The musical comedy takes place in turn-of-the-century Paris, where La Mome Pistache, proud owner of the Bal du Paradis, famous for its sexy can-can girls, spars with Aristide Forestier, a self-righteous judge determined to close all Parisian dance halls.
Today we are kicking off Broadway World's multi-part series of interviews with the stars of the 2011 Kennedy Center produced and Eric Schaeffer directed production of Stephen Sondheim & James Goldman's seminal showbiz musical, FOLLIES, currently in previews on Broadway at the Marquis Theater. Suave leading man Ron Raines sheds light on the central, pivotal role of Benjamin Stone and how he sees the character - in his youth, in his marriage, in the present and, also, in the future, post-Loveland and, even post-FOLLIES - as well as illuminates his interactions with the colorful array of stars he shares the stage with eight nights a week - chief among them: Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige and Jan Maxwell! Additionally, we discuss what has changed in the transfer from Washington, D.C. to NYC, as well as examine the underlying message and story told in Ben's stunning musical triptych of 'The Road You Didn't Take', 'Too Many Mornings' and 'Live, Laugh, Love'. As if all that were not enough, Raines and I cast a glance back at his previous stage and screen work and discuss his solo albums, upcoming concert appearances and much, much more! Plus, first news of his essaying of the title role in SWEENEY TODD with Karen Ziemba in St. Louis next summer, directed by the helmer of the original Christopher Bond play that inspired Sondheim to compose the musical adaptation in the first place back in 1969.
The Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre has announced that national radio host Robert Aubry Davis (WETA's 'Around Town' and Sirius/XM Radio) will be making his stage debut, playing the iconic role of Edna in its upcoming production of the celebrated musical Hairspray. Directed by Signature Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, Hairspray will run from November 21st through January 29th. Based on the 1988 cult film directed by John Waters, Hairspray features music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan. The musical, which played on Broadway for 6 ½ years, took home eight 2003 Tony Awards, including 'Best Musical.'
After thousands of auditions by some of the strongest dancers ever, the judges of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE tonight announced the 20 finalists who will compete to be named America's Favorite Dancer.
An actor's actor Gary Cole, who made a big splash as Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald in TV's Mow Fatal Vision in 1984 and has never stopped working since, will soon open at the Geffen in Tracy Letts' new play Superior Donuts. Whether it be drama like In the Line of Fire on screen, the TV series Midnight Caller (1988-91) or Letts' August Osage County on stage, or comedy as in the theatrical film The Brady Bunch, Cole is comfortable in every medium and makes the work look easy. Usually cast as a psycho or abusive husband, in Donuts he plays the aging Chicago shop owner, a role which brings him closer to his roots there. He was an original member of the Steppenwolf Theatre, along with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Gary Sinise. In our chat, Cole talks about the play, his favorite roles and the process of acting.
Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has been brought on board to rework two new projects: CARRIE - no, not the 1988 legendary flop musical, but a film remake under Screen Gems that's intended to stick more closely to the novel; he's also set to take on GLEE as a writer and co-producer.
The Pollard Theatre presents the Broadway hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based on the popular 1988 film. The production will close on May 8, 2011.
Staging one of the theatre's most unique and unclassifiable pieces, Brecht & Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for the New York City Ballet, starting May 11 and running through May 16, is just the latest act in a career made up of anomalies, seemingly built upon always attempting to do the impossible - from her Broadway debut, trying to bring balletic bravado to Trevor Nunn's terminally troubled 1988 musical CHESS (a project begun under the guidance of Michael Bennett before his death), up through the trying-but-Tony-winning TITANIC in 1997 and, this century, SWING! starring Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti and a succession of successful regional ballets and theatre pieces - the gifted and dynamic director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett continues to challenge herself, her peers and audiences with each of her audacious new endeavors. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, starring two-time Tony-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone as Anna I, is a particularly problematic play - or is it a musical? Or, is it a ballet? A song-spiel? - and in this revealing and engaging discussion, Ms. Taylor-Corbett and I attempt to deduce the themes, analyze the structure and look back at the authors' lives to gain insight into the perplexing America painted by Brecht and Weill in the forty-minute-long theatrical experiment. Also, in this complete conversation, Lynne and I take a look back at her long and varied career and she generously shares her thoughts on where the place of dance is in the twenty-first century, the exhilaration of working with a theatre artist like Patti LuPone, her own inspirations and formative experiences in the theatre, the legacy of Michael Powell and THE RED SHOES, the theatre versus the dance world, her son Shaun's career, and much, much more! Further information on THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS - including tickets - is available here.
