Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Re-Naming Theatres, Part 3: April Poll

NOTE: For some reason, this entire blog would not post as one. Therefore, it will post as three separate blogs. All three will post today, about a half hour apart. Since they all have to do with the poll for April, which starts tomorrow, I thought it best to put up all three at once. TO SEE THEM ALL, CLICK ON "BROADWAY THEATRES" AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG. Enjoy!


Part One: Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, and Jerry Herman and Part Two: Kander and Ebb, Angela Lansbury and Arthur Miller posted earlier.

Here are my final three choices for possibly having a Broadway theatre renamed after them.  Where do you stand?  The poll starts tomorrow, so vote!


Cole Porter

Debut: Hands Up! - July 22, 1915
Music and Lyrics: Fifty Million Frenchmen, The New Yorkers, Anything Goes, Red, Hot and Blue,Du Barry was a Lady, Can-Can, Panama Hattie, Silk Sockings, Kiss Me, Kate, Mr. Wonderful, Out of  this World
Posthumous Original Musicals: High Society, Happy New Year
Additional Material/ Featured In: Hands Up!, The Man Who Came to Dinner, Miss Information, Marlene, Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life, Fosse, Come Fly Away


Awards:
4 Tony Awards - all for Kiss Me, Kate

Statistics:
He wrote 26 musicals with music and lyrics.
His three most recent Broadway shows, revivals of Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate, and a new musical, High Society, earned 24 Tony nominations, 8 wins, 24 Drama Desk nominations, 9 wins, and two Theatre World Awards (Linda Hart - Anything Goes; Anna Kendrick - High Society)






Harold Prince

Debut: Tickets, Please! - Assistant Stage Manager - April 27, 1950
Assistant/Stage Manager: Tickets, Please!, Call Me Madam, Wonderful Town
Producer: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, New Girl in Town, West Side Story, Fiorello!, Tenderloin, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Fiddler on the Roof, Side by Side by Sondheim
Director: A Family Affair, Baker Street, On the 21st Century, Sweeney Todd, Evitam Roza, The Phantom of the Opera, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Show Boat (94), Candide, Lovemusik
Producer/Director: She Loves Me, "It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman!", Cabaret, Company, Zorba, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, A Doll's Life, Grind, Parade
Performer: Wonderful Town

Awards:
14 Drama Desk nominations, 8 wins
39 Tony Award nominations, 21 wins

Statistics:
He is most Tony Awarded person in history.
His producttion of The Phantom of the Opera is the longest running musical in Broadway history.

 
 
Company, Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof





Tennessee Williams

Debut:The Glass Menagerie - March 31, 1945 (Happy Anniversary!)
His Plays: The Glass Menagerie, You Touched Me, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Camino Real,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, Orpheus Descending, Sweet Bird of Youth, Period of Adjustment, The Night of the Iguana, Slapstick Tragedy, The 7 Descents of Myrtle, Out Cry, The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Vieux Carre, Clothes for a Summer Hotel, Not About Nightingales
The Revivals: A Streetcar Named Desire (7), The Glass Menagerie (5), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (4), The Night of the Iguana (3), The Rose Tattoo (2), and 1 each of: Summer and Smoke, Orpheus Descending, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore


Awards:
  • 1 Drama Desk nomination
  • 4 Tony Award nominations, 1 win
  • 2 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama - A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Statistics:
  • Tennessee Williams is the most revived modern day playwright in Broadway history, with 24. He is third of all playwrights, behind William Shakespeare (over 300) and Gilbert and Sullivan (nearly 200).

The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

REMEMBER: Parts 1 and 2 of this blog posted earlier today.  Check them all out.  And vote for your pick starting tomorrow in the new Poll which will appear to the right of this blog.


Comments?  Leave one here or email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com
Jeff

Re-Naming Theatres, Part 2: April's Poll

NOTE: For some reason, this entire blog would not post as one. Therefore, it will post as three separate blogs. All three will post today, about a half hour apart. Since they all have to do with the poll for April, which starts tomorrow, I thought it best to put up all three at once. TO SEE THEM ALL, CLICK ON "BROADWAY THEATRES" AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG. Enjoy!


Part One: Michael Bennett, Bob Fosse, and Jerry Herman posted earlier.

Here are the next three of my top nine choices for who should have a theatre named after them.  And don't forget to vote for your favorite starting tomorrow!


Kander and Ebb

Music and Lyrics: Flora, the Red Menace, Cabaret, The Happy Time, Zorba, 70,Girls, 70, Chicago, The Act, Woman of the Year, The Rink, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Steel Pier, Curtains
Kander as Arranger/Musical Director: Gypsy, The Crucible, 3 Men on a Horse, Hay Fever, Never Too Late, Irma La Douce
Ebb as Book Writer: Liza, From A to Z, Shirley McLaine, Minelli on Minelli
Kander and Ebb featured in: Fosse, Chita Rivera: A Dancer's Life, Liza at the Palace, Come Fly Away


Awards:
  • 3 Drama Desk nominations, 1 win
  • 13 Tony Award nominations, 4 wins 
Statistics:
  • Three of their shows, Zorba, Cabaret and Chicago, proved more successful in revival than in their original runs: Zorba (305/362), Cabaret (1165, 2377 - 1997 Revival), Chicago (936/5548 - as of 03/28/2010).
  • At least two of their shows still have the Broadway potential: The Scottsboro Boys and The Visit.






Angela Lansbury

Broadway Stage Career:

Debut: Hotel Paradiso - April 11, 1957
Plays: Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, A Little Family Business, Deuce, Blithe Spirit
Musicals: Anyone Can Whistle, Mame, Dear World, Gypsy, The King and I, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music
Clockwise from Top: Mame, Dear World, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy
Awards:
  • 4 Drama Desk nominations, 3 wins
  • 6 Tony Award nominations, 5 wins

Statistics:
  • Many people think Ms. Lansbury and Gwen Verdon each have four Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical.  That isn't so.  Ms. Verdon has 4 total - 3 Best Actress, 1 Best Supporting Actress.  So far, Ms. Lansbury has 4 Best Actress in a Musical Tonys.  In fact, it was she who bested Verdon in 1966, when she won for Mame, while Verdon had to be satisfied with the nomination for Sweet Charity.

Blithe Spirit, Mame, A Little Night Music




Arthur Miller

Debut: The Man Who Had All the Luck - November 23, 1944
His Plays: The Man Who Had All the Luck, All My Sons, Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, An Incident at Vichy, The Price, The Creation of the World and Other Business, A Memory of Two Mondays, The American Clock, Broken Glass, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan
The Revivals: The Man Who Had All the Luck (1), After the Fall (1), All My Sons (2), The Price (3), Death of a Salesman (3), A View from the Bridge (3), and The Crucible (4)

All My Sons and The Crucible

Awards:
  • 1 Pultizer Prize for Drama
  • 2 Drama Desk nominations, 1 win
  • 8 Tony Award nominations, 5 wins

Statistics:
  • Arthur Miller is the second most revived modern day playwright in Broadway history, with 17 revivals of his works, behind Tennessee Williams, with 24.  He is fourth of all playwrights, behind William Shakespeare (over 300) and Gilbert and Sullivan (nearly 200).

Death of a Salesman and A View from the Bridge

  

REMEMBER: Parts 1 and 3 of this blog will all appear today.  Thanks!

Comments?  Leave one here or email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com.
Jeff

Re-Naming Broadway Theatres, Part 1 : April's Poll

NOTE: For some reason, this entire blog would not post as one.  Therefore, it will post as three separate blogs.  All three will post today, about a half hour apart.  Since they all have to do with the poll for April, which starts tomorrow, I thought it best to put up all three at once.  TO SEE THEM ALL, CLICK ON "BROADWAY THEATRES" AT THE TOP OF THE BLOG.  Enjoy!

With the recent announcement that Henry Miller's Theatre is about to become the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, I got to thinking... what other theatre legends, living or dead, should have a Broadway theatre named after them?

I could think of at least twenty, but pared it down to these nine.  One that I didn't include on the list, though he is certainly worthy is Oscar Hammerstein II, but mainly because I think they should have named the Richard Rodgers Theatre the Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatre (with apologies, of course, to Lorenz Hart, frequent collaborator with Mr. Rodgers).

Anyway, here are the first three of the nine I chose, and these are but a few Broadway related facts for each.  These will be the choices for  April's Poll which will open tomorrow morning.  What do you think?


Michael Bennett

Performer: Subways are for Sleeping, Here's Love, Bajour
Choreographer: Company, Coco, Henry, Sweet , Henry, Promises, Promises
Director/Choreographer: Follies, Seesaw (book, too),
Director/Choreographer/Producer: Ballroom, Dreangirls
Biggest Achievement: A Chorus Line - direction, conception, choreography.


Awards: 
  • The Pultizer Prize for Drama (A Chorus Line)
  • 11 Drama Desk nominations, 6 wins
  • 16 Tony Award nominations, 6 wins

Statistics:
  • The original runs of A Chorus Line (6,137) and Dreamgirls (1,522)





Bob Fosse

Director: Big Deal, Dancin', Chicago, Pippin, Liza, Sweet Charity, Little Me, Redhead
Conception: Sweet Charity, Dancin'
Choreographer: The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Redhead, Bells Are Ringing, New Girl in Town, How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Little Me, Sweet Charity, Liza, Pippin, Chicago, Dancin', Big Deal, Fosse
Actor: Pal Joey


Awards:
  • 6 Drama Desk Nominations, 4 wins
  • 20 Tony Award Nominations, 9 wins

Statistics:
  • The current revival of Chicago is the longest-running revival of a book musical ever, with no signs of stopping.  Fosse's book and the choreography "in the style of Fosse" by his muse Ann Reinking are certainly the constants that make the show work regardless of who is the star.  Pippin was the first show to advertise and show footage on television.  His wife, Gwen Verdon, won four Tony Awards under his direction and choreography.





Jerry Herman

Music and Lyrics: Milk and Honey, Hello, Dolly!, Mame, Dear World, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Mack & Mabel, La Cage aux Folles, plus a revue, Jerry's Girls



Awards:
  • 4 Drama Desk nominations, 1 win
  • 16 Tony Award nominations, 6 wins

Statistics:
  • 3 shows with 1500 or more performances, not including revivals: Hello, Dolly! (2,844), La Cage aux Folles (1,761), Mame (1,508).


REMEMBER: Look for parts 2 and 3 of this blog later today.  Thanks!


Comments?  Leave one here or email me at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com.
Jeff
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