Michael Dale - Page 138

Old Gershwin musicals never die, they just get revised into new Gershwin musicals.

As we remember Davy Jones, who went from Broadway supporting player to nationally known pop idol and then returned to the musical stage as an above-the-title star, we look forward to seeing Ricky Martin accomplish the same feat.

Lonny Price, Raul Esparza and a fellow singing it in Hebrew.

The week's big casting news includes Megan Hilty in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for Encores! and Samantha Barks in the screen version of Les Miserables.

Let's just say, for the moment, that I owned the Venus de Milo.  I don't know how it happened.  Maybe some ancient Greek stone cuttings were found that led to a Middle Ages parchment that inspired someone to do some research on ancestry.com, but in any case, it has been indisputably determined that I am the sole owner of sculptor Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo.

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

If the Occupy Wall Street movement had an official musical, it would likely be The Cradle Will Rock, Marc Blitzstein's allegorical tale of a union leader who leads a fight against a wealthy businessman who controls his town's police, press, church, elected officials and even some artists.

Casting controversies, the role of reviewers and another Broadway great turning 80 were among the stories that fired up theatre chat boards and fueled cocktail conversations at Sardi's during the past twelve months. Here are ten of the big issues theatre lovers talked about in 2011.

Grey turns 80 in 2012, but here in New York it seemed like there were shades of Grey all over the city throughout 2011.

Remembering past performances from Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS' Gypsy of the Year competition.

Shakespeare's okay, Stoppard provides a fine mental workout and Ayckbourn is always good for a serious laugh, but the British playwright who never fails to delight me is the witty and wonderful Noel Coward.

I don't think I'm giving away a major spoiler when I mention that toward the end of Thomas Bradshaw's Burning, there's a reference to one of the characters as having won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Play.  I'm not sure I'd appreciate the honor if I was John Benjamin Hickey, as the character referred to is one of the sleazier ones in a play filled with sleaziness.

With Marilyn Maye wrapping up her Jerry Herman tribute at Feinstein's, let's take a look back at both of them in the 1960s.

While Broadway fans know full well of Peter Filichia's prowess as a theatre columnist and critic, some may not be aware that he is one of those cliché-defying gents who can define both the infield fly rule and an 11 o'clock number. So in his terrific new book, Broadway Musical MVPs, he borrows a page from the sports section and picks a Most Valuable Player for the past 50 Broadway seasons.

One of the great stage actors of our time once gave a chilling performance on the small screen that lured tourists to Broadway.

Ten years ago, when New Yorkers were still adjusting to the shock of so many lives lost and a way of life gone forever, Mamma Mia!, just by being the right musical at the right time, had something to do with Broadway's own healing process.

Last season, playwright Richard Nelson invited us to spend election night 2010 at the Rhinebeck home of schoolteacher Barbara Apple and her aging uncle, Benjamin as her left-leaning sisters and brother gathered for dinner and conversation about family matters and the country's political climate. Titled That Hopey Changey Thing after a sarcastic post-election quip Sarah Palin once directed at Obama voters, Nelson referred to it as a 'disposable' play, written quickly and heavily steeped in the national conversation of its time.

With its many supporting roles for older performers, one of the great pleasures of productions of Follies is the opportunity to see some of the theatre's senior members making a triumphant return to the Broadway stage.

On Saturday afternoon, August 27th, that revival will chalk up its 6,138th performance, surpassing A Chorus Line as Broadway's longest running American musical. Sure, there are three Broadway productions higher on the list of total performances - Les Miserables, Cats and the still-running Phantom of the Opera - but the distinction of Chicago being an American musical is a significant one.

If the Vineyard Theatre's Off-Broadway production of [title of show] had concluded its run in 1986, or even 1996, the story of the musical where composer/lyricist Jeff Bowen and bookwriter Hunter Bell played themselves creating the musical that the audience was watching most likely would have ended right there. But it was October or 2006...