VIDEO: Ben Platt Performs ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’
Ben Platt took to Instagram to perform a cover of ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand.’
Celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Fun Home on Broadway
Fun Home opened on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre April 19, 2015. The musical, directed by Sam Gold with choreography by Danny Mefford, played 26 previews and 583 performances before closing September 10, 2016. The production earned 12 Tony Award nominations, winning five including Best Musical.
Based on Alison Bechdel’s autobiographical graphic novel, Fun Home follows Bechdel as she dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. The musical featured music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron.
Look Back at Fun Home on Broadway
The musical starred Sydney Lucas as Small Alison, Emily Skeggs as Medium Alison, and Beth Malone as Alison alongside Michael Cerveris as Bruce, Judy Kuhn as Helen, Roberta Colindrez as Joan, Zell Steele Morrow as John, Oscar Williams as Christian, and Joél Perez as Roy/Mark/Pete/Bobby Jeremy.
Fun Home featured scenic and costume design by David Zinn, lighting design by Ben Stanton, video content by Lucy Mackinnon, and sound design by Kai Harada, with stage management by Lisa Dawn Cave, Kevin Bertolacci, and Kelly Stillwell.
The Actors Fund Home Reports Seven Coronavirus Deaths
TheActors Fund Homein Englewood,New Jerseyhas reported seven resident deaths fromCOVID-19 and with eleven additional residentstestingpositive for the virus. In addition, 35-40 of its staff members have tested positive for the virus, or are showing symptoms in line with Covid-19.
Feathers, Fringe, and Les Cagelles Returned to Broadway in 2010
(A version of this story was first published April 12, 2010.)
Jerry Herman has made a career out of creating shows that have you swishing down the stairs and singing a song as you exit the theatre. Herman’s musicals include Mack and Mabel, Mame and Hello, Dolly!, and they’ve always got an “11 o’clock number,” the song that sends you out into the night singing — even if that number isn’t necessarily sung at the very end of the show, when it’s near 11 o’clock. This usually involves a big lady in a big hat singing a big song on a big staircase, even if — as in the case of La Cage aux Folles, now at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre — she is a he.
This is the show that boasts not one but two 11 o’clock numbers — “I Am What I Am” and “The Best of Times” — and a whole bunch of what could be termed “10 o’clock numbers” to go along with them. But it isn’t just Jerry Herman’s score that made such a popular musical; it is also Harvey Fierstein’s funny and poignant book (based on a French play and movie) and the subject — a longtime, devoted marriage shaken by a son’s choice of fiancée. It’s not giving anything away to say that the marriage is between Albin — alias Zaza, a drag queen — and Georges, who had a one-night stand with a woman that resulted in the birth of the son to whom the men are both passionately devoted. Now their son is in love with a nice girl whose father happens to be a local functionary hell-bent on closing down Georges’ nightclub and silencing his star, the drag queen Zaza.
In 1983 there were those who thought that Broadway might not be prepared to welcome a “fathers of the bridegroom” love story. As it turned out, the exuberant La Cage was received with rapture by critics and audiences, and ran for four years before an equally enthusiastic transfer to London’s West End.
Now the transfer is in the other direction. The Menier Chocolate Factory has already sent productions of Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music (currently playing with Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones) to New York with great success. Now, La Cage aux Folles completes the hat trick.
The new production, like its Menier predecessors, has a transatlantic cast. Albin is played here, as in London, by classical actor Douglas Hodge, making his Broadway debut. Famous in Britain for his serious theatrical roles in Shakespeare and Pinter, he won an Olivier Award as Best Actor in a Musical for playing Albin. Over a cup of tea in a London hotel, he talked about his upcoming debut. As he sat down, there was buzz among the other guests. (This doesn’t happen to him in New York. Yet.)
Why come to Broadway with a musical? “To be an Englishman abroad in an American musical, in the heart and home of musicals, is thrilling,” he says. “La Cage is as physically and emotionally demanding as Titus Andronicus. It’s the swan thing: People tell me I look as though I’m having a wonderful time, and I am. But they can’t see how hard I’m paddling just below the surface.”
“Never played Titus,” says Kelsey Grammer later, over the phone, “but my last Broadway outing was Macbeth.”
