January 2012 Archives

Move over Glee, there's something due any day, Monday, February 6, in fact. Who knows? Could be a hit. You'll right away, as soon as it shows. But will it be cannonballin' down through the sky or a gleam as bright as a rose? 

 
With all the buzz, all the promo, do you think there's a miracle due? A hit TV series about Broadway? Is it gonna be great? Could be. Let's all hope it delivers [ratings].
 
With a bow to Mr. Sondheim, who makes all things musical brilliant, let's welcome the arrival on Mondays @ 10 P.M. on NBC, beginning February 6, the night after the Super Bowl [as all the promos blare], the much-anticipated NYC/Bway-set SMASH [Universal, DreamWorks TV; Madwoman in the Attic Productions].

This musical drama and often fantasy [more on that later] about the creation of a Bway musical about Marilyn Monroe celebrates the thrill of sitting in those tight premium seats with your just-served drink in the non-spill souvenir cup as the lights go down and, hopefully, cell phones go dark, as the conductor cues the overture and the curtain goes up.

Or, if you're onstage, the nerves building as you wait in the wings only to find them disappearing as you experience that adrenaline rush when the spot hits you; and that exhilarating moment when you rush the stage for your call and find the audience on its feet in thunderous applause. That's show biz, folks!

Show biz is not real life, and the world of SMASH is TV Land. So don't expect huge doses of reality. When Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand, the musical's tenacious producer, within days of hearing only one song, is asked by the director [already canceling other projects], "What happens after the workshop?" you're savvy enough to expect Eileen's reply: "I love the songs. I love the scenes. I love Marilyn. Why don't we just do it!" 

SMASH is a theaterlover's delight, maybe even rapture. Besides a story of how the magic happens - and so 1, 2 Let's put on a show 3, 4 - there's no shortage of behind-the-scenes intrigue, bitchiness, Eves in the shadows, blind ambition, passion, romance and heartbreak. Written by Theresa Rebeck [Seminar] and Scott Burkhardt, with several episodes directed by Michael Mayer, it follows dreamers and schemers all with one burning desire, to be a smash - no pun intended.

The series certainly has good pedigree. Steven Spielberg and Robert Greenblatt [Six Feet Under] began development two and a half years ago for Showtime, based on a 1980 novel by the late and prolific writer/director of plays and films, Garson Kanin. Spielberg dreamed of making it for years. The original concept was that each season would follow the production of a new musical, and if successul that show would actually make it for real to Bway.

Tony and Drama Desk winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have written some of their best material yet. "Beautiful" and "Let Me Be Your Star" are among the tunes.

Cinematography, editing, special effects, production design, fantasy and stage sets are way above average for TV. David Marshall Grant, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Shaiman and Wittman are co-exec producers.

Starring as successful songwriting duo of Julia Houston and Tom Levitt are Debra Messing, quite a few rungs up the ladder in the acting department and far removed from Will & Grace, and Christian Borle.

Rivals for the role of MM are Megan Hilty as Karen Cartwright and Katharine McPhee as Ivy Lynn. Anjelica Huston is producer Eileen Rand  and Jack Davenport protrays director/choregrapher Derek Wills.

How wonderful it would be for a huge Bway musical to be conceived, have songs written, a partial book, a savvy producer, an in-demand director/choreographer, auditions and the start of the workshop all before the end of the second episode - about 90 minutes [sans commericials].

We know there are at least 15 episodes shot [including, with the $7.5-million pilot, these seven Callbacks, Mr. DiMaggio, The Cost of Art, Let's Be Bad, Chemistry, The Workshop, The Coup]. Let's hope for huge ratings so there'll be a Season Two.

The heavy promotion may backfire, especially if the series doesn't deliver the audiences that made Glee a hit. The pilot doesn't begin with a lot of zing. The ultimate success of the series depends on how the major plot point, more than half way through the pilot, about the competition/rivalry to play Marilyn pans out. You can bet it won't be predictable. 

You'll def have fun spoting some familiar hangouts and industry figures. When Eileen is speaking to Bernie, most folks won't know who he is, but you will. There is quite a shocker in Episode One: a young theater wannabe doesn't know who Michael Riedel is, which will come as a shock also to M.R. Episode Two gets a lot more serious and also interjects more than just theater into the plot line. 

The show doesn't sugar coat for the masses and strives to be honest within the bounds of network TV. There are gay and lesbian elements along with the business' infamous lecherousness, bitchyness and camp; and there are plenty of insider jokes/dialogue.

