It’s off to the races we go as Tony Season kicks into high gear this WEEK AHEAD!
Coming up: Tony Tuesday!…Singing Sinatra with Jr., Cheyenne, Urie and others…Tea for Two with Edie Beale…and Ernie Anastos, a crooner?
On your marks, get set…!
Blake
Friday, April 30 GO→ Ever find yourself at home, jamming out to a little “Stone Cold Crazy” on your Guitar Hero and wonder, “I’m pretty good…I should have an audience!” Well, head over to “Rock Lives,” an open mic night where you can show off your Rock Band and Guitar Hero skills. Who knows? You might even find yourself some Wii-groupies. (8pm, Times Square Arts Center, 42nd and 8th Ave, info)
Saturday, May 1 GO→ Some of New York’s finest local reporters step out from behind the news desk and onto a stage. Sure, they can give us the weather and tell us the news…but can they sing? We’ll find out! On the docket to sing the standards are Fox 5’s Ernie Anastos and Dr. Sapna Parkih, CBS2’s Magee Hickey, Mary Calvi, Cindy Hsu, Hazel Sanchez, Kirstin Cole, Lou Young and John Elliot, NBC 4’s Pat Battle, Pix11’s Kaity Tong and Tamsen Fadal, My 9’s Harry Martin, and ABC7’s Sarah Wallace. Proceeds benefit the Children’s Miracle Network. (Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd St., at 9th Ave., $75-$125 with $15 food/beverage minimum, call 212.695.6909 for tickets)
Sunday, May 2 GO→ Grey Gardens mania continues with Jeffrey Johnson’s show Edie Beale LIVE at Reno Sweeney, a recreation of Little Edie’s infamous 1978 cabaret act at Manhattan’s Reno Sweeney nightclub on 13th Street. Johnson debuted the act last Christmas to a star-studded audience which included Sandra Bernhard, Charles Busch and Grey Gardens filmmaker Albert Maysles. (7pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $20, info/tickets)
Monday, May 3 GO→ Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Urie, Montego Glover, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Feinstein, Michael Cerveris and other Broadway bigwigs join Frank Sinatra Jr. and host Liz Smith for the NY Pops celebration of the legacy and music of Frank Sinatra. (7pm, Carnegie Hall, 57th St. and 7th Ave., $55-85, info/tickets)
GO→ Wesley Taylor spends his nights off from The Addams Family working hard to “sing in your face while you get drunk.” (I’m sold.) Wes Taylor and Friends teams Taylor up with some famous pals like, Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening), Mitch Jarvis (Rock of Ages), Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages), and Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family). (Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $20, info/tickets)
GO→ U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (one of the first openly gay members of the House of Representatives) will be a guest at “TalkOut Monday,” a series of post-show discussions about gay rights issues, following performances of The Temperamentals. Playwright Jon Marans will join Rep. Frank, who has been a consistent voice for the LGBT community in Congress and is also a founder of the National Stonewall Democrats. (New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., btwn 8th and 9th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ Bernadette Peters signs her new children’s book “Stella is a Star.” Besides candy and Bernie, there will be a live raffle drawing to win a chance to appear onstage with Peters and her Broadway Barks co-founder Mary Tyler Moore. (3-5pm, Dylan’s Candy Bar, 1011 3rd Ave. at 60th St., $10/raffle ticket)
Tuesday, May 4 CLICK→ Lea Michele and Jeff Daniels unveil the nominees for this year’s Tony Awards. Playbill will have a full list of nominees up as soon as they’re announced at 8:30am ET. Be sure to check out Playbill all day long for reactions from the nominees themselves via Playbill’s Nominees Hotline!
HE’S BAAACK→ Gregory Jbara returns to the role that snagged him a Tony as he steps back into the role of Dad in Billy Elliot. (Imperial Theatre, 249 W. 45th St., btwn Broadway and 8th Ave., tickets)
Our buddies over at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS have done it again! This year’s Easter Bonnet fundraising period brought in $3,265,700 thanks to the extraordinary efforts of more than 300 shows on Broadway, Off-Broadway and on the road. They sure have come a long way from the $1,200 raised during the first Easter Bonnet competition held in the basement of the Palace Theatre.
