30 p.m. At the time of its closing,AMERICAN PSYCHO will have played a total of 81 performances. AMERICAN PSYCHO is currently playing on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street).

Starring Drama Desk, Outer Critics’ Circle and Drama League Award nomineeBenjamin Walker (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) as Patrick Bateman,AMERICAN PSYCHO has music, lyrics and orchestrations by Tony and Grammy Award-winner Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening), a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (“Supergirl,” “Looking,” “Glee”), direction by Tony-nominee and Olivier Award-winner Rupert Goold (King Charles III), and choreography by Tony-nominee Lynne Page (La Cage Aux Folles).

Based on the best-selling novel by Bret Easton Ellis (which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its publication this spring), AMERICAN PSYCHO is set in the epicenter of excess: 1980s Manhattan. The musical tells the story of Patrick Bateman, a young and handsome Wall Street banker with impeccable taste and unquenchable desires. Patrick and his elite group of friends spend their days in chic restaurants, exclusive clubs and designer labels. But at night, Patrick takes part in a darker indulgence, and his mask of sanity is starting to slip…

Joining Benjamin Walker in the cast of AMERICAN PSYCHO are Outer Critics Circle Award-nominee Heléne Yorke (Bullets over Broadway, “Masters of Sex”), Tony Award-winner Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Tony Award-nomineeJennifer Damiano (Next to Normal), and Drew Moerlein (Broadway debut). Also featured are Krystina Alabado (Lazarus, American Idiot), Dave Thomas Brown (The Legend of Georgia McBride), Jordan Dean (Shows For Days),Anna Eilinsfeld (Kinky Boots, Wicked), Jason Hite (Bare), Ericka Hunter(Rock of Ages), Holly James* (AMERICAN PSYCHO’s London cast), Keith Randolph Smith (Fences, King Hedley II), Theo Stockman (American Idiot, Hair), Alex Michael Stoll (West Side Story, Evita, If/Then), and Morgan Weed(Next to Normal, Saved). Also featured in the company are Brandon Kalm(American Idiot tour), Sydney Morton (Memphis, Evita, Motown), Anthony Sagaria (The Bad Years), and Neka Zang (Rock of Ages).

*Holly James is appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance in this production.

AMERICAN PSYCHO has music direction by Jason Hart, and music supervision and vocal arrangements by David Shrubsole.

AMERICAN PSYCHO has scenic design by Tony-nominee and triple Olivier Award-winning stage designer Es Devlin (tours for Adele, Beyoncé, U2, Kanye West), costume design by Tony Award-winner Katrina Lindsay (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), lighting design by Tony-nominee and Obie Award-recipientJustin Townsend (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Here Lies Love), sound design by Obie Award-recipient Dan Moses Schreier, and video design by Tony Award-winner Finn Ross (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). Casting is by Telsey + Company/Craig Burns, CSA.

AMERICAN PSYCHO has been presented on Broadway by David Johnsonand Jesse Singer for Act 4 Entertainment, Jeffrey Richards and Will Trice, along with Greenleaf Productions, Rebecca Gold, John Frost, Trevor Fetter, Joanna Carson, Gordon Meli Partners, Clip Service / A.C. Orange International, Nora Ariffin, Jam Theatricals, Almeida Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Paula and Stephen Reynolds, J. Todd Harris and The Shubert Organization, in cooperation with Edward R. Pressman.

AMERICAN PSYCHO received eight Outer Critics Circle Award nominations (Outstanding New Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score, Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Actor in a Musical for Benjamin Walker, Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for Heléne Yorke, Outstanding Costume Design, Outstanding Lighting Design, Outstanding Projection Design) --- winning two Outer Critics Circle Awards for its Lighting Design (Justin Townsend) and Projection Design (Finn Ross) -- and also received two Drama League Award nominations (Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical and Distinguished Performance for Benjamin Walker); eight Drama Desk Award nominations (Outstanding Director of a Musical, Outstanding Choreography, Outstanding Actor in a Musical for Benjamin Walker, Outstanding Set Design for a Musical, Outstanding Costume Design for a Musical, Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical, Outstanding Projection Design, and Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical); and two Tony Award nominations (Best Scenic Design for a Musical for Es Devlin and Finn Ross, and Best Lighting Design for a Musical for Justin Townsend).

Monday, May 23, 2016

Hamilton, Humans Win Drama League Awards

The full list of 2016 Drama League Awards follows.

2016 DRAMA LEAGUE AWARDS WINNERS

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A MUSICAL
"Hamilton"

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
"The Humans"

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
"The Color Purple"

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
"A View From The Bridge"

DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD
Lin-Manuel Miranda, "Hamilton"

DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL THEATER
Sheldon Harnick

UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEATER
Deaf West Theater

FOUNDERS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING
Ivo van Hove

Obie Award Winners Announced!

The complete list of Obie winners follows. Note that the Obies allow multiple winners in each category:

Playwriting

Lucas Hnath, The Christians (Playwrights Horizons) and Red Speedo (New York Theatre Workshop)

Stephen Karam, The Humans (Roundabout Theatre Company)

Musical Theater
Steven Levenson (book), Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (music & lyrics), Dear Evan Hansen (Second Stage Theatre)

Direction
Rachel Chavkin, The Royale (Lincoln Center Theater)
Michael Leibenluft, I’ll Never Love Again (Bushwick Starr)

Performance
Khris Davis, The Royale (Lincoln Center Theater)
Emily Donahoe, The Christians (Playwrights Horizons)
Georgia Engel, John (Signature Theatre Company)
Ensemble, Eclipsed (The Public Theater): Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah, Lupita Nyong’o, Saycon Sengbloh
Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans (Roundabout Theatre Company)
Omar Metwally and Arian Moayed, Guards at the Taj (Atlantic Theater CompanTamara Tunie, Familiar (Playwrights Horizons)

Design
Rachel Hauck, Sustained Excellence of Set Design
Jason Lyons, Sustained Excellence of Lighting Design
James Ortiz, Puppet Design, The Woodsman (New World Stages)
Bray Poor, Sustained Excellence of Sound Design
Kaye Voyce, Sustained Excellence of Costume Design

Special Citations: Collaboration
Annie Baker (playwright), Sam Gold (director), and the design team of John (Signature Theatre Company): Mark Barton (lighting), Ásta Bennie Hostetter (costumes), Mimi Lien (set), Noah Mease (props), Bray Poor (sound)
Dominique Morisseau (playwright) and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (director), Skeleton Crew(Atlantic Theater Company)

Obie Grants ($4,000 prize to each theater)
Bedlam Theatre
Noor Theatre
Prospect Theatre Company

The Ross Wetzsteon Award ($3,000 prize)
NAATCO/National Asian American Theatre Company

Best New American Play ($1,000 prize)
Guards at the Taj by Rajiv Joseph (Atlantic Theatre Company

Lifetime Achievement Award
Carmen de Lavallade
A.R. Gurney

The Obie Award judges panel was chaired by Village Voice columnist Michael Feingold and included Obie-winning actress Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Obie-winning director Oliver Butler, Obie-winning costume designer Clint Ramos, Obie-winning actress Juliet Rylance,Variety senior critic Marilyn Stasio and freelance theatre critic Michael Sommers.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

How Many Of These Shows Have YOU Seen?

