"Little Shop of Horrors" extends to March with Gideon Glick; "Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation" to play the York Theatre Company; Johnny Depp producing another Michael Jackson-themed musical in LA; Beth Leavel and Taylor Iman Jones to star in Broadway-bound musical "The Devil Wears Prada"; Jordan Fisher is Broadway’s next Evan Hansen; "Soft Power" will get a cast album; Jo Ellen Pellman will star as Emma in the Netflix film adaptation of "The Prom"; Camille A. Brown joins “Aida” development lab; cast of "Hangmen" announced; "Hustlers" musical might be in the works; RIP Marion McClinton, Valerie Taylor-Barnes, and John Simon
All tagged Dear Evan Hansen
REVIEW: “Forbidden Broadway: The Next Generation”
After a five year hiatus, the Broadway parody revue “Forbidden Broadway” is back with a new edition that makes fun of Broadway shows, actors, and personalities through sketches that satirize the form. Mostly funny, this iteration is undercut by a tinge of bitterness and resentment toward shifting cultural mores and trends on Broadway. But, in the end, it’s still the same scrappy, low-budget comedy revue that’s been playing, off and on, since 1982.
"Six" will play Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre beginning in February; Harry Connick Jr. will celebrate Cole Porter with a limited-run solo show at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre; Jennifer Laura Thompson and Michael Park leave "Dear Evan Hansen"; Faye Dunaway was fired from the Boston engagement of "Tea at Five"; list of the most produced high school plays and musicals in 2018-2019; PBS airings of recorded live performances; RIP DA Pennebaker
"Hadestown" tops the Outer Critics Circle Awards; David Bryne headed to Broadway with "American Utopia"; "My Fair Lady" to close July 7th; "Oklahoma!" and "Tootsie" to tour; City Center Encores! Off Center's "Working" cast announced; "Back to the Future" musical coming to the West End; Andrew Lloyd Webber previews his “Cinderella”; Elton John and Jake Shears working on a Tammy Faye Bakker bio-musical; "The Lion King" welcomes its one hundred millionth audience member; "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the highest grossing American play ever
Jackie Sibblies Drury's "Fairview" wins the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama; Laurie Metcalf, Eddie Izzard, Russell Tovey, and Patsy Ferran to star in 2020 Broadway revival of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"; "Oklahoma!" musical television series in development; 2019-2020 seasons announced at Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre and Playwright's Horizons; "Grease" movie prequel is in the works; Mike Faist will play Riff in “West Side Story" film; Olga Merediz, Gregory Diaz IV, Jimmy Smits join "In the Heights" film; Lila Neugebauer to make film debut; RIP Georgia Engel
Lucille Lortel Award nominees; Rachel Bloom to host the Obie Awards; "What the Constitution Means to Me" and “Ink” extend; Lizzie Borden rock musical to play Off-Broadway this summer; Chris Evans wants to do a musical; "To Kill a Mockingbird" will launch a two-year national tour in August 2020; Patti LuPone joins Twitter
NOTES: The New York Pops’ “Movie Mixtape”
The New York Pops closed out its annual subscription season with “Movie Mixtape: Songs from the Silver Screen”, a crowd-pleasing concert-length celebratory survey of hit songs from the movies featuring guest vocalists Mykal Kilgore, Storm Large, Laura Osnes, and Ryan Silverman.
REVIEWS: “Alice By Heart” and “Superhero”
Two hotly-anticipated new musicals opened Off-Broadway recently: Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s “Alice By Heart” at MCC Theater, and Tom Kitt and Joshua Logan’s “Superhero” at Second Stage Theater. I take a look at each.
NOTES: The New York Pops perform the “Best of Broadway”
Last night at Carnegie Hall, the New York Pops presented “Song and Dance: The Best of Broadway”, a concert celebration of musical theatre’s finest orchestral selections, featuring the Essential Voices USA chorus and dancers from New York Theatre Ballet.
"Celebrity Autobiography" books the Marquis for dark nights of "The Illusionists"; "Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish" to transfer Off-Broadway; 16-year-old Jimmy Award winner Andrew Barth Feldman is Broadway’s next Evan Hansen; Michael Stuhlbarg will star in "Socrates" at the Public; Jerry Mitchell's "Becoming Nancy" might be Broadway-bound; Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald-helmed revival of “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” might be in the works; 2019 "Kids' Night on Broadway" will be on February 26th; "Golden Boy" star Paula Wayne dead at 84
Scott Rudin to produce "Hillary and Clinton" by Lucas Hnath starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow; "Girl from the North Country" eyes the Walter Kerr Theatre; "TINA: The Tina Turner Musical" poised for Broadway in fall 2019; Dominique Morisseau named a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" recipient; "Dear Evan Hansen" to open in London in fall 2019; "The Phantom of the Opera" to launch a new world tour in February; TKTS booths now display prices (vs. percentage discounts) at all locations; French singer Charles Aznavour dead at 94
“School of Rock" to close January 20, 2019; Bruce Springsteen records his one-man show for Netflix; "Cats" film will feature Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, and James Corden; Hailey Kilgore out of "Once on This Island"; Lisa Brescia joins "Dear Evan Hansen"; "Hello, Dolly!" national tour schedule released; "Dreamgirls" is casting for Broadway; who sang “Rose’s Turn” best?; Gary Beach dead at 70