by Webmaster | Apr 10, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
Check out the first official full-length trailer for Disney’s upcoming remake of The Lion King, featuring several familiar felines, voices, and musical refrains, above. (Watch the previous teaser trailer here.)
The look at the CGI take on the 1994 animated blockbuster shows us Simba as both cub and king, as well as such iconic scenes as the wildebeest stampede and Scar’s Elephant Graveyard. And be sure to watch until the very end to hear from your favorite meerkat and warthog duo.
The Jon Favreau-directed film, featuring Tony and Oscar winner Elton John’s songs from the original, is set to arrive in theatres July 19.
The all-star cast includes Donald Glover as Simba, James Earl Jones reprising his voice performance as Mufasa, Beyoncé as Nala, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, John Kani as Rafiki, John Oliver as Zazu, Billy Eichner as Timon, and Seth Rogen as Pumbaa, with Amy Sedaris as a new character written specifically for this adaptation.
The stage adaptation of the Disney title continues its Broadway run at the Minskoff Theatre, having celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2017.
See The Lion King Celebrate 20 Years on Broadway
by Webmaster | Apr 8, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
1926 Actor-manager Henry Miller dies in New York at age 66. He acted opposite many of the leading ladies of the time, including Helena Modjeska. As a leading man with the Empire Stock Company he starred in many productions including Pasteur. In 1918 he opened his own theatre in New York City.
1928 Mae West writes, stages, and stars in Diamond Lil. Lil helps a Salvation Army captain break up a white slavery ring. The salvationist is also a police captain. What next for Lil? There are 323 performances at the Royale Theatre on Broadway to find out.
1954 Uta Hagen plays an advertising executive whose trials and tribulations highlight The Magic and the Loss. Julian Funt‘s drama also stars Robert Preston and Charles Taylor. There are 27 performances at the Booth Theatre on Broadway.
1964 John Gielgud directs Richard Burton in Hamlet on Broadway, which runs for 137 performances. Also in the cast: Alfred Drake, George Rose, Barnard Hughes, John Cullum, Hume Cronyn, Gerome Ragni, and Gielgud himself as the Ghost.
1972 From the movie that made men turn into mush over Marilyn Monroe and made Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon turn into…women, comes the musical Sugar. The 1959 film Some Like It Hot, in which Monroe played a girl named Sugar, is remade for the stage with the help of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill. The show opens at the Majestic Theatre and plays 505 performances with Tony Roberts and Robert Morse donning dresses and Elaine Joyce in the title role.
1978 It started out as an intimate revue at the Manhattan Theatre Club, but Ain’t Misbehavin’ moves to a new home at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway. The evocation of Fats Waller‘s work and style wins the Tony Award for Best Musical, and runs into the next decade
1995 Neil Simon‘s London Suite opens Off-Broadway at the Union Square Theatre. The play, consisting of four one-act plays all set in an old yet fashionable hotel, stars Carole Shelley, Kate Burton, Paxton Whitehead, and Jeffrey Jones.
2000 Arthur Miller‘s The Ride Down Mt. Morgan opens on Broadway, following a run the previous season at The Public Theater. Directed by David Esbjornson, the production stars Patrick Stewart as megalomaniacal bigamist and businessman Lyman Felt, and Frances Conroy as his first wife Theo.
2015 Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies, based on the Hilary Mantel history novels about the bloody reign of Henry VIII, open on at the Winter Garden Theatre. Titled Wolf Hall, Parts 1 and 2, the RSC production stars Ben Miles as Thomas Cromwell, Lydia Leonard as Anne Boleyn, and Nathaniel Parker as King Henry VIII.
2016 Billy Elliot: The Musical closes at London’s Victoria Palace Theatre after an 11-year run. The Elton John–Lee Hall musical played 4,600 performances, during which it was seen by more than 5.25 million people.
More of Today’s Birthdays: Paul Robeson 1898. Avery Schreiber 1935. Brandon de Wilde 1942. Cynthia Nixon 1966.
