Broadway on TV: The Best Musical Tony Award Nominees

For the last time this season, I'm taking a look at how the four nominees for Best Musical are using their nominations to woo us into seeing them.  I find it interesting that one doesn't even mention the Tonys (and it doesn't need to, sales-wise), one mentions it, but focuses on the cast, and the other two, which are the perceived front-runners, really push the Tony thing.  Go figure, right?

After Midnight

 

Grade A- : Though I would by no means count this one out of the running, I think it is wiser in the long run to let us know about the show's two biggest assets, which will long outlive and Tony hype they might generate.  Those assets are the spectacular dancing/Cotton Club connection, and the cavalcade of upcoming guest stars, divas all.  Smart and very good looking, it perfectly captures this extraordinary revue.

Aladdin

 

Grade B: This is the show that doesn't need to even really advertise, other than verify that it is worth waiting months to bring the kids (through great pull quotes) and that it is the show people have loved for the 20 years since the movie came out (the "Friend Like Me" music playing in the background).  This really needs some visuals from the show.  But again, they don't need it.  Oh, and no mention of the Tony nods - Disney seems to thrive on Broadway without them, and why set yourself up to look like a loser when you don't get the award?  I wouldn't mind it if Aladdin won, but I doubt that this will be the one to end the Disney drought.

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

 

Grade A-:  One of the two top contenders, this ad does it all.  It appeals to women (using "Natural Woman" to underscore it was a good choice).  The cross cuts make it look action-packed and romantic (I hope people aren't too disappointed on either front). And it reminds us of its 7 nods, and its biggest asset, the unbelievably great Jessie Mueller.  I have to cry "foul" though, for its closing image, "BEST MUSICAL" and in really tiny print "nominations."  A 30 second ad that whirls by might leave prospective ticket buyers with the notion that it has already won that title.

A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder

 

Grade A+: Like Beautiful, this show knows it is a front-runner, and sells itself well.  First of all, kudos for getting David Hyde Pierce to narrate.  Second, you gotta love they way it down plays the critical huzzahs, making them all the more noticeable.  Third, it perfectly captures the fun, smart and very witty way the show is presented visually (it looks like an extravaganza, doesn't it?) and in tone.  And finally, what fun use of two of its Tony nominees - in character and, well, beautiful.  


Jeff
5.184

Mr. Broadway December 2013: After Midnight's Dule Hill

Mr. December 2013

Dule Hill

WHY HE'S MR. BROADWAY: Well, it seems pretty obvious if you've seen After Midnight.  This triple threat narrates the best new Broadway musical of the season, singing and dancing with flare and panache, and still manages to make an impression with his "special guest" co-star.  Many of you may know him from the cult classic film, Holes (with Broadway wannabe Shia LeBeuf), and still more of you may know him from NBC's The West Wing or USA's Psych (which will be soon showing a musical episode, where he will sing and dance).  But lest you think Dule Hill just another TV star showing up for a brief stay, he has done both a play (Stick Fly) and a musical (Bring In Da Noise/Bring In Da Funk).  He also has an early childhood stage credit as the title character in the National Tour of The Tap Dance Kid.  I saw that very production, and I can tell you even as a little boy, he was impressive. What a great way to end the year, with this super talented Mr. Broadway December!

FUN FACTS:

• His birthday is on May 5th.
• He's a native New Jersey guy, born in East Brunswick.
• He was plucked from elementary school during a talent search looking for tap dancing kids.
• Contrary to popular belief, he was NOT "Bud," Rudy's friend on The Cosby Show.

IN PHOTOS:
Head Shots and Candids:

Movies: Holes and She's All That

MORE FUN FACTS:

• He was a business finance major in college.
• He considers Martin Sheen to be his acting mentor.
• He was in the film She's All That, and had a role on All My Children.
• He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work on The West Wing.

TV: The West Wing and Psych

STAGE: The Tap Dance Kid, Stick Fly and After Midnight

IN VIDEO:

"B Roll" from After Midnight

Jeff
5.065

REVIEW: After Midnight

Review of the Saturday, November 16 evening performance at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York City.  Starring Dule Hill, Adriane Lenox and Special Guest Star Fantasia Barrino.  Featuring  The Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars.  Direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle.  90 minutes, no intermission. Adult language.

