Today in 2000, Aida opened at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 1852 performances. Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang. Aida was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four Tony Awards in 2000, including Best Musical Score and Best Performance by a Leading Actress. Aida was also named by Time Magazine in 2000 as one of the top ten theatre productions of the year. The First National tour was nominated for nine National Broadway Theatre awards (now 'Touring Broadway Awards') and won five awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Actor, and Best Actress.
The fifth production of the 2012 Hangar season is a true American classic, Horton Foote's The Trip to Bountiful. This intensely moving and riveting story of acceptance and coming home again will be directed by the Hangar's Associate Artistic Director Stephanie Yankwitt (Hangar's Rounding Third) and features a cast of local favorites including Susannah Berryman (Hangar's Penelope of Ithaca, The Chalk Circle, Cabaret, and The Rainmaker) and Jesse Bush (Hangar's Ever So Humble, Disney's Beauty and the Beast). The Trip to Bountiful will preview September 6, and run September 7 through September 15th.
The 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical MEMPHIS will play its final performance on Broadway today, August 5, 2012, after 30 previews and 1,166 regular performances. MEMPHIS opened on October 19, 2009 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street), having begun previews on September 23rd. BroadwayWorld takes you on a journey through the birth of rock 'n roll on Broadway with highlights from MEMPHIS' incredible run!
The producers of the 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical MEMPHIS announced today that the production will recoup its $12 million investment as of its final performance on Broadway on Sunday, August 5, 2012 after 30 previews and 1,166 regular performances. MEMPHIS opened on October 19, 2009 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street), having begun previews on September 23rd.
Tony Award winning Broadway composer and international rock star David Bryan has donated a 9 foot Steinway concert grand piano to the United States State Department Collection to be housed in the Benjamin Franklin Ballroom at the Harry S. Truman State Department Building in Washington, DC. As a founding member and keyboard player for Bon Jovi, Bryan has toured the world and shared his music with millions of people. The plaque that accompanies the State Department piano reflects Bryan's personal belief that "In the timeless celebration of music is that which brings us together, not separates us." That belief is also underscored in Bryan's Tony Award winning Best Musical MEMPHIS, playing through August 5th at Broadway's Shubert Theater and across America on a celebrated national tour.
Jeremy Kushnier (Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose), Eden Espinosa (Wicked, Brooklyn), Rachel York (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Victor/Victoria) and Jack Noseworthy (A Chorus Line, Sweet Smell of Success) lead the cast of New York Musical Theater Festival's 'Stealing Time,' the latest work of writers/composers Tor Hyams and Lisa Neubauer. 'Stealing Time' will play as a special event in the 2012 New York Musical Theater Festival at the PTC Performance Space. 'Stealing Time' is the second NYMF project for Hyams coming off the success of 'Greenwood' starring Andrea McArdle in the 2011 New York Musical Theater Festival.
BroadwayWorld brings you exclusive photos from last night at MEMPHIS. Tico Torres, the drummer for Bon Jovi, brought his family to the show to support his friend David Bryan. Check out photos of Torres with Montego Glover, Adam Pascal, Derrick Baskin, and James Monroe Iglehart below!
The producers of the off-Broadway production of Rent have announced that the musical will close after the performance on Sunday, September 9. The production will have played 32 previews and 450 performances.
Cape May Stage, South Jersey's premiere Equity theatre, is thrilled to launch another stellar season of their Second Stage Broadway Series with acclaimed star of stage and screen, Anthony Rapp in Anthony Rapp LIVE. On Monday, July 2nd at 8:00 p.m., Rapp brings his singular brand of cabaret to the Robert Shackleton Playhouse at the corner of Bank and Lafayette Streets in beautiful downtown Cape May.
Broadway and MEMPHIS star Adam Pascal stopped by Good Day New York this morning to treat audiences to a live performance of 'Memphis Lives in Me,' one of the show's most iconic numbers. Check out the performance and photos of Pascal's visit below!
The producers of the 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical MEMPHIS announced tonight that the production will play its final performance on Broadway on Sunday, August 5, 2012 after 30 previews and 1,166 regular performances. MEMPHIS opened on October 19, 2009 at Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44th Street), having begun previews on September 23rd.
Jeremy Kushnier (Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose), Eden Espinosa (Wicked, Brooklyn), Rachel York (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Victor/Victoria) and Jack Noseworthy (A Chorus Line, Sweet Smell of Success) lead the cast of New York Musical Theater Festival's 'Stealing Time,' the latest work of writers/composers Tor Hyams and Lisa Neubauer. 'Stealing Time' will play as a special event in the 2012 New York Musical Theater Festival at the PTC Performance Space. 'Stealing Time' is the second NYMF project for Hyams coming off the success of 'Greenwood' starring Andrea McArdle in the 2011 New York Musical Theater Festival.
