VIDEO: On This Day, April 25- PIPPIN Returns to Broadway!
On this day in 2013, Diane Paulus’ high-flying revival of Stephen Schwartz PIPPIN opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theater
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: April 25
1927 When a woman loves sailors so much she follows them all around the world, it’s time to Hit the Deck. Vincent Youmans provides the score for Herbert Fields‘ book adapted from the play Shore Leave. The show sails through 352 performances.
1929 Patrick Hamilton‘s drama Rope stars Brian Aherne and Anthony Ireland as two Oxford roommates killing a boy for thrills. Reginald Denham directs at London’s Ambassadors’ Theatre. Years later, Alfred Hitchcock uses the script as the basis for his film of the same name.
1965 British pop star Tommy Steele makes his Broadway debut in a transfer of the hit West End musical Half a Sixpence. Beverley Cross and David Heneker based their musical on the H. G. Wells novel Kipps, about an orphan who unexpectedly inherits a fortune. The cast also includes a pre-Monty Python John Cleese in the role of Young Walshingham. The production runs 511 performances at the Broadhurst Theatre.
1967 Little Murders happen at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre. Jules Feiffer‘s black comedy about apathetic responses to violence has a little run of seven performances. The cast includes Barbara Cook, Elliott Gould, Heywood Hale Broun, and Ruth White.
1985 Big River opens on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre. The Tony Award-winning musical by Roger Miller, based on the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, runs 1,005 performances. Daniel H. Jenkins stars as Huck Finn; joining him are Ron Richardson, John Goodman, Bob Gunton, Reathel Bean, and Rene Auberjonois.
1991 Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman‘s musical adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett‘s classic 1911 novel The Secret Garden opens on Broadway at the St. James Theatre. Susan H. Schulman directs a cast that includes Mandy Patinkin, Rebecca Luker, and Daisy Eagan. 11-year-old Eagan wins the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, making her the youngest female actor to win a Tony.
1999 That’s The Gershwins’ Fascinating Rhythm you hear. Brothers George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin‘s music and lyrics highlight the revue opening at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. Mark Lamos stages and co-conceived the project with Mel Marvin. David Marques supplies the choreography. The cast includes Michael Berresse, Adriane Lenox, Sara Ramirez, Patrick Wilson, and Orfeh. Although the show runs for only 17 performances, producer Manny Kladitis said he remained proud to have “brought an unbeatable score to Broadway.”
2001 Sir Peter Brook‘s acclaimed Paris production of Hamlet, starring Adrian Lester, has its American premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, en route to a U.S. tour.
2009 Tony and Emmy Award winner Bea Arthur, who began her career onstage but would later become better known as Maude (on TV’s Maude) and Dorothy Zbornak (on The Golden Girls), dies at age 86. Arthur’s Broadway career began in 1955 with the musical Plain and Fancy, and also included originating roles in Fiddler on the Roof (as Yente the matchmaker) and Mame (as Vera Charles).
2010 Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth play Chuck Baxter and Fran Kubelik in the first Broadway revival of Burt Bacharach and Hal David‘s hit 1968 musical Promises, Promises. The musical based on the Oscar-winning film The Apartment, also features Katie Finneran, Tony Goldwyn, and Dick Latessa. It runs 289 performances at the Broadway Theatre.
2012 The Columnist, David Auburn‘s character study about the complexities and contradictions in the life and work of the late political journalist Joseph Alsop, opens in its Broadway world premiere at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. John Lithgow stars as the powerful writer in the fictionalized biography.
2013 Patina Miller invites audiences into the circus tent housed at the Music Box Theatre for the first Broadway revival of Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz‘s musical Pippin. Diane Paulus directs a cast that also includes Matthew James Thomas in the title role, and Andrea Martin as Berthe. The production wins four Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, and runs 709 performances.
2016 Jesse Tyler Ferguson stars in the Broadway premiere of Becky Mode‘s comedy Fully Committed at the Lyceum Theatre. The play was first seen Off-Broadway in 1999, where it ran nearly 700 performances. Ferguson plays 40 different characters, including a harried reservations clerk at an in-demand eatery, and a series of guests clamoring for a table.
2019 Welcome to a show about death, as Beetlejuice opens at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre. Based on the 1988 cult classic film, the dark musical features a score by Eddie Perfect and a book by Scott Brown and Anthony King. The production will go on to receive eight 2019 Tony Award nominations, including a nod for Alex Brightman’s turn in the title role.
Today’s Birthdays: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). John Springer (1916-2001). Jerry Leiber 1933. Al Pacino (b. 1940). Jeffrey DeMunn (b. 1947). Hank Azaria (b. 1964). James Barbour (b. 1966). Carmen Cusack (b. 1971). Emily Bergl (b. 1975). Samuel Barnett (b. 1980).
Revisit Pippin with Patina Miller, Rachel Bay Jones, and More in Pippin
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Renée Fleming & Daphne Rubin-Vega Featured On THE PACK Podcast This Week
Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rene Fleming Daphne Rubin-Vega are featured on this week’s episode of The Pack Podcast The Librarian which is available online now. Benefitting The Actors Fund.
In the News: Katrina Lenk and Amber Gray to Star in New The Civilians Musical, Experience Odd Man Out Blindfolded, More
Read on for more theatre headlines you may have missed in today’s news.