The Who’s Who of Broadway came out from all four corners of the Times Square pedestrian mall for the 24th Annual BC/EFA Easter Bonnet competition, presented April 26-27 at the Minskoff Theatre.
At 106, former Ziegfeld showgirl Doris Eaton Travis proved for the twelfth time, that she is the Queen of the Bonnet, kicking off the proceedings by driving onto the stage at the Minskoff in her very own, custom Bonnet-mobile.
As is usual, along with the amazing performances by some of the most talented (and flexible!) people on Broadway, came some good-natured ribbing. Jan Maxwell and Dylan Baker kicked off a round-robin of co-hosting duos, but not before acknowledging that some people couldn’t be there because they got stuck in London due to the Volcano Ash situation. “Only those in the most dire of circumstances were able to make it out of London,” Maxwell said before we heard: “Will Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein please report to Gate 5 immediately.”
Michael Urie used his time as co-host to shill for a guest spot on “Glee.” “Is Ryan Murphy here? My show just got cancelled…and I can play 16,” Urie begged.
The cast of Next Fall, billed as “the luckiest cast on Broadway,” sang an ode to their celebrity producer, Elton John, with their own X-rated version of the tune “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me,” changing the lyrics to “They won’t let their son go down on me.” (more…)
This WEEK AHEAD we say “goodbye” to the 2009-2010 Broadway season and “hello” to a new batch of new Broadway productions!
Promises, Promises “says a little prayer” this time around…Denzel Washington climbs Fences…Linda Lavin tells some Stories of friendship and betrayal…courtroom drama of Enron proportions …and rapturous Rapture from Sherie Rene Scott.
Parting is such sweet sorrow,
Blake
Friday, April 23 GO→ Mario Cantone has become famous for his hilarious outbursts and (as my mother says) “kvetching.” Cantone (Broadway’s The Violet House, Assassins, Love! Valor! Compassion! and Laugh Whore) returns to stand-up at Carolines on Broadway this weekend. (Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, call 212.757.4100 for tickets)
…
Saturday, April 24
GO→ Garrison Keillor brings his A Prairie Home Companion live-broadcast radio variety show to New York’s Town Hall. Featuring the sketches and music that have kept this crew going since their first live broadcast in 1974. (Saturdays, through May 8th, 5:45pm, The Town Hall, 123 W. 43rd St., btwn. 6th and 7th Aves., $57-$63, info/tickets)
Sunday, April 25 OPENING→ Promises, Promises returns to Broadway, bringing Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes along for the ride. Expect the classics from the Burt Bacharach/Hal David original score (like “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “Turkey Lurkey Time”) as well as the hits “Say a Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not a Home,” added for the revival. Featuring the classic book by Neil Simon and a runaway performance by Katie Finneran (Noises Off). (Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway, btwn. W. 52nd and 53rd Sts., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ What do you do for fun if you have one of the most successful bands in the past 20 years and you just opened up a new show on Broadway? Well, if you’re Green Day, you form yet another successful side band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs and you rock-out the lower east side post-curtain! (11pm, Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery, near 2nd St., first come, first serve, $20, info)
GO→ Iranian activist and former child star, Mary Apick, sheds a revealing light on the women of the Middle East in her acclaimed show Beneath the Veil. Apick explores what life is really like behind the traditional headscarf for ten very different women. One heartbreaking tale tells the story of Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian journalist who was tortured and killed in 2003 for taking photographs of a prison in Tehran. (7:30pm, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, 1941 Broadway, on 65th St. btwn. Broadway & Amsterdam, $50-$200, info/tickets)
Monday, April 26 OPENING→ Tony winners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis star in the revival of the August Wilson Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences. The original 1987 production scored Tonys for both James Earl Jones and Mary Alice as well as the award for Best Play. Kenny Leon directs. (Through July 11, The Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ The 24th Annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Easter Bonnet Competition returns to the Minskoff featuring performances by the who’s who of Broadway. The all-star lineup of hosts includes: Dylan Baker (God of Carnage), Corbin Bleu (In The Heights), Colman Domingo (Passing Strange), Chad Kimball (Memphis), Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages), Jan Maxwell (Lend Me A Tenor), Michael Mulheren (Looped), Michael Urie (The Temperamentals), Laura Osnes and Loretta Ables Sayre (South Pacific). (Mon. at 4:30pm, Tues. at 2pm, Minskoff Theatre, 200 W. 45th btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., $20-$350, call 212.840.0770 ext 268 for tickets)
