Off-B'way/Regional Review: The Gospel at Colonus; Sunday in the Park with George

Stephanie Berry, Davone Tines, Frank Senior, and
Samantha Howard in The Gospel at Colonus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Musical styles are mixed to maximum emotional effect in unusual productions in one new outdoor venue in Manhattan and at the 50th anniversary season of a long-established festival in upstate New York. Lee Breur and Bob Telson’s The Gospel at Colonus returns in a soul-stirring staging in the Amp at Little Island, affording spectacular views of the Hudson River as a galvanizing cast retells the Oedipus myth with passion and fervor. Meanwhile in Cooperstown, New York, the Glimmerglass Festival celebrates its golden anniversary with a moving world premiere (The House on Mango Street) and a pair of innovative, imaginative restagings of two modernist classics from Broadway and the opera repertory (Sunday in the Park with George, The Rake’s Progress).  

The Gospel at Colonus has an unusual production history. After opening at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 1983 and winning an Obie Award, the adaption of Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus at Colonus set in an African-American Pentecostal church service was performed to acclaim in Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Atlanta and was filmed for PBS. An unlikely Broadway transfer in 1988 starring Morgan Freeman ran for only 61 performances and received only one Tony nomination (for Breuer’s book). 

Kim Burrell (center) and company in
The Gospel at Colonus.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Breur's original production was on a grand scale with an enormous choir. Shayok Misha Chowdhury’s new staging is more intimate with David Zinn’s minimal set suggesting sylvan glades and ancient ritual environments. The role of Oedipus, seeking sanctuary and shelter just before his death after a tragedy-strewn reign as king of Thebes, was originally taken by the Five Blind Boys of Alabama. (This casting echoed Oedipus’ horrific self-blinding after discovering he had unknowingly killed his father and slept with his mother.) Here his lines and solos are divided between an intense Stephanie Berry who also serves as narrator and preacher of the service, and operatic bass-baritone Davone Tines and jazz singer Frank Senior. 

B'way Reviews: Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends; BOOP! The Musical

Jasmine Forsberg, Beth Leavel, Bernadette
Peters, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, 
Lea Salonga, Maria Wirries, and
Joanna Riding in
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, which began life as a London tribute concert devised by uber-producer Cameron Mackintosh and then restaged for a commercial run in the West End, is so intoxicatingly entertaining, you won’t want to leave the Friedman Theater where Manhattan Theater Club is presenting it. Luckily, audio of Sondheim himself singing rare tunes such as “Love Is in the Air,” cut from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, plays after the curtain calls, sending audiences out on a cloud of Sondheim-created bliss. What precedes are two and a half hours of the greatest highlights from Sondheim’s norm-shattering career with some of the brightest Broadway and London musical stars, staged with smooth-as-silk skill by Matthew Bourne. 

There have been three previous Sondheim anthology shows on Broadway (Side by Side by Sondheim, Putting It Together, and Sondheim by Sondheim), each with their own merits. All three featured relatively small casts from four to eight performers. Old Friends is subtitled “A Great Big Broadway Show” and it certainly lives up to that promise. Nineteen stellar performers are backed by a magnificent orchestra led with verve and precision by music director Annbritt duChateau. 

Jacob Dickey and Bernadette Peters in
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

With a stunning show like this, a critic’s job becomes especially difficult in choosing which gems to single out. Just over 40 delightful numbers are offered, all staged with imagination and ingenuity by Bourne (Matt Kinley’s versatile scenic design and Jill Parker’s tasteful costumes provide the perfect setting, taking us from the London slums of Sweeney Todd to the Parisian suburbs of Sunday in the Park with George.) The songs range from soulful solos to breathtaking ensemble pieces. 