I decided to make a list of every Broadway show I've ever seen.
And the list kept growing and growing and growing. So far I've got 277.
Mind you, I've seen some of these shows two or three times.
I've put an asterisk (*) next to some of my very favorites. I've put a pound (#) next to some of the shows I've seen more than once. And the tilde (~) represents shows that flopped.
How many hours in the theater does this amount to? Nearly 700! Going over these shows brought back so many memories of time spent cocooned in Broadway theaters. 
Of course, some shows I barely remember while others stand out so vividly in my mind I feel like that are part of me. And all the moments that come to mind. For example, one weekend we saw three musicals, each 20 years apart: Barnam from the 1980s, Camelot from the 1960s and Oklahoma! from the 1940s -- all one word titles, too. What a weekend that was!
The real standouts include the magnificent Hal Prince production of Show Boat; Sondheim's original Sweeney Todd, Sunday In The Park With George and Pacific Overtures; Tommy Tune's Will Rogers Follies and Nine; Jerry Herman's Hello Dolly!, Mame and La Cage; Lloyd Webber's Phantom and Sunset Boulevard, and so many, many stars: Carol Channing, Lena Horne, Angela Lansbury, Bernadette Peters, Ethel Merman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mandy Patinkin, Raul Julia, Nathan Lane, Gregory Hines, Jerry Orbach, Robert Preston, Matthew Broderick and on and on! 
This is still an incomplete list, but here it is up to this point:

110 In The Shade
1776
42nd Street*
A Bronx Tale
A Chorus Line
A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine
A Funny Thing . . . #
A Gentlemen’s Guide To . . .
Ain't Too Proud
A Joyful Noise
A Little Night Music
All American~
Always, Patsy Cline
A Matter of Gravity
Amelie
Anastasia
A Party With . . .
A View From the Bridge#
After Midnight*
After the Fall
Ain’t Misbehavin’*
An American in Paris*
Annie
Annie Get Your Gun#
Any Wednesday
Anything Goes
Applause
Assassins
Baby~
Barnum* 
Beautiful
Beauty and the Beast
Beetlejuice
Big
Big Fish~
Big River
Blithe Spirit*#
Bonnie & Clyde~
Brigadoon
Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bullets Over Broadway
Butterflies Are Free
Bye, Bye Birdie#
Cabaret*
Camelot#
Can-Can
Candide
Carousel*#
Catch Me If You Can
Chapter Two
Chess*
Chicago*#
Chinglish~
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Cinderella
City of Angels
Clothes for a Summer Hotel~
Coco
Company*#
Crazy for You
Curtains
Damn Yankees
Defending The Caveman
Design For Living#
Elaine Stritch At Liberty*
End Of Te Rainbow
Equus
Eubie!
Evita
Fiddler on the Roof
Finding Neverland
Finian’s Rainbow*
Fiorello#
Five Guys Named Moe
Follies*#
Footloose
Forty Carats
Foxy
Funny Girl
Gigi
Girl From The North Country
Godspell
Golden Boy
Golden Rainbow~
Grand Hotel#
Grease
Grey Gardens
Grind~
Groundhog Day
Guys and Dolls#
Gypsy*
Hadestown
Hair
Hairspray
Hamilton
Happy Birthday, Gemini~
Harmony
Hay Fever
Hello, Dolly!*# 
Henry Sweet henry
Here's Love~
Here We Are
High Fidelity~
High Society
Honeymoon in Vegas~
How To Succeed In Business . . .#
I Do, I Do
I Love My Wife
I Married An Angel
I Remember Mama~
Into The Woods
Irene~
It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman
It Shoulda Been You~
It’s Only a Play
I’m Not Rappaport
Jackie Mason on Broadway
Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well
Jekyll & Hyde
Jelly's Last Jam
Jersey Boys#
Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Kelly~
Kinky Boots
Kiss Me, Kate#
Kiss of the Spider Woman
La Cage aux Folles 
Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Legally Blonde
Lena Horne – The Lady and Her Music#
Lend Me A Tenor
Les Miserables
Light Up The Sky
Little Me*#
Little Shop of Horrors#
Lorelei~
Love Never Dies~
Luther
M. Butterfly
Mack & Mabel
Mame*#
Man of La Mancha
Mandy Patinkin in Concert
Marat/Sade
Mary Poppins
Mass Appeal
Matilda
Me and My Girl*#
Memphis
Metro~
Million Dollar Quartet
Miss Moffat~
Mr. Saturday Night
Moon Over Buffalo
Mornings At Seven
Motown
Moulin Rouge
Mr. Saturday Night
Mrs. Doubtfire
Mummenschanz
My Fair Lady#
My One and Only*
Newsies
Network
Nice Work If You Can Get It*
Nine*
No, No, Nanette*
Noises Off
Oh Coward!
Oh! What A Lovely War
Oklahoma!*#
Oliver!*
Once On This Island
On Your Toes
On the Town
On the Twentieth Century
Over Here!
Pacific Overtures*#
Paint Your Wagon
Pal Joey
Paradise Alley~
Passion
Penn & Teller
Peter Pan*
Pippin
Play It Again, Sam
Present Laughter
Pretty Woman
Prince of Broadway
Private Lives#
Promises, Promises
Pump Boys and Dinettes
Putting It Together
Purlie Victorious
Pygmalion
Ragtime*
Rocky
Romulus~
Same Time, Next Year
Saturday Night Fever
Seesaw
She Loves Me
Shenandoah
Show Boat*#
Shucked
Shuffle Along*
Side Show
Side by Side by Sondheim*
Singin’ In The Rain#
Sly Fox
Smokey Joe’s Cafe
Social Security~
Some Like It Hot
Something Rotten!
Sophisticated Ladies*
South Pacific*
Spamalot
SpongeBob Square Pants
Starlight Express
Steel Pier~
Sugar~
Sugar Babies*#
Sunday in the Park with George*
Sunset Boulevard*
Sweeney Todd*
Teddy & Alice~
The Addams Family
The Band Wagon
The Band's Visit
The Belle of Amherst
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The Boy From Oz
The Bridges of Madison County~
The Drowsy Chaperone*
The Flying Karamazov Brothers
The Front Page
The Full Monty
The Glass Menagerie
The Goodbye Girl
The Happy Time
The Illusionists
The King and I*#
The Life~
The Light in the Piazza
The Magic Show
The Most Happy Fella
The Music Man*#
The New Yorkers
The Phantom of the Opera
The Play That Goes Wrong
The Producers
The Red Shoes~
The Ritz
Road Show
The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life . . .
The Sound of Music
The Wedding Singer~
The Will Rogers Follies*
The Wiz
They’re Playing Our Song
This Was Burlesque*
Thoroughly Modern Millie*
Titanic*
Tommy Tune Tonite!
Tootsie*
Vanya and Sonia And Masha and Spike*
Victor Victoria*
Vieux Carré~
Waitress
War Paint
We Take The Town~
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?*#
Wicked
Wonderful Town
 You Can’t Take It With You
Young Frankenstein
Zorba#

