Saturday, November 29, 2003

Features:

[ NYT ]  Having Reshaped Broadway, Disney Readies a Second Act by JESSE McKINLEY
The Walt Disney Company, with three hits already on Broadway, is preparing a second, even more ambitious assault.

[ NYT ]  THE AGE OF DISSONANCE
Where Beauty Rules, a Few Points for Plain by BOB MORRIS
New York is wonderful. Especially when you're cute. That's the recurring joke in Broadway's new hit revival of "Wonderful Town."

[ LAT ]  Yes, she's gonna dance
Karen Ziemba, who is back on Broadway in a new musical of Jerome Kern songs, will also act, sing and just have fun.

[ LAT ]  Then you have 'Jazz'
Composer Cy Coleman and lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman create a musical in the art form they love.

[ LAT ]  The next life by Richard Stayton
"Angels in America" comes to HBO with big stars and renewed relevance.

[ P ]  PHOTO CALL: Mays Owns Broadway in Wife, Beginning Dec. 2

Reviews:

[ WP ]  Lerner and Loewe and Hamlisch, in Peak Form by Joseph McLellan

[ CU ]  Wonderful Town
Review

News:

[ B ]  Baitz's Letter May Be Read on B'way in Spring
Acclaimed scribe Jon Robin Baitz may finally see one of his plays grace the Great White Way. Broadway.com has learned that The Paris Letter, starring Tony Award winner Ron Rifkin, is a candidate for a Broadway opening this spring.

[ R ]  Not a Jolly Season for Broadway Producers by Larry Fine
'Tis not the season to be jolly for many Broadway theater producers as attendance is down, flops have been folding fast, and fingers are being pointed in various directions along the Great White Way.

[ P ]  Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 29

[ P ]  Linda Eder Offers Holiday Concert Dec. 6; Bravo Rebroadcasts Xmas Concert Dec. 21

[ P ]  New Play Constellations Begins to Orbit Off-Broadway Nov. 29

[ P ]  American Repertory Theatre Brings Snow in June by Mee to MA, Nov. 29-Dec. 28

[ P ]  Helen Hayes Theatre Company's The Music Man Begins Performances Nov. 29

[ P ]  Florida's Asolo Theatre Trades Horror for Murder, Opening Nov. 29

[ P ]  Nat, Stevie, Bob, Tori, Kermit Tunes Pave New Musical Revue of Road Songs, Dec. 12-Jan. 25

[ P ]  Mee's Wintertime Comedy Sprinkles Stage at San Jose Rep, Nov. 29-Jan. 4

[ P ]  Avenue Q, Lypsinka, Matt & Ben, My Own Wife Stars Talk Gender-Bending in New York, Dec. 8

[ P ]  Johnny Guitar to Strum in Century Center Starting March 4

[ P ]  Hit Shakespeare Henry IV Extends to Jan. 18, 2004
posted at 11/29/2003 09:51:34 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Friday, November 28, 2003

Features:

[ TM ]  Peter Filichia's Diary
In the wake of Henry IV, Filichia ponders what will happen when popular musicals enter the public domain.

[ TM ]  Welcome to Berlin by: Gerard Raymond
Author Doug Wright tells how a memorable meeting with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf led to the creation of the bioplay I Am My Own Wife.

[ B ]  Q & A: 11/28/03 by Ken Mandelbaum

[ NYT ]  REVERBERATIONS
To All of You Who Make Art for Its Own Sake: A Toast by JOHN ROCKWELL

Reviews:

[ ATW ]  Two Short Holiday Runs
'Epic Family Epic' and 'Broadway Sings The Odd Potato'
Review by Andy Propst
posted at 11/28/2003 01:06:46 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

News:

[ NYP ]  THE LATE WHITE WAY by MICHAEL RIEDEL
Say a prayer for the survival of this season's troubled shows like "Little Shop of Horrors."

[ NYT ]  ON STAGE AND OFF
Creative Dying by JASON ZINOMAN
"There's something a little silly about an actor dying onstage," said Mark Harelik, the star of Amy Freed's hit comedy "The Beard of Avon."

[ YN ]  Broadway Playing Best Shows of the Fall by MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Writer
What's this? Is that a little bit of sun peeking out from behind the clouds of doom and gloom that have enveloped Broadway this season?

[ B ]  All Shook Up to Bring Elvis Hits to CT, Broadway

[ B ]  Brit Up-and-Comer Kelly Lands Mary Poppins

[ B ]  Johnny Guitar Books Off-B'way's Century Center

[ DN ]  Garden's 'Carol' giving up ghost by ROBERT DOMINGUEZ
"A Christmas Carol: The Musical" ends its annual run at the Theater at Madison Square Garden next month after 10 holiday seasons, but efforts are underway to preserve the show in some form.