Watch highlights from the 2015 Broadway production of Wolf Hall, Parts 1 and 2:
by Webmaster | Apr 8, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
Everything really is going our way because we got an inside look at last night’s opening of the new reimagined revival of Rodgers amp Hammerstein’s Oklahoma Cast member Mallory Portnoy, who plays Gertie, gave as a behind-the-scenes peek of her official Broadway debut, from pre-show to the after party In case you missed it or just want to experience it all again, we’ve compiled Mallory’s posts for you to enjoy. You cain’t say no to this, so check out all the footage below
by Webmaster | Apr 7, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wrote some of Broadway’s most beloved musicals throughout their seventeen-year partnership. From South Pacific to State Fair, Carousel to Cinderella, their music defined a Golden Age of musical theatre and inspired generations of performers, writers, and musicians that continue to shape Broadway today.
by Webmaster | Apr 7, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
In the ecology of New York theatre, Signature Theatre’s mission is a singular one in that it not only provides an artistic home for playwrights, it commits to a writer’s body of work. Through its three residency programs, the theatre provides the opportunity for as many as 11 playwrights-in-residence (currently including the likes of Lynn Nottage and Dave Malloy) to produce work at the same time. “That’s the core of Signature and everything else comes from that,” says Paige Evans, who took over from founder James Houghton as artistic director in 2016.
As a playwright-based theatre, Signature remains community-orientated; its current home, the Frank Gehry–designed Pershing Square Signature Center on 42nd Street, facilitates this perfectly. A three-theatre facility with a large, light-filled public space at its center, the lobby is a hub of pre- and post-show conversation. “We start the [staggered] curtain [times] at 7:30 PM so that everybody is in the space together beforehand,” says Evans. “It’s got a very dynamic feeling that way.” And thanks to Signature’s ticket initiative, which offers $35 tickets without age restrictions, lotteries, or rush lines, the theatre ensures that its community of theatregoers is not just limited to those with steeper pockets.
Behind the scenes, Signature nurtures its community of resident writers through artistic support, rehearsal space, two offices, and a library. “It’s very important to us that the playwrights feel this is a home, and I think they really value that, too,” says Evans, who is regularly in conversation with the artists. “It’s one of the things that I really relish in this job.”
Evans, whose previous role was at the helm of LCT3 at Lincoln Center Theater, built her career on working with playwrights in development and on new writing. Her transition into the artistic directorship at Signature, therefore, was a logical next step. Collaborating with writers—deciding what to produce out of their body of work as well as the mutual pursuit of artistic excellence on each individual production—is the foundation of her job.
“It was appealing to come to a theatre where I would get to collaborate with a writer over a series of plays,” she says. “You learn about their work, their process, and how to communicate. You develop a mutual understanding, and hopefully a trust, too.”
While the position satisfies Evans’ artistic values, it’s the theatre’s longstanding mission of celebrating playwrights that pushes her to continue evolving in the role, and to grow the theatre as well.
“There’s a real core integrity to Signature that I really respond to,” says the artistic director. “I want to stay true to the mission and I want to build on it in what I hope are exciting and dynamic ways.”
Signature Theatre Company’s Annual Gala
by Webmaster | Apr 5, 2019 | New Musical News Feed
The new play All Our Children makes its American premiere Off-Broadway at The Sheen Center for Thought and Culture, beginning April 6 with an official opening set for April 14.
Written by Stephen Unwin, the play follows the lesser known story of children with disabilities in Nazi Germany and the Catholic Bishop who stood up for them against a horrible fate. The play earned the praise of critics during its recent run in London’s West End. Tony Award winner John Glover is set to play the Bishop with Karl Kenzler as Victor Franz, a doctor leading the clinic for disabled children.
“I was fortunate enough to be offered a role in the play, and at the time I knew nothing about the events or the man (Bishop von Galen), or that this is what had happened before the Holocaust,” said Glover. “I see it as a 21st century morality play which parallels Hitler’s rise in the ’30s and ’40s, taking over the government, with events that are happening today. The play deals with the importance of the greater good of humanity and living a good life. It’s my hope that our production will stimulate important conversation that we need to be having, and inspire people to look at what is going on around them.”
Rounding out the cast are Jennifer Dundas, Tasha Lawrence, and Sam Lilja. The production features scenic design by Lee Savage, lighting design by Scott Bolman, costume design by Tracy Christensen, and sound design by Lindsay Jones. All My Children runs through May 12.
