All stories by MICHAEL RIEDEL on BroadwayStars

Thursday, February 9, 2017

New plays on Broadway are already in danger by Michael Riedel

There are plenty of nonmusical plays coming to Broadway this spring, but producers are fretting that few of them are selling. Three of those plays — “Sweat,” “Indecent” and “Sign…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:24PM
Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Disappointed Josh Groban fans are sobbing on Broadway by Michael Riedel

If you want to see 1,000 women burst into tears, hand them a piece of paper that says, “We regret to inform you that Josh Groban is unable to appear in today’s performance of ‘The Grea…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:14PM
Thursday, February 2, 2017

‘1984’ is popular again, and coming to Broadway by Michael Riedel

I have no idea why, but in this era of Make America Great Again, sales of George Orwell’s “1984” have skyrocketed. The book, first published in 1949, is topping best-seller lists at Am…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:38PM
Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Broadway producer, a convicted felon, is yellin’ at rehearsal by Michael Riedel

Things are getting tense up there in Toronto, where disgraced impresario Garth Drabinsky is plotting his comeback with the new musical “Sousatzka.” Drabinsky’s temper was legendary dur…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:29PM
Thursday, January 19, 2017

What does Cher think of the musical about her life? by Michael Riedel

You didn’t hear this from me, but this week Cher was at the very first read-through of a new musical based on her life. I’m going to give you a few details, but I’m begging you: Don’…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:03PM
Tuesday, January 17, 2017

London’s ‘Dreamgirls’ is eyeing Broadway by Michael Riedel

London theatergoers are pretty staid: applauding songs politely, sipping their white wine at the “interval” (translation: intermission) and never, ever giving a standing ovation. But the…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:18PM
Thursday, January 12, 2017

Inside John Kander and Susan Stroman’s new musical by Michael Riedel

“The Scottsboro Boys” was one of my favorite musicals of the past 10 years, so I’m happy to report that the people who created it are at work on a new show. Director Susan Stroman,…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:34PM
Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Nathan Lane is still the biggest draw on Broadway by Michael Riedel

And the box office champ of the fall is — Nathan Lane in “The Front Page.” The revival recouped its $4.8 million production cost at the end of December, and is on track to make a tidy…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 02:25PM
Thursday, January 5, 2017

The must-see Broadway shows of 2017 by Michael Riedel

As we swing into 2017, let’s look at the people, shows and events certain to make news on Broadway in the months ahead. Hello, $$$! Bette Midler is shaping up as the No. 1 box-office draw …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 07:36PM
Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Inside Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds’ life on Broadway by Michael Riedel

The Broadway League was scrambling Tuesday for its members to authorize dimming the lights in honor of Debbie Reynolds and, perhaps, Carrie Fisher. Reynolds is probably a sure bet, since she…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:42PM
Thursday, December 29, 2016

The legends Broadway lost in 2016 by Michael Riedel

Broadway will be dimming its lights a lot in the coming weeks. Dick Latessa, who won a Tony for “Hairspray,” died Dec. 19. Soon after, the theater lost Willa Kim, who designed the stylis…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:15PM
Thursday, December 22, 2016

Remembering Broadway’s Dick Latessa by Michael Riedel

When Harvey Fierstein slipped on a housecoat to play Edna in “Hairspray,” his co-star, Dick Latessa, told him he wasn’t the first to do a musical in drag: “We did a number in the out…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:12PM
Friday, December 16, 2016

The onstage — and offstage — drama of Broadway’s most famous theater by Michael Riedel

As musical-comedy shrines go, it’s hard to top the staircase off the lobby of the St. James Theatre. Every night in the spring of 2001, Mel Brooks and his creative team sat on those steps …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 01:17AM
Thursday, December 15, 2016

Will ‘Band’s Visit’ make the jump to Broadway? by Michael Riedel

On the menu today: Some Shubert Alley scuttlebutt. Everybody’s wondering if “The Band’s Visit,” the new critics’ darling down at the Atlantic Theater, will move to Broadway in the …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:04PM
Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Garth Drabinsky, Broadway impresario-turned-con, meets the press by Michael Riedel

Disgraced impresario Garth Drabinsky kicked off his comeback campaign in Toronto by hosting a press preview last week of his new musical, “Sousatzka.” With the confidence of a veteran hu…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:45PM
Thursday, December 8, 2016