Katrina Lenk, Amber Gray, More Set for Against Women & Music
The Civilians will present an online concert reading of the new musical Against Women & Music, co-written by Kate Douglas and Grace McLean, at 7:30 PM ET May 6. The musical is billed as “absurdist-horror Victorian chamber musical.” It was developed in The Civilians R&D group, which crafts new works from creative investigations, and is inspired by a lecture by James Kennaway on his book Bad Vibrations: The History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease. The cast includes Tony winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit), Tony nominee Amber Grey (Hadestown), Andrew Kober (Beautiful), Heath Saunders (The Great Comet), Scott Stangland (The Great Comet), Kuhoo Verma, and Natalie Walker. Sarna Lapine directs, with music direction by Simone Allen. To register, visit TheCivilians.org.
Explore the Dark and Heighten the Senses in Odd Man Out
A new interactive theatrical production of Odd Man Out from Pitchblack Immersive Experiences invites audiences to go on a multi-sensory journey—all while being blindfolded. Written by Martín Bondone and directed by Bondone, Carlos Armesto, and Facundo Bogarín, the story begins with a travel box sent to audiences’ home address that will allow them to be a part of the story. It continues as an audio play in the darkness, following the journey of a blind musician flying home from New York to Buenos Aires after decades of self-exile. Odd Man Out debuted at Argentina’s Teatro Ciego, which employs artists and technicians with visual disabilities in all their work. A portion of the proceeds will go to Visions, which provides services for the blind and visually impaired. Performances are available in English and Spanish; click here for tickets.
Christy Altomare, Melissa Errico, More Set for Bucks County Concerts
Bucks County Playhouse, located in New Hope, Pennsylvania, will host a series of cabaret acts from stage favorites as part of its Broadway Spotlight Concert Series. The lineup, curated by Jim Caruso, features Tony nominees Melissa Errico (Amour), Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages), and Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), as well as Christy Altomare (Anastasia), Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!), and cabaret favorites Natalie Douglas and Billy Stritch. The socially distanced performances are scheduled throughout the spring, from May 15 through June 13. Visit BCPTheater.org for tickets and more information.
Judith Light Will Host We Are Family PBS Concert, Starring Laura Osnes, Gabrielle Ruiz, Nova Y. Payton, More
Tony winner Judith Light will host We Are Family: Songs of Hope and Unity, which will premiere on PBS May 14; check local listings.
Filmed in front of a small, socially distanced audience at the Meridian International Center in Washington, D.C., the evening features Tony nominee Laura Osnes (Bonnie and Clyde, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella), Gabrielle Ruiz (If/Then, Evita), Morgan James (Godspell), The Voice‘s Rayshun LaMarr, and recording artist Nova Y. Payton. The performers will be backed by The American Pops Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Luke Frazier.
“Music is an extraordinary tool that has the unique ability to bring us together. It also has the special power of healing and uniting—and I believe there is no better time for us to do that than now,” said Frazier. “We Are Family includes iconic American music hits such as ‘You’ve Got a Friend,’ ‘America the Beautiful,’ ‘Light of the Clear Blue Morning,’ ‘A Change is Gonna Come,’ ‘I Will Survive,’ and more. It’s not just a soundtrack of music we’ve come to know and love; it’s the music we need to hear now.”
The concert will stream simultaneously and will be available on PBS.org and the PBS Video App.
Andrew Lloyd Webber Records SYMPHONIC SUITES Album at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
Andrew Lloyd Webber came to the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to record a newalbum with an 81-piece orchestra last week.
VIDEO: On This Day, April 21- Happy Birthday, Patti LuPone!
On this day we celebrate the birthday of two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone
Jimmy Smits and Daphne Rubin-Vega Reunite with Nilo Cruz for Two Sisters and a Piano April 21
The new streaming theatre company New Normal Rep reunites Emmy Award winner Jimmy Smits and two-time Tony Award nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega for an online presentation of Nilo Cruz’s Two Sisters and a Piano. The production, also directed by Cruz, premieres 7 PM ET April 21.
The play, set in 1991 Cuba, centers on Maria Celia (played by Florencia Lozano), a writer and her younger sister Sofia (Rubin-Vega), a pianist, who have spent two years under house arrest for speaking out against the political regime. Passion infiltrates politics when a lieutenant (Smits) assigned to their case becomes infatuated with Maria Celia, whose literature he has been reading. Gary Perez also stars.
Smits and Rubin-Vega starred together on Broadway in Cruz’s 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Anna in the Tropics, which garnered Tony nominations for Best Play and Rubin-Vega for Featured Actress.
New Normal Rep, under the direction of Artistic Director Jack Canfora and Executive Producer Sally Kilingenstein-Martell, aims to digitally present new and lesser known plays from diverse perspectives. The company launched in March with with Jack Canfora’s Jericho, starring another L.A. Law alum, Jill Eikenberry. Dates have not been announced for the remaining two shows of the inaugural season—Lines in the Dust by Nikkole Salter and F.I.R.E. by Julia Blauvelt.
Two Sisters and a Piano will be available through May 23. A Happy Hour Q&A with the cast and creative team will follow the premiere at 9:30 PM. For ticketing, visit NewNormalRep.org.