Pat Cerasaro - Page 213

Last night I had the unbelievable treat of talking to one of the finest actors alive - whether playing to a select audience off-Broadway or to millions of moviegoers - Oscar-winning actor (and now film director), and a part of many of the finest films of the twenty-first century, the charming and compelling Philip Seymour Hoffman! In this exclusive interview, Hoffman candidly covers the many highlights of his stage and screen career in addition to providing a thorough discussion of his new film JACK GOES BOATING which opens in selected cities this month! It's like an acting class with a class act - and one hell of - of an actor. Whether you are a fan of Hollywood, Broadway or both this is an entertainment junkie's purple dragon dream interview made real!

Today, in this BWW Exclusive interview, we are investigating the iconic and incomparable career - in every arena of entertainment, as depicted in her PBS concert retrospective DIAHANN CARROLL: THE LADY, THE MUSIC, THE LEGEND - of Ms. Diahann Carroll. From the first African American Golden Globe winner, winning for the first network series to feature a fresh, non-Caucasian actress as the lead character, JULIA; to the co-starring in the films of George & Ira Gershwin's PORGY & BESS and Oscar Hammerstein's CARMEN JONES opposite the likes of Harry Belafonte and Sammy Davis Jr.; to her remarkable roles on Broadway in Harold Arlen and Truman Capote's HOUSE OF FLOWERS and Richard Rodgers's NO STRINGS all the way up to Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BLVD in the 1990s in Toronto - and that's not even mentioning her concert appearances everywhere in the world for the last fifty years as well as her lauded performance on USA's hit nighttime drama WHITE COLLAR, which she returns to this week. Also, don't forget her humanitarian work for breast cancer awareness! She has done it all, and blazed a new path for herself and everyone coming in her wake in order to do so. She is the lady. She is the music. She is the legend. She is Diahann Carroll - and what divinity that is.

Today I conducted an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary producer and director Harold Prince in which we discussed his singular career, having won more Tony Awards than any other person on the planet for his near one-hundred productions since his start as George Abbott's assistant producer over fifty years ago.

In this SATURDAY SPECIAL we are taking a look at the theatrics and antics of the truly Boss host - whether as the actual Boss, Bruce Springsteen, or in the haute couture Boss of Hugo - of this year's Emmy Awards, the host of his eponymous LATE NIGHT talk-show on NBC and an SNL alum from the Class of Tina Fey, as well as a movie star: Jimmy Fallon! Next week is big, brassy Broadway week on his show and there will be plenty kick-assery to witness - including the hottest, smartest and sexiest show of the season - but first things first. The many masterful - and never masturbatory, as is so often the case with hosts from TV - musical performances throughout the Emmys night were spot-on hilarity and a welcome respite from the usual lameness that deadens makes leaden award shows and that is due to Jimmy. Jimmy's jams - and awesome entrance - made the night alight! So, today we are highlighting the great GLEE-tastic Emmy opener - "Born To Run" - as well as a sampling of his many musical performances throughout the years, both on Saturday Night Live alongside everyone from Tina Fey to Robert De Niro to Justin Timberlake and on his own show LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON in a hilarious sing-off versus Amy Poehler! Plus: A bonus song with Jake Gyllenhaal!

This week we are taking a look at some past performances in everything from PARADE to THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW to a cut song from Disney's ALLADIN presented by the very subject of this week's SOUND OFF: All Good Things, West End leading man Stuart Matthew Price! Yesterday, BWW exclusively premiered a brand new Jason Robert Brown song, the album's title song, "All Things In Time", as well as some others from NEXT TO NORMAL and a brand new West End musical called IN TOUCH, so here is some fabulous video content to go with the astounding aural content of yore! Be sure to check out SOUND OFF: All Good Things if you haven't for a complete review and generous preview of the content of the solo debut of the decade! That was Thursday, this is Friday - time to do the time warp!

