November 20th, 2009
To coincide with the reading of a revised version of the cult classic musical Carrie , we thought it a good time to take a look back at the Playbill for the original 1988 Broadway production.
The musical, which played a tryout in London, arrived on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre in April 1988. Tony Award winner Betty Buckley, who had been seen in the 1976 film “Carrie,” took over the role of Margaret White, which had been played in London by veteran singer-actress Barbara Cook. The title role was played on both sides of the Atlantic by newcomer Linzi Hateley.
The $7 million Carrie closed on Broadway after playing only 16 previews and 5 performances.
(Click on each image below to enlarge.)
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November 20th, 2009
At only 29 years old, playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney is garnering reviews that playwrights twice his age would envy. In a recent review of his trilogy The Brother/Sister Plays Part 1 & Part 2 at the Public Theater, The New York Times described the work as a “gorgeous trilogy” of plays which are “pumped full of a senses-heightening oxygen that leaves you tingling.”
It is no wonder the Public Theater (which co-produces the run with the McCarter Theater) has extended the engagement for an additional week. “The sales have been extraordinary,” Public Theater executive director Andrew D. Hamingson told Playbill.com. “Between incredible word of mouth and stellar notices, we are thrilled with the recognition that Tarell has received.”
McCraney’s collaborators, directors Tina Landau (who helms In the Red and Brown Water ) and Robert O’Hara (who staged The Brothers Size and Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet ) also had praise for the ambitious writer who, incorporates his childhood experiences with myths passed down by family members.
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November 20th, 2009
David Mamet’s new work Race touches on an issue still present in the age of President Barack Obama. In fact, the title topic has already proven something of a recurring theme this season.
For plays: A Steady Rain centers on two hardened Chicago cops who deal with issues of racism and tolerance on the beat and in their own lives. Superior Donuts finds a white donut shop owner suddenly confronted with letting his new African-American hire into his personal life. And, in In the Next Room , a new mother is tentative about letting a woman of color nurse her newborn baby.
Bye Bye Birdie sees songwriter Albert Peterson’s overbearing mother disapproving of his relationship with his Latina secretary Rose Alvarez. The 1950s-set musical Memphis is filled with racial tension as one of the first white DJs to play black music falls in love with a black songstress. The revival of the musical Finian’s Rainbow features a bull-headed white man who is turned black and finds himself on the opposite end of bigotry. Ragtime , set in the early 1900s, centers on three major groups: upper class WASPS, African-Americans and Eastern European Jewish immigrants.
Ernio Hernandez
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November 19th, 2009
An odd-shaped Broadway hole-in-the-wall between 62nd and 63rd Streets, one of 503 POPS (Privately Owned Public Spaces) around town, reemerged as The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center for a press and community preview Nov. 19.
In past lives, it had been the Colonial Music Hall where Fred and Adele Astaire danced and Charles Chaplin was introduced to American audiences, the New Colonial where “The Charleston” bowed in a 1923 show called Runnin’ Wild , the Harkness Theatre where The Acting Company performed and So Long, 174th Street premiered, and the Harmony Atrium which boasted a rock-climbing wall.
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November 19th, 2009
Brian Davies and Lauri Peters
Three stars and an assortment of nuns and Nazis from the originalThe Sound of Music assembled at Lincoln Center’s Barnes & Noble on Nov. 16 — 50 years to the day that show opened at the Lunt-Fontanne — and celebrated the milestone by signing CDs of the anniversary original cast recording and a pop-up book inspired by the musical.
Brian Davies and Lauri Peters — who played the show’s young lovers, “16 going on 17,” Rolf Gruber and Liesl von Trapp — were reunited, and, when Theodore Bikel, the original Captain von Trapp, showed up, he proposed they sing “60 going on 70.”
Davies, who turned 71 on Nov. 15 , still acts in features (”The Age of Innocence”) and on TV (”Law and Order”). Peters, 66 on the 4th of July, married — for five years — Davies’ replacement, Jon Voight. In 1993, she founded the Sanford Meisner Extension at NYU, where she is artistic director and master teacher.
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November 19th, 2009
Kate Baldwin, who co-stars in the Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow , will perform at the Nov. 20 benefit for Citymeals-on-Wheels in Manhattan.
The by-invitation-only event, which will be held at noon at Cipriani 42nd Street, will boast nearly 400 women from the worlds of business, media, entertainment, government, publishing and the arts. Some of the theatre folk scheduled to attend are Tyne Daly, Tovah Feldshuh, Dana Ivey, Margo Nederlander, Kathleen Turner, Fran Weissler and more.
Paula Zahn will emcee “Power Lunch for Women,” which is expected to raise enough money to provide 150,000 meals for the elderly.
Honorees include Joan H. Tisch, Vice Chair, Citymeals-on-Wheels; and Joan Weill, President Emeritus, Citymeals-on-Wheels.
For a ticket price of $10,000, men get the chance to lunch with these women. This year’s $10K men include Michael Bolton, John Cochran, Joseph M. Cohen, Donny Deutsch, Bill Fischer, Michael Lynne, Mike Myers, Craig Pfeiffer, Dennis Riese, John Shapiro, William Speck, Alan Stillman, Jon Tisch, Donald Tober, Sandy Weill and Fred Wilpon.
— Andrew Gans
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November 19th, 2009
After seeing a ratings surge last week upon returning from World Series preemptions, last night’s airing of “Glee” dipped slightly in overnight numbers, according to TVByTheNumbers.com. Â
FOX’s music-filled show starring Broadway’s Matthew Morrison and Lea Michele garnered 7.29 million viewers and a 3.2 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic (compared to a 7.35 million/3.3 demo rating for the Nov. 11 show.) Competing shows opposite “Glee” — “Criminal Minds,” “Modern Family” and “Cougar Town” — were up by approximately 10 percent in comparison.  TVByTheNumbers.com also reports that “Glee” was the highest rated show of the night in the 18-34 and teen demographic.
This week’s “Glee” episode, titled “Ballad,” featured performances of the songs “Endless Love,” “I’ll Stand by You,” “Crush,” “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” “You’re Having My Baby” and “Lean on Me.”
Next week’s show, airing Nov. 25, will be titled “Hairography” and will include feature a guest spot by rapper Eve.
— Andrew Ku
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November 19th, 2009
Observer look-alikes in Los Angeles
In addition to enjoying his Broadway opening night in Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room , Tony Award-winning actor Michael Cerveris is also making a return appearance on the Fox science fiction series “Fringe” Nov. 19.
Cerveris plays “The Observer” in the series created by J.J. Abrams, who also delivered “Lost” to television audiences. Fox is promoting tonight’s episode with publicity stunts across the U.S. – in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and New York – where men dressed to look like Cerveris (shaved head and all) have been seen walking the streets en masse. Fox has also placed Cerveris (or his look-alike) in the audience at NFL games, NASCAR races and “American Idol.”
“Fringe” centers on a series of mysterious and unsettling occurrences across the world, known as “The Pattern.” Abrams promises that viewers will learn more about Cerveris’ character, “The Observer,” in tonight’s episode. Check out the promotional videos and photos here .
— Adam Hetrick
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November 19th, 2009
The New Group, which is premiering Kenneth Lonergan’s new play, The Starry Messenger , on Nov. 23 at Theatre Row, opted to have its opening-night party a week early and packed the house with assorted celebs and its own starry stock company: Bobby Cannavale, Josh Hamilton, Jennifer Westfeldt, Sam Trammell, Sam Rockwell, Natasha Lyonne, Rosie O’Donnell, Wallace Shawn, Kathryn Erbe, Joan Rivers, Leslie Bibb, Tate Donovan, Lisa Emery and Callie Thorne.
Matthew Broderick, a longtime pal of Lonergan who appeared in the writer-director’s film “You Can Count on Me,” plays a dullish, sparkle-free astronomy teacher at the Hayden Planetarium who stumbles into an extramarital affair (with Catalina Sandino Moreno, the Oscar nominee of “Maria Full of Grace”). J. Smith-Cameron — Mrs. Lonergan, ironically — plays a wife you’d want to run away from.
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November 18th, 2009
Tony Award-winning actress Katie Finneran will fill in for fellow Tony winner Kristin Chenoweth Off-Broadway in Love, Loss, and What I Wore Nov. 18 at the Westside Theatre.
Illness has sidelined Chenoweth from her first performance in the production. This is also the first performance for Lucy DeVito, Capathia Jenkins, Rhea Perlman and Rita Wilson, the latest set of ladies to inhabit Nora and Delia Ephron’s play.
Chenoweth is expected to return to the production, according to representatives for Love, Loss . Finneran has been enlisted to perform until the onetime Wicked star returns.
Visit LoveLossonStage.
— Adam Hetrick
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