Grade: A+

Going into the musical revue After Midnight, I really hoped to just get through it.  I am not generally a fan of such shows, nor am I a big fan of jazz in big doses.  Add to it that I really couldn't have cared less about the advertised main attraction, Fantasia Barrino, one of those American Idols that I have an admitted bias against.  I was mildly interested in seeing Dule Hill, who I first saw as a small boy wonder in the National Tour of The Tap Dance Kid. (Man, do I feel old!)  Ultimately, I am loathe to admit that it was 90 minutes I was actually dreading.  By the time it was over, though, I was wishing there was another hour to the whole affair.  I went in expecting nothing, and came away with the best musical experience of the season to date!

Framed with a narrative thread made up of Langston Hughes poetry, recited with feeling by Hill, the evening is more an approximation of the Harlem Renaissance era shows at the Cotton Club and the like, rather than a point by point recreation of events.  This allows a modern sensibility and energy to coexist with the historic, a nice way to make the show feel more urgent.  Thus, it makes perfect sense to have modern dancers Julius "iGlide" Chisolm and Virgil "Lil'O" Gadson do their 21st century thing to throbbing beat of early 20th century tunes by Fields and McHugh (below).  Jack Viertel's conception also includes novelty numbers, pulsating rhythms of a red hot jazz band, smoking hot dance numbers (tap, jazz and some amazing partnering), and scorching torch songs sung by a "Special Guest Star."

Each and every one of these elements have been formed into a seamless, riveting evening of song and dance by director and choreographer Warren Carlyle, and the jaw-dropping style of the Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars.  Special notice should also go to the brilliant musical direction of Wynton Marsalis and the arrangements of Daryl Waters.  Has the music of Duke Ellington and his contemporaries ever sounded so great?  Staged on John Lee Beatty's simple band box set, and sensually lit by Howell Binkley, the show never flags - in fact, it nearly does, in fact, raise the roof between the rapturous applause, and the explosive energy of the cast and musicians.   Adding to the visual is the dazzling cavalcade of costumes created by Isabel Toledo - a sure Tony nod if there ever was one.

Carlyle's always pleasing, often thrilling and frequently astonishing numbers are a corps of dancers currently unequaled on the Broadway stage.  The ensemble really shines in the energetic "The Skrontch," "Cotton Club Stomp," and the show-stopping finale, "Freeze and Melt."  Chisolm and Gadson have the audience eating out of their hands with their "Hottentot," and the terrific Karine Plantadit (of Come Fly Away fame, below) turns up the heat when she's featured in "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," and as a soloist in "Black and Tan Fantasy."  But, as far as the dancing goes, the real shock and awe of the show, comes from the six guys who do the number "Peckin'" in which they dance in vertical, then horizontal, then vertical lines again, tapping and bounding around the stage in complete sync.  To say that they move as one is somehow not even close to giving what they do full credit.  The screams of delight from the adoring crowd said it all when they were finished.

Some of the greatest numbers from the American Songbook are also represented here, sung to perfection by several amazing vocalists.  Tony winner Adriane Lenox literally stops the show with her two jazzy story numbers, "Women Be Wise" and "Go Back Where You Stayed Last Night."  Too bad there wasn't just a little more of her! Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards leads a couple of numbers as well, with her gritty, earthy stylings, and the trio of Carmen Ruby Floyd, Rosena M. Hill Jackson and Bryonha Marie Parham are a delight of harmony and glamour in every number they perform.

Finally, I can admit when I am wrong.  I was wrong about being able to stand an evening of just jazz music.  The band is spectacular from start to finish - and what a finish!  No one made a move for the doors during their closing, "Rockin' in Rhythm."  And I was wrong to dismiss Fantasia Barrino who dazzled me more and more as each of her four featured numbers built upon the others.  She has been given the opportunity to put her considerable skills and spin on such classics as "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "Stormy Weather," and "On the Sunny Side of the Street."  But for my money - a repeat trip to the show is a definite possibility - Ms. Barrino really knocks it out of the park with her unbelievable jazz-scat skills in "Zaz Zuh Zaz."

You'd think that after hundreds of Broadway shows over three decades, that I'd learn not to be as completely jaded as I was before hearing one note of After Midnight.  In this case, I learned a little something, and got to witness some of the best singers, dancers and musicians assembled on the same stage in years.  I can't recommend seeing this show enough.  GO!