Tuesday, April 27 OPENING→ There was no bigger courtroom drama in the mid-aughts than the real-life trials of Enron. The new play/multimedia spectacle of the same name deals with the corporate greed, corruption and dirty politics that led to the fall of a once great titan of industry. Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) stars. (Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44th St. btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ The man of a thousand faces— just get a look at his website!—Alan Cumming, brings his versatility to the intimate stage at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency for a one-man show based on his debut album “I Bought a Blue Car Today.” (Through May 1, then June 22-26, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $50.08 – $88.19, info/tickets)
Wednesday, April 28 OPENING→ The second of Donald Margulies’ one-two punch on Broadway this season (following Time Stands Still) opens in the form of Collected Stories. This drama stars Tony winner Linda Lavin as a respected author and mentor to a go-getter protégé, played by Sarah Paulson. Over the course of six tumultuous years, the relationship between these two dynamic women disintegrates while exposing some darker demons. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Thursday, April 29 OPENING→ Broadway’s Sherie Rene Scott is a brassy, sassy, diva of extraordinary proportions…or so her show Everyday Rapture, now on Broadway, would like you to believe. This “true-ish” show-set-in-a-concert is described as a “psycho-sexual-spiritual journey,” and features a song list that ranges from U2 to The Supremes to Judy Garland to Mister Rogers. (Through July 11, American Airlines, 227 West 42nd Street, btwn. 7th and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
It’s an odd sight to see Donald Trump’s perfectly coiffed head bopping up and down to the lyrics “Well, maybe I’m the faggot America/I’m not part of a redneck agenda” or “Cigarettes and ramen and a little bag of dope/I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe.”
But there he was, in his $3,000 suit, with his gorgeous model wife, jamming out to Green Day’s American Idiot at the April 20 Broadway opening night of the new musical. Does this mean hell has frozen over? Nope. It means Green Day has officially gone legit.
Like many suburban teens in the ’90s, I became a fan of Green Day while driving my parents’ car, blasting the “Dookie” album. (I apparently didn’t catch the ridiculousness of a straight-A, overachiever screaming along to “I’ve I got no motivation/Where is my mot-iva-tion?”) Sigh.
Cut to the opening night of American Idiot: Marian Seldes, Edward Norton, Eddie Falco, Tony Kushner, Whoopi Goldberg and “the Donald” in the orchestra, and purple-haired, black-nail-polish-wearing fans screaming in the balcony. At the after-party at Roseland Ballroom, Manhattan’s elite chowed-down on corndogs and slushies in the exact spot where the band Infected Mushroom will play songs like “Vicious Delicious.” To quote another ’90s album I loved: “Isn’t it ironic?”
The inner teenager in me, recalling those days in my 1992 red Chrysler LeBaron with white pleather seats liked the show. The grown-up avid theatregoer in me loved it.
The show’s director, Michael Mayer, recognized the material’s ability to resonate with the legit crowd early on. He told Playbill last month: “The theatre people who came to see the show at Berkeley [Rep in 2009], to my great delight, really dug the show. And a lot of them didn’t necessarily know Green Day’s music that well.”
The music (taken largely from Green Day’s best-selling album of the same name) is what got the show to Broadway in the first place. The performers (led by the brilliant John Gallagher Jr.), the spectacle of the in-your-face set, the incredible arrangements by Tom Kitt, and the overall energy that pours from the stage are what will, hopefully, keep it here.
Well, Broadway, here’s your chance to wake up your inner angst-ridden teen. If Donald Trump can do it, so can you.
Stephen Sondheim gave a rare interview to the "Today Show" about his legendary career, his mentor Oscar Hammerstein II, the new show Sondheim on Sondheim and some issues he has with some of his earlier work.
Reunited and it feels so good! This WEEK AHEAD brings back together some classic pairs for a little bit of new magic.
Paulo Szot and Kelli O’Hara reunite for one last enchanted evening…Two Tony-winning Spring Awakening alums bring rock back to the Main Stem…and Sondheim gets back together with his girls, Barbara and Vanessa, for his third Broadway show currently on the boards.
