TheatreScene: April 11 - 17

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WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK:

• April 11: REVIEW: Catch Me If You Can
• April 12: REVIEW: Company
• April 13: LOGOS: The People in the Picture
• April 14: REVIEW: Spring Awakening (National Tour)
• April 15: Ms. Broadway: April 2011: The Catch Me If You Can Girls
• April 16: NEW CONTEST!  Win Tickets to The Normal Heart

 

NOTE: The next The Normal Heart Contest Question will be at the bottom of tommorrow's blog!

SPECIAL JK'S THEATRESCENE DISCOUNT FOR  THE NORMAL HEART ON BROADWAY:

 

http://www.thenormalheartbroadway.com/NHEML41.php

 

TOPS AND BOTTOMS (April 4 - 10):

• Top Gross: Wicked ($1.6M)
• Bottom Gross: High ($99K)
• Top Attendance: The Book of Mormon (102.4%)
• Bottom Attendance: High (50.7%)
• $1M Club: Jersey Boys, Wicked, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
• SRO Club: The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, The Lion King, Wicked

 

BROADWAY BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK:

• April 11: Actor/Director Joel Grey (Anything Goes/The Normal Heart)
• April 12: Actor David Cassidy (Joseph..., Blood Brothers)
• April 13: Actor Liz Callaway (Baby, Miss Saigon, Cats)
• April 14: Actor/Singer David Miller (Baz Luhrman's La Boheme)
• April 15: Actor James Clow (Assassins, Company - 1995)

 

• April 16: Actor Kelli O'Hara (South Pacific, The Pajama Game)
• April 17: Actor Rebecca Luker (Mary Poppins, Show Boat, The Phantom of the Opera)

 

BROADWAY IN PREVIEWS AND OPENING THIS WEEK:

 

 

 

• Baby It’s You!: Previews - March 26; Opening - April 27
• Born Yesterday: Previews - March 31; Opening - April 24
• High: Previews - March 25; Opening - April 19
• The House of Blue Leaves: Previews - April 4; Opening - April 25
• Jerusalem: Previews - April 2; Opening - April 21
• The Normal Heart: Previews - April 19; Opening - April 27
• The People in the Picture: Previews - April 1; Opening - April 28
• Sister Act: Previews - March 24; Opening - April 20
• Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: Previews - November 28, 2010; Opening – June 14

 

COMINGS AND GOINGS
Casting

• Tony winner Paolo Szot will repeat his role as Emile deBeque in London's South Pacific.
• Halle Berry will not be making her Broadway debut in The Mountaintop with Samuel L. Jackson.
• Both Cheyenne Jackson and Kristin Chenoweth will be returning to Glee for the last half of the second half of this season!

Shows

• The worst kept secret of the week: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying got recorded by Decca Records this week!  Even Voldemort He-who-shall-not-be-named knew about that!  Next thing you know, Sh-K-Boom will record Anything Goes!  Oops...

 

• The second worst kept secret of the week: Hair will return to Broadway for a summer of love.  The revival returns for just less than 10 weeks at the St. James Theatre.  Next thing you know, they'll announce that On a Clear Day will play the St. James this fall.  Oops, I did it again...
• Caution American Idiot fans!!  Universal Pictures is said to be interested in a film version of the show.  Talk to the fans of In the Heights about that same interest 2 years from now.
• Now I just can't miss the movie version of Rock of Ages!  Russell Brand is going to be in it.  Oh joy. Oh rapture.
• Speaking of Anything Goes, it got extended through January 12, 2012!  Great news for all involved!
• And speaking of extensions, War Horse can stay at the Vivian Beaumont as long as it likes. LCT announced that it is now an open-run show!  Could it be that a potentially Tony nominated Best Play will still be running after the Tonys this year?

Milestones

 

• The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Priscilla Queen of the Desert debuted at number one on the Billboard charts for Cast Recordings!
• On April 11, The Motherfucker with the Hat opened at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre.
• On April 11, Million Dollar Quartet celebrated its 1st birthday.  Who'd have thought?
• On April 14, War Horse opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center.
• On April 17, Wonderland opened at the Marquis Theatre.

 

BROADWAY HISTORY: IMPORTANT OPENINGS OVER THE YEARS:

 

 

April 11:

• 1991: Miss Saigon flew into the Broadway Theatre where it stayed for 4,092 performances.

April 14:

• 1960: Bye Bye Birdie opened at the Martin Beck Theatre, starring Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera.  It won the Tony for Best Musical and played 607 performances.
• 1992: The acclaimed and long-running (1,143 performances) revival of Guys and Dolls opened at the Martin Beck Theatre.  It starred Nathan Lane and Faith Prince, who won a Tony for her efforts that year.

April 15:

• 2009: next to normal opened at the Booth Theatre, playing 733 performances, winning 3 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

 

 

April 16:

• 1985: Probably my favorite flop musical of all-time opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre.  Grind played 71 performances and starred Ben Vereen, Tony-winner Leilani Jones and was under the direction of Harold Prince.

 

BROADWAY VIDEO OF THE WEEK:

 

The National Tour ad for Bring It On: The Musical

 

 

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