During a recent stop on the Frozen 2 cast’s London tour, a young fan asked Idina Menzel to sing Let It Go. Menzel obliged, dueting with the child in an aww-worthy performance.
The Signature revival of Horton Foote’s The Young Man From Atlanta, Tony nominee Kristine Nielsen (Gary) and Emmy nominee Aidan Quinn (Elementary), will open November 24 after beginning performances November 7. The production has been extended through December 15 in the Irene Diamond Stage.
Directed by Michael Wilson, the Pulitzer Prize–winning drama tells the story of Lily and Will, a couple reeling from the death of their only child. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing 1950s Houston, The Young Man From Atlanta sees the Kidders’ lives turned upside down once again when a figure from their son’s past shows up in town.
Flip through photos of the production below:
The cast also includes Devon Abner (The Orphans’ Home Cycle, The Trip to Bountiful) as Ted Cleveland Jr., Dan Bittner (Brittany Runs a Marathon) as Tom Jackson, Pat Bowie (The Orphans’ Home Cycle) as Etta Doris, Harriett D. Foy (The House That Will Not Stand) as Clara, Jon Orsini (Incident at Vichy) as Carson, and Stephen Payne (Straight White Men) as Pete Davenport.
The production features scenic design by Jeff Cowie, costume design by Van Broughton Ramsey, lighting design by David Lander, and sound design and original music by John Gromada. The production stage manager is Robert Bennett, and casting is by Caparelliotis Casting.
In Backstage Bite withKatie Lynch, come into Katie’s kitchen with some of Broadway’s brightest as they eat, drink and merrily mix it up. See your favorite stars out of their element as they whip up dishes inspired by their Broadway show. Watch what happens when these actors trade belting for baking
Reviews are in for the new staging of Disney Theatrical Productions and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, which opened November 13 in the musical’s original West End home, the Prince Edward Theatre.
Zizi Strallen stars as the title nanny, having previously led an international tour; starring opposite her is Charlie Stemp (Hello, Dolly!) as Bert. The production is helmed by Richard Eyre, with co-direction and choreography by Matthew Bourne.
Rounding out the cast are Joseph Millson as George Banks, Petula Clark as the Bird Woman, Amy Griffiths as Winifred Banks, Claire Moore as Miss Andrew, Claire Machin as Mrs. Brill, Jack North as Robertson Ay, and Barry James as Bank Chairman and Admiral Boom.
Read the reviews below.
The Arts Desk (Marianka Swain)
The Daily Mail (Patrick Marmion)
Evening Standard (Nick Curtis)
The Guardian (Michael Billington)
London Theatre Direct (Kay Johal)
London Theatre 1 (Chris Omaweng)
TimeOut London (Alice Saville)
The Telegraph (Dominic Cavendish)
Mary Poppins originally opened in the West End 14 years ago. The new production features co-choreography by Stephen Mear, set and costume designs by Bob Crowley, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Paul Gatehouse, and orchestrations by William David Brohn.
The stage production is co-created by Mackintosh and has a book by Oscar-winning screenwriter and Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. The score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman includes the classic songs “Jolly Holiday,” “Step in Time,” “Feed the Birds,” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” with new songs and additional music and lyrics by the Olivier award-winning team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.
The Olivier Award-winning, international sensation SLAVA’S SNOWSHOW returns to Broadway for a limited holiday engagement at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre 124 W 43rd St., NYC through January 5, 2020.
1833 Birthday of master actor Edwin Booth, a major interpreter of Shakespeare and brother to actor Junius Brutus Booth and presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. Broadway’s Booth Theatre is named for him.
1906 Alla Nazimova makes her Broadway debut in the title role of Hedda Gabler at the Princess Theatre. A major interpreter of Ibsen’s female central characters for three decades, she plays Hedda a total of four times on Broadway, and inspires two generations of actors.
1916 Captain Kidd, Jr. has a sixteen-week adventure. Edith Taliaferro, Zelda Sears, and Otto Kruger appear in the Rida Johnson Young farce.
1922 George S. Kaufman and Marc Connolly send up the nascent Hollywood phenomenon in the comedy Merton of the Movies, about a bumpkin who stumbles his way into becoming a movie star. It runs 398 performances at the Cort Theatre.
1929 Val Gielgud, John’s brother, premieres his new play, Chinese White, at the Arts Theatre in London.
1930 Grand Hotel, by W.A. Drake and Vicki Baum, opens a 459-performance run at the National Theatre. The story of guests and employees at a Berlin hotel, whose lives intersect at random producing unexpected results, is later made into a film and, in 1989, a Broadway musical.
