This evening, the cast of the Broadway-bound musical American Idiot performed the song “21 Guns” with the score’s writers Green Day during the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.
Led by Rebecca Naomi Jones (Passing Strange) and Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, the cast sang the rock anthem featured in American Idiot, which will open at Broadway’s St. James Theatre on April 20.
It has been a good evening for the punk rock group Green Day; their current CD, “21st Century Breakdown,” from which “21 Guns” is derived, won the Best Rock Album Grammy Award over other nominees such as U2, Dave Matthews Band and Eric Clapton.
Here is the “21 Guns” performance from the Grammys: (more…)
People who are inclined to call Nina Arianda an overnight star because of her breakthrough performance in David Ives’ Venus in Fur should know that she has no problem admitting she has been taking acting lessons for 20 of her 25 years.
A May 2009 graduate from NYU, she says this is her first show out of grad school, and she got it by simply walking into director Walter Bobbie’s office and auditioning for the part. Of course, that’s the situation she is pretty much playing in Venus in Fur for Classic Stage Company — a novice actress auditioning for an adapter-director (Wes Bentley of “American Beauty”).
“She’s just like the character in the play,” Bobbie admits. “She has no resume.” But the talent was there, and it took a self-effacing co-star to underline her performance.
Marge Champion and Donald Saddler, veteran dancers from different mediums, forged a friendship in three-quarter time when they came together at last, cast as The Waltzing Whitmans in Matthew Warchus’ 2001 revival of Follies.
When the curtain came down after 117 performances, the two continued their act, renting a studio twice a week where they still trip the light fantastic, now at age 90.
Tyne Daly and her musical director, John McDaniel, who will be concluding their much-raved-about gig at Feinstein's at Loews Regency on Jan. 30, met about this time of year 18 years ago doing Queen of the Stardust Ballroom at the Long Beach Civic Auditorium — and darned if they aren’t on the brink of doing it again.
When Daly finishes her upcoming Kennedy Center stint, playing Maria Callas in Terrence McNally’s Tony-winning Master Class (March 25-April 18), she and “McD” plan to do a workshop of the Stardust show for director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell, who believes he can blend the ballroom scenes with the book scenes better than Michael Bennett did in the 1978 show that he redubbed, simply, Ballroom.
The upcoming production of Fanny will be the 50th Encores! musical produced by New York City Center since the series kicked off in 1994.
What follows are some interesting historical tidbits about the series by the number:
1 Tony Award for Excellence in Theater.
8 days of rehearsal for each show, plus 1 day of dress rehearsal and 5 performances.
1,500 actors have performed in these 50 productions.
246 people have been subscribers for all shows.
50 shows supported by Newman’s Own Foundation and its benefactors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.
50 sets designed by John Lee Beatty.
50 shows cast by casting director Jay Binder.
50 shows where Broadway legend Seymour Red Press acted as music coordinator.
46 actors in the largest cast of the series: New Moon (2003).
38 (plus a pig!) cast members in Lil’ Abner (1998).
26 scripts adapted by David Ives.
13 Encores! shows have been recorded: Call Me Madam, Out Of This World, Pal Joey , Chicago, The Boys From Syracuse, St. Louis Woman, Babes In Arms, Do Re Mi, Tenderloin, Encores From Encores!, The New Moon, Ziegfeld Follies, Face the Music.
11 shows choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.
7 shows directed by both Kathleen Marshall and John Rando.
4 shows moved to Broadway: Chicago, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree, Finian’s Rainbow.
Some Encores! alums: Christine Baranski, Judith Blazer, Philip Bosco, Kathleen Chalfant, Kristin Chenoweth, Tyne Daly, Lea DeLaria, Bob Dishy, Olympia Dukakis, Sandy Duncan, Charles Dutton, Christine Ebersole, Peter Gallagher, Henry Gibson, Joel Grey, Anne Hathaway, Heather Headley, Ruthie Henshall, Mimi Hines, Celeste Holmes, Cheyenne Jackson, Nathan Lane, Dorothy Loudon, Patti LuPone, Joe Morton, Robert Morse, Donna Murphy, Donna McKechnie, Brian Stokes Mitchell, James Naughton, Bebe Neuwirth, Rosie O’Donnell, Faith Prince, Lynn Redgrave, Ann Reinking. Christopher Reeve, Anika Noni Rose, Martin Short, Jock Soto, Blair Underwood, Vanessa L. Williams, Patrick Wilson, JoAnne Worley, Jerry Zaks and Karen Ziemba.
Fanny, which will play City Center Feb. 4-7, will star Elena Shaddow in the title role with Fred Applegate as Panisse, Tony Award winner George Hearn as Cesar, Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez as Honorine, David Patrick Kelly as The Admiral, Michael McCormick as Escartifique, James Snyder as Marius and Ted Sutherland as Cesario.
Tickets to the Encores! season are available at the New York City Center Box Office (W. 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues), through CityTix at (212) 581-1212, or online at www.nycitycenter.org.
The Broadway-bound Menier Chocolate Factory revival of La Cage aux Folles will feature original London star Douglas Hodge (who won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical) in his Broadway debut opposite Emmy Award winner Kelsey Grammer.
The musical by Jerry Herman (score) and Harvey Fierstein (book) is set to begin previews April 6 at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre toward an April 18 opening night. Terry Johnson directs with choreography by Lynne Page.
Here is a first look at Grammer (as French Riviera nightclub owner Georges) and Hodge (his star drag performer and partner Albin):
Douglas Hodge and Kelsey Grammer photo by Uli Weber
The award-winning musical Next to Normal could have a real-life husband and wife playing the lead roles of spouses Diane and Dan next month.
Playbill.com has learned that Sarah Uriarte Berry, who has been seen on Broadway in The Light in the Piazza and Taboo, is currently in rehearsals to temporarily understudy the role of Diana — the part created by Tony Award winner Alice Ripley — while current understudy Jessica Phillips takes a vacation the week of Feb. 15.
Berry’s husband, Michael Berry, is the understudy for the role of Dan as well as the roles of Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine. Whether the couple gets to play opposite each other remains to be seen.
The new Frank Wildhorn-Jack Murphy musical Wonderland is currently making its Houston debut, and the Alley Theatre is offering a sneak peek.
The pop take on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” premiered in Tampa, FL, and is now playing the Alley Theatre through Feb. 14. The musical features a host of Broadway performers including Janet Dacal, Karen Mason, Jose Llana, Nikki Snelson and more.
The Cry Havoc Company, Inc. has launched a new website, cryhavoccompany.org, “as a place for our artists, supporters, and audience to participate in an interactive dialogue as our projects develop through various stages.”
Founded by artistic director Kitt Lavoie, the not-for-profit company has long believed in an audience’s participation in the creative process, using public workshops and open rehearsals as key elements in a show’s development.
Since the company was founded in 1997, it has produced dozens of works, many of which have been performed on New York stages. Plays developed by Cry Havoc have gone on to be produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Players, Samuel French New Play Festival and The Actors Studio, among others.
Cry Havoc Resident Company member William Jackson Harper can currently be seen onstage in Goodbye, Cruel World at the ArcLight Theater, and member Jane Pfitsch made her Broadway debut as Amy in the 2006 revival of Company.
A spring wedding is in the works for Jane Lynch, everyone’s favorite “Glee” villain.
According to the New York Times Carpetbagger blog, Lynch will wed her longtime girlfriend, Dr. Lara Embry, in a same-sex ceremony this May.
Lynch was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her role as conniving, overachieving – and most importantly, glee club-despising – cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on “Glee.” She became a household comedy name with film roles in “Best in Show” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” Last fall, she made her New York stage debut in Nora and Delia Ephron’s Love, Loss and What I Wore at The Westside Theatre.
