Broadway Boys: Mr. September 2014: Tony Yazbeck

Mr. September 2014

Tony Yazbeck

WHY HE'S MR. BROADWAY: Well, he's a true triple-threat as evidenced in his entire Broadway career to date.  Sing-dancer-actor in Gypsy, A Chorus Line, White Christmas and Chicago.  But it goes way beyond that, with a wide variety of roles in regional theatres, too.  Serious drama in Sycamore Trees, song and dance man in My One and Only, and zany antics in Animal Crackers, just to name a few.  Then, too, there's his charity work, including Broadway Backwards.  He's worked his way up through the ranks from childhood (a was in Gypsy as a Newsboy with Tyne Daly in the early 90's) to understudy to ensemble member to featured roles and as a star, currently headlining On the Town.  And that's why Tony Yazbeck is Mr. Broadway!

HEAD SHOTS AND CANDIDS

(Left) with Smash co-star, Ann Harada

(Right) with wife (and A Chorus Line co-star) Jessica Lee Goldyn

BROADWAY BACKWARDS

"A Boy Like That" (with Arron Lazar)

"Buddy, Beware"

REGIONAL SHOWS (My One and Only, Anthony and Cleopatra, Sycamore Trees)

My One and Only

Anthony and Cleopatra

Sycamore Trees

BROADWAY (Gypsy, A Chorus Line, White Christmas, Chicago, On the Town)

He's a Newsboy in Gypsy!

He's Tulsa in Gypsy!

A Chorus Line - "Sing!" 

and backstage with the boys

ACL's opening night, with

the original "Al"

Chicago - "Razzle Dazzle" and

celebrating with the girls

Irving Berlin's White Christmas

On the Town

(Barrington Stage production photos)

Jeff

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December Poll Results: Your Favorite Holiday Show

Well, another year is almost done!  And Christmas is upon us.  Below are the resluts fom this month's poll, which asked which holiday show was your favorite.  The results speak for themselves.

Thank you all for joining me here.  Sharing my love for theatre with you and gettting so much more in return is truly a gift that means the world to me.  I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!

Jeff

5% - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical



8% - The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular



17% - Irving Berlin's White Christmas



70% - Elf: The Musical



2.113

Life Imitates Art

They say that "art imitates life." Well, lately it has been my experience that just the opposite is true: life is imitating art all around me.

This little epiphany came to me over the weekend, while I sat here hibernating through a nasty snow storm, fierce winds and temperatures that would send a polar bear running. This winter, so far, is like the ones I remember happening more frequently when I was a young kid. Every Christmas was a white one in these parts. Then Al Gore, I mean global warming really kicked in, and winter like this is the exception, not the rule.

Anyway, not unlike the children in The Cat in the Hat, I was staring forlornly out the window, bored silly. Mind you, I could have shoveled, dug out my car, or spent my time reading a good book or any number of things. But I was sort of mesmerized by the snow outside the window, at times swirling fiercely, at others peacefully falling. That is when it came to me! I was inside the snow globe that is the White Christmas logo!

I sat pondering that deep thought for what felt like an hour, but what was really about a minute. Into view came a group of kids and an adult, all carrying gym bags. I recognized Dan and his son Little Dan from down the street, and remembered that Dan volunteers his time on the weekends by supervising the gym which is part of our community center, about 3 blocks from where I sat. There was one kid straggling behind, kicking snow and looking glum, when it occurred to me! What if this kid happens into a dance class at the community center? Judy the ballet mistress (she does a mean Nutcracker every year) isn't nearly as bold and crass as Mrs. Wilkinson, but I'd bet she could turn this straggling boy into a great dancer, just like Billy Elliot!