Welcome back old friend,
Blake
Friday, April 16 GO→ South Pacific’s Paulo Szot and Kelli O’Hara reunite at Carnegie Hall for The Best of Lerner and Loewe. Expect the classics from the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe songbook including tunes from My Fair Lady, Brigadoon and Camelot. (8pm, Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and 7th Ave., $33-$104, info/tickets or call 212.247.7800)
… Saturday, April 17
GO→ Bust out your bell-bottoms, tie-dyed tees and your biggest Broadway voice for Hair, the movie sing-along! The 92StYTribeca, as part of their “Sing-Along Series,” will screen Milos Forman’s 1979 film adaptation of the popular musical, a revival of which is now playing on Broadway. (10:30pm, 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson St., at the intersection of Canal and Hudson St., $13, info/tickets)
.. Sunday, April 18 OPENING→ Jerry Herman and Harvey Feirstein’s musical “with a little extra,” La Cage Aux Folles, returns to Broadway bringing with it feathers, high heels, glitter, glam and Kelsey Grammer. Olivier Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge makes his Broadway debut as Albin (aka Zaza), the drag queen partner of Grammer’s Georges. Oh, but don’t worry! Grammer gets his chance to show off his “goods” when he takes over the role of Albin six months into the run. (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ Rosie O’Donnell hosts a conversation on gay adoption and the modern family in anticipation of the new musical The Kid, based on sex columnist Dan Savage’s book about gay adoption called “The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant.” The panel will include Terry Boggis of the LGBT Cultural Center, The Kid lyricist Jack Lechner and photographer/adoptive parent Josh Lehrer. (7pm, Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, btwn. 9th and 10th Aves., $20, free to subscribers, call 212.279.4200 or click here for tickets)
GO→ Broadway Recycled is a showcase featuring songs from famous Broadway musicals that never made it on stage…until now. Hunter Bell, Susan Blackwell, Heidi Blickenstaff, Mario Cantone, Anthony Rapp and others will perform the hidden gems left of the cutting room floor from shows like Next to Normal, A Little Night Music, [title of show], and others. (7pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $30-$100, info/tickets)
.. Monday, April 19
GO→ Tovah Feldshuh hosts the Broadway Beauty Pageant, a competition where Broadway’s cutest chorus boys strut their stuff (Talent! Interview! Swimsuit!) in front of an all-star panel of judges including Christine Ebersole, Jackie Hoffman and Charles Busch. Mingle with the contestants at the after party at the Sunburnt Cow on 226 W. 79th St. (8pm, Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th St., $25-$150, info/tickets)
Tuesday, April 20 OPENING→ The punk masters of Green Day debut their rocking new Broadway musical, American Idiot, based on the best-selling album of the same name. This rock opera for a new age stars Tony winner John Gallagher Jr. and is directed by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer (both of Spring Awakening). (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves, info/tickets)
CLICK→ Kelsey Grammer and Bebe Neuwirth will announce the nominees for the 76th Annual Drama League Awards at 11am. Check playbill.com at that time for a full list of the nominees.
.. Wednesday, April 21 GO→ The hallowed halls of Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency get a Vitamin “N” shot in the form of 20-something crooners Will and Anthony Nunziata in From Pelham to Park Avenue. For their debut engagement at the house that Feinstein built, the baby-faced duo will put a fresh spin on the classics (Sondheim, Loesser and the like) while also taking on some contemporary hits. (April 20-24, Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $50.08-$71.86, call 212.339.4095 or click here for tickets)
.. Thursday, April 22 OPENING→ Stephen Sondheim completes his Broadway hat trick with Sondheim on Sondheim (joining West Side Story and A Little Night Music, currently on the boards). The legendary songstress (and frequent Sondheim interpreter) Barbara Cook joins Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat and Norm Lewis in this James Lapine creation paying homage to a man who changed the course of contemporary American musical theatre. (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
Ok, look. Being that I work at Playbill, I am a clearly a lover of musicals. In fact, I whole heartedly believe that the world would be a better place if most things were set to music.
Imagine Tiger Woods stepping up the podium with a guitar in hand to sing his apology to the world. “I’m sorry/Please forgive me/I shouldn’t have cheated on my wife and crashed my car into a tree!” Perhaps he could have sung his way to the green jacket?
