by Webmaster | Sep 14, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
1889 Robert Benchley, the acclaimed actor, critic, and humorist of the early twentieth century, is born. An example of his wit can be seen in his 1926 review of Jean Bart’s The Squall, which is about a gypsy woman who leaves her people to satisfy her lusts with an outsider. Included in the dialogue is: “Me Nubi. Nubi good girl. Nubi stay.” Responding in his review, Benchley states, “Me Benchley. Benchley bad boy. Benchley go.” Tallulah Bankhead, who was a friend of his, called him “as gay and thirsty a gentleman as I ever encountered.”
1925 Michael Arlen‘s romantic drama The Green Hat opens at the Broadhurst Theatre. Katharine Cornell stars as Iris March, a character who is described by Alexander Woollcott as a “shameful, shameless lady.” Leslie Howard co-stars.
1938 Thornton Wilder performs as the Stage Manager in Our Town on Broadway. Although he is the author, he is filling in for the vacationing Frank Craven. Since the playwright is performing, he takes the liberty of putting back in some of his own words that producer Jed Harris had cut. During the run, Wilder’s acting is reported by John Mason Brown, a critic of the time, as better than Sinclair Lewis‘ performance in the dramatization of his own novel, It Can’t Happen Here.
1972 After 1,847 performances Off-Broadway, the hit revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris transfers to Broadway’s Royale Theatre—and closes after just 51 more performances, despite the presence of Joe Masiell and George Ball in the cast.
1976 Ntozake Shange‘s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf opens on Broadway at the Booth Theatre following a run at The Public Theater. The drama, featuring seven female characters represented by colors of the rainbow, combines poetry and dance to explore the plight of women. Shange herself is in the cast of the production, which runs 742 performances.
2000 The Denver Center Theatre Company, in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, unleashes Peter Hall‘s staging of Tantalus at the Stage Theater in Colorado. The large-scale, 10 play production is performed in three parts and runs for approximately 10 hours. The cast of 29—made up of U.S., British, European, and Asian-born performers—includes principals Alyssa Bresnahan, Alan Dobie, Greg Hicks, Annalee Jeffries, Ann Mitchell, Robert Petkoff, David Ryall, and Mia Yoo.
2004 Three notable musicals begin their journeys: Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s The Woman in White opens in London; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels begins its pre-Broadway tryout in San Diego; and the stage adaptation of the Disney film musical Mary Poppins has its world premiere in Bristol, England.
2010 As the man once wrote, “Light the lights!” Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, a writer who changed the face of musical theatre, sees the first official lighting of the marquee of the newly named Stephen Sondheim Theatre (formerly the Henry Miller’s Theatre) at a special ceremony.
2019 Derren Brown: Secret, the acclaimed stage production from the two-time Olivier Award-winning illusionist and mentalist, opens on Broadway at the Cort Theatre. The production returns to New York after premiering in a sold-out run at the Atlantic Theater Company Off-Broadway in 2017. Brown collaborated on the show with co-writers Andy Nyman and Andrew O’Connor, who also co-directed.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Agatha Christie (1890–1976). Fay Wray (1907–2004). Penny Singleton (1908–2003). Jackie Cooper (1921–2011). Dick Latessa (1929–2016). Tommy Lee Jones (b. 1946). Carole Shorenstein Hays (b. 1948). Deidre Goodwin (b. 1969).
by Webmaster | Sep 13, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
The 2021 Expand the Canon list has been announced, featuring nine plays by women that deserve a spotlight as theatres consider what works to present to its audiences. The project is run by Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre, in partnership with Ma-Yi Theater Company, The Sol Project, and The Classical Theatre of Harlem.
The plays selected for 2021 are: The Frolicks by Elizabeth Polwhele; Amor, Agavio y Mujer by Ana Caro; The Beau Defeated by Mary Pix; Fatal Falsehood by Hannah More; Françoise by George Sand, Forging the Truth by Yang Jiang; Foriwa by Efua Sutherland; A Happy Country by Maruxa Vilalta; and Les Blancs by Lorraine Hansberry. The 2021 list includes 3 translations that, if produced, would be national premieres.
