2018 brought in a number of popular shows and events from the stages of Philadelphia and suburbs, right down to the Jersey Shore. Wish I could have seen them all. However, www.broadwayworld.com was there to see so many amazing people and creative teams bring out their best as my BWW colleagues also weigh in on their favorites. It was a difficult to choose from so many great offerings. So here are my picks.
Bay Area Cabaret kicks off the new year welcoming back Tony-nominated Broadway star Carmen Cusack on Sunday, January 20 at 5:00 p.m. Ms. Cusack returns to the Venetian Room with an evening celebrating her favorite songs and the artists behind them including singer/songwriters past and present like Joni Mitchell, Dolly Parton, Kate Bush and Kimbra, plus she'll offer a sampling of original tunes and Broadway selections.
Lyric Theatre promises to take patrons on a journey next season from the plains of Nebraska to the steps of the White House and from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood to the deck of an infamous cruise liner.
Producing Artistic Director Ethan Paulini has announced Bright Star as the fifth show in the 2019 54th Season. Bright Star joins the rotating repertory on August 1. Based on a true story, this folk, bluegrass and country flavored musical is funny and heartwarming. Written by Oscar, Emmy and Grammy winner Steve Martin and Grammy winner Edie Brickell, Bright Star was nominated for five 2016 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Weathervane is pleased to present the regional premiere following it's recent Broadway run and hit National Tour. Paulini will direct. This title joins the already announced Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill and Sister Act. Cast, creative team and a full schedule will be announced shortly. Season 54 officially opens on July 6 with the annual Bubble and Squeak. Performances continue for 8 weeks through August 31 culminating in audience favorite Best Of. Other programming including Patchwork Players, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Happy Thanksgiving! This week, the Broadwaysted Crew is thankful for the return of one of our faves: The Other Josh Cohen's Hannah Elless! We're brunching with Hudson Whiskey and Montelobos Mezcal while Hannah spills about her inspiring journey with The Other Josh Cohen, her upcoming return to one of the title characters in 2019's Paper Mill Playhouse mounting of Benny & Joon, and the Schmackary's cookie flavors that describe the Broadwaysted Crew.
Carmen Cusack has been cast in the Mister Rogers film, starring Tom Hanks, according to Deadline. Cusack will play the longtime Mister Rogers' Neighborhood producer, Margy.
Steve Martin's and Edie Brickell's Bright Star played Broadway in 2016. The show fared somewhat well, but did not seem to be an overall critics' choice. On the minus side, it is an all too familiar story about a backwoods pregnant girl and parental abuse in the 1920s, with far-fetched resolutions and a sweet, but for many, saccharine ending. In spite of this, I was delighted with the bluegrass music by Martin and Brickell.
Comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short will perform at the Washington Pavilion in "Now You See Them, Soon You Won't," on Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale starting October 24, 2018.
Bright Star is a bluegrass musical with a big heart. Written by banjo-playing renaissance man Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, the show is set in the hills of North Carolina in the 1940s with flashbacks in the 1920s. It is at times playful and at others steeped in nostalgia. There's a large ensemble cast with a full bluegrass band onstage providing live music. The set is simple, with movable pieces on wheels and straightforward staging. The result is an absolutely delightful show.
The heart of NYC's theatre district will be filled with Broadway stars, fans and unmissable theatrical treasures this Sunday, September 30, 2018, for the 32nd Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction, produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The Phoenix Theatre is starting out the 2018/19 season with a sweet-and-simple yet imaginative musical that will tug at your heart strings. Bright Star is written by Steve Martin, the 2005 recipient of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Martin's incredible writing meets the beautiful and heartfelt music of folk-rock musician Edie Brickell in this sweet new musical with an old-school sensibility. Set in and around enchanting Asheville, North Carolina, Bright Star captures the vitality and power of the post- World War II with an occasional flashback to the early 1920s. Told with emotional truth through Martin's elegantly simple story and Brickell's marvelous music,
Jump start your ultimate theatrical treasure hunt as early bidding opens today on dozens of auction items you can't get anywhere except at the 32nd Annual Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction.
Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) opens its 2018-19 season with Frank Galati's award-winning adaptation of John Steinbeck's, "The Grapes of Wrath." Gary English will direct. Performances will be held in the Harriet S. Jorgenson Theatre from October 4th through October 14th, 2018. For tickets and information please visit crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486-2113.
Musical Theatre West's 2018-2019 season opens with the regional theatre premiere of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's bluegrass musical Bright Star at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center, October 19 - November 4. Tickets are now on sale at www.musical.org, by calling (562) 856-1999 ext. 4, or at the Musical Theatre West ticket office. Tickets start at $20 for select evening performances.
One person's corn is another person's bounty in this country tale that transports and transforms its audience in a heart tugging tale.
Longtime comedians Steve Martin and Martin Short will appear at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts for a one night, pavilion-only show today, September 1, 2018. The show, 'An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life,' will include stand-up, film clips, musical numbers and conversations about their lives in show business. Martin and Short will be joined by the Grammy Award-winning bluegrass band The Steep Canyon Rangers and renowned jazz pianist and Jimmy Kimmel Live band member Jeff Babko.
Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Steve Steiner, presents Bright Star for its NEW JERSEY PREMIER! Featuring the Grammy-nominated score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. Set in the American South of the 1920s and '40s.,BRIGHT STAR won the 2016 Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. It also received five 2016 Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Lead Actress in a Musical, and Best Orchestrations.
Following an exciting kickoff at Bryant Park, the Carnegie Hall Citywide free concert series continues this fall with a vocal recital and jazz in Manhattan, Cuban son and Greek dance in Brooklyn, Afrobeat and Afro-Cuban music in the Bronx, and honky-tonk and Broadway hits in Queens. The series, now entering its 43rd year, brings leading artists and rising stars to all five boroughs of New York City.
Today's subject Rob Berman is currently living his Theatre Life as the Musical Director for the world premiere of Dave at Arena Stage. The production, based on the 1993 film and directed by Tina Landau, runs through August 19th in Arena Stage's Kreeger Theatre space.
Legendary songwriter, recording artist and performer Paul Simon will release his 14 th studio album - In The Blue Light - on September 7. Produced by Simon and Roy Halee, who have worked together since the 1960s, the album features a talented cast of musicians who have joined Simon to lend fresh perspectives on 10 of the artist's favorite (though perhaps less-familiar) songs, drawn from his unparalleled body of work.
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