Friday, July 26, 2024

Tony-Winning Actress Betty Buckley Signs With Sugar23 (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

Betty Buckley, the Tony-winning and Grammy-nominated actor and singer, has signed with Sugar23. Best known for her performances in on stage, particularly for her soaring rendition of “Memo…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:11PM
Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Adam Lambert, ‘Moana’ Star Auli’i Cravalho Taking Over Lead Roles in Broadway’s ‘Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club’ by Brent Lang

Willkommen, bienvenue Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho. There’s a new act at the Kit Kat Club. Lambert, a Grammy nominee and “American Idol” breakout, and Cravalho, the star of the m…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:05PM
Tuesday, July 23, 2024

How Creators of ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’ Are Figuring Out a Future Life for the Hit Show by Gordon Cox

The creators of “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” are certain their hit show will have a future life — they just don’t yet know what that future life looks like. Listen to this week’s “…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:55PM
Friday, July 19, 2024

‘Hello, Dolly!’ Review: Imelda Staunton is Marvelous in a Strikingly Sincere West End Revamp by Gordon Cox

Famous for many things, not least Carol Channing playing the title role more than 5,000 times, “Hello, Dolly!” is, happily, one of Broadway’s brashest, splashiest star vehicles whose r…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:30PM
Thursday, July 18, 2024

‘School of Rock’ Musical Choreographer JoAnn M. Hunter to Direct Broadway-Bound ‘Yasuke: The Black Samurai’ (EXCLUSIVE) by Rebecca Rubin

JoAnn M. Hunter, the choreographer of Broadway’s “School of Rock” and “Bad Cinderella,” has been hired to direct the upcoming musical “Yasuke: The Black Samurai.” This producti…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:54PM
Friday, July 12, 2024

Cole Escola’s ‘Oh, Mary!’ Opens on Broadway With a Gay Leather Bar After-Party, a Closeted Abe Lincoln and Plenty of ‘Stupid Gems’ by Jordan Moreau

After the curtain call of “Oh, Mary!,” star and playwright Cole Escola said that creating the absurd, queer play was a lot like trying to convince your doctor that you have a tumor. “W…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:42PM
Thursday, July 11, 2024

‘Oh, Mary!’ Review: Cole Escola’s Super-Gay Broadway Comedy Is a Smartly Stupid Riot by Gordon Cox

Cole Escola’s “