Legendary leading ladies Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga receive top billing, but the entire company is superlative. As you might expect, Peters packs maximum raw emotion into two famous arias of heartbreak which she has performed on Broadway—“Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music and “Losing My Mind” from Follies. But she also gleefully mocks herself, imitating her signature style with “Broadway Baby” which turns into a hilarious “Can you top this” competition with the ladies of the company popping up everywhere. Peters also scores laughs as a fresh-faced, yet cynical Little Red Riding Hood from Into the Woods and the veteran, seen-it-all stripper Mazeppa from Gypsy. Salonga stretches herself admirably, turning in a ravenously wicked Mrs. Lovett, a powerhouse Mama Rose, and delivering piercingly sensitive renditions of “Loving You” from Passion and “Somewhere” from West Side Story.

B'way Review: Gypsy

Joy Woods and Audra McDonald in
Gypsy.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

The sixth Broadway production of Gypsy, the classic musical based on the memoirs of legendary stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, is a theatrical miracle. Not only does it outfit an oft-produced warhorse with totally new, shining armor, but also provides Audra McDonald, the winner of six Tony Awards, with the means to achieve an unprecedented seventh by  delivering a towering interpretation of the King Lear of female musical theater roles, the unstoppable Mama Rose. Both were thought to be impossible feats, but director George C. Wolfe and McDonald have done the impossible.

Let’s tackle the first accomplishment. Gypsy (1959) is the Holy Grail of Broadway musicals. Every leading lady worth her salt has tackled it. But up until now, all five previous reproductions have largely employed Jerome Robbins’ original direction and choreography. The late book-author Arthur Laurents, recreating Robbins’s work, has directed every Main Stem restaging with the exception of the 2003 production which was helmed by Sam Mendes. All of five have employed Robbins’ 1959 dance steps. George C. Wolfe has applied his prodigious theatrical imagination to the smart and insightful book by Laurents and evergreen score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim, while retaining Robbins’  basic flow of scenes and framing them as acts in a vaudeville show. Wolfe has placed his own clever stamp on such iconic moments as the transition between Baby June and Her Newsboys from tots to teens, the riotous “You Gotta Get a Gimmick,” Rose and company’s trek from Seattle to L.A., employing a delightfully delapidated vintage automobile, and many others. Santo Loquasto’s suggestive backstage sets, Toni-Leslie James’ versatile costumes, and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer’s jazzy lighting all contribute to creating the atmosphere of an endless series of one-night stands and cheap boarding houses.

Audra McDonald and Joy Woods in
Gypsy.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Camille A. Brown has the distinction of being the first new choreographer for the show since Robbins and she also plants her own flag on familiar territory. Her dances are inventive and fresh, particularly her staging of Gypsy’s racy interpretation of “Let Me Entertain You,” climaxing in an erotic rite set in the Garden of Eden, marking her arrival as the star of the strip tease. Brown’s quirky, angular moves, sensuously executed by Joy Woods as Gypsy (Louise) and a lively chorus, evoke Josephine Baker’s eccentric banana dance that made her the toast of Paris in the 1920s. Brown’s staging of “All I Need Is the Girl” is more elaborate than Robbins’, and Kevin Csolak as Tulsa makes it in a show-stopper in an evening of musical explosions. Brown even incorporates Woods as Louise into the number correctly. She is still clumsy, but joyfully joining Tulsa in the big finish, not immediately picking up the steps but following along as best she can. (Woods and Csolak are prime candidates for the 2025 Chita Rivera Awards for Best Broadway dancers.)

B'way Update: Smash and Sondheim

Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee in
Smash, the NBC-TV series.