[ P ]  Ghosts Lead Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for Final MSG Staging, Nov. 28-Dec. 27

[ P ]  Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 28

[ P ]  Ed Asner Is God to Rex Smith and Krista Allen's Adam and Eve in World Premiere Comedy, Nov. 28-Jan. 11

[ P ]  Steve Tesich's Square One Returns to New York Stage, Dec. 3

[ P ]  PBOL'S THEATRE WEEK IN REVIEW, NOV. 22-28: No Column

[ P ]  Sarah Brightman Offers NYC Concert Jan. 23

[ P ]  Dicken's "Oliver" Gets New Twist as Empty Space Presents Twisted Olivia, Nov. 28-Jan. 10

[ P ]  Classic Stage Co. Conjures Medieval Mysteries, Directed by Kulick, January 2004; Tix on Sale Dec. 1

Features:

[ NYT ]  PUBLIC LIVES
Giving Voice to Last Words From the Holocaust by CHRIS HEDGES
Kathleen Chalfant's life has been peripatetic, filled with years abroad, social activism, children and a series of high-voltage roles including the lead in "Wit."

[ VV ]  Angels in a Changed America by Richard Goldstein
From HBO to Off-Broadway: Tony Kushner's Epic Theater of Identity

[ TS ]  A first-class parade by RICHARD OUZOUNIAN
Angela Lansbury a fan of the season

[ BS ]  Arthur Miller: On the Play, Actors and Producers
Arthur Miller believes that if a young playwright wrote "Death of a Salesman" today, it wouldn't have a chance of getting produced.

[ NJ ]  Yuletide farce in Maplewood BY PETER FILICHIA
Bev Sheehan knows it sounds impossible.
"The Lying Kind" -- in which two policeman must tell two parents on Christmas Eve that their daughter has been killed -- is a comedy?

[ P ]  DIVA TALK: Divas Sing Bernstein; Eder at Carnegie Hall Plus News of Rivera and Mason

[ BG ]  One-actor White House play shoulders the loss of its main man by Catherine Foster
When John Henry Redwood died in June, the loss was more than just that of a widely beloved actor and playwright.

[ CT ]  A Gorey-inspired holiday `Diversion' by Jenn Q. Goddu

Reviews:

[ NYP ]  A-ONE ENTERTAINMENT FOR ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS by DONALD LYONS
"The American Girls Revue" is an hour-length musical based on the popular American Girls Collection books.

[ HC ]  Monologue To Madness by MALCOLM JOHNSON
Haunting, Fascinating `Fra�lein' Follows Girl's Freudian Fall

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'BUTLEY'
So Sad It's Funny, and Getting Sadder by BRUCE WEBER
Nathan Lane, with his perpetually sad-seeming face and his audience-cultivating impulse of a comic, gives us Butley as a mad clown, in a new production in Boston.

[ NYP ]  SO LONG, OLD CHUM by CLIVE BARNES
True to tradition and style, "Cabaret" is going out with a fresh cast of newcomers and returnees.

[ NJ ]  Last call at 'Cabaret'; 'Nine' misses Banderas BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

[ NYT ]  CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
Old Songs Revisited by Voices of Today by STEPHEN HOLDEN
A flurry of recent standards albums by artists identified with rock and soul blurs the distinctions between music made before and after 1960.

[ NYT ]  CABARET REVIEW | MICHAEL FEINSTEIN
Holiday Favorites Gain Wit by STEPHEN HOLDEN
posted at 11/28/2003 07:34:18 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Thursday, November 27, 2003

[ FORTUNE ]  Finance: The Musical!
How Rosie O'Donnell's stint on the Great White Way rates against other celebrity-backed hits and misses.
posted at 11/27/2003 07:18:30 AM by James Marino | Item Link

[ NYT ]  Macy's Informs 'Mrs. Claus': It's a Parade; It's Not a Pulpit by MICHAEL BRICK
Actor Harvey Fierstein's plan to dress as Mrs. Claus in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sparked a fierce debate with the producers of the event.

[ NYT ]  You Better Watch Out by HARVEY FIERSTEIN
The op-ed article that started it all.

[ P ]  Broadway Musicals Featured on NBC and CBS Thanksgiving Day Parade Telecasts

News:

[ P ]  Boy George Out of Taboo First Week of March
With the money it's taking in now, it looks like NOBODY will be performing in Taboo the first week of March... or the first week of February, or...

[ P ]  Taboo Featured on "Queer Eye" Rebroadcast Nov. 26

[ B ]  Natasha Richardson Eyes B'way's Streetcar

[ HC ]  TheaterWorks Is Happy Building Deal Fell Through by Frank Rizzo
It's likely that Goodspeed Musicals will present Irving Berlin's "Call Me Madame" as part of its three-show 2004 season.
Second item.

[ NJ ]  Center stage by Peter Filichia
Meg Foster is returning to the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Second item.

