Newsies 2011 - Articles Page 17

Today, the spotlight falls upon Travis Kendrick, who continues his run as one of the go-to guys at Clarksville's Roxy Regional Theatre in The Wedding Singer, opening tonight. Coming up for Travis is the role of Chachi in Happy Days, which will close the company's 2011-2012 season. Not only an actor, Travis is also a certified yoga instructor, teaching classes around Clarksville and at the Roxy, and he's choreographer of note, having choreographed Just Another High School Musical at Clarksville's Northeast High School, Gallantry for Austin Peay State University Opera and he'll be doing a number for The Roxy's 101 Dalmatians the Musical later this year.

Today we are kicking off the 2012 InDepth InterView Tony Awards Series with the director/choreographer of the hottest hit of the 2011-2012 theatrical season, NEWSIES, that was recently awarded with a boatload of Tony Award nominations, in addition to a short-running show that has a very vocal group of advocates and supporters that also received a handful of Tony noms, BONNIE & CLYDE - the passionate and visionary Jeff Calhoun. Discussing all aspects of his mega-hit with Disney's NEWSIES and his success d'estime with Frank Wildhorn's BONNIE & CLYDE, as well as all about his years spent developing both, Calhoun illustrates his process and sheds some light on many aspects of the creation of the wildly different vehicles, as well as his opinions on the theatrical environment of today. Additionally, Calhoun outlines his experiences working with NEWIES and BONNIE & CLYDE breakout stars Jeremy Jordan and Laura Osnes - both Tony nominees - as well as his many years spent as an associate choreographer for legendary Tony-winning master director Tommy Tune creating many remarkable musicals such as GRAND HOTEL and THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES. Plus, Calhoun conveys his infectious enthusiasm for his craft and discusses what drives him to create while also sharing his humbled appreciation for the recognition of both his new musicals this season by the Tony Award committee and reflecting on his vast multitude of experiences in the theatre so far in his career - everything from starring in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS and MY ONE & ONLY on Broadway to choreographing THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and BUSKER ALLEY with Tommy Tune and transitioning into directing/choreographing with the hit revivals of GREASE, BIG RIVER, PIPPIN, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN (with Graciele Daniele), BELLS ARE RINGING, as well as GREY GARDENS and the rest. All of that and much, much more in this career-spanning conversation with one of Broadway's best!

Looking for a quick roundup of this week's events in the theatre world? Look no further - here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

Outer Critics Circle, the organization of writers and commentators for media covering New York theatre announced today its award winners for the 2011-12 season in 24 categories.

This week's topics: Forbidden Broadway, On-Stage Accidents, EVITA Once Ricky Leaves, Are you a non-applauder, Most memorable of the 2011-12 Broadway season, nytimes power, Broadway Real Estate Thread...

Last night, Night at the Pier featured Broadway-themed performances in honor of the 30th anniversary of Family Equality Council, the national organization that connects, supports and represents the one million parents in the U.S. who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). View photos of the performers and attendees - including MEMPHIS star Montego Glover, singer Clay Aiken, the cast of NEWSIES, Tony Award-winner David Hyde Pierce and more - below!

The New York Drama Critics' Circle met on May 7, 2012, at the offices of Time Out New York magazine, to determine the winners of its 77th annual awards. The overall results were Best Play: Sons of the Prophet (Stephen Karam), Best Foreign Play: Tribes (Nina Raine), Best Musical: Once (Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova) and Special Citations: Signature Theatre Company; Mike Nichols for his contribution to the theater. Below you can see a breakdown of the voting process, showing who voted for what shows.

The producers of SILENCE! The Musical, recently put a new block of seats on sale through today, May 6th at P.S. 122. SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli, opened July 9, 2011.

This Tuesday marked the second most exciting day of any given year for Broadway babies - the Tony Award nominations. The actual awards ceremony on CBS - Broadway's night of nights - is still a few weeks off, but now is certainly an ideal time to size up the competition(s) and see who will most likely walk away with Tony gold come June 10 - and this year's ceremony, more than most before, could very well be as surprising as this season was; or Tuesday's nominations themselves were, for that matter. While the 2011-2012 Broadway season certainly fell far short of the heady promise many ascribed to its prospects way back last Summer, we certainly saw the fulfillment of some big dreams for some notable names if not an all-in-all banner year for Broadway when collectively considered. The highly-praised Off-Broadway critical darling LYSISTRATA JONES landed with a thud early in the season, as did the re-jiggered, gender-bending revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and its star Harry Connick, Jr., and, even the lauded and relatively successful revival of Stephen Sondheim's peerless masterpiece FOLLIES failed to make any money and closed. GODSPELL did not fare much better, though it is still running. The two highly-anticipated revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic early successes JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA were met with indifferent reviews - with the latter receiving some nasty press for its stars, neither of whom received Tony nominations - but receptive audiences so far. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS could take Best Revival, after all - but will NICE WORK's Kelli O'Hara edge out four-time Tony recipient Audra McDonald? New plays did not fare much better than the measly crop of musicals, but OTHER DESERT CITIES and VENUS IN FUR seemed to hit their target demographics squarely, but CLYBOURNE PARK looks to be the frontrunner for Best Play despite all that. We shall see. Mike Nichols may take home another Best Director for his sensitive, if workmanlike revival of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, as conceivably could Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield. John Lithgow is offering up some fierce competition in THE COLUMNIST, though. The acting races are tight, for sure, in both plays and musicals, with more newcomers and first-time nominees than any season this century.

Awards season is here at last! Throughout this week, the nominations have been rolling in, as the Outer Critics Cirlce, Drama League, and Drama Desk's made their yearly announcements acknowledging the best in theatre in 2011-12. With three big awards reveals this week, there is much for theatre lovers to think about before Tony nominations are revealed on Tuesday, May 1.

The 18 productions discussed include: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman; Once; Jesus Christ Superstar; Newsies; Gore Vidal's The Best Man; End of the Rainbow; Evita; Magic/Bird; Peter and the Starcatcher; One Man, Two Guvnors; Clybourne Park; A Streetcar Named Desire; Ghost the Musical; The Lyons; Nice Work If You Can Get It; The Columnist; Don't Dress for Dinner and Leap of Faith.

Nominations for the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced at a news conference this morning by Drama Desk winners Donna Murphy and Brian d'Arcy James. The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8:00 PM at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

Nominations Talley for 3 or more: 9 - Nice Work If You Can Get It; 7 - Newsies, Once; 5 - Follies, Death of a Salesman, Evita, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; 4 - One Man, Two Guvnors, Porgy and Bess, Tribes; 3 - The Best Man, Bonnie & Clyde, Death Takes a Holiday, The Lyons, Queen of the Mist, Sons of the Prophet;

Outer Critics Circle, the organization of writers covering New York theatre for out-of-town newspapers, national publications and other media beyond Broadway, today announced the nominees for the 2011-12 season. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a chart that illustrates the number of Outer Critics Circle nominees that were subsequently nominated for Tony Awards. Additionally, we calculated the percentage of eligible nominees that earned Tony Awards in the past five years (discounting off-Broadway nominations). Check out the chances that this years OCC nominees have at a Tony nod below!

Mickey & Judy was a sold out hit at last year's Toronto Fringe Festival and is now off to NYC and Edinburgh! Before it makes its' international debut the show will return to The Toronto Centre for the Arts for one night only on April 21st, 2012. The enigmatic and extremely funny star, Michael Hughes, took a few minutes to talk to BWW about the show, his love of showtunes, Smash versus Glee and more.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of NEWSIES is now available digitally today on Ghostlight Records. The album has debuted at #1 on the iTunes Soundtracks chart and #15 on the iTunes album chart.To purchase the album, visit iTunes here. The recording is set for physical release on May 15th, 2012. The physical release will feature three special bonus tracks including an exclusive version of "Santa Fe" performed by lead Jeremy Jordan accompanied by Alan Menken on piano. The full track listing is below. For more information on the cast recording, visit: http://newsiesthemusical.com/music

In a recent chat with BWW, Fankhauser spoke about why he believes NEWSIES is a timeless 'coming of age' tale of a group of boys who work together and make their voices heard.

SILENCE! The Musical, currently nominated for two Lucille Lortel Awards including Best Musical, will celebrate its 200th performance tonight, April 6th at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.) SILENCE! The Musical is the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, with book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli. After opening on July 9, 2011 the show immediately became a sold-out phenomenon and was selected by Time Magazine as one of the year's Top 5 Musicals. Due to overwhelming ticket demand, the producers recently put a new block of seats on sale through September 2nd.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: SEMINAR gets a new cast, HOW TO SUCCEED celebrates first birthday, NEWSIES takes a Broadway bow, and so much more!

D3 LED, LLC (D3), the global leader in design, engineering and technology for the LED (light emitting diode) display market, today announced its completion of the first state-of-the-art LED display marquee and digital media system in Broadway theatre history for New Amsterdam Theatre at 214 West 42nd Street in New York City.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: ANYTHING GOES and PRISCILLA celebrate milestones, the [title of show] team is back, PIPE DREAM preps for performances, and so much more!

NEWSIES is now in previews at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre. It will play a strictly limited 101 performance run following its critically-hailed run at Paper Mill Playhouse in fall 2011. The musical, featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman, and a book by four-time Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy), will open on March 29th; the final performance is scheduled for June 10

Newsies will move to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre for a strictly limited 101 performance run this spring, following its critically-hailed run at Paper Mill Playhouse in fall 2011. The musical, featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman, and a book by four-time Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy), will play its first Broadway preview on March 15th prior to its March 29th opening night; the final performance is scheduled for June 10th.

Newsies will move to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre for a strictly limited 101 performance run this spring, following its critically-hailed run at Paper Mill Playhouse in fall 2011. The musical, featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award® winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman, and a book by four-time Tony Award® winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy), will play its first Broadway preview on March 15th prior to its March 29th opening night; the final performance is scheduled for June 10th. In the video below, meet one of the characters form the show- 'Jack,' played by Jeremy Jordan!

Tony Award-winning actress Alice Ripley was the special surprise guest at the Broadway Artists Alliance 2011 Winter Workshop. Ripley had a Q&A with the students of Broadway Artists Alliance. She surprised the students with a performance of her new single 'Beautiful Eyes,' and a song from Next to Normal.