Yesterday BroadwayWorld announced the launch of our Theatre Store After an incredible day of feedback, we wanted to share our top selling items and extend our launch sale to show our appreciation to our readers
Since Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird first hit Broadway in 2018, a new Atticus Finch has greeted audiences in the seats of the Shubert Theatre. Gone is the untouchable exemplar of a man who never wavers in the face of bigotry or injustice; in his place is a man struggling as the world challenges his core belief in the inherent goodness of humankind. Now, with four-time Oscar and Tony nominee Ed Harris taking over the leading role, audiences witness yet another version.
Harris’ portrayal of the white lawyer asked to defend an innocent black farmhand in 1936 Alabama offers a gruffness not typically associated with the mild-mannered father. “One of the things that’s different between Atticus and myself is he’s very good at keeping his temper in check,” Harris says. “Some nights it’s just really difficult to listen to this vitriol from [accusers] Mayella or from Bob Ewell and not respond in a…non-Atticus manner.
“Sometimes I have a hard time being patient, but that’s good,” he says. “I’m learning.”
As much as Harris learns moment-to-moment, he also brings with him a feel for authentic, rural America. Though he grew up in New Jersey, his parents were from Oklahoma, and Harris spent a number of his formative years there. “That kind of knowledge of that little town in southwestern Oklahoma certainly, I think, has influenced my knowledge or my feelings for small town USA,” Harris reflects.
“There’s a wonderful interview, it’s one Harper Lee gave when she talks about being a Southerner and the difference between growing up in this small town Alabama and the Upper East Side, for instance—just in terms of what’s available,” Harris says. “She talks about if they went to a film once a month that was a big deal because they spent most of their time creating interesting things to do as a child, making up games in the backyard. … She has a wonderful line, she says, ‘Have you ever found the whole world in the branches of a chinaberry tree? I have.’ I understand that.”
With his life experience and a 45-year career inhabiting other lives, Harris possesses the capacity to fill Atticus with humanity. “The more experiences you have being on this planet and the more open you are to them, the wider your understanding is of what it is being a human,” he says. “It’s kind of a bottomless pit.”
Who is that emerging from his borough Today, February 2nd, officially marks Groundhog Day, the annual holiday thatcelebrates the legendary groundhogPunxsutawney Phil. In honor of the occasion, we’re looking back at the musical adaptation of the classic movie,Groundhog Day. Check out the video to see stars Andy Karl, Barrett Doss, and more celebrating the opening night of the Tony-nominated production
The Temptations reigned over the airwaves from the 1950s through the ’70s, and Ain’t Too Proud, the Broadway musical retelling of their story, covers that entire period. One which, not incidentally, involved a lot of changing fashions.
So how does a costume designer show the passage of time in a musical that never slows down? By keeping things simple.
“One of the major challenges in designing the costumes was the fast pace of the whole production,” costume designer Paul Tazewell says. “With the show’s non-stop structure, it was important to relay the passage of time from the early 1950s through to 2019 as specifically as possible with rapid-fire costume changes.”
Combined with Des McAnuff’s direction and Dominique Morisseau’s book, the decades fly by at the Imperial Theatre, where the show is now in its second year. But while Tazewell points out the difference between a musical versus a play comes down to the former relying more heavily on “the costume design to provide a clear visual composition of time, place, and character,” Ain’t Too Proud also carries with it a more particular challenge: How to create stylish suits for The Temptations that allow the performers to execute Sergio Trujillo’s Tony-winning choreography.
“Most often it is about cleverly tailoring the cut of the suit to accommodate for extreme movement,” Tazwell says. “Sometimes it might also help to have a bit of stretch in the fabric, but often that’s not possible with replicating period suits.”
Not that his designs are exact replicas of the era. Rather, Tazewell and McAnuff made stylishness and sexiness the keys to the looks.
“Because of transitions that didn’t allow for costume changes when the year or period changed, there was some license taken in the silhouettes of some of the looks,” Tazwell says. “I think it’s important to have the feel of the design be nostalgic but, because of the overall style of the production, not get bogged down in historical accuracy. The Temptations were trendsetters and known for their flamboyant dressing, but it was very important for me and Des to have them always feel stylish and sexy to the modern audience’s eyes.” And audiences soon to agree—mission accomplished.
Casting Society of America honored excellence in casting across feature films, television and theatre at the 35th Annual Artios Awards held on Thursday, January 30 at ceremonies in New York, Los Angeles, and London. The New York ceremony was hosted by Michelle Buteau at Stage 48, Ron Funches hosted in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton, and Jason Isaacs hosted in London at the Four Seasons Hotel at Ten Trinity Square.
Lauren Patten, Celia Rose Gooding, and more from the cast of Jagged Little Pill performed Alanis Morissette’s “Hand in My Pocket” on Late Night with Seth Meyers January 27. Check out the performance above.
Directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus (Pippin) and written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno) with a score featuring songs by the Grammy-winning “You Oughta Know” singer, Jagged Little Pill officially opened on Broadway December 5 at the Broadhurst Theatre.
READ: 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill
The musical follows the Healy family: Steve, Mary Jane, their son Nick, and their daughter Frankie. Mary Jane (Elizabeth Stanley) is still dealing with an injury from a car accident—an experience that brings up old trauma and she becomes hooked on her pain medication. She’s comforted by the success of her high-achieving son Nick (Derek Klena) but struggling with her relationship as well as a broken marriage to workaholic Steve (Sean Allan Krill) and with her daughter Frankie (Celia Rose Gooding), a black adoptive child in a white family and grappling with her sexuality and her social activism when a classmate of hers suffers sexual trauma.
Jagged Little Pill also features Kathryn Gallagher, Lauren Patten, and Antonio Cipriano. Rounding out the company are Annelise Baker, Yeman Brown, Jane Bruce, John Cardoza, Ken Wulf Clark, Laurel Harris, Logan Hart, Zach Hess, Max Kumangai, Heather Lang, Ezra Menas, Kelsey Orem, Yana Perrault, Nora Schell, Kei Tsuruharatani, and Ebony Williams.