READ: Expand The Canon Reveals Inaugural History-Spanning List of Plays by Women to Consider Producing
“After reading nearly 400 plays by women, our team chose nine that span history, geography, and subject matter, from writers around the world,” says Mary Candler, artistic director of Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre. “With a mix of light comedies and deeply resonant pieces that speak to this revolutionary moment, there is a play on this list for anyone programming their 2022 season.”
Four readings will be presented as part of the Do This Play: The Expand the Canon Reading Series. The lineup features A Happy Country (September 19, 4 PM ET), Forging the Truth (September 20, 7 PM), Foriwa (September 26 at 4 PM), and Mercy Otis Warren’s 1770’s verse play The Ladies of Castile (September 27 at 7 PM). Each reading will be available to stream on demand for two days after its premiere.
For more information about the plays, visit ExpandtheCanon.com. The list has all related producing information, creating easy access for theatre companies to present these plays.
by Webmaster | Sep 13, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
The Humanswas adapted from the Tony winning play of the same name. Its writtendirected by Stephen Karam, who helmed the play as well. The cast includes Beanie Feldstein, Richard Jenkins, Amy Schumer, Steven Yeun, June Squibb and Jayne Houdyshell. Its a tense, intimate and occasionally funny drama with a haunting undertone throughout.
by Webmaster | Sep 12, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
Broadway’s Kelli O’Hara performed a rendition of ‘You’llNever Walk Alone’ at New York’s 911 memorial service yesterday. The traditional ceremony took place at ground zero twenty years after the tragic terrorist attack.
by Webmaster | Sep 11, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
1866 The Broadway musical is born. The Black Crook, a musical extravaganza featuring a melodramatic plot and scantily-dressed ballerinas who serve as chorus girls, opens at Niblo’s Garden, . Tickets range from five cents to $1.50. It is the first Broadway show to run for more than a year. In 1954, a musical called The Girl in Pink Tights, which is based on the story of the show’s creation, opens on Broadway. Many other influences created the musical as it is known today, but Black Crook remains the consensus earliest model.
1927 Sigmund Romberg‘s operetta My Maryland, based on the Clyde Fitch play Barbara Frietchie, opens a 312-performance run at Jolson’s 59th Street Theatre, featuring Evelyn Herbert.
1951 The Holiday Theatre returns to the legitimate fold for the first time since 1927 with the opening of the American-Yiddish revue Bagels and Yox. The theatre, previously called the Central Theatre, had been used as a burlesque and movie house in the intervening years.
1960 The old Mansfield Theatre is rechristened with its current name, the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. A show produced by David Merrick, Vintage ’60, is the first to open there.
2000 Britain’s Improbable Theatre bring their spontaneous theatrical performance piece, Lifegame, to Off-Broadway’s Jane Street Theatre. The improvisational work, in which a civilian is interviewed on stage about his or her life and then is witness to an instant interpretation of their milestone events by an acting troupe, was a hit in England and southern California before reaching New York stage. The event was created by improvisational theatre artist Keith Johnstone and offers a new character and a fresh life story eight times a week. Though the Off-Broadway run is brief, it inspires a TV series of the same name on the TNN cable network the following year.
2001 All Broadway and Off-Broadway shows remain dark, the day after terrorist attacks destroy the World Trade Center and travel into and around Manhattan is disrupted.
2002 The Ragtime team of Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, and Terrence McNally collaborate again for the Off-Broadway musical A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center Theater‘s Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. Starring Roger Rees as bus conductor Alfie Byrne, it runs through the end of the year.