Chocolate Factory Productions present a production of Anthony Rapp -WITHOUT YOU, based on Anthony Rapp's bestseller Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, beginning performances in Boston today, June 19th. The show, which is directed by Steve Maler, will continue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August and London's Menier Chocolate Factory until Septemeber 15.
Cape May Stage, South Jersey's premiere Equity theatre, is thrilled to launch another stellar season of their Second Stage Broadway Series with acclaimed star of stage and screen, Anthony Rapp in Anthony Rapp LIVE. On Monday, July 2nd at 8:00 p.m., Rapp brings his singular brand of cabaret to the Robert Shackleton Playhouse at the corner of Bank and Lafayette Streets in beautiful downtown Cape May.
Chocolate Factory Productions have announced a production of ANTHONY RAPP -WITHOUT YOU, based on Anthony Rapp's bestseller Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, to begin performances in Boston on Tuesday, June 19th. The show, which is directed by Steve Maler, will continue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August and London's Menier Chocolate Factory until Septemeber 15.
Today we are talking to a two-time Tony Award winning lyricist and book writer who was responsible for the 2010 Best Musical winner, MEMPHIS, and who has since written the libretto of the Gershwin revue NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET and received a well-earned Tony nomination for his efforts; one of the show's ten nods - Joe DiPietro. In this concluding portion of our conversation, DiPietro and I break down the process of creating NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT and he comments on the starry cast - including Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kaye and Estelle Parsons - and the process of collaboration in bringing the 2012 Tony Awards top nominee to the Broadway stage. Additionally, DiPietro fills us in on the future for THE TOXIC AVENGER and its tentative Broadway plans, as well as the upcoming West End mountings of MEMPHIS and, hopefully, NICE WORK - and, a look ahead to his next David Bryan collaboration, CHASING THE SONG, as well. Plus, a glance back at his work on I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT NOW CHANGE, F*CKING MEN and ALLEGRO and his favorite current pop acts.
Today we are talking to a two-time Tony Award winning lyricist and book writer who was responsible for the 2010 Best Musical winner, MEMPHIS, and who has since written the libretto of the Gershwin revue NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET and received a well-earned Tony nomination for his efforts; one of the show's ten nods - Joe DiPietro. Discussing the finer points of his many musicals with a special focus on the two currently running on Broadway - MEMPHIS and NICE WORK - DiPietro eloquently elaborates on the process of creating both shows and the challenges new musicals these days face on their developmental road to Broadway. Additionally, we discuss Montego Glover, Chad Kimball, Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Judy Kaye, Adam Pascal and the many other talented individuals onstage and off who have participated in the two hit productions treading the boards eight times a week. Besides the complete 411 on MEMPHIS in Part I and NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT in Part II, DiPietro also opens up about his new musical endeavor with Bon Jovi and MEMPHIS composer David Bryan, THE TOXIC AVENGER, and its star, Constantine Maroulis - and don't miss my exclusive interview with Constantine all about the most recent Alley Theater iteration of the show, available here. Plus, DiPietro shares fond remembrances of shows past - I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE, F*CKING MEN and ALLEGRO - and future - CHASING THE DREAM - and expresses his infectious enthusiasm for the theatrical arts in general by revealing his early theatre memories, favorite scores and general love for the art form. All of that and much, much more! In Part I, DiPietro and I analyze MEMPHIS and take a step-by-step look at its creation and the development of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical. Additionally, DiPietro shares his theatrical influences and the shows and scores that meant the most to him growing up. Plus, he shares his thoughts on GLEE, SMASH and the new movie musical era.
On Monday, May 28, YouTube sensation, chanteuse and high-end vocal coach Miranda Sings made her tenth sold-out concert appearance as part of the Broadway at Birdland series. Seth Rudetsky acted as musical director/pianist, jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein got some brush-up suggestions from 'violimnist' Miranda, and Adam Pascal, currently starring on Broadway in Memphis, subjected himself to the diva's sensitive and pitch-perfect critiques. As always, the show was filled with improvisation, a few hit songs, magic tricks, and dramatic readings of the lady's own hate mail. The wacked-out superstar (in reality, California native Colleen Ballinger) continues to perform her one-woman show in sold-out nightclubs and theaters in New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Dublin, and Sydney.
YouTube sensation, chanteuse and high-end vocal coach Miranda Sings is making her ninth concert appearance at Birdland tonight, May 28 at 7pm. This event is part of the Broadway at Birdland concert series, which showcases performers and composers from the Great White Way and environs.