Two upcoming Broadway shows, Smash and Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, have announced specific details on dates, theaters and cast members. Smash, the musical based on the NBC-TV series, will begin previews at the Imperial Theater on March 11, 2025 prior to an April 10 opening. Robyn Hurder (A Beautiful Noise, Moulin Rogue) and Caroline Bowman will head the company as Ivy and Karen, two actresses vying for the lead in a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Bowman will leave the company of Sunset Boulevard where she is standby for Norma Desmond. The cast will also feature Brooks Ashmanskas (The Prom) as Nigel, Krysta Rodriguez (Spring Awakening) as Tracy, John Behlmann  (Shucked) as Jerry, Kristine Nielsen (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Susan, Jacqueline B. Arnold (Moulin Rouge!) as Anita, Bella Coppola (Six) as Chloe, and Casey Garvin (Some Like It Hot) as Charlie. Rodriguez is the only cast member to have also appeared in the NBC series as a recurring character, although in a different role. Nielsen did have a guest shot in one episode. 

Six-time Tony winner Susan Stroman directs with a book by Bob Martin (Drowsy Chaperone) and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) and a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) which will comprise of tunes from the series as well as new ones.

Producer Robert Greenblatt said, “Neil, Steven, and I are elated to announce that Smash is definitely coming to Broadway this season, a dozen years after the series ended on NBC! We always knew Shaiman & Wittman’s fantastic score belonged on Broadway, and our show is a clever, funny adaptation of the series — with a few surprises — that we hope will delight die-hard fans as well as anyone who didn’t see the series.” 

Neil Meron said, “Working with our incomparable director, Susan Stroman, our first-class bookwriters, Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and our original series choreographer, Josh Bergasse, has been a joy. This dream team has created the quintessential new musical about the rollercoaster ride of creating a new musical. (Very meta!) And it not only sends Broadway up, but sends Broadway a big love letter at the same time.”

Manhattan Theater Club announced that its production of the revue Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, presented in association with Cameron Mackintosh and Daryl Roth will begin previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater on March 25, 2025 with an opening set for April 8.

Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Bonnie
Langford and the London company of
Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends.

Joining previously announced Broadway Legends Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will be Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, David Harris, Bonnie Langford (Mel, companion of Doctor #6 and #7 from Doctor Who), Tony Award winner Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone), two-time Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk winner Gavin Lee (Mary Poppins, SpongeBob Squarepants), Ryan McCartan, multiple Olivier Award nominee Jason Pennycooke, two-time Olivier Award winner Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Maria Wirries, and Daniel Yearwood. Peters, Salonga, Langford, Lee and Secombe also appeared in the London production of the show. The company will also include Kevin Earley, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, and Peter Neureuther. The final co-star will be announced soon.

B'way Update: MTC Season Includes Sondheim, Vladimir, Eureka

Lea Salonga and Bernadette Peters
in Old Friends, transferring to
Broadway in 2025.
Credit: Danny Kaan

Manhattan Theater Club has announced plans for its 2024-25 season on and Off-Broadway, which will include the Broadway premieres of Eureka Day and the London Sondheim revue, Old Friends starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga who will repeat their London performances. The Stephen Sondheim tribute ran in London's West End in 2023 and will begin previews at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theater on March 25, 2025 with an opening date TBA. The show will have a pre-Broadway run at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theater from Feb. 8--March 9. The production was devised by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Matthew Bourne, side by side with Julia McKenzie. Additional cast members will be announced. 

B'way Update: Tveit and Foster Confirmed for Sweeney; More Casting; More Rumors

Sutton Foster and Aaron Tveit
will star in Sweeney Todd
Credit: Matthew Murphy

As reported yesterday and now confirmed, Tony winners Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster will assume the roles of Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett in the current revival of Sweeney Todd at the Lunt-Fontanne. They will begin performances Feb. 9, 2024 for 12 weeks through May 5. Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford continue in the starring parts until Jan. 14, 2024....Tony nominee Ato Blankson-Wood (Slave Play, Hamlet) has been cast in the role of Cliff (originated by Bert Convy of Tattletales fame) in the upcoming revival of Cabaret, alongside Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin. Ato Blankson-Wood said, "I am beyond excited to return to Broadway in Rebecca Frecknall's brilliant production of Cabaret. I recognize the weight and responsibility of telling this particular story at this particular moment and am emboldened by the fact that I'll get to do it alongside Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin, two actors whom I admire so deeply. Cliff, like me, is an artist attempting to create and make sense of the world against a backdrop of escalating violence and hatred, I look forward to learning what he has to teach me."