Legend:
* personal fave
# seen more than once
~ flop

Friday, May 13, 2016

2016 Outer Critics Circle Winners Announced!

Broadway's Outer Critics Circle has chosen its award winners for the 2015-16 Broadway season. Here they are:

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY The Humans
NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL Bright Star
NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY The Christians
NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL Dear Evan Hansen
BOOK OF A MUSICAL Dear Evan Hansen
NEW SCORE Bright Star
REVIVAL OF A PLAY Long Day’s Journey Into Night
REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL She Loves Me
DIRECTOR OF A PLAY Ivo van Hove, A View From the Bridge
DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL Michael Arden, Spring Awakening 
CHOREOGRAPHER Sergio Trujillo, On Your Feet!
SET DESIGN David Rockwell, She Loves Me 
COSTUME DESIGN Jeff Mahshie, She Loves Me 
LIGHTING DESIGN Justin Townsend, American Psycho the Musical
PROJECTION DESIGN Finn Ross, American Psycho the Musical
ACTOR IN A PLAY Frank Langella, The Father 
ACTRESS IN A PLAY Jessica Lange, Long Day’s Journey Into Night 
ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Danny Burstein, Fiddler on the Roof
ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple the Musical
FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY Michael Shannon, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY (tie) Pascale Armand, Eclipsed  and Judith Light, Thérèse Raquin
FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress
FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me 
OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE James Lecesne, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey
JOHN GASSNER AWARD (Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright) Marco Ramirez, The Royale
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
James Houghton, Signature Theatre Company

