1961Bye Bye Birdie opens at London’s Her Majesty’s Theater. Chita Rivera, the star of the original Broadway production, reprises her role opposite Marty Wilde, Peter Marshall, and Angela Baddeley. The West End staging of the Charles Strouse–Lee Adams musical lasts 268 performances.
1965 Legendary theatre is made when the husband-and-wife team of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy open in The Cherry Orchard at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Variety hails the production as “the outstanding presentation of the Chekhov classic in a lifetime of theatregoing and would be a credit to any company.” Cronyn and Tandy continue to grace the stage together for many years to come in such productions as Foxfire and The Gin Game.
1966 The New York Shakespeare Summer Festival is under way as Central Park’s Delacorte Theater opens for its summer season. Among this year’s productions: All’s Well That Ends Well and Richard III, featuring such talents as Christopher Walken, Barbara Barrie, and Richard Jordan.
1980 The life and loves of Frank Harris are set to music in the musical Fearless Frank, opening at the Princess Theatre. The short-lived homage runs only 12 performances.
1983Samuel Beckett is examined in three parts as his Ohio Impromptu, Catastrophe, and What Where are presented Off-Broadway at the Harold Clurman Theatre. The evening of one-acts runs 350 performances until it closes April 15, 1984. Alan Schneider directs a cast that features David Warrilow, Rand Mitchell, Donald Davis, Daniel Wirth, and Margaret Reed.
2000Kelsey Grammer returns to Broadway for the first time since 1982 in the title role of William Shakespeare‘s Macbeth. Though initially announced to run 60 performances at the Music Box Theatre, it closes 10 days later after receiving mixed to negative reviews.
2000 The Roundabout Theatre Company production of Neil Simon’s Hotel Suite opens at the Gramercy Theatre. Tony winner Randy Graff, Tony nominee Helen Carey, Leigh Lawson, and Ron Orbach star.
2003 John Benjamin Hickey makes his theatrical directorial debut with Theresa Rebeck’s Bad Dates. The solo show opens Playwright Horizons’ Peter Jay Sharp Theater, starring Julie White.
2005 The world premiere of Tom Donaghy’s adaptation of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard opens at Atlantic Theater Company. Scott Zigler directs the play about changing society in pre-revolution Russia, featuring Brooke Adams, Larry Bryggman, Scott Foley, Alvin Epstein, Mary McCann, Todd Weeks, and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.
2006 Duncan Sheik’s game-changing Spring Awakening makes its world premiere at Atlantic Theater Company. The alternative pop musical stars a bevy of unknowns at the start of their careers: Skylar Astin, Lilli Cooper, John Gallagher Jr., Gideon Glick, Jonathan Groff, and Lea Michele.
2008 Lin-Manuel Miranda raps his way into the history books, becoming the youngest person to win the Tony Award for Best Original Score for In The Heights. The musical also takes home Best Musical and two others. Also making a big splash at the 62nd Annual Tony Awards are Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County and the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. Also notable: Patti LuPone wins her second Tony as Rose in Gypsy.
2011Lend Me a Tenor The Musical, based on the hit Ken Ludwig stage comedy, opens in London at the West End’s Gielgud Theatre. The musical features book and lyrics by Peter Sham and music by Brad Carroll.
2013 The world-premiere musical King Kong, a rock-fueled spin on beauty and the beast, opens at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. It has a book by Craig Lucas and features a six-meter-tall puppet designed by Global Creatures that brings the massive silverback ape to life. Composer and arranger Marius de Vries created and oversees a score that features revamped versions of 1930s Broadway classics like “Get Happy,” “I Wanna Be Loved By You,” and “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” as well as new and existing songs from Robert Del Naja from Massive Attack, Sarah McLachlan, Justice, Guy Garvey from Elbow, and The Avalanches. A version of the musical, with a different creative team, opens on Broadway in 2018.
2015Smash fans get their wish when a one-night only concert staging of Bombshell from the NBC series debuts on Broadway at the Minskoff Theatre.
2015 The Vineyard Theatre stages the world premiere of Gloria by Branden Jacob-Jenkins. Featured in the cast is Kyle Beltran, Jeanine Serralles, Jennifer Kim, Catherine Combs, Michael Crane, and Ryan Spahn.
2015 Dave Malloy’s new musical Preludes, directed by Rachel Chavkin, opens in a Lincoln Center Theater LCT3 production at the Claire Tow Theater.
2016Beautiful—The Carole King Musical hits a Broadway milestone with its 1,000th performance at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
Stars in the House continued Friday night 8pm for a CATS Original Broadway Cast reunion withBetty Buckley,Ken Page, Terrence Mann, Donna King, and Charlotted’Amboise.
Stars in the House, the daily live streamed concert series created by Playbill correspondent and SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley, presents a reading of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth June 13 at 2 PM ET. Tony winner André De Shields is the guest host for the afternoon.