[ P ]  Today in Theatre History: NOVEMBER 27

[ P ]  Helen Mirren And National Theatre Take on Mourning Becomes Electra, Nov. 27

[ P ]  Shubert General Manager Named 92nd Street Y's Director of Operations

[ P ]  Rattazzi to Star in Off-Broadway's 800 Words, Dec. 11-13

[ P ]  Caretaker Star Patrick Stewart Appears on NBC's "Today," Nov. 28

[ P ]  Love in the Bleachers: Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad, a Hit in Toronto, Extends to Dec. 14

[ P ]  Reddin's Frame 312�with Peil and Bryggman�Begins Performances Nov. 26

[ P ]  After Ashley Wins "Bug �n Bub" Playwright Award; Reading Held in NYC, Dec. 8

[ P ]  Report: Kushner's Homebody/Kabul to Return to New York in Spring 2004

[ P ]  Ingredients Adjusted, Café Puttanesca � a Saucy New Musical � Opens in Pittsburgh Nov. 26

[ P ]  Bebe Neuwirth Hosts All-Star American Songbook Concert Dec. 1

[ P ]  Millionaires and Minimum Wage Workers Heard in Abundance, from Off-Bway's Working Theater

[ P ]  "Everything Old Is New Again" Celebrates Nancy LaMott Nov. 30; Composer David Friedman, Too

[ P ]  Alice Ripley, Julia Murney, Ann Harada and More Offer "A Manhattan Christmas" Dec. 22

Features:

[ WP ]  Before the Musical, a Symphony Of Words by Bob Thompson
T.H. White and Camelot.

[ P ]  CHANNELING THEATRE: HBO's "Angels in America" Plus a Chat with "Angels" Co-star Ben Shenkman

[ P ]  PHOTO CALL: It's Destiny: Michelle Williams Joins Broadways' Aida

[ P ]  PHOTO CALL: Bernstein Gets Bravo's Once Again at Benefit

Reviews:

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'CULTURE CLASH IN AMERICCA'
Listening to the Nation Through Latino Voices by BRUCE WEBER
The omnibus show at the Yale Repertory Theater, which combines sociological observation and left-wing politics, is well-acted but suffers from a lack of cogency.

[ TM ]  The Siegel Column
Barbara & Scott applaud two Shakespeare productions, find that Loesser is more for Andrea Marcovicci, and watch the stars come out for Musical Theatre Works.

[ TM ]  Tunes, Tomes, & Videos
Charles Wright has mixed feelings about Margot Peters's new biography of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.

[ TM ]  Dollhouse
Reviewed By: Adam Klasfeld

[ TM ]  Ramayana 2K3
Reviewed By: Dan Bacalzo
posted at 11/27/2003 04:06:44 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

[ STARS ]  JERRY ZAKS: A MASTER OF COMEDY AND MUSICAL COMEDY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LIGHTS
by ELLIS NASSOUR
Smoke he must. But even multi-Tony and Drama Desk winning director Jerry Zaks abides by New York's strict smoking regulations. So it's not unusual to find the director on Theatre District sidewalks sending smoke rings into the strata. Though he has nothing to do with the revival of Wonderful Town, Zaks, who's represented on Broadway by the revival of Little Shop of Horrors, says that the musical holds a special place in his heart.

News:

[ B ]  Stage Notes: 11/26/03 by Paul Wontorek
Has Tony winner Sutton Foster found a worthy follow-up to Millie Dillmount in Little Women's Jo March?

[ NYT ]  BOLDFACE NAMES
Next Time, Get a Box With Cable by JOYCE WADLER
Richard Kind on "Bounce" and "The Boy From Oz."

[ V ]  L.A. legit scene gets boost from developer
Geffen to be first tenant at renovated Brentwood Theater
Martin Markinson, owner of Gotham's Helen Hayes Theater, has expanded his L.A. legit holdings with the intention of adding to L.A.'s commercial theater scene. "With the closing of the Canon Theater in Beverly Hills, there is the need for a 500-seat commercial theater," Markinson said.

[ P ]  Today In Theatre History: NOVEMBER 26

[ P ]  David Hare�s The Secret Rapture Gets London Revival, Nov. 26

[ P ]  Linda Eder to Perform on "The Today Show" Nov. 27

[ P ]  Singer Alanis Morisette Joins The Exonerated Cast Off-Broadway, Dec. 2-7

[ P ]  Novelist Henry James Sings in New Polly Pen Musical, Embarrassments, Launching Nov. 26

[ P ]  Max Factor: Bob Amaral is New Bialystock in Producers Tour Starting Nov. 25

Features:

[ TM ]  Peter Filichia's Diary
Seeing On the Town in Cincinnati prompts Filichia to ask: Which shows would you want to rewrite, and how?

[ ND ]  Kyle MacLachlan: A Downtown Kind of Guy by Blake Green

[ PPG ]  Kathleen Marshall joins elite circle on Broadway by Christopher Rawson
"I'll tell you how I met Kathleen Marshall," said Amy Freitag at Sunday's party to celebrate the opening of "Wonderful Town" on Broadway. "On my very first day at Smith [College], I walked into the second-floor bathroom and found Kathleen teaching my friend to tap dance."

[ PPG ]  Local duo sings for Bush, Blair, queen by Christopher Rawson
Pittsburgh to London to Broadway! No, not me -- I mean Anisha Nagarajan (Fox Chapel High School '02) and Manu Narayan (Franklin Regional, then CMU '95) who have been cast as the romantic leads in "Bombay Dreams," the big Bollywood stage musical composed by A. R. Rahman and produced by Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Thanks to American Theater Web for the Pittsburgh stories!

