Sunday, April 10, 2011

TheatreScene: April 4 - 10

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WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK:
April 4: Broadway Space's 30 Under 30: Have They Found the Fountain of Youth?
April 5: ASK JEFF: The Study of Theatre
April 6: REVIEW: Good People
April 7: BROADWAY ON TV: The Season's TV Commercials, Part I
April 8: CD REVIEW: The Scottsboro Boys
April 9: What Else to Do in NYC?  Bowling, Of Course!

TOPS AND BOTTOMS (March 28 - April 3)
  • Top Gross: Wicked ($1.6M)
  • Bottom Gross: The People in the Picture ($87K - 4 previews)
  • Top Attendance:The Book of Mormon (102.4%)
  • Bottom Attendance: Million Dollar Quartet (47.2%)
  • $1M Club: Wicked, The Lion King, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
  • SRO Club: The Book of Mormon, Wicked, War Horse

  • BROADWAY BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK:
  • April 4: Actor Walter Charles (original - Sweeney Todd, 2011 - Anything Goes)
  • April 5: Late Actor Frank Gorshin (Say Goodnight Gracie)
  • April 6: Actor Marilu Henner (revival - Chicago)
  • April 7: Actor James Garner (original - The Caine Mutiny Court Martial)

  • April 8: Late Director/Choreographer Michael Bennett (A Chorus Line, Dreamgirls)
  • April 9: Actor Michael Learned (The Sisters Rosensweig, 2000 - Gore Vidal's The Best Man)
  • April 10: Actor Laura Bell Bundy (Legally Blonde, Hairspray, Wicked)

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 Motherfucker with the Hat: Previews - March 15; Opening - April 11
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
War Horse: Previews - March 17; Opening - April 14
Wonderland: Previews - March 21; Opening - April 17

COMINGS AND GOINGS 

Casting

  • On April 8th, supermodel Christie Brinkley began performances as Roxie Hart in Chicago.
  • This could be very interesting... Madonna as Norma Desmond?  Lord Vader Webber wants her.  Seriously, I thought she was an awesome Evita.  But I just can't wrap my ears around the belting requirements of Norma's arias.  Still, she sure would make it sexy...
  • Billie Joe is back!  He returned to American Idiot just this week, and will remain for the rest of the show's run, through April 24.  You'll get a full report on the closing cast, because I'm going to see it again!
Shows

  • On Monday came the announcement that the revival of La Cage aux Folles will close at the Longacre Theatre on May 1st after 433 performances.  No worries.  The next revival is scheduled for the 2012-2013 season.
  • The this-weekend-only New York Philharmonic revival of Company starring Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone and a bevvy of Broadway talents will be on movie screens around the country on June 15th.  Everybody rise!  And get your butt to the movies...
Milestones
  • On April 5, the Broadway Cast Recording for Priscilla Queen of the Desert went on sale nationally.
  • On April 7, Rock of Ages turned 2 years old.

  • On April 8, Billy Elliot celebrated its 1,000th Broadway performance.
  • On April 8, The Addams Family turned a year old!  Snap-snap!
  • On April 9, the Broadway revival of Driving Miss Daisy closed at the John Golden Theatre.
  • On April 10, Catch Me If You Can opened at the Neil Simon Theatre.

BROADWAY HISTORY: IMPORTANT OPENINGS OVER THE YEARS

  
April 4: 
  • Pippin opened at Niblo's Garden in 1870, where it played 28 performances.  No relation to the Bob Fosse-Stephen Schwartz musical of the 1970's.


  • Anyone Can Whistle opened at the Majestic Theatre, featuring Stephen Sondheim's first solo score and starring Angela Lansbury in her musical debut, in 1964.  It famously lasted only 9 performances.
  • 7 years later, Sondheim would have considerably better luck with Follies which opened in 1971 at the Winter Garden Theatre.  Formerly known as The Girls Upstairs, the show ran 522 performances.
April 5:
  • 30 years and 1 day later, Follies arrived at the Belasco Theatre, where it managed only 117 performances, despite an all-star cast, including Blythe Danner, Polly Bergen, Gergory Harrison and Betty Garrett.
April 6:
  • It has been 16 years since Having Our Say took Broadway by storm.  The two-character play about the Delaney sisters ran 317 performances at the Booth Theatre.
April 7:
  • The Pulitzer Prize-winning South Pacific changed the face of Broadway when it opened on this date in 1949.  Starring Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza, the show opened at the Majestic Theatre and ultimatel y played 1,925 performances.
  • The Broadway revival of Anything Goes opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.
April 8:

  • Aspects of Love opened at the Broadhurst in 1990, where it played 377 performances.  One of Andrew Lloyd Webber's more complicated efforts, the lush, romantic score includes "Love Changes Everything," "Seeing is Believing" and the robust "Hand Me the Wine and the Dice."
April 10:
  • In 1968, George M! opened at the Palce Theatre, starring Joel Grey and a young Bernadette Peters.  It played 433 performances.
  • In 1986, Big Deal opened to mostly negative reviews at the Broadway Theatre, where it managed 69 performances.  Turns out the show was a big deal.  It would be Bob Fosse's last original musical before his death.
  • Catch Me If You Can opened at the Neil Simon Theatre.

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