Hugh Jackman, who won a Tony Award for his Broadway debut in The Boy from Oz, is currently planning an international tour of his solo stage show, according to Variety.
The actor, who can be seen as ill-fated presidential candidate Gary Hart in the new film The Frontrunner, offered his solo show Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in 2011 under the direction of Warren Carlyle.
Although a set list hasn’t been officially announced, it is expected the stage and screen star will include tunes from Les Misérables, The Boy from Oz, Oklahoma!, and The Greatest Showman. In addition to international venues, he is expected to perform in Los Angeles.
1923Lionel Barrymore stars in David Belasco‘s Laugh, Clown, Laugh!, the Pagliacci-like story of a middle-aged clown who adopts a young girl, but later, as she grows into womanhood, finds his feelings for her are growing into love, just as she is falling for a boy her own age. The classic weeper runs 133 performances at the Belasco Theatre and is made into a film with Lon Chaney.
1951John Van Druten‘s play I Am a Camera stages the story of Sally Bowles, the Berlin cabaret singer first introduced in Christopher Isherwood‘s stories, who is later musicalized in Cabaret. Julie Harris stars as Sally in the non-musical drama which runs 214 performances at the Empire Theatre.
1972Via Galactica opens at the new Uris Theatre with a $900,000 price tag. The musical, set on “a forgotten asteroid called Ithaca” in the year 2972, is directed by Peter Hall, and has a score by Galt MacDermot. It runs for seven performances.
1978 What are Porno Stars at Home like? Leonard Melfi‘s play highlights a birthday party with imaginary guests from that industry. It runs two months Off-Broadway at the Courtyard Playhouse.
2000 In a collaboration, Moisés Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to interview folks about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. The resulting show, The Laramie Project, is presented in Laramie for the first time, following runs at the Denver Center Theatre Company and Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre. Gay university student Shepard was beaten to death on the outskirts of town. The crime sparked outrage, debate, and mourning around the world. Many residents are represented in the show and are expected to show up to see how Kaufman, his co-writers, and actors present them.
2007 A settlement is reached in a 19-day stagehands’ strike against most Broadway shows, which is estimated to have cost the theatre industry and the New York economy nearly $40 million.
2012My Name Is Asher Lev, Aaron Posner’s play based on Chaim Potok’s best-selling novel, opens at Off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre. Ari Brand stars in the title role, opposite Mark Nelson and Jenny Bacon as parents Aryeh and Rivkeh. The production runs for 341 performances.
When the AIDS Healthcare Foundation approached artistic legend Debbie Allen to produce their annual event for World AIDS Day, Allen heeded the call.
Amidst executive producing, directing, and acting on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, her upcoming turn on television’s S.W.A.T., running her not-for-profit Debbie Allen Dance Academy (founded in 2001)—and that’s just today—Allen prioritized the commemorative evening “Keeping the Promise - 1,000,000 Lives in Care: Celebrating Icons of Dance” at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre for World AIDS Day November 30.
While past takes on the annual event have emphasized music, Allen pays homage to Ulysses Dove, Michael Peters, Gene Anthony Ray, Michael Bennett, Rudolph Nuryev, Alvin Ailey, and Arthur Mitchell as the dance artists lost to the disease. The evening will feature performances by Ailey II, The Dance Theatre of Harlem, ballerina Misty Copeland, and the recent star of A Chorus Line at City Center Robyn Hurder.
A dancer before she is anything else, Allen has earned two Tony Award nominations, three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, five NAACP Image Awards, a Drama Desk Award, an Astaire Award, and an Olivier Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She will forever be Lydia Grant from Fame. She has choreographed the Academy Awards ten times, and directed and choreographed such groundbreaking artists as Lena Horne, Sammy Davis Jr., Whitney Houston, and James Earl Jones.
Here, in an uncensored conversation, she tells behind-closed-doors stories of times with these dancers, why she considers herself a dancer first, how her dance background makes her invaluable to Grey’s Anatomy, and her best advice to every reader out there.