Ato Blankson-Wood

B'way Update: Sondheim, Ohio, etc.

IATSE, the union representing backstage technicians and craftspeople, and the Broadway League and Disney have reached a tentative agreement, awaiting ratification of the rank and file union members, thereby averting a possible strike and shutdown of Broadway and touring shows. After heaving a sigh of relief, let's catch up on all the Broadway and Off-Broadway news that perked up while I was on vacation in Greece and Turkey:

Sondheim Show Announces Cast and Dates: Here We Are, the final show to boast a score by the late

David Hyde Pierce will
star in Here We Are,
the last Sondheim musical
coming to Off-B'way this fall.
Credit: Joan Marcus

Stephen Sondheim, will begin previews at the Shed's Griffin Theater on Sept. 28 with an opening set for Oct. 22. Derived from two Luis Bunuel classic films, The Exterminating Angel and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, the show features a book by David Ives (All in the Timing) and direction by two-time Tony winner Joe Mantello. The all-star cast includes Obie winner Francois Battiste (The Good Negro, A Raisin in the Sun), Drama Desk winner Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow), Drama Desk and Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (The Motherf**ker with the Hat, Boardwalk Empire, Will and Grace), Michaela Diamond (Parade), Amber Gray (Hadestown), Ja Hin (M. Butterfly), Tony winner Rachel Bay Jones (Dear Evan Hansen, Pippin), Tony and Drama Desk winner Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out, Sweet Charity), Drama Desk winner Steven Pasquale (Reasons to Be Pretty, The Bridges of Madison County), Tony and Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce (Curtains, Frasier), and Tony nominee Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park).

Ohio Musical to Open on Broadway: Seven autistic actors will be making their Broadway debuts in the new musical How to Dance in Ohio, set to begin previews Nov. 15 at the Belasco Theater in advance of a Dec. 10 opening. Based on Alexandra Shiva's 2015 HBO documentary, the musical focuses on a group of autistic young adults at an Ohio counseling center as they prepare for a

The cast of How to Dance in Ohio.
Credit: Curtis Brown

formal dance. The show premiered at Syracuse Stage in 2022 and features music by Jacob Yandura and book and lyrics by Rebekah Greer Melocik, who are also making their Broadway debuts. Director Sammi Cannold is also a first-timer for the Main Stem.

Graciela Daniele Bio-Musical at LCT: Lincoln Center Theater will present a new musical, The Gardens of Anuncia, based on the early life of Broadway director-choreographer Graciela Daniele in the Mitzi Newhouse Theater, beginning previews Oct. 19 and opening Nov. 20. Daniele directs and co-choreographs with Alex Sanchez, Michael-John LaChuisa (The Wild Party, Hello Again, Marie Christine) writes the book, music and lyrics. The musical opens with Anuncia (Tony winner Priscilla Lopez) in her garden, reflecting on her girlhood in Juan Peron's Argentina and the family members who inspired her to be a stage artist. The cast also includes Enrique Acevedo, Andrea Burns (In the Heights), Eden Espinosa (Rent, Wicked), Tally Sessions, Tony nominee and Obie and Drama Desk winner Mary Testa (First Daughter Suite, On the Town, 42nd Street), and Kalyn West. The musical premiered at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego in 2021 just before Daniele received a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.

A scene from The Gardens of Anuncia
at the Old Globe Theater.
Credit: Jim Cox

B'way Update: Final Sondheim; Merrily Finds Theater; No More Room

Stephen Sondheim will have
 two productions on the boards
in 2023-24

There are ups and down on and Off-Broadway this week. The last Stephen Sondheim show is finally announcing dates and a theater as is the Broadway transfer of New York Theater Workshop's revival of Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along. And one upcoming Broadway show has been forced to shut down before it even began performances. 

