Monday, November 11, 2024

Six B'way Musicals We've Recently Seen

Oh, its's been a very busy time for us on Broadway. H
ere are six we've recently seen along with our capsule reviews:

Aladdin: No, it’s not just for kids. It’s actually something the whole family can enjoy. And audiences prove it as the show has been running for more than 10 years. We enjoyed it with our grandkids and everyone had a great time. Yes. there are some slow parts but, overall the production is a dazzler with ample displays of the magic of Broadway and great tunes like Proud of Your Boy, Arabian Nights, Friend Like Me, A Whole New World and Prince Ali. Several of these have become classics.


Back To The Future: The show will close soon but it’s had a very healthy 18-month Broadway run and contains the zippiest special effects on Broadway right now. The cast is superb and the show is mostly faithful to the story line of the movie (with some updates). What’s more it’s funny and the cast has great fun with the whole tongue-in-cheek concept of the show. An excellent production. BTW: The show has already embarked on an extended North American tour!


Ragtime: The big, richly melodic City Center Encores production of this epic musical has just concluded a limited run which we were lucky enough to catch and all we can say is “WOW!” We saw the original production in 1998 and this faithful revival is nothing short of exuberant. This is no reinterpretation, folks. This is the real deal and one is likely never to see anything like it again: full orchestra, big cast, lush score, historic tale. We’re praying they’ll bring this revival to Broadway as soon as possible. Please!


Water For Elephants: Another fine musical that’s soon to close on Broadway but headed to a national tour likely to come to a town near year. And that makes sense because the whole show is about a traveling circus and, yes it’s based on the movie of the same name. As it’s set during the Great Depression, involves a group of grifters and misfits and deals with animal cruelty, it’s not exactly a cheerful story but the authentic circus acrobats who are part of the production are enthralling. Ditto, the inventive choreography and imaginative sets.


The Great Gatsby: Finally, Gatsby’s story has been faithfully brought to the stage in a mostly sung-through musical that is of operatic proportions. Jeremy Jordan, Eva Noblezada and Noah Ricketts are superb in the primary roles. But Ricketts as Nick Carraway (the teller of the tale) is the real standout here. He totally inhabits the role. This is, as one reviewer described it “a great, big Broadway extravaganza.” The costumes (more than 300 of them designed by Linda Cho)  justifiably garnered their own Tony award and the projected set design gives the production a whole new dimension. (Photo above)


Once Upon A Mattress: This is a limited run (must end November 30) revival of the 1959 musical loosely based on The Princess and the Pea. The show can only be described as a festival of silliness broadly played by a winning cast showcasing the bountiful comedic talents of the effervescent Sutton Foster. The show can be tedious at times but Foster, Michael Urie, Will Chase, Ana Gasteyer and the rest of the company keep things moving along at a brisk pace with lots of punchy one liners and old-fashioned mugging. It’s a jocular fairy tale, a cartoon and a fable all rolled into one. This crowd pleaser puts the comedy back into musical comedy!

Monday, September 30, 2024

Broadway Lights Dimmed For Great Star!

The Broadway community honored the memory of James Earl Jones, four-time nominated and two-time Tony Award®-winning actor and recipient of the 2017 Special Tony Award® for Lifetime Achievement, whose career spanned almost seven decades on Broadway. Mr. Jones passed away on September 9, 2024, at the age of 93. On September 26, 2024, the Committee of Theatre Owners dimmed the lights of Broadway theaters in New York at 6:45pm, in his honor.

In addition to his Special Tony Award® for Lifetime Achievement, Mr. Jones was further honored by the Broadway community on September 12, 2022, when the Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.


“James Earl Jones was a true pillar of the Broadway industry, providing unforgettable experiences to multiple generations of theatregoers – all while accumulating many well-deserved honors, awards, and achievements for his iconic performances in other entertainment fields. While we acknowledge and celebrate Jones’ significant legacy across multiple mediums, we are particularly proud of his legacy on Broadway, and are grateful for the many memorable performances with which he graced our stages,” said Jason Laks, Interim President of The Broadway League.

Jones’ Broadway career began in 1957 as an understudy in The Egghead – only a decade later, he received his first Tony Award® for his work in The Great White Hope. He would go on to star in such stage classics as the original production of August Wilson’s FencesThe Iceman ComethOf Mice and MenOthelloCat on a Hot Tin Roof, and Driving Miss Daisy, among many other notable productions. He performed on Broadway as recently as 2016 in The Gin Game, starring alongside Cicely Tyson.

During this long and storied career, he was nominated for four Tony Awards®, winning two for The Great White Hope (1969 Best Actor in a Play) and Fences (1987 Best Actor in a Play), in addition to being the recipient of the 2017 Special Tony Award® for Lifetime Achievement.  Jones’ Tony Awards® also contributed to his inclusion in a small but distinguished cohort of “EGOT” (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winners.