Or, how ’bout your morning cup of coffee? I bet it might go down easier if the barista sang: “Here’s your mochachino/ it’s steamy, nice and hot./I used two percent milk/and I added an extra shot.”
Maybe I should stick to my day job?
Anyway…for this WEBWAY WEDNESDAY…here are some examples of things I think are better left off said than sung.
Has an inflated subprime mortgage left you broke? Not to worry! This new Broadway-style song “Bet Against the American Dream,” written by Avenue Q’s Robert Lopez and sung by Broadway vets John Treacy Egan (Bye, Bye Birdie, The Little Mermaid) and Christian Borle (Legally Blonde, Mary Poppins) is so catchy, you’ll be humming it even as the bank comes to repossess your home. Ah…a silver lining!
Hmm…there’s something about Peter Yarrow (of Peter, Paul and Mary) singing about getting a colonoscopy that doesn’t quite feel right. I’m all for awareness, but I’m not sure that anyone is going to see their Proctologist and say, “You know what, doc? I was going to skip the colonoscopy this year, but then I heard this song and I totally changed my mind!” Lyrics include: “When I had my Colonoscopy I had a question on my mind/ Do we all look the same when the doctor sees us from behind?” and “My colon’s really cool. My colon’s really cool!” Ew.
McSweeneys.net has posted a series of “Fake Celebrity Musicals” written by Ben Greenman. They include…
Edwards! The Musical!Here’s an excerpt.
JOHN EDWARDS
I’m running for president,
The highest office in the land.
Look, I’m right there in the mirror,
Smoothing my hair down with my hand.
I am handsome. Yes, it’s true.
And I am wealthy: that’s true, too.
But superficial things like that,
Well, they’re just not where I’m at.
You see, I care about the poor.
I often fret about their plight.
I adore the way I look
In this smoky barroom light.
RIELLE HUNTER
Hi, I’m Lisa.
I mean Rielle.
Will you take me
To a hotel?
Or this excerpt fromSpitzer! The Musical
ELIOT SPITZER
I do deserve expensive sex.
That is absolutely true.
The rarest carnal luxury
Suits a great man through and through.
This long and steep road of achievement—
My climb up to the heights of power—
Has brought me to the point where I
Can pay 2,000 bucks an hour
For a woman to have sex with me.
I once was blind but now I see.
“KRISTEN”
My name is “Kristen”—it’s in quotes.
Does someone want to sow his oats?
Actually…I take that back. I would definitely see Spitzer! the Musical.
Feed your soul, your ears and your stomach this WEEK AHEAD!
“Glee” (oh, how we’ve missed you)…Million Dollar Quartet brings the million dollar tunes of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins to the Main Stage…Jackie at the Bat…and fill up on some soul and food at “A Taste of Jazz.”
Blake
Friday, April 9 GO→ What does jazz taste like? “A Taste of Jazz” at the shops at Columbus Circle seeks to find the answer, inviting chefs from stellar metro restaurants such as A Voce, Porter House and Bar Masa to prepare dishes inspired by great jazz cities like New Orleans, San Fran and NYC. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s resident sax-man Walter Blanding will lead the band. (6:30pm, $85, Time Warner Center at 59th and Columbus Circle, 2nd floor)
..
Saturday, April 10 GO (KIDS)→ Just in time for the start of baseball season, the Dallas Children’s Theater takes a trip up north with the kid-friendly show Most Valuable Player, the story of Jackie Robinson. A perfect show for baseball crazy parents hoping to instill the love of the game in their kids. (1:30pm, TRIBECA Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., btwn. Greenwich St. and West Side Hwy., $25, for ages 9 and up. Call 212.220.1460 for tickets)
Sunday, April 11 OPENING (BROADWAY)→ Oh, to be a fly on the wall inside Sun Studios in Memphis, TN, on Dec. 4, 1956. It was that day rock ‘n’ roll impresario Sam Phillips assembled four young musicians, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, for an impromptu jam session. Of course, we now know these four would go on to become legends. Million Dollar Quartet recreates that musical Big Bang event using hit songs from the awesome foursome including “Great Balls of Fire,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Sixteen Tons,” as well as songs culled from that million dollar recording session. (Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
BEFORE IT CLOSES (BROADWAY)→ The divine Valerie Harper stars as the outlandish “bad girl” of old Hollywood Tallulah Bankhead in Looped. (Lyceum Theatre, 149 West 45th St., btwn. 6th and 7th Aves, Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
….
