Peter James Zielinski News

On Monday, January 26, 2009 8:00 pm at the Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, CBST Presents the New York Premier of William Finn's Songs of Innocence and Experience.

The works of Henrik Ibsen provide unique challenges for modern theater companies. This may be because of the complexities of his characters or the difficulties of getting an appealing translation of the playwright's original Norwegian prose. Happily the Roundabout Theater has faced both of these challenges and is currently presenting a compelling production of HEDDA GABLER at their elegant American Airlines Theater. Audiences realize they are about to witness something special when they see Hildegard Bechtler's atmospheric set bathed in the subtle and effective lighting of Natasha Katz. However, it is when Michael Cerveris makes his initial entrance that the audience realizes what an exceptional evening this HEDDA GABLER will be. Playing the intellectual writer Jorgen Tesman, Cerveris eschews a dour portrayal of an academic in favor of a character who is robust and certainly in love with his new bride, Hedda, who is stunningly portrayed in this version by Mary-Louise Parker. Cerveris' personal energy is immediately sensed by the audience and throughout the performance they could be detected sitting up or leaning forward whenever he was on stage. It is a masterful performance in every way and is met point-for-point by Ms. Parker. When these two actors are together on stage, the electricity is almost palpable.

The Broadway company of CHICAGO is pleased to announce details for the February installment of 'Talkback Tuesdays,' the unique new series offering post-show discussions and audience Q&A sessions with past and present members of the Broadway company of the record-breaking hit musical. Designed to provide theatergoers with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of CHICAGO, the February 'Talkback Tuesdays' offering is set for Tuesday, February 10, 2009, featuring a post-show conversation with Tony Award winner and original Velma Kelly, Bebe Neuwirth. For her performance as Velma Kelly, Neuwirth won the 1997 Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Fred Astaire Award. A decade after originating the role of Velma on Broadway, Neuwirth returned to CHICAGO to great acclaim in the role of Velma's rival, merry murderess Roxie Hart.

Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words continues its sit-down, open-ended run at the Triad Theater, 158 West 72 Street, Monday, January 26, at 7:30pm, with a cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Jackie Hoffman, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Urie, and Alan Zweibel. The comedy sensation Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words features a line-up of rotating performers who interpret the actual words and stories written by the famous and the infamous, in both solo and ensemble 'chamber' pieces. Some of the 'authors' that are featured include Ivana Trump, Vanna White, Mr. T, Star Jones, Kenny Loggins, Tommy Lee, Sylvester Stallone, 'N Sync, Zsa Zsa Gabor, David Cassidy, Neil Sedaka, Britney Spears, Madonna, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, as well as the infamous memoirs of Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, which are edited together to create a Rashomon-esque playlet in the participants' own words.

Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's new play 'Love, Loss, and What I Wore' will be given six benefit readings on Monday evenings, starting on February 2nd. The play, directed by Karen Carpenter, is about clothes and the memories they trigger. It is based on the book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. The play is currently in development. The cast of five women will alternate each week and will be revealed at curtain time. Already set and committed to perform (based on scheduling) are: Tyne Daly, Blythe Danner, Kristen Johnston, Sarah Jones, Rosie O'Donnell, Parker Posey, Karyn Quackenbush, Rondi Reed, Kristen Schaal, Marlo Thomas, and Joyce Van Patten.

