Theater Award Season Starting Soon

I've barely recovered from film awards season and now it's time for NYC theater award madness to start. April is the really crazy time when all the shows open to make the Tony Award cut-off date. Here's a rundown of this mad month and the subsequent pertinent dates:

April 1--Lucky Guy opens
April 3--Lortel Award nominations for Off-Broadway announced
April 4--Kinky Boots opens
April 11-Matilda opens
April 14--Motown the Musical opens
April 15--The Nance opens
April 16--The Big Knife opens
April 17--The Assembled Parties opens
April 18--Jekyll & Hyde opens; Orphans opens (yes, two openings on one night because Shia LaBeouf left/quit/was fired from Orphans, delaying rehearsals)
April 21--Macbeth opens
April 22--Outer Critics Circle Awards nominations announced by Laila Robbins and Robert Cuccioli at the Friars Club press conference; Lortel nominees reception; The Testament of Mary opens.
April 23--The Trip to Bountiful opens
April 24--I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers opens
April 25--Pippin opens
April 26--Drama Desk Award nominees announced by Jan Maxwell and John Lloyd Young at 54 Below
April 30--Tony Award nominees announced, hosts and place TBA
May 1--Tony nominees press event
May 5--Lortel Awards at NYU Skirball Center
May 13--OCC winners announced by press release
May 19--Drama Desk Awards at Town Hall
May 20--Obie Awards at Webster Hall
May 23--OCC Awards presented at Sardi's
June 9--Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall

New News Flashes: Ben Foster and the Rascals Coming to Broadway

Ben Foster

No sooner do I post the latest blog, then I get an update in the old email. The replacement for Shia LaBeouf in Orphans has been found. That was quick. Were the producers putting a list together when trouble began in rehearsals? It's Ben Foster, who I know best as the bisexual boyfriend of the gloomy daughter on Six Feet Under. Since then he's done a bunch of movies including The Messenger and 3:10 to Yuma.

Also coming to Broadway for a limited run are The Little Rascals who will play 15 performances at the Richard Rodgers April 15-May 5 in a reunion concert called Once Upon a Dream. This will be the first time the group has played together since 1970. So here's the final, final 2012-13 rundown:

News Updates: LaBeouf on Twitter, Lynch to Annie, etc.

All kinds of news flashes: Late yesterday, I got the press release that Shia LaBeouf was exiting from the Broadway revival of Orphans. Then all of the twitterverse went ballistic when the 26-year-old star unleashed a flood of emails on his feed detailing conflicts between himself and co-star Alec Baldwin. From what I can piece together, it sounds like LaBeouf, who was making his Broadway debut, wasn't getting along with the more experienced Baldwin. This isn't the first time Baldwin has not played well with others. When he was in Entertaining Mister Sloan at Roundabout, there were all kinds of stories about his excessive demands and combative behavior with co-star Jan Maxwell.