Here We Are, the last Stephen Sondheim musical will premiere at the Shed's Griffin Theater in September 2023. Casting and specifics dates will be announced at a later date. Based on two Luis Bunuel films, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and The Exterminating Angel, Here We Are features a book by David Ives (All in the Timing, Venus in Fur) and direction by Joe Mantello who won a Tony for his staging of Sondheim's Assassins. Not long before his death in 2021, Sondheim appeared on Stephen Colbert's late-night talk show and confirmed that the show, under the title of Square One, had a workshop with Nathan Lane and Bernadette Peters and would be coming to Broadway the following season. 

Another Sondheim show will also be coming to Broadway in 2023-24. The New York Theater Workshop revival of Merrily We Roll Along has been announced as beginning previews at the Hudson Theater on Sept. 19. (Opening to be announced.) Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, Krystal Joy Brown, Katie Rose Clark, and Reg Rogers will repeat their performances from the NYTW production which was directed by Maria Friedman. Her staging was first seen at London's Menier Chocolate Factory and later transfered to the West End where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. This will be the first Broadway revival of Merrily which originally closed after only 16 performances and ended the collaboration between Sondheim and Harold Prince. There have been Off-Broadway productions in 1994 (York Theater) and 2019 (Fiasco Theater at Roundabout's Laura Pels stage) as well as acclaimed concert versions. 

Lindsay Mendez, Jonathan Groff and
Daniel Radcliffe in
Merrily We Roll Along
Credit: Joan Marcus

B'way Update: Sweeney Todd Confirmed, DeVito as a Hoarder, Iglehart as Armstrong

Annaleigh Ashford and Josh Groban
Credit: Franz Szony

It's official. The revival of Sweeney Todd, the 1979 Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler musical about a cut-throat barber and his pie-making cannibalistic accomplice, will definitely begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater on Feb. 25, 2023 in advance of a March 26 opening. Pop superstar Josh Groban and Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford will star. The production had been rumored for several weeks and was reported on in Broadway Journal. On Sept. 5, artwork for the show began showing up on social media and the Ticketmaster website posted a performance calendar (tickets go on sale Mon. Sept. 18).

B'way Update: Sweeney Revival Possible; Raisin Casting

Josh Groban in
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.
Credit: Chad Batka

Philip Boroff reports in Broadway Journal that pop superstar Josh Groban and Tony winner Annaleigh Ashford will headline a revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd, aiming for a Broadway opening next April. Boroff reports that Rent and Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller is raising $14.5 million for the production which will be directed by Hamilton helmer Thomas Kail and possibly play the Lunt-Fontanne next April in time for the 2023 Tony Awards. No information about the show has been confirmed as of yet. (Sidenote: Before he hit the big time, Jeffrey Seller directed me in a Brooklyn community theater production of The Fantasticks. Andrew Lippa, who later wrote the music for the Off-Broadway Wild Party and The Addams Family, was the music director and played El Gallo).

This could potentially mean three Sondheim musicals in one season, maybe simultaneously. Into the Woods is playing through Oct. 16 at the St. James, but could extend given its strong box office and Merrily We Roll Along might transfer from its Off-Broadway run at New York Theater Workshop.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Annaleigh Ashford in
Sunday in the Park with George.
Credit: Matthew Murphy

Groban last appeared on Broadway in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. (He co-hosted the 2017 Tony Awards with Sara Bareilles) Ashford won a Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony for You Can't Take It With You and starred opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. On TV, her prominent roles include Masters of Sex, B Positive, and Impeachment: American Crime Story.

Sweeney Todd opened on Broadway in 1979 and ran for 557 performances, winning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and Actor and Actress for Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury. There have been two previous Broadway revivals--in 1989 (with Bob Gunton and Beth Fowler) and 2005 (with Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone). A 2017 Off-Broadway production transformed the Barrow Street Theater into a recreation of a Victorian pie shop with audience members seated like customers. (Another side note: Groban was in the audience the night I saw this production.)