Grammer is playing Georges. (He’ll take over as Albin after six months, he has said.) It helps that both he and Hodge are in thrall to La Cage. “I fell in love with the original film in 1980,” Grammer says. “The fact that they’re gay and one dresses as a woman is simply nice window dressing. What it’s really about is what every relationship is about — muddling through, behaving badly, just loving each other until the problems get worked out.”
Hodge agrees: “On one level it’s pure farce. On another, it’s fantastically moving. It’s about the vicissitudes of love, marriage, parenthood and family values. The fact that it’s two men is almost irrelevant. Something happens where it becomes utterly universal. I’ve spent most of my life looking at women and obsessing about women, and now I’m one of them. I don’t believe Zaza thinks of himself as a gay man or a drag queen; no, I’m sure he thinks he’s a woman, he thinks he’s Audrey Hepburn.”
What’s it like to be in a longtime marriage with someone you’ve just met? Grammer laughs. “It’s a wonderful experience. It’s a blessing of the work, and in this case, we fell in love. Doug’s giving an amazing performance.”
Hodge on Grammer is no less admiring: “He’s fantastically funny, his rhythm is fast, he’s stern and macho, he’s exciting and he has a beautiful baritone voice. I can’t wait to be Kelsey’s bitch.”
Kelsey Grammar, Robin de Jesús, and More in La Cage Aux Folles on Broadway
Governor Cuomo Extends New York Shutdown Until at Least May 15
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that New York’sstay-at-home orderhas been extended until at least May 15.
The Latest Statuses of Off-Broadway Theatres During the Shutdown
As the ban on mass gatherings—which officially began March 12 as mandated by Governor Andrew Cuomo—continues, check in below for the latest postponements, cancellations, and scheduling updates for Off-Broadway theatres.
We’ll also regularly update with companies’ alternative programming, which includes online readings and live streams, virtual workshops, behind-the-scene exclusives, social groups, and much more.
If you’d like to support an institution, visit each organization’s website for instructions on how to make a donation.
READ: Exactly What Does It Mean to an Off-Broadway Theatre to Cancel a Production?
59E59 THEATERS
Season: All live programming has been suspended through June 2020.
Alternative programming: Two shows from the canceled Brits Off-Broadway festival (set to begin April 14) are available for streaming: Breach’s production of It’s True, It’s True, It’s True, about the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi for the rape of Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, streams on YouTube through the end of April; and Alan Bennett’s The Habit of Art is available via Original Theatre Company.
ARS NOVA
Season: The remainder of its 2019-2020 season is canceled, which includes the world premiere of Heather Christian’s Oratorio for Living Things and the 13th annual ANT Fest.
ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
Season: The remainder of the 2019–2020 season is postponed until further notice, including the Sarah Silverman, Adam Schlesinger, and Joshua Harmon musical The Bedtwetter (to begin April 25) and Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem (to begin May 14).
Alternative programming: Watch a scene from She Persisted, The Musical, which was cut short when theatres closed in March.
BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC
Season: Theatre, dance, music, and visual art events are canceled through June 30.
Alternative programming: BAM is offering curated digital content in a series called Love from BAM, featuring archived performances and talks, as well as films streamed through partnerships with distributors. Visit BAM.org for information.
CLASSIC STAGE COMPANY
Season: The final production of the season, Assassins, has been postponed. CSC intends to resume rehearsals and present the production in the coming months.
Alternative programming: CSC moves its discussion series, Classic Conversations, online for free viewing. Airing live on Thursdays at 6 PM on YouTube and Facebook (and available to view afterwards on these platforms and Instagram IGTV), the lineup includes Brandon Uranowitz (April 16), Will Swenson (April 23), Adam Chanler-Berat (April 30), and Tavi Gevinson (May 7).
CLUBBED THUMB
Season: The 2020 Summerworks season, originally scheduled for late spring and summer, has been postponed to the fall. New dates for the six-week festival, featuring three world premieres, to be announced.
Alternative programming: Follow along on Clubbed Thumb’s Instagram stories for a retrospective of the last 24 years.
ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE
Season: Live programming is suspended, including Brittany K. Allen’s play Redwood, which was set to begin in April and will be rescheduled.
THE FLEA THEATRE
Season: All live performances are canceled until further notice. This impacts the world premiere of Taylor Mac’s The Fre, which was in performances, Flea Fridays, and Sara Farrington’s Cosmicomics, amongst other spring programming.
