An afternoon Island Celebration! The Theatre World Awards Board of Directors, Dale Badway, President, have announced, today, the 74th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony will take place at Circle in the Square on the set of the Tony Nominated Broadway Revival of Once on This Island on Monday afternoon, June 4, 2018 beginning at 2:00 p.m. The attire for the afternoon event is ‘Festive Island’ wear. A TWA Island Party reception will follow the ceremony at The Copacabana Rooftop. Circle in the Square Theatre is proud to host the only major theatrical award ceremony scheduled in a Broadway house, this season.
Hosted annually by well-known theater journalist, Peter Filichia, the 74th Annual Theatre World Awards ceremony will be produced by Theatre World Awards, Inc. Board of Directors, and Stephen Nachamie is set to direct the afternoon’s activities.
Theatre World Award Alum Victor Garber (Hello,Dolly!) will receive the 6th Annual John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement In The Theatre, celebrating his 46th year on the Broadway stage.
The John Willis Award is given for lifetime achievement in the theatre to honor the man who created and maintained the Theatre World tradition for 66 years, encouraging new talent in an often-challenging business. The John Willis Award is presented annually by the Theatre World Awards, Inc. Board of Directors to an individual whose lifetime achievements and personal generosity to the Theatre Community merit special recognition and acknowledgement. Previous recipients of the John Willis Award include Glenn Close, Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Christopher Plummer, and Alan Alda.
Victor Garber
Victor Garber, with six Emmy® and four Tony® nominations to his credit, has been seen in some of the most memorable works of film, television and stage. He co-starred in Ben Affleck’s Academy Award®-winning film, Argo and portrayed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in Gus Van Sant’s Academy Award®–nominated film Milk. Additional film credits include The First Wives Club, Sleepless in Seattle, Legally Blonde, and the Academy Award®-winning film Titanic. Mr. Garber has co-starred with Ryan Reynolds in Self-Less and with Emily Blunt in Sicario.
For his work on television, Mr. Garber has been nominated for six Emmy® Awards, including three for the ABC drama “Alias,” two for comedic guest-star roles on “Frasier” and “Will & Grace,” and a nomination for his portrayal of Sid Luft in the television movie “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.” He currently has recurring roles on “Power” on Starz, “The Orville” on Fox, “The Flash” on CW and has guest starred on Showtime’s Lisa Kudrow comedy, “ Web Therapy”, “The Big C”, “Nurse Jackie”, “Damages” and “Glee” and starred in CW’s “Legends of Tomorrow”, NBC’s drama “Deception” , ABC’s “Eli Stone,” and “Justice” on Fox. Other television credits include ABC musicals “Annie, “ “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, ” and “Meredith Willson’s The Music Man.”
Mr. Garber earned four Tony® nominations for his work in Damn Yankees, Lend Me a Tenor, Deathtrap, and Little Me. He performed in the workshops of Sondheim’s Assassins and Wiseguys as well as in the Tony Award®–winning play Art. His stage credits also include the original Broadway productions of Arcadia, The Devil’s Disciple, Noises Off, and Sweeney Todd. Additionally, Mr. Garber garnered rave reviews in Sondheim’s Follies for City Center Encores! And most recently, Present Laughter, directed by the late Nicholas Martin. At Circle in the Square, he appeared in Tartuffe (1977), You Never Can Tell (1986-1987) and The Devil’s Disciple (1988-1989). He can currently be seen in the Broadway hit, Hello Dolly!, playing Horace Vandergelder opposite Bernadette Peters.
Stephen Nachmie (Ceremony Director). Broadway: She Loves Me (2016 Broadway Revival – Associate Director to Scott Ellis- also “PBS Great Performances” and Broadway HD). Film/TV: Director of Macy’s Singing Christmas Tree – “Macy’s 91st Thanksgiving Day Parade” and NBC TV’s “ BANG! BOOM! POW!” (with John Wesley Shipp and Nicholas Barasch), Winning New York – Winner Audience Choice Award – New Filmmakers NY Festival.
New York stage credits: Small Town Confessions (with Alice Ripley, Daisy Eagan, Sally Mayes and Sharon McNight), The Little Shop of Horrors – Off Broadway, Broadway and Beyond (with Alan Menken- 54 BELOW), Animals Out ff Paper(Hudson Stage Co.), Buyer and Cellar, My Name Is Asher Lev, Becoming Dr. Ruth and Rounding Third (Penguin Rep), Mr. Confidential , Foreverman (NYMF- New World Stages Award), Naughty/Nice (Producer’s Circle), Driving Miss Daisy, It’s A Wonderful Life- A Radio Play, I Hate Hamlet (Harbor Lights Theatre Co), Faraway Bayou(with Nikki M. James), Waldrop and Ross’ Luck! The Musical (York Theatre with Faith Prince), Into The Woods – (Cap21/NYU), The 25th Anniversary Production of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy (starring Seth Rudetsky),
2018 Honorees for the Theatre World Award for an Outstanding Performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway Production, and the 10th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award will be announced shortly.