NY Drama Critics Pick Humans, Shuffle Along

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle met on May 5, 2016 to determine the winners of its 81st annual awards. The results were as follows:

Best Play: The Humans (Stephen Karam)
Best Foreign Play: no award
Best Musical: Shuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed (George C. Wolfe, Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle)
Special Citations: Oskar Eustis for outstanding leadership of the Public Theater; Lois Smith for career achievement; Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld for collaborative achievement in direction and design

On the first ballot for Best Play, The Humans won nine votes, short of a majority among the Circle’s 22 voting members. A second vote was then taken to determine whether an award would be given at all. Having agreed that one should, the Circle moved to a weighted third ballot, which The Humans won with 35 points. Annie Baker’s John placed second (19 points), followed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Gloria (14 points) and Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed (12 points). The Circle opted not to give an award for Best Foreign Play.

On the first ballot for Best Musical, Shuffle Along and Dear Evan Hansen each received seven votes. Shuffle Along won handily on the third ballot with 44 points, followed by Dear Evan Hansen (25 points), American Psycho (17 points) and First Daughter Suite (14 points)..

The Circle also voted to award three Special Citations: to Oskar Eustis for outstanding leadership of the Public Theater; to actor Lois Smith for career achievement, including in this season’s John and Marjorie Prime; and to Ivo van Hove and Jan Versweyveld for collaborative achievement in direction and design, including in this season’s A View from the Bridge and The Crucible.

The awards will be presented at a private ceremony at Feinstein’s/54 Below on May 17, 2016.

2016 Tony Nominees - Complete List!

Best Play

Eclipsed

The Father

The Humans

King Charles III


Best Musical

Bright Star

Hamilton

School of Rock—The Musical

Shuffle Along

Waitress


Best Revival of a Play

The Crucible

A View From the Bridge

Blackbird

Long Days' Journey Into Night

Noises Off


Best Revival of a Musical

The Color Purple

Fiddler on the Roof

She Loves Me

Spring Awakening


Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play

Gabriel Byrne, Long Days' Journey Into Night

Jeff Daniels, Blackbird

Frank Langella, The Father

Tim Pigott-Smith, King Charles III

Mark Strong, A View From the Bridge


Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Jessica Lange, Long Days' Journey Into Night

Laurie Metcalfe, Misery

Lupita Nyong'o, Eclipsed

Sophie Okenedo, The Crucible

Michelle Williams, Blackbird


Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical

Alex Brightman, School of Rock—The Musical

Danny Burstein, Fiddler on the Roof

Zachary Levi, She Loves Me

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton

Leslie Odom Jr., Hamilton


Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Laura Benanti, She Loves Me

Carmen Cusack, Bright Star

Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple

Jessie Mueller, Waitress

Phillipa Soo, Hamilton


Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play

Reed Birney, The Humans

Bill Camp, The Crucible

David Furr, Noises Off

Richard Goulding, King Charles III

Michael Shannon, Long Days' Journey Into Night


Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play

Pascale Armand, Eclipsed

Megan Hilty, Noises Off

Jaune Houdyshell, The Humans

Andrea Martin, Noises Off

Saycon Sengbloh, Eclipsed


Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Daveed Diggs, Hamilton

Brandon Victor Dixon, Shuffle Along

Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress

Jonathan Groff, Hamilton

Christopher Jackson, Hamilton


Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical

Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple

Renée Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton

Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me

Jennifer Simard, Disaster!

Adrienne Warren, Shuffle Along

Tony Award Nominees Tell Their Stories