Today we have a super-special bonus in honor of the most smashing debut album so far this year, Stuart Matthew Price's ALL THINGS IN TIME in addition to the full rundown! To access this new landmark BWW Exclusive Premiere Player - featuring a sparkling, shiny new Jason Robert Brown anthem - simply activate the window embedded inside the review! Here - only at BWW - you can hear the stupendous title track which was written especially for this album by JRB, 'All Things In Time', as well as two songs from the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL, 'There‘s A World' and 'I'm Alive' by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt, in addition to an impossibly addictive pop confection called 'The Touch Of Love' from a new West End musical titled IN TOUCH by Dougal Irvine. Hopefully this sample will compel you to further partake in this treasure trove and pick up a copy of the complete album which also features songs by a number of new, up-and-coming composers personally accompanying the astounding leading man on many tracks! These three tracks are available to enjoy for only a limited time, so the time for all good things is undeniably right now! Catch a star on the rise and take a rocket ride to the SimG universe!

Today we are taking a listen and a look at the wildly imaginative music and lyrics of Nellie McKay. Her new album HOME SWEET MOBILE HOME drops this month and in this column you will find a sneak preview HD live performance capture of McKay performing her new hit single from the album, "Caribbean Time" in addition to some of her past triumphs. Mckay is in a class - and a world - all her own and the wit, charm and dexterity both in her compositional and performance abilities are truly awe-inspiring to behold whether you are a Broadway baby or a pop music fan - or virtually anyone else, for that matter. See if you don't agree! McKay is AOK!

Today we are taking a listen to the Original London Cast Recording of Jerry Mitchell's sexily studious stunner of a show, LEGALLY BLONDE, and the remarkable score by Laurence O'Keefe (of BAT BOY fame) along with his wife, an accomplished and gifted lyricist in her own right, Neil Benjamin. They are the strongest male/female composing team since Betty Comden and Adolph Green and LEGALLY BLONDE possesses one of the most sharply satirical, witty and effortlessly enjoyable and winning scores in decades, surely as good if not better than any score on Broadway right now. While critics and audiences were less than enraptured with it on Broadway, the MTV telecast and subsequent reality show casting the next Elle Woods - alongside the smash-hit national tours - bodes well for its future in the States. The West End production is ten times the success the show was on Broadway so Elle & Crew have finally arrived - and in style. It's the age of Elle! Plus, A BONUS: A review and link to a new song by another blonde bombshell in her own right, but a bit brainier one than Elle Woods: Nellie McKay! And a link to a download of her new single 'Caribbean Time'! Top hats off and a salutatory Dickensian 'ello' to Elle and Nellie!

Bringing together the subject of this week's InDepth InterView, Liza Minnelli, and this week's Sound Off, Stephen Sondheim, is today's Flashback Friday taking a look at some fantastically spectacular performances of Ms. Minnelli singing and words and music of Stephen Sondheim throughout the years. A song from FOLLIES given a Pet Shop Boys face-lift, a trip down MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG lane, a jazzy Mel Torme gem from DICK TRACY and a lot more than you could have ever wished for given the blazing talent and astonishing accomplishments of both legends. When Sondheim's intellectual artistry meets Liza's extroverted actorly introspection it is a combustible combination with the results more mind-blowing than you would ever even think possible even loving both! Indeed, both individuals are the very, very best of Broadway. So, see why when they meet it is pure Broadway magic.

Today we are taking a listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM starring Barbra Cook, Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams, Leslie Kritzer, Euan Morton and Norm Lewis and also taking a critical look back at his incredible, incomparable career. While the show onstage at Studio 54 as directed by James Lapine failed to catch fire or leave a big impression on critics or audiences, PS Classics went to the trouble to record a cast album preserving most of the show as it was seen so they deserve praise if only for that. There are some obscurities here - some college ditties, cut COMPANY finales, an abandoned GYPSY number - plus brand new, candid interviews with Sondheim himself as well as a shiny new Sondheim patter song written expressly for this revue titled 'God'. Never a more applicable song title could have come from Sondheim's pen when discussing - and poking fun at - his own career as the Brains Behind Broadway. Let's see how Sondheim in general, as well as this show, stack up on (the) record!

