A.A. Cristi - Page 38

When Falsettos first premiered on Broadway in 1992, the show gained instant status as a game changer. With William Finn's brave new style of musical theatre composition and in placing the lives of queer characters at the forefront of its storytelling, the show has become a cultural landmark and a blueprint for the array of modern musical theatre that followed in its wake.

When Falsettos first premiered on Broadway in 1992, the show gained instant status as a game changer. With William Finn's brave new style of musical theatre composition and in placing the lives of queer characters at the forefront of its storytelling, the show has become a cultural landmark and a blueprint for the array of modern musical theatre that followed in its wake.

In 1935, on the set of the movie musical, Top Hat, composer Irving Berlin hummed a then unfamiliar tune to the film's star, Fred Astaire. He had envisioned the song as a centerpiece for a future film starring Astaire and his dance partner, Ginger Rogers. At the time, Berlin was in the midst of a project writing songs for each of the major holidays of the year, but based on his Jewish upbringing, the composer found that Christmas was the most difficult holiday to write for. Nevertheless, the legendary composer rose to the challenge and gave us what is now one of the most popular holiday songs in history, 'White Christmas.'

It all starts very simple. A steady piano, a lilting flute. A young woman descending a staircase in the ballgown of every little girl's dreams, meeting her intended at the base. They beam at one another; she curtsies, he bows. As the iconic voice of Angela Lansbury enters the equation through an enchanted teapot, infusing the sequence with warmth and wisdom, the woman and her very unlikely suitor enter the ballroom. Finally having learned to ignore their differences, the two sway and twirl their way into happily ever after.

When Falsettos first premiered on Broadway in 1992, the show gained instant status as a game changer. With William Finn's brave new style of musical theatre composition and in placing the lives of queer characters at the forefront of its storytelling, a tactic that had not yet been seen in musicals up until that point, the show has become a cultural landmark and a blueprint for the array of modern musical theatre that followed in its wake.

Lesli Margherita is an Olivier Award winner for her West End debut as Inez in Zorro the Musical. After over 1000 performances getting 'Loud' in Matilda the Musical as the villainous Mrs. Wormwood, a role she originated on Broadway, Lesli bid farewell to the grounds of Crunchem Hall and crossed the street to The Helen Hayes to star as uber- diva Mona Kent in the Broadway premiere of Randy Skinner's Dames at Sea.  

This week the stars of Broadway's sweetest new musical, Waitress, sat down with BroadwayWorld correspondent Richard Ridge to talk about life inside the heavenly pie-scented atmosphere of the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.

On September 10, the Bechdel family is flying away from Broadway's Circle in the Square Theater when the the groundbreaking, Tony Award-winner for Best Musical plays its final performance. But before the cast moves out of their Broadway home, BroadwayWorld brought a few of the Bechdel's together for one last interview to reminisce on some memories from their run, the emotional response to the piece, backstage camaraderie, and the political timeliness that has made Fun Home, as Judy Kuhn puts it, 'a show meant for right now.'