Monday, April 12 GO→ Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Judy Gold, Daphne Rubin–Vega and others join funny as all get-out comedienne Lea DeLaria for a night of Burt Bacharach songs, just in time for the Bacharach/Hal David musical Promises, Promises to return to the Great White Way. (8pm, Highland Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., btwn. 9th and 10th Aves., $25, dinner menu available, info/tickets)
GO→ Sisters are doing it for themselves! Good Housekeeping celebrates its 125th anniversary with a star-studded gala featuring Meryl Streep, Laura Benanti, Fran Drescher and Kelli O’Hara. Hosted by Brooke Shields with Aretha Franklin set to perform. Proceeds benefit the establishment of the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, DC. (8pm, NY City Center, 130 W. 56th St., btwn. 6th and 7th Aves., $45-$1,250, info/tickets) Tuesday, April 13 (more…)
Let’s face it—sometimes a gal needs a sassy gay friend to save her from some very bad choices.
The folks at Chicago’s Second City imagine how the greatest Shakespearean tragedies could have ended, had Ophelia, Desdemona and Juliet had some gay besties around to snap them out of it!
Where was Megan Mullally’s sassy gay friend when she needed him?
Whistle, Snap and Sing your way into this WEEK AHEAD.
The Sondheim/Laurents cult-classic Anyone Can Whistle finds its way to New York…Lend Me a Tenor makes an unexpected opera star out of Justin Bartha …and Duh, nah, nah, nah — snap-snap, The Addams Family lands on Broadway.
Happy Easter!
Blake
Sunday, April 4 OPENING→ Broadway newbie Justin Bartha joins vets Tony Shalhoub, Tony winner Anthony LaPaglia and Jan Maxwell for director Stanley Tucci’s very funny revival of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor. (Music Box Theatre, 239 W 45th St., between Broadway and 8th Avenue, Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
BEFORE IT CLOSES→
→ A View From the Bridge: Tony winner Liev Schreiber and B’way newcomer Scarlett Johansson star in this Arthur Miller classic that has become a critics (and box office) darling. (The Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th St., btwn. 6th and 7th Aves.)
→ All About Me: Cabaret crooner Michael Feinstein and Tony winner Dame Edna share the bill to make up the oddest couple on Broadway this season. (The Henry Miller’s Theatre, 124 West 43rd St., between 6th and 7th Avenues, Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
→ The Miracle Worker: Abigail Breslin and Alison Pill star (more…)
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for April, 2010.
GO→ Ever find yourself at home, jamming out to a little “Stone Cold Crazy” on your Guitar Hero and wonder, “I’m pretty good…I should have an audience!” Well, head over to “Rock Lives,” an open mic night where you can show off your Rock Band and Guitar Hero skills. Who knows? You might even find yourself some Wii-groupies. (8pm, Times Square Arts Center, 42nd and 8th Ave, info)
GO→ Some of New York’s finest local reporters step out from behind the news desk and onto a stage. Sure, they can give us the weather and tell us the news…but can they sing? We’ll find out! On the docket to sing the standards are Fox 5’s Ernie Anastos and Dr. Sapna Parkih, CBS2’s Magee Hickey, Mary Calvi, Cindy Hsu, Hazel Sanchez, Kirstin Cole, Lou Young and John Elliot, NBC 4’s Pat Battle, Pix11’s Kaity Tong and Tamsen Fadal, My 9’s Harry Martin, and ABC7’s Sarah Wallace. Proceeds benefit the Children’s Miracle Network. (Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd St., at 9th Ave., $75-$125 with $15 food/beverage minimum, call 212.695.6909 for tickets)
GO→ G
rey Gardens mania continues with Jeffrey Johnson’s show Edie Beale LIVE at Reno Sweeney, a recreation of Little Edie’s infamous 1978 cabaret act at Manhattan’s Reno Sweeney nightclub on 13th Street. Johnson debuted the act last Christmas to a star-studded audience which included Sandra Bernhard, Charles Busch and Grey Gardens filmmaker Albert Maysles. (7pm, Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $20, info/tickets)
GO→ Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Urie, Montego Glover, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Michael Feinstein, Michael Cerveris and other Broadway bigwigs join Frank Sinatra Jr. and host Liz Smith for the NY Pops celebration of the legacy and music of Frank Sinatra. (7pm, Carnegie Hall, 57th St. and 7th Ave., $55-85, info/tickets)