Last week I had a true Broadway baby's dream come true by having the thrill of interviewing not only one of the best interview subjects (check out her episode of INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO for further proof of that) but also one of the very greatest and most highly-rewarded stars in Hollywood and Broadway history, the recipient of the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, multiple Tony Awards and Hollywood Royalty like none other before or since: Miss Liza Minnelli. In this special preview of a much longer interview which will go live in a few weeks, we discuss her revealing and intimate new studio album CONFESSIONS featuring a riveting 'At Last', her impressions and opinions on Lady Gaga and Beyonce, as well as discussing her blockbuster HSN Liza Collection success, the recent Snickers commercial with Aretha Franklin, GLEE, and much, much more. Plus, some stories about her father, director of GIGI and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, Vincente Minnelli; as well as her mother, Judy Garland, by most accounts the greatest star in Hollywood history and as popular today as ever thanks to THE WIZARD OF OZ. Liza Minnelli has conquered every arena of entertainment and in the complete discussion she opens up and reveals fascinating, absorbing and electrifying new sides to her legendary, starry and incomparable career on stage and on screen.

This week, we are following in the steps of SOUND OFF and showcasing some other productions of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical that was just so rapturously received in both it's Tony-winning 2008 Broadway revival but also Wednesday night's Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of the final performance starring Kelli O'Hara and Tony-Award-winner Paulo Szot. It was a night beyond compare as far as live theatrical filmings go, and included will be a taste - as well as the tropical sights and sounds of some other iterations of the legendary musical. Check it out.

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.

Today, we have a SOUND OFF: Special Interview with the founding member of the Beach Boys himself, legendary performer, composer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson. In our candid conversation we discuss Disney approaching him to create an album of Gershwin music - some old, some new - using the inimitable sound created by Wilson for the verifiable rock n roll bible of the 60s, the album PET SOUNDS. We discuss the process of creating four new songs taking a cue from Gershwin's unfinished compositions - two of over a hundred left languishing! We also briefly talk about the Beach Boys songs that will be used on GLEE this season, what Broadway shows he has seen and liked, what the difference is between composing a score and writing a song, as well as much, much more. Start feeling these good vibrations in our chat and if you are so inclined be sure to pick up the album discussed that was released this week!

This week we are taking a look at the trailer for the upcoming movie musical BURLESQUE starring Cher and Christina Aguilera, as well as checking out two of Christina Aguilera's solo songs from the soundtrack - one classic Etta James cover featured in a new clip just released from the film and an especially exciting, entirely new composition 'Spotlight' written exclusively for Christina for the film - in the backstage tuner that is currently set to be released nationwide on Thanksgiving. The film also stars Stanley Tucci, Kristen Bell, Alan Cumming, Julianne Hough, Cam Gigandet, Peter Gallagher and Eric Dane. Though last Christmas brought the unfortunately unsuccessful $80-million-dollar NINE, perhaps this year's quotidian singular musical entertainment from Hollywood will fare far, far better - it certainly could not be much different in casting, content, style, tone or marketing from what we have seen so far and can see here! But, be forewarned: looks can be deceiving... and what deceptively delicious looks we have here to sample courtesy of Pussycat Dolls headmaster and director Steve Antin and BURLESQUE!

This week, in conjunction with SOUND OFF, we are taking a look at Sunday evening's starry West End salute to Stephen Sondheim which was broadcast in the UK on TV and everywhere on the BBC website, BBC PROMS: SONDHEIM AT 80. This unforgettable event stars Dame Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Bryn Terfel, Caroline O'Conner, Julian Ovenden, Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell and Simon Russell Beale singing selections from Sondheim's entire oeuvre - among them: "Send In The Clowns", "Broadway Baby", "Children Will Listen", "Move On" and "Side By Side". Dame Dench's recreation of her Desiree Armfeldt - a role currently essayed by Bernadette Peters who opened this week in the replacement cast of the Broadway revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, replacing Tony-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones - is merely impossibly elegant decoration on a decadently rich, rewarding, fulfilling and entertaining gateau of celebratory Sondheimian greatness. A piece of birthday cake like few others. Come see and hear some clips from it for yourself if you haven't already!

This week, we are taking a look at Sunday evening's starry West End salute to Stephen Sondheim which was broadcast in the UK on TV and everywhere on the BBC website, BBC PROMS: SONDHEIM AT 80. This unforgettable event stars Dame Judi Dench, Maria Friedman, Bryn Terfel, Caroline O'Conner, Julian Ovenden, Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell and Simon Russell Beale singing selections from Sondheim's entire oeuvre - among them: 'Send In The Clowns', 'Broadway Baby', 'Children Will Listen', 'Move On' and 'Side By Side'. Dame Dench's recreation of her Desiree Armfeldt - a role currently essayed by Bernadette Peters who opened this week in the replacement cast of the Broadway revival of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, replacing Tony-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones - is merely impossibly elegant decoration on a decadently rich, rewarding, fulfilling and entertaining gateau of celebratory Sondheimian greatness. A piece of birthday cake like few others. Come along and hear it for yourself if you haven‘t already!

Following in the fierce and fabulous footsteps of Ruthie Henshall's candid InDepth InterView with me this week, we are taking a look at some of her best work that has been preserved on DVD. From LES MISERABLES and "I Dreamed A Dream" to some Sondheim ala "Unworthy of Your Love" in a duet with John Barrowman from ASSASSINS via PUTTING IT TOGETHER, to some razzle dazzle from CHICAGO, to performing alongside Bernadette Peters at HEY! MR. PRODUCER in a song from GYPSY; Ruthie Henshall is in a class of her own and can light up any stage or screen, big or small. Watch and see - and watch her steps!

Today we are taking a listen to the new Sony Masterworks & Arkiv Music re-release of Marc Blitzstein's half-musical/half-opera REGINA, based on THE LITTLE FOXES by Lillian Hellman. A little bit like Adam Guettel's THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA or Michael John LaChiusa's MARIE CHRISTINE in that it defies any traditional definition or classification, it is a true masterpiece and a marvel of craftsmanship and creativity, whatever it is. Leonard Bernstein once called REGINA his favorite theatre score of all time and perhaps no other score of the period comes closest to the classical aspirations - actual accomplishment, actually - as much as Bernstein's own CANDIDE which he wrote with Lillian Hellman and John LaTouche seven years later, inspired by this show. This score virtually has it all: opera, jazz, Dixieland, blues, gospel spirituals, Victorian parlour songs, stirring symphonic sequences, stunning arias, glorious choral swell-ups, biting satirical anthems, cakewalks, recitative and some serious - seriously innovative - dialogue/song centerpiece scenes to all three acts of this operamusical. Whatever you want to call it: a triple-decker treat awaits!

Recently, I had the privilege of conducting an InDepth InterView with British belting triple-threat diva Ruthie Henshall, currently lighting up Broadway as Roxie in CHICAGO. She previously has played Velma both in the original London revival cast as well as on Broadway opposite Sandy Duncan in a highly-praised run nearly ten years ago. In this revealing discussion, we discuss her experiences working on CHICAGO on Broadway and in the West End, playing ensemble roles in the original productions of CHILDREN OF EDEN and MISS SAIGON, working with Bob Avian, Matthew Bourne, Carol Burnett, Kelsey Grammer and John Barrowman, as well as what roles on Broadway she wants to do next (clue: 'I Miss The Mountains') and her upcoming concerts in Australia and appearances at Feinstein's next year! Broadway has welcomed Ruthie back with open hearts and open arms - and why not? In her own words, she is the 'real deal!'