I'm Still Here...Damn It! 1998 - Articles Page 18

Last night I had the privilege of interviewing comedy icon and red carpet legend Joan Rivers about her first love of theatre and live performance, working the red carpet and virtually inventing celeb-reality culture, her Broadway endeavors - FUN CITY, Neil Simon's BROADWAY BOUND and SALLY MARR... AND HER ESCORTS, plus her new autobiographical piece - as well as all about the dazzling documentary JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK. All of this, in addition to discussing her two weekly TV shows - FASHION POLICE on E! and the hit new WE reality series with daughter Melissa Rivers, JOAN AND MELISSA: JOAN KNOWS BEST? Stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for a complete conversation with Melissa all about growing up Hollywood, her superstar mother and running a production company and what it was like filming season one of MOTHER KNOWS BEST? coming up soon.

2010 marked the year the legendary American Composer Stephen Sondheim had his 80th Birthday, and there were many celebrations in his honour. The last one was a celebration at Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops under the direction of Steven Reineke. Kate Baldwin, Christiane Noll, Aaron Lazar and Alex Gemignani came out to sing the music and honour the man, and BWW featured interviews with each of them before the show. We are now pleased to bring you a review of that magical evening, as well as some photographs that capture the special event.

While football and baseball have been slugging it out for decades for the title of America's Most Popular Sport, there's no doubt that the latter is Broadway's baby, boasting Tony-winners Damn Yankees and Take Me Out.  Aside from inspiring amusing songs for Wonderful Town and High Button Shoes, football's longest Broadway run was the short-lived musical All-American, which featured the unlikely combination of Ray Bolger acting in scenes written by Mel Brooks.  Heck, even basketball (That Championship Season) and rugby (The Changing Room) have fared better on Broadway than football.

The jack-of-all-trades actress, comedian, singer and writer Sandra Bernhard will return to London for the first time in two years at Leicester Square Theatre from Wednesday, February 9, through Sunday, February 13, 2011. She will perform five shows based on her album, Whatever It Takes, which sends viewers on a cross-cultural musical experience from New York, to Africa, the Middle East and South America.

DREAMGIRLS is why show business was born. Let's not mince words. It you don't have tickets to see DREAMGIRLS at the Arsht Center, stop reading this review and get your tickets now. I forgive you. There are words that can't be found to describe the abundance of gifts from the theatrical gods that is DREAMGIRLS.

Today we continue the brand new BroadwayWorld in-depth songwriting discussion series Modern Music Masters with one of the most successful solo artists of the last ten years - holding the record for the longest-lasting single on the Billboard charts ever thanks to his hit song 'I'm Yours', which soon may very well be heard on GLEE - the lyrically smart, mentally acute and musically savvy Jason Mraz. In this comprehensive conversation we discuss the songwriting process in extreme detail, focusing on some of his more theatrical songs and influences, as well as shedding some light on his beginnings in the school choir/glee club and what musical theatre training has meant to him in preparation for a long career in performance and music. Additionally, we discuss both the physical and psychological sides of his process in performing around the world and creating new work constantly while doing so. His brand new EP - LIFE IS GOOD - hits stores today and this is the first interview he has given in which he discusses the new songs on the album and what recording the various live shows the tracks were taken from was like to experience firsthand on this spellbinding series of sold-out arena shows. This is his most thorough conversation in print to date so it is a special honor and privilege to present his masterful talent to those that already know and love his work, and perhaps a few who are new to his musical and lyrical abilities. Thus: BroadwayWorld presents the self-proclaimed Mr.AZ from A to Z.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.'

Concluding BroadwayWorld's exclusive three-part series on Edward Albee's newest masterpiece ME, MYSELF & I, comes this exciting and energized interview with the youngest star of the show, playing one of the titular twosome both named Otto, the enthusiastic and expressive Preston Sadleir! In this in-depth conversation we discuss working with Elizabeth Ashley and Brian Murray on ME, MYSELF & I as well as the director, Emily Mann, and the master writer himself, Edward Albee. Additionally, we discuss the rehearsal process at Playwrights' Horizons, the themes of the play, the acting process onstage acting every night with two of the greats, as well as what the play means to not only himself as an actor, but also to the twenty-first century audience coming to see the show (which has just been extended and now runs to October 31st). We also talk about the exciting workshop productions and readings of two burgeoning musicals that are eyeing Broadway soon, including the much anticipated Broadway revival of CARRIE and a new original cougar-themed musical starring Jane Krakowski called MRS. SHARP! Few performers are so at ease in plays and musicals as Preston is - and at barely twenty-five years old - so here is a chance to see why he is one of the hottest new theatrical stars on the rise! Enjoy!

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.'

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.' Anything Goes will mark Mr. Grey's seventh Broadway production.

Ghostlight Records continues their exciting Fall season with the announcement of the September 21st double-CD digital release of their Original Cast Recording of 'THINGS TO RUIN - The Songs of Joe Iconis.'

Ghostlight Records continues their exciting Fall season with the announcement of the September 21st double-CD digital release of their Original Cast Recording of 'THINGS TO RUIN - The Songs of Joe Iconis.'

This past year has certainly been a fun one for Cory English, the scene-stealing actor who portrays the lovably-humpbacked sidekick Igor (pronounced EYE-GOHR, mind you) in the first national tour of Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Recently, while en route with his family to Costa Mesa-where the show will come to life at The Orange County Performing Arts Center for a two-week engagement starting September 12-English agreed to stop for a brief chat with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos about life on the road, his first time on Broadway, and how much he loves musical comedy.

Logan is doing 'La Cage' for the third time in two years, but it's his first-ever show on Broadway!

Today, we are reveling in last night's simply sensational presentation of the multi-Tony Award-winning Lincoln Center revival of SOUTH PACIFIC as it was broadcast on PBS stations across the country in a special LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER simulcast commemorating the final performance of the lauded revival of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. Starring returning revival role originators Kelli O'Hara and Paulo Szot, this stunning capture of Bartlett Sher's exquisite production is something to truly treasure and devour. I hope you set your DVRs, this was a one-shot deal - but thank Aristophanes for YouTube! You certainly do not want to miss this if you didn't catch it last night. It's a tropical Hawaiian sunset on an overcast grey, New York day. See why here. And there, soon thereafter.

Lead producer Michael Cohl today announced the complete cast for SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark, which begins rehearsals this morning. Directed by Julie Taymor and featuring a book by Julie Taymor and Glen Berger, and new music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark will begin previews at Broadway's Foxwoods Theatre (213 West 42nd Street) on November 14, with opening night set for December 21.

Jitters is a comedic play that examines the state of Canadian culture and the lives of its frontline practitioners. Based on playwright David French's own opening night experiences and mishaps, it has been called one of the funnies backstage comedies ever written. BWW spoke with Noah Reid and C. David Johnson about the current state of the Arts in Canada, young people and the theatre and (of course) their own opening night 'Jitters'

Last weekend, I had the exceptional privilege of conducting an InDepth InterView with 2010 Tony-winning Best Featured Actress In A Play: the luminous and winsomely witty film and stage star Scarlett Johannson. We talked about her work in the theatre on this year's highly-praised revival of Arthur Miller's A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, as well as her feelings on musicals, Stephen Sondheim, and growing up in New York, which then veered off into a considerable discussion of her film work and working with actors like Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey Jr. and Penelope Cruz, as well as directors like Woody Allen and Christopher Nolan. Additionally, we discussed her love of musicals, her favorite shows, scores and cast albums, singing showtunes with Hugh Jackman, her thoughts on a Woody Allen musical, what Sondheim roles she would like to play, GLEE, and, of course, a detailed and descriptive discussion of the entire process of bringing BRIDGE to the stage. This is the complete InDepth InterView you have all been waiting for - of course, two sneek peek samples have gone up on BWW this week and have so far been quoted and reprinted in US WEEKLY, Perez Hilton and Oh No They Didn't, just to name a few, all of whom also reprinted her e-mail response to me. She is without a doubt one of the brightest stars of our age and it was a extreme privilege for me to help her shine some light on the more obscure corners of her career, as well as the highs - on Broadway, in Hollywood and elsewhere. Enjoy!

