With the concept of “winter” an increasing memory, here is overview of all that’s coming to New York stages this spring!
All tagged Patti LuPone
Ephraim Sykes will star as Michael Jackson in "MJ" the musical on Broadway; Martin McDonagh's "Hangmen" will play a limited engagement at Broadway's Golden Theatre; "Tootsie" will close on January 5th; "Hadestown" recoups; Imelda Staunton will star in "Hello, Dolly!" on the West End; Dominic Cooke will direct “Follies” film; The Drama Book Shop will reopen in a new location in 2020; RIP Laurel Griggs
"American Buffalo" will play Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre this spring; "The Who's Tommy" will return to Broadway in 2021; full cast announced for “Company”; Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated on a new song for the "Cats" film; Jane Alexander and James Cromwell join Second Stage's "Grand Horizons"; Drew Gehling returns to close "Waitress"; Whoopi Goldberg to helm 2020 West End revival of "Sister Act"; Jessica Chastain to perform "A Doll's House" on the West End; "American Utopia" will receive a cast album; RIP: the Times Square Sbarro (1996-2019)
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.
"Company" on Broadway will star Katrina Lenk as a female Bobbie and Patti LuPone as Joanne; Richard Linklater will make a movie adaption of "Merrily We Roll Along" filmed in real time over the next 20 years; "The Lehman Trilogy" books Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre; Tony Award winners Jayne Houdyshell, Jefferson Mays, Shuler Hensley, and Marie Mullen join the Fall 2020 revival of "The Music Man"; Solea Pfeiffer and Maia Reficco will share the title role in "Evita" at New York City Center; Rob McClure will star in the world premiere of "Mrs. Doubtfire" the musical in Seattle; Ryan Murphy is developing a ten-part Netflix adaptation of "A Chorus Line"; Tony Award winner André de Shields will receive the York Theatre Company's Oscar Hammerstein Award for lifetime achievement; RIP: Isabel Toledo, Valerie Harper, and Ken LeRoy
List of Olivier Award winners; Michael Urie to host Drama Desk Awards; Ryan Murphy to adapt "The Prom" into a movie musical for Netflix; "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" books Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre; Patti LuPone may head all-female version of "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Broadway next season; "Do You Feel Anger?" extends; a musical of "The Outsiders", a Maya Angelou bio-play, 3 musicals using the BMG catalogue, and a musical of "Mr. Saturday Night" are all in development; 2 new songs from “Beetlejuice”; “The Cher Show” cast recording out tomorrow; RIP Eric LaJuan Summers
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
Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon to star in "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune" on Broadway; "American Son" to be adapted for Netflix; Michael C. Hall to star in an original musical commercial for Skittles; Broadway's "Frozen" announces new cast; Melissa Etheridge composing "Mystic Pizza" musical; David Henry Hwang penning live action Disney remake of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"; Tony Hawk is spearheading a musical adaptation of Nick Hornsby's 2007 novel "Slam"; Jason Robert Brown's new musical "Farewell My Concubine" to get a reading; "The Band's Visit" marks 500 performances on Broadway; RIP Kaye Ballard
"Network" extends to April 28th; "The Play That Goes Wrong" will transfer to New World Stages; City Center announces Encores! Off-Center series; "Lifespan of a Fact" has recouped; cast announced for Duncan Sheik's new musical, "Alice by Heart" at MCC Theater; Off-Broadway cast of "Be More Chill" will transfer to Broadway; Lea Salonga will return to "Once On this Island"; Christian Dante White will be the next Freddy Eynsford-Hill in "My Fair Lady"; Jack O'Brien replaces Gregory Mosher as director of the upcoming Broadway revival of "All My Sons"; listen to Patti LuPone sing "The Ladies Who Lunch" on the forthcoming West End cast album of "Company"; Galt MacDermot, composer of "Hair" and "Two Gentlemen of Verona", dead at 89
"Summer: The Donna Summer Musical" to close December 30th and “Once On This Island" to close January 6th; rumor is “Girl from the North Country” will take the Lunt-Fontanne; wishful thinking is "Oklahoma!" will take the Circle in the Square; "Falsettos" tour will feature Nick Adams, Eden Espinosa, and Max von Essen; watch Cher and Stephanie J. Block sing "If I Could Turn Back Time", and the Netflix trailer for "Springsteen on Broadway"; read a travel Q&A with Patti LuPone; RIP Stephen Hillenburg and John Wulp
FEATURE: Look Left – London Dispatch
In the second edition of “Look Left”, I offer roundup reviews of “Company”, “Dreamgirls”, and “Hadestown” playing in London.
London revival of "Company" may be headed to Broadway; The Public Theater is planning a $110 million renovation to upgrade the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park; "To Kill a Mockingbird" to offer $10 tickets for middle and high school students; Bruce Springsteen's show to release a live recording and Netflix special; "What the Constitution Means to Me" moving to Greenwich House; film version of the musical "The Color Purple" in development; 1986 flop "Rags" will get a New York concert reading'; musical adaptation of "Magic Mike" finds workshop cast; "The Book of Mormon" becomes longest running show at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre