Posts Tagged ‘Broadway’

ROCK OF AGES is moving to Broadway!!

Rock of Ages heading to Broadway

Rock of Ages is about to pump some adrenaline into the Great White Way

Break out the Wine Coolers and studded jackets! Rock of Ages, the Off Broadway hit playing at New World Stages will be finding a new home this spring at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre! Previews begin March 20, 2009 with an official opening night of April 7, 2009. Top ticket price for Rock of Ages is $89.00 for weeknight performances, $99.00 for weekend performances (a full priced Broadway ticket under $100? amazing).

Tickets go on sale Monday, January 5, 2009 and are available through Ticketmaster.com. Don’t forget to visit www.rockofagesmusical.com for more information on the Broadway Transfer!

December 19th, 2008 by Mark Seeley | Tags: In the News | No Comments »

Les Misbarak

The best is Sarah Palin as Madame Thénardier.

September 13th, 2008 by Mark Seeley | Tags: Video | No Comments »

Brandon Nichols…Broadway Star!

While trying to find bad 80’s commercials on YouTube for the upcoming Rock of Ages, I stumbled upon this guy: Brandon Nichols. I love this guy! He is an example of what all actors will have to do to get seen in the near future.
Here’s how he did it:

1. He created all of his music/video free on One True Media, then, created a free website on wix.com.

2. He uploaded his videos to YouTube and added keywords like Broadway, Musicals, etc. This made it easy to find Brandon when people searched for those terms. They loved him, and subscribed, saw other videos and then commented and responded wiht their videos.

3. Brandon used his original style and sang show tunes to the pictures of the show he was singing to. The whole thing is bizarre and really…oh, what’s the word…REAL. Something Broadway could use more of.

It’s going to be interesting to see where the industry and Brandon go next. For Brandon, if it’s not a career on Broadway, it’s definitely a career in internet marketing.

August 15th, 2008 by Jim Glaub | Tags: Video | No Comments »

Theatre Advertisers Make Good

Our friends at Spot will join forces with the London Agency DeWynters.   Read about it here.

August 12th, 2008 by Jim Glaub | Tags: In the News | No Comments »

The Seagull Takes Flight

We just launched The Seagull’s brand new site:

www.seagulltheplay.com

This promises to be an amazing show.  Definitely one of Broadway’s Not-to-be-missed this Fall.

July 29th, 2008 by Jim Glaub | Tags: Web Design | No Comments »

Best Musical Nominees

Xanadu: The Musical

I saw “Xanadu” this past weekend with two of my friends. I have been avoiding seeing the show because, despite overall positive reviews I still didn’t really think it would be that good and that the show is just contributing to the slow and painful death of the art form known as musical theatre.

I have been told, and I agree that I am some what of a theatre snob….Is it really that big of a deal if I enjoy a good night of quality theater! Anyway, so I went into “Xanadu” with some doubts but I still was telling myself that I would not judge the show until the end.

So I must say that I did enjoy it. “Xanadu” is a sugary sweet, diabetic coma inducing good time. I mean you really can’t leave the show unhappy. The show knows its not Sondheim or even Schwartz and plays that to their advantage. It is campy, funny and the cast is really a lot a of fun (especially Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman).

Now the interesting thing is that, is it really any kind competition for Best Musical? This year’s nominees are strange. No show has really captured the audience and is completely selling out and all shows are kind of feel good shows (I have not seen “Cry Baby” and I actually believe that “Cry Baby” is a throw away nomination since no other musical this season aside from “In the Heights,” “Passing Strange” and “Xanadu” got good reviews).

I am interested to see what happens on Tony night. “Xanadu” is trying to pull an “Avenue Q” with their viral marketing campaign Cubby Bernstein but the three nominees for best musical all leave you with the same smile on your face.

I believe that “In the Heights” is favored to win Best Musical because but I can’t really discount “Passing Strange” or “Xanadu” just yet. I think “Xanadu” and “In the Heights” have the best touring possibilities (and that is important to the Tony voter) but “Passing Strange” is also a very new type of musical, and it started at the Public which is a great New York institution. All of the nominees have their flaws and they all still need to attract a wider audience and none of the nominees (again ignoring “Cry Baby”) have something kind of new and different to offer. I guess we shall see in a week.

June 9th, 2008 by Mark Seeley | Tags: In the News | No Comments »

How to Make Your Sister Love New York

My sister and her husband made their first visit to New York last week. (They live in Los Angeles, where I’m from.) Naturally, we wanted to show them a kling-klang-king of a good time. We also had theatre-type commitments almost every night of her visit. (Yeah, I know, sucks to be us.)

Luckily they love theatre and were very good sports about devoting most of their evenings to our professional preoccupation. Also, luckily, all the things we saw were truly wonderful. (Phew! It would’ve been awful to make out-of-towners sit through a bunch of stinkeroos.)

First, we took them to Almost an Evening, for what happened to be F. Murray Abraham’s final performance. The cast and crew were also kind enough to include them in the champagne toast that followed. Let me tell you, there’s something supremely satisfying about introducing your family to an Academy Award winner, who also happens to be extremely charming and funny. That’s just cool!

