Sunday, February 6, 2011

TheatreScene: January 31 - February 6

LIKE WHAT YOU ARE SEEING?  BECOME A "FOLLOWER"!

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IN THIS MONTH'S POLL!  NOTE: THIS POLL IS "CLASSIC" BROADWAY.  THE NEXT POLL WILL FEATURE "CONTEMPORARY" SONGS TO VOTE FOR. AND IF YOU CHOOSE "OTHER" PLEASE EMAIL ME YOUR TITLE SO YOUR VOTE COUNTS!

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK!
POLL RESULTS: Saying Goodbye to January
Mr. Broadway February 2011: Lombardi's Packers
ON THE RADAR: Bring It On: The Musical
Guest Blogger: American Idiot: Van Hughes x3 and a New St. Jimmy
CASTING: Priscilla: Queen of the Desert
Broadway Crossword by Blog #5: Original vs Revival, Clue Set #2

January 31

HISTORY:


  • Harrigan n' Hart, 1985's "guaranteed Broadway hit" (the ads and press said so) opened at the Longacre Theatre, starring Christine Ebersole, Harry Groener and Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill.  The guarantee lasted 4 performances.
NEWS:
  • Quick rewind:  Yesterday, Chicago held Broadway's first free performance for Facebook Fans!  And fans got to see Roxies, Velmas, Billys and Mamas galore, as cast members past and present, including Chita Rivera, came out to meet the fans and see the show!
  • Here we go again... Catch Me If You Can announces that the show's first preview will be delayed until March 11.  So far the opening night date of April 10 is still in place.  The delay, they say, is because of the weather and the departure of RAIN.  Did the faux-Beatles trash their dressing rooms or something?


  • Oscar co-host James Franco let it out of the bag that he will be co-starring with Nicole Kidman in  Broadway's Sweet Bird of Youth.  That is good news - he's a talented guy.  Even better news would be the long awaited Broadway debut of the other Oscar co-host, Ann Hathaway.
TOPS AND BOTTOMS: (01/24 - 01/30/2011)
  • Top Gross: Wicked ($1.3M)
  • Top Attendance: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (92.2%)
  • Bottom Gross: Colin Quinn: Long Story Short ($162K)
  • Bottom Attendance: Colin Quinn: long Story Short (60.1%)
  • SRO Club: No members this week!
  • $M Club: The Lion King, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Wicked
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Anthony LaPaglia, Actor (Lend Me a Tenor, A View from the Bridge)


February 1

HISTORY:
  • The Longest Time Since a Broadway Opening: 42 years ago, in 1969: The Booth Theatre played host to Mother Lover.  It opened and closed on February 1, 1969.
NEWS:
  • After a brief hiatus and a few minor cast changes, The Merchant of Venice returned for its final weeks, through February 20.
  • Melissa Etheridge took to the St. James Theatre stage as St. Jimmy in American Idiot.  Her reign will last for one week, but the memory will last forever.  See article at top of this blog for full details.
  • Praise the Lord!  The entire cast of Sister Act was announced today, including Victoria Clark as the Mother Superior.  Now THAT is good news!


  • The Las Vegas version of The Phantom of the Opera, Phantom: The Vegas Spectacular had its 2,000 performance today.  No Raoul I've ever seen looked that, um, spectacular...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michael C. Hall, Actor (Chicago, Cabaret)


February 2

HISTORY:
  • Oldest Opening of the Week: 1822: King Henry IV, Part II opened at the Park Theatre for an undetermined length of run.


  • 2005: Good Vibrations opened at the Eugene O'Neill and ran for a weak 94 performances.  But it did introduce the Broadway world to Sebastian Arcelus, Janet Decal, Tituss Burgess and Chad Kimball, all of whom have gone on to much bigger successes.
NEWS:
  • Andrew B. Hamingson stepped down from his post as Executive Director of the Public Theater after 2 and a half years.  He cited personal reasons for his departure.  During his time at the Public, he oversaw the $35M renovation of the theatre, and the Broadway transfers of Hair, The Merchant of Venice and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Cady Huffman, Actor (The Producers, The Will Rogers Follies)


February 3

HISTORY:
  • 1969: The Canterbury Tales, a musical version of the Chaucer book, opened at the O'Neill Theatre, where it ran 121 performances.  The show starred George Rose and Sandy Duncan in her Broadway debut.
NEWS:


  • Roundabout Theatre Company announced a workshop of the Broadway-bound musical Yank!, which will explore changes made to the script since its 2010 off-Broadway production.  The workshop will be directed by David Cromer, who is attached to the Fall 2011 Broadway production, and features original star (also attached for Broadway) Bobby Steggert, plus Santino Fontanna, Michael Berresse, Tally Sessions and Tyler Maynard.  The workshop will culminate in industry presentations of the show on February 25 and 26.
  • Arcadia will delay its Broadway previews by a day.
  • The complete cast for The People in the Picture was announced today.  Joining Donna Murphy will be Chip Zien, Christopher Innvar, Alexander Gemignani and Nicole Parker as the principals.  The complete cast features 19 actors.



  • Memphis was home to the first "Inspire Change" initiative, that had 1,000 NYC students participating in the finale, "Steal Your Rock n' Roll," including singing along and doing choreography from their seats and in the aisles.  The performance was followed by a talk back with the full cast, including Chad Kimball and Montego Glover.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Nathan Lane, Actor (The Addams Family, The Producers, The Odd Couple)


February 4

HISTORY:
  • In 1938, the very first performance ever of Our Town was held at the Henry Miller's Theatre.  It changed American drama forever.  The original production ran 336 performances.
  • In 1946, Judy Holliday opened in Born Yesterday at the Lyceum Theatre.  The show, now a classic and soon to be revived, ran 1,642 performances.
  • In 1999, the revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown that would win Roger Bart and Kristin Chenoweth their Tony Awards, opened at the Ambassador Theatre. It ran 149 performances.
NEWS:


  • Christie Brinkley will be Roxie in Chicago, starting April 4.  Enough said.
  • Sister Act will perform on The View February 9th, it was announced today.  The show is co-produced by Whoopi Goldberg, who also co-hosts The View.
  • The second generation of The Addams Family was announced today. Joining Bebe Neuwirth, Jackie Hoffman, Zachary James and Adam Riegler, who will stay with the show, are Roger Rees, Brad Oscar, Heidi Blickenstaff, Adam, Grupper, Jesse Swenson and Rachel Potter.  Rees had been previously announced.  The new family moves in March 8th.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jonathan Larson, Late Composer/Lyricist (RENT)


February 5

HISTORY:


  • 1959: Redhead, starring Gwen Verdon and Richard Kiley, and directed/choreographed by Bob Fosse, opened on this date at the 46th Street Theatre, where it ran 452 performances.
NEWS:
  • Does anything happen on a Saturday?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Violet and Daisy Hilton, late Actors/Performers (the subject of Side Show)


February 6 - GO PACKERS!

HISTORY:

  • 1969 was a lousy week on Broadway.  Three flops opened this week, including today's Dear World, starring Angela Lansbury, who still won the Tony.  Jerry Herman's follow-up to Mame opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre and lasted only 132 performances.
NEWS:
  • The big news of the day, of course, isn't happening on the Broadway stage.  It is on TV.  That's right!  Glee returns tonight after some football game.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kathy Najimy, Actor (Dirty Blonde)



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