The unifying idea around this event, celebrating the dance artists we’ve lost to AIDS, seems so obvious, and yet sometimes the most obvious answers are the ones that take the most work to find. Where did the idea originate for you? Debbie Allen: Well you know, the AIDS Health Foundation has had this event for many years, and I’ve been involved with them, and I helped them with their celebration here [in Los Angeles], a year ago, and it was Mariah Carey, you know, people like that.
But when they said they wanted to go to New York and do something with dance, I said, “Well, we need to do the icons of dance.” Certainly speaking to me was a no-brainer to connect the dots in New York and in dance with the Apollo Theatre. I just started calling all the people that I know because I’ve known all the people that we’re celebrating, and so many that we can’t—we just don’t have time to do all the people that we need to do, but I’ve had a personal relationship, in one way or another, with all the people that we’re honoring now. We did the homework to track down who we needed to, to get approval and the rights, and to get, you know, Alfred Dove involved, Ulysses Dove’s brother, and called Robert Battle [for Ailey]…Michael Peters was a dear, dear friend of mine, and we performed together many times, worked together many times, and Michael Jackson certainly was someone that was a very, very close friend. So when we’re celebrating Michael Peters [who choreographed Thriller], it’s hard not to touch Michael Jackson because that was such a big, big, big deal.
Knowing you had these personal relationships, what do you want people to remember about them? It’s so much bigger than just even one of them. It’s just to remind people of the genius that we have lost to HIV and AIDS, and that this is still a disease that is taking lives every day, and that people need to remember that we have to continue to educate, fight, and help people get through this. There are medications and treatments that can help people. We didn’t have that. We didn’t have that when we lost Michael Peters, we didn’t have it.
I remember the day when he made us know that he was suffering with this, he didn’t know how to say it. We were having a rehearsal at my house, and he just came over. Actually, we were rehearsing because the Rodney King riots had destroyed the libraries, and we were preparing a big show. The Shuberts were giving us a theatre in New York to do a show to help raise money to restore the libraries.
And I had all the dancers at my house rehearsing, and Michael just showed up, and he showed up in shorts, and almost no shirt, and we were able to see the lesions on his body, and that was when we knew what he was dealing with. And he was like, “Debbie, I want to go. I want to dance.” You know? It was that kind of thing.
I remember the day Maggie Johnson said what happened to him, and the whole cast of A Different World was at my house. We were having a read-through at my house, because I would cook for them sometimes, so they could just stay family. And that day, I had never seen grown men weep the way they did that day.
You all were truly family. It’s heartbreaking to hear, but also incredible how you all leaned on each other—how you opened your home, too. The whole thing of AIDS has been so devastating, and we have to remember that it’s not over. A lot of people think, “Oh, it’s not a thing.” It’s very much a thing. And now more women are dying then men. In celebrating these great, incredible artists, it will make people remember, it will make them have moments of laughter, but it will make people remember, and think, about: Where are we right now with AIDS? It will bring that attention to the forefront.
Debbie Allen in FameMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios
Is that where your advocacy began? Well, it was when I started losing my boys from Fame, and it’s still hard to talk about it now, because it was just really tough. [Speaking through tears]. I’ll never forget: I was pregnant with my first child, and one of my boys was in the hospital dying, and they told me—no one understood AIDS—”Debbie, you can’t go to the hospital, you can’t go, you can’t.” I said, “I’m going. Shit, I’m going.” There was so much unknown. When I went to the hospital, and one of my sons—I called them my sons because they were like my children—he had not wanted to see anybody, he was so ashamed, I don’t know why. But I went to the hospital, and when I got there, it was the first day in a month that he actually got out of the bed, and we took a walk, and then he died not long after that. But it was just devastating, and scary. They called it gay cancer, that’s what they called it. But this disease has no discrimination, and we also learned that.
I remember, I was in a play called Raisin, my first Broadway show, and my leading man, Rob Jackson, died of AIDS. We didn’t know it was AIDS, and the whole company had to line up and take a shot for hepatitis, that’s what they made us do.
And I remember seeing Rob in the hospital, seeing him in the hospital, and you know, I hugged and kissed him every night on stage.