On Tuesday, we were over at the Cherry Lane Theatre (which we love) to see a workshop performance of one of the company’s Mentor Project plays. Do you know about Mentor Project? It’s Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi’s ten-year-old program that matches emerging playwrights with masters of the craft. Over the course of a single season, three established artists are each paired with a mentee to work on one play. Each work is given a staged reading and a workshop presentation in CLT’s Studio space. Past mentors have included Tony Kushner, Alfred Uhry, Jules Feiffer, Wendy Wasserstein, Theresa Rebeck and Lynn Nottage.

We saw a performance of Jailbait by Deidre O’Connor, directed by Suzanne Agins and mentored by Michael Weller. I had seen the reading and liked it very much, and I’m thrilled to tell you we were all truly impressed by what we saw on the stage last week. O’Connor’s dialogue is pitch perfect and her characters are deftly and lovingly drawn. It’s the kind of smart, honest theatre that you know is being made in New York, in little theatres, in basements, in rehearsal studios and studio apartments, but that rarely gets noticed amidst the hullaballoo.

Our next outing rocketed us from the humble to defiantly lavaloovanal: We took in a performance of Boeing Boeing. I ponied up the bucks for 7th row seats on the aisle–hey, you only take your sister to a boffo B’way show once in a while, right? Anyway, the show is, on its merits, pretty pukey. It’s a Sizzlin’ Sixties Sexcapade that definitely shows its years, BUT the production values are so high, the cast is so polished, and–most importantly–is so obviously having the time of their lives that it just doesn’t matter. I mean it, the joy radiating from the stage is palpable. The post-curtain/pre-bow samba–which has exactly nothing to do with the plot–is clearly there just to let this group of goof balls burn off a little excess joy before punching out for the night. It’s fun, it’s cwaaazy, it’s as one review has it: a nutball comedy. Go for the laffs.

Finally, we walked over to the Atlantic Theater Company for a preview of Conor McPerson’s Port Authority, which opened last night. Expertly acted by Brian D’Arcy James, John Gallagher and the incomparable Jim Norton under the direction of Henry Wishcamper, Port Authority grabbed me in the first thirty seconds and never let go. Read Brantley’s review here. It’s a series of monologues by three Irishmen, one young, one middle aged, one old. Each tells the story of a love that never was, a victim of passivity, fear or simple bad timing. It’s haunting and wrenching, mesmerizing and strips the theatrical experience to its bones. It’s essential, and I mean that literally, for certainly the first drama resided in the stories we told around the fire, our faces gilded by its glow and the night wrapped tight around us. That’s how Port Authority feels: intimate and painful and achingly human.

Anywhoo, my sister and her husband were thoroughly charmed by all of last week’s theatrical hocus pocus. Their enthusiasm reminded us just how fortunate we are to see so much shockingly great theater every single blessed day of the week! (In case we were starting to take it for granted.)

May 22nd, 2008 by Laurie Connor | Tags: In the News, Random Stuff | No Comments »

Avenue Q Four Years Later

I saw Avenue Q back in 2004 for the first time with the original cast and then again in 2005 with all original members with the exception of Barrett Foa as Princeton. Both times I saw it I was amazed. I really love this show. What I feel Avenue Q has that other shows do not is heart. It really has heart. Although it is pretty vulgar at times and politically incorrect (which I love) it has an excellent message and you feel good after seeing it. Other shows may be stronger and everyone show leaves you with certain feelings, I feel that Avenue Q is different.

I saw Avenue Q for the third time on Friday. Although there is one member of the original cast (Jennifer Barnhart) all of the others are now replacements. I have observed that shows lose a lot of spark when the original cast departs. I have seen this in shows such as Wicked and The Producers. I took my sister, who has not seen a Broadway show since Cats in the 1980’s. I felt that the show is easy to digest, funny and light. I personally was worried that I would not feel as strongly for the show because I would not be seeing the original cast.

I was WRONG! I felt like I was watching the show for the first time. The entire cast was excellent. Howie Michael Smith played Princeton and Rod in his Broadway debut and Sarah Stiles (who will be Joanne in the upcoming Broadway Musical Vanities) played Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut. I am still so happy to have seen the show again. I will say that it is probably one of my favorites. I did notice that they changed some of the staging and lyrics (specifically in “There is Life Outside Your Apartment”). The show is still so much fun, it’s not only topical, its real, people can relate to the characters and the theme of trying to find what they are supposed to do in life. If you have failed to see Avenue Q in the past I would recommend seeing it because you can not walk away from it smiling and the show is as strong as ever.

May 18th, 2008 by Mark Seeley | Tags: Random Stuff | No Comments »

I Smell a TONY…Please Hold

Cubby Bernstein…Theatre Mogul

May 14th, 2008 by Mark Seeley | Tags: Random Stuff, Video | No Comments »

Oh Tony!

Kerry Butler in Xanadu

Nominees for the 62nd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards follow:

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
Mabceth

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.

For more information visit www.TonyAwards.com.

May 13th, 2008 by Jim Glaub | Tags: In the News | No Comments »

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