Alternative programming: The Flea’s artistic director Niegel Smith has teamed up with Mac, Kristin Marting, Morgan Jenness, Emily Morse, and over 50 New York City artists to launch The Trickle Up, a video streaming service—available at $10 a month—from which donations will be used to help artists living below the poverty line during the coronavirus pandemic. The platform aims to get 10,000 subscribers and to then distribute $10,000 to 10 different artists affected by COVID-19 cancellations every month. Sign up to receive content from The Trickle Up here.
LA MAMA
Season: All public events and live shows are suspended until further notice.
Alternative programming: La MaMa has teamed up with CultureHub to continue to offer creative support for the theatre community with Online Happenings, featuring live streaming of performances on Howlround Theatre Commons, talks, workshops for kids, and more. Find out more here.
LINCOLN CENTER THEATER & LCT3
Season: Lincoln Center Theater’s spring programming has been postponed and will re-open in the fall. This includes Intimate Apparel, the new opera adaptation of Lynn Nottage’s play, which will return to the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater where the run was previously cut short during previews.
Alternative programming: Lincoln Center at Home, the organization’s free, temporary portal, features a family-focused Pop-Up Classroom, #ConcertsForKids, and an array of archival and live stream performances, some of which have not been seen since their original airings. Visit LincolnCenter.org for a weekly schedule.
MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB
Season: The remainder of the 2019–2020 season has been canceled, with plans to reschedule Qui Nguyen’s Poor Yella Rednecks and Emily Feldman’s The Best We Could (a family tragedy) in a future season.
Alternative programming: The newly launched MTC Digital features live Q&As (earlier this week Poor Yella Rednecks playwright Qui Nguyen and director May Adrales went on Instagram Live for a discussion), home concerts like this Benjamin Scheuer performance, and weekly educational offerings like Family Drama Playwriting Workshop series.
MCC THEATER
Season: The remainder of the 2019–2020 season has been canceled, which includes two world premieres: Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy Nollywood Dreams and Lucy Thurber’s Perry Street.
Alternative programming: Online offerings include an upcoming open mic night (April 23) and a “Creative in Quarantine” work session with MCC’s community via Zoom. Register for events here.
NEW GROUP
Season: The company’s next scheduled production, Black No More, is set to go ahead in October. The New Group was forced to cancel remaining performances of its spring show, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, in March.
NEW YORK THEATRE ROW
Season: Live programming is suspended until further notice. This impacts upcoming shows Romeo & Bernadette, My Mother’s Severed Head, and Brecht on Brecht.
NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP
Season: All live programming has been suspended until further notice.
Alternative programming: Every Monday at 3 PM, members of NYTW’s artistic community lead master classes on directing, writing, performance and beyond. You can watch the dramaturgy class with Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris here; and sign up for future master classes with Lileana Blain-Cruz and Celia Keenan-Bolger here. Additional virtual programming includes NYTW’s Fireside Chats, with playwrights Celine Song and Martyna Majok, and artistic director James C. Nicola.
NEW WORLD STAGES
Season: Live programming is suspended through June 7. This includes productions of Jersey Boys, The Play That Goes Wrong, Rock of Ages, Gazillion Bubble Show, Katsura Sunshine’s Rakugo (returns June 20), The Imbible, and Drift.
PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS
Season: Live programming is suspended. This includes Sylvia Khoury’s Selling Kabul.
Alternative programming: Keep an eye on Playwrights’ social for alerts on things like live reunion readings of The Heidi Chronicles, as well as the company’s YouTube page for behind-the-scenes videos like this one, from the cut-short production of Unknown Soldier. Other offerings include the early launch of Soundstage, a new scripted fiction podcast penned by playwrights and composers. Episode 1, by Heather Christian, dropped April 9, followed by the Robert O’Hara episode April 16. Learn more here.
PLAYWRIGHTS REALM
Season: Live spring events have been canceled, including Noah Diaz’s Richard & Jane & Dick & Sally, as well as the company’s annual gala.
Alternative programming: Each Tuesday at 3 PM, Realm staff members teach online workshops in subjects ranging from play submissions and self-producing to marketing a show and making sure your budget aligns with your values. Sign up for the Realm’s email list for updates.
