History won’t behappening in Manhattan tonight, as the Broadway production ofHamiltonhas cancelled tonight’s performance at theRichard Rodgers Theatre due to breakthrough Covid-19 cases.
The Frogtown Hollow Jubilee Jug Band is playing 42nd Street…rather, the stage adaptation of Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is now in previews at New Victory Theater. It officially opens on December 17 and runs through January 2, 2022.
The show, based on the book by Russell and Lillian Hoban and Jim Henson’s popular 1977 holiday special, features a mix of costumed performers and puppets from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.
Christopher Gattelli, the Tony-winning choreographer of Newsies, directs and choreographs the stage adaptation about Emmet and Ma Otter as they enter a Christmas Eve talent contest hoping to win prize money to buy each other holiday gifts. The show has a book by iTheatrics’ Timothy Allen McDonald and Gattelli and a score by Oscar winner (and frequent Muppets collaborator) Paul Williams.
The cast includes Colin Trudell as Emmet Otter, Jordan Brownlee puppeteering Tiny Squirrel/Doc Bullfrog, Kevin Covert as Mayor Fox, LaVon Fisher-Wilson (Newsies) as Mrs. Mink/Hetty Muskrat, Matt Furtado puppeteering Skippy Squirrel/Yancy Woodchuck/Stan Weasel, Jakeim Hart as Harvey, Steven Huynh as Wendell/Weasel, Maggie Lakis as Mrs. Fox, Anney Ozar puppeteering Nutella Squirrel/Old Lady Possum, J. Antonio Rodriguez as Charlie/Will Possum, James Silson puppeteering Jiffy Squirrel/Fred Lizard, and Cass Morgan (Memphis) as Ma Otter.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas features scenic design by Anna Louizos, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Jennifer Schriever, sound design by Matt Kraus, make-up design by Melissa Munn, puppet supervision by John Tartaglia, music direction by Larry Pressgrove, orchestrations by Dan DeLange, arrangements by Pressgrove and DeLange, and casting by Calleri Jensen Davis. Ray DeMattis serves as associate director.
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas is produced by Timothy Allen McDonald, iTheatrics, Writers’ Cage, Cheryl Henson, and Heather Henson, with Alex Robertson serving as associate producer.
The production will also be available to stream on-demand as part of the New Victory Theater’s virtual season December 17–January 2.
Patti LuPone was a guest on last night’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, which she shared some of her memories working with Stephen Sondheim, and more.
1925 Birthday of actor Dick Van Dyke, who appears on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie and The Girls Against the Boys, and creates memorable TV and film roles in The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins, and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
1929 Birthday of Christopher Plummer, who wins Tony Awards for his performances in Cyrano and Barrymore, receives Tony nominations for J.B., Othello, No Man’s Land, King Lear, and Inherit the Wind, and memorably plays Captain Von Trapp in the film The Sound of Music.
1934 Opening night of musical revue Calling All Stars, featuring Mitzi Mayfair, Phil Baker, and, in her Broadway debut, comedian Martha Raye.
1951 Henry Fonda is at the Point of No Return. Paul Osborn adapted the John P. Marquand novel about an executive who always followed the rules then decided to be his own man. H. C. Potter directs.
1959 A Clean Kill written by Michael Gilbert, starring Peter Copley and Rachel Roberts, details the unnerving possibility of a pharmacist planning a murder. Directed by Alastair Sim, the thriller runs at London’s Criterion Theatre for 142 performances.
1970 Maureen Stapleton is The Gingerbread Lady in Neil Simon‘s first drama. This story of an alcoholic singer’s decline is staged by Robert Moore at the Plymouth Theatre.
1979 Oklahoma! comes back to Broadway at the Palace Theatre, starring Laurence Guittard as Curly, Christine Andreas as Laurey, Christine Ebersole as Ado Annie, and Mary Wickes as Aunt Eller.
1979 The Negro Ensemble Company presents Home by Samm-Art Williams, who is also in the cast. This show, about a young black man’s resistance to fight in the Vietnam war, plays at the St. Marks Playhouse before transferring to Broadway.
1990 Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby opens her first Broadway production of Peter Pan at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, returning to the title role for the first time since a regional production in 1974. Rigby will go on to tour in the role through 2015, with a live performance filmed to air on TV’s A&E in 2000.
1998 Nicole Kidman makes her Broadway debut at the Cort Theatre in David Hare‘s The Blue Room, a transfer from London’s Donmar Warehouse. Directed by Sam Mendes, the two-hander adaptation of La Ronde co-stars Iain Glenn.
2009 Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler‘s A Little Night Music returns to Broadway with Catherine Zeta-Jones making her Broadway debut as Desirée Armfeldt and Angela Lansbury as her mother Madame Armfeldt. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the production was previously seen at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory and in the West End. Zeta-Jones wins a Tony Award for her performance.
