Musicals

Tony Awards: The (Next) Movie?

Mark Juddery | Posted 05.29.2012

Though Hollywood doesn't make musicals as much as they used to, they still look to Broadway for possible hits. So what will be the next hit movie musical?

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Project: Song Blog #3 'My House' -- or -- Why I Love Chip Zien

Carmel Dean | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Broadway, Carmel Dean, Into the Woods, Project Song Blog, Musicals, Chip Zien, Broadway Musicals, Chip Zien Music, Video, Culture News

Isn't it funny how hearing certain songs, or more specifically certain voices singing certain songs, can bring you back to a very specific memory? Like how hearing Peter Gabriel sing "In Your Eyes" whisks you back to your high school prom?

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Just Opened: New Musical February House at The Public Theater

Andy Propst | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: Off-Broadway, The February House, Public Theater, Gabriel Kahane, NY Around Town, Theater, Musicals, Culture, Arts News

It's a fantastic tale and set of characters to bring together on the stage, and yet, Bockley's book only manages to fitfully spark to life as these individuals quarrel, make up, and orate about their passions.

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One Is the Loneliest Number

Tony Asaro | Posted 05.22.2012

Read More: Writing Process, Bad Break Ups, Musical Theater, Collaboration, Musicals, Songwriting, Culture News

It's commonly said in musical theatre writing circle -- there aren't enough of us for the plural -- that every collaboration is like a marriage, except you don't have sex. And like many marriages, many collaborations fall apart. Mine did.

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Another Broadway Play Bites The Dust

AP | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Broadway, Theater, Broadway Musical Closes, Broadway Play Closures, Musicals, Priscilla Queen of the Desert Closes, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Priscilla Queen of the Desert Closing, Video, Culture News

NEW YORK -- The wild – and exuberant – ride of "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" is coming to an end on Broadway. Producers said Wednesday ...

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The Beast of Mental Illness

Tara Woodard-Lehman | Posted 05.16.2012

Read More: Musical, Art, Christian Ministry, Mental Health, Musical Theater, Arts, Musicals, Music, Culture News

A few months ago musician Phill Eason asked me to make a prop for a musical. But this was not your average musical. In part, because it used cosmic, apocalyptic images from scripture. In part, because it was set in a modern-day mental-health ward.

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Song Blog #1: 'Still I Rise'

Carmel Dean | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: Song Blog, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Broadway Music, Writing Musicals, Musicals, American Idiot, Video, Culture News

Song Blog is a YouTube series for those people who are interested in not only hearing and seeing original work being performed for the first time right before their eyes, but who also like to have a behind-the-scenes look at the Broadway actors who learn and perform these songs.

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The Time of My Life

Susanne Mentzer | Posted 05.04.2012

Read More: Broadway Musicals, Classical Music, Musicals, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Over 50, Aging Baby Boomers, Opera, Arts News

I find myself now in St. Louis rehearsing Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd for performances with the Opera Theatre of St Louis. The last time I sang with the company was in 1983. And here I am, having the time of my life.

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Theater: Matthew Broderick's New Musical Is Modestly 'Nice Work'

Michael Giltz | Posted 04.24.2012

Read More: Broadway, Nice Work if You Can Get It, Kelli O'Hara, Musicals, Ira Gershwin, George Gershwin, Matthew Broderick, Video, Entertainment News

The hardest part of creating a new musical is writing good songs. A good tune will let audiences forgive a host of ills in the book and sets and costumes. So if you begin by plundering the vaults of George and Ira Gershwin, your task should be much easier. Nice Work If You Can Get It proves that it's not.

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Theater: Streetcar Named Desire Is a Local, Not Express; One Man, Two Guvnors Three Cheers

Michael Giltz | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Video, Musical Theaters, Broadway Shows, Broadway, One Man Two Guvnors, Musicals, A Streetcar Named Desire, NY Around Town, Entertainment News

With no world to set this story in, no community to surround it and no raw passion and danger to inflame it, the ride on this Streetcar is all too smooth.

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Stage Door: One Man, Two Guvnors, End of the Rainbow

Fern Siegel | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Nicholas Hytner, Theater, Broadway, Musicals, James Corden, Judy Garland, One Man Two Guvnors Broadway, One Man Two Guvnors, End of the Rainbow Broadway, Entertainments, End of the Rainbow, Arts News

One Man, Two Guvnors is simply the funniest play on Broadway. From its stupendously silly one-liners to its outrageously silly plot, the show is a triumph of slapstick and satire. End of the Rainbowis also a tour de force.

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Dale Watson, Texas Honky Tonk Legend, Makes His First Stage Appearance In 'Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County'

Lucas Kavner | Posted 04.17.2012

Read More: Video, Dale Watson, Mellencamp, Stephen King, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, Johnny Cash, Theatre, Atlanta, Musicals, Understudy, Country Music, Culture News

Last Tuesday night, a man who had never performed in a play in his life stepped in front of 750 people and into the lead role of a major new musical by Stephen King and John Mellencamp.

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Theater: Do Cry for Evita

Michael Giltz | Posted 04.11.2012

Read More: Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Ricky Martin, Elena Roger, Evita, Musicals, Tim Rice, Eva Peron, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Video, Evita Broadway Revival, Evita Broadway, New York Around Town, Entertainment News

Frankly, it's difficult to understand why Elena Roger was cast. Roger unquestionably does not posses the pipes to sing this part. The entire show is built around what should be the fiery performance at its heart, making this Evita very cool indeed.