GO→ Wesley Taylor spends his nights off from The Addams Family working hard to “sing in your face while you get drunk.” (I’m sold.) Wes Taylor and Friends teams Taylor up with some famous pals like, Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening), Mitch Jarvis (Rock of Ages), Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages), and Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family). (Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St., $20, info/tickets)
GO→ U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (one of the first openly gay members of the House of Representatives) will be a guest at “TalkOut Monday,” a series of post-show discussions about gay rights issues, following performances of The Temperamentals. Playwright Jon Marans will join Rep. Frank, who has been a consistent voice for the LGBT community in Congress and is also a founder of the National Stonewall Democrats. (New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., btwn 8th and 9th Aves., Click here for Playbill Club discount tickets)
GO→ Bernadette Peters signs her new children’s book “Stella is a Star.” Besides candy and Bernie, there will be a live raffle drawing to win a chance to appear onstage with Peters and her Broadway Barks co-founder Mary Tyler Moore. (3-5pm, Dylan’s Candy Bar, 1011 3rd Ave. at 60th St., $10/raffle ticket)
CLICK→ Lea Michele and Jeff Daniels unveil the nominees for this year’s Tony Awards. Playbill will have a full list of nominees up as soon as they’re announced at 8:30am ET. Be sure to check out Playbill all day long for reactions from the nominees themselves via Playbill’s Nominees Hotline!
GO→ Mario Cantone has become famous for his hilarious outbursts and (as my mother says) “kvetching.” Cantone (Broadway’s The Violet House, Assassins, Love! Valor! Compassion! and Laugh Whore) returns to stand-up at Carolines on Broadway this weekend. (Carolines on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, call 212.757.4100 for tickets)
OPENING→ Promises, Promises returns to Broadway, bringing Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes along for the ride. Expect the classics from the Burt Bacharach/Hal David original score (like “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “Turkey Lurkey Time”) as well as the hits “Say a Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not a Home,” added for the revival. Featuring the classic book by Neil Simon and a runaway performance by Katie Finneran (Noises Off). (Broadway Theatre, 1681 Broadway, btwn. W. 52nd and 53rd Sts., 
GO→ What do you do for fun if you have one of the most successful bands in the past 20 years and you just opened up a new show on Broadway? Well, if you’re Green Day, you form yet another successful side band called the Foxboro Hot Tubs and you rock-out the lower east side post-curtain! (11pm, Bowery Electric, 327 Bowery, near 2nd St., first come, first serve, $20, 
OPENING→ Tony winners Denzel Washington and Viola Davis star in the revival of the August Wilson Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fences. The original 1987 production scored Tonys for both James Earl Jones and Mary Alice as well as the award for Best Play. Kenny Leon directs. (Through July 11, The Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., 
OPENING→ There was no bigger courtroom drama in the mid-aughts than the real-life trials of Enron. The new play/multimedia spectacle of the same name deals with the corporate greed, corruption and dirty politics that led to the fall of a once great titan of industry. Tony winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) stars. (Broadhurst Theatre, 235 W. 44th St. btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., 
GO→ The man of a thousand faces
OPENING→ The second of Donald Margulies’ one-two punch on Broadway this season (following Time Stands Still) opens in the form of Collected Stories. This drama stars Tony winner Linda Lavin as a respected author and mentor to a go-getter protégé, played by Sarah Paulson. Over the course of six tumultuous years, the relationship between these two dynamic women disintegrates while exposing some darker demons. (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, 261 West 47th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., 
OPENING→ Broadway’s Sherie Rene Scott is a brassy, sassy, diva of extraordinary proportions…or so her show Everyday Rapture, now on Broadway, would like you to believe. This “true-ish” show-set-in-a-concert is described as a “psycho-sexual-spiritual journey,” and features a song list that ranges from U2 to The Supremes to Judy Garland to Mister Rogers. (Through July 11, American Airlines, 227 West 42nd Street, btwn. 7th and 8th Aves., 
