The Broadway Musical Blog – Musical theater news and gossip from the Great White Way
Dishing out daily (or almost daily) Broadway musical news and gossip. The companion site to The Broadway Musical Home (broadwaymusicalhome.com), a directory of Broadway musicals with the story, songs, merchandise, video clips, lyrics, tickets, rights & awards for almost 200 shows.Archive for June, 2009
Reading of Caligula the Rock Musical to star Euan Morton
Tony Award nominee Euan Morton (Taboo) will star in a reading of Eric Svejcar’s new musical Caligula on July 13 and 14 at New World Stages, directed by Chris Presley. The cast includes: Autumn Hurlbert (MTV’s Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods), Matt Bogart (Jersey Boys, Aida), Anastasia Barzee (White Christmas, Urinetown), Nehal Joshi, David Edwards, Tiffani Barbour, Darrel Blackburn, Christina DeCicco, Christy Faber, Lucia Giannetta, Brian Golub, Kyle Harris, Todd Alan Johnson, Andrew Kober, John Eric Parker, Steve Routman, Sheri Sanders, Molly Sorohan and Mathenee Treco.
The new musical “is placed in an ancient rock-and-roll theatre somewhere between the years 41 and 1973 (or perhaps both simultaneously). This particular ancient theatre just happens to somehow have electricity, a bitchin’ sound system, a light show, a rock band, and costumes more in the world of Ziggy Stardust than Julius Caesar. History’s most notorious tyrant takes the audience on a musical journey of murder, sensuality, heartbreak, world domination, immortality, and absurdly unmitigated ego.”
The reading of Caligula is being presented by Rich Affannato in association with Meri Krassner. The musical director is David Andrews Rogers.
Julianne Hough to star alongside Chace Crawford in Footloose Film
Dancing With the Stars’ Julianne Hough will be starring opposite Gossip Girl‘s Chace Crawford in the upcoming Footloose movie remake. He was voted People’s hottest bachelor, and 20/20 named her one of the “very best dancers on the planet” – you can’t fight that they look good. It’s rumored that the remake of the 1984 film that launched Kevin Bacon to stardom will be more “mature” than the original.
Complete Bye Bye Birdie Cast Announced
Fragments of casting announcements had been leaking out, but now the casting for the Robert Longbottom-directed revival of Bye Bye Birdie is complete. Here it is:
Nolan Gerard Funk as Conrad Birdie
John Stamos (“ER,” Nine) as Albert
Gina Gershon (Boeing-Boeing) as Rosie
Bill Irwin (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) as Harry MacAfee
Dee Hoty (Will Rogers Follies) as Mrs. MacAfee
Jayne Houdyshell (Well) as Mae
Allie Trimm (13) as Kim MacAfee
Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening) as Hugo Peabody
Molly Ephraim (Fiddler on the Roof) as Ursula Merkle
Jake Evan Schwencke as Randolph MacAfee
The rest of the cast includes Deanna Cipolla, Paula Leggett Chase, Riley Costello, John Treacy Egan, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Todd Gearhart, Patty Goble, Suzanne Grodner, Robert Hager, Nina Hennessey, Natalie Hill, Julia Knitel, Jess Le Protto, David McDonald, Jillian Mueller, Paul Pilcz, Daniel Quadrino, Devin Richards, Emma Rowley, Tim Shew, Kevin Shotwell, Alison Strong, Jim Walton, Brynn Williams and Branch Woodman.
The show will be directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom (Side Show), with a book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams. Bye Bye Birdie‘s design team includes Andrew Jackness (scenic design), Gregg Barnes (costume design), Ken Billington (lighting design), Acme Sound (sound design) and David Chase (music supervisor).
Birdie will be the first show to open at the new Henry Miller’s Theatre (124 West 43rd St) on Oct. 15 and run through Jan. 10, 2010.
A Flop Immortalized, A Tony Award Eliminated
Cast Albums Aren’t Just for Hits and Award Winners…
Glory Days, a show about four high school friends reuniting, both opened and closed on Broadway on the same night but will nevertheless be getting a cast recording to preserve its score. With a book by James Gardiner, score/lyrics by Nick Blaemire and a cast featuring the talents of Steven Booth, Andrew Call, Jesse JP Johnson, and Adam Halpin, the show only lasted at the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway one night. Along with a CD release, the show will be also be available for licensing…so, anyone want to produce a Broadway flop?
And in Tony News (Yes, We’re Not Quite Done Yet)…
The Tony Awards administration and management have just announced that they will retire the Special Theatrical Event category next year. Established in 2001, the following shows will now be the only ones to have walked away with the now extinct category awards: Blast!, Elaine Stritch at Liberty, Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, Billy Crystal 700 Sundays, Jay Johnson: The Two and Only and Liza’s at the Palace.
But there is some light at the end of the tunnel – now shows that might have been nominated in this category are elligible in all categories, so they could take home the award for best lighting design or best direction or even best musical next year. Traditionally the budgets for these shows have been less substantial than many of the Broadway blockbusters that normally make the nominees list…but who knows? Perhaps it will be a good thing for Broadway’s special theatrical events after all.
