VIDEO: Whoopi Goldberg Proposes ‘The Great White Way’ Name Update
On today’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg suggestedan adjustment to the longtime Broadway nickname, ‘The Great White Way.’
BroadwayHD and Lincoln Center Stream Free Sing-Along Stream of Falsettos June 25
A special sing-along edition of William Finn and James Lapine’s Falsettos will stream for free on BroadwayHD June 25 at 8 PM ET as part of the streaming platform’s ongoing Pride celebration. You can stream it here. Viewers are encouraged to watch together and gather virtually through the hashtag #FalsettosSingAlong. Suggested donations during the stream will benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and its emergency grants for pandemic relief. Those who can may donate here.
The production, presented by Lincoln Center Theater in association with Jujamcyn, opened at the Walter Kerr Theatre in 2016. Lapine directed the revival, which starred Christian Borle as Marvin, Andrew Rannells as Whizzer, Brandon Uranowitz as Mendel, and Stephanie J. Block as Trina—each of whom earned Tony nominations for their work. The staging was filmed in 2017 for PBS’ Live From Lincoln Center.
The musical, about a man navigating his evolving family dynamic after coming out to his wife and son, is among the various titles featured in the streaming service’s Pride category. Other movies and filmed performances included in the playlist are the film adaptation of Hello Again, Paula Vogel’s Indecent, Kinky Boots, the opera adaptation of Brokeback Mountain, and Drew Droege’s Bright Colors and Bold Patterns.
Rounding out the Falsettos cast are Tracie Thoms as Charlotte, Betsy Wolfe as Cordelia, and Anthony Rosenthal as Jason.
To browse BroadwayHD’s catalog and to subscribe, visit BroadwayHD.com.
VIDEO: Darren Criss Visits Backstage LIVE with Richard Ridge- Tomorrow at 12pm!
Nothing can stop BroadwayWorld’s Richard Ridge from bringing you interviews with your favorite Broadway stars Tune in right here tomorrow, June 2412pm ET, as he chats stage and screen favorite with Darren Criss
1-Act Version of The Play That Goes Wrong Released for College and High School Productions
Dramatists Play Service has made a one-act version of The Play That Goes Wrong available for licensing to colleges and high schools. The release was formally announced today by the work’s creators in a video at the virtual International Thespian Festival, which is being held online through June 26.
Written by Mischief Theatre Company’s Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields, The Play That Goes Wrong follows the antics of the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society and their attempts to perform a 1920s murder mystery. As the title suggests, nearly everything that could go wrong does, and the brave actors and technicians struggle to reach the performance’s final curtain.
The work premiered in London in 2012, transferring to the West End in 2013 and again in 2014, where it is scheduled to resume performances once theatres are allowed to re-open. The production hit Broadway in 2017, moving to Off-Broadway’s New World Stages in 2019. The work went on to inspire a number of spin-offs, including Peter Pan Goes Wrong in London’s West End and the TV series The Goes Wrong Show on BBC One.
“Dramatists Play Service is thrilled to embark on our new relationship with Mischief and hilarious, wonderful writers Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields with The One-Act Play That Goes Wrong,” says Dramatists Play Service President Peter Hagan. “This play, to be produced solely by schools, will be the first of many Goes Wrong titles.”
“We are delighted to work with Peter and his team to share our unique brand of comedy and spread laughter across America,” adds Lewis, Sayer, and Shields. “We look forward to seeing the ingenuity and creativity of American schools applied to the world of Goes Wrong.”
For more information including some territorial restrictions, visit Dramatists.com.
BWW Exclusive: The Adderley School Founder Janet Adderley on What the School Stands For and How They’re Coping With the Health Crisis
Janet Adderley, founder of The Adderley School, has penned an article exclusively for BroadwayWorld. She discusses what the school stands for, stars they have taught including Ben Platt and Kathryn Gallgher, and how they are coping with the health crisis.
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: June 22
1920 Opening night of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 at the New Amsterdam Theatre, featuring performances by Fanny Brice, W.C. Fields, and Moran & Mack; and music by Irving Berlin, Harry Tierney, and Victor Herbert. It runs 123 performances.
1921 Birthday of Joseph Papp, founder and longtime executive director of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater. Aside from the annual free productions of Shakespeare in New York’s Central Park, Papp’s NYSF presents annual subscription seasons of works by two generations of theatre artists, with a special emphasis on work by and about minorities. Productions under his auspices include A Chorus Line, Hair, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Pirates of Penzance, and That Championship Season.
1964 Geraldine Page, Kim Stanley, and Shirley Knight star in Anton Chekhov‘s The Three Sisters on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre. The Actors Studio Theatre production is directed by Lee Strasberg.
1965 A musical classic returns to the New York stage as the Music Theater of Lincoln Center revives Kismet at the New York State Theater. Alfred Drake returns to the role he originated in the Broadway production of the musical for the length of its six-week run.