Reviews:

[ NYT ]  Theater in Review
Ramayana 2K3; Moms: An Evening of Comedy With Jackie (Moms) Mabley and Her Ladies; Broadway Sings "The Odd Potato"; Our Fathers.

[ TM ]  Bravo Bernstein!
Reviewed By: Matthew Murray
For someone who's been dead more than 13 years, Leonard Bernstein is having a pretty good week.

[ TM ]  Auntie Mame
Reviewed By: Michael Portantiere

[ SUN ]  Anything Hugh Can Do by Jeremy McCarter
Ned Beatty speaks out, Hugh Jackman shines.

[ ATW ]  Taboo a Tuneful, Well-Performed Miss
Review by Andy Propst

[ ATW ]  A Regal Henry IV; A Glorious Falstaff
Review by Andy Propst

[ NYP ]  FRANKLY, WE GET NO KICK FROM THIS TEAM by DONALD LYONS
"OUR Sinatra" is an anthology of Old Blue Eyes' songs as performed by three singers who attempt to imitate not the singer but rather the mood, the atmosphere of the music.
posted at 11/26/2003 08:56:01 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Features:

[ B ]  First Person: A New Dance by Jeffrey Hatcher

[ BS ]  Scene to seen
Loy Arcenas helms an acclaimed Laguna Playhouse production of 'The Romance of Magno Rubio.'

News:

[ P ]  Musical Little Women Will Sing on Broadway in Late 2004; McGovern Is Mama Marmee
Little Women, the musical, will arrive on Broadway in December 2004, eight months later than expected, with the brood of singing siblings led by golden throated Maureen McGovern as Marmee.

[ P ]  A Man of No Importance Star Rees Becomes Trumbo, Nov. 25-30

[ P ]  Just Keeps Synching Along; Lypsinka! Off-Broadway Show Back to Open Ended Run

[ CNN ]  'Law and Order' channel mulled
NBC plans to launch 5 new digital broadcast outlets, including one centered on hit series.

Reviews:

[ SUN ]  SHAKESPEARES & COMPANY by Jeremy McCarter
Amy Freed's new comedy tells the story of a stagestruck hayseed who wants to flee his dreary existence in the provinces--no, this is not "Wonderful Town".

[ VV ]  Without Honor by Michael Feingold
This week I am at a loss. Everyone has been running around raving about The Beard of Avon and Henry IV, both of which bored me, the first to an inconceivable degree, the second slightly less.

[ VV ]  New York, New York: It Used To Be a Helluva Wonderful Town by Michael Feingold

[ VV ]  Growing Pains
Lee Breuer's 'little woman' takes revenge in her dollhouse by Alisa Solomon
Mabou Mines' Dollhouse

[ TB ]  Nostalgia for the Cold War at George Street by Bob Rendell
"A Walk in the Woods."

[ CU ]  The Exonerated
Review
posted at 11/25/2003 05:33:37 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

[ P ]  Championship Season Ends: Bway's Take Me Out Will Close Jan. 4, 2004

[ B ]  Tony Champ Take Me Out to Close January 4

[ B ]  Broadway Grosses: Sink or Swim
In what's turning out to be a rather strange season on the Great White Way, a number of new productions are flying high while others are floundering... or worse.

[ B ]  B'way-Bound Little Women Delays Until Fall

[ P ]  Julie White Relives Bad Dates for Boston's Huntington, Jan. 2-Feb. 1

[ P ]  Will Goodspeed Musicals Uproot Itself Out of East Haddam?

[ TM ]  London's Evening Standard Award Winners Announced
posted at 11/25/2003 03:58:01 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Features:

[ TB ]  Talking to Jeanine Tesori and Veanne Cox about Caroline, Or Change by Beth Herstein

News:

[ P ]  Broadway Grosses: November 17-23

[ P ]  Taboo's Liz McCartney Begins Maternity Leave in December
Is Rosie O'Donnell planning to replace Liz McCartney as Big Sue in the new musical Taboo?

[ P ]  Pow! Campy Road House Moves to Off-Bway Run Dec. 9

[ B ]  Lypsinka! As I Lay Lip-Synching to Stay Open

[ P ]  Wicked Co-Star Out of Show Due to Injury

[ P ]  Marber World Premiere Opens at the Donmar Nov. 25, Courtesy 0f Strindberg

[ P ]  Susan Egan and Lauren Kennedy Part of Free Concert Nov. 25

[ P ]  National Actors Theatre's Right You Are, Begins Nov. 25

[ P ]  Second Stages Cooks Up World Premiere Dinner With Demons, Nov. 25-Jan. 18

Reviews:

[ B ]  DVDs: Merriment with Munsel by Ken Mandelbaum
NAUGHTY MARIETTA/ THE GREAT WALTZ (VAI)

[ WP ]  'Camelot': A Spot of Happily Ever Aftering by Peter Marks
Matt Bogart is the revelation here, even if his French fades in and out. As with "Camelot" itself, the actor's good moments are so good you find a way to make peace with the flaws.

[ NJ ]  'Johnny' be good: He's Irish, he's impish and he's a hit as con man in Celtic comedy BY PETER FILICHIA

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'THE COOK'
Standing Guard in the Kitchen as the Castro Revolution Arrives by BRUCE WEBER
Eduardo Machado's bittersweet slice of Cuban life in the time of Castro is a prosaic outline of a play that seems to be waiting for the shadings of poetry.

[ NYT ]  Theater in Review
Reviews of 'Private Jokes, Public Places' Theater at the Center for Architecture; 'My Big Gay Italian Wedding' at the Actors' Playhouse; 'We're All Dead' at Chashama; 'Where We're Born' at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

[ B ]  Where We're Born
Review by Neil Parmar

[ ATW ]  A Powder Keg That Never Quite Goes Off
Review by Andy Propst

[ ND ]  A Satire That Fires at Will by Linda Winer
'Beard of Avon' is a fun reinvention of Shakespeare legacy

[ NYT ]  CABARET REVIEW | BARBARA BRUSSELL
A Scrapbook of Songs That Adhere to a Life by STEPHEN HOLDEN

[ DN ]  More of Loesser in Marcovicci show by Howard Kissel
An impressive array of Frank Loesser's work is featured in Andrea Marcovicci's act at thhe Oak Room of the Algonquin.
posted at 11/25/2003 12:26:49 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Features:

[ NYT ]  BOLDFACED NAMES
And This Was Before She Knew About the Reviews by JOYCE WADLER
It was almost 2 1/2 hours before DONNA MURPHY, the star of "Wonderful Town," showed up at the cast party at the Mandarin Oriental on Sunday night � just about the running time of the show. So long that many guests, including HARVEY WEINSTEIN, who has money in the show, had already left.

[ TS ]  The stage as a safe haven by RICHARD OUZOUNIAN
Patrick Stewart says performing in theatres before live audiences is relaxing

News:

[ NYP ]  PAGE SIX
ROSIE O'Donnell has a trick up her sleeve to save her foundering Broadway musical, "Taboo." Rosie is going to take over the role of "Big Sue" from very pregnant Liz McCartney.
Let's see if this is proved right...

[ HC ]  Goodspeed Considers Middletown by FRANK RIZZO And JOSH KOVNER
Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam may be taking its new $45 million theater project up river if a proposed plan by Middletown officials - including a $5 million incentive, a free site that is ready to go and the promise of speedy permit approvals and ample parking - is accepted by the theater's board early next year.

[ NYT ]  Bronfman Heir Plotting His Comeback, in Music by DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Mentions his role as producer of "Never Gonna Dance."

[ NYT ]  Letters: This Is Broadway? Alas, Not in My Book
posted at 11/25/2003 07:50:02 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Monday, November 24, 2003

Features:

[ NYT ]  Big Daddy Speaks Out by ROBIN POGREBIN
Mr. Beatty engaged in a candid assessment of his co-stars. He said he very much liked his glamorous colleagues personally: Mr. Patric, best known for the film "After Dark, My Sweet," and Ms. Judd, who starred in "Ruby in Paradise." He simply thinks, he said, that they are ill equipped for their parts.
Hoo boy...

[ NY ]  Star Crossed by Ada Calhoun
Putting a Nicole or Melanie on Broadway was once a sure bet. This season, it�s curtains.

[ BS ]  Oh, the drama by Mary Carole McCauley
As charmingly neurotic Pikesville-born playwright Cherie Vogelstein prepares a new play for broadway, the pressure is on, and so is the procrastination.

[ VV ]  La Dolce Musto by Michael Musto
The call came inviting me to a Plaza Hotel tea party hosted by Dame Julie Andrews to promote the TV movie Eloise at Christmastime, and before they could even say when, I started running there with my bloomers half off.

Thanks to American Theater Web for the following features!

[ MH ]  Playwright feels the joy and tears at end of a long artistic journey BY CHRISTINE DOLEN
Nilo Cruz.

[ PPG ]  Live theater is haunted by danger (and opportunity) of memory loss by Christopher Rawson

News:

[ B ]  Ailing Norbert Leo Butz Sidelined from Wicked
Wicked leading man Norbert Leo Butz is out of the hit musical for at least a week. Butz's absence is due to a recent aggravation of a previously existing back injury.

[ NYT ]  Weak at Box Office, 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks' Closes by JASON ZINOMAN
"I've been around the theater a long time," Mr. Seidelman said, "and I've never seen a climate as negative and destructive to new works as it is now."
"Six Dance Lessons" may have another life; the film rights have been sold to Universal. "The play will go on," Mr. Seidelman said.

[ V ]  B'way biz has ups, downs
Total receipts came to a record-setting $15,1 mil
Did anyone really expect "Bobbi Boland," "Laughing Room Only," "Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All" and "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks" to make it past Thanksgiving, much less New Year's Day? They were orphans on paper, and their rapid demise says much about some producers' dream life but remarkably little about the theater's health.