Sandra Bernhard (I'm Still Here... Damn It!, TV's 'Rosanne'), Florence Henderson (Fanny, TV's 'The Brady Bunch'), Maureen McGovern (Little Women, Nine) and Ron Palillo (Hot L. Baltimore, TV's 'Welcome Back, Kotter') will be performing at Broadway Backwards this year, joining previously announced performers Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, All Shook Up), Tony Award nominee Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Kate Reinders (Good Vibrations, Gypsy; one-half of TASTiSKANK) and Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy, A Chorus Line), Mario Cantone (Assassins, TV's 'Sex and the City'), Alan Cumming (Cabaret), Gina Gershon (Cabaret, Showgirls), Whoopi Goldberg (Producer: Thoroughly Modern Millie, TV's 'The View'), Aaron Lazar (Les Mis?rables), Megan Mullally (Young Frankenstein, How to Succeed in Business..., TV's 'Will & Grace'), Jai Rodriguez (TV's 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' Rent), Christopher Sieber (Spamalot), John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), Marty Thomas (Xanadu); and TV's 'Ugly Betty' stars Becki Newton and Michael Urie. Joining the roundup on Monday, February 9, 2009 as Host will be Jim Caruso, who recently appeared alongside Liza Minnelli in Liza's At The Palace!, singing, dancing and celebrating the music and arrangements of the late Kay Thompson and the Williams Brothers. And for the past six years, Jim Caruso has hosted a Monday night showbiz bash called 'Jim Caruso's Cast Party,' which was honored with a New York Nightlife Award, as was his Broadway at Birdland concert series.

Casting has been announced for Si Kahn and Amy Merrill's romantic musical comedy, Silver Spoon, which will be presented in two industry readings at Chelsea Studios on Wednesday, January 21 at 3:00pm and 7:00pm. David Glenn Armstrong directs Broadway veterans Nick Wyman (A Tale of Two Cities, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sly Fox, Phantom, Les Mis?rables) and Madeleine Doherty (The Producers, Les Mis?rables) as two mismatched potential lovers. Wyman and Doherty occasionally appeared together in the original Broadway production of Les Mis?rables as the Th?nardiers and also played their Silver Spoon roles in an earlier reading at the York Theatre. Sandy Rustin (I See London I See France, Election Day, Modern Orthodox, I Love You, You're Perfect...) and Zal Owen (Ogunquit's Fiddler, High School Musical, Les Mis?rables) complete the four-person cast as young lovers from opposite sides of the East River. Ken Clifton (former resident musical director at Ogunquit and the Riverside Theatre) is the Musical Director/Arranger. Silver Spoon is a love story about the dividing lines of heritage and class - can true love span the elite reaches of the Upper East Side into the heart of pro-labor Brooklyn in 1960's New York? Two rebellious young lovers take a wild leap of faith against the outrageous protestations of their families.

The Broadway company of CHICAGO is pleased to announce additional offerings for its expanded 'Talkback Tuesdays' program, the new series offering a post-show discussion and audience Q&A session with members of the Broadway company of the record-breaking hit musical. Designed to provide theatergoers with an exclusive, behind-the-scenes glimpse into the world of CHICAGO, the nlast 'Talkback Tuesdays' on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 offered a chat with Tony Award winner and the revival's original Amos Hart, Joel Grey. BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to capture the post show razzle dazzle! Tickets for performances are available by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased in-person at the Ambassador Theatre Box Office, located at 219 W. 49th St. Regular Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Now celebrating twelve glorious years of girls, glitz and glamour on the Great White Way, the record-breaking smash hit musical CHICAGO is currently the eighth longest-running production in Broadway history, as well as Broadway's longest-running musical revival...and it shows no sign of ever slowing down!

Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu, All Shook Up), Tony Award nominee Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Kate Reinders (Good Vibrations, Gypsy; one-half of TASTiSKANK) and Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy, A Chorus Line) have just been added to the roster of performers to be featured in Broadway Backwards 4, joining previously announced performers Mario Cantone (Assassins, TV's 'Sex and the City'), Alan Cumming (Cabaret), Gina Gershon (Cabaret, Showgirls), Whoopi Goldberg (Producer: Thoroughly Modern Millie, TV's 'The View'), Aaron Lazar (Les Mis?rables), Megan Mullally (Young Frankenstein, How to Succeed in Business..., TV's 'Will & Grace'), Jai Rodriguez (TV's 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,' Rent), Christopher Sieber (Spamalot), John Tartaglia (Avenue Q), Marty Thomas (Xanadu); and TV's 'Ugly Betty' stars Becki Newton and Michael Urie.

