Lawrence Yurman News

It's April 1st. Do you know when your Spring is coming? During another longggggg New York winter, the good news is that there were a ton of warming cabaret shows. The bad news is that there were so many, even during this seemingly endless winter our intrepid reviewer Stephen Hanks didn't have enough time to review them all right after the performances. So in what is becoming a seasonal ritual, here he offers yet another compilation of 13 'catch-up' cabaret show reviews.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today complete details for FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes. FAR FROM HEAVEN will now begin previews Wednesday evening, May 8 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, June 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement subscription run will play through Sunday, June 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Headlining the cast is the previously-announced four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (nominated for her acclaimed performances in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific and the current Nice Work If You Can Get It). One of Broadway's leading musical stars, she returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since starring in the World Premiere of the new musical My Life with Albertine in 2003. She will reunite with co-star Steven Pasquale (The Spitfire Grill at PH; reasons to be pretty on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide… at The Public; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, star of the NBC series 'Do No Harm'). Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale created their respective roles in FAR FROM HEAVEN for the musical's Preview Production run at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer. In addition to Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale, the full cast of FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature J.B. Adams (Parade, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway; Annie Warbucks Off-Broadway; the film Far From Heaven), Marinda Anderson (From the Inside, Out at NY Fringe Festival; Freedom Train for TheatreWorks USA), Olivier Award nominee Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town, A Class Act on Broadway; Kiss Me, Kate in London; Yank! Off-Broadway), Elainey Bass (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room… on Broadway; Ruined at MTC), Justin Scott Brown (Les Miserables, Spring Awakening national tours), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (PH's The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic?; Titanic, Cabaret, Women on the Verge… on Broadway; Road Show at The Public; Wicked national tour), Korey Jackson (Wild with Happy at The Public; 'Homeland'), Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway), Jake Lucas (Newsies), James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, White Christmas, on Broadway; Happiness Off-Broadway), Julianna Rigoglioso (Pippi Longstocking Off-Broadway; Mary Poppins national tour, The Smurfs), Sarah Jane Shanks (Wicked, Promises Promises, Shrek, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree on Broadway), Tess Soltau (The Addams Family on Broadway; Into the Woods for The Public/Shakespeare in the Park), Mary Stout (Cather County at PH; Jane Eyre, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway) and Victor Wallace (Mamma Mia! on Broadway, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera national tours). FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Peter Nigrini and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin. Musical Director is Lawrence Yurman and Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld. Cathy Whitaker (Ms. O'Hara) seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel, with incendiary consequences. With a lush score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, FAR FROM HEAVEN is a powerful story of romance, betrayal and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval. FAR FROM HEAVEN was commissioned, developed, and produced through the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative, with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, the musical had a Preview Production run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, also featuring Ms. O'Hara, Mr. Pasquale, Mr. Adams, Ms. Bernstine and Ms. Stout. The program allows Playwrights Horizons to develop new works of musical theater, each in partnership with a Regional theater - wholly within the not-for-profit system. This seven-year program aims to commission at least four new works of musical theater and develop and produce three or four full-scale productions. Each of the three musicals will be produced at both one specific Regional partner and at Playwrights Horizons. Generous support for FAR FROM HEAVEN was also provided by The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Stacey & Eric Mindich Fund for New Musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Daniel & Joanne Smith, Cathy & Stephen Weinroth, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, Thomas & Patricia Barron, Bruce Horten, Rosalee A. & Bruce Lovett, Larry Tatelbaum, Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation, and Nancy Roistacher & Wayne P. Merkelson. The original 2002 film, which stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson, earned over 100 awards, honors and nominations. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Ms. Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman) and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein), and was named one of the 10 Best Movies of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly. It was also named Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice, among many others. Far From Heaven also earned 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a bevy of additional awards for leading actress Julianne Moore, including one from the National Board of Review Award and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. With FAR FROM HEAVEN, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals, including Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins, Once on This Island and Sunday in the Park with George. FAR FROM HEAVEN reunites the theater company with Mr. Frankel, Mr. Korie and Mr. Greif, the composer, lyricist and director of Grey Gardens, which was one of Playwrights Horizons' most heralded original musicals. The project also marks the long-awaited return to the theater company of Mr. Greenberg, who was last represented there in 1987 with his play The Maderati. The performance schedule for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Both the Wednesday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 28 evening performances have 8PM curtains and the Sunday, June 2 matinee has an early 2PM curtain. Beginning the week of April 8, single tickets, starting at $80, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be for tickets to the first preview on Wednesday, May 8 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, May 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, May 6 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, May 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A limited number of tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery. Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only. LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies. A special open captioned performance of FAR FROM HEAVEN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, June 8 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

For those who missed Tony winner Lea Salonga's sold out opening act for this year's Lincoln Center presents 'American Songbook' and her highly praised performance as 'Mother' in the recent concert presentation of the Broadway musical 'Ragtime,' here is another chance to watch the accomplished performer on the New York stage: Salonga is returning the third time to the intimate cabaret space at Cafe Carlyle at Carlyle Hotel (35 East 76th St.) from Tuesday, May 21 to Sunday, June 8.