Riedel may not be seen in the pilot, but he's lurking as you can often find him doing in the Theatre District. His head must be bigger than ever because he gets some soundbites he'll love and, no doubt, devour [kidding, M.R.!]. There'll be a ton of laughs as Tom calls him a "Napoleonic little Nazi." Don't know about M.R., but many will love the way Messing hisses "Riedel," as if she's referring to Sweeney's evil Beadel when she's cursingly pissed to find her secret project the lead in his column - until, just like in real life, she jumps for joy, literally, when he's written that he loves her work. Suddenly, from creep to "He's much smarter than people give him credit for. Everyone gets so mad at him, but he tells the truth." Ah, show biz!

Tom is the ultimate optimist. "We are in an industry which is lousy with talent," he says. "Is it too much too ask for kindness, too?" Of course not, Tom. "Am I a crazy person because I still expect people to be, if not lovely, at least civil?" No, Tom, just delusional.

By the end of Episode Two, a choice is made; but, because of something that has happened and is only presented dartingly [don't blink], don't count the other MM wannabe out.

Keep an eye on Jaime Cepero [2010 75th anniversary Porgy and Bess tour] as Ellis, assistant to Borle, who's armed with boundless ambition and ruthless determination. Betcha he's going to pull a big surprise. 

With shooting in NYC, local actors - as is the case with The Good Wife [set in Chicago, but shot here] and, among others, the L&O franchise - will certainly be seen to advantage. The cinematography and editing, often seguing from reality to fantasy [ala Nine], is stellar. The music by Marc and is way above average and some tunes will probably get exposure beyond the show.

You can expect a CD before long and, this being theater, you might even expect SMASH to actually birth Marilyn!: The Musical. Riedel call Bernie! Bet you won't even have to audition. 

SMASH Cast and Character Score Card

* Emmy winner Debra Messing [Will & Grace] - Julia Houston, a songwriter/lyricist/librettist and loving wife and mom. Messing's def one of the series blessings

*Tony and and three-time DD nom Christian Borle [Legally Blonde; soon, Peter and the Starcatcher - Tom Levitt, Julia's co-writing partner with a smash already at the Shubert

* Megan Hilty [9 to 5] - Ivy Lynn, acting 10 years, and now in a Bway musical, but it's the chorus. Playing MM is her game
* Katharine McPhee [runner up, fifth season, A.I.] - waitress Karen Cartwright, not from Kansas, but Iowa, who's also in the game

*Oscar- winner Anjelica Huston - Eileen Rand, the musical's tenacious producer, who's dealing with a pending divorce, a vindictive soon-to-be ex and financial dilemmas

* Jack Davenport [Pirates of the Caribbean] - Derek Wills, the brilliant and womanizing director, who unlike in real life has no qualms about putting the lead in a compromising position

* Tony nom and DD-winner [as well as four-time nom] Brian d'Arcy James - Frank Houston, Julia's husband, a teacher who's now a house husband

* Raza Jaffrey - Asian Brit Dev Sundaram, Karen's live-in, who works in city gov

* Jaime Cepero - Ellis Tancharoen, Tom's personal assistant with an agenda of his own

*  Michael Cristofer -  Jerry, Eileen's soon-to-be ex and ex-producing partner, who adds good doses of venom

* Will Chase - Michael Swift, a Bway star and Julia's old flame
* Uma Thurman - a movie star [Episode Five] who wants to star in Marilyn: The Movie

Save and Go

Broadway Week ends February 4. Go to nycgo.com/broadwayweek for participating shows for 2-for-1 tkts. Enter to win tkts for a year!. The promotional code is BW2012. Service charges apply. Use the code at box offices and save.

Broadway by the Year Returns
 

All-Star Lineup Salute Kristin Chenoweth

Drama League's 28th Annual Musical Celebration of Broadway on February 6 at the Pierre honors Tony and Emmy-winner Kristin Chenoweth. The gala always presents a stellar show with a Who's Who of show biz. This one's no different: Brent Barrett, Laura Benanti, Jason Graae, Joel Grey, Cheyenne Jackson, Norm Lewis, Debra Monk, Donna Murphy, Marni Nixon, Brad Oscar, Elaine Paige, Carole Shelley, Marlo Thomas, artists from Sesame Street, and, in tribute to Chenoweth, Wicked original and current cast members.  

There'll also be performances by seven actors chosen from youth programs at Tada! YouthTheater, Rosie's Theater Kids and young actors in Bway shows [Petra Jevremov, Andie Mechanic from The People in the Picture; Rachel Resheff, Mary Poppins, and Carly Rose Sonenclar, Wonderland].   Bruce Barton will announce. Evan Pappas directs, with Steve Freeman as M.D. Proceeds support the League's Directors Project educational initiatives.
 