It’s important for us to remember this, to gain an understanding of what it was like not to know, and to commemorate that time, while also pushing for progress. In listening to you speak, does it feel like relationships between dancers are different in some way? You know what it is? It’s because we’re gypsies. We rarely get a contract. We rarely get insurance, or benefits, but we are the deus ex machine of every show. We make every show great and better, and even though they don’t pay us worth a shit, we dance well. And we dance wherever. Wherever we can, because we love it. We love it. And you know, this is who we are, and this is how we live, and yes, that’s how we’ll die, we’ll be dancing, that’s it.
You are an incredible multi-hyphenate, but I will always associate you first and foremost with dance. Is that how you see yourself? Absolutely. I’m always a dancer first. In fact, when I’m directing Grey’s Anatomy, they’re always saying, “Oh, it’s choreography again, here we go.” Because it’s thinking. I mean, it is choreography. It’s movement. It’s called motion pictures. So what is the movement in the life of the actor? That defines where you put the camera. What is the story that you’re telling? How are you moving from this moment to that moment? And we’re [shooting] a big motion control shot on Grey’s Anatomy, next week, and everybody was trying to figure out how you do this, and this, I said, “Guys, relax, it’s going to be fine, because we’re going to shoot the whole thing to music.” It’s the action that is important, and Krista Vernoff and Shonda Rhimes will change the music. But, I have an understanding of how to do these things; it is totally out of my experience in the dance world, and the music world, and all of that. [It] informs me in a way that other people just don’t have a clue.
But you know, I’m passing it on, so I’m sharing that knowledge.
What’s your advice to other women with big dreams of changing the world in this way, and making art? You know, I’m teaching people all the time. I have The Debbie Allen Dance Academy, and I’ve nurtured thousands of young people, and so many of them are out there making their mark on the world. And what I’ve tried to share, is in the world of the arts, one of the main things I try to connect young people to is: who are you? What do you care about in this world? Why are you dancing? What are you dancing about? What do you care about? What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? That. That is the driving force, and that could be for anyone. If you’re a banker, if you’re, you know, a builder, what do you care about? Why are you doing it? When you’re building a house, are you wanting it to be environmentally safe? Is it green? Is it gonna be something that doesn’t hurt the environment, but lives very tastefully along with it?
If you go into politics, oh my god, if you go into politics, they all need a day of class, honey. To that bar, and get in fifth position, child.
You served on the President’s Committee for Arts and Humanities, what do you think the arts can use, nationally, right now? What can lovers of art prioritize? Well lovers of art need to understand that we’re probably the only country in the world, this is my experience, that didn’t have a cultural agency. When you go to India, to China, just name a country, they all have cultural agencies. We have the FBI, the CIA, you know, FCC, just name them. But we don’t have a cultural agency. Somewhere along the line, we are missing a huge factor in the success of America, the success of innovation does not come without creativity, and so we need to have much more support, influence, and resources, just piled on to develop the minds of these young people coming up today, in the arts. Because that is creativity. You can’t become Steve Jobs without being creative.
And Steve Jobs took dance class. I love that so much. We can’t just do numbers, math, and literacy. We have to have cultural advocacy, and literacy. That is the genius in America that we are not paying enough attention to.
To steal a line from Fame, do you still have big dreams? I do. I really do, because there’s a lot of things I have yet to do, that I want to do, and I’ve worked so hard, and I’ve helped create a lot of projects with people, and for people, and there’s some things I want to do that are my idea that I want to see happen.
Are you willing to share one? I’ll share one. I want to. Freeze Frame…Stop the Madness is a piece that I created several years ago to address gun violence, and the gulf of opportunity that exists between the inner city, and the rest of the world. It’s a piece that is a very balanced portrayal about young people, parents, police, black people, Latin people, white people, it’s a fair, balanced portrayal. But, at the end of the day, it begs the question: How long is this gonna happen? What are we going to do about it? It’s all done, it’s a music- and dance-driven piece.