The cast features Patrick Page in the title role with Hannah Yelland as Lady Macbeth, David Yelland as Duncan, Sherman Howard as Ross/Porter/Servant, Donna Bullock as Lady Macduff, Ty Jones as Macduff, Linda Kenyon as First Witch/Doctor, Owen Sloan as Fleance/Macduff’s Son, Rachel Crowl as Second Witch/Gentlewoman/Murderer, Maurice Jones as Malcolm, and Gary Sloan as Banquo. Sloan also directs with sound design by Ryan Rumery. Watch the live stream above.
André De Shields Joseph Marzullo/WENN
The reading is the latest presentation of the Plays in the House spinoff series, which continues every Saturday and Wednesday at 2 PM until Broadway reopens. Director-writer Peter Flynn serves as the online reading coordinator for Plays in the House. The stream will be available for limited viewing through June 17.
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 air daily at 2 PM and 8 PM ET, featuring 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.
There is no 8 PM stream June 13.
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.
To help lift spirits during the worldwide lockdown while providing a lively musical event, Step Forward Entertainment is producing a special virtual concert celebrating the music of the legendary artist, Neil Sedaka to benefit The Actors Fund Covid-19 Relief efforts.
Hello from the country! Some of you may know that, three years ago, we moved to a place about an hour outside the city. Then starting last August, we began spending a few days a week at a fabulous apartment on the Upper West Side, which was perfect. But with COVID-19 being so prevalent in the city, we didn’t feel it was safe for Juli to be there because she has asthma so we let the apartment go. Wah! Over the last two weeks, we had been seeing protests in NYC and wishing there would be one near us…and suddenly we got a text from Stephen Oremus!
Stephen is a great music director/vocal arranger who helmed shows like Wicked, Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, Frozen, and Dear Evan Hansen, and he just so happens to live a mile away! He told us there was a protest the next day in nearby Warwick, New York, and we decided to meet there. Turns out, there are lATSE other Broadway folk who live up here! We met up with Jen Bender, who’s worked as a resident/associate director on shows like Honeymoon in Vegas and The Lion King and has now switched to producing, as well as the hilarious Chris Sieber and his husband, triple-threat Kevin Burrows, and choreographer Josh Prince (Cinderella) and his husband Lee Wilkins, who often works as his associate!
The “fun” part for me was not being able to recognize anyone. I already have a problem with facial recognition and then I had to add in trying to figure out who the hell everyone was while they’re donning face masks. My initial reaction to each friend coming over was a combo platter of fear/panic with a hefty dose of Downtown Abbey haughtiness because a “stranger” dared approached me in such a familial way. My recoiling was then met with “Seth! It’s me!” It was relentless. Regardless, I was so happy to be part of a protest and I was so happy that everyone, and I mean everyone, was wearing a mask. COVID-19 ain’t gone people! Keep up the protesting and keep up the masking!
Leslie Uggams Brigitte Lacombe
Anyhoo, I mentioned in my other column that Leslie Uggams came back for a second full-hour interview because we couldn’t cover her career in the first one. And, P.S., even after her second hour we didn’t get to her stint replacing Patti LuPone in Anything Goes or her current work on Empire and Deadpool. She did, however, tell us about Roots, which was an amazing 1970s mini-series. After her initial audition, they told her to read the script and tell them what role she was interested in! How cool is that? She got to pick! After reading everything, she knew she wanted to play Kizzy. However, Kizzy starts young and ends as an old woman, so they told her they had to do an old-age makeup test. She showed up for the screen test but the makeup people didn’t know what to do because Leslie didn’t have any wrinkles. Poor thing? They tried putting tons of latex and glue on her face and she wound up doing the screen test looking like a mummy. She left the studio knowing she didn’t get it. She came home and told her husband/manager and he said “Let me find the person who did Cicely!” (He was referring to Cicely Tyson who had age to an incredibly old woman in the great TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.) He tracked down make-up artist Stan Winston, who told Leslie to come over to his house. He experimented, it worked, and then he told he would come for her next screen test! Well, not only did she book the job, but they hired Stan for the whole series!
After it was filmed, apparently, the head of the network thought it would tank. The story goes that he thought no one would be interested enough to watch it over a few weeks (like all miniseries ran back in those days) so his solution was to air all the episodes over one week to get them over with before Sweeps. Turns out, people loved it! And, it also didn’t hurt that there was a huge snowstorm that stopped everything in the Northeast. Ratings really went through the roof.
Regardless, everyone was watching across the nation and, as a matter of fact, Leslie was in Vegas when it started airing. On her third night, Ann-Margret called her and said she had to change the time of her show. Why? Because Ann-Margaret’s live show was scheduled at the same time as Roots and no one was showing up!
