Broadway

Theatre News: Merrily We Roll Along, Pictures From Home, The Wanderers, The Year of Magical Thinking and Ain’t No Mo’

Published

3 months ago

December 17, 2022

We have been saying this would happen and finally it was announced this morning that the New York Theatre Workshop’s Off-Broadway staging of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along will transfer to Broadway in the fall of 2023. Directed by Olivier Award winner Maria Friedman, the transfer will include Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez. Also joining from the NYTW production will be Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clarke and Reg Rogers. The revival will feature choreography by Tim Jackson and orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick. Dates, theater, additional creative team and further casting will be announced at a later date.

Sharr White, Zoë Wanamaker, Danny Burstein, Nathan Lane, Bartlett Sher Photo by Bruce Glikas

GELT thee to Studio 54 on Broadway! Studio 54 is the place to MaccaBE this holiday season. You’ll love it a LATKE!The producers of Pictures From Home celebrate the laughter and joy of the holidays with a special box office opening beginning Monday, December 19 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54^th Street), coinciding with the beginning of Hanukkah.

Celebrate family, fried food and the festival of (Broadway) lights with Pictures From Home! Patrons who purchase tickets to Pictures From Homein person at the box office will receive a special restaurant gift card to enjoy great food this holiday season. For every order at the box office, customers will receive either a $49 or a $35 restaurant voucher to select restaurants part of The Fireman Hospitality Group: Brooklyn Diner, Brooklyn Deli, Redeye Grill and Trattoria Dell’arte.

Offer valid at the box office from Monday, December 19 through Saturday, December 24 from 10 am to 6 pm. Offer only valid with purchase of a minimum of two tickets in person at the box office. $49 vouchers for prime orchestra and prime loge seats. $35 vouchers for orchestra, loge and mezzanine seats. Offer is not valid on all seats. One voucher per patron. Vouchers are subject to availability.

This winter, three of the theatre’s most inventive, inspired and award-winning artists will bring to vivid theatrical life a comic and dramatic portrait of a mother, a father and the son who photographed their lives. Based on the landmark photo memoir by Larry Sultan, adapted to the stage by Sharr White (The Other Place, Annapurna), starring Nathan Lane, Danny Burstein and Zoë Wanamaker and staged by award-winning director Bartlett Sher, Pictures From Home will evoke memories of childhood, parenthood, and the hard-won wisdom that comes with both.

Pictures From Home will begin previews on Tuesday, January 10, 2023 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 W 54^th Street) and officially open onThursday, February 9, 2023 for a strictly limited engagement.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director/CEO) announces complete casting of the New York premiere of The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler, directed by Barry Edelstein.

Joining previously announced Katie Holmes as “Julia Cheever” are Sarah Cooper as “Sophie,” Lucy Freyer as “Esther,” Dave Klasko as “Schmuli,” and Eddie Kaye Thomas as “Abe.”

The Wanderers marks Katie Holmes’ Roundabout Theatre Company debut. She made her Broadway debut in Arthur Miller’s All My Sonsalongside John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Becky Ann Baker. Most recently she appeared on Broadway in Dead Accounts by Theresa Rebeck, opposite Norbert Leo Butz, Judy Greer, Josh Hamilton and Jayne Houdyshell.

Continuing in its commitment to the development and production of new works by significant writers and artists, Roundabout is thrilled to welcome the return of playwright Anna Ziegler, who returns to the Laura Pels Theatre following the 2017 New York premiere of her play, The Last Match, directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch.

The Wanderers begins preview performances on Thursday, January 26, 2023, and opens officially on Thursday, February 16, 2023 at the Laura Pels Theater in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46^th Street). This is a limited engagement through Monday, March 26, 2023.

Orthodox Jews Esther (Freyer) and Schmuli (Klasko) are newly married, and their future is written in the laws of the Torah. Secular Jew Abe (Thomas) is a famous novelist who believes he can write his own future…until an unexpected email from a movie star, Julia Cheever (Holmes), puts his marriage to the test and threatens to prove him wrong. From playwright Anna Ziegler (The Last Match) comes the New York premiere of a play that ripples across cultures, challenging two very different couples with the same question: Can we be happy with what we have while we have it?

Keen Company, a Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Off-Broadway theater creating stories that celebrate the complexities of hope and the joys of connection, is pleased to announce two benefit performances of its critically-acclaimed production of Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking starring Obie and Drama Desk Award-winner Kathleen Chalfant in a moving one-woman tour de force. Adapted from her best-selling memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking recounts Didion’s journey of loss, perseverance, and ultimately hope, using her signature wit to draw an intimate portrait of the resilience of the human heart. Benefit performances will take place on January 10 and 17 at 7pm at the Players Club, located at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan. Tickets are currently on sale at www.keencompany.org/theyearofmagicalthinkingbenefit.Conceived and directed by Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein, Keen Company’s original sold-out run, took place during October – November, 2022, in over 25 non-traditional theater spaces including living rooms, libraries, and other community centers throughout New York City. Laura Collins-Hughes in her New York Times critic’s pick review declared, “This Keen Company production goes small, and in doing so, gets the play sublimely right.”Funds raised from the event underwrite Keen Company’s 23rd Season including two Off-Broadway productions, the Keen Playwrights Lab fostering mid-career writers, its Keen Teens program providing free theater education to students in all five boroughs of NYC, and the commissioning and development of a new musical by Adam Gwon.Benefit performances take place at the historic Players Club, a private social club founded in New York City by the noted 19th-century Shakespearean actor Edwin Booth. In 1888, Booth purchased an 1847 mansion at 16 Gramercy Park, reserved an upper floor for his residence, and turned the rest into a clubhouse. The clubhouse was named a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and is the oldest New York City membership club still in its original home.