When I created this, I wasn’t thinking, “Alright, it’s a Broadway musical.” I’m thinking of it being a piece that really is for the people. That could really energize, and invigorate, a whole community. I did this piece to a standing room only crowd at the Kennedy Center, on the eve of Donald Trump’s election. And it also evoked, and warranted, a panel discussion, and a lot of people were invited, and then disinvited to come, because people got nervous. Got nervous if we had somebody from the NRA, and somebody from the Dallas Police Department, who had just suffered that big loss, when a gunman took out all those policemen. Whoopi Goldberg was the moderator. It was an incredible conversation.
To bring it back to World AIDS Day—in remembering these artists, and thinking about their impact, what do you hope people see in you as an artist, and your impact? You know, I don’t think about much about legacy. That’s not what drives me. I’m just thinking about what I’m doing, that somehow uplifts, inspires, and brings some kind of joy and understanding into this world.
The crazed shopping season between Thanksgiving and December 25 is in full swing. But as you prepare individual items to gift the special someones in your life (and capitalize on Cyber Monday deals), the occasion also marks a time to give to organizations that support causes about which you’re passionate. From foundations that support writers to create new work in the theatre to charities that assist everyone in entertainment, from arts education programs to groups endorsed by Broadway’s best, here are 21 theatre-related charities worthy of your generosity:
FUND MULTIPLE INITIATIVES IN ONE DONATION Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS One of the best known charities in the theatre community, in 2016 BC/EFA raised over $12 million for the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, the free health clinic, addiction and recovery services, The Dancer’s Resource, the Actors Fund Work Program, food services and meal delivery programs, emergency aid, and more. The organization advocates for those suffering from HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world through financial contributions, dissemination of educational materials, and encouraging awareness and public support. Through its two largest fundraising campaigns in the fall and spring (which culminate in Gypsy of the Year and the Easter Bonnet), events like Broadway Bares, Broadway Bakes, and the Broadway Flea Market, and more, BC/EFA and their consistent commitment to raising awareness and funds renders them a leader in the giving spirit of the Broadway community. Click here to donate.
Support a non-profit theatre company. Make a donation to a non-profit theatre company—whether it produces work for Broadway, Off-Broadway, or your own community. Roundabout Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Second Stage all produce for Broadway and Off-Broadway; MCC Theater, the Public, Ars Nova, and Signature Theatre are all notable Off-Broadway producers. But the list of theatres and theatre companies to support is seemingly endless. Find a theatre that aligns with artists you enjoy and work you feel is important, go to their website, and send that check!
The Actors Fund for Everyone in Entertainment Better known as The Actors Fund for short, this organization provides a “safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan”—and some services even extend to their family members. Founded in 1882, The Actors Fund has served artists in film, theatre, television, music, opera, radio, and dance for over 100 years. From counseling and social services to emergency financial aid, from employment training for “survival jobs” or a career transition to healthcare and health insurance provision, from affordable housing to The Actors Fund Home assisted living and nursing care facility, from homecare to money management education to parenting resources for families with youth performers, The Actors Fund covers it all. Click here to donate.
Donate to theatres affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria. Hurrican Harvey swept through the Gulf region of Texas, devastating the city of Houston. The theatre community, including Theatre Under the Stars, the Alley Theatre, and the Houston Grand Opera, have been working to rebuild ever since. Likewise, there are theatres in Florida affected by Hurricane Irma and those in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
SUPPORT NEW WORK American Theatre Wing The organization that administers the annual Tony Awards and Obie Awards invests in new work and honors theatrical excellence, specifically geared towards bringing diverse stories and enriching American culture through theatre. Through financial initiatives, educational outreach, grants for writers, scholarships for professionals, and content creation that builds the profile of theatre on a national level, the Wing ensures the future of stagecraft. Click here to donate.
Dramatist Guild Foundation For over 50 years, the Dramatist Guild Foundation has supported playwrights, composers, lyricists, and book writers to, in turn, support the creation of new work for the American theatre. Through Traveling Masters, DGF provides free writing classes and workshops around the country; through Fellows, up-and-coming writers gain professional experience and forge relationships with seasoned mentors; the Music Hall provides free space and equipment for writing; and grants fund writers and their projects. Alumni of the Guild’s many programs include Tony and Oscar winners Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, Tony winner Jason Robert Brown, Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, and many more. Click here to donate.