Staging one of the theatre's most unique and unclassifiable pieces, Brecht & Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for the New York City Ballet, starting May 11 and running through May 16, is just the latest act in a career made up of anomalies, seemingly built upon always attempting to do the impossible - from her Broadway debut, trying to bring balletic bravado to Trevor Nunn's terminally troubled 1988 musical CHESS (a project begun under the guidance of Michael Bennett before his death), up through the trying-but-Tony-winning TITANIC in 1997 and, this century, SWING! starring Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti and a succession of successful regional ballets and theatre pieces - the gifted and dynamic director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett continues to challenge herself, her peers and audiences with each of her audacious new endeavors. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, starring two-time Tony-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone as Anna I, is a particularly problematic play - or is it a musical? Or, is it a ballet? A song-spiel? - and in this revealing and engaging discussion, Ms. Taylor-Corbett and I attempt to deduce the themes, analyze the structure and look back at the authors' lives to gain insight into the perplexing America painted by Brecht and Weill in the forty-minute-long theatrical experiment. Also, in this complete conversation, Lynne and I take a look back at her long and varied career and she generously shares her thoughts on where the place of dance is in the twenty-first century, the exhilaration of working with a theatre artist like Patti LuPone, her own inspirations and formative experiences in the theatre, the legacy of Michael Powell and THE RED SHOES, the theatre versus the dance world, her son Shaun's career, and much, much more! Further information on THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS - including tickets - is available here.
The Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center will present the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels April 27 - May 1, 2011 on the Robsham Main Stage. Adapted from the 1988 feature film comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, the musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) and a book by Jeffrey Lane, tells the story of two con artists battling head-to-head in an effort to swindle an heiress out of her riches.
The Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center will present the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels April 27 - May 1, 2011 on the Robsham Main Stage. Adapted from the 1988 feature film comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, the musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) and a book by Jeffrey Lane, tells the story of two con artists battling head-to-head in an effort to swindle an heiress out of her riches.
The Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1988.
The Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center will present the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels April 27 - May 1, 2011 on the Robsham Main Stage. Adapted from the 1988 feature film comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, the musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) and a book by Jeffrey Lane, tells the story of two con artists battling head-to-head in an effort to swindle an heiress out of her riches.
The Boston College Theatre Department and Robsham Theater Arts Center will present the hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels April 27 - May 1, 2011 on the Robsham Main Stage. Adapted from the 1988 feature film comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, the musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek (The Full Monty) and a book by Jeffrey Lane, tells the story of two con artists battling head-to-head in an effort to swindle an heiress out of her riches.
