Broadway Games: Curtain Up!

As Broadway continues to re-open, more and more I'm seeing some of my favorite things on social media: Playbills in front show curtains! Well, we do a lot of games involving Playbills, so this one's all about the curtains!

BROADWAY GAMES:

CURTAIN UP!

Can you name the show just by looking at the show curtain?

HERE'S ONE THAT IS STILL IN PREVIEWS!

AN OLDIE, BUT A GOODIE!

BONUS: THIS ONE IS TOUGH! A BIG FLOP!

Answers to Last Week's

Broadway Games:
Broadway "Royalty"

Can you name the show each came from?

1. Basilius & Gynecia may have been the King and Queen of Arcadia, but Princess Pamela really ran this show: Head Over Heels

2. An affair made things interesting during the lusty month of May for King Arthur in this show: Camelot

3. Princess Winnifred, who was shy, couldn't get any sleep what with a pea under her bedding in this show: Once Upon a Mattress

4. "War is a science!" Charlemagne declared during this musical: Pippin

5. The Queen of Hearts has reigned terror over many a show, but she really created chaos in the Frank Wildhorn musical called: Wonderland

6. Mufasa reigns over Pride Rock in this show: The Lion King

7. Donna Sheridan was a dancing queen in this show: Mamma Mia!

8. Anne Boleyn advises audiences, "Don't Lose Ur Head!" in this musical: Six

9. Prince Charles introduces Camilla Parker Bowles to Queen Elizabeth in this show: Diana

10. The Princess Puffer ran an opium den in this Tony-winning Best Musical: The Mystery of Edwin Drood

Musical of the Month: Curtains: The Cast

Curtains was a unabashed old-fashioned Broadway musical. Big sets, lots of costumes, splashy production numbers and a large cast. The book boasted an impressive twelve principal roles and a sizable ensemble. Full of up and comers, staples in the ensemble world of the early 21st century, and a cornucopia of Broadway stars. So what has the cast been up to in the nearly twelve years since it closed? Let's find out!

Musical of the Month:

Curtains

The Cast

THE PRINCIPAL CAST

David Hyde Pierce (Lt. Frank Cioffi): Since winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Curtains, he's been in a couple of plays, directed a new musical (It Shoulda Been You), and has been Tony-nominated twice more, for Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike, and for the mega-hit revival of Hello, Dolly! In 2010, he was the recipient of the Isabelle Stevenson Award.

Debra Monk (Carmen Bernstein): After she won a Drama Desk Award for this show (and a Best Actress Tony nod), she's returned to Broadway only once. She co-starred as Big Mama in the 2013 Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. My favorite thing I've seen her in recently was the Amazon Prime series Mozart in the Jungle, as a salty oboist. 

John Bolton (Daryl Grady): Bolton has kept busy over the past dozen years, including A Christmas Story: The Musical (Drama Desk nominee) on Broadway, and two national tours of the same! Also on Broadway, he has appeared in Dames at Sea and Anastasia. Most recently, he wrapped up the national tour of Hello, Dolly!, opposite Carolee Carmello.

Jason Danieley (Aaron Fox): In 2010, Jason starred opposite his wife, the late, great Marin Mazzie in Next to Normal. After that, he co-starred in Kander and Ebb's The Visit, and most recently, in Pretty Woman: The Musical.

Edward Hibbert (Christopher Belling): Hibbert returns regularly to the stage, and since his days in Curtains, he's been in Mrs. Warren's Profession, It Shoulda Been You and Something Rotten.

Michael X. Martin (Johnny Harmon): One of Broadway's great utility players, Martin has appeared in 9 Broadway shows since Curtains closed! Maybe you saw him in 9 to 5, Ragtime, Catch Me If You Can, Nice Work If You Can Get it, The Bridges of Madison County, It Shoulda Been You, Bright Star, The Front Page or My Fair Lady?

Michael McCormick (Oscar Shapiro): Another terrific character actor, he's been on Broadway just three times since 2008 - in Elf, Chaplin and Hello, Dolly!

Jill Paice (Niki Harris): We loved her as Miss Honey in Matilda, and she was wonderful in An American in Paris. Somehow, we missed her in The 39 Steps.

Noah Racey (Bobby Pepper): Here's a guy we'd like to see on stage again. Since the show closed, he's been active regionally, and not just as a performer, but as a choreographer His sole post-Curtains Broadway credit was as movement director for The Terms of My Surrender.

Ernie Sabella (Sidney Bernstein): Mr. Sabella's most recent credit was Curtains.

Megan Sikora (Bambi Bernet): Sikora is one of the performers who is so amazing in everything she does, I am mystified as to why she's not a household name! She's toured in Guys and Dolls and Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Her subsequent Broadway credits include Promises, Promises, How to Succeed..., The Nance and Holiday Inn, The New Irving Berlin Musical.

Karen Ziemba (Georgia Hendricks): A Tony nominee for Curtains, this Broadway legend has since appeared on Broadway two times: in Bullets Over Broadway and, most recently, in Prince of Broadway.

NEXT WEEK! A new Musical of the Month... The Drowsy Chaperone!

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Musical of the Month: Curtains: The Creative Team

March's Musical of the Month, Curtains had a top-notch creative team. Each one has an impressive resume of credits and awards. For some, this show marked another step on their continuing creative journey. For others, the production was a last hurrah for their careers.

Musical of the Month:

Curtains

The Creative Team

The Writing and Directing Team

JOHN KANDER (Music) and FRED EBB (Lyrics): What can I say about one of the greatest writing teams in all of Broadway history? Even their flops are legendary. They are responsible for: 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, The Scottsboro Boys and The Visit. They are Theatre Hall of Fame honorees/

RUPERT HOLMES (Book/Additional Lyrics): Holmes was the first individual to win Tonys for both Best Book and Best Score (music and lyrics) for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. He has also written the plays A Time to Kill, Say Goodnight, Gracie, Accomplice and Solitary Confinement.

PETER STONE (Original Concept): Widely considered one of Broadway's greatest book writers, Stone was working on Curtains at the time of his death in 2003. His credits include the revised book for Annie Get Your Gun, Skyscraper (Tony nomination), 1776 (Tony Award), Woman of the Year (Tony Award), My One and Only (Tony nomination), The Will Rogers Follies (Tony nomination), and Titanic (Tony Award). His final nomination was for his contributions to Curtains.

ROB ASHFORD (Choreographer): His 19 Broadway credits span acting/dancing, choreography and direction. Among his choreography credits are Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony Award), Cry-Baby (Tony nomination, Drama Desk winner), and the recent revivals of Evita and How to Succeed... (Tony nominations). He is currently represented on Broadway by Disney's Frozen.

SCOTT ELLIS (Director): Part of the Artistic Direction staff at Roundabout Theater Company, Ellis has dozens of credits. His most recent direction credits include Tootsie, The Rose Tattoo, She Loves Me, Kiss Me, Kate and the current A Soldier's Play. He's been nominated for 9 Tony Awards. Up next for him: directing Take Me Out.

The Design Team

ANNA LOUIZOS (Scenic Design): A 4-time Drama Desk nominee (including one for Curtains) and 3-time Tony Award nominee, Ms. Louizos has 23 Broadway credits, including the recent revival The Mystery of Edwin Drood, In the Heights and High Fidelity.

WILLIAM IVEY LONG (Costume Design): Now in his fifth decade of costume design, Long has 77 Broadway credits, 23 Drama Desk nods and 7 wins, including the original production of Nine, Hairspray, The Producers and the acclaimed 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls. He also has 17 Tony Award nominations and 6 wins, including Crazy For You, Grey Gardens and Cinderella. His most recent designs were seen in Tootsie, Beetlejuice and Diana. 

PETER KACZOROWSKI (Lighting Design): With 60 Broadway credits, including such shows as Grey Gardens, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Beautiful, Anything Goes, and recent titles like American Son and Choir Boy. He's been Drama Desk nominated twice, for The Producers and Contact (winner). Five times, he's been nominated for Tony Awards, and won once for The Producers.

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Musical of the Month: Curtains

March just started, so that means a new Musical of the Month! And we've chosen a fun musical that had a respectable run more than a decade ago - Curtains, one of the last collaborations of John Kander and Fred Ebb. We chose it specifically because it is one of theirs that no one really talks about. But if their track record is any indication (looking at you, Cabaret and Chicago), in a few more years it'll get a re-look and become the toast of the town, right?

MUSICAL of the MONTH:

Curtains

Plot, Stats and Origins

The Plot
Curtains is an old-fashioned show with a canny modern feel. It's a send-up of old school backstage murder mysteries that were popular in the 1950's. Boston, 1959. The pre-Broadway tryout of Robbin' Hood of the Old West, and it isn't going well. First thing you know, the headlining star - who is horrible on and off stage - is murdered! The suspects are many: her understudy, the director, the people writing the show, her co-stars, the loud-mouthed, abrasive producer...a critic... Enter Lt. Frank Cioffi, a trench coat-wearing, Sam Spade type, who also has a secret - he loves musicals and wants to be in one. Really bad. As the suspects are narrowed down, and Frank closes in, mayhem and musical merriment ensue.

The Stats

• Previews began at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on February 27, 2007, with Opening Night on March 22, 2007.
• The show was nominated for 10 Drama Desk Awards, winning two: Debra Monk (Featured Actress in a Musical) and Rupert Holmes (Book of a Musical).
• Curtains was nominated for 8 2007 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. It won just one, for David Hyde Pierce's star turn (Best Actor in a Musical).
• Closing night was June 29, 2008, following 26 previews and 511 performances.

Background
Curtains wasn't just one of Kander and Ebb's final collaboration. It was also the last work of legendary book writer Peter Stone, who conceived the original plot and was working on the book at the time of his death in 2003. Tony-winner Rupert Holmes was brought in to revise/rewrite the book - a good choice given that he wrote another Broadway musical who-done-it, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Just over a year later, Fred Ebb passed away. The musical continued forward. An out of town tryout in Los Angeles preceded the Broadway run. 

NEXT WEEK: A closer look at the show's creative team.

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Broadway Boys: Mr. September 2013: A Time to Kill's Rupert Holmes

Mr. September 2013

Rupert Holmes

WHY HE'S MR. BROADWAY: Let's face it, the past couple of years have been pretty good for Rupert Holmes in terms of theatre.  Last season, he had one of the most acclaimed revivals in years with the Roundabout production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood.  This season, he's adapted one of the most popular and acclaimed American novels of the late 20th Century into a stage play featuring an all-star cast, with John Grisham's A Time to Kill.  The there is his "pipeline." The Nutty Professor with the late Marvin Hamlisch, Secondhand Lions with  First Date's Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and still possible First Wives Club, Marty, Robin and the 7 Hoods.  That is quite a lot to look forward to!  Not one to rest on his laurels, the 5 time Tony nominee (2 for Drood, 1 for Say Goodnight, Gracie, and 2 for Curtains) is clearly one busy guy.  No wonder he's the first playwright and composer/lyricist to be Mr. Broadway.




FUN FACTS: 

• Rupert was born in Norwich, Cheshire, UK, but is an American and British citizen.
• He has three children - Wendy (who passed away in 1986), Nick and Timothy, with his wife, childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth.
• He's written songs for Barry Manilow, Dolly Parton and The Partridge Family and has also been recorded by Frank Sinatra, Jr., The Jetts and Britney Spears.
• Several of his songs are included in the classic Barbra Streisand film, A Star is Born.

• He has written for not only the stage, but for television, too, including the acclaimed series Remember WENN, and he is an award-wining author of such novels as Swing, Where the Truth Lies and The McMaster's Guide to Homicide: Kill Your Employer.
• He is probably most famous himself to the public at large for his two top 10 songs, "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" and "Him."

BROADWAY PROJECTS

IN THE PIPELINE

Jeff

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