Drama League Best known for its annual Drama League Awards, the organization offers benefits to audiences and artists. Through ticket discounts, education programs, and more, the Drama League works to fortify audience experience; through fellowships, artistic residencies, the Summer Professional Theater Intensive, and more, the League bolsters creators. Click here to donate.
New Dramatists For play lovers out there, New Dramatists specifically supports playwrights. The nationally renowned Playwrights’ Lab provides resident playwrights with writing resources and the opportunity to host a reading of their work—a crucial step in the development of a new play—with a director, stage manager, and professional actors at no cost. All four 2017 Tony nominees for Best Play are alumni of New Dramatists and the current and “graduate” playwrights of the coalition have won 19 Pulitzers, 21 Tonys, 76 Obies, 17 Drama Desks, 13 Blackburn Awards, and six MacArthur Fellowships. Click here to donate.
The Broadway League Foundation The charitable arm of The Broadway League (the national trade association for Broadway), this foundation serves the theatergoing public. The foundation aims to increase the public’s understanding and appreciation of theatre and to provide a forum for conversation about the preservation and promotion of live theatre. With Family First Nights, the Foundation helps economically at-risk families attend Broadway together, and with the National High School Musical Theatre Awards they emphasize the importance of theatre education in schools. The League Foundation also sponsors benefit concerts and events to raise money and awareness for initiatives like Viva Broadway, the Actors Fund, and more. Click here to donate.
ADVOCATE FOR THEATRE AND ARTS EDUCATION Inside Broadway The non-profit theatre company brings over 40,000 New York City students to performances and workshops to expose them to the arts, as well as their Creating The Magic series, which brings youth to Broadway theatres to learn about the multitude of professions on Broadway—from tech to costumes to acting onstage—in hopes of inspiring the next generation of artists. Click here to donate.
Rosie’s Theater Kids The mantra of the theatre education program founded by Rosie O’Donnell is “We’re rehearsing for life.” Supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, Rosie’s Theatre Kids was founded in 2003 and impacts students in three in-school phases to expose students to the performing arts, with additional tutoring resources, summer intensives, the Spotlight on Fitness, and more. Provided at no fee or at a large subsidy, RTKids is committed to serving children of all backgrounds. Click here to donate.
52nd Street Project A community-based arts organization, the Project pairs kids age 10 and up with theatre professionals to create original work that is then presented to the public. Through poetry, photography, design, dance, stage combat, filmmaking, and theatre, the Project uses the arts to enhance life skills and learning. Click here to donate.
Anthony Quinn Foundation Named for the visual artist and actor, the scholarship program sponsors select young adults to pursue their talents in visual arts and design, performance, media and literacy arts. Earlier this year, Lin-Manuel Miranda was honored with the Anthony Quinn Foundation Award for his impact on the future of the arts. Click here to donate.
Story Pirates Based in New York City and Los Angeles, Story Pirates pairs teachers with performers to convert children’s original stories into sketch comedy musicals. By encouraging self-expression, Story Pirates aims to empower the next generation through the arts. Click here to donate.
Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) The Educational Theatre Association supports students and teachers by recognizing student achievement, providing professional development, equipment, and more to educators, and publicly advocating for the necessity of theatre education. The non-profit also publishes a monthly magazine for high school theatre students, Dramatics, and a quarterly industry publication for educators, Teaching Theatre. Click here to donate.
Dramatic Need This month’s “The Children’s Monologues” at Carnegie Hall brought greater awareness to this international charity. Dramatic Needs provides an artistic outlet to underserved children in South Africa and Rwanda by building arts centers, staffing them, and supplying art-making materials. The charity’s “Children’s Monologues” gives voice to the stories of these children through a one-night-only performance event each year. Click here to donate.