PRIMARY STAGES
Season: The final show of the 2019–2020 season, Jiehae Park’s Peerless, has been moved to the 2020–2021 season. The darkly comic re-imagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth will kick off the new season at 59E59 Theaters in the fall.
Alternative programming: Check out Primary Plus, a series of online programs aimed at helping artists connect with the theatre and with each other through the pandemic. Among the online offerings are free YouTube master classes (Sharon Washington, Adrienne Campbell-Holt, and Thom Sesma are among those who have already taken part), lunch-and-learn group writing workshops for playwrights via Zoom, a virtual film club in which cast members from The Confession of Lily Dare discuss Charles Busch’s top 10 favorite tearjerker films (with links to watch the movies), and play read-alongs, in which you can sign up to read a part in plays like Kate Hamill’s Little Women and David Ives’s All in the Timing. Learn more here.
THE PUBLIC THEATER
Season: All activities and live performances are canceled through May 17, with Joe’s Pub events canceled through May 31. This impacts the scheduled productions of The Vagrant Trilogy, a trio of plays by Mona Mansour, that had been set to run March 17–April 26, and The Visitor, a new Tom Kitt-Brian Yorkey musical that was scheduled to run March 24–May 10.
Alternative programming: Online programming includes Suzan-Lori Parks live streaming her work sessions from home, a Soft Power virtual listening party on YouTube April 17, the ongoing Brave New Shakespeare Challenge, featuring Public alums recording their interpretations of passages from the Bard, and free archival performances from the Joe’s Pub stage. Stay up to date with the online calendar here.
RATTLESTICK PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER
Season: With live programming suspended, the theatre was forced to close Ren Dara Santiago’s The Siblings Play in previews, while offering a limited number of view-at-home-tickets to the production after closing.
Alternative programming: Rattlestick has launched a weekly Virtual Salon Series featuring conversations between theatre artists and leading experts around COVID-19. On April 21 playwright Cori Thomas (Lockdown) and formerly incarcerated teaching artist Robert Pollock will discuss the challenges of incarceration during a pandemic. Upcoming discussion topics include Domestic Violence during the pandemic, Economics, and Ritual of the End of Life. Online reservations are required at Rattlestick.org.
RED BULL THEATER
Season: The season is on hold until further notice.
Alternative programming: Virtual offerings include live, informal conversations with artists (kicking things off was Michael Urie), as well as Red Bull Theater Live, a series of readings that will reunite cast members of earlier Off-Broadway productions. A reunion reading of ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore will be the first presentation on April 20, live streamed for free via the company’s website and on Facebook.
ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY
Season: Two spring productions have been moved to the 2021 season: Jiréh Breon Holder’s …what the end will be, which was originally scheduled to begin Off-Broadway in May; and Dave Harris’ Exception to the Rule, previously scheduled to begin April 30.
Alternative programming: Roundabout is currently working to provide subscribers and ticket-holders with the opportunity to digitally experience Hilary Bettis 72 Miles to Go… (a world premiere that was cut short).
SECOND STAGE
Season: The season is postponed. This impacts the spring production of the new musical Between the Lines (set to begin in May) as well as the Broadway revival of Take Me Out (originally scheduled to begin in April).
Alternative programming: Follow 2ST’s Instagram to see Second Stage alums share some of their favorite stories and memories of the theatre.
SIGNATURE THEATRE
Season: The last two productions of the 2019–2020 season have been postponed: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith, and Confederates by Dominique Morisseau. Both originally scheduled for the spring, the organization is committed to producing both plays in a future season.
Alternative programming: SigSpace, a platform home for live performance and events including concerts, works-in-progress, storytelling, panels, social justice conversations, and self-care activities. Artists who will take part include Bill Irwin, Anna Deavere Smith, Saheem Ali, Kuhoo Verma, and more.
ST ANN’S WAREHOUSE
Season: Spring programming is on hold, which means The Jungle, which was set to return to St. Ann’s Warehouse April 1, has been postponed.
THEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE
Season: Spring programming is on hold, which impacts performances of Will Eno’s Gnit (originally scheduled through March 29), now suspended, and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot directed by Arin Arbus, originally scheduled April 25–May 24, which has been postponed.