Ain’t No Mo’ announces extension to Dec. 23rd at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre. The production previously announced it’s closing on Dec. 18, but Cooper rallied for his play via social media at #SaveAintNoMo.Numerous celebrities such as Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade (co-producers of the show through their individual production companies), Queen Latifah, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes and Sara Ramirez have all bought out performances in the past week. Significant contributions have been made by Reverend Al Sharpton, Swizz Beatz, D-Nice, Derrick Hayes and Pinky Cole, Jeremy O. Harris (a co-producer of the show), Denée Benton, Debbie Allen andDominique Morisseau

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Suzanna Bowling

Suzanna, co-owns and publishes the newspaper Times Square Chronicles or T2C. At one point a working actress, she has performed in numerous productions in film, TV, cabaret, opera and theatre. She has performed at The New Orleans Jazz festival, The United Nations and Carnegie Hall. She has a screenplay and a TV show in the works, which she developed with her mentor and friend the late Arthur Herzog. She is a proud member of the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle and was a nominator. Email: suzanna@t2conline.com

Broadway

Parade: A Musical That Asks Us Do We Have The Eyes And Ears To See.

Published

2 days ago

March 24, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt Photo by Joan Marcus

I have always loved Jason Robert Brown’s score for Parade. “You Don’t Know This Man,” “This Is Not Over Yet” and the wonderfully romantic “All the Wasted Time” are just the tip of the iceberg for music that stirs your soul and tells a tale of heartbreak. There is a reason this score won the Tony Award in 1999.

Ben Platt Photo By Joan Marcus

The musical now playing on Broadway dramatizes the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank (Ben Platt), who was accused and convicted of raping and murdering a thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan (Erin Rose Doyle). The trial was sensationalized by the media, newspaper reporter Britt Craig (Jay Armstrong Johnson) and Tom Watson (Manoel Feliciano), an extremist right-wing newspaper aroused antisemitic tensions in Atlanta and the U.S. state of Georgia. When Frank’s death sentence is commuted to life in prison thanks to his wife Lucille (Micaela Diamond), Leo was transferred to a prison in Milledgeville, Georgia, where a lynching party seized and kidnapped him. Frank was taken to Phagan’s hometown of Marietta, Georgia, and he was hanged from an oak tree.

Erin Rose Doyle, Photo by Joan Marcus

The telling of this horrid true tale begins with the lush ode to the South in “The Old Red Hills of Home.” Leo has just moved from Brooklyn to in Marietta, where his wife is from and he has been given the job as as a manager at the National Pencil Co. He feels out of place as he sings “I thought that Jews were Jews, but I was wrong!” On Confederate Memorial Day as Lucille plans a picnic, Leo goes to work. In the meantime Mary goes to collect her pay from the pencil factory. The next day Leo is arrested on suspicion of killing Mary, whose body is found in the building. The police also suspect Newt Lee (Eddie Cooper), the African-American night watchman who discovered the body, but he inadvertently directs Starnes’ suspicion to Leo.

Across town, reporter Britt Craig see this story as (“Big News”). Mary’s suitor Frankie Epps (Jake Pederson), swears revenge on Mary’s killer, as does the reporter Watson. Governor John Slaton (Sean Allan Krill) pressures the local prosecutor Hugh Dorsey (the terrific smarmy Paul Alexander Nolan) to get to the bottom of the whole affair. Dorsey, an ambitious politician sees Leo as he ticket to being the Governor and though there are other suspects, he willfully ignores them and goes after Leo.

Sophia Manicone, Emily Rose DeMartino, Ashlyn Maddox Photo By Joan Marcus

The trial of Leo Frank is presided over by Judge Roan (Howard McMillan). A series of witnesses, give trumped up evidence which was clearly is fed to them by Dorsey. Frankie testifies, falsely, that Mary said Leo “looks at her funny.” Her three teenage co-workers, Lola, Essie and Monteen (Sophia Manicone, Emily Rose DeMartino, Ashlyn Maddox), collaborate hauntingly as they harmonize their testimony (“The Factory Girls”). In a fantasy sequence, Leo becomes the lecherous seducer (“Come Up to My Office”). Testimony is heard from Mary’s mother (Kelli Barrett ) (“My Child Will Forgive Me”) and Minnie McKnight (Danielle Lee Greaves)before the prosecution’s star witness, Jim Conley (Alex Joseph Grayson ), takes the stand. He claims that he witnessed the murder and helped Leo conceal the crime (“That’s What He Said”). Leo is given the opportunity to deliver a statement (“It’s Hard to Speak My Heart”), but it is not enough. He is found guilty and sentenced to hang. The crowd breaks out into a jubilant circus.

