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| Christopher Innvar, Jason Danieley, and Theresa McCarthy in the 1996 production of Floyd Collins at Playwrights Horizons Credit: Joan Marcus |
The Broadway premiere of Floyd Collins follows with an opening of April 21 and previews beginning March 27. The musical about the real-life story of the titular cave explorer had its world premiere at the American Music Theater Festival in Philadelphia in 1994. It was followed by the off-Broadway debut at Playwrights Horizons in 1996 where it won the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. Music and lyrics are by Adam Guettel whose Light in the Piazza also played the Beaumont. Tina Landau provides the book, additional lyrics and direction, as she did for the PH production.
Floyd Collins is based on the true story of a cave explorer in Kentucky, 1925. While chasing a dream of fame and fortune by turning Sand Cave into a tourist attraction, Floyd Collins himself becomes the attraction when he gets trapped 200 feet underground. Alone but for sporadic contact with the outside world, including his brother Homer, Floyd fights for his sanity – and, ultimately, his life – as the rescue effort above explodes into the first genuine media circus. Reporters and gawkers from across the country descend on the property, fueling the hysteria and manipulating the nation into holding its collective breath.
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| Dolly Parton Credit: Jim Wright |
In a statement, Parton said, “Hello, I’m Dolly, and I lived my whole life to see this show on stage. I’ve written many original songs for the show and included all your favorites in it as well. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll clap, you’ll stomp, it truly is a Grand Ol’ Opera. Pun and fun intended. Don’t miss it!”
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| Aaron Tviet and Sutton Foster will host the 2024 Drama Desk Awards on June 10. Drawing by Justin "Squiggles" Robertson |
There are balcony seats available for the general public and may be purchased at https://tickets.nyu.edu/dramadesk2024/15422
To purchase prime VIP orchestra seats please click HERE.
Tony Pre-Show: Emmy Award winner Julianne Hough and star of CBS’ GHOSTS Utkarsh Ambudkar will host THE TONY AWARDS: ACT ONE, a live pre-show with exclusive content that is available to viewers for free on Pluto TV beginning Sunday, June 16 at 6:30-8:00 PM, ET/3:30-5:00 PM, PT. Hough, who starred in the hit Broadway play “POTUS,” and Ambudkar, who made his Broadway debut in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s improvisational hip-hop show “Freestyle Love Supreme,” will kick off Broadway’s biggest night with the presentation of the first round of Tony Awards during the exciting pre-show telecast. 
Julianne Hough and Utkarsh Ambudkar will
host the Tonys' pre-show on Pluto.
Immediately following, THE 77TH ANNUAL TONY AWARDS, with Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Ariana DeBose, will air live from the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, from 8:00-11:00 PM, LIVE ET/5:00-8:00 PM, LIVE PT on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on-demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the special airs)*.
No word yet on which awards will be presented on Pluto and which on CBS.
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| Jez Butterworth's The Hills of California in London Credit: Mark Douet |
The synopsis reads: “In the sweltering heat of a 1970s summer, the Webb sisters return to their childhood home in Blackpool, an English seaside town, where their mother Veronica lies dying upstairs. Gloria and Ruby now have families of their own. Jill never left. And Joan? No one’s heard from her in twenty years… but Jill insists that their mother’s favorite won’t let them down this time.
“The run-down Sea View Guest House is haunted by bittersweet memories of amusement park rides and overdue bills. Back in the 1950s, each night the girls rehearse their singing act, managed by their fiercely loving single mom. But when a record producer offers a shot at fame and a chance to escape, it will cost them all dearly.”
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| Caellie Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst in Civil War (A24) |
Civil War is an effective action thriller with thematic overtones of the role of photojournalism, but wants to have it both ways politically so as not to offend either side of the spectrum and thus alienate a potential audience. We're in some future time where 31 states have seceded. It's never explained why. Most of the action follows a group of journalists driving to Washington DC from NYC to interview the beleaguered President (Parks and Recreations' Nick Offerman) before he is captured by the insurrectionist Western Forces of Texas and California. Director-screenwriter Garland deliberately confuses us as to who is on which side and whom we should sympathize with. The traveling reporters and photogs encounter brutal racists and incredible violence without identifying whether the combatants are with or against the authorities. The subtext of this part of the film focuses on the status of the neutrality of the journalists. They are just there to record the facts and images and let their public decide. The main character Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague reporter (Wagner Moura) work for Reuters and make no statements of allegiance to either side.
The film version effectively ended studio censorship and ushered in the ratings system so film language was no longer so restricted.
Of course, the meat of the book is the day-to-day travails of filming which were mainly a power struggle between Nichols and Lehman. The Burtons did not make things any easier. Their contracts stipulated they would not work before 10am and at 6 pm sharp, an assistant would show up on set with a Bloody Mary for each of them signaling they were through for the day. It's that kind of detail that makes the book fun to read.