B'way Update: Into the Woods; OCC Ceremony

The Encores! staging of
Into the Woods will transfer to Broadway
Credit: Joan Marcus

When I went to see Golden Shield at Manhattan Theater Club's City Center Off-Broadway space, I had to stand in line with attendees for the Encores! production of Sondheim and Lapine's Into the Woods. The line went around the block and I was worried about missing my curtain (I didn't). Well, that immensely popular staging of the 1987 fairy-tale musical by Lear de Bessonet, Encores' artistic director, will by transferring to a limited run on Broadway at the St. James Theater, with previews starting June 28 for a July 10 opening. 

Sara Bareilles (Waitress) will reprise her role as the Baker's Wife with Brian D'Arcy James (Something Rotten, Sweet Smell of Success) replacing Neil Patrick Harris as the Baker. Gavin Creel (Tony winner for Hello, Dolly!) will also return in the dual roles of the Wolf and Cinderella's Prince. New cast members include Patina Miller (Tony winner for Pippin) as the Witch, Phillipa Soo (Hamilton, Ameila) as Cinderella, Joshua Henry (Carousel) as Rapunzel's Prince, and Annie Golden (Assassins) as Cinderella's Mother/ Grandmother/Giant's Wife). Miller is replacing Heather Hedley who will be filming Netflix's Sweet Magnolias series. Soo is taking over for Denee Benton who will be doing the second season of The Gilded Age for HBO. Ironically, Benton replaced Soo in Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 when it transferred from Off-Broadway to on.

Theater Memories Part 14: Sondheim

Sondheim
Credit: Erika Kapin Photography

Just yesterday, my husband and I were driving back from Philadelphia after a visit to my mother for Thanksgiving. For some unknown reason, I got the urge to listen to Sondheim. We had not been listening to the radio news, so I didn't know about his death. I punched his name into the Spotify search engine we heard A Little Priest, Another Hundred People, The Ladies Who Lunch, The Miller's Son, Hello, Little Girl, and Now You Know. A loving and unexpected tribute to the greatest musical theater writer of the 20th century. Then we get home, I opened my computer and got the shocking news.

He was 91, so it wasn't unexpected and he did go out on a high note. There are new productions of Assassins and Company playing as well as a new film version of West Side Story about to open. In addition, he was working on a new show, Square One, with David Ives. He recently revealed on Stephen Colbert's talk show, it had just been workshopped with Nathan Lane and Bernadette Peters and he was hoping for it to open on Broadway next season. Let us all pray that comes to pass.

B'way Update: Slave, Skin, and Sondheim

Tony nominees James Cusati-Moyer and
Ato Blankson-Wood in
Slave Play.
(Credit: Matthew Murphy)

Last night's long-delayed Tony Awards were full of surprises from the Paramount Plus portion of the ceremony ending ten minutes early to an extra four minutes of Big Brother cutting into the opening of the CBS portion of the show to the unexpected shut-out of Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play. Harris' controversial play about sex, race, and oppression received the most Tony nominations ever for a straight play with 12 and was thought to be a shoe-in to sweep the dramatic categories. But, Slave lost all of its categories. Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance dominated the play portion of the awards including the top prize of Best Play while the new version of A Christmas Carol copped all of the design prizes for plays. Twitter exploded with complaints of racism. Some commenters stated that the Tonys were white-dominated and discriminatory since The Inheritance concerned white gay males (with a few incidental Hispanic and African-American roles) while Slave Play was told from a black perspective. Ironically, the winning playwright Lopez pointed out that he was the first Latinx playwright to win the Best Play Award in Tony history and that his community needed more representation on Broadway. 

