Tony Award nominee Norm Lewis, last seen on Broadway in the Tony-nominated revival of Once On This Island, celebrates his birthday June 2.
Lewis, who earned his Tony nomination as Porgy in the 2012 Broadway revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess opposite Audra McDonald, made history in 2014 as the first African-American actor to play the title role in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. His numerous Broadway credits also include Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, Les Misérables, Chicago, Amour, The Wild Party, Side Show, Miss Saigon, and The Who’s Tommy. He appeared as Javert in the London production of Les Misérables and in Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. He also recently starred as Caiaphas in NBC’s Jesus Superstar Live in Concert. Flip through some of his stage highlights below:
From King Triton to Sweeney Todd: Celebrating Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis
From King Triton to Sweeney Todd: Celebrating Tony Award Nominee Norm Lewis
The actor celebrates his birthday June 2.
20 PHOTOS
Norm Lewis, Melissa Errico, Sarah Litzinger, John Cunningham, Malcom Gets, Christopher Fitzgerald, and Nora Mae Lyng in AmourJoan Marcus
Alexander Gemignani and Norm Lewis in Les Misérables
Norm Lewis in The Little Mermaid
Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Matthew Scott, Erin Mackey, Barbara Cook, Euan Morton, Norm Lewis and Leslie Kritzer in Sondheim on Sondheim
Norm Lewis, Vanessa Williams, Matthew Scott and Euan Morton in Sondheim on Sondheim
Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis in The Gershwins’ Porgy and BessMichael J. Lutch
Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis in The Gershwins’ Porgy and BessMichael J. Lutch
Norm Lewis in The Gershwins’ Porgy and BessMichael J. Lutch
Norm Lewis in The Phantom of the OperaJoan Marcus
Sierra Boggess and Norm Lewis in The Phantom of the OperaJoan Marcus
A host of stage and screen stars will take the Radio City Music Hall stage June 10 to present at the 2018 Tony Awards, hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban.
The Kennedy Center’s presentation of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying will play the Eisenhower Theater June 6-10 in Washington D.C. The staging will feature Skylar Astin as J. Pierrepont Finch, Betsy Wolfe as Rosemary Pilkington, Michael Urie as Bud Frump—a role he played on Broadway in the 2011 revival. The cast also features John Bolton, John Michael Higgins, Joaquina Kalukango, Michael McGrath, Becki Newton, and Nova Y. Payton.
Flip through photos from the press day below:
See Skylar Astin, Betsy Wolfe, Michael Urie and the cast of How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying Meet the Press
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying tells the story of a window washer who climbs the corporate ladder to high-powered executive with the help of a handbook. Marc Bruni will direct, with Denis Jones serving as choreographer and Todd Ellison as music director.
A Letter to Harvey Milk‘s original cast album is now available from digital outlets, with a physical release planned at a later date. The Off-Broadway production is currently running at Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, where it is currently scheduled to continue performances through June 30.
The May 22 release date commemorates what would have been the 88th birthday of Milk, the late politician who was the first openly gay elected official in California state history.
Based on a short story by Lesléa Newmann, A Letter to Harvey Milk centers on a retired butcher who is tasked with writing a letter to someone from his past who is dead. Rather than choosing his late wife, he chooses Harvey Milk. The musical, directed by Evan Pappas, features music by Laura I. Kramer, lyrics by Ellen M. Schwartz and additional lyrics by Cheryl Stern, and a book by the three and Jerry James.
The recording captures the performances of the show’s original Off-Broadway cast, including Adam Heller (It Shoulda Been You), Julia Knitel (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Cheryl Stern (La Cage aux Folles), Michael Bartoli, Sarah Corey, Jeremy Greenbaum, Aury Krebs, Philip Hoffman, CJ Pawlikowski, and Ravi Roth.
The cast recording, released by Yellow Sound Label, is produced by Michael Croiter, co-produced by Laura I. Kramer and Jeffrey Lodin, and executive produced by Lisa Dozier King.
First Look at the Off-Broadway Debut of A Letter to Harvey Milk Musical
First Look at the Off-Broadway Debut of A Letter to Harvey Milk Musical
The musical, playing Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, deals with issues of friendship, grief, and self-acceptance.
8 PHOTOS
Adam Heller and the cast Russ Rowland
Adam Heller and Julia Knitel Russ Rowland
Jeremy Greenbaum, Adam Heller, CJ Pawlikowski, Michael Bartoli, and Julia Knitel Russ Rowland
Adam Heller, Cheryl Stern, and Julia Knitel Russ Rowland
Adam Heller, Michael Bartoli, Julia Knitel, and Cheryl Stren Russ Rowland
Adam Heller and Julia Knitel Russ Rowland
Aury Krebs, Adam Heller, and Julia Knitel Russ Rowland
Adam Heller, Julia Knitel, and Cheryl Stern in A Letter to Harvey MilkRuss Rowland
Patricia Morison, who found the role of her career as Lilli Vanessi/Katharine in the original Broadway production of Kiss Me, Kate, has died at age 103. She was one of the last surviving stars from Broadway’s post World War II golden age.