The contest to replace the 'George Bush' line in the finale 'For Now' in the Tony Award-winning musical AVENUE Q (on Broadway at the Golden Theatre and on national tour) resulted in over 2,000 entries from contest participants coast-to-coast in the United States, as well as from overseas in Brazil, Australia, Ukraine and Israel, to name a few. On Friday, January 15th, the winners were revealed in a special press event, the entire Avenue Q gang was there and so was BroadwayWorld! AVENUE Q -- which opened on Broadway in 2003 and six years later continues to entertain audiences on Broadway (at the Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45 St.), on national tour and in London's West End -- concludes with the musical number 'For Now,' which reminds us that 'everything in life is only for now,' including 'sex, your hair and George Bush.' The contest (conducted Dec. 22, 2008 to Jan. 12, 2009) invited the general public to submit suggestions for a new lyric to replace 'George Bush' as he will leave the office of President of the United States on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009 and forfeit his spot as a lyric in a hit Broadway show, as well.

Casting has been announced for Si Kahn and Amy Merrill's romantic musical comedy, Silver Spoon, which will be presented in two industry readings at Chelsea Studios on Wednesday, January 21 at 3:00pm and 7:00pm. David Glenn Armstrong directs Broadway veterans Nick Wyman (A Tale of Two Cities, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Sly Fox, Phantom, Les Mis?rables) and Madeleine Doherty (The Producers, Les Mis?rables) as two mismatched potential lovers. Wyman and Doherty occasionally appeared together in the original Broadway production of Les Mis?rables as the Th?nardiers and also played their Silver Spoon roles in an earlier reading at the York Theatre. Sandy Rustin (I See London I See France, Election Day, Modern Orthodox, I Love You, You're Perfect...) and Zal Owen (Ogunquit's Fiddler, High School Musical, Les Mis?rables) complete the four-person cast as young lovers from opposite sides of the East River. Ken Clifton (former resident musical director at Ogunquit and the Riverside Theatre) is the Musical Director/Arranger. Silver Spoon is a love story about the dividing lines of heritage and class - can true love span the elite reaches of the Upper East Side into the heart of pro-labor Brooklyn in 1960's New York? Two rebellious young lovers take a wild leap of faith against the outrageous protestations of their families.

Keen Company (Artistic Director Carl Forsman, Executive Director Wayne Kelton) is thrilled to present John Cullum, Jonathan Hogan and Tony Roberts in the New York premiere of Heroes, by G?rald Sibleyras with a translation by Tom Stoppard and directed by Carl Forsman. Heroes received the 2006 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. Performances begin on Tuesday, February 24 and run through April 11 at The Clurman Theatre / Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues. Opening is scheduled for Sunday, March 8. An evocative comedy about three World War I veterans living in a veterans' home who plot a new assault - a trip to a stand of poplar trees in the distance. But should they bring the stone dog with them? Author G?rald Sibleyras calls Heroes a play 'about the universal desire to escape the confines of life.' Winner of London's Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2006 and Paris' Moliere Award for Outstanding Comedy in 2003, Keen presents its New York debut.

The following statement has just been released to the media by Jeremy Piven's publicist. Stay tuned to BroadwayWorld.com for future updates as they become available.

Variety reports that Philip Seymour Hoffman has picked the film he'll be doing for his directorial debut, Overture Films' 'Jack Goes Boating,' an adaptation of Bob Glaudini's Off Broadway play in which he'll also star. 'Gone Baby Gone' star Amy Ryan will co-star opposite Hoffman, while John Ortiz and Daphne Rubin-Vega will reprise their roles from the stage production. 'Jack Goes Boating' premiered at Hoffman and Ortiz's LAByrinth Theater Co. in 2007. Press notes described the play as 'laced with cooking classes, swimming lessons and a smorgasbord of illegal drugs, 'Jack Goes Boating' is a story of date panic, marital meltdown, betrayal and the prevailing grace of the human spirit'.

