Nicole Rosky - Page 423

Today in 1938, The Cradle Will Rock opened at the Windsor Theatre. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording. Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre (later renamed the New Century Theatre) in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.

Happy Birthday, Renee Elise Goldsberry! Goldsberry played Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King and was nominated for a Drama League Award for 'Distinguished Performance' and won a New York magazine Best of 2005 Award for her performance as Silvia in the 2005 New York City Shakespeare in the Park revival of Two Gentlemen of Verona. She later originated the role of Nettie in The Color Purple, the Broadway musical adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1982 novel of the same name from November 2005 to mid-January 2006. On June 16, 2008, Goldsberry was the last actress to play the role of Mimi Marquez in the Broadway musical Rent.

Happy Birthday, Frank Langella! Langella won his first Tony Award for his performance in Edward Albee's Seascape and 1975 and was nominated for another for what may have been the performance for which he was best known for in the early part of his career: the title role of the 1977 Broadway production of Dracula. He then appeared on Broadway in such plays as Sherlock's Last Case, Strindberg's The Father (winning a Drama Desk Award), Match (Tony Award nomination), and Fortune's Fool, for which he won a second Tony Award. He was cast as Richard Nixon in Peter Morgan's Frost/Nixon, which received enthusiastic reviews during a run at the Donmar Warehouse and Gielgud Theatre in London before moving to New York's Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in April 2007, culminating in Langella's third Tony Award. He reprised the role of Nixon in the 2008 film Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard.

Happy Birthday, Bebe Neuwirth! Neuwirth made her Broadway debut in the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line in 1980. She later appeared in revivals of Little Me (1982) Sweet Charity (1986), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Damn Yankees (1994). 1996 saw her play the role of Velma Kelly in the Broadway revival of Chicago. That role brought her her greatest stage recognition to date, and several awards including the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Neuwirth would later return to the still-running revival of Chicago in 2006, this time in the role of Roxie Hart.She will next return to the musical as 'Mama Morton' in January 2014.

Today in 1948, opened at the Shubert Theatre. Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. Kiss Me, Kate was a response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals, and it proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. It won the first Tony Award presented for Best Musical, in 1949.

Today in 1976, the first Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof opened at the Winter Garden Theatre. Featuring music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, the story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and Jewish religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. The original Broadway production of the show, which opened in 1964, had the first musical theatre run in history to surpass 3,000 performances. It spawned four Broadway revivals, a successful 1971 film adaptation, and the show has enjoyed enduring international popularity. It is also a very popular choice for school and community productions. In celebration of this day, we bring you Zero Mostel's performance of 'If I Were a Rich Man.' Click below to check it out!

Happy Birthday, Jude Law! In 1995, Law starred in The National Theatre transfer of Broadway's Indiscretions at the Barrymore Theater. In May 2009, Law returned to the London stage to portray the title role in Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Donmar Warehouse West End season at Wyndham's Theatre. In September 2009 the production transferred to the Broadhurst Theatre in New York.

Happy Birthday, Joe Mantello! Mantello is perhaps best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked, Take Me Out and Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America. He most recently starred in last year's Tony winning revival of The Normal Heart.

Today in 1989, original THE WIZ star Stephanie Mills brought her solo show to Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre- 'Stephanie Mills Comes 'Home' to Broadway.' In honor of this special day, we celebrate the show with Mill's signature song- THE WIZ's 'Home.' Click below to check it out!

Today in 1940, Pal oey opened at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Pal Joey is a musical with a book by John O'Hara (from his novel of the same title) and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker. It includes two songs that have become standards: 'I Could Write a Book' and 'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered'.

Happy Birthday, Ricky Martin! During his career he has sold more than 60 million album copies worldwide. He is the founder of Ricky Martin Foundation (in Spanish Fundacion Ricky Martin), a non-profit charity organization. Ricky Martin's exuberant 1999 single 'Livin' la Vida Loca' made him a prominent figure of Latin dance-pop. Martin got his start with the all-boy pop group Menudo; after five years with the group, he released his Spanish-language solo album, Ricky Martin, in 1991. His other studio albums include: Me Amaras (1993), A Medio Vivir (1995), Vuelve (1998), Sound Loaded (2000), Almas del Silencio (2003), Life (2005), and Musica + Alma + Sexo (2011). In 1996, Martin starred in the Broadway's Les Miserables, and he is currently starring as 'Che' in Evita at the Marquis Theatre.

Today in 1935, Romeo and Juliet opened at the Martin Beck Theatre. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.

Sean Hayes has outdone himself.  The stage and screen star and his husband, Scott Icenogle, have shared another lip-sync video just in time for Christmas. Watch below as he sings along with Barbra Streisand to her holiday classic- 'Jingle Bells.' 

Signature Theatre's WEST SIDE STORY, directed by Signature Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner (Signature's Sunday in the Park with George, Cabaret), has just announced a one-week extension through January 31, 2016. 

Happy Birthday, Ralph Fiennes! Fiennes' 2006 performance in the play Faith Healer gained him a nomination for a 2007 Tony Award. In 2008, Fiennes worked with frequent collaborator director Jonathan Kent to play the title role in Sophocles's Oedipus the King at The National Theatre in London. He has appeared in films such as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days and Maid in Manhattan. He is also well known for his portrayals of three infamous villains: Nazi war criminal Amon Goth in Schindler's List, serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in the 2002 film Red Dragon, and Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film series. Most recently, he appeared in The Reader (2008), The Hurt Locker (2009) and as Hades in Clash of the Titans (2010).

It's not hard to stumble across an excess of reviews for any given Broadway show these days, but there is a group of theatregoers that is wildly underrepresented when it comes to opinions on Broadway- kids! BroadwayWorld is excited to continue our new series, KID CRITICS, which gives parents and children alike a kid's perspective on Broadway's hottest shows. We are continuing the series with Tai (9), Isabella (11), and Charles (8), who just stopped by the Winter Garden Theatre to check out SCHOOL OF ROCK. Curious of what they thought about the show? Find out below!

Today in 1970, JESUS CHRIST SUERSTAR creators Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice received gold records for the original cast album of the show. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971. The musical is based very loosely on the Gospels' account of the last week of Jesus' life, beginning with the preparation for the arrival of Jesus and his disciples in Jerusalem, and ending with the crucifixion. It highlights political and interpersonal struggles between Judas Iscariot and Jesus, struggles that are not in the Bible. The resurrection is not included. It therefore largely follows the form of a traditional passion play.

To life! The Broadway revival of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is currently in previews, with an official opening slated for Sunday, December 20 at The Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway). FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, who most recently helmed the 2015 Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of The King and I. Sher has directed Burstein on Broadway in the revivals of Golden Boy and South Pacific, as well as in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. It will be choreographed byHofesh Shechter, inspired by the original choreography of Jerome Robbins, and the music director will be Ted Sperling (The King and I, South Pacific). Check out highlights of the cast in action below!

Delaware Theatre Company serves up a musical adaptation of a classic film with the upcoming production of DINER, written by Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson with music and lyrics by nine-time Grammy Award-winner Sheryl Crow. Directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall, DINER earns a four week run at Delaware Theatre Company from December 2 and has already been extended through January 3, 2016. December 12, marked the official opening night.  Set in Baltimore during 1959, DINER follows a circle of childhood friends who confront the realities of adulthood in the one place they know they will always be welcome: the all-night diner.

THE GREAT COMET is currently playing a limited engagement (must end January 3, 2016) at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, where its innovative design has been expanded to bring the show's signature intimate staging to a traditional proscenium-style theatre. Let's see what the critics had to say...