On Broadway Jones’ credits included: The Egghead (1957); Sunrise at Campobello (1958); The Cool World (1960); Infidel Caesar (1962); Danton’s Death (1965 Revival); A Hand is on the Gate (1966); The Great White Hope (1968 Winner Best Actor In A Play); Les Blancs (1970); The Iceman Cometh (1973 Revival); Of Mice and Men (1974 Revival); Paul Robeson (1978); A Lesson From Aloes (1980); Othello (1982 Revival); “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys (1982); Fences (1987 Winner Best Actor In A Play); On Golden Pond (2005 Revival, Nominee Best Actor in A Play); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008 Revival); Driving Miss Daisy (2010); Gore Vidal’s The Best Man (2012 Revival, Nominee Best Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role In A Play); You Can’t Take It With You (2014 Revival); and The Gin Game (2015 Revival). Mr. Jones was also in the Broadway Tour of “MASTER HAROLD”…and the boys (1983).


Mr. Jones’ Broadway biography can be found on the Internet Broadway Database. 

Monday, June 17, 2024

Complete List Of 2024 Tony Winners!


Here are all the winners from last night's Tony Awards:

Best Musical: “The Outsiders”

Best Play: "Stereophonic"

Best Revival of a Musical: "Merrily We Roll Along"

Best Revival of a Play: “Appropriate”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical: Maleah Joi Moon, “Hell’s Kitchen”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical: Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play: Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play: Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical: Daniel Radcliffe (shown above), “Merrily We Roll Along”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical: Kecia Lewis, "Hell's Kitchen"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play: Will Brill, “Stereophonic”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play: Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”

Best Direction of a Play: Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”

Best Direction of a Musical: Danya Taymor, “The Outsiders”

Best Original Score: “Suffs,” music & lyrics: Shaina Taub

Best Book of a Musical: "Suffs," Shaina Taub

Best Choreography: Justin Peck, “Illinoise”

Best Costume Design of a Play:  Dede Ayite, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”

Best Costume Design of a Musical: Linda Cho, “The Great Gatsby”

Best Orchestrations: Jonathan Tunick, "Merrily We Roll Along"

Best Scenic Design of a Musical: Tom Scutt, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Scenic Design of a Play: David Zinn, "Stereophonic"

Best Lighting Design of a Musical: Hana S. Kim and Brian MacDevitt, “The Outsiders”

Best Lighting Design of a Play: Jane Cox, “Appropriate”

Best Sound Design of a Play: Ryan Rumery, “Stereophonic”

Best Sound Design of a Musical: Cody Spencer, “The Outsiders”

Friday, May 17, 2024

2024 Outer Critics Award Winners Announced

The complete list of this year's OCC Award winners:

Outstanding New Broadway Play

Stereophonic by David Adjmi

Outstanding New Broadway Musical

Suffs

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical

Dead Outlaw

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play

Primary Trust by Eboni Booth

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)

Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola

Outstanding Revival of a Musical

I Can Get It for You Wholesale

Outstanding Revival of a Play

Appropriate

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play

Jessica Lange – Mother Play

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play

Kara Young – Purlie Victorious

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical

Kelli O’Hara – Days of Wine and Roses

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical

Kecia Lewis – Hell’s Kitchen

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical

Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical (tie)

Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale

Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play (tie)

Cole Escola – Oh, Mary!

William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play

Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust

Outstanding Solo Performance

Patrick Page – All the Devils Are Here

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Shaina Taub – Suffs

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Shaina Taub – Suffs

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club

Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants

Outstanding Direction of a Play (Broadway of Off-Broadway)

Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)

Justin Peck — Illinoise

Outstanding Scenic Design (tie)

Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby 

David Zinn – Stereophonic

Outstanding Costume Design

Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby

Outstanding Lighting Design

Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders

Outstanding Sound Design

Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic

Outstanding Video/Projections

Peter Nigrini – The Who’s Tommy

Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Outer Critics Circle Nominations Announced

Nominations for the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Awards, celebrating the 2023-24 Broadway and off-Broadway season have been announced.

Leading the pack are the off-Broadway musicals Dead Outlaw and The Connector, which received nine and seven nominations, respectively. The most-nominated Broadway show of the season is Stereophonic, which earned seven nominations. Check out the full list below:

Outstanding New Broadway Play
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh
Mother Play: A Play in Five Evictions by Paula Vogel
Patriots by Peter Morgan
Stereophonic by David Adjmi
The Shark Is Broken by Joseph Nixon and Ian Shaw

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Days of Wine and Roses
Suffs
The Great Gatsby
The Outsiders
Water for Elephants

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Illinoise
Teeth
The Connector

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
Dig by Theresa Rebeck
King of the Jews by Leslie Epstein
King James by Rajiv Joseph
Primary Trust by Eboni Booth
Swing State by Rebecca Gilman

John Gassner Award (new American play preferably by a new playwright)
Job by Max Wolf Friedlich
Manahatta by Mary Kathryn Nagle
Oh, Mary! by Cole Escola
The Apiary by Kate Douglas
Wet Brain by John J. Caswell Jr.

