Lin-Manuel Miranda and Prizeo, the online giving platform that democratizes giving for all income levels, announced today that they are offering the chance for one lucky fan to attend the eagerly anticipated opening night of the musical Hamilton in Los Angeles
Beginning today, Miranda is inviting fans to make a donation to the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition at prizeo.com/hamilton. For only $10, donors will receive 100 entries for the grand-prize opportunity to join the opening night celebration of Hamilton in Los Angeles on August 16, including two VIP tickets to the performance at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, two tickets to the star-studded after-party, a meet & greet and photo with Lin-Manuel, and roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations for two.
Lin-Manuel announced this campaign in a special video posted on Twitter this morning.
Fans are encouraged to add their voice and join the #Ham4All Challenge by sharing social posts of themselves singing their favorite song from Hamilton, then challenging friends to do the same.
“My family and I are committed to raising money for important organizations which work tirelessly to protect, support, and advocate for immigrants, refugees, and asylees,” says Lin-Manuel Miranda. “I’m thrilled to continue my partnership with Prizeo and offer the chance for a lucky winner and their guest to join me at the opening of Hamilton in Los Angeles, while raising awareness and funds for the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition.”
Launched during Immigrant Heritage Month, the Hamilton in Los Angeles campaign benefits the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition, a group of 12 immigrant rights organizations brought together by the Hispanic Federation. The coalition members advocate for fair and humane immigration reform and work throughout the United States to provide direct services to immigrants from around the globe, including legal representation, English language classes, and “Know Your Rights” education campaigns.
“Hamilton captures the perseverance, ingenuity and work ethic of the immigrants who founded our great nation, and that spirit is still very much alive in the immigrants who call America home today,” said Hispanic Federation President José Calderón. “Our coalition is committed to providing all of our immigrants with the support and services they need to thrive and ultimately uplift communities, cities and towns throughout our nation. We are immensely grateful to Lin-Manuel, and the entire Miranda family, for their continued generosity and advocacy in protection of these families.”
“We are so proud to be working again with Lin-Manuel Miranda,” adds Jan Friedlander Svendsen, CMO of Charity Network. “Together over the past year we have helped raise funds for a number of important organizations. In addition to his talent, Lin-Manuel’s example of activism and charitable support is an inspiration to us all.”
The Hamilton in Los Angeles campaign runs from June 26 – July 31 at prizeo.com/hamilton.
The Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition is part of the Hispanic Federation 501(c)(3), the nation’s premier Latino non-profit organization. Launched in 2017, the coalition is comprised of 12 partner organizations that work throughout the United States to provide services to immigrants, refugees, and asylees, including legal representation, advocacy, and awareness campaigns. Coalition members include: ACCESS (Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Service), Alianza America, Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), Immigration Equality, FANM, Inc./Haitian Women of Miami, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), LULAC Institute, National Day Laborers Organizing Network (NDLON), National Immigration Law Center, Tahirih Justice Center, and United We Dream.
The Hispanic Federation works locally and nationally to empower millions of Latino children, youth, and families through three essential service pillars: increasing the capacity of Hispanic grassroots organizations, advocating for social justice, and providing direct programs that transform communities. Click here for more information about the Coalition
Prizeo is a celebrity digital fundraising platform that provides influential personalities an unparalleled platform to raise funds and awareness for charitable causes by offering fans the chance to win unique experiences. Launched in 2013, Prizeo has raised tens of millions of dollars for thousands of charities and has ignited a base of millennials to become first-time charitable donors through an exciting and inclusive platform.
Prizeo campaigns have featured celebrities such as One Direction, Justin Bieber, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Will Ferrell, Lady Gaga, Bill Murray, Samuel L. Jackson, Steven Tyler, Mark Ruffalo, George R.R. Martin, Ed Sheeran, Zac Efron, Tyler Oakley, Connor Franta and Kobe Bryant.