The Theatre World Awards, Inc. Board of Directors is headed by Dale Badway (President) with Tom Lynch (Vice-President), Stephen Wilde (Secretary), Honorable Ilene Zatkin-Butler (Treasurer), and Michael Kostel.
The Theatre World Award winners are chosen by the Theatre World Awards Committee which is comprised of Roma Torre (NY1), David Cote (Time Out New York, Emeritus), Joe Dziemianowicz (New York Daily News), Peter Filichia (The Newark Star-Ledger, Emeritus) Harry Haun (The Observer), Elysa Gardner (USA Today, Emeritus), and Frank Scheck (The Hollywood Reporter).
First presented in 1945, the prestigious Theatre World Awards, founded by John Willis, the Editor-in-Chief of both Theatre World and its companion volume, Screen World, are the oldest awards given for Outstanding Broadway and Off-Broadway Debut Performances. The Theatre World Awards are presented annually at the end of the theatre season to six actors and six actresses for their significant, reviewable, debut performances in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production. The ceremony is a private, invitation-only event followed by a party to celebrate the new honorees and welcome them to the Theatre World “family.” In what has become a highly entertaining and often touching tradition, 12 previous winners serve as the presenters, and often relive moments from past ceremonies and share wonderful stories rarely heard at other theatrical awards.
Previous winners who have won the prestigious Theatre World Award at the beginning of their careers include Meryl Streep, Rosemary Harris, Marlon Brando, Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Anne Bancroft, James Earl Jones, Liza Minnelli, Alan Alda, Zoe Caldwell, Christopher Walken, Alec Baldwin, Bernadette Peters, Audra McDonald, Al Pacino, Grace Kelly, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Cynthia Erivo, Danielle Brooks, Lupita Nyong’o, John Krasinski, and so many more.
The Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater honors an Outstanding Performance in a Broadway or Off-Broadway production. Dorothy Loudon, who had the unique talent of being able to make audiences laugh and cry, made her Broadway debut in Nowhere to Go But Up for which she received a Theatre World Award for her performance. She received a Tony® Award for her incomparable performance as ‘Miss Hannigan’ in Annie, and went on to triumphs originating roles in Noises Off, Westside Waltz, and Michael Bennett’s Ballroom. Previous recipients of the Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater include Katrina Lenk, Nicholas Barasch, Leanne Cope, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jonny Orsini, Susan Pourfar, Seth Numrich, Bobby Steggert, and Susan Louise O’Connor.
The Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theater is chosen by the Trustees of The Dorothy Loudon Foundation, Lionel Larner, Executive Director, together with recommendations from the Theatre World Awards Committee.
The Theatre World Awards Board encourages theater lovers to “LIKE” the Theatre World Awards fan page on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheatreWorldAwards/ and follow on Twitter at @TWAwards.
The annual published book, Theatre World, remains the definitive record of the American theatre season, including photos and statistics from Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off Broadway, and regional companies, in addition to special sections dedicated to obituaries, long running productions, and major theatrical awards. Theatre World is edited by Ben Hodges and Scott Denny, published by Theatre World Media and distributed by Applause Theatre and Cinema Books, a division of Hal Leonard Performing Arts.
2o days to go! Every year people panic to find the perfect gift. We at T2C have been collecting idea’s all year long to bring you the perfect gift guide at all price levels. When you’re at the end of your rope trying to find the perfect Christmas present this year, come to this guide for some great suggestions.
Chita & Patrick Pacheco at Drama Book Shop event May 15, 2023 Photo by Merle Frimark
There are a lot of books out there this year but we highly recommend Chita: A Memoir , the critically-acclaimed book is written by the legendary Broadway icon Chita Rivera with arts journalist Patrick Pacheco. Chita takes fans behind-the-scenes of all her shows and cabaret acts, she shares candid stories of her many colleagues, friends, and lovers. She speaks with empathy and hindsight of her deep associations with complicated geniuses like Fosse and Robbins, as well as with the mega-talent Liza Minnelli, with whom she co-starred in The Rink. She openly discusses her affair with Sammy Davis, Jr. as well as her marriage to Tony Mordente and her subsequent off-the-radar relationships. Chita revisits the terrible car accident that threatened to end her career as a dancer forever. Center stage to Chita’s story are John Kander and Fred Ebb, the songwriters and dear friends indelibly tied to her career through some of her most enduring work: Chicago, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and The Visit.
Chita’s love of performing began as a child in Washington, D.C., when her mother enrolled her in a local ballet school to channel her boundless energy. Still a teenager, she moved to New York to attend the School of American Ballet after an audition for George Balanchine himself and winning a scholarship. But Broadway beckoned, and by twenty she was appearing in the choruses of Golden Age shows like Guys and Dolls and Can-Can. In the latter, she received special encouragement from its star Gwen Verdon, forging a personal and professional friendship that would help shape her career. The groundbreaking West Side Story brought her into the orbit of Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, Hal Prince, and Stephen Sondheim. After Bye Bye Birdie further burnished her rising star, she reunited with Verdon and her then-husband Bob Fosse to work on the film version of Sweet Charity and the celebrated original Broadway production of Chicago.
Chita: A Memoir was published in English and Spanish and the English audio version of the Memoir was recorded by Chita. A Spanish audio version is also available.
“Chita Rivera blazed a trail where none existed so the rest of us could see a path forward. She has been part of some of the greatest musicals in the history of the form, from Anita in the trailblazing West Side Story through Claire Zachanassian in the underrated masterpiece The Visit, over 60 years later. She is a Puerto Rican Broadway icon and the original ‘triple threat.’ We’re so lucky to be alive in the same timeline as Chita Rivera.” — Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“A frank and fascinating memoir from one of the truly great artists of the American Theater. Lots of stories … Lots of insight … and quite a few caustic statements from Chita’s alter ego, Dolores. An illuminating history and a guaranteed pleasure!” — John Kander
Broadway legend and national treasure Chita Rivera, multi-Tony Award winner, Kennedy Center honoree, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom – has taken no prisoners on stage or screen for seven decades. From her trailblazing performance as the original Anita in West Side Story—for which she tapped her own Puerto Rican roots—to her haunting 2015 star turn in The Visit. Chita has proven to be much more than just a captivating dancer, singer, and actress beloved by audiences and casts alike. In her equally captivating and one-of-a-kind memoir, Written with Patrick Pacheco, the woman born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero shares an incomparable life, both on stage and behind the curtain.
By the way this Memoir has won a Gold Medal for “Best Autobiography – English” at the 2023 International Latino Book Awards. https://www.latinobookawards.org/
Click here to buy your copy.
Here is the amazing cast of Spamalot. Christopher Fitzgerald as Patsy, James Monroe Iglehart as King Arthur, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer as The Lady of the Lake, Ethan Slater as The Historian/Prince Herbert, Jimmy Smagula as Sir Bedevere, Michael Urie as Sir Robin, Nik Walker as Sir Galahad andTaran Killam as Lancelot.
I was so inspired I drew the whole cast.
To read T2C’s review click here.
Art
Ahead of the Broadway Opening of Lempicka The Longacre Theatre Is Showcasing Art Work By Tamara de Lempicka
The Longacre Theatre (220 W 48th St.), soon-to-be home of the sweeping new musical, Lempicka, is showcasing a curated selection of renowned artist Tamara de Lempicka’s most famous works. Eschewing traditional theatrical front-of-house advertising, the Longacre’s façade now boasts prints, creating a museum-quality exhibition right in the heart of Times Square. The musical opens on Broadway on April 14, 2024 at the same venue.
The Longacre’s outdoor exhibition includes works of Self Portrait (Tamara in a Green Bugatti) (1929), Young Girl in Green (1927), Nu Adossé I (1925), The Red Tunic (1927), The Blue Scarf (1930), The Green Turban (1930), Portrait of Marjorie Ferry (1932), Portrait of Ira P. (1930), Portrait of Romana de la Salle (1928), and Adam and Eve (1932).
Starring Eden Espinosa and directed by Tony Award winner Rachel Chavkin, Lempicka features book, lyrics, and original concept by Carson Kreitzer, book and music by Matt Gould, and choreography by Raja Feather Kelly.
Spanning decades of political and personal turmoil and told through a thrilling, pop-infused score, Lempicka boldly explores the contradictions of a world in crisis, a woman ahead of her era, and an artist whose time has finally come.
Young Girl in Green painted by Tamara de Lempicka (1927). Oil on plywood.