1976 Godspell opens at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre following a 2,124 performance Off-Broadway run. The Stephen Schwartz musical directed and conceived by John-Michael Tebelak is based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew. It closes on September 4, 1977, after 527 performances.
1978 The gay-themed revue, Crimes Against Nature, begins a 10-week engagement at the Actors Playhouse in New York. Created by the Gay Men’s Theatre Collective of San Francisco, the show deals with both current events and more personal homosexual concerns.
1998 Seven playwrights, commissioned by the New York-based The Acting Company, see their Love’s Fire open at Off-Broadway’s Public Theater. John Guare, Marsha Norman, Eric Bogosian, William Finn, Tony Kushner, Ntozake Shange, and Wendy Wasserstein were all asked to contribute one-act plays inspired by William Shakespeare‘s sonnets. The result, directed by Mark Lamos, plays a limited run through July 5.
2006 The north half of Times Square becomes a construction zone as the building at the corner of 46th Street and Seventh Avenue, which for decades housed a Howard Johnson’s restaurant and the Off-Broadway Duffy Theatre, is torn down and the 1974-vintage TKTS discount ticket booth in Father Duffy Square is dismantled. TKTS moves to a temporary space in the ground floor of the Marriott Marquis Hotel. The landmark statue of George M. Cohan is encased in plywood for the duration.
2011 Miche Braden stars in The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith at St. Luke’s Theatre Off-Broadway. Written by Angelo Parra, with conception and direction by Joe Brancato, the staging stars Braden as the famed singer whose career was cut tragically short by a car crash in 1937.
2011 Tony Speciale’s Unnatural Acts debuts Off-Broadway starring Roe Hartrampf, Jess Burkle, Frank De Julio, Nick Westrate, Joe Curnutte, and Will Rogers. The story of Harvard’s secret court to expel gay students from the Ivy League plays at Classic Stage Company.
2016 Samuel D. Hunter’s The Healing has its world premiere Off-Broadway at Theatre Row’s Clurman Theatre. The Obie-winning playwright’s newest work reunites a group of friends who met at a summer camp 25 years ago, where the head counselor led them to believe their disabilities would be cured through the power of prayer.
2017 An Off-Broadway revival of Horton Foote’s The Traveling Lady opens at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Austin Pendleton directs a cast including Lynn Cohen, Jill Tanner, and Tony winner Karen Ziemba.
2017 The world premiere of Bastard Jones opens at the cell, starring Evan Ruggiero. Based on the novel The History of Tom Jones: A Foundling by Henry Fielding, the musical features a book by Marc Acito, music by Amy Engelhardt, and lyrics by Acito and Engelhardt.
2017 An intense and graphic staging of George Orwell‘s 1984, adapted and directed by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan, opens on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre. Reed Birney, Tom Sturridge, and Olivia Wilde star in the production, which was first seen in the U.K. After reports that the disturbing staging is causing audience members to faint, the producers announce that no one under the age of 13 will be allowed to enter the theatre.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Jack Whiting (1901–1961), David Burns (1902–1971), Billy Wilder (1906–2002), Katherine Dunham (1909–2006) Michael Todd (1909–1958), Gower Champion (1919–1980), Ralph Waite (1928–2014), John Cunningham (b. 1932), Meryl Streep (b. 1949), Cyndi Lauper (b. 1953)
Watch highlights from the 2011 Broadway revival of Godspell:
Video Roundup: Happy Birthday, Jason Robert Brown! Watch Jeremy Jordan, Kelli O’Hara, and More Sing His Songs!
Today is Jason Robert Brown’s birthday Celebrate with us by taking a look at some of our favorite performances of his songs.
Stars in the House Welcomes Broadway Advocacy Coalition Founders Adrienne Warren and Amber Iman, More
Stars in the House, the daily live streamed concert series created by Playbill correspondent and SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley, welcomes Broadway Advocacy Coalition Founders Adrienne Warren (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) and Amber Iman (Hamilton)—both alums of the musical Shuffle Along…—as well as Executive Director Robb Nanus, June 20 at 8 PM. Watch the stream above.
The Broadway Advocacy Coalition works with advocates, students, artists, organizations, and communities to use the arts as an integral part of ending mass incarceration and the systems that perpetuate it.
READ: Black Lives Matter Resources 101
Money raised during the stream will go to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the leading nonprofit legal organization fighting to protect voting rights and equality for all.
Stars in the House launched March 16 to promote support for The Actors Fund and its services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
New shows—streaming Monday–Saturday at 8 PM ET with afternoon shows Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2 PM—feature performances by stars of stage and screen, in conversation and song with Rudetsky and Wesley. Streaming direction is by Peter Flynn. Click here to watch previous episodes.
To donate to the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund, visit NAACPLDF.org. To make a tax-deductible donation to The Actors Fund visit ActorsFund.org/Donate.