Alternative programming: Follow TFANA’s Twitter for Fefu-inspired quizzes and more.
VINEYARD THEATRE
Season: The upcoming spring production, Antoinette Nwandu’s Tuvalu, or The Saddest Song, has been canceled. The Vineyard is exploring ways to bring the play back in the future, along with Lucas Hnath’s Dana H., which was suspended and then canceled in the wake of the pandemic. The Vinyeard also canceled its gala benefit.
Alternative programming: The Vineyard is currently developing online programming, including live chats with Vineyard artists, peeks in the (virtual) rooms where new work is being developed, and an online reading series. In the meantime, sign up to the Vineyard’s email list for updates and podcast recommendations, and keep an eye on its Instagram stories for bread-baking tips and other fun quarantine activities.
WP THEATRE
Season: Live programming is suspended, which impacts the bi-annual Pipeline Festival, a showcase of new plays written, directed, and produced by WP Lab members.
Alternative programming: WP has moved Pipeline online. Follow @wptheater on instagram and #PipelineOnline to get up close and personal with the five shows that were set to run at the festival. The virtual festival features excerpts from the plays, designs, and more.
Wake Up With BWW 4/15: Lortel Award Nominations Announced, and More!
Today’s top stories The Wrong Man, A Strange Loop, and more are nominated for Lortel Awards
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: April 15
1929 In The Camel Through the Needle’s Eye, Miriam Hopkins plays a poor woman who discovers the hard way that money can’t buy happiness. This drama runs six months at the Martin Beck Theatre.
1960 Actor Lillah McCarthy dies in London at age 84. George Bernard Shaw wrote Fanny’s First Play for her. At one time she was married to Harley Granville-Barker.
1969 Peter Foy obtains a U.S. patent for a flying apparatus in which both vertical and lateral motion of the performer can be controlled.
1974 Edward J. Moore wrote and stars opposite Conchata Ferrell in The Sea Horse, a Circle Repertory transfer at the Westside Theatre. Marshall W. Mason stages the four-month run of the tale of a lonely barmaid and the man who wants to marry her.
1987 Alfred Uhry‘s Driving Miss Daisy opens Off-Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre with Dana Ivey, Ray Gill, and Morgan Freeman. The Playwrights Horizons production that explores racism through the relationship between a Southern white woman and her black chauffeur is directed by Ron Lagomarsino.
1999 If you want to understand her, you’ve got to see things from Amy’s View. Judi Dench wins the Tony Award for her role in David Hare‘s drama about an actor and her relationship with her daughter and career. Richard Eyre directs the National Theatre production at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre, which runs for a limited engagement of 115 performances.
2008 Two stars make their Broadway debuts today. Television star Mario Lopez takes over the role of Zach in the revival of A Chorus Line at the Schoenfeld Theatre. Actor and model Boris Kodjoe steps into the role of Brick in the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Broadhurst Theatre, while Terrence Howard takes a three week hiatus from the role.
2009 Alice Ripley plays a suburban woman battling mental illness in Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s musical Next to Normal, which opens on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Directed by Michael Greif, the cast also includes J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, and Jennifer Damiano. Ripley wins a Tony Award for her performance, and the musical wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
2012 The origins of Peter Pan, his nemesis Captain Hook, and the enchanted island of Neverland come to life in Peter and the Starcatcher, the wildly imaginative stage production helmed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers. Christian Borle, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Adam Chanler-Berat star in the music-filled play at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The production wins five Tony Awards, including one for Borle’s performance as devious pirate Black Stache.
2013 Late 1930s New York and the twilight of the burlesque era come to life as the world premiere of Douglas Carter Beane‘s The Nance opens on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. Nathan Lane stars as Chauncey Miles, a headline nance performer in New York burlesque who also happens to be a homosexual.
2015 Finding Neverland, a musical about the relationship between playwright J. M. Barrie and the family that inspired Peter Pan, opens on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Diane Paulus directs a cast that includes Matthew Morrison, Kelsey Grammer, and Laura Michelle Kelly.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Henry James 1843. John Williams 1903. Merle Louise 1934. Bjorn Ulvaeus 1945. Caissie Levy 1981. Madeleine Martin 1993.
Watch highlights from the 2015 Broadway production of Finding Neverland: