Goodspeed Musicals kicks off its 2014 season at the Goodspeed Opera House with the home run hit Damn Yankees. Goodspeed brings a unique New England flavor to its production, setting it in 1955 Boston and pitting the storied Yanks against the beloved Boston Red Sox. This ace musical comedy will run from April 11 - June 21 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. Damn Yankees will be sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. David F. Frankel and Bank of America.
A private industry reading of 26 Pebbles, a new play written and directed by Eric Ulloa, will be held December 13 at Playwrights Horizons Studios at 2pm. The reading will be held on the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Tragedy.
Let's start off this week's installment with a simple math lesson, shall we? Goodspeed Musicals, celebrating their 50th Anniversary, had a reunion celebration in New York City at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center. Knowing how many shows are put up between the main stage and Norma Terris season and how many actors/creative teams/technicians are used for each production, can anyone guess how many people took over LCT that exciting Monday night? Who said that?! Yes, you are right...over 500 people, representing 120 shows, spanning all 50 years, were in attendance to catch up and celebrate the greatness that Goodspeed Musicals has meant to the musical theatre world. If you grew up loving musicals, knew cast members from every Broadway show from 1990 on up and playing your cast recording CD's until they skipped, you would have been a pig in...well, you know what.
Last installment, I left you with word of a surprise this week that I wouldn't tell you until today. Never in a million years did I think the week would end up the way it has and that I would have so so so so much to bring you…but alas, I do.
This revival is a sweet romance made delightful by Nolte's portrayal of Tony Esposito and a strong performance from Mamie Parris as his love interest, Rosabella.
There is a moment that all singers dread while auditioning. It doesn't happen too often, but when it comes, there is no stopping your pulse racing or the eventual formation of lower back/ butt crack sweat.
This week has been out of control busy. Since we are still in previews, the show is still changing and that means rehearsals by day and then shows at night (plus matinees). Much like the phrase 'twerking', we are tired and in need of being used less. That's the job though, and the end product and successful run is the reward waiting for us.
Goodspeed Musicals will transport audiences to beautiful Napa Valley with its production of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella. This all-new production of the beloved musical that Goodspeed sent to Broadway in 1991 will run from September 20 - December 1 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. The Most Happy Fella will be sponsored by Connecticut Light and Power. BroadwayWorld has a first look at highlights below!
Standing backstage in the wings of the theatre, you begin to notice that your pulse has increased and you're a little sweaty despite the freezing AC coming down on you. 'Rosabella' is singing the last 16 bars of 'Somebody, Somewhere' and you can feel the vibration of the automation kicking in that will soon roll the diner off and take the audience from San Francisco to the Napa Valley. You check and recheck that your prop comb is in your pocket and that your prop newspaper is tucked into your waistband and ready for use. The actors next to you are doing similar actions, whether checking their own props or running lines in their head, looking at times like a manic person on the New York City subway talking to themselves. The song ends and since the scrim is down in front of you, you only hear muffled applause, therefore unable to gauge how things have gone these first 15 minutes of the show. The scrim lifts, the lights blare into your eyes and you see the once vacant seats now full of strangers who have paid to have a great evening of theatre. The time has finally arrived…ladies and gentlemen, it's time for your first preview.
There is a high holy day each week, where actors pause to relax and reflect on everything that has happened the 6 days prior…and thy name is Monday. So, with excitement for the blessed days arrival, the cast of The Most Happy Fella had their first run through for the show designers, producers and staff this past Sunday. Up until this point we have been blocking the individual scenes and numbers, not really aware of what the full journey would feel like. I knew the scenes and numbers I was in, that I had set transition assignments and that my chest seized up every time I finished dancing "Big D," but I had no idea what/how it all came together. Like Amanda Bynes to a ratty wig, we actors need an audience to really feel it all come together and add in that new element that we hadn't felt thus far.
Goodspeed Musicals will transport audiences to beautiful Napa Valley with its production of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella. This all-new production of the beloved musical that Goodspeed sent to Broadway in 1991 will run from September 20 - December 1 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. The Most Happy Fella will be sponsored by Connecticut Light and Power. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek below!
Goodspeed Musicals will transport audiences to beautiful Napa Valley with its production of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella. This all-new production of the beloved musical that Goodspeed sent to Broadway in 1991 will run from September 20 - December 1 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. The Most Happy Fella will be sponsored by Connecticut Light and Power.
FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area. An hour-long version of the concert will premiere tonight, July 18 at 10 p.m on WLIW21, Friday, July 26 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN and CPTV, and Tuesday, July 30 at 10 p.m. on NJTV. 'From Broadway With Love' was a concert of healing for the Newtown community where composers, musicians and more than 100 stars of Broadway came together with over 300 students from several Newtown dance groups, the Sandy Hook Elementary School 3rd and 4th grades and the Newtown High School Chamber Choir.
The Glimmerglass Festival's Alice Busch Opera Theater stage was alight Saturday night with the opening of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot. This musical adaptation of T.H. White's The Once and Future King tells the story of King Arthur, his wife Guenevere and faithful friend Sir Lancelot, as they all struggle to preserve their kingdom's grand, romantic ideals against the will of fate. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.
FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook?, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will soon be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area.
The Gallery Players, now in its 46th season, will start off the New Year with Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown's PARADE, running January 26 to February 17, 2013. Tony Award winner for Best Book and Best Score in 1999, PARADE is based on the true events of the 1913 trial of Leo Frank, a Jewish man from Brooklyn who runs a pencil factory in Marietta, Georgia. Frank is accused of the murder of 13-year old Mary Phagan, a factory worker under his employ. Already guilty in the eyes of everyone around him, a sensationalist publisher, determined district attorney and a janitor's false testimony seal Leo's fate. His only defenders are a governor with a conscience, and eventually, his assimilated Southern wife who finds the strength and love to become his greatest champion. 2013 marks the 100th anniversary of the crime.
Check out a behind the scenes look at the show with the cast and creative team below!