Brunch with the Stars

You can have brunch, sort of, with many of your favorite stage stars, all thanks to an idea veteran production stage manager Roy Harris, now on Roundabout's The Road to Mecca, had. And while you're eating you're helping a good cause.

There's a tradition on Bway. "Let's do brunch," says everyone, but because of time restraints of having to be at shows often an hour or more before curtain, it's not always possible to go out. So, if you can't go to brunch, bring brunch to the theatre.

More Recipes & Reminiscence [Broadway Cares, 117 pages, soft cover, 40 B&W photos/sketches, spiral bound; $10 plus postage and handling] is Harris' tribute to the fun times he's hosted with company members and crew doing pot luck Sunday brunches the last 12 years, beginning with the 2000 production of A Moon for the Misbegotten and ending with 2011's The Lyons and Good People.

"I've been fortunate in the artists I've worked with the 25 years," says Harris, "and needed a way to express my appreciation. I came up with 56 artists - and asked them to give a recipe that they particularly liked. Often, the recipe was the item  brought to the brunches. In addition to the array of dishes, there're stories on our working relationship and friendship. I love the stories. The recipes are sort of like the icing on the cake."

Recipes & Reminiscence sold out and this book, in a new printing, is a sequel with many of the original artists and several new ones. Among the more than 50 are Jane Alexander, Joan Allen, Eileen Atkins, Kevin Bacon, Andre Bishop, Patricia Clarkson, Tyne Daly, Blythe Danner, Judith Ivey, Madeline Kahn, Laura Linney, John Lithgow, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Roberts, Frances Sternhagen, Daniel Sullivan, Wendy Wasserstein, Dianne Wiest, and Joanne Woodward.  

"I'm proud of the artists I've worked with," states Harris, "which made it

fun to remininiscence about the several times I staged managed with them or the only time. Take Dan. We've done 21 shows! His contribution and that of my beloved friend Wendy are heartfelt. Besides the work being wonderful, Sundays were always a treat you looked forward to. All that wonderful food - and beverages, always a surprise. You never knew what anyone would bring!"

The book can be ordered at www.BroadwayCares.org, by calling Peter Borzotta, (212) 840-0770, and Amazon.com. Harris' latest book, Brunch over Broadway, all recipes, is also available [$20]. All proceeds benefit the programs of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Love Really Never Dies: The Phantom Returns

Children will listen, hopefully, on February 5 @ 11 A.M. in Kaufman Center's Merkin Hall [129 West 67th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam] when Broadway Playhouse, in its sixth season, presents Stephen Sondheim: Introducing Broadway Classics to a New Generation.  There'll be mini-musicals, medleys, sing-alongs and interactive games for kid-friendly explorations of Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, Follies and A Funny Thing Happened... Sean Hartley hosts. The series concludes March 18 with "Yip" Harburg and two of his most famous works: Finian's Rainbow, The Wizard of Oz.  Tkts are $20 and available at the Kaufman box office, www.kaufman-center.org/mch or by calling (212) 501- 3330 

Carnaval in NYC

Athol Fugard's The Road to Mecca stars multiple Tony and Drama Desk winner Rosemary Harris, Carla Gugino [Suddenly Last Summer revival, After the Fall] and Tony and DD winner Jim Dale. It takes a while for the sparks to fly in this revival, actually making its Bway prem. They really begin to fly into Act Two when, under Gordon Edlestein's direction, Dale's actually in the play. He plays South African minister Marius Byleveld in the story of an reclusive elderly woman who's spent the years since her husband's death transforming her home into an intricate, dazzling and quite controversial work of art.

As Miss Helen appears increasingly unable to care for herself, not only has she become depressed but also pressures mount on her to sell her home and retire to assisted living. But that's the tip of the iceberg. There are startling revelations as Fugard reaches deep into Act Two: a long festering but hidden romance on Byleveld's part; and a secret the artist's friend Elsa has been keeping.

"I've been friends with Rosemary for many years," says Dale, "and always hoped we would work together. What a joy it is. She's an impeccable person, thoughtful, down to earth and loves to chat away with you. Rosemary, acting now over 60 years, knows a thing or two about the stage. She's one of the top ladies of American theater, right up there with Zoe Caldwell, Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes; and in the rarefied company of our beloved Julie Harris. If Rosemary was in England, she'd be a Dame - no, she'd be queen!"

It's the first time he's met Gugino "and I'm happy to say that she's a love, onstage and off. But I'm not going to talk about her cute little doggie. Not a word will come from my mouth! I simply won't tell you what his best wishes were on opening night."

Dale, the man of a thousand and one voices [as evidenced by his Grammy wins for the Harry Potter audio book series]. "I love doing voices but it's one I've never used before," he explains. "I've never tried to speak Afrikan. I rented some South African films and played them over and over to help me along."

When playwright Fugard came to rehearsals, he asked Dale, "Where did you get that accent? It's spot on?" Dale confessed its origins. "It was no where near as broad as Athol's, which is very broad. No one has argued that it's not authentic."

The Road is a long haul with a lot of narrative. "Yes, you could say that. It was tough learning all the lines. For me, especially. The older you get, the harder it is. I have about 500 lines, but Rosemary and Carla, who talk away in Act One, had twice as many. The author had the opportunity to edit, but decided not to. So you can only go along with him.

"Athol was very encouranging during rehearsals," Dale continues. "[Director] Gordon [Edlestein], as far as the staging, dusting off and polishing was the perfect person for this play. We're a tight trio, even if at odds with each other. We have mistrust of each other in the story, but we have the trust of each other onstage." 

Dale has observed something different at performances: rapt silence from audiences and no cell phones going off. "When I'm in a comedy or musical, I can tell from the laughter in the first few seconds if audiences are with you. But, in this play, you can hear a pin drop as we're speaking. Audiences are listening. Some nights, they're very quiet; then, at the end, you got that wonderful standing ovation. It's rather lovely."

The Roundabout's production begins Athol Fugard's 80th birthday celebration which continues next week at the spanking new Signature Theatre Company's new home, where Fugard is its inaugural Residency One playwright.

Audiences Responding to Porgy and Bess

To think that due to some criticism and controversy stirred up by a certain composer nearing the end of his marathon 80th bd celebration, the operetta Porgy and Bess, by George and Ira Gershwin, book by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward, which has now been transformed into a Bway musical, there was the chance it would never make it to Bway following its sold-out premiere at Boston's American Rep.

Masterworks Broadway/Sony also continues its vault of classic cast recordings previously unavailable in the CD era. A Thurber Carnival [1960]] and the all-star David Merrick Presents Hits from His Broadway Hits [1964] are available as downloads through digital service providers and as disc-on-demand, with the original cover art and liner notes, via ArkivMusic.com and Amazon.com.  Both are accompanied by new illustrated albums MasterworksBroadway.com.

A Thurber Carnival played 223 performances at the ANTA [now Virginia]. The CD,  with music by Don Elliott, includes sketches from the satirical revue which brought James Thurber's famous New Yorker cartoons and short stories to life.  Tony-winner Peggy Cass [Mame], Paul Ford, John McGiver and the amazing Alice Ghostley were among the cast.

By 1964, just prior to his super smash Hello, Dolly!, Merrick was the King of Bway, with more hits than any producer before, so he decided to celebrate himself, which he often liked to do. The result was RCA's David Merrick Presents... Teen fav Ann-Margret, John Gary and the Merrill Staton Voices give lush treatment to a dozen songs from a dozen Merrick hits. Eight, including Gypsy, received Tony noms for Best Musical. Tracks include "Small World," "Make Someone Happy," "Take Me Along," "Love Makes the World Go Round" and "Anyone Would Love You."  Peter Filichia provides notes. CD has original cover art.


Tune in Tonight

The much anticipated Tony Bennett: Duets II, airs tonight @ 9 on PBS Great Performances. Bennett, 85 but in incredible voice, collaborates with Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Natalie Cole, Sheryl Crow, Aretha Franklin ["How Do You Keep the Music Playing"] , Lady Gaga ["The Lady Is a Tramp"] , Josh Groban ["This Is All I Ask"], Faith Hill, Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Queen Latifah,  John Mayer ["One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)"], Willie Nelson ["On the Sunny Side of the Street"], Amy Winehouse ["Body and Soul"] and  Carrie Underwood.

The album took more than six months to record, with each track done face-to-face in studios around the world, from L.A. to Nashville to London.

With more than 50 million records sold worldwide and platinum and gold albums to his credit, Bennett has received 15 Grammys, ncluding the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The MTV generation first took Bennett to heart during his appearance with the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the 1993 MTV Video Awards. He appeared on MTV Unplugged and the resulting recording of the same name garnered Grammy's Album of the Year.

Bennett's big break came in 1949 when Bob Hope noticed him working with Pearl Bailey in Greenwich Village. "Bob was down checking out my act," Bennett recalls. "Thankfully, he liked my singing and came back after the show. He said, 'Come on kid, you're going to come to the Paramount and sing with me.' But first he told me he didn't care for my stage name, which was Joe Bari. He wanted to know what my real name was. 'Anthony Dominick Benedetto,' I replied. 'We'll call you Tony Bennett,' he informed me. And that's how it happened. A new Americanized name, the start of a wonderful career and a glorious adventure that has continued for 50 years."