Neil Simon’s terrific memoirs are worth revisiting by Michael Riedel

Simon & Schuster just reissued Neil Simon’s memoirs, 1996’s “Rewrites” and 1999’s “The Play Goes On,” in one volume. I read them when they first came out, and they’re ter…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 04:39PM
Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Broadway gathers to honor Edward Albee by Michael Riedel

“Tough” may have been Edward Albee’s favorite compliment. “If he came backstage after a show and said, ‘That was a tough performance,’ you could sleep well that night,” say…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:27PM
Friday, December 2, 2016

How ‘La La Land’ conjures old Hollywood musicals by Michael Riedel

Nothing will bring a smile to your face faster this holiday season than the opening number of “La La Land,” Damien Chazelle’s new movie that’s poised to reinvigorate the Hollywood mu…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:00AM
Thursday, December 1, 2016

‘Harry Potter’ has a Broadway theater for 2018 by Michael Riedel

Harry Potter waved his magic wand — and a Broadway theater everybody hates will be home to a show everybody loves. “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” a runaway hit in London, will op…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:16PM
Wednesday, November 30, 2016

De Niro ‘fussing with things’ at Broadway’s ‘Bronx Tale’ by Michael Riedel

Robert De Niro told Page Six earlier this month that he was “annoyed” that the producers of the musical adaptation of “A Bronx Tale” tapped Broadway vet Jerry Zaks to direct instead …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:25AM
Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Movies about theater will make your holiday even more dramatic by Michael Riedel

Everybody on Broadway loves “The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened,” director Lonny Price’s documentary about the reunion of the original cast of Stephen Sondheim’s flop musical �…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 12:51PM
Saturday, November 19, 2016

Legendary lush Peter O’Toole turned his co-stars into drunks by Michael Riedel

A reporter once asked Peter O’Toole, whose capacity for booze was legendary, if he ever turned up for work drunk. “The answer to that is not only drunk, but deliberately so,” O’Toole…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 12:33PM
Thursday, November 17, 2016

Gwyneth Paltrow wants to be a Broadway producer by Michael Riedel

Florenz Ziegfeld. David Merrick. Cameron Mackintosh. And now . . . Gwyneth Paltrow. The Oscar-winning actress is poised to join the ranks of fabled theatrical impresarios if “Head Over…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:15PM
Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Springsteen is ready to put his life on Broadway by Michael Riedel

Nobody’s approached Bruce Springsteen about turning his acclaimed new memoir into a musical. But he’s certainly open to the idea. I met Springsteen, briefly, at a party for his best-…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 09:32AM
Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Sondheim’s new musical could open on Broadway in 2018 by Michael Riedel

Of all the new shows percolating out there, the one I’m most excited about is “Buñuel,” Stephen Sondheim and David Ive s’ adaptation of two Luis Buñuel movies, “The Discreet Char…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 10:40AM
Saturday, November 5, 2016

Explore NYC’s amazing presidential history by Michael Riedel

If Donald Trump wins the White House on Tuesday, he’ll be only the second United States president born in New York City. So while you’re waiting for a National Historic Landmarks plaque …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 03:03AM
Thursday, November 3, 2016

Deaths shadow Broadway’s latest ‘Liaisons’ by Michael Riedel

There was a twinge of sadness at the opening Sunday of “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” Those associated with the original 1987 Broadway production couldn’t help but think of two people who…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 05:58PM
Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Producers of Broadway’s ‘Great Comet’ back down by Michael Riedel

Howard and Janet Kagan, the husband-and-wife producers of “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” have managed to upstage theater critics as the most reviled people on Broadway.…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:41PM
Sunday, October 30, 2016

Mel Brooks’ hilarious secrets behind the making of ‘Young Frankenstein’ by Michael Riedel

‘Young Frankenstein” is one of those movies that, when it crops up on TCM, you drop everything and laugh yourself silly till the credits roll. You know all the lines by heart: “What hu…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:25AM
Thursday, October 27, 2016

Mel Brooks is bringing the ‘Young Frankenstein’ musical back from the dead by Michael Riedel

I can tell you what Mel Brooks is doing for Halloween: re-animating his Broadway musical “Young Frankenstein.” Brooks, along with co-writer Tom Meehan and director Susan Stroman, has tak…

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:49PM
Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Joan Rivers’ biggest regret revealed by Michael Riedel

Joan Rivers achieved a lot: groundbreaking comedienne, popular TV personality, QVC entrepreneur, buckets of money. But the one thing she wanted above all else eluded her. As Leslie Bennetts …

SOURCE: The New York Post at 06:34PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic