Leave It to Me! - 1938 - Broadway Articles Page 3

It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that on Tuesday night, February 16, Music City officially fell in love with Motown. Berry Gordy's musical is the stuff of legend and, as it takes us from 1983 all the way back to 1938 and back again, you can't help but be impressed by the ambitious young man's rise to preeminence; his story is the American dream come true and Gordy's impact on pop culture and the very fiber of our nation's history cannot be overstated - it's a story that resonates in Nashville to be certain.

Even though the movement may have been slowed down by the recent Ohio election, the march toward legalization of marijuana seems on its way in this country.

There's the definite feeling of autumn in the air that makes you want to gut a pumpkin or at least have a pumpkin spice latte, chances are you are definitely going to need a sweater in the early morning hours, and it's past the perfect time for you to pick out a Halloween costume. Luckily, theater companies are well into their new seasons and there's plenty of shows to entertain you while you take time off from berating yourself for wearing that same tricked-out Star Wars costume you wore the past fwo-and-one-half years.

We're back! After an extended absence due to The Last Five Years (we directed it to boffo notices from our critical colleagues), The 2015 First Night Honors (which played to SRO crowds at Chaffin's Barn in September) and a sense of overwhelming malaise and ennui (we are ever so dramatic at times), BWW Nashville's Critic's Choice is back on the interwebs, offering you our insights and advice on the shows that are coming up and what you should try to find time to see - or to avoid at all costs, depending on our perspective.

One of Stephen Schwartz's failures The Baker's Wife, which toured extensively across the US in 1976 but never made it to Broadway, had a cast recording with Patti LuPone, Paul Sorvino and Teri Ralston and has had a few revivals including the UK. Why did it bomb? It's a simple, sweet show with a lovely message about human connection and a few pretty ballads, especially the hit 'Meadowlark', but there's a spark missing, nothing really exciting to get people into the seats; it's most definitely not commercial enough for Broadway. Based on the 1938 French film La Femme du Boulanger, that may be the main reason that the show is rarely performed. Now onstage at Actors co-op, Baker's Wife is mounted scrumptiously with terrific direction from Richard Israel and a superlatively cast ensemble.

Pearl Buck, the Nobel Prize winning author, once wrote that 'if you want to understand today, you have to search yesterday.' Which is what Australian Ballet Artistic Director David McAllister has attempted with his new production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, which will premiere in Melbourne, Australia, on September 15 2015, before touring to Perth from October 7-10, and Sydney from November 17-December 16.

It has been confirmed that June Winters, widow of legendary songwriter and record producer Hugo Peretti, and famous in her own right as the "Lady in Blue" on both radio and records, died March 29 of natural causes at her home in Bergenfield, NJ.

Motown: The Musical - a snapshot of one of the most successful musical era driven by one man with big dreams: Berry Gordy

PITTSBURGH – Performing in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1977, Randy Newman, whose music speaks to multiple generations, closes the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Summer with the Symphony: Today Night Icons series tonight, July 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall.

PITTSBURGH – Performing in Pittsburgh for the first time since 1977, Randy Newman, whose music speaks to multiple generations, closes the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's Summer with the Symphony: Thursday Night Icons series on July 30 at 7:30 p.m. at Heinz Hall.

Do your parents tango and sword fight? Can your uncle electrify lightbulbs just by touch? Does your grandmother peddle potions? You might just be an Addams. Welcome to the darkly delirious world of Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley, and, of course, Lurch. The Addams Family turns the concept of the ideal American family on its head in The Arundel Barn Playhouse production of The Addams Family.

Do your parents tango and sword fight? Can your uncle electrify lightbulbs just by touch? Does your grandmother peddle potions? You might just be an Addams. Welcome to the darkly delirious world of Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley, and, of course, Lurch. The Addams Family turns the concept of the ideal American family on its head in The Arundel Barn Playhouse production of The Addams Family.

The Program Launch for the second half of 2015 shows that the Independent Music Theatre team comprising Luckiest Productions (David Campbell, Lisa Campbell and Richard Carroll), Neglected Musicals (Michelle Guthrie), and Neil Gooding Productions, the driving force behind Hayes Theatre Company, have no intention of slowing down are staying true to their vision to provide a permanent home for small-scale musical theatre and cabaret.

According to Deadline, Mary Martin's 1960 Tony Award, which she earned for her performance in The Sound of Music, was purchased at auction today for $35,000. The trophy (which was one of four that she earned throughout her career onstage) came Boston's RR Auction as a part of the estate of Martin's son, Larry Hagman, who passed away in 2012 from complications of acute myeloid leukemia.

In a two-reviews-in-one column critiquing shows from last March, my esteemed editor, Stephen Hanks quoted the poet Robert Browning: “A man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?” Hanks pointed out that Browning's famous line is about setting goals, striving, and ambition, all of which are commendable desires. But, alas, in this particular review he felt the two singers in question “fell short.” One of those singers was Shana Farr and the show she has been performing throughout the past year, In The Still of the Night: Music of Noel Coward and Cole Porter. So here we are a year later, immersed in the revelry of the 2015 award season celebrating excellence in cabaret, and Farr's uniquely theatrical homage to Coward and Porter has recently won her the 2015 Bistro Award for “Outstanding Concept Show.” In spite of my editor's previous reservations about this show, he was open to hearing another perspective—whether positive or negative—so off to the Laurie Beechman Theatre I ventured on the last day of February to find out for myself whether Shana's show was truly award-worthy. Sorry, oh editor of mine, but you might have missed the boat on this one.

The New Black Fest, a theater organization celebrating provocative storytelling, music and discussion from the African Diaspora, is proud to announce The New Black Fest at The Lark.

Written by Rodgers and Hart back in 1938 simply because a musical had never been based on a Shakespeare play before, 'The Boys From Syracuse' is the musical telling of The Comedy of Errors, packed with fun, mischief and playful tunes.

Perry Beekman sings and plays Cole Porter today, October 4th at 9:30 pm at The Metropolitan Room.

When it comes to American Theatre from the 1930s, one of the leading writing duos was George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. This pair is integral in the development of Modern American Theatre. They are often studied in survey courses that chart the progression of the art form, as most agree that together they wrote some of America's favorite comedies. Their hilarious and heartwarming 1936 play YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU premiered at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936 and ran for 837 performances. It also won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. When it was adapted for film by Frank Capra and Robert Riskin in 1938, it won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. Now, in 2013, The Alley Theatre is reviving the classic and hysterical masterpiece about an eccentric family that is happily surviving the Great Depression. It's 1936, and their key to bliss is embrace the love they have for one another, their hobbies, and to find ways to simply enjoy the life they've got.

Perry Beekman sings and plays Cole Porter on Friday, October 4th at 9:30 pm at The Metropolitan Room.

Andy Blankenbuehler spoke exclusively to BWW about the new PBS documentary - ANNIE: It's the Hard-Knock Life, From Script to Stage, which follows the cast and creative team of the 2012 Broadway revival as they prepared for the production of the iconic musical number 'It's the Hard-Knock Life.'

For his first CD as a leader, Perry has selected one of the most beloved and prolific of these composers, Cole Porter, for SO IN LOVE - PERRY BEEKMAN SINGS AND PLAYS COLE PORTER. Accompanied by the remarkably empathetic paring of Peter Tomlinson and Lou Pappas on piano and bass respectively, Perry has selected 15 wonderful Porter songs, all but one culled from Broadway musicals made immortal by Porter's genius.

For his first CD as a leader, Perry has selected one of the most beloved and prolific of these composers, Cole Porter, for SO IN LOVE - PERRY BEEKMAN SINGS AND PLAYS COLE PORTER. Accompanied by the remarkably empathetic paring of Peter Tomlinson and Lou Pappas on piano and bass respectively, Perry has selected 15 wonderful Porter songs, all but one culled from Broadway musicals made immortal by Porter's genius.

For his first CD as a leader, Perry has selected one of the most beloved and prolific of these composers, Cole Porter, for SO IN LOVE - PERRY BEEKMAN SINGS AND PLAYS COLE PORTER. Accompanied by the remarkably empathetic paring of Peter Tomlinson and Lou Pappas on piano and bass respectively, Perry has selected 15 wonderful Porter songs, all but one culled from Broadway musicals made immortal by Porter's genius.

From the time of his Jazz Epiphany - upon hearing "jazz guitar pioneer Charlie Christian, and the classic recordings of Billie Holiday and Lester Young" - at the age of 15, outstanding guitarist/vocalist Perry Beekman has committed himself to the classic traditions of jazz, particularly by means of the Great American Songbook.