2019-20 Broadway/Off-Broadway Update: Creative Casting

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
will star in a revival of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite

Creative casting distinguishes two new Broadway productions. Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker are not the first two stars that come to mind when thinking of leads for Neil Simon's 1968 three-part comedy Plaza Suite. The real-life couple are comedic talents but they're not exactly versatile. The play, consisting of three one-acts set in the same suite in NYC's swankiest hotel, features six very different people. I can see the Brodericks as the second set of visitors--a shallow Hollywood producer and his high-school sweetheart--and maybe even the third--the crazed parents of a bride who refuses to leave the bathroom on her wedding day. But that's a stretch. I'm having trouble envisioning them as the first couple, an estranged middled-aged pair on the brink of splitting up. It's not that they couldn't play these roles. It's just hard for me to imagine them as late middle-aged (even though they really are) and sad. I also wonder if they will be updating the script since it is chock full of late 1960s references modern audiences might not get (Anybody remember Metracal? It was a diet drink and got a laugh back then.) When I directed a production for an Equity showcase in Brooklyn, we changed all the movie stars' names in the second piece and increased all the prices of the wedding expenses the father constantly spouts in the third. John Benjamin Hickey makes his Broadway directorial debut of this revival which opens at the Hudson Theatre on April 13.

My First Show in Every Broadway Theater

A recent trend on Facebook is to list the first show you saw in every Broadway theater. I thought it would be easy for me, but my memory is not as razor sharp as it used to be. Plus I no longer keep all my Playbills in either chronological or alphabetical order. So I had to go online and actually do research. Internet Broadway Data Base (ibdb) which lists every show ever played in every theater, was most useful. Other sites only listed major long-running hits. It was fun and raised a lot of memories. Here's my list along with anecdotes and thoughts. 

Ambassador: DREAMGIRLS--a revival
American Airlines: THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER--This was the first production in the new AA Theater
Atkinson: THE DRESSER--on a trip to NYC while I was in college in Philly.

Robert Duvall, John Savage, and Kenneth McMillan
in David Mamet's American Buffalo

Barrymore: LILLIAN--Zoe Caldwell in a one-woman show as the playwright Lillian Hellman.
Beaumont: THE FRONT PAGE (John Lithgow, Richard Thomas)
Belasco: AMERICAN BUFFALO (w/Robert Duvall)--I was in high school and my family took a trip to NYC for a weekend and I crammed in as many shows as possible. Duvall was brilliantly scary.
Bernard B. Jacobs (Royale): YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (Eddie Albert, Frances Sternhagen, Colleen Dewhurst, George Rose)--I got cheap seats from Audience Extras when I first moved to Gotham. This revival had been running a while. Eddie Albert had replaced Jason Robards as Grandpa.
Booth: GOOD--a British play about a well-meaning German who gradually becomes a high-ranking Nazi.
Broadhurst: LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey)

De Niro and Sondheim Working on New Broadway Musicals

Turning from the fictional trials on NBC's Smash of getting Bombshell on Broadway, here are some real Main Stem musicals in the embryonic stages:

A Bronx Tale: ShowBiz 411 says Robert De Niro is contemplating directing a musical version of A Bronx Tale, the one-man play by Chazz Palminteri which became a movie De Niro starred in and directed. Palminteri is writing the book. David Bryan of Bon Jovi who won a Tony for Memphis, is doing the songs and Sergio Trujillo is staging the dances. Trujillo's working on the currently touring Flashdance, which is expected on Broadway this summer.

Sondheim-Ives Project: Michael Musto reports Stephen Sondheim--his Passion opens this week in an Off-Bway revival at CSC--is working with David Ives on a musical based on one of Ives' short plays.

Gloria/Emilio Estefan Musical: The Grammy-winning recording artist and her husband producer Emilio are developing a musical based on their lives.

Susan Stroman is committed to Big Fish and then Bullets Over Broadway.

Aladdin goes into the New Amsterdam in 2014 Also in the works are Houdini with Hugh Jackman; Diner with songs by Sheryl Crow; and The Prince of Broadway, which has been delayed a few times.