Paired with Alfred Drake in Kiss Me, Kate, she introduced the Cole Porter songs “So in Love,” “Wunderbar,” and other favorites from the score. But she stopped the 1948 musical with the song “I Hate Men.”
Born Eileen Patricia Agusta Fraser Morison in New York City, she was trained at the Arts Students League and the Neighborhood Playhouse, and studied dance with Martha Graham. She made her professional stage debut in the May 1933 revue Don’t Mind the Rain at the Provincetown Playhouse in Greenwich Village, and was quickly ushered uptown to make her Broadway debut at age 19 in the November 1933 comedy Growing Pains, which persisted for just 29 performances. Morison told the Los Angeles Times that she was so bad in the role that they fired her, but then “I cried so hard they gave me a walk-on.” However she attracted the notice of directors and producers and, with only a single Broadway show under her belt, served as understudy for Helen Hayes on her 1935 costume epic Victoria Regina.
Morison’s next Broadway show was as inauspicious as her first: a 1938 operetta compilation, The Two Bouquets , but the cast included Drake, with whom she would later make history.
Morison tried her luck in Hollywood where she worked steadily, quickly earning leading parts, without having a true breakout role. Originally hired as a contract player for Paramount, where she was billed as “The Fire and Ice Girl,” Morison went on to appear in more than two dozen films including Untamed opposite Ray Milland, Persons in Hiding,Romance of the Rio Grande opposite Cesar Romero, Beyond the Blue Horizon with Jack Haley and Dorothy Lamour, One Night in Lisbon with Fred MacMurray, Lady on a Train with Ralph Bellamy, Danger Woman, and Queen of the Amazons. Among her better-known films were the Sherlock Holmes episode Dressed to Kill and Song of Bernadette. During her film years she also was promoted as having the longest hair in Hollywood (reportedly 39 inches).
Patricia Morison, Alfred Drake, Lisa Kirk, and Harold Lang in Kiss Me, Kate.
But she desired a Broadway career, and it continued to elude her—for a time. She co-starred in 1944 musical Allah Be Praised, which lasted only 20 performances. During World War II she toured with the USO entertaining American troops in the field. It was on one of these tours that she met and began to sing for composer Cole Porter. When it came time to cast his 1948 musical about a feuding divorced husband-and-wife acting team (built around Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew), Porter insisted that Morison was the one he wanted for the female lead, Lilli Vanessi. She got the part over the objections of his producer and partners, who wanted a more recognizable Broadway name. Kiss Me, Kate was described by critic Martin Gottfried as “one of the greatest of all musical theatre scores.” It also was the first show to win the Tony Award as Best Musical.
After her triumph in Kiss Me, Kate, Morison she made just one more Broadway appearance: She was the last in a series of replacements for Gertrude Lawrence during the original run of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. She played Anna Leonowens for the final weeks of its run in 1954, and stayed with the show when it toured with Yul Brynner. Afterward Morison focused on TV, films, and touring and stock stage productions such as The Merry Widow, Song of Norway, Do I Hear a Waltz?, The Sound of Music, and Pal Joey. She recreated her performance in Kiss Me, Kate in London, in 1958 for a TV broadcast, again in 1965 at the New York City Center, and once again in 1972 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in the U.K. Despite her long film career, Morison lost the 1953 film role as Lilli Vanessi to Kathryn Grayson. Morison made her final screen appearance in the 1992 film The Long Day Closes, under the name Patricia Morrison, after which she retired and devoted herself to painting.
Morison made a widely noted, if brief, return to the New York stage in March 2014, at age 99, when she performed as part of the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS benefit, Broadway Backwards 9, in which she she sang the Kiss Me, Kate comedy number “Brush Up Your Shakespeare.” A clip of her performance appears in this roundup at the 1:06 mark:
Fans can expect to hear “Some Enchanted Evening,” “This Nearly Was Mine,” and “If Ever I Would Leave You.” Szot will be joined by musical director Billy Stritch.
Tickets, priced $55–$65, can be purchased at 54Below.com.
Szot has been a special guest performer on Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for the Broadway on the Rhône River 2 cruise April 7–14, 2019, with a lineup of top Broadway stars to be announced. Call Playbill Travel for tickets at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.
