All stories by Roger Friedman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Broadway: $75 Mil "Spider Man" Box Office Fade As New Shows Arrive by Roger Friedman

Is it curtains for “Spider Man” on Broadway? Not yet, but things are looking a little scary for Peter Parker and Mary Jane. For the last several weeks, the Broadway box office fo…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:46PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Broadway Smash "Pippin" Will Be A Weinstein Movie by Roger Friedman

“Pippin,” just revived on Broadway after 40 years, and a smash hit, is going to the movies. Harvey Weinstein, unbeknownst to anyone, has owned the right for the last ten years. (…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:21PM[SHARE]
Friday, May 3, 2013

Broadway: "Vanya," "Matilda" Win NY Drama Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Musical by Roger Friedman

I am happy to report that Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” has won Best Play from the New York Drama Critics Circle. They also chose “Matild…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 02:46PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tony Awards 2013 Nominations: Tom Hanks Is In, But Scarlett, Bette and Alec Are Snubbed by Roger Friedman

The Tony Awards nominees have just been announced. Among the Hollywood stars who came to Broadway, Tom Hanks is the sole winner. He was nominated for Best Actor in a play for “Lucky Gu…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 08:37AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 26, 2013

Tony Awards Announce Eligibility: They're Giving the Matilda's A Special Award by Roger Friedman

The Tony Awards committee has met. White smoke has come up out of their tower. And now we know a few things we didn’t before. Namely: the four young actresses who alternate as the main…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 04:44PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 25, 2013

Bette Midler On Broadway: A List Hollywood Comes East to Support One of Its Own by Roger Friedman

Hollywood came east last night and mixed with Broadway"a not always easy alliance. But they did it for their late pal Sue Mengers, and star Bette Midler who uncannily channels Mengers in a 9…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:46AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 24, 2013

How Old Is Cicely Tyson? A Real Mystery Exists. Is She "Benjamin Button"? by Roger Friedman

How old is Cicely Tyson really? Her official age on the imdb.com and other sources puts her at 79. That would seem about right. An article from People magazine’s archives, published in…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:30AM[SHARE]

Cicely Tyson, Age 79 (or 88), Rocks Broadway, in Return After 30 Years by Roger Friedman

There are a lot of good actors onstage at the Sondheim Theater in the revival of Horton Foote’s “Trip to Bountiful.” Cuba Gooding Jr., Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Condola …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:40AM[SHARE]
Monday, April 22, 2013

First Theater Noms: Tom Hanks is In, Alec Baldwin and Scarlett Johansson Are Not by Roger Friedman

The first important theater nominations are out, from the hard working Outer Critics Circle. They cover Broadway and off Broadway, so it’s pretty comprehensive. The OCC didn’t no…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:11PM[SHARE]
Friday, April 19, 2013

Alec Baldwn Upstaged in Broadway Return (And He Knows It) by Roger Friedman

Frankly Alec Baldwin knows he’s been upstaged in his Broadway return with Lyle Kessler’s “Orphans.” When I asked him at last night’s after party what he thought…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 03:54PM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 18, 2013

New Broadway Play Makes Last Minute Changes Because of Boston" Deletes Bomb Reference by Roger Friedman

Playwright Richard Greenberg had an unenviable problem yesterday. Just as his excellent new play “The Assembled Parties” was about to debut, he had to change a bit of it because …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:36AM[SHARE]
Thursday, April 11, 2013

Broadway: "Matilda" Will Make Tony Award Race for Best Musical Tightest Ever by Roger Friedman

“Matilda” opens tonight on Broadway, adding itself to “Kinky Boots,” the soon to close “Hands on A Hardbody,” and “Cinderella” (a new old show…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 02:19AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Broadway "Spider Man" Lawsuits Are Settled: Turn off The Lawyers by Roger Friedman

The lawsuit between “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” creator Julie Taymor and the show’s producers has been settled. Here’s the release: New York, NY – Julie Tay…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:11AM[SHARE]
Friday, April 5, 2013

Cyndi Lauper Has Written a Buoyant, Jubilant "Kinky Boots" " It's A Hit by Roger Friedman

Cyndi Lauper is the hardest working rock star I know. She started out when Madonna debuted. Everyone thought Cyndi would be the bigger star. She writes her own hits and is a serious composer…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:04AM[SHARE]
Sunday, March 24, 2013

A Phil Spector Broadway Musical? Murderer's Wife Should Keep Her Money by Roger Friedman