OK, so I finally got off my lazy butt and went outside to clear the sidewalk - I had seen my mailman trudging up the other side of the street, and thought it only kind to shovel him a path before he got to my house. As it turns out, I didn't actually get much snow clearing done because almost as soon as I got out there, he showed up and handed me my mail. He looked miserable, but he wouldn't accept an invite into my house for a hot cocoa or tea. But he did admit my house looked kinda cozy, what with the "smoke coming out of the chimney." I didn't have the heart to tell him that it was really the steam vent from my dryer that was puffing up the back corner of the house. Still, at that point, we both paused to take in my "cozy" home. It hit me then that looks can be deceiving! Just as my house doesn't have a chimney, but acts like it does, other homes appear to be normal, but aren't! My little white house with the black shutters looks remarkably like the Goodman house in next to normal!

So, I walked back into the house, carrying the shovel, not using it, humming "I Miss the Mountains," and looking off into the distance, where in fact, I see lots of mountains, though clouds were covering the very tops. Inside I go, and the heat from the house hit me like a blast from a newly opened oven. It really isn't that warm in here - I do what I can to save electricity and natural gas - but the difference between the inside and the outside was particularly shocking. As the snow flakes began to melt on my jacket, I noticed some minute wisps of steam rising off me! Next thing you know, I'm singing - in full voice - "psssssst Steam Heat...I got (ba-dump-dump)ssssssssteam heat..."

OK, I have been spending waaaayyy too much time alone lately! Thanks for listening!
Jeff

Bits and Pieces for 11.13.09

Watch out for black cats and walking under ladders! It is Friday the 13th! Short column this week...



What You Might Have Missed This Week:

• The November Poll is up and running. To your right... vote!
• Glee Makes a Point with "Defying Gravity"
• Off-Broadway Heats Up with 2 New Plays
• Bonnie and Clyde is On the Radar
• The Colors of Broadway
• Sports on Broadway
• And check out the "Blog Archive", too!
  

Another Op'ning, Another Show

Today, Friday the 13th, Irving Berlin's White Christmas opens at the Marquis Theatre. I guess since they already know they have hit on their hands, why be superstitious?

Lots of other shows have opened on the 13th of the month. Going back 15 years to 1994, 5 other musicals opened on the 13th - 3 of them in November: Billy Elliot (2008), Taboo (2003), and The Lion King (1997), and 2 in April: A Year with Frog and Toad (2003) and The Wild Party (2000). The most noteworthy play that I could find that opened on the 13th was The Little Dog Laughed (2006), and that was in November, too! 3 years flies by, huh?

Coming up one month from today: A Little Night Music opens Sunday, December 13. Let's hope that show has the luck of Billy Elliot and The Lion King.




Smoking Allowed

Caught this in an article from The Washington Post after googling Cate Blanchett in A Streetcar Named Desire. Seems that the actors on stage are all smoking real tobacco cigarettes, even though the Kennedy Center has a strict no smoking policy. Apparently, the rule does not apply to theatrical productions where the characters smoking is historically or thematically accurate. Even more interesting is that what the actors smoke is up to them, and this cast chose the real thing over herbal smokes. I bet the front rows love this!

Out with the Old...

I try not to be negative, but I take the departure of director Francesca Zambello from "Broadway-aimed" The First Wives Club as a good thing. Positive, if you will. While I am certain she has earned the critical praise she has gotten for her work in the international opera scene, she made a mess of Disney's The Little Mermaid, which closed after 2 years, good for most musicals, but not so much for Disney. I found that production absolutely boring to watch, and uncreative in getting the "under the sea" movement feel. I mean wheelies are great if you are a sand dweller, but fish and mermaids swim on all planes in the ocean, right? Someone should have taken her to see Finding Nemo: The Musical, a full-out Broadway show playing several times A DAY at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Her departure sounds like it could be their loss and, ultimately, their gain. And I'm super glad to see that another Rupert Holmes show might make it to Broadway, after all.

Extension Fever

Some good news on the theatre front: two shows announcing that they have been extended! And it couldn't happen to nicer, cooler people than Julie White, Justin Kirk, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Carrie Fisher. Both The Understudy and Wishful Drinking were extended two weeks to January 17th

Have a great weekend! And please send in your comments! I love hearing from you and posting your thoughts - even when we don't agree! Jeff

(Photo from The Washington Post On Line)