[ B ]  Off-B'way's Beckett/Albee to Close January 4

[ P ]  Beckett/Albee to Conclude Run Off-Broadway Jan. 4

[ B ]  Taboo's McCartney Readies for Maternity Leave

[ TM ]  L.A. Ovation Award Winners Announced

[ P ]  Randy Skinner Cooks Up an Odd Potato Off-Broadway, Nov. 24

[ P ]  Byrne, Dennehy, O'Shea Celebrate Ireland's Abbey Theatre Centennial in New York City, Dec. 3

[ P ]  David Drake Performs The Secret History of Drag at Dixon Place, Dec. 3, 10, 17

Reviews:

[ YN ]  Distraught Diva Holds Court in 'Lypsinka!' by MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic
Distraught has never been so divine � or stylish.

[ HC ]  Murphy A Wonder In 'Wonderful Town' Revival by MALCOLM JOHNSON

[ CU ]  Mabou Mines Dollhouse
Review

[ CU ]  Henry IV
Review
posted at 11/24/2003 09:57:34 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Reviews:

[ B ]  CDs: Two Merman Shows in a Single Year by Ken Mandelbaum
THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1939 (Bayview)
JEEPERS CREEPERS (Red Circle)
MAUREEN McGOVERN: OUT OF THIS WORLD (Fynsworth Alley)

Features:

[ TM ]  For Openers...
TheaterMania's Joseph Marzullo is there as Wonderful Town and Henry IV open, and as the Oldest Living Confederate Widow opens and closes.

[ P ]  PHOTO CALL: Murphy and Company Make Wonderful Music as Town Opens on Broadway

News:

[ B ]  2003 Ovation Award Winners Announced in LA

[ P ]  Wilson's Gem, Luft's Songs Among Winners at Los Angeles' Ovation Awards

[ B ]  Springer & Democracy Top Evening Standards

[ P ]  Jerry Springer, Michael Sheen Among Winners at Evening Standard Awards

[ B ]  Tickets Now On Sale for Fiddler on the Roof

[ B ]  Kevin Earley Will Be Millie's New Trevor Graydon

[ P ]  Groff�s Orange Lemon Egg Canary Gets Chicago Premiere, Jan. 8, 2004

[ P ]  Chita Is Chita In Terrence McNally-Penned Show

[ P ]  Frank Wildhorn's Dracula Workshopped Dec. 10-16

[ P ]  Wonderful Town�s Donna Murphy and Betty Comden on "Radio Playbill" Nov. 24-Dec. 6

[ P ]  London Les Miz Advances on the Queens Theatre

[ P ]  Kellie Waymire, Actress Active in California Theatre, Is Dead at 36

[ P ]  "Anything But Love" Star Heads to Joe's Pub Nov. 24

[ P ]  Report: Jennifer Garner Interested in Off-Broadway Edie Sedgwick Drama

[ P ]  Listen to My Heart Offers Talkbacks with Gifford, Edwards, Friedman and Others

[ P ]  Benanti, Tartaglia, Murney and More Part of God's Love Benefit Dec. 15

[ P ]  Mason Offers "Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!" Dec. 8 and 13; Gravitte & Lewis, Too

[ P ]  Daly, Graae and McKuen Perform Dreidels and Sleighbells Dec. 8
posted at 11/24/2003 03:45:54 PM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

[ STARS ]  Laura Benanti Replaces Anthony Rapp As "The Snake" in All-Star Concert of Stephen Schwartz's "Children Of Eden" on World Aids Day (Monday, December 1)

So... who is this Peter DuBois that everyone is talking about? Lets see...

[ BROWN ]  Location, Location, Location
Director Peter DuBois A.M. '97 makes all-American plays in Alaska by Vicki Sanders

[ PT ]  Perseverance Theatre: Meet the Staff -- Peter DuBois

[ TCG ]  TCG Board of Directors: Peter DuBois

Could be that there is a changing of the guard happening downtown?
posted at 11/24/2003 09:27:32 AM by James Marino | Item Link

"Wonderful Town":

[ B ]  Photo Op: Toasting an Opening High Above a Wonderful Town

[ NYP ]  LIZ SMITH
WHAT A NIGHT ON THE 'TOWN'!

[ YN ]  'Wonderful Town' revival is without Green by MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Writer
Interview with Betty Comden.

[ B ]  Did Critics Cheer the Return of Wonderful Town?

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'WONDERFUL TOWN'
Sis, Today the Village, Tomorrow the World by BEN BRANTLEY
The perfectly amiable show at the Al Hirschfeld Theater about sisters from Ohio determined to conquer Manhattan turns ecstatic only when Donna Murphy is onstage.

[ YN ]  'Wonderful Town' a Buoyant Revival by MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic
This "Wonderful Town" is impossible to resist.

[ SUN ]  SIS & THE CITY by Jeremy McCarter
Among its other distinctions, the new revival of "Wonderful Town" reduces "Thoroughly Modern Millie," a musical that works from a similar premise, to a heap of tinsel.