A Broadway musical about Phil Spector? If I were Rachelle Spector, the 32 year old woman who married Phil Spector after he was arrested for murder" and before he received a 19 years to life …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:11PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 22, 2013

Keith Carradine Brings the Robert Altman-Nashville Spirit to "Hands on a Hard Body" by Roger Friedman

The latest entry for Best Musical this season was last night’s “Hands on a Hard Body.” The late legendary director Robert Altman was planning to make a feature film of the …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 10:20AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 21, 2013

Broadway: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" in Play Form Stolen by Cat by Roger Friedman

I can't say Truman Capote is spinning in his grave exactly, but Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard surely are, and Tiffany's will be disappointed. Last night's premiere of "Breakfast at Tiffa…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:07AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Sigourney Weaver Sends Up Her "Alien" Self in Brilliant "Vanya" on Broadway by Roger Friedman

You may recall my review of Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” from Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater. The play was hilarious and fun, t…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:40AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 18, 2013

Broadway: Tom Hanks Play Beats Musical "Spider Man" at Box Office by Roger Friedman

Broadway: yes, perennials “The Lion King,” “Book of Mormon,” and “Wicked” were the top three highest grossers last week on the Great White Way. But number…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:21PM[SHARE]

Preview: Tom Hanks, With 2 Oscars, Will Make Stunning Transition to Broadway by Roger Friedman

Nora Ephron did a lot of things but she didn’t write plays. She did write, with her sister Delia, the omnibus “Love, Loss and What I Wore.” It was spoken, with scripts, by …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:54PM[SHARE]
Friday, March 15, 2013

Broadway Scoop: Carole King-Gerry Goffin-Mann & Weil Musical Is a Go by Roger Friedman

At long last here is the exclusive I am so happy to announce: “Beautiful” is the name of the absolutely much anticipated musical based largely on the music of Carole King. But th…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:16AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Bette Davis Is Back, Drinking and Smoking Off Broadway, in "The Lying Lesson" by Roger Friedman

Tonight Craig Lucas’s “Lying Lessons” opens off Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company on West 20th St.– and Bette Davis is back. In this play, it’s the early…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:32AM[SHARE]
Friday, March 8, 2013

Exclusive: Brooke Shields "Likely" To Join "The View" Now that Joy, Elizabeth Are Leaving by Roger Friedman

Big day on Barbara Walters’s “The View”: I can tell you exclusively that the likely new member of the panel is Brooke Shields. Sources say Barbara Walters really wants her.…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 07:39PM[SHARE]

New York Shocker: Elaine Stritch Is Leaving Town, For Good (Kind of) by Roger Friedman

At the Broadway premiere of Holland Taylor‘s tour de force performance as Ann Richards in “Ann,” Elaine Stritch confirmed the worst. A New York living legend, Stritch is pa…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 01:09AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Exclusive: Sarah Jessica Parker Looking at Off Broadway Return This Fall by Roger Friedman

EXCLUSIVE It’s been a long time since Sarah Jessica Parker has been on stage. But the “Sex and the City” star is getting ready to shed Carrie Bradshaw, from what I hear, an…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:43AM[SHARE]
Monday, March 4, 2013

"Cinderella" Gets Sassy in Her Broadway Debut, But the Songs Still Soar by Roger Friedman

Maybe you’ve seen the ads for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” They are everywhere, without fail. That’s because putting this show on Broadway is a first…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:32AM[SHARE]
Saturday, March 2, 2013

Tom Hanks First Broadway Preview Gets Thumbs Up" So Does Nora Ephron Play by Roger Friedman

It’s not a review, just overheard– last night’s first preview of Nora Ephron‘s “Lucky Guy” is said to have been a total success. Tom Hanks plays late New …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:20AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 18, 2013

Scarlett Johansson Returns to Broadway in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" by Roger Friedman

Believe it or not, Scarlett Johansson already has a Tony Award– for her work as a featured actress in Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” That was in 2010. Now …

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 12:34AM[SHARE]
Monday, January 7, 2013

"ER" Star Maura Tierney, Courtney B. Vance Joining Tom Hanks in Broadway Debut by Roger Friedman

“Lucky Guy,” the play by Nora Ephron starring Tom Hanks, has gotten two big cast members– Maura Tierney from “ER” and the great Courtney B. Vance. Hanks plays t…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 02:22PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 3, 2013

Sigourney Weaver "Vanya" Comedy Looking at Broadway Run by Roger Friedman

Broadway is a little short on original plays this season, so I am happy to pass on the news that Christopher Durang’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” may be moving th…

SOURCE: ShowBiz 411 at 11:49PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off