Wake Up With BWW 4/15: Lortel Award Nominations Announced, and More!
Today’s top stories The Wrong Man, A Strange Loop, and more are nominated for Lortel Awards
Playbill Vault’s Today in Theatre History: April 15
1929 In The Camel Through the Needle’s Eye, Miriam Hopkins plays a poor woman who discovers the hard way that money can’t buy happiness. This drama runs six months at the Martin Beck Theatre.
1960 Actor Lillah McCarthy dies in London at age 84. George Bernard Shaw wrote Fanny’s First Play for her. At one time she was married to Harley Granville-Barker.
1969 Peter Foy obtains a U.S. patent for a flying apparatus in which both vertical and lateral motion of the performer can be controlled.
1974 Edward J. Moore wrote and stars opposite Conchata Ferrell in The Sea Horse, a Circle Repertory transfer at the Westside Theatre. Marshall W. Mason stages the four-month run of the tale of a lonely barmaid and the man who wants to marry her.
1987 Alfred Uhry‘s Driving Miss Daisy opens Off-Broadway at the John Houseman Theatre with Dana Ivey, Ray Gill, and Morgan Freeman. The Playwrights Horizons production that explores racism through the relationship between a Southern white woman and her black chauffeur is directed by Ron Lagomarsino.
1999 If you want to understand her, you’ve got to see things from Amy’s View. Judi Dench wins the Tony Award for her role in David Hare‘s drama about an actor and her relationship with her daughter and career. Richard Eyre directs the National Theatre production at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre, which runs for a limited engagement of 115 performances.
2008 Two stars make their Broadway debuts today. Television star Mario Lopez takes over the role of Zach in the revival of A Chorus Line at the Schoenfeld Theatre. Actor and model Boris Kodjoe steps into the role of Brick in the revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Broadhurst Theatre, while Terrence Howard takes a three week hiatus from the role.
2009 Alice Ripley plays a suburban woman battling mental illness in Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s musical Next to Normal, which opens on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Directed by Michael Greif, the cast also includes J. Robert Spencer, Aaron Tveit, and Jennifer Damiano. Ripley wins a Tony Award for her performance, and the musical wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
2012 The origins of Peter Pan, his nemesis Captain Hook, and the enchanted island of Neverland come to life in Peter and the Starcatcher, the wildly imaginative stage production helmed by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers. Christian Borle, Celia Keenan-Bolger, and Adam Chanler-Berat star in the music-filled play at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. The production wins five Tony Awards, including one for Borle’s performance as devious pirate Black Stache.
2013 Late 1930s New York and the twilight of the burlesque era come to life as the world premiere of Douglas Carter Beane‘s The Nance opens on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre. Nathan Lane stars as Chauncey Miles, a headline nance performer in New York burlesque who also happens to be a homosexual.
2015 Finding Neverland, a musical about the relationship between playwright J. M. Barrie and the family that inspired Peter Pan, opens on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Diane Paulus directs a cast that includes Matthew Morrison, Kelsey Grammer, and Laura Michelle Kelly.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Henry James 1843. John Williams 1903. Merle Louise 1934. Bjorn Ulvaeus 1945. Caissie Levy 1981. Madeleine Martin 1993.
Watch highlights from the 2015 Broadway production of Finding Neverland:
VIDEO: Watch Marc Shaiman and Friends on STARS IN THE HOUSE with Seth Rudetsky- Live Now!
Stars in The House continues tonight8pm with Marc Shaiman and friends
Watch Tony Winner Marc Shaiman, Jenifer Lewis, More on Stars in the House Live Stream
Stars in the House, the daily live streamed concert series created by Playbill correspondent and SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley, welcomes Tony-winning Hairspray and Smash composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman April 13 at 8 PM.
Also stopping by are Jenifer Lewis, Tony winner Martin Short, and Tony nominee Kerry Butler.
The Stars in the House series—which launched March 16 with Tony winner Kelli O’Hara—promotes support for The Actors Fund and its services in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
New shows air daily at 2 PM ET and 8 PM ET, featuring performances by stars of stage and screen and conversations with Rudetsky between each tune. Rudetsky will encourage live viewers to donate, and Wesley will give updates from The Fund as well as shout-outs to people donating in real time. Dr. Jonathan LaPook, chief medical correspondent for CBS News, will also make frequent appearances to answer questions and offer best practices.
Watch previous Stars in the House presentations here.
READ: How to Help Unemployed Theatre Industry Professionals During the Coronavirus Shutdown
As the situation surrounding the coronavirus outbreak continues to evolve, The Actors Fund will provide services online and via phone. These services include Artists Health Insurance Resource Center, The Career Center, Housing Resources, Addiction & Recovery, HIV/AIDS and Senior Services, Counseling and Emergency Financial Assistance, as well as The Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
To make a tax-deductible donation to The Actors Fund visit ActorsFund.org/Donate.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Pays Tribute to Hal Willner
During the closing of the first-ever ‘Saturday Night Live From Home,’ the show paid tribute to its sketch-music producer Hal Willner, who recently passed away with symptoms consistent with COVID-19. Willner produced the music for SNL for nearly 40 years, beginning in 1981.
Look Back at A Streetcar Named Desire With Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin
The 1992 revival of Tennessee William’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama A Street Car Named Desire, starring Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre April 12, 1992. Directed by Gregory Mosher, the production played through August 9, 1992, garnering Baldwin a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance.
A Streetcar Named Desire tells the story of the sparks and clash that occurs when southern belle Blanche DuBois (Lange) moves to New Orleans to live with her sister, Stella, and her brutish brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski (Baldwin).
Flip through photos of the production below:
Look Back at A Streetcar Named Desire with Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin
The revival also starred Timothy Carhart as Harold Mitchell, Amy Madigan as Stella Kowalski, Susan Aston as Nurse, William Cain as Doctor, Sol Echeverria as Flower Vendor, James Gandolfini as Steve Hubbell, Edwina Lewis as Negro Woman, Matt McGrath as Young Collector, Lazaro Perez as Pablo Gonzales, and Aida Turturro as Eunice Hubbell.
The production featured scenic design by Ben Edwards, costume design by Jane Greenwood, lighting design by Kevin Rigdon, and sound design by Scott Lehrer.