On this very day in 1943, Michael DiFiglia was born in Buffalo, New York, and the world of Broadway would simply never be the same. Cutting his teeth with the accomplished choreography for A JOYFUL NOISE, PROMISES, PROMISES, SEESAW and COCO was merely the beginning of a career that would virtually rewrite and revolutionize the ways and means by which a director could yield ultimate control over a project. With COMPANY and FOLLIES, the later co-directing with Hal Prince, Bennett solidified himself as one of the most talented and brilliant choreographers of his generation and, shortly thereafter, proved with A CHORUS LINE that he was a master theatrical engineer with few, if any, peers. Worldwide success, Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize were just the gravy. Who else but Michael Bennett would then, or ever, receive - or should I say, earn - the credit "Entire Production Conceived, Produced and Directed by," besides him? While BALLROOM failed to live up to A CHORUS LINE in mostly every way, he soon after reinvented the wheel yet again with DREAMGIRLS in 1981. We never got to see his productions of CHESS and SCANDAL, both of which he was in the latter stages of developing at the time of his death in 1988. Broadway has never been the same since he's been gone. So, today, on the day following a glittering new production of COMPANY at Lincoln Center - with the complete dance sequence "Tick Tock" fully restored, now with five dancers - we take a tip of the top hat to the tops in taps, temerity and truthfulness onstage - the one and only Michael Bennett.
The final play of Florida Stage's 24th subscription season is the world premiere of a darkly funny, electric and timely new play by Carter W. Lewis, The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider. From the award-winning author of The Storytelling Ability of a Boy and Women Who Steal, The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider asks the questions, what happens when our 'soldiers of fortune' outnumber our army troops and can art really make a difference in a corporatized world? The Cha-Cha of a Camel Spider continues Florida Stage's first season as the resident company in the Rinker Playhouse at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.
Beginning April 8 and running throughMay 8, the Pollard Theatre presents the Broadway hit musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, based on the popular 1988 film.
The Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1988. Since that time, it has had a profound impact on the cultural and artistic landscape of Brevard County and East Central Florida.
The Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1988. Since that time, it has had a profound impact on the cultural and artistic landscape of Brevard County and East Central Florida.
The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) continues its fifth season of the New Works Reading Series, supporting new plays and emerging playwrights, with a free reading of Christine Evans's CAN'T COMPLAIN on Friday, February 18 at 3 p.m. at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) in Manhattan.
The Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) continues its fifth season of the New Works Reading Series, supporting new plays and emerging playwrights, with a free reading of Christine Evans's CAN'T COMPLAIN on Friday, February 18 at 3 p.m. at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) in Manhattan.
The Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors in 1988. Since that time, it has had a profound impact on the cultural and artistic landscape of Brevard County and East Central Florida.
While there's certainly plenty to enjoy in the new musical version of Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - David Yazbek's jaunty Latin-based score, the winning performances of a star-studded cast (three Tony winners and four other nominees) and the kinetic flashiness of Bartlett Sher's kicky production - the show is also a prime example of how the sum of the pieces can add up to more than the whole when the missing ingredient is a strong book. Not that the talented Jeffrey Lane doesn't make a game try at it. Sticking closely to the source, his work is frequently clever and he and Yazbek concoct some quirkily fun musical scenes, but the odds are working against him in this one.
This month, Broadway World is showcasing actor and recording artist Justin Guarini, who is making his Broadway debut as Carlos in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, based on the 1988 film of the same title.
Based on Pedro Almodóvar's internationally acclaimed 1988 film, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is set in late 20th-century Madrid and tells the story of the intertwining lives of a group of women whose relationships with men lead to a tumultuous 48 hours of love, confusion and passion and now it's come to Broadway!
TERRI WHITE, who recently starred as Mama Morton in Chicago on Broadway, and has been in several Broadway and Off-Broadway shows including the recent revival of Finian's Rainbow will lend her talents to raise funds for the Dreamlight Theater Company on November 1, 2010. This 'living room' concert will take place in the home of Dreamlight supporter Elizabeth Inserra at 57 West 75 Street at 6:30pm. For a 100% tax-deductible donation of $125 per person listeners get to enjoy hearing Terri perform songs with the help of her longtime pianist Bobby Peaco It promises to be a great evening of song and schmooze, wine and nibbles, with this great actress whose credits include Joice Heth in Barnum with Jim Dale and Glenn Close, Ain't Misbehavin' revival in 1988 with Patti Austin, and The Club for which she won an Obie award.
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