[ USA ]  New 'Wonderful Town' could use more froth by Elysa Gardner
For a brisk little joyride, Wonderful Town can be pretty heavy going.

[ TS ]  A truly Wonderful Town by RICHARD OUZOUNIAN
It's brash, bright, fresh, funny, touching, tuneful, heartfelt and hilarious.

[ NJ ]  A wonderful production in a dreary season BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

[ B ]  Conquering New York by Ken Mandelbaum
This Wonderful Town is a decidedly mild frolic. Still, there are those songs, that band, and a formidable leading lady.

[ ND ]  Brassy 'Town' Still Has Mettle by Linda Winer
Donna Murphy makes revival of Bernstein's 1953 musical a delight

[ DN ]  Wonderful 'Wonderful'! by Howard Kissel
Kathleen Marshall's inventive choreography and direction perfectly convey the infectious spirits of this eternally fresh show.

[ NYP ]  WONDERFUL! by CLIVE BARNES
THIS morning - and good few more mornings to come - Broadway belongs to Donna Murphy.

[ TM ]  Wonderful Town
Reviewed By: David Finkle
Donna Murphy is doing a marvelous star turn in a part that was expressly tailored for another star, and it fits her like a Gucci glove.

[ TB ]  Wonderful Town
Review by Matthew Murray
Wonderful Town is exactly the type of substantial, tuneful, and hilarious musical comedy Broadway needs right now.

Other Reviews:

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'MABOU MINES DOLLHOUSE'
Fun-House Proportions Turn Dominance Upside Down by MARGO JEFFERSON
Wizard-director Lee Breuer blends ideas, genres, styles and technologies to make a new version of Henry Ibsen's play as seen at at St. Ann's Warehouse.
Henry?

[ ND ]  Wee Guys and Big Dolls in a Fun House by Gordon Cox
It sounds gimmicky, and maybe a little exploitative. "Mabou Mines DollHouse," an adaptation of Ibsen's "A Doll's House" from the experimental theater troupe Mabou Mines, has a cast that includes three women who are very tall and three men who are very, very short - as in, not much over 4 feet.

[ NYT ]  THEATER REVIEW | 'GOLF: THE MUSICAL'
Laughing on the Links? That's Par for the Course by NEIL GENZLINGER
This hilarious, well-timed slapdash of a musical by Michael Roberts turns mindlessness and predictability into art forms.

[ NJ ]  Cold War and peace BY PETER FILICHIA
Deft George Street production proves timely despite fall of Soviet Union

[ NYP ]  GRIPPING, SAD 'WHERE WE'RE BORN' IS FULL OF LIFE by DONALD LYONS
PASSION collides with the realities of life in a bleak western Massachusetts town in "Where We're Born," Lucy Thurber's gripping new play.

[ NYer ]  SHOW AND TELL by JOHN LAHR
Seducing the citizens and the se�oritas.
Henry IV, Anna in the Tropics.

[ TB ]  The Fabulous Invalid
Boston Review by Suzanne Bixby

[ TB ]  The Extraordinary French Chanteuse Liliane Montevecchi Returns To San Francisco's Teatro ZinZanni
Review by Richard Connema

Features:

[ TM ]  Peter Filichia's Diary
Love's Labour's Lost or Won? Filichia takes his search to Harvard Yard and reports the results.

[ BG ]  His gig as Boy George brings him to Broadway by Lisa Tolin, Associated Press
Under that makeup is the young Scottish actor Euan Morton.

News:

[ V ]  Equity pays 'Harmony' crew
Schwartz, Shubert coin troubles helped close tuner

[ NYP ]  PAGE SIX
Arthur Miller (seventh item); Jennifer Garner as Edie Sedgwick (ninth item).

[ P ]  Broadway's Thanksgiving Week Performance Schedule

[ P ]  Manhattan Murder Mystery Who Killed Woody Allen? Returns to NYC, Dec. 4

[ P ]  Turning the World On, Again: Moore Stars in Simon's Rose's Dilemma, Starting Nov. 24 at MTC

[ P ]  Mazzie, Buckley, Blazer, Blackwell, McDonald to Glitter at Musical Theatre Works' Bernstein Gala, Nov. 24

[ P ]  Killer Joe Author's Bug to Have New York Debut February 2004

[ P ]  New Book, "Richard Rodgers," Dissects Composer's Shows; On Shelves January 2004
posted at 11/24/2003 09:26:25 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

Sunday, November 23, 2003

[ NYT ]  VOWS
Lynn Harris and David Adelson by GERIT QUEALY
The creator of Breakup Girl has married a rabbi.
Congratulations!

Thanks to American Theater Web for the following features:

[ PPG ]  Christiane Noll goes with the flow in 'Urinetown' by Christopher Rawson

[ PTR ]  'Urinetown' entwines themes of greed, love by Alice T. Carter
Irwin native Katie Adams is having a wonderful time in "Urinetown" -- the musical, that is.