2010 The New York City premiere of Me, Myself & I, Edward Albee‘s play touching on some of his favorite ideas—parenting, children, identity, reality—opens at Playwrights Horizons. The play is directed by Emily Mann, who staged the 2008 world premiere at the McCarter Theatre, and stars Elizabeth Ashley, Zachary Booth, Brian Murray, Natalia Payne, Stephen Payne, and Preston Sadleir.
2011 The Kennedy Center‘s critically acclaimed production of James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim‘s musical Follies, opens at Broadway’s Marquis Theatre. The cast is headed by Bernadette Peters as Sally, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis, Danny Burstein as Buddy, Ron Raines as Benjamin, and Elaine Paige as Carlotta.
2015 It’s the last dance for the “Dancing Queen”: Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus‘ musical Mamma Mia! plays its 5,773rd and final performance on Broadway.
2018 Jen Silverman’s play Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties opens at the Lucille Lortel Theater. Directed by Mike Donahue, the MCC production stars Dana Delany, Lea DeLaria, IAdina Verson, Ana Villafañe, and Chaunté Wayans as five women—all named Bettie—who collide at the intersection of rage, love, and the theatre, provoking them all to take a look in the mirror and be brave enough to face the person they didn’t know they could be.
Today’s Birthdays: Maurice Chevalier (1888-1972). Harvey Schmidt (1929-2018). Ian Holm (1931-2020). Peter Scolari (b. 1955). Tony Sheldon (b. 1955). Hans Zimmer (b. 1957). Gregg Edelman (b. 1958). Will Chase (b. 1970). Jennifer Hudson (b. 1981). Will Blum (b. 1984).
After 14 Years, Mamma Mia! Celebrates Our Last Summer! Emotional Pics From the Final Curtain Call
by Webmaster | Sep 10, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
1912 Jane Cowl becomes a star while performing in Within the Law by Bayard Veiller. The play is about a woman wrongfully accused of theft. It is also the premiere production at the new Eltinge Theatre on 42nd Street.
1918 A report comes out commending the new army camp musical by Irving Berlin, Yip, Yip, Yaphank. The musical, which opened at the Century Theatre on August 19, showcases 350 Camp Upton soldiers and Berlin himself. The report applauds Berlin’s show because it makes a soldier’s life seem not so bad. One of the themes of the musical is that “the soldier’s life is after all a happy one.” The show features among other things, soldiers in drag wearing blackface singing “Mandy,” while Berlin himself sings “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” Berlin’s classic song, “God Bless America,” was originally written for Yaphank but dropped because he felt it too “sticky” for the production. The song does not surface again until 1938, when Kate Smith introduces it on the radio.
1940 After missing him for a decade, the Broadway stage once again sees Al Jolson. He co-stars with Martha Raye in Hold on to Your Hats at the Shubert Theatre.
1959 The now landmark statue of song and dance man George M. Cohan is unveiled in Times Square, opposite the Palace Theatre.
2001 On a sunny Tuesday morning, terrorists fly two commercial airliners into New York City’s World Trade Center “Twin Towers,” and a third into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., causing mass death, destruction, and chaos in both cities. All theatrical performances are canceled for the next two days around the U.S. In ensuing years, the event inspires numerous plays, including The Guys, Omnium Gatherum, Portraits, and Recent Tragic Events.
2002 On the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks, many Broadway and Off-Broadway shows cancel or reschedule performances, leaving their theatres dark for the day.
2004 Fred Ebb, the lyricist half of the Broadway composing team of Kander and Ebb, which produced classic musicals such as Cabaret and Chicago, dies at age 71.
2006 Joseph Hayes, a playwright, novelist, and producer who won the 1955 Tony Award for Best Play for his suspenseful melodrama The Desperate Hours, dies in St. Augustine, Florida, at age 88.
2009 Larry Gelbart, the two-time Tony Award-winning librettist who was also a playwright and a screenwriter for TV and movies, dies at the age of 81. Viewed as a master of situation comedy and one-liners, Gelbart won Tonys for Best Book of a Musical for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, which he co-wrote with Burt Shevelove, and City of Angels. He also developed the Robert Altman movie M*A*S*H into the hit TV series, co-wrote the screenplay to the Hollywood comedy Tootsie, and wrote the Broadway plays Sly Fox (based on Ben Jonson‘s Volpone) and Mastergate.
2011 Sweet and Sad, the world-premiere drama by Richard Nelson set on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, has a timely opening night Off-Broadway at the Public Theater. Nelson revisits the Apple family (first seen in his 2010 play That Hopey Changey Thing) as they reflect on America a decade after the events of 9/11.
2011 The Select (The Sun Also Rises), Elevator Repair Service’s dramatic look at Ernest Hemingway‘s post-war classic, opens Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop. ERS founder John Collins directs the three-hour and fifteen-minute ensemble work that pares the novel down to much of Hemingway’s dialogue.
2014 The Broadway premiere of Kenneth Lonergan‘s 1996 drama This Is Our Youth, starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin, and Tavi Gevinson, opens at the Cort Theatre.
Today’s Birthdays: D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930). Georges Metaxa (1899-1950). Henderson Forsythe (1917-2006). Alan Bergman (b. 1925). Lee Richardson (1926-1999). Gerome Ragni (1935-1991). Jennifer Tipton (b. 1937). Reed Birney (b. 1954). Adriane Lenox (b. 1956). Harry Connick Jr. (b. 1967).
16 Shows Fred Ebb Brought to Broadway
by Webmaster | Sep 10, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
It has been revealed that the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid is set to be released on May 26, 2023. The cast of the live action ‘Little Mermaid’ includes Halle Bailey, Daveed Diggs, Javier Bardem, Jacob Tremblay, Melissa McCarthy, Awkwafina, and Jonah Hauer-King.
by Webmaster | Sep 9, 2021 | New Musical News Feed
Read on for more theatre headlines you may have missed in today’s news.
2021 Relentless Award Will Honor Musical Theatre
The American Playwriting Foundation has merged with Building for the Arts, the non-profit organization that runs Theatre Row and Music and the Brain. The merger will provide a physical space for APF at Theatre Row, as well as enrich the programming of both organizations. The Relentless Award, an annual playwriting award created by APF in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman, will now be presented under the auspices of Building for the Arts. This year’s Relentless Award will honor composer Adam Schlesinger, a Tony and Oscar-nominated songwriter who passed away from COVID-19 last spring. The Relentless Award Selection Committee places special emphasis on works that are fearless in their choice of subject matter. The winner of the Musical Relentless Award will be selected by a panel of judges composed of artists who have collaborated with Schlesinger, including Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), Sam Hollander, Stephin Merrit, and David Javerbaum.
Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award Winners Named
The Ziegfeld Club, Inc., in partnership with New York Stage and Film, has named November Christine (Mirror, Mirror, Legacy the Musical), Carmel Dean (Renascence), and Madeline Myers (Double Helix, Flatbush Avenue) as the 2021 recipients of the sixth annual Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award. The annual grant is presented to emerging female musical theatre composer, and includes a year of mentorship in addition to the cash prize. “In a break from past practice, we decided this year to recognize the achievements of the three finalists from last year’s award process,” said Ziegfeld Club Executive Director Laurie Sanderson. “Our decision to confer this year’s award on three composers reflects the tremendous depth of talent among the community of female composers and lyricists.” Past recipients of the Billie Burke Ziegfeld Award include composer/lyricists Shaina Taub, Masi Asare, and Anna K. Jacobs. For more information, visit TheZiegfeldClubInc.com.
Plus, get a look at Tony nominee Celia Rose Gooding in the “Meet The Cast Of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” introduction video above. The Jagged Little Pill star’s casting was announced earlier this year, but here we find out that she will be playing Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek prequel from Paramount+. Nichelle Nichols originated the role of Lt. Uhura for the original series and played her in six of the franchise’s films. As Gooding says in the intro, “legacy.”