2018 A new stage adaptation of Harper Lee‘s To Kill a Mockingbird, with a script by Aaron Sorkin, opens at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre. Jeff Daniels takes on the central role of Atticus Finch in the staging, which frames the Alabama-set story as a memory play as Scout (Celia Keenan-Bolger) recalls the 1930s trial in which her father defended a black man accused of raping a white girl. Keenan-Bolger wins a Tony Award for her performance.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Edward Childs Carpenter (1872-1950). Marc Connelly (1890-1980). Van Heflin (1910-1971). Lillian Roth 1910-1980). Robert Prosky (1930-2008). John Davidson (b. 1941). Maurice Hines (b. 1943). Robert Lindsay (b. 1949). David Leveaux (b. 1957). NeNe Leakes (b. 1967).
It’s the party at the end of the world - and it’s the show of the year. Rebecca Frecknall’s astonishing revival of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s 1966 musical, starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley, is truly a revelation, as is the extensive revamp of the Playhouse Theatre.
After beginning preview performances November 11, Lincoln Center Theater’s world premiere of Flying Over Sunset is set to officially open at the Vivian Beaumont Theater December 13. The production was originally slated to open in April 2020 but halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Flying Over Sunset is inspired by the use of LSD in the late ’50s by author Aldous Huxley, playwright and Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce, and film star Cary Grant. On their trips, they grapple with the unknowns of their lives and the world. The show features a book by James Lapine, music by Tom Kitt, and lyrics by Michael Korie.
Flying Over Sunset stars Tony nominees Harry Hadden-Paton as Aldous Huxley, Carmen Cusack as Clare Boothe Luce, and Tony Yazbeck as Cary Grant alongside Kanisha Marie Feliciano as Ann/Judith, Nehal Joshi as Dr. Harris/Cary’s Father, Emily Pynenburg as Rosalia/Sophia, Michele Ragusa as Austin/Handmaiden, Robert Sella as Gerald Heard, Laura Shoop as Maria Huxley, and Atticus Ware as Archie Leach. Rounding out the company are Aria Braswell, Danny Gardner, Kate Marilley, Patrick Scott McDermott, Tony Roach, and Michael Winther as understudies.
Directed by Lapine with choreography by Michelle Dorrance, the production features scenic design by Tony winner Beowulf Boritt, costume design by three-time Tony nominee Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by two-time Tony winner Bradley King, sound design by five-time Tony nominee Dan Moses Schrier, projection design by 59 Productions, orchestrations by two-time Tony winner Michael Starobin, music direction by Kimberly Grigsby, and stage management by Rick Steiger. Casting is by The Telsey Office. The LCT production is presented in association with Jack Shear.
Sunday, December 19, 2021, marks the closing date forDiana, The Musicalat the Longacre Theatre 220 West 48th Street. Tickets purchased for cancelled performances will be refunded at the point of purchase.
After beginning performances November 15, Marianne Elliott’s gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company officially opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre December 9. The show was originally slated to open on the late Sondheim’s 90th birthday March 22, 2020, but halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a series of vignettes, Company tells the story of New York bachelorette Bobbie (a twist on the show’s original protagonist, the bachelor Bobby), who learns about the perils and pleasures of love, marriage, dating, and divorce from her married friends. The classic score includes “You Could Drive a Person Crazy,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “Side by Side,” and “Being Alive.”
Tony winners Katrina Lenk and Patti LuPone, who star as Bobbie and Joanne, respectively, are joined by fellow returning cast members Matt Doyle as Jamie, Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald as David, Tony nominee Christopher Sieber as Harry, Tony nominee Jennifer Simard as Sarah, Terence Archie as Larry, Etai Benson as Paul, Nikki Renée Daniels as Jenny, Claybourne Elder as Andy, Greg Hildreth as Peter, Rashidra Scott as Susan, and Bobby Conte as P.J. Manu Narayan joins the cast for its return, replacing Kyle Dean Massey as Theo.
Rounding out the company are Kathryn Allison, Britney Coleman, Jacob Dickey, Javier Ignacio, Anisha Nagarajan, Nicholas Rodriguez, Heath Saunders, Tally Sessions, and Matt Wall.
The production, which comes to New York after playing London’s West End, also features choreography by Liam Steel, sets and costumes by Bunny Christie, lighting by Neil Austin, sound design by Ian Dickinson of Autograph, and illusions by Chris Fisher. Joel Fram serves as music supervisor and director, with orchestrations by David Cullen and dance arrangements by Sam Davis. Casting is by Cindy Tolan.
Company debuted on Broadway in 1970, earning 14 Tony Award nominations and winning six, including Best Musical. It was last revived on the Main Stem in 2006 in another re-imagined production, with John Doyle directing a cast of actor-musicians. Doyle and star Raúl Esparza earned Tony nominations, with the production winning Best Revival of a Musical.
As previously reported, Sondheim, whose thematically complex, lyrically nimble, and musically challenging scores changed the face of musical theatre during the latter half of the 20th century, died November 26. Throughout his six-decade career on Broadway, he earned eight Tony Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement honor in 2008, as well as eight Grammy Awards, one Academy Award, and a Pulitzer, influencing the musical theatre genre and inspiring countless artists.