1963 Movie star Kirk Douglas stars as rebellious mental patient Randle P. McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, based on the Ken Kesey novel. The production at the Cort Theatre is a flop, running just 82 performances. But an Off-Broadway production in the late 1960s proves a huge hit, leading to an Oscar-winning film, and a Tony-winning 2001 Broadway revival.
1965 Julie Harris stars in her first and only musical, Skyscraper, opposite Peter Marshall (later a game show host) and Charles Nelson Reilly. It runs 248 performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
1973 Gigi, a stage musical based on the story by Colette and on the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe-scored film version, has an unlucky thirteen week life span at the Uris Theatre, despite a cast including Agnes Moorehead, Alfred Drake, and Daniel Massey. A 2015 revival of the musical, starring Vanessa Hudgens in the title role, has a similarly short run.
1974 Athol Fugard‘s double-bill of South African dramas Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and The Island opens a 159-performance run at the Edison Theatre. Stars John Kani and Winston Ntshona share the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Play.
1997 Disney opens its second musical on Broadway: The Lion King, an adaptation of its animated film musical, with a score by Elton John, Lebo M, Tim Rice, and others. Making spectacularly innovative use of masks and puppets designed by director Julie Taymor, the show wins the 1998 Tony Award for Best Musical.
1997 Banquo and a banquet are yours for the taking at a special performance of Macbeth, opening at Off-Broadway’s New Perspectives Theatre Company. A medieval banquet is served to audience members during the course of the play. The play-cum-banquet takes place at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The three course meal is created by Vibeke Fazakerley, the founder of the historical catering firm Primary Sauces in North London, England. Her sourcebooks for this particular meal include a 12th century Danish translation of the oldest-known European cooking document; the first course consists of Rostyd Beef, Buttered Wortys, Fysshe Hattes, and Brede.
2001 Roadside, the latest musical from Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, opens Off-Broadway at the York Theatre Company. It closes in late December within a month of the closing of their first musical, The Fantasticks, after a phenomenal 42-year run.
2003 There is as much drama offstage as on at one of the most talked-about shows of the fall, Taboo. Three-time Tony host Rosie O’Donnell makes her Broadway producing debut with the parable about the price of fame. Set in the ’80s punk club world, the musical biography of rocker Boy George (George O’Dowd) has an original score by O’Dowd, incorporating two of his period hits. In a twist, O’Dowd appears on stage playing, not himself, but fellow party boy Leigh Bowery. Newcomer Euan Morton plays Boy George. After receiving savage reviews, the production runs 100 performances, with financial support by O’Donnell.
2008 Billy Elliot, the hit London musical based on the 2000 film about a working class boy who dreams of becoming a ballet dancer, opens on Broadway at the Imperial Theare. The show has music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall, who wrote the film. The demanding part of Billy is rotated among young actors David Alvarez, Kiril Kulish, and Trent Kowalik. The cast also features London star Haydn Gwynne as the dance teacher, with American stars Gregory Jbara and Carole Shelley as members of Billy’s family. It runs 1,312 performances.
2010 After a heralded summer run as part of Shakespeare in the Park, the Public Theater production of The Merchant of Venice, starring Al Pacino as Shylock, opens on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. Director Daniel Sullivan stages the dark take on the tale of greed, love, faith, and vengeance, which brings a brutal pathos to Shakespeare’s comedy.
2012 Broadway audiences are transported to Victorian-era London to help resolve Charles Dickens‘ final—and unfinished—tale as Roundabout Theatre Company‘s revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood opens on Broadway at Studio 54. The Rupert Holmes musical stars Stephanie J. Block as Drood, alongside Chita Rivera as Princess Puffer, Jim Norton as Chairman, Will Chase as John Jasper, Gregg Edelman as Reverend Mr. Crisparkle, Jessie Mueller as Helena Landless, Betsy Wolfe as Rosa Bud, and Andy Karl as Neville Landless.
More of Today’s Birthdays: John Drew, Jr. 1853. Hermione Baddeley 1907. John La Touche 1914. Madeleine Sherwood 1922. Richard Mulligan 1932. Joe Mantegna 1947. Frances Conroy 1953. Whoopi Goldberg 1955. Jordan Roth 1975.
Watch highlights from the 2012 Broadway revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood: