Stage and screen actress Lisa Banes is currently in critical condition after a hit-and-run accident in New York City this week. Banes, 65, was on her way to meet her wife for a dinner party at a friend’s home near Lincoln Center on Friday eveningwhen someone on a scooter or motor bike hit her and then fled.
“You coax the blues right out of the horn, Mame.” Bubbling Brown Sugar is a stimulatin’ Harlem treat!” “But now, God knows, Anything Goes!”
Not every show uses a title song (South Pacific, Fiddler on the Roof), and the ones that do use them in a variety of ways, from prologues that set up the action to act finales that comment on the show’s philosophies. Click through the gallery below and see how many musicals you can identify from their title song lyrics (sans, of course, the title).
The Off-Broadway favorite Stomp will resume performances July 20 at the Orpheum Theatre, making it one of the first long-running shows in NYC to take the stage following the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the cast celebrating the news with their signature percussive sound in a video above.
Tickets will go on sale June 21. All cast, crew, staff, and audiences entering the Orpheum Theatre must show proof of vaccination prior to entry with audiences also required to wear masks. Safety measures may change as COVID-19 guidelines evolve.
In addition, a U.S. tour will resume August 16 at the Stanley Theatre in Utica, New York.
Stomp is a high-energy, percussive symphony, coupled with dance, played entirely on non-traditional instruments, such as garbage can lids, buckets, brooms, and sticks. The show has won an Olivier Award for Best Choreography, an OBIE Award, and a Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatre Experience.
Click here for more information and tickets.
Stars in the House continues tonight 8pm ET with Kate Allie Reunion with Susan Saint James,Jane Curtin, Frederick Koehler,Allison Smith, Ari Meyers, and director Bill Persky.
On this day in 1975, the original razzle dazzle production of Kander Ebb’s Chicago opened on Broadway.
Broadway’s Best Shows continues its Spotlight On Plays series with Adrienne Kennedy’s Ohio State Murders, starring Tony winner Audra McDonald. The live stream reading premieres 8 PM ET June 3 on Stellar and will be available on demand through June 7.
The story centers on Suzanne Alexander, a fictional African-American writer who returns to her alma mater to talk about the violence in her writing, exposing a dark mystery. Warner Miller (A Soldier’s Play), Lizan Mitchell (Electra), and Ben Rappaport (Picnic) also star, under the direction of Tony winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun).
Originally commissioned by Great Lakes Theater Festival and published in 1992, the play made its New York premiere in 2007 at Theater for a New Audience starring LisaGay Hamilton (Gem of the Ocean). The work is one in a cycle of plays centering on the character Suzanne Alexander. Other titles from the “Alexander Plays” are She Talks to Beethoven, The Film Club, and The Dramatic Circle.
Kennedy is a two-time Obie Award winner, and in 2008 was honored with an Obie Lifetime Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2018.
The spring series from Broadway’s Best Shows, highlighting female playwrights, concludes with Dear Elizabeth by Sarah Ruhl June 17. The series also recently announced a star-studded benefit concert Show of Titles, featuring 20 title tunes from Broadway musicals, streaming June 13.
Proceeds benefiting The Actors Fund. Click here for tickets.