Alex Joseph Grayson Photo by Joan Marcus

Act 1, is not as strong as it should have been. I have attended three different incarnations, the last being with Jeremy Jordan as Leo and Joshua Henry as Jim in 2015. Part of the problem is Michael Arden’s direction. Instead of allowing his performers to act, he has them pantomime, as the solo goes forth. “Come Up to My Office” was not as haunting as in past productions. The same can be said of “That’s What He Said”. Who’s stands out in the first act is Jake Pederson as Frankie and Charlie Webb as the Young Soldier who sings “The Old Red Hills of Home.”

Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt Photo by Joan Marcus

In Act 2, Lucille finds Governor Slaton at a party (the hypnotic “Pretty Music” sung wonderfully by Krill) and advocates for Leo. Watson approaches Dorsey and tells him he will support his bid for governor, as Judge Roan also offers his support. The governor agrees to re-open the case, as Leo and Lucille find hope. Slaton realizes what we all knew that the witnesses were coerced and lied and that Dorsey is at the helm. He agrees to commute Leo’s sentence to life in prison in Milledgeville, Georgia, which ends his political career. The citizens of Marietta, led by Dorsey and Watson, are enraged and riot. Leo is transferred to a prison work-farm. Lucille visits, and he realizes his deep love for his wife and how much he has underestimated her (“All the Wasted Time”). With hope in full blaze Lucille leaves as a party masked men kidnap Leo and take him to Marietta. They demand he confess and hang him from an oak tree.

Paul Alexander Nolan, Howard McMillan Photo By Joan Marcus

In Act Two Parade comes together with heart and soul. Diamond, who shines brightly through out the piece is radiant, and her duets with Platt are romantic and devastating. Platt comes into his own and his huge following is thrilled to be seeing him live. Alex Joseph Grayson’s also nails his Second Act songs.

Dane Laffrey’s set works well with the lighting by Heather Gilbert.

Frank’s case was reopened in 2019 and is still ongoing.

Parade has multiple messages and the question is will audiences absorb it. I am so glad this show is on Broadway, making us think and see. This is a must see.

Parade: Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W 45th Street.

Art

Ken Fallin’s Broadway: Celebrating Hadestown’s 1000th Performance

Published

2 days ago

March 24, 2023

Ken Fallin

On Sunday, March 19, 2023, Hadestown celebrated the first day of spring and the show’s recently-achieved milestone of 1,000 performances at Broadway’s Walter Kerr Theatre.

The handsome artist with Anais Mitchell

On hand were songwriter Anaïs Mitchell and director Rachel Chavkin, Tony Award winner Lillias White, original Broadway cast member Jewelle Blackman as Persephone, Grammy Award winner Reeve Carney as Orpheus, Tony Award nominee Tom Hewitt as Hades, and two-time Tony Award nominee Eva Noblezada as Eurydice. were joined by Amelia Cormack, Shea Renne, and Soara-Joye Ross as the Fates. The chorus of Workers is played by Emily Afton, Malcolm Armwood, Alex Puette, Trent Saunders, and Grace Yoo.

The winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best New Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, Hadestown is the most honored show of the 2018-2019 Broadway season. In addition to the Tony and Grammy Awards, it has been honored with four Drama Desk Awards, six Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical, and the Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical.

Following two intertwining love stories — that of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone — Hadestown invites audiences on a hell-raising journey to the underworld and back. Mitchell’s beguiling melodies and Chavkin’s poetic imagination pit industry against nature, doubt against faith and fear against love. Performed by a vibrant ensemble of actors, dancers, and singers, Hadestown delivers a deeply resonant and defiantly hopeful theatrical experience.

Broadway

Broadway Up Close (R) Gives Dance Workshops In Times Square

Published

2 days ago

March 24, 2023

Suzanna Bowling

A fun way to get active, learn and have fun: InterContinental New York Times Square has partnered with Broadway Up Close to provide monthly dance workshops. The new series offers the opportunity to learn choreography with current Broadway professionals, and to join them in conversation about their Broadway careers.

On Saturday, April 15, 2023 join Broadway Performer Sarah Meahl (Bad Cinderella, Hello, Dolly!, Kiss Me, Kate) and on Sunday, May 13, 2023 – Broadway Performer Thayne Jasperson (Hamilton, Newsies, Matilda).

All classes are scheduled from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm and include 60 minutes of dance class and 30 minutes to learn and connect.

Following the class, an à la carte lunch menu is provided at The Stinger Cocktail Bar & Kitchen for an additional cost; perfect timing for a matinee performance.

Tickets are $36.25 and you can tickets here.