Hugh Panaro and Sierra Boggess in The Phantom of the Opera Joan Marcus
On last Saturday night’s Stars In The House, we had a Phantastic Phantom Phest! Ramin Karimloo, Howard McGillin, Hugh Panaro, and Norm Lewis spent a fun-filled hour plus telling us all what it was like playing the Phantom. Howard said (and everyone agreed) it was the most physically draining show he’s ever done…the Phantom is constantly climbing, gondola-rowing, crouching, hiding, etc. And Hugh talked about how having all that Phantom makeup with glue would immobilize his face so much that he lost some muscle. When his doctor saw him, he thought Hugh had had a mini-stroke!
Halfway through, I had a surprise guest for them: Sierra Boggess! She had played Christine opposite Hugh, Norm, and Ramin. She talked about the final scene where the Phantom is always sweaty and she mentioned how she had to gear herself up for the big kiss: She’d be looking at the Phantom’s face—covered in glue, prosthetics, a bald cap, and covered in sweat—and then she’d have to be go in for a kiss. Talk about acting!
Speaking of a face covered in prosthetics, Hugh told me my favorite Phantom story of the evening: He was finishing his Broadway run and Norm was about to take over the role. On Hugh’s final performance, he found a really cute photo of Norm and clipped it out. He told us that there’s a dimple (the size of a quarter) in the makeup under the mask the Phantom wears. What did he do with that dimple? He filled it in…with the photo! He literally laid the photo of Norm in the dimple! Then, in Act 2, when he and Christine return to his lair and he sings “An eternity of this before your eyes!”, he put his face right next to hers and pointed to Norm’s face right on “An eternity of THIS before your eyes!” Brava!!!!
James and I are taking off Sunday nights from Stars In The House so I can do The Seth Concert Series. This Sunday June 14 at 8PM ET join me and Jeremy Jordanlive! Yes, I’ll be playing the piano in my house as Jeremy sings live in his house! We’ll then air the concert the next day at 3PM for people who can’t watch on Sunday. These concerts are in the style of the ones I do all over the place (Provincetown, Ft Lauderdale, Scottsdale, L.A., San Francisco, London etc)…meaning I chat with the star between songs and we don’t know what we’re going to chat about. And I often surprise the star with a song they don’t expect (i.e. I had Kelli O’Hara launch into “Think Of Me”). Anyhoo, I love Jeremy’s voice so much. Here he is without a mic (!) during our concert at The Town Hall in NYC last year. Listen to how beautiful he sounds!
1974The World of Lenny Bruce opens at the Players Theatre. Frank Spieser‘s solo play, in which he impersonates satirist Lenny Bruce, runs for 17 weeks.
1985Neil Simon‘s The Odd Couple gets a revised and reversed revival at the Broadhurst Theatre. Gene Saks directs Rita Moreno as Olive Madison and Sally Struthers as Florence Unger in the play that was originally written for men. The production plays 295 performances before closing on February 23 of the following year.
2002 Thomas McCormack’s Endpapers first bows at the Variety Arts Theatre Off-Broadway ahead of a June 23 opening. Tim Hopper leads a cast that also includes Shannon Burkett, William Cain, and Beth Dixon.
2002 Beth Leavel shadow-waltzes center stage in 42nd Street, officially taking over as Dorothy Brock from Christine Ebersole in the Broadway revival. She’d go on to play the role full-time for nearly two years before going on to star in The Drowsy Chaperone, earning her a Tony Award.
2003 After appearing in various Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, Thirtysomething star Polly Draper makes her NYC playwriting debut with Getting Into Heaven, beginning performances at Off-Broadway’s Flea Theater. She also stars alongside Barbara eda-Young, Gretchen Egolf, James Badge Dale, and Cooper Pillot.
2012 The world premiere of John Patrick Shanley‘s Bronx-set Storefront Church—the third play of his trilogy that began with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Doubt—opens Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company‘s Linda Gross Theater. Directed by the playwright, the play tells the story of a Bronx borough President (Giancarlo Esposito) who is forced by the mortgage crisis into a confrontation with a local minister (Ron Cephas Jones).
2013 Two world premieres open Off-Broadway: the MCC Theater production of Neil LaBute‘s Reasons to Be Happy opens at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, and the Atlantic Theater Company production of John Guare‘s 3 Kinds of Exile opens at the Linda Gross Theater.
2019 Inspired by his own experience as a prop handler on a TV commercial set, Rob Ackerman debuts his play Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson, which begins at A.R.T./New York Theatres. Theresa Rebeck makes her Off-Broadway directorial debut with the production, which stars Dean Nolen, Reyna De Courcy, George Hampe, and Ann Harada.
According to Variety,Walt Disney Studios is working ona jukebox-style movie musical featuring the music of Lionel Richie. The film tentatively shares the name of one of Richie’s best-known hits, ‘All Night Long.’