[ SD ]  THE BARD ACCORDING TO JACK by Anne Marie Welsh
For O'Brien, its been a long, occasionally bumpy, trip to Lincoln Center and 'Henry IV'

[ SS ]  Lorna Luft at home with legacy by Jack Zink

Other Features:

[ NYT ]  Broadway's Too-Golden Golda Meir by WARREN BASS
"Golda's Balcony," William Gibson's one-woman show, doesn't reflect the consensus in Israel that Golda Meir was a pretty bad prime minister.

[ NYT ]  Betty Comden's Wonderful Hometown by WENDY WASSERSTEIN
The Greenwich Village of "Wonderful Town," which opens tonight in its first Broadway revival, isn't edgy or political; it's a warm hub of talent.

[ NYT ]  EXCERPT
The Lyrics of Frank Loesser
The real pleasures of "The Complete Lyrics of Frank Loesser" are discovering the more obscure songs, like this comic duet from "Where's Charley?"

[ NYT ]  A Day in the Life of Twyla Tharp by ERIKA KINETZ
"The best creativity is the result of good work habits," advises Twyla Tharp's self-help book, an injunction the choreographer follows in practice.

[ TS ]  Hold the gooey cherry pie by RICHARD OUZOUNIAN
Ex-Twin Peaks star back onstage Kyle MacLachlan in The Caretaker

[ HC ]  Greenberg Explores 'Dazzle' Of Life by FRANK RIZZO
What does a playwright do on the day he has a new work opening on Broadway?

[ HC ]  O'Neill's Change Of Seasons by FRANK RIZZO
New Artistic And Executive Directors Try To Pull Disparate Programs Under Single Vision

[ NYT ]  The Eternal Now of a Shakespeare Play by BRUCE WEBER
Shakespeare's plays are an invitation to us to use our own times, our own experiences, to understand them.

[ CT ]  Mark Rylance practices Shakespeare in its original form by Michael Phillips

[ CT ]  Bard connection made in Chicago by Michael Phillips
Chicago born and bred, one of three children raised by Russian Jews who fled the 1905 pogrom, actor-director Sam Wanamaker (1919-1993) got his first taste of Shakespeare at the 1933 World's Fair Chicago.

[ ND ]  Party Savers
Feel out of the pop-culture loop in social situations? We provide a cheat sheet to entertainment so you can talk the talk at those holiday parties.

[ NYT ]  EVERYONE'S A CRITIC
Rating the Zagat Survey's Newfound Appetite for Cultural Clout by DAVID LEONHARDT
The new Zagat guides to music, theater and movies are another way in which public opinion is doubling back on itself.

[ NYT ]  The Theater Guide: 'Hardly Startling' by BEN BRANTLEY
Reading the Zagat Survey New York City Theater Guide is like getting play recommendations from an automated phone service.

Reviews:

[ OCR ]  The girl who quit Christmas BY PAUL HODGINS
Some people think Sandra Tsing Loh personifies Southern California.

[ TB ]  Bedroom Farce
Review by Matthew Murray

[ P ]  THE CABARET BEAT: Perfectly Frank
Start spreadin� the news, New York, New York: Ol� Blue Eyes is back, and Birdland�s got him.

News:

[ BG ]  Can the Center hold? by Geoff Edgers
'The Nutcracker' is ousted, the deficits are posted, and the competition is making it hard to attract bread-and-butter touring shows. At the Wang Center, the pressure is on

[ BG ]  Opinions differ on Josiah Spaulding's high salary by Geoff Edgers
Josiah Spaulding Jr., the president of the Wang Center for the Performing Arts, isn't just well paid. He's among the highest-paid leaders of a nonprofit performing arts center in the country, earning more than the directors of a range of institutions that, budgetwise, dwarf the Wang Center.

[ YN ]  TV, Stage Actress Kellie Waymire Dies
Kellie Waymire, whose frequent appearances on such shows as "Six Feet Under," "Friends" and "Ally McBeal" made her a familiar face to television fans, has died at age 36, apparently of a previously undetected medical condition.

[ NYP ]  LIZ SMITH
Why the Times rejected a "Boy From Oz" item (fourth item).

[ V ]  Biz even; 'Wicked' 926g
Broadway grosses

[ V ]  West End facing a funk
Fall sees few critical or B.O. hits
What is the West End to do? That's the question making the rounds at the moment in a London commercial legit climate that is facing its usual woes. Industry insiders, ever optimistic, prefer to look toward the future rather than dwell on a less than pleasant recent past.

[ P ]  Talk Show Watch: Ashley Judd, Jason Patric, Patrick Stewart on "Today," Bette Midler on "Ellen"

[ P ]  Zanna, Don't! Star Heads to the "Broadway Spotlight" Dec. 1

[ P ]  Wonderful, Wonderful: Murphy Goes on the Town as Bernstein Revival Opens on Broadway, Nov. 23
posted at 11/23/2003 11:21:26 AM by Tim Dunleavy | Item Link

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[Past News]

BROADWAYSTAR'S FIVE DAY FORECAST

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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2007-08Broadway Season

2008-09Broadway Season

Talked AboutNot Scheduled Yet

2007-08
Broadway Season

2008-09
Broadway Season

Talked About
Not Scheduled Yet