What Did He See? - 1988 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 16

Singer/actress Nikki Blonsky truly embodies that notion of overnight success. Plucked from obscurity at age 17, then-newcomer Blonsky beat out hundreds of young girls from a nationwide open casting call to land the coveted lead role in the big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical HAIRSPRAY. On July 15-16, she will be slipping back into familiar territory as she joins MEN ALIVE: The Orange County Gay Men's Chorus for their 10th Anniversary Concert 'GREASY HAIRSPRAY' at the Irvine Barclay Theatre.

Considering the fact that it is Broadway's longest running show - and, not only that, but also the most successful entertainment of all time - the top spot in our 2011 31 Days of the Tony Awards Countdown should be, must be and is: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and its multi-Tony-winning composer and producer, Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, its director, Hal Prince - the King of the Tony Awards with 21 wins - as well as the original Phantom himself, Tony-winner Michael Crawford. Now that original PHANTOM composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has written a sequel to the smash hit musical juggernaut - the wildly different LOVE NEVER DIES; two different versions of it, to be exact: one in the West End, and, the exceptionally elaborate Simon Phillips production in Australia - a dicey proposition for a show that, for me, delivers on its premise and possesses a score with the potential to be just as classic as PHANTOM's iconic score undoubtedly is - the world of PHANTOM is reaching a new generation in a whole new way. With clips of Michael Crawford performing alongside Lord Lloyd Webber's then-wife Sarah Brightman - the score's inspiration and the original Christine in the West End and on Broadway - on that year's Tony Awards, as well as the 2006 Tony Awards tribute to PHANTOM's legendary director - as well as EVITA's, also by Andrew Lloyd Webber - the one and only Hal Prince, twenty-one-time Tony Award winner - we also can boast a bevy of clips featuring Tony-winner Michael Crawford singing the show's most famous song, "The Music Of The Night". What a trio - and what a note to go out on -Crawford's in "MOTN" and otherwise!

An actor's actor Gary Cole, who made a big splash as Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald in TV's Mow Fatal Vision in 1984 and has never stopped working since, will soon open at the Geffen in Tracy Letts' new play Superior Donuts. Whether it be drama like In the Line of Fire on screen, the TV series Midnight Caller (1988-91) or Letts' August Osage County on stage, or comedy as in the theatrical film The Brady Bunch, Cole is comfortable in every medium and makes the work look easy. Usually cast as a psycho or abusive husband, in Donuts he plays the aging Chicago shop owner, a role which brings him closer to his roots there. He was an original member of the Steppenwolf Theatre, along with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf and Gary Sinise. In our chat, Cole talks about the play, his favorite roles and the process of acting.

Following her sold out performances of Chelsea Mädchen at Joe's Pub and at the HOWL! Festival last year, Tammy Faye Starlite brings her bravura theater piece focused on the music and commentary of the glamorously decadent Warhol Superstar and Velvet Underground chanteuse, NICO, née Christa Paffgen, to the historic Duplex Cabaret Theatre (61 Christopher St. @ 7th Avenue) every Saturday night in June.

Following her sold out performances of Chelsea Mädchen at Joe's Pub and at the HOWL! Festival last year, Tammy Faye Starlite brings her bravura theater piece focused on the music and commentary of the glamorously decadent Warhol Superstar and Velvet Underground chanteuse, NICO, née Christa Paffgen, to the historic Duplex Cabaret Theatre (61 Christopher St. @ 7th Avenue) every Saturday night in June.

Staging one of the theatre's most unique and unclassifiable pieces, Brecht & Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for the New York City Ballet, starting May 11 and running through May 16, is just the latest act in a career made up of anomalies, seemingly built upon always attempting to do the impossible - from her Broadway debut, trying to bring balletic bravado to Trevor Nunn's terminally troubled 1988 musical CHESS (a project begun under the guidance of Michael Bennett before his death), up through the trying-but-Tony-winning TITANIC in 1997 and, this century, SWING! starring Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti and a succession of successful regional ballets and theatre pieces - the gifted and dynamic director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett continues to challenge herself, her peers and audiences with each of her audacious new endeavors. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, starring two-time Tony-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone as Anna I, is a particularly problematic play - or is it a musical? Or, is it a ballet? A song-spiel? - and in this revealing and engaging discussion, Ms. Taylor-Corbett and I attempt to deduce the themes, analyze the structure and look back at the authors' lives to gain insight into the perplexing America painted by Brecht and Weill in the forty-minute-long theatrical experiment. Also, in this complete conversation, Lynne and I take a look back at her long and varied career and she generously shares her thoughts on where the place of dance is in the twenty-first century, the exhilaration of working with a theatre artist like Patti LuPone, her own inspirations and formative experiences in the theatre, the legacy of Michael Powell and THE RED SHOES, the theatre versus the dance world, her son Shaun's career, and much, much more! Further information on THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS - including tickets - is available here.

