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HERE AND THERE, THIS AND THAT: BEATING THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER DOLDRUMS, PART TWO
by ELLIS NASSOUR
The dog days of summer are really beating down on us! Just a couple more days. Here are suggestions for beating the summertime blahs. What could be better than the new edition of Forbidden Broadway? Or lip-syncing from a genius of the art? Or a high priestess of theater in a big screen chiller thriller and news of her upcoming return to the stage? Hummmm. Not enough? How about the find of a �lost� demo of a failed Broadway musical and a hard to find soundtrack coming to CD?
David Benoit, Valerie Fagan, Jennifer Simard and Michael West with David Caldwell commanding a full orchestra on his piano. Forbidden Broadway, Summer Shock! will segue into a long run in mid-September. Alessandrini's unstoppable parody revue of Broadways�s best and worst has been on the boards since 1982, and won numerous awards including the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Obie.
For tickets and information: TeleCharge, (212) 239-6200. Visit www.forbiddenbroadway.com.
It was one of her last public appearances. [She did occasionally pop into Gough�s, the hangout of NYTimes staffers on 43rd Street, for a Pepsi to reminisce about her hoofer days on The Old 42nd Street.] The interview got quite intimate when Joanie discussed her love life � and made a graphic reference to former co-star Clark Gable, who had evidently come over for more than a soft drink.
Lypsinka is known to pull out all the stops. So except her to go full throttle performing the entire interview with Tony and Drama Desk-winning Scott Wittman [lyricist, Hairspray] in Springer�s seat.
The tall, slinky, internationally renowned drag superstar is in real life tall, slinky John Epperson, originally from sleepy southwest Mississippi. He came to the big city to make his mark and quickly graduated from rehearsal pianist to lip-syncing a couple of songs. His repertory expanded to entire albums of countless divas. Last month, he expanded his horizons in D.C. with an autobiographical revue [yes, he sings, too!]. He says his Crawford tribute is his gift to her on what would be her 100th birthday.
Comic actor Steve Hayes will open, performing famous lines from Crawford films. Presented by TWEED TheaterWorks. For tickets and information, call SmartTix, (212) 868-4444. Visit www.lypsinka.com and www. tweedtheater.org.
[Fans of Grammy-winning, renowned classical violinst Hillary Hahn will be pleased to know she�s prominently featured on the film�s atmospheric James Newton Howard score, his fourth for Shyamalan and available on Hollywood Records. Her eagerly awaited Elgar Violin Concerto is due in September from Deutsche Grammophon.]
The good news is, come November, Jones, so respected by the time of her Tony for The Heiress that she was dubbed "the high priestess of New York theater," returns to the boards at Manhattan Theatre Company�s Off Broadway Stage II [City Center] in John Patrick Shanley�s Doubts, as mid-60s nun and junior high principal who suspects a well-like priest of funny business. It happens that Sister Aloysius, before running her fiefdom like a prison, was married and widowed. Doug Hughes is directing. The play had a reading last weekend as part of New York Stage and Film�s season at Vassar.
Shanley, in addition to his theater work, wrote the screenplay for Moonstruck, now being developed into a Broadway musical.
Sister Aloysius is not the only nun in Jones� life. During the last six months, while Hollywooding it [guesting on The West Wing], she's cast in a recurring role in Clubhouse, the CBS/Mel Gibson coming-of-age Fall drama about a teen working in pro baseball. Mare Winningham and Jeremy Sumpter star.
Later this year, Jones is back on the big screen, featured in Julia Tyler�s Swimmers, staring TV actress Sarah Paulson.
It was news, indeed, to learn that two-time Tony-winner James Earl Jones returns to the stage in between his long-running stint as Verizon commercial spokesman. September 28th - 0ctober 17th, after much too long an absence [but no doubt a triple millionaire from all those residuals] stars with another welcome returnee to the stage, Tony-winning Diahann Carroll in the Kennedy Center revival of Ernest Thompson�s On Golden Pond. Tickets go on sale August 11th and can be purchased by calling (800) 444-1324 or (202) 467-4600 or at www.kennedy-center.org. Hopefully, it will make the transfer to Broadway.
If only there�d been a fly on the wall during the tryouts. Bart was at the top of his form, having had five West End hits in a row and with the film adaption of Oliver! taking home six Oscars, including Best Picture. Then, in 1965, he had a huge flop, began drinking heavily and became a manic depressive. Recriminations flowed like the waters of the Gyndes after Cyrus had his revenge. Alan Schneider, the respected director of Beckett, Pinter and Albee plays,including Who�s Afraid Of Virgina Wolf was the director. Some thought it a brilliant choice; others found it a very strange one since he had never guided a musical.
It was the tryout from hell. Stars were fired, parts were eliminated and, by the time the show limped from the road onto Broadway, only two of Bart�s songs survived the show�s opening/closing [additional credit was given to Martin Charnin and Elliot Lawrence]. It was One Night Only for [the late] Larry Kert and, fresh from George M., Bernadette Peters. I recall Kert so upset, he was sitting on the 46th Street curb outside the Lunt-Fontanne weeping.
On the heels of the release of the recently discovered score to Sherry! -- a long run champ at two months compared to La Strada, Bayview Records is releasing the world premiere of Bart�s entire score, produced by the composer in a lavish 1967 session that included a 25-piece orchestra and chorus. Label prez Peter Pinne said, �Even Lionel Bart�s estate didn�t know the of the existence of a demo. Imagine my excitement when a New York friend called last year to say he�d found a very battered copy. All I ever had was a tape one of the songs, �My Turn To Fall.� A lot of work has been done to �clean it up� and bring it to acceptable sound levels for release on CD.�
Having reissued three of Bart's shows on CD, including last year�s remastered Maggie May, Bayview, which releases the Scott Siegel Broadway By the Year concerts, was in good stead with the estate. The session stars are New Jersey gospel singer and later cabaret singer and Columbia Records artist Madeline Bell [24 at the time; she had made a big impact in Langston Hughes� Off-Broadway hit Black Nativity] as Gelsomina and the Michael Sammes Singers. There�s the overture, 11 tracks and a finale reprise.
�It�s quite an ambitious score,� says Pinne. �It captures much of the characters� private fears and anxieties in soliloquies and duets. There are several showstopping moments and the recording is filled with Bart�s trademark lyric wordsmithery.�
For more information, visit www.bayviewrecords.com.
Published on BroadwayStars.com on Thursday, July 29, 2004
[Link to this Feature]
Ellis Nassour is an international media journalist, and author of Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline, which he has adapted into a musical for the stage. Visit www.patsyclinehta.com.
For a listing of all features written by Ellis, click here.
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2007-08
Broadway Season
June 28 - Old Acquaintance (AA)
July 10 - Xanadu (Hayes) [Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel and Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith]
Aug 19 - Grease (Atkinson)
Oct 4 - Mauritius (Biltmore) [MTC]
Oct 11 - The Ritz (54)
Oct 18 - Pygmalion (AA)
Oct 25 - A Bronx Tale (Kerr)
Nov 1 - Cyrano de Bergerac (Rodgers)
Nov 4 - Rock 'N' Roll (Jacobs)
Nov 8 - Young Frankenstein (Hilton)
Nov 9 - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (St. James)
Nov 10: Local One Strike Begins
Nov 28: Local One Strike Ends
Dec 2 - Cymbeline (Beaumont)
Dec 3 - The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box) [Dodger Properties with Steven Spielberg, Dan Cap Productions, Fred Zollo, Latitude Link and the Pelican Group]
Dec 4 - August: Osage County (Imperial) [Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Steppenwolf]
Dec 6 - The Seafarer (Booth)
Dec 9 - Is He Dead? (Lyceum)
Dec 16 - The Homecoming (Cort) [Richards, Frankel]
Jan 10 - The Little Mermaid (Lunt)
Jan 15 - The 39 Steps (AA)
Jan 17 - November (Barrymore)
Jan 24 - Come Back, Little Sheba (Biltmore)
Feb 21 - Sunday In The Park With George (54)
Feb 28 - Passing Strange (Belasco)
Mar 6 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Broadhurst) [Stephen C. Byrd]
Mar 9 - In The Heights (Rodgers)
Mar 27 - Gypsy (St. James)
Mar 29 - Macbeth (Lyceum)
Apr 3 - South Pacific (Beaumont)
Apr 17 - A Catered Affair (Kerr) [Jujamcyn Theaters, Jordan Roth, Harvey Entertainment / Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson and Daryl Roth]
Apr 24 - Cry Baby (Marquis)
Apr 27 - The Country Girl (Jacobs)
Apr 30 - Thurgood (Booth)
May 1 - Les Liaisons Dangereuses (AA)
May 4 - Boeing-Boeing (Longacre)
May 7 - Top Girls (Biltmore)
TBA - Godspell
2008-09
Broadway Season
Oct 16 - Billy Elliot (Imperial)
Nov 08 - Dividing the Estate (a Shubert theater)
Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical (Broadway) [DreamWorks]
Talked About
Not Scheduled Yet
TBA - 50 Words
TBA - Addams Family (Elephant Eye)
TBA - American Buffalo
TBA - An American Vaudeville [Farrell, Perloff]
TBA - The Beard of Avon [NYTW]
TBA - Being There [Permut]
TBA - Benny & Joon [MGM]
TBA - Billy Elliot
TBA - Brave New World [Rachunow]
TBA - Breath of Life [Fox]
TBA - Busker Alley [Margot Astrachan, Robert Blume, Kristine Lewis, Jamie Fox, Joanna Kerry & Heather Duke]
TBA - Broomhilda
TBA - Bye Bye Birdie [Niko]
TBA - Camille Claudel [Wildhorn]
TBA - Camelot
TBA - Carmen [Robin DeLevita and The Firm]
TBA - Catch Me If You Can
TBA - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Bob and Harvey Weinstein]
TBA - Cry Baby [Grazer, Gordon, McAllister, Epstein]
TBA - Designing Women [Alexis]
TBA - Don Juan DeMarco [New Line]
TBA - Dreamgirls [Creative Battery]
TBA - Duet
TBA - Equus
TBA - Ever After [Adam Epstein]
TBA - Fallen Angels (Shubert) [Kenwright]
TBA - Farragut North [Richards]
TBA - Father of the Bride
TBA - The Female Of The Species (TBA)
TBA - Fool For Love (AA) [Roundabout]
TBA - Girl Group Time Travelers
TBA - Golden Boy
TBA - Harmony [Guiles, Karslake, Smith, Fishman]
TBA - Hitchcock Blonde
TBA - The Importance Of Being Earnest
TBA - Jerry Springer: The Opera! [Thoday, McKeown]
TBA - Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train (Circle)
TBA - Josephine [Waissman]
TBA - Leap of Faith
TBA - A Little Princess [Ettinger, Dodger]
TBA - Midnight Cowboy [MGM]
TBA - The Minstrel Show - Kander and Ebb and Stroman
TBA - Moonstruck [Pittelman, Azenberg]
TBA - Mourning Becomes Electra [Haber, Boyett]
TBA - Monsoon Wedding
TBA - The Night of the Hunter
TBA - The Opposite of Sex [Namco]
TBA - Orphans
TBA - Pal Joey [Platt]
TBA - Paper Doll
TBA - The Paris Letter
TBA - The Philadelphia Story
TBA - Peter Pan
TBA - Porgy and Bess [Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh, Panter, Tulchin/Bartner]
TBA - The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
TBA - The Princess Bride
TBA - Princesses [Lane, Comley]
TBA - Poe the Musical
TBA - Rain Man [MGM]
TBA - Robin Hood
TBA - Secondhand Lions
TBA - South Pacific
TBA - Speed-the-Plow
TBA - Stalag 17
TBA - Starry Messenger
TBA - Syncopation
TBA - A Tale Of Two Cities
TBA - Torch Song Trilogy
TBA - Turn of the Century
TBA - West Side Story
TBA - The Wall [Weinstein, Mottola, Waters]
TBA - Will Rogers Follies [Cossette]
TBA - The Wiz [Dodger]
TBA - Zanna [Dalgleish]
This list is compiled from various sources. If you have corrections to the Broadway Season, please contact us.
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