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Is This The Secret To A Successful Musical?

www.guardian.co.uk | Posted 04.09.2012

Read More: Broadway, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Musicals, Culture News

Working on a radio documentary about theatre producers to be broadcast on Monday's Front Row, I suddenly experienced one of those moments to which cha...

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Theater: There's Nothing at the End of the Rainbow for Judy

Michael Giltz | Posted 04.05.2012

Read More: Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Theater, Musicals, Judy Garland, Video, End of the Rainbow Review, NY Theater, End of the Rainbow Musical, Theater NY, NY Around Town, End of the Rainbow, Entertainment News

This look at the legendary Judy Garland during her final comeback tour in London is made with all the affection and love in the world. That doesn't prevent it from being the worst sort of bio-musical.

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Theater: Newsies Gets "Most Improved" Award on Broadway

Michael Giltz | Posted 04.04.2012

Read More: Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Theater, Musicals, Disney, Newsies, Video, Entertainment News

The Disney musical Newsies has moved from the Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey to Broadway with style. In every way, the show has been focused and improved.

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Exclusive: "Holler If Ya Hear Me" and "Super Fly: The Musical" Take Wing

ARTINFO | Posted 06.02.2012

Read More: Tupac Shakur, Broadway, Musicals, Gordon Parks Jr., Super Fly, Artinfo, Performing Arts, Arts News

The buzz among actors in New York, especially in the African-American community, is about the workshops of two promising projects: "Holler If Ya Hear ...

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Theater: Jesus Christ Superstar Not Divine, Regrets Has a Few

Michael Giltz | Posted 05.28.2012

Read More: Alexis Bledel, Broadway, Theater, Musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber, NY Theater, Regrets Play, Regrets, Regrets Play Review, Musical Theater, Jesus Christ Superstar, Regrets Review, NY Around Town, Jesus Christ Superstar Review, Video, Culture News

When Jesus has died for your sins and the bright lights break out and the orchestra plays the triumphant "da-da-dum" of the title song and the actor playing Jesus strides in blazing white to the front of the stage, you can't help but feel it would be churlish not to rise to your feet, whatever you thought of the show.

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Ethan Lipton Has 'No Place To Go'

The Huffington Post | Kathleen Massara | Posted 03.26.2012

Read More: Leigh Silverman, Ian M. Riggs, Video, No Place to Go, Unemployment, Public Theater, Monologue, Ethan Lipton, Eben Levy, Musicals, Vito Dieterle, Arts News

In Ethan Lipton's new "musical ode to the unemployed," we find a man down on his luck as he faces the reality of his company moving to a place very f...

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Stage Door: Tis Pity She's A Whore, Once

Fern Siegel | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: Drama, Theater, Broadway, Musicals, Bam, Off-Broadway, Entertainment, Once, Tis Pity She's a Whore, Culture News

Even in our shockproof age, the shattering production of Tis Pity She's a Whore grabs our attention. Now at BAM, John Ford's 17th-century drama is about the incestuous love between a brother and sister, or what the local friar calls "a leprosy of lust."

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Theater: Once Conquers Broadway; Salesman Can't Quite Deliver the Goods

Michael Giltz | Posted 05.19.2012

Read More: Andrew Garfield, Broadway, Theater, Musicals, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Video, Entertainment News

When you're tackling a towering masterwork like Arthur Miller's Death Of A Salesman, words like "respectable" and "solid" seem like faint praise. When you hope to scale the mountaintop, getting most of the way up is cold comfort.

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Chicago Storefront Theatre Update: A Sleepy Falling: A Wake and a Radiant The Light in the Piazza

Robert Bullen | Posted 05.14.2012

Read More: The Light in the Piazza, Theo Ubique, Theater, Theatre, Musicals, Chicago, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, Chicago Theatre, Chicago News

After 16 years renting spaces around town, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble -- Chicago's only producing organization dedicated to women's voices -- has finally found a permanent home.

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Just in Case It Matters: Biographer Jeffrey Spivak on the Magic of Busby Berkeley

Dan Lybarger | Posted 05.13.2012

Read More: Dancing, They Made Me a Criminal, 42nd Street, Jeffrey Spivak, Books, The Gold Diggers of 1933, The Gangs's All Here, Musicals, Busby Berkeley, Film, Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley, Movies, Biography, Cinema, Books News

In the 1930s and '40s, Busby Berkeley (1895-1976) staged a series of movie dance numbers that could rival the paintings of Salvador Dali in their outlandishness. His movies were loaded with jaw-dropping optical illusions and wound up influencing everyone from the Coen Brothers to Mel Brooks.

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Donuts, Catered Affairs and Experimental Cabaret: A Chicago Storefront Theatre Update

Robert Bullen | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Porchlight Music Theatre, Theatre, Theater, Musicals, Tracy Letts, Chicago, Mary-Arrchie Theatre, TUTA Theatre Chicago, Chicago Around Town, Chicago News

With 200-plus theatre companies in Chicago, at any given day there is always something to see -- particularly if you've a daring theatrical appetite. So where to start?

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Cyndi Lauper's 'Kinky Boots' Heads To Chicago

AP | MARK KENNEDY | Posted 04.23.2012

Read More: Harvey Fierstein, Chicago Theater, Harvey Fierstein Kinky Boots, Cyndi Lauper, Chicago Musicals, Musical Theater, Kinky Boots, Chicago, Musicals, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Arts News

NEW YORK — A new musical bringing together Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and rock icon Cyndi Lauper will put its best foot forward in Chica...

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