At last year's Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) Awards, two of the big winners were T. Oliver Reid (photo left) for Male Debut and Eric Michael Gillett for Major Artist, Male (and both could very likely be MAC nominees again this year). Almost a year later, two of New York cabaret's leading men performed new shows one night apart at 54 Below; Reid on February 6 with Drop Me Off in Harlem, and Gillett the next night with Careless Rhapsody: An Evening Dedicated to the Lyrics of Lorenz Hart. Ironically, what the shows had in common--besides being a fairly good fit of material to singer--was that the majority of their sets featured songs written in the 1930s but in very different styles. With Reid it was the jazz, swing and blues of Harlem; with Gillette it was the romantic Broadway musical sensibility of Hart's lyrics (paired with the timeless melodies of Richard Rodgers). While neither Reid's 'Harlem,' nor Gillett's 'Hart' were stirring or spectacular shows, they were both solid and entertaining enough that both could be nominated for BroadwayWorld.com Awards in 2013.

Jeff Harnar, one of the most celebrated performers of the American Popular Songbook, returned to The Laurie Beechman Theatre in the show 'Does This Song Make Me Look Fat? (Lighter Fare for a Winter Night)', which continues on Friday, February 8. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos from the concert below!

Jeff Harnar, one of the most celebrated performers of the American Popular Songbook, will return to The Laurie Beechman Theatre in the show 'Does This Song Make Me Look Fat? (Lighter Fare for a Winter Night)' for four shows at 7:00 PM: Monday nights from tonight, January 14 to 28 and then Friday, February 8.

Jeff Harnar, one of the most celebrated performers of the American Popular Songbook, will return to The Laurie Beechman Theatre in the show 'Does This Song Make Me Look Fat? (Lighter Fare for a Winter Night)' for four shows at 7:00 PM: Monday nights from January 14 to 28 and then Friday, February 8.

Today, November 10 at 3:00pm and Sunday, November 11 at 3:00pm, join the Museum of the City of New York for an afternoon of sparkling cabaret, from both London's West End and New York's Broadway, which celebrates the musical character and flavor of both great cities.

On Saturday, November 10 at 3:00pm and Sunday, November 11 at 3:00pm, join the Museum of the City of New York for an afternoon of sparkling cabaret, from both London's West End and New York's Broadway, which celebrates the musical character and flavor of both great cities.

There may have been 40 cabaret performers strutting their stuff this past week at the 23rd New York Cabaret Convention at the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, but the true star of the three-night extravaganza (October 17-19) was the late Donald Smith, the cabaret impresario and guru to the genre's luminaries, who died this past March at 79. Sponsored by the Mabel Mercer Foundation, which Smith founded in 1985, this year's Convention featured numerous homages to Smith from the performers, many of whom had their career's supported and advanced with the help of the colorful and beloved cabaret producer and promoter. Early in Wednesday's Gala Opening Night show, the 'first lady of the American keyboard' Barbara Carroll called her friend Donald Smith 'the quintessential New Yorker,' and when Mark Nadler closed night one with George and Ira Gershwin's 'Our Love Is Here to Stay,' he said, 'Everybody who cares about the myths of these songs are in this room tonight.' Well, it was clear that anyone who cared about Donald Smith was at the Rose Theater for at least one of the three shows.

T. Oliver Reid, a veteran of numerous Tony Award winning Broadway musicals, 2012 MAC award recipient for Best Debut-male and the 2011 Julie Wilson award, will Debut at Feinstein's at the Loews Regency, 540 Park Avenue, Wednesday November 28, 2012, Sunday December 2, Monday December 3 and Sunday December 9, 2012. All four performances will be at 10:30 PM.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten has announced the Main Stage opening of Far From Heaven tonight, July 21.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation presented its annual Born for Broadway benefit, which will take place at the American Airlines Theatre, last night, May 21, 2012. Tony nominated director Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime) directed alongside Lawrence Yurman (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Grey Gardens), who musical directed. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the red carpet and brings you photo coverage below.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation previously announced that theater and film stars Julie White ("Transformers," "Little Dog Laughed") and Tony Goldwyn ("Ghost," ABC's new hit series "Scandal") would host the third annual Born for Broadway benefit, which takes place at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, tonight, May 21, 2012 at 8 PM.

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation has announced that theater and film stars Julie White ("Transformers," "Little Dog Laughed") and Tony Goldwyn ("Ghost," ABC's new hit series "Scandal") will host the third annual Born for Broadway benefit, which will take place at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street, on Monday, May 21, 2012 at 8 PM.

York Theatre Company has announced a developmental lab presentation of the new musical, In Love with Jobim, with Concept & Book by Ernest Chambers, and Music by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Directed by Pamela Hunt (The Musical of Musicals!), and with Music Direction by Lawrence Yurman (Grey Gardens). The four-member cast includes Ashley Perez Flanagan (Prometheus Bound at A.R.T.), Curt Hansen (Hairspray), Ken Land (Promises, Promises) and Jeff McCarthy (Urinetown).