GO→ South Pacific’s Paulo Szot and Kelli O’Hara reunite at Carnegie Hall for The Best of Lerner and Loewe. Expect the classics from the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe songbook including tunes from My Fair Lady, Brigadoon and Camelot. (8pm, Carnegie Hall, 57th Street and 7th Ave., $33-$104, 
OPENING→ Jerry Herman and Harvey Feirstein’s musical “with a little extra,” La Cage Aux Folles, returns to Broadway bringing with it feathers, high heels, glitter, glam and Kelsey Grammer. Olivier Award-winning actor Douglas Hodge makes his Broadway debut as Albin (aka Zaza), the drag queen partner of Grammer’s Georges. Oh, but don’t worry! Grammer gets his chance to show off his “goods” when he takes over the role of Albin six months into the run. (Longacre Theatre, 220 W. 48th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves., 
OPENING→ The punk masters of Green Day debut their rocking new Broadway musical, American Idiot, based on the best-selling album of the same name. This rock opera for a new age stars Tony winner John Gallagher Jr. and is directed by Tony-winning director Michael Mayer (both of Spring Awakening). (St. James Theatre, 246 W. 44th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Aves, 
GO→ The hallowed halls of Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency get a Vitamin “N” shot in the form of 20-something crooners Will and Anthony Nunziata in From Pelham to Park Avenue. For their debut engagement at the house that Feinstein built, the baby-faced duo will put a fresh spin on the classics (Sondheim, Loesser and the like) while also taking on some contemporary hits. (April 20-24, Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency, 540 Park Ave., at 61st St., $50.08-$71.86, call 212.339.4095 or 
OPENING→ Stephen Sondheim completes his Broadway hat trick with Sondheim on Sondheim (joining West Side Story and A Little Night Music, currently on the boards). The legendary songstress (and frequent Sondheim interpreter) Barbara Cook joins Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat and Norm Lewis in this James Lapine creation paying homage to a man who changed the course of contemporary American musical theatre. (Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., btwn. Broadway and 8th Ave., 
GO→ What does jazz taste like? “A Taste of Jazz” at the shops at Columbus Circle seeks to find the answer, inviting chefs from stellar metro restaurants such as A Voce, Porter House and Bar Masa to prepare dishes inspired by great jazz cities like New Orleans, San Fran and NYC. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s resident sax-man Walter Blanding will lead the band. (6:30pm, $85, Time Warner Center at 59th and Columbus Circle, 2nd floor)
GO (KIDS)→ Just in time for the start of baseball season, the Dallas Children’s Theater takes a trip up north with the kid-friendly show Most Valuable Player, the story of Jackie Robinson. A perfect show for baseball crazy parents hoping to instill the love of the game in their kids. (1:30pm, TRIBECA Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., btwn. Greenwich St. and West Side Hwy., $25, for ages 9 and up. Call 212.220.1460 for tickets)
OPENING (BROADWAY)→ Oh, to be a fly on the wall inside Sun Studios in Memphis, TN, on Dec. 4, 1956. It was that day rock ‘n’ roll impresario Sam Phillips assembled four young musicians, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash, for an impromptu jam session. Of course, we now know these four would go on to become legends. Million Dollar Quartet recreates that musical Big Bang event using hit songs from the awesome foursome including “Great Balls of Fire,” “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Sixteen Tons,” as well as songs culled from that million dollar recording session. (Nederlander Theatre, 208 W. 41st St., btwn. 7th & 8th Aves. 
GO→ Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Judy Gold, Daphne Rubin–Vega and others join funny as all get-out comedienne Lea DeLaria for a night of Burt Bacharach songs, just in time for the Bacharach/Hal David musical Promises, Promises to return to the Great White Way. (8pm, Highland Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., btwn. 9th and 10th Aves., $25, dinner menu available, 
OPENING→ Broadway newbie Justin Bartha joins vets Tony Shalhoub, Tony winner Anthony LaPaglia and Jan Maxwell for director Stanley Tucci’s very funny revival of Ken Ludwig’s Lend Me A Tenor. (Music Box Theatre, 239 W 45th St., between Broadway and 8th Avenue, 