JOIN BROADWAY NAMES IN SUPPORTING Only Make Believe Located in New York City and Washington, D.C., Only Make Believe uses theatre to heal and inspire ailing children. The non-profit creates and performs interactive pieces for kids in hospitals and long term care facilities. Earlier this month, the organization honored Josh Groban at their annual gala. Click here to donate.
You Gotta Believe Supported by Seth Rudetsky and his husband, James Wesley, through their annual Voice for the Voiceless Concert: Stars for Foster Kids, You Gotta Believe is an initiative to find permanent parents for teen and young adult foster youth who may have “aged out” of the system. Click here to donate.
Sing For Your Seniors Founded by Jackie Vanderbeck, Sing For Your Seniors brings music sessions to elderly residents in long-term care facilities. Averaging 60 performances a year from 150 volunteer singers and 20 volunteer pianists, Sing For Your Seniors has also included sessions by Broadway shows such as Bandstand and Fun Home to bring joy and healing through song. Click here to donate.
Trevor Project The only organization offering crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ people under age 25, The Trevor Project is a network of outreach, counseling, and peer-to-peer social networking for those in need. The Project also provides educational materials to other youth-serving organizations and hosts an advocacy department for pro-LGBTQ laws and to fight anti-LGBTQ philosophy and legislation. Shoshana Bean has just been announced as a performer at the upcoming Los Angeles gala honoring Tom Ford and Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth. Click here to donate.
Covenant House Since opening their doors in 1972, Covenant House has saved more than 1 million homeless youth. Providing beds, counseling, mentorship, and more, the organization (with houses all across the country) is a safe haven for homeless and trafficked youth. Over the last few years, the Broadway community, led by Capatha Jenkins and Stephanie J. Block, has come together to raise awareness and funds with the Broadway Sleep Out. Click here to donate.
The world premiere of Dear Evan Hansen Tony winner Steven Levenson’s Days of Rage concludes its run Off-Broadway November 25. The Second Stage Theater production officially opened October 30 at the Tony Kiser Theater.
The production, directed by Trip Cullman, features Tony nominee Mike Faist (Dear Evan Hansen), Tavi Gevinson (This Is Our Youth), Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill), J. Alphonse Nicholson (Paradise Blue), and Odessa Young (Assassination Nation).
Set in October 1969 against the backdrop of war and a polarizing president, the play follows the revolutionary planning of three 20-something radicals in upstate New York disrupted by the arrival of two strangers.
The production features sets by Louisa Thompson, costumes by Paloma Young, lighting by Tyler Micoleau, and sound design by Darron L. West.
The Jack O’Brien-helmed production of Tom Stoppard’s The Hard Problem opened Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater’s Mitzi Newhouse Theatre November 19 after beginning preview performances October 25. Tickets are currently on sale through January 6, 2019.
Flip through photos of opening night below:
Opening Night Photos: The Hard Problem at Lincoln Center Theatre
The play stars Adelaide Clemens as Hilary, a psychology researcher at the Krohl Institute for Brain Science examining the titular hard problem of defining consciousness.
The cast also features Robert Petkoff, Jon Tenney, Eshan Bay, John Patrick Doherty, Nina Grollman, Katie Beth Hall, Eleanor Handley, Olivia Hebert, Sagar Kiran, Chris O’Shea, Madeleine Pace, Tara Summers, Baylen Thomas, Kim N. Wong, and Karoline Xu.
The production features scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, sound design by Marc Salzberg, and original music by Bob James.
After making her Broadway debut earlier this year, American Idol and Smash star Katharine McPhee will make her West End debut in 2019, reprising her starring role as pie maker Jenna in the musical Waitressfor its U.K. premiere.
Waitress, currently still running on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, will premiere at London’s Adelphi Theatre February 8, 2019, before officially opening March 7.
Now in its third year on Broadway, Waitress (based on the film by Adrienne Shelly) features a book by Jessie Nelson, a score by six-time Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, choreography by Lorin Latarro, and direction by Tony Award winner Diane Paulus.
Additional casting for the U.K. bow will be announced at a later date.
See Katharine McPhee Make Her Broadway Debut in Waitress