Watch the New Fame Movie Trailer!
Watch the trailer for the MGM remake of Fame, starring Megan Mullally, Bebe Neuwirth, Debbie Allen, Paul McGill and Naturi Naughton. Scheduled to arrive in theatres Sept. 25, the remake of 1980 film has a screenplay by Allison Burnett and Aline Brosh McKenna and choreography and direction by Kevin Tancharoen.
Pop Singers and TV Dancing Stars are Taking Broadway by Storm
Opening night for The Wiz, starring Ashanti
The Wiz, directed by Thomas Kail, alongside his In the Heights collaborators, Andy Blankenbuehler (choreographer) and Alex Lacamoire (musical director) opens tonight at City Center.
The production stars Ashanti as Dorothy, Orlando Jones at The Wiz, LaChanze as Glinda, Tichina Arnold as Evillene, Dawnn Lewis as Addaperle, Joshua Henry as the Tinman, James Monroe Iglehart as the Lion and Christian White as the Scarecrow.
The ensemble includes Raymond Bennett, Tanya Birl, Darlesia Cearcy, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Angela Grovey, Ebony Haswell, Lauren Lim Jackson, Carl Lation, Maurice Lauchner, Jennifer Locke, Amy McClendon, Kenna Morris, John Eric Parker, Herman Payne, Ryan Rankine, Levensky Smith, Ephraim Sykes, Adrienne Warren, Daniel J. Watts, Juson Williams and Will Wingfield.
The show runs through July 5 (with Passing Strange‘s Colman Domingo stepping in for Orlando Jones for the final 6 performances so Jones can start shooting his new series Crash Course for ABC.)
Dancing Cast for Burn the Floor Announced
Dancers from some of your favorite TV shows will be headed to Broadway for the new musical Burn the Floor, directed and choreographed by Jason Gilkison.
Dancing with the Stars pros Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Karina Smirnoff, Sarah Hives, Peta Murgatroyd and Trent Widdo, as well as So You Think You Can Dance‘s Sharna Burgess and Anya Garnis, and Superstars of Dance‘s Henry Bayalikov, join Kevin Clifton, Sasha Farber, Jeremy Garner, Gordana Grandosek, Patrick Helm, Melanie Hooper, Giselle Peacock, Sarah Soriano, Damon & Rebecca Sugden, Damian Whitewood and Robin Windsor in what looks to be a fantastic show.
Previews begin at the Longacre Theatre on July 25 and opening night is set for August 2.
Film to Broadway and Broadway to Film…
Broadway to the Silver Screen…
The Tony Award wining musical, City of Angles, with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart, is being adapted by the original librettist and lyricist for the silver screen. Barry Levingson (Wag the Dog, Rain Man, Bugsy) will direct and Marc Shaiman (Hairspray) will provide additional music and musical direction.
Films eyeing Broadway musical adaptations…
The same producers bringing City of Angels to Hollywood will be working the other way round as well – transforming Elf, the movie starring Will Ferrell, for the Great White Way, with a book by Thomas Meehan (Hairspray, The Producers) and Bob Martin (Drowsy Chaperone) and a new score by Matt Sklar and Chad Beguelin (Wedding Singer). Workshopping soon, the show is hoping to hit Broadway during the 2010 holiday season.
And they’ve got plans to adapt another film, Secondhand Lions, which starred Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Haley Joel Osment, for Broadway. With a book by Rupert Holmes (Edwin Drood, Curtains) and a score by Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary, the production will be directed by Matt August, appearing on Broadway in 2011.
Shrek many not have won many Tonys, but it’s doing something right!
Last week, Shrek saw the biggest gain of any Broadway show, with gross up $182,798! Maybe you think (like many in the industry have) that theirs was one of the worst presentations at the Tony Awards (watch the video here), but with numbers like that, you have to give them due credit – they know how to appeal to their audience.
The show stars Brian d’Arcy James (Outer Critic’s Circle winner), Sutton Foster (Outer Critic’s Circle winner), John Tartaglia, Daniel Breaker (Drama Desk Award winner) and Christopher Sieber, and has won awards for Costume Design (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic’s Circle) and Set Design (Drama Desk, Outer Critic’s Circle).
I also recently stumbled upon a video of the making of the Shrek cast album.
Chess in Concert with Menzel, Groban & Pascal
A concert version of Benny Andersson, Bjorn
Ulvaeus and Tim Rice’s cult musical Chess, featuring the talents of Wicked’s Idina Menzel, Rent’s Adam Pascal, and the internationally renowned vocalist Josh Groban will be broadcast on PBS on Wednesday, June 17 at 9 PM (ET) as a part of their Great Performances series.
A DVD version
Psst…Video previews of Catch Me if You Can, the musical
Found some footage of the new Catch Me if You Can musical on youtube and just had to share!
Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale, Jr
Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanrady
What do you think?
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