Today, in honor of the American premiere of ELAINE PAIGE: CELEBRATING FORTY YEARS ONSTAGE being broadcast on PBS this week is a sneak peek of an upcoming InDepth InterView with legendary star of Broadway and the West End, Elaine Paige. In this portion of the interview we discuss the writing of CHESS with ABBA's Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus and lyricist Tim Rice, as well as her thoughts on contemporaries like Patti LuPone and, of course, originating the leads in EVITA, CATS, CHESS. We also preview her new album produced by Phil Ramone and featuring a duet with Barry Manilow. We also discuss the new song written for her by Stiles & Drewe for the concert.

Actor Gregory Harrison will star @ La Jolla Playhouse in June in the world premiere of Surf Report. His association with Catalina Productions in Los Angeles for so many years put him at the top of his craft as a stage actor and theatrical producer. He revolutionized the theatre scene here and was rewarded over and over for those successes. Of course, he is recognized most for TV's Trapper John M.D. and the countless MOWs and Cable films he has done over the past thirty years. This ageless man, still an avid surfer, is now preparing to take on his dream role @ La Jolla.

Today, in honor of the DVD release of Rob Marshall's film version of the 1982 Tony-winning Best Musical NINE, Maury Yeston was gracious and generous enough to grant me a few hours in which I could ask him intimate questions about his life, career and the future of theatre itself. Not one to mince words, Yeston is a veritable font of knowledge and it became clear during the interview that he may be as gifted and talented in his educational and mentorship skills as he is as a two-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist. His stage musicals include two Tony-winning Best Musicals, NINE and TITANIC, as well as: IN THE BEGINNING, GRAND HOTEL, PHANTOM, and the forthcoming DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, as well as a full-length ballet of TOM SAWYER premiering later this year. From the handwritten letter sent by Katharine Hepburn to Frederico Fellini after seeing the workshop of NINE thirty years ago to this very day when NINE hits DVD, we will take a look at this magnanimous maestro's starry career in this inaugural InDepth InterView. Enjoy!

The Tony Awards Nominations were announced this morning on Tuesday, May 4th. The Tony Awards will be broadcast in a live three-hour ceremony from Radio City Music Hall on the CBS television network on Sunday, June 13, 2010. Click here for the full list of nominations! BroadwayWorld.com will be talking to nominees throughout the day so keep checking back!

As talented as Nate Eppler is as an actor (and he's got the reviews to prove that he is, indeed, just that), it may be his writing talents that will ensure his place in theatre history (and he has a growing file of reviews to prove that, as well). Of course, only time will tell on that score, but for now Nate Eppler is keeping busy, adding to the opus of work to be delivered from his imaginative brain.

I met up with Hans in between his Matinee and Evening shows of "An Iliad" on Saturday. In the short time since he arrived here in 1993 to go to school at Cornish College of the Arts (where he graduated in 1996) this 39 year old from Detroit, Michigan has become one of the hot tickets in the Seattle theater scene. But beyond that, he's also a really great guy.

Ah, Acting. Is there any more noble artform? To mimic, portray, and create life itself. It is the 'birth of the soul', as espoused by veteran screen actor Beau Bridges in his latest play Acting: The First Six Lessons. Adapted from Richard Boleslavsky's how-to book of principles on the craft of acting by Bridges and his daughter Emily, and starring them as well, the play chronicles a five-year relationship between an acting teacher and his developing young protégé. Since this play deals primarily with deconstructing the methodology behind a performance, it seems only fitting to review said performance piece in a similar manner. So here goes: the six essential principles of theatrical critiquing, as applied to Theatre West's production of Acting: The First Six Lessons.