Jeff
5.057

The Musicals of the 2013 - 2014 Season By Type

As the season heats up, I thought I'd take a look a where all the new musicals come from.  What are their sources?  Will this season be different than others, or will it just be more of the same?  Previously, I looked at the Tony nominees for Best Musical over the past decade (HERE). So I thought I'd look at the whole season of announced new shows and their sources, and then, later in the season, dissect them as I did in the other blog.

Here are the "types" and the shows from this season that fit them:

Completely Original: A new idea, not based directly on anyone or anything.

• First Date
• If/Then
• Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Based on the Book: A  musical based on a novel or other literary source.

• Big Fish
• A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
• The Bridges of Madison County
• Les Miserables
• Cabaret

Based on the Film: A "new" musical based on a movie.

• Big Fish
• A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder
• The Bridges of Madison County
• Aladdin
• Rocky: The Musical
• Bullets Over Broadway

It's My Life: A musical based on the life of someone famous.

• Soul Doctor
• A Night with Janis Joplin
• Beautiful

The Jukebox: A musical that uses the canon of songs of an artist or artists, not written for the stage specifically.

• Let It Be
• Forever Tango
• A Night with Janis Joplin
• After Midnight
• Beautiful
• Bullets Over Broadway

As you can see, there are several shows that fit more than one category.  As has been the trend for the last several years, the majority of "new" shows are based on films or are jukebox musicals.  But within those categories, there is something interesting to note.  Three of the six "Based on the Film" shows are based on movies that are based on books.  And two of the six "Jukebox" shows - After Midnight, and Bullets Over Broadway - use those canons of songs completely out of their original contexts.  Is this an improvement in the sub-genre?  So far, given the raves for After Midnight, it looks like a definite possibility. I mean, look at Mamma Mia!

Jeff
5.045

HOT or NOT Round 5: After Midnight Edition

It was a sleeper hit a couple of seasons ago (under a different title at Encores!), and if the message boards are any indication of its future on Broadway, After Midnight will be huge.  This revue celebrating Harlem's Cotton Club and the music of Duke Ellington and others with the words of Langston Hughes, features Fantasia Barrino, Dule Hill and Tony-winner Adriane Lenox, and a large cast of renowned jazz singers and specialty dancers.  The show is now in previews at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, opening November 3rd.  And now the cast is the subject of the latest round HOT or NOT!

For the fifth time this season, it is up to you to decide who moves on to the finals in our quest for THE HOTTEST MUSICAL CAST OF 2013 - 2014!  Objectifying, I guess, but really also just silly fun.  That said, let me remind you that "HOT" is not just based on beauty or matinee idol looks or a killer bod.  Also up for consideration is their performance, their "buzz-worthy-ness," and the trajectory of their career.  Is their role this time around a milestone or a misery?  Are the chat rooms a-buzz with delight or humming with impending doom?  HOT to look at isn't enough to make it into the finals - even the cutest can be a "NOT"!  To see who has already made the finals, click HERE.

Now, without further ado, here is the cast of After Midnight!  To see their pics, scroll past the poll.  THIS POLL WILL CLOSE AT 6 PM ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27TH! (Be sure to click "Done" at the bottom of the poll to make your vote count!)

ON A SCALE OF 1 (ICE COLD) TO 10 (SMOKIN' HOT) 

WHO IS "HOT" AND WHO IS "NOT"?

USE THE EMBEDDED SCROLL BAR TO GO THROUGH THE WHOLE POLL!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

FEATURED ACTRESS

Fantasia Barrino and Adriane Lenox

Karine Plantadit and Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards

FEATURED ACTOR

Julius "iGlide" Chisolm and Virgil "Lil' O" Gadson

Jared Grimes and Dule Hill

MALE ENSEMBLE

Phillip Attmore, Everett Bradley, Christopher Broughton 

C.K. Edwards, Monroe Kent, Cedric Neal

T. Oliver Reid, Desmond Richardson, Daniel J. Watts

FEMALE ENSEMBLE

Marija Abney, Taeler Elyse Cyrus, Carmen Ruby Floyd

Bahiyah Hibah, Rosens M. Hill Jackson, Erin N. Moore

Byronha Marie Parham, Monique Smith

MALE SWING

David Jennings, Justin Prescott

FEMALE SWING

Danielle Herbert, Alyssa Shorte

DON'T FORGET! CLICK "DONE" TO MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT!

POLL CLOSES AT 6PM ON SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27TH!

Jeff
5.033