Tony Award-winners Nathan Lane and Anika Noni Rose are set to participant in The Vineyard Theatre's star-studded tribute to Tony Award-winning actress Marian Seldes and The Union Square Partnership at the theatre's annual gala on Monday, February 9th at 6 PM at The Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza, 65th floor) in Manhattan. The Gala, which will benefit the Vineyard Theatre, one of the nation's leading theatres devoted to producing new works, will include salutations to Ms. Seldes -- who originated her role in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play THREE TALL WOMEN in 1993 at The Vineyard -- and celebrate its theme of community spirit and neighborhood involvement by also honoring The Union Square Partnership. Nathan Lane, who will host the evening, starred opposite Ms. Seldes Off-Broadway in Terrence McNally's DEDICATION, OR THE STUFF OF DREAMS. Mr. Lane is best-known for his Tony Award-winning performances in THE PRODUCERS, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM, and LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!. Anika Noni Rose, who received an Obie Award for her work in the musical ELI'S COMIN' at The Vineyard, won a Tony Award for her performance in CAROLINE, OR CHANGE, and co-starred with Beyonce Knowles and Jennifer Hudson in the film version of 'Dreamgirls,' is set to perform.

Jeremy Piven has been talking mercury poisoning for the past number of days and he'll continue his toxicity talking points tour on tomorrow's GOOD MORNING AMERICA between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Jeremy Piven claimed he was too sick with 'mercury poisoning' to show up for his Broadway show and abruptly left the production under a cloud of questions and mystery. In a Dec. 18 statement the play's producers gave a statement regarding the Piven exit, 'We have been advised by Jeremy Piven's medical representatives that he is seriously ill and is unable to fulfill his contractual obligation to Speed-the-Plow. Consequently, he has left the production ten weeks early.'

The New York Times presented a starry line up of guests for the Eighth Annual Arts & Leisure Weekend, Jan. 8 to 11. The Times's signature event is a four-day international celebration of the arts with a wide range of activities, from interviews between Times journalists and celebrated guests from the arts, film, music, media and politics, to special offers at cultural institutions around the world. All TimesTalk events are held at TheTimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street. BWW was there as the HAIR family met the press.

Composer and lyricist Scott Alan will return to Birdland on January for a concert featuring a starry line-up of Broadway performers. The January 12th performance will feature selections from Alan's debut CD, 'Dreaming Wide Awake' and his recently released CD 'Keys.' Scheduled to appear at the 7pm concert include: Lisa Brescia, Heidi Blickenstaff, Jenn Colella, Erin Davie, Sutton Foster, Hadley Fraser, Nikki M. James, Marcus Paul James, Kenita Miller, Lauren Thomas, Katie Thompson, Natalie Weiss and The Broadway Boys.

On Monday, January 12, from 7pm - 10pm, the New York Company of WICKED will host DEFYING INEQUALITY, a special benefit dance party and performance promoting equality and civil rights. Held at The Gershwin Theatre Lobby, 222 West 51st Street, and featuring cast members from WICKED as well as special guest performers, this special one-night-only event will benefit Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality California, Garden State Equality and Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force.

The 92nd Street Y announces casting for the 2009 season of Lyrics & Lyricists, the Y's legendary American Songbook series. Polly Bergen, Lucie Arnaz, Tom Wopat and Marilyn Maye are among the storied cast members who will sing the songs of Richard Rodgers, Ira Gershwin, Mel Torm?, DeSylva, Brown & Henderson, David Zippel and others. This is the first season curated by new series artistic director DEBORAH GRACE WINER, and her inaugural line-up of guest artistic directors - MARTIN CHARNIN, DAVID ZIPPEL, ROBERT KIMBALL, REX REED, and BILLY STRITCH.