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
Cabaret
Here Lies Love
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
Monty Python’s Spamalot
The Who’s Tommy

Outstanding Revival of a Play
An Enemy of the People
Appropriate
Doubt: A Parable
Mary Jane
Philadelphia, Here I Come!
Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Play
Jessica Lange – Mother Play
Rachel McAdams – Mary Jane
Sarah Paulson – Appropriate
Jeremy Strong – An Enemy of the People
Michael Stuhlbarg – Patriots

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Play
Billy Eugene Jones – Purlie Victorious
Celia Keenan-Bolger – Mother Play
Alex Moffat – The Cottage
Jim Parsons – Mother Play
Sarah Pidgeon – Stereophonic
Kara Young – Purlie Victorious

Outstanding Lead Performer in a Broadway Musical
Ali Louis Bourzgui – The Who’s Tommy
Brian d’Arcy James – Days of Wine and Roses
Casey Likes – Back to the Future
Kelli O’Hara – Days of Wine and Roses
Maryann Plunkett – The Notebook

Outstanding Featured Performer in a Broadway Musical
Roger Bart – Back to the Future
Justin Guarini – Once Upon a One More Time
Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer – Spamalot
Kecia Lewis – Hell’s Kitchen
Bebe Neuwirth – Cabaret

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
Jeb Brown – Dead Outlaw
Andrew Durand – Dead Outlaw
Alyse Alan Louis – Teeth
Ben Levi Ross – The Connector
Ricky Ubeda – Illinoise

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical
Ben Cook – Illinoise
Hannah Cruz – The Connector
Julia Knitel – Dead Outlaw
Judy Kuhn – I Can Get It For You Wholesale
Jessica Molaskey – The Connector
Thom Sesma – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
Cole Escola – Oh, Mary!
Mary Beth Fisher – Swing State
William Jackson Harper – Primary Trust
Marie Mullen – The Saviour
Paul Sparks – Waiting for Godot

Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play
Gus Birney – Our Class
April Matthis – Primary Trust
Conrad Ricamora – Oh, Mary!
Jay O. Sanders – Primary Trust
Bubba Weiler – Swing State

Outstanding Solo Performance
Eddie Izzard – Hamlet
Patrick Page – All the Devils Are Here
Mona Pirnot – I Love You So Much I Could Die
Robert Montano – Small
John Rubenstein – Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground

Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury – Illinoise
Anna K. Jacobs and Michael R. Jackson – Teeth
Itamar Moses – Dead Outlaw
Jonathan Marc Sherman – The Connector
Shaina Taub – Suffs

Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Jason Robert Brown – The Connector
Will Butler – Stereophonic
Adam Guettel – Days of Wine and Roses
David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna – Dead Outlaw
Shaina Taub – Suffs

Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Timo Andres – Illinoise
Adam Guettel and Jamie Lawrence – Days of Wine and Roses
Marco Paguia – Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Starobin – Suffs
Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, and David Yazbek – Dead Outlaw

Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
David Cromer – Dead Outlaw
Michael Greif – Days of Wine and Roses
Daisy Prince – The Connector
Leigh Silverman – Suffs
Jessica Stone – Water for Elephants

Outstanding Direction of a Play (Broadway of Off-Broadway)
Knud Adams – Primary Trust
Daniel Aukin – Stereophonic
Robert Falls – Swing State
Kenny Leon – Purlie Victorious
Lila Neugebauer – Appropriate

Outstanding Choreography (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Jesse Robb and Shana Carroll – Water for Elephants
Rick Kuperman and Jeff Kuperman – The Outsiders
Lorin Latarro – The Who’s Tommy
Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck – Buena Vista Social Club
Justin Peck — Illinoise

Outstanding Scenic Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Paul Tate dePoo III – The Cottage
Paul Tate dePoo III – The Great Gatsby 
Dots – Appropriate
David Korins – Here Lies Love
David Zinn – Stereophonic

Outstanding Costume Design
Dede Ayite – Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Enver Chakartash – Stereophonic
Enver Chakartash – Teeth
Linda Cho – The Great Gatsby
Sydney Maresca – The Cottage

Outstanding Lighting Design
Bradley King – Water for Elephants
Brian MacDevitt – The Outsiders
Justin Townsend – Here Lies Love
Tim Lutkin and Hugh Vanstone – Back to the Future
Amanda Zieve – The Who’s Tommy

Outstanding Sound Design
Tom Gibbons – Grey House
Gareth Owen – Back to the Future
Gareth Owen – The Who’s Tommy
Ryan Rumery – Stereophonic
M.L. Dogg and Cody Spencer – Here Lies Love

Outstanding Video/Projections
David Bengali – Water for Elephants
Paul Tate dePoo III — The Great Gatsby
Peter Nigrini – The Who’s Tommy
Finn Ross – Back to the Future
Ash J. Woodward – Patriots