All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Monday, December 7, 2015

Broadway Box Office: High Marks for ‘School of Rock’ Raise High Hopes by Gordon Cox

“School of Rock” took a tumble at the Broadway box office last week — but nobody’s expecting the show to stay down for long. The new musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:52PM
Sunday, December 6, 2015

Broadway Review: ‘School of Rock,’ The Musical by Gordon Cox

Andrew Lloyd Webber unleashed his inner child to write the period rock for “School of Rock,” an exuberant feel-good musical based on the beloved 2003 movie starring Jack Black as…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:42PM
Friday, December 4, 2015

London Theater Review: Sheridan Smith in ‘Funny Girl’ by Gordon Cox

When Fanny Brice’s boss tries to make a joke of her dowdy looks, dolling her up as a deluded bride convinced of her beauty, his comic star takes him to task. “They’re supposed to lau…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:08AM

Broadway’s First Actress in a Wheelchair Wants to Recreate That Kylie Jenner Photoshoot by Gordon Cox

Like most of the Internet, Ali Stroker, a cast member in the Deaf West Theater revival of “Spring Awakening,” had a strong reaction to Kylie Jenner’s controversial photos…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:07AM
Thursday, December 3, 2015

Off Broadway Review: ‘Invisible Thread’ by Gordon Cox

In 2005, an actor named Griffin Matthews volunteered to work at an orphanage in Uganda and returned home to start his own charitable organization. The writer-performer drew on that episode …

SOURCE: Variety at 07:27AM
Tuesday, December 1, 2015

‘Waitress’ Musical Serves Up Broadway’s First All-Female Creative Team by Gordon Cox

With the addition of choreographer Lorin Latarro, the incoming musical “Waitress” has put together what’s being touted as Broadway’s first all-female creative team. L…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:49PM

‘Hamilton’ Creator Wrote Music for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ by Gordon Cox

You’d think Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of Broadway hypemagnet “Hamilton,” would have hit peak pop-culture saturation by now, but then he had to go and top hi…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:49PM

Helen Mirren Takes Dig at Donald Trump in Funny, Heartfelt Gotham Awards Speech by Gordon Cox

Helen Mirren spiced up the 2015 Gotham Awards ceremony with an acceptance speech that ranged from bawdy to funny to serious, getting in a dig at Donald Trump while she was at it. She slipped…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:49PM

Off Broadway Review: Steven Sater and Burt Bacharach’s ‘New York Animals’ by Gordon Cox

Four hard-working actors, ably assisted by a resourceful costumer and a nimble props master, make a mighty effort to play the 20-plus characters in “New York Animals.” Steven Sa…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:48PM
Monday, November 30, 2015

Broadway Box Office: Thanksgiving Attendance Hits New High by Gordon Cox

The holiday bounty on Broadway last week included a new Thanksgiving attendance record, with close to 290,000 theatergoers adding up to the best-attended Turkey Day week ever recorded. The…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:21PM

London Theater Review: Caryl Churchill’s ‘Here We Go’ by Gordon Cox

Routinely described as Britain’s greatest living playwright — arguably in a job-share with Tom Stoppard — Caryl Churchill can do in a 45-minute triptych what most writers take …

SOURCE: Variety at 07:21PM

London Theater Review: ‘Ben Hur,’ the Stage Spoof by Gordon Cox

Playwright Patrick Barlow had a big, surprise hit with his stage version of “The 39 Steps,” racking up nine years in the West End and two more on Broadway, gleefully sending up i…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:21PM
Wednesday, November 25, 2015

‘The Walking Dead Experience’: Behind Its Secret Avant-Garde Theater Credentials by Gordon Cox

Does getting chased by zombies feel any less terrifying if the undead have experimental theater credits? Probably not. But even if most theater people might not have “The Walking Dead Expe…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM

London Theater Review: Wallace Shawn’s ‘Evening at the Talk House’ by Gordon Cox

Wallace Shawn is up to his old tricks again: pricking the conscience of right-on, left-leaning theatergoers. No one does that better than this impish, idiosyncratic polymath, who, at 72, sti…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM

Acclaimed Play ‘The Humans’ Sets Broadway Dates by Gordon Cox

“The Humans,” the Stephen Karam play that won raves in its current Off Broadway run, has locked in dates for its anticipated Broadway transfer, starting performances in January a…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM

‘Friday Night Lights’ Musical to Tackle L.A. in 2016 by Gordon Cox

The team that brought L.A. audiences “Cruel Intentions: The Musical” and “The Unauthorized O.C. Musical” is at it again, lining up “The Unauthorized ‘Frid…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM

Alec Baldwin, Ellen Barkin and Laurence Fishburne to Read Arthur Miller on Broadway by Gordon Cox

Add more Arthur Miller to the Broadway slate: The Arthur Miller Foundation will celebrate the centennial of the playwright’s birth with a starry benefit featuring Alec Baldwin, Ellen B…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM

Broadway’s ‘Lion King,’ ‘School of Rock’ Turn to Virtual Reality to Boost Ticket Sales by Gordon Cox

Old-fashioned Broadway is embracing newfangled virtual reality, in the hopes that the fashionable 3D-imaging technique will add up to real-life ticket sales. Last week, “The Lion King” r…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:26PM
Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Tony Awards Move Back to the Beacon Theater for 2016 by Gordon Cox

The Tony Awards have set dates and switched venues for their 2016 edition, returning to the Beacon Theater on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for a ceremony that will air live on CBS June …

SOURCE: Variety at 11:53AM

Broadway Box Office: ‘Fiddler On the Roof’ Looks Rich by Gordon Cox

“If I were a rich man,” goes the song from “Fiddler on the Roof” — and to judge by the first few performances of the new Broadway revival, this “Fiddler&#…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:12AM

‘Singin’ in the Rain’ Dances to Broadway in 2016 with Harvey Weinstein on Board by Gordon Cox

Theatre du Chatelet, the Paris opera house where Broadway’s “An American in Paris” premiered, has teamed with Harvey Weinstein’s Weinstein Live Entertainment to brin…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:12AM

‘Motown’ Musical Locks In Broadway Return for 2016 by Gordon Cox

The musical “Motown” has set a theater and a timeframe for its Broadway return, mapping out an 18-week run that starts in July 2016 at the Nederlander Theater. When the musical …

SOURCE: Variety at 08:12AM

Broadway’s ‘Dames at Sea’ to Close in January by Gordon Cox

Producers of the Broadway musical “Dames at Sea” are abandoning ship, posting a closing notice for early January following several weeks of struggle at the box office. There̵…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:12AM
Monday, November 23, 2015

Off Broadway Review: ‘Night is a Room’ by Gordon Cox

Edward Albee seemed to have shattered the last social taboo with “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?”, his absurdist drama about a happily married man who discovers an even greater happ…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:37AM
Friday, November 20, 2015

Tom Rothman Talks ‘Concussion’ and What Keeps Him Up at Night by Gordon Cox

Sony’s Tom Rothman threw a few punches of behalf of the studio’s upcoming release “Concussion” and zeroed in on the issues in the movie business that keep him tossing and turning at …

SOURCE: Variety at 06:45PM
Thursday, November 19, 2015

Boston Theater Review: Nick Offerman in ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by Gordon Cox

The world premiere stage adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s picaresque, posthumously published, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “A Confederacy of Dunces” is very much like its lead ch…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:06PM

‘Miss Saigon’ to Return to Broadway in 2017 by Gordon Cox

“Miss Saigon,” one of the wave of Brit-produced megamusicals that swept Broadway in the 1980s and early 90s, has set its sights on a Broadway return in spring 2017. The show, whi…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:37PM

Roundabout and Universal Stage Prods. to Bring ‘Holiday Inn’ to Broadway by Gordon Cox

New York’s Roundabout Theater Company has scheduled a Broadway run of “Holiday Inn,” the stage musical developed from the 1942 movie under the auspices of Universal Stage P…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:37PM
Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Roundabout Theater Company Adds Two Shows by Buzzy Writers by Gordon Cox

The Roundabout Theater Company has lined up two plays for its 2016-17 season from a couple of playwrights currently attracting buzz for work running in New York this season — Stephen K…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:37PM
Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Broadway’s ‘The Lion King’ to Roar in Virtual Reality by Gordon Cox

Broadway’s “The Lion King” will release a virtual reality video of the show’s opening number, “Circle of Life,” on a handful of digital platforms tomorro…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:34PM
Monday, November 16, 2015

Broadway Box Office: ‘School of Rock,’ ‘The Color Purple’ Launch Strong by Gordon Cox

Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jennifer Hudson and two familiar properties added up to strong initial showings at the Broadway box office for musicals “School of Rock” and “The Col…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:18PM