Norbert Leo Butz News

Given its pedigree as a Pulitzer winner that swept every playwriting award an Off-Broadway entry could win during its premiere run in 1997, you would think that Paula Vogel's How I Learned To Drive would follow the lead of other Off-Broadway successes like Driving Miss Daisy, Steel Magnolias and, most recently, Wit, and return to New York in a Broadway production.

The original Broadway cast album of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along is one of those handful of recordings - like Mack and Mabel and Candide - that a musical theatre lover can listen to hundreds of times without hearing a clue as to why the show flopped.  The quick answer, and usually the most unfair one, is 'the book.'  More often, though, the more complete answer is ambition.

Second Stage Theatre's opened Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Kate Whoriskey and starring Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser, last night, February 13.

Second Stage Theatre's opened Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Kate Whoriskey and starring Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser, last night, February 13. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you photo coverage of the theater arrivals below!

Second Stage Theatre's opened Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Kate Whoriskey and starring Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser, last night, February 13. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you photo coverage of the after party below!

Second Stage Theatre's current season continues with a new production of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE, directed by Kate Whoriskey and starring Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser. The show opens tonight, and you can get a first look with production highlights below!

What a Valentine's week gift for theatergoers at Baltimore's Everyman Theatre.

If you're looking for a quick roundup of this week's events, look no further: here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

SMASH will have its premiere on the NBC network on February, 6, 2012. Developed from an idea of Executive Producer and multiple Emmy and Oscar winner Steven Spielberg, SMASH explores the subculture of musical theatre; celebrating the beauty and heartbreak of Broadway. Boasting a stellar cast from stage and screen, SMASH stars Emmy award winning actress Debra Messing, Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Tony Award nominee Christian Borle, Megan Hilty and Tony Award nominee Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld is obsessed with the hilarious video below, which features the talents of John Walton West in a GLEE PROJECT- like version of SMASH. The spoof features impressions of Norbert Leo Butz, Matthew Broderick, Terrence Mann, Mandy Patinkin, and BroadwayWorld'd own Richard Ridge! Click below to check it out!

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End (and everywhere in between) with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more! For last week's biggest events: visit THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: January 21-27.

Second Stage Theatre's current season will continue with a new production of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, How I Learned To Drive, directed by Kate Whoriskey and starring Norbert Leo Butz and Elizabeth Reaser. Currently in previews, the production will officially open on February 13. Check out production shots below!

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, which played its final performance on Broadway in September, will soon open in South Korea, in addition to launching a non-equity national tour in the Fall of 2012. Check out a brand new promo for the South Korean production below!

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) will conclude its 33rd season with the World Premiere of the new musical, DOGFIGHT, featuring music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, a book by Peter Duchan and directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello. Winner of the prestigious 2011 Richards Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre, DOGFIGHT will be performed at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street) this summer. Exact dates, casting, and complete creative team will be announced shortly. For more information, please visit www.2ST.com.

Happy Birthday Norbert Leo Butz! Butz made his Broadway debut as Adam Pascal's replacement as Roger Davis in Rent in 1996. Additional Broadway credits include Thou Shalt Not (Camille Raquin, 2001-2002), for which he received a Tony Award nomination; Wicked (the original Fiyero, 2003) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Freddy) for which he received the Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical, a Drama League Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. His Off-Broadway credits include The Last Five Years (Jamie), Songs for a New World (Lead Male 2), Saved (Fred), and Juno and the Paycock (Jerry Devine). MOst recently, Butz originated the role of Carl Hanratty in the new musical Catch Me If You Can. For this role he won his second Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical[14] and his second Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.

MCC THEATER has just announced another all-star line-up for the company's highly anticipated annual gala, to be held Monday, March 26, 2012 at The Hammerstein Ballroom (311 West 34th Street). Miscast 2012 will honor the creators of Carrie, Academy Award-winning composer Michael Gore (Fame, Terms of Endearment), Academy Award-winning lyricist Dean Pitchford (Fame, Footloose) and Writer Lawrence D. Cohen (screenwriter of the classic film, Carrie) for their bold, daring, risk-taking spirit. Funds raised from Miscast help MCC Theater produce some of the most talked-about new work Off Broadway and support their Youth Company and in-school partnerships that serve New York City public high school students, as well as their literary development work with emerging playwrights.

If you're looking for a quick roundup of this week's events, look no further: here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

A few selections from Broadway's beloved videographer Bradshaw Smith.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, which played its final performance on Broadway in September will launch a non-equity national tour in the Fall of 2012, presented by Troika Entertainment. A full schedule has yet to be announced.

Today Tony-winner, Broadway star and BroadwayWorld.com fave Norbert Leo Butz was on set filming a guest starring role in the upcoming NBC series - SMASH and BroadwayWorld.com was there to capture behind the scenes footage, interviews with Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Savannah Wise and other special coverage.

Tony-winner, Broadway star and BroadwayWorld.com fave Norbert Leo Butz is on set today filming a guest starring role in the upcoming NBC series - SMASH. Butz will play the lead character in HEAVEN ON EARTH, the 'currently running show within a show' written by the characters played by Debra Messing and Christian Borle. He will perform an original tune, entitled 'The Higher You Get, the Farther You Fall' written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.