We're taking a look at the world inside a frame to celebrate World Photo Day with a look back at the Tony-winning musical The Bridges of Madison County, which focused on Francesca Johnson's relationship with a National Geographic photographer when he arrives in Iowa. Get a peek inside the show's Broadway rehearsals as stars Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale perform the show's song 'One Second and a Million Miles' with the video below!
The world is full of wonderful things! Analisa Leaming, currently Irene Molloy
on the first national tour of Hello, Dolly! has released Season Three of A Balancing Act.
This week, the beloved Jason Robert Brown musical The Bridges of Madison County celebrates the fifth anniversary of its Broadway opening at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre! In honor of the occasion, we're throwing it back to the show's Broadway rehearsals with current Kiss Me Kate star Kelli O'Hara, Steven Pasquale, and more singing the lush Tony Award winning score! Check out all of the footage below!
PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES is a Tony nominated 1981 musical written by the performance group of the same name. The group, Pump Boys and Dinettes, consisted of John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. The members also jointly directed and starred in the original Broadway production. The show is basically a series of standalone songs rather than a conventional story tied together with music. The book for this musical is very thin and really only exists to get to the next song. Each song represents some element of small-town life: the sacredness of fishing, the fun of owning a pair of "Drinkin Shoes," and other assorted blue collar tales including growing up with with their grandma, whom they called Mamaw. The company tosses off 21 short-form songs with performances that harken back to simpler, more straight forward times with good natured knee-slapping, song, dance and humor. They shatter the fourth wall by talking directly to the audience and eventually coming right out into it and the end result is a refreshing blast from the past.
A celebration of the life and Broadway legacy of Marin Mazzie took place at the Gershwin Theatre yesterday, October 25th, for friends, family and the theatre community. There were performances and testimonials from loved ones, including her husband, Jason Danieley, to pay tribute to the three-time Tony Award nominee who passed away on September 13th after a three-year tenacious struggle with ovarian cancer.
National New Play Network (NNPN), the country's alliance of professional theaters that collaborate in innovative ways to develop, produce, and extend the life of new plays, has added three new Core Members: Silk Road Rising (Chicago), Company One (Boston), and City Theatre Company (Pittsburgh). As of the date of this release, NNPN has 114 Members Theaters, comprised of 32 Cores and 82 Associates.
One thing's for sure - country musicals are an awful lot of fun. There aren't very many of them and, if you can name one at all, it's most likely THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS or THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. But there is another rarely produced gem that is just as enjoyable - PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES - the fun-loving retro revue written by its original cast (John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann).
PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES was my first Broadway musical, so it not only holds a special place in my heart, but I still remember most of the lyrics. Running for 577 performances in 1982-83 and earning a Tony nomination for Best Musical, PUMP BOYS was 'the little show that could' with just six cast members and a small set. But the characters and songs captured many fans who came out to relive the experience at Feinstein's/54 Below July 22.
Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
Next month, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Pump Boys And Dinettes: Reunion Concert featuring original cast/creators Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, Jim Wann,John Foley, and John Schimmel, with Bob Stillman. Pump Boys And Dinettes ran for 577 performances on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony for Best Musical in 1982. It was the first Broadway hit written and performed by Actor-Musicians and is considered a pioneering work in that regard. The London/West End production was nominated for an Olivier for Best Musical, 1985, and the Toronto version won Canada's Dora Award for Best Musical shortly after. Since then it has been produced across the country and around the world, became Chicago's longest-running musical for decades and remains a perennial favorite. This concert version will feature the entire score and is directed by JoAnn M. Hunter.
Birmingham musician and storyteller Norton Dill, of local favorite The Dill Pickers, headlines TNT's next offering, 'Pump Boys and Dinettes.' The musical is the fifth production of the theatre's 32nd season and runs April 19 through May 4.
Birmingham musician and storyteller Norton Dill, of local favorite The Dill Pickers, headlines TNT's next offering, "Pump Boys and Dinettes." The musical is the fifth production of the theatre's 32nd season and runs April 19 through May 4.
PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES is an amazing country musical with comedy and a talented cast who play their own instruments, telling the story, mostly through song. The Connecticut Cabaret Theatre, in Berlin, CT, has once again put together a first rate cast. For a night of great music and entertainment, I highly recommend PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES.
Artistic Director Carol Piersol and 5th Wall Theatre in partnership with The American Theatre in Hampton, Virginia are thrilled to announce their co-production of Pump Boys and Dinettes, a musical that brought the warmth and heartfelt storytelling of country music to Off-Broadway, Broadway, and West End audiences for years. Directed by Richard M. Parison, Jr., this show features a talented cast from Virginia and beyond that includes locals Mike Bamford, Rachel Marrs, and Desiree Roots along with New York performers Mike Cefalo and John Mervini as well as North Carolina performer Sean Powell with music direction by Storm Burks and choreography by Karen Getz. Pump Boys and Dinettes is set on a lonely stretch of Highway 57, where the Pump Boys -- Jackson, Jim, Eddie, and L.M. -- fill the gas tanks of weary travelers while the Cupp sisters, Rhetta and Prudie, serve up comfort food and slices of their famous homemade pie in the Double Cupp Diner next door. Together, they fashion an evening of down home country music delight with tales of both hilarity and heartbreak played on everything from guitars and pianos to kitchen utensils.
This week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
Memphis' original Broadway cast members Tony nominee Chad Kimball (Come From Away), Cass Morgan (The Bridges of Madison County), and J. Bernard Calloway (All The Way) came together for 54 SINGS MEMPHIS, a one night only concert at Feinstein's/54 Below last night, February 4th.
This February, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.