Prizeo is a member of the Charity Network, named one of Fast Company’s 2017 Most Innovative Companies. It serves as a sister company to Charitybuzz, an online charity auction platform, and Chideo, a charity video network. To learn more visit: prizeo.com
Charity Network, named one of Fast Company’s 2017 Most Innovative Companies, harnesses the power of celebrity, technology, and media to raise awareness and funds for some of the world’s toughest challenges. With a mission to help charities transition from analog to digital, Charity Network has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for causes across the globe. Launched in 2016 by entrepreneur Todd Wagner, Charity Network is the parent company to three top digital fundraising platforms: Charitybuzz, Prizeo and Chideo. Each platform is a leader in its own field — Charitybuzz in online charity auctions, Prizeo in online sweepstakes and experiences, and Chideo in cause and entertainment content – and together they reach a broad and diverse group of donors from millennials to baby boomers. Through a network of syndicated partners including Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tribune Company, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” Twitter, Delta Airlines, and more, Charity Network can amplify a cause message to reach more than 80 percent of U.S. TV households and more than 100 million unique visitors each month. In addition, the company’s CN Solutions, created from the acquisition of LA based Global Philanthropy Group in 2017, develops and implements comprehensive philanthropic strategies to maximize the impact of the cause work of celebrities, charities and brands through research, strategy, partnerships and advocacy work. To learn more, please visit www.charitynetwork.com.
Hamilton, now playing on Broadway, in Chicago and in San Francisco (soon to move to Los Angeles), Hamilton has book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is directed by Thomas Kail, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler and musical direction and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, and is based on Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton is the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the new nation’s first Treasury Secretary. Hamilton‘s score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B, and Broadway — the story of America then, as told by America now.
The musical won eleven 2016 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Score, Book of a Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography and Orchestrations. Mr. Miranda received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Hamilton.
Broadway
Broadway’s A Doll’s House Meticulously Stunning Revival Soars Like a Birdie Above That Clumsy Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
For a revival to find its footing, it has to have a point of view or a sense of purpose far beyond an actor’s desire to perform a part, whether it suits them or not. It needs to radiate an idea that will make us want to sit up and pay attention. To feel its need to exist. And on one particular day in March, I was blessed with the opportunity to see not just one grande revival, but two. One was a detailed pulled-apart revolutionary revival of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House that astounded. The other, unfortunately, was a clumsy revival of Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that fell lazily from that high-wired peak – not for a lack of trying, but from a formulation that never found its purpose.
But over at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre, a reformulation chirps most wisely and wonderfully, bringing depth and focus to a classic Henrik Ibsen (Hedda Gabler) play that I didn’t realize was in such need of an adaptation. With no extravagance at its core, Amy Herzog (Mary Jane) dynamically takes the detailed structure and beautifully adapted it with due purpose. It hypnotizes, dragging in a number of light wooden chairs, Scandinavian in style, I believe, onto the stage, one by one, by their black-clad counterparts in a determined effort to unpack what will unfold. There is no artifice to hide behind in this rendering, as designed most impeccably by scenic and co-costume designer Soutra Gilmour (NT’s My Brilliant Friend; Broadway’s & Juliet) and co-costume designer Enver Chakartash (Broadway’s Is This A Room), only A Doll’s House’s celebrated star, Jessica Chastain (Broadway’s The Heiress; “The Eyes of Tammy Faye“) rotating the expanse of the bare stage before the others join her slowly and deliberately. She sits, arms crossed, staring, daring us to look away, while knowing full well we won’t. Or can’t. And without a word, it feels like she has us exactly where she wants us. Needs us to be. And all that transpires before the play even begins.
They sit on that bare and stark stage, waiting, in a way, to be played with, like dolls patiently wanting some children to come and give them a voice through their imagination. As Nora, Chastain delivers forward a performance that is unparalleled. To witness what transpires across her face during the course of this extra fine adaptation is to engage in a dance so delicately embroidered that we can’t help but be moved and transported. She barely moves from her chair, as others, like the equally wonderful Arian Moayed (Broadway’s The Humans) as Torvald, are rotated in to sit beside her, conversing and delivering magnified lines, thanks to the brilliant work of sound designers Ben & Max Ringham (West End’s Prima Facie), that dig deep into the underbelly of the complicated interactions. This pair of actors find a pathway through the darkness, never letting us come to any conclusions until they are ready to unleash a moment that will leave you breathless. This is particularly true for Moayed’s Torvald, who seems decent enough at the beginning, but once the shift occurs, when the beautiful thing doesn’t happen as it should, his unveiling is as gut-wrenching to us as it is to Nora. Even though we knew it was coming long before the play even began to spin forward.
The art of the unfolding is steeped within the whole, refocused inside the brilliant shading, shadowing, and starkness of the cast. As Krogstad, the powerful Okieriete Onaodowan (Broadway’s Hamilton), alongside the deliciously tight Jesmille Darbouze (Broadway’s Kiss Me, Kate) as Kristine, find an engagement that sits perfectly in the structuring. They push the reforming to the edge, approaching and receding away from Chastain’s brilliant centering helping move the piece towards the required conclusion.
The same can be said of the wonderful Tasha Lawrence (LCT’s Pipeline) as Anne-Marie, and the exquisitely emotional turning of Michael Patrick Thornton (Broadway’s Macbeth) as Dr. Rank. Thornton, in particular, finds a telling and emotional space to connect, unearthing an engagement that breaks the circle apart, leaving Chastain’s Nora and all of us observers shattered and broken in its black X’d finality.
As directed with the same magnificently detailed energy and flat-walled framework as the previously seen Betrayal on Broadway and the West End, Jamie Lloyd gives us A Doll’s House that will never be forgotten. The focus is so deliberate, and the formulations are just so strong, pushed forward in black and white by the exacting lighting design of Jon Clark (West End/Broadway’s The Lehman Trilogy). Forced while remaining ever so intimate, the cascading of the statement delivered registers in a precise way, more exacting than I ever remembered, and I’ve seen numerous renditions of this epic play. And even though, from what I hear, many on the left couldn’t see the epic exit of Nora, a moment that typically registers throughout theatre history, the symbol of a woman, steadfast and true, leaving the safe and simple artifice of A Doll’s House for engagement in the hard cruel reality of the world outside is as clear as can be. The delicacies of this birdie trapped inside a cage, poisoned with lies and excuses, and beautifully brought forth by Chastain, registers the reasonings for this revival to exist. It has found a new and deliberate place to sing, and for that, I am truly grateful.
I wish I could say the same about Ruth Stage‘s modern take on the Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire) classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, currently being re-delivered at the Theatre at St. Clements. As directed by Joe Rosario (Hemingway and Me; Ruth Stages’ The Exhibition), the play doesn’t find its rationale for existing in the modern day beyond the simplistic sexualization of its boxing-ring corners. Matt de Rogatis (Austin Pendleton’s Wars of the Roses) as the tense athletic Brick stays broken and damaged in his corner, riding out the moment, waiting for the click, while in the other corner is the tense Maggie, played without hesitation by Courtney Henggeler (Netflix’s “Cobra Kai“) poised and ready for the bell to ring.
The battle is only heightened by the presence of two other fighters in the opposing corners, Big Daddy, played with determination by Frederick Weller (Broadway’s To Kill a Mockingbird) in the third, and Big Mama, played with a strong intent by Alison Fraser (Gingold Theatrical’s Heartbreak House), in the fourth. And watching and cheering for their own personal perspective wins are the obnoxious Mae, typically portrayed by Christine Copley (although I believe I saw an understudy), the weasely Gooper, played by Adam Dodway (Theatre Row’s Small Craft Warnings), Rev. Tooker portrayed by Milton Elliott (Ruth Stage’s Hamlet), and Doc Baugh, typically played by Jim Kempner (“The Girlfriend Experience“) (although, once again, I believe I saw an understudy).
Generally, this is a battle that rages deceptively strong and subtle for the length of the play, swimming cruelly in the hazy heat of its Southern charm. But somewhere in this modernization, the reasonings never get fully realized, leaving the cast to wander in their stereotypical delivery without a sharp focal point in the horizon to zero in on. Hidden behind the bar and the drink, de Rogatis finds a Brick to be engaged with. He’s definitely handsome and desirable, especially in the eyes of the far-too-straightforward Henggeler’s Maggie the Cat, and his occupation of drinking rings more true than most. I’m not sure if the modernization has been created to fit his chest-baring delivery of a broken Brick, but I will say that his artful approach to the part is one of the stronger components of this otherwise clunky reimagining.
Given so much to unpack, Henggeler runs a little too fast and furious, not weaving a pause into her thoughts and actions. It’s all forward flowing, ignoring the laws of silence and deliberation. Big Mama and Big Daddy, ignoring the fact that they don’t seem to fit in with their surroundings or the set-up, find their way into the same cage as the two central figure fighters, giving us something else to contemplate in their constructs, beyond their tight fitting jeans and dress. There’s not much of a father/son connection, nor does their familial energy register, even as it moves and twitches within the pauses well. The details of attachment are lost, as they talk around things, with everyone else playing at high volume, courtesy of a sound design by Tomás Correa (Hudson Street’s Adam & Eve), delivering the Southern drawl with the intensity of an SNL skit. That’s a problem to the whole and one that doesn’t work for this rendering.
Most of the cast is all hock and no spit, moving around the room with a strange case of physicalized mendacity while never really finding a reason for their existence. The artifice gets in the way of the movement, especially in Matthew Imhoff’s (off-Broadway’s soot and spit) busy and overly clumsy set, with some distracting fading in and out by lighting designer Christian Specht’s (SSTI’s Cabaret). The storm approaching is as false as the formula and the reasoning for this retelling. It showcases some basically good actors embracing the chance to play iconic Big roles that I’m sure they have always wanted to dig their Southern-accented chomps into, possibly because one or two of them might never otherwise get the chance as they don’t exactly fit the literal sashaying of the “fat old” bodies out and around the staging of this play. The idea breeds curiosity, but one that doesn’t save this Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from falling quick and hard from its perch, I’m sad to say. While the birdie in A Doll’s House flies strong out into the cool Broadway air, with solid reasoning on its stark wings, reminding us all what makes for a worthy reimagining of a classic.
You are seriously asking for it, when you make the title for your musical Bad Cinderella, however the show is not bad, it’s just seriously lacking. For an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which is normally rich in melody, the only song that has any kind of hold is “Only You, Lonely You” sung by Prince Sebastian (Jordan Dobson or in my performance the wonderful Julio Ray). The lyrics by David Zippel and book by Emerald Fennell, adapted by Alexis Scheer are inane. It doesn’t help that the cast for the most part speaks and sings with mouths full of cotton. The orchestrations sound tinny and computerized, The lead Linedy Genao has no charisma or vocals that soar musically, instead she is rather nasal, like Bernadette Peters with a cold. Why this show is two and a half hours long is beyond me.
Grace McLean and the hunks Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
The show is based in a town called Belleville (beautiful town en Francais), that is based solely on looks and prides itself on its superficiality. The opening number starts with “Beauty Is Our Duty,” the Queen (a fabulous Grace McLean) is into her hunks including her missing son Charming (Cameron Loyal).
Christina Acosta Robinson Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
And the fairy godmother (Christina Acosta Robinson) is a plastic surgeon who sings “Beauty Has a Price”. In a day and age, where we are suppose to see past all that, this show is politically incorrect.
Linedy Genao Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Cinderella a Gothic, and a graffiti artist, naturally does not fit into the town’s mold of beauty, which is how she earns her nickname. Her rebel move happens when she defaces a memorial statue of Sebastian’s older brother, Prince Charming. Sebastian is more of a geek, and he and Cinderella are in the “friend zone,” since both lack communication skills in admitting their love.
Carolee Carmello Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Sebastian is being forced by his mother, the Queen to find a wife at a ball and invites Cinderella. Cinderella’s stepmother (the always remarkable Carolee Carmello) blackmails the Queen to get one of her daughters Adele (Sami Gayle) or Marie (Morgan Higgins) the gig.
Grace McLean, Carolee Carmello Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)
McLean and Carmello are the bright spots in the show and if the show had been about these two, maybe we would actually have a show that could work. These two steal the show.
Linedy Genao, Jordan Dobson, Photo by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman
Cinderella has not one, but two what should have been show stopping numbers “I Know I Have A Heart (Because You Broke It)” and “Far Too Late,” but she does not have the vocals, the character development or the star power to carry them off.
The set and the revenge porn costumes by Gabriela Tylesova, are just over the top, with the storybook set faring much better than the over complicated flowered pastels that waltzed across the stage.
The direction by Laurence Connor is just dull and lacks oomph.
If you like buff men and Chippendale type choreography this is the show for you.
Bad Cinderella, Imperial Theatre, 249 West 45th Street.
On Friday, March 24th, the 96-year-old John Kander was given a Mayoral Proclamation from Mayor Eric Adams in celebration of the first performance of his new Broadway musical New York, New York. Following the proclamation, Lin-Manuel Miranda unveiled the sign renaming 44th Steet ‘Kander & Ebb Way. On hand was the Manhattan School of Music to performed the iconic Kander & Ebb song “New York, New York.”
New York, New York opens Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street).
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