Staging one of the theatre's most unique and unclassifiable pieces, Brecht & Weill's THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS for the New York City Ballet, starting May 11 and running through May 16, is just the latest act in a career made up of anomalies, seemingly built upon always attempting to do the impossible - from her Broadway debut, trying to bring balletic bravado to Trevor Nunn's terminally troubled 1988 musical CHESS (a project begun under the guidance of Michael Bennett before his death), up through the trying-but-Tony-winning TITANIC in 1997 and, this century, SWING! starring Ann Hampton Callaway and Laura Benanti and a succession of successful regional ballets and theatre pieces - the gifted and dynamic director/choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett continues to challenge herself, her peers and audiences with each of her audacious new endeavors. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, starring two-time Tony-winning Broadway legend Patti LuPone as Anna I, is a particularly problematic play - or is it a musical? Or, is it a ballet? A song-spiel? - and in this revealing and engaging discussion, Ms. Taylor-Corbett and I attempt to deduce the themes, analyze the structure and look back at the authors' lives to gain insight into the perplexing America painted by Brecht and Weill in the forty-minute-long theatrical experiment. Also, in this complete conversation, Lynne and I take a look back at her long and varied career and she generously shares her thoughts on where the place of dance is in the twenty-first century, the exhilaration of working with a theatre artist like Patti LuPone, her own inspirations and formative experiences in the theatre, the legacy of Michael Powell and THE RED SHOES, the theatre versus the dance world, her son Shaun's career, and much, much more! Further information on THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS - including tickets - is available here.

I entered the Golden Theatre in 2011 to see the revival of The Normal Heart on Broadway. But when the lights went down, it was 1982 and I was witnessing the start of the fight to eradicate the disease we now recognize as AIDS. The next morning the show was still with me; that made my next event all the more poignant: the annual BC/EFA Easter Bonnet Celebration, which celebrates six weeks of intense fundraising by the New York theatrical community, all of which goes to Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, April 17, 2011 - Sunday, April 17, 2011.

The only original music video by the late Guy Babylon, Elton John's acclaimed keyboardist and arranger for 21 years, has been released on iTunes.com, and can now be downloaded by fans for the first time since it was produced in 2008.

TimeLine Theatre Company, named the nation's theater 'Company of the Year' for 2010 by Terry Teachout in The Wall Street Journal and 'one of the Chicago theater's most impressive growth stories' by Chris Jones in the Chicago Tribune, announces its four-play 2011-12 season

On Friday, February 25th, TheatreWorks New Milford is proud to invite you to the debut show of our 44th Season with the darkly comic, terse, and off-beat play, Talk Radio, by Eric Bogosian.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) announced the return of the popular Public Forum series with "Your Foreman Fix: An Evening With Richard Foreman" on Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. at Joe's Pub.

General Director Brian Dickie announced that he will step down as General Director of Chicago Opera Theater at the expiration of his contract in August of 2012, and will return home to London with his family.

The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) announced the return of the popular Public Forum series with "Your Foreman Fix: An Evening With Richard Foreman" on Wednesday, January 19 at 7 p.m. at Joe's Pub.

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) announces 2010 Next Wave Festival, featuring 16 music, dance, theater, and opera engagements from Sep 21-Dec 19. BAM 2010 Next Wave Festival is part of Diverse Voices at BAM sponsored by Time Warner Inc.

While there's certainly plenty to enjoy in the new musical version of Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 film, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown - David Yazbek's jaunty Latin-based score, the winning performances of a star-studded cast (three Tony winners and four other nominees) and the kinetic flashiness of Bartlett Sher's kicky production - the show is also a prime example of how the sum of the pieces can add up to more than the whole when the missing ingredient is a strong book.  Not that the talented Jeffrey Lane doesn't make a game try at it.  Sticking closely to the source, his work is frequently clever and he and Yazbek concoct some quirkily fun musical scenes, but the odds are working against him in this one.

This month, Broadway World is showcasing actor and recording artist Justin Guarini, who is making his Broadway debut as Carlos in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, based on the 1988 film of the same title.

Nina, who's danced with many pop stars, goes from the Heights to the verge for her 4th Broadway show.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will begin previews for AFTER TE REVOLUTION on Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM. With an Opening Night set for November 10, the limited engagement will play through Sunday, November 28 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). AFTER THE REVOLUTION will be the second production of the theater company's 40th Anniversary Season.

The Paley Center for Media will celebrate the life and work of John Lennon starting this October, with panel discussions, screenings, a musical tribute performance, and a photo exhibit that will give Lennon fans never-before-seen insight into his life both before and after the Beatles. To coincide with the week of Lennon's birthday on October 9, our Lennon salute will include major previews of Nowhere Boy and LENNONYC, a performance by the Quarreymen, and special screenings of Imagine and The U.S. vs. John Lennon for John Lennon's actual birthday on Saturday, October 9.

Broadway's Brent Barrett leads a stellar cast in North Shore Music Theatre's slick and savvy production of 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of AFTER THE REVOLUTION, a new play by Amy Herzog (Missed Connections, 508 at Ars Nova, Hungry at EST). Directed by Carolyn Cantor (Essential Self-Defense at PH, Pumpgirl, Orange Water Flower), the production will begin previews Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM. With an Opening Night set for Tuesday, November 9 at 7PM, the limited engagement will play through Sunday, November 28 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). AFTER THE REVOLUTION will be the second production of the theater company's 40th Anniversary Season.

The Paley Center for Media will celebrate the life and work of John Lennon starting this October, with panel discussions, screenings, a musical tribute performance, and a photo exhibit that will give Lennon fans never-before-seen insight into his life both before and after the Beatles. To coincide with the week of Lennon's birthday on October 9, our Lennon salute will include major previews of Nowhere Boy and LENNONYC, a performance by the Quarreymen, and special screenings of Imagine and The U.S. vs. John Lennon for John Lennon's actual birthday on Saturday, October 9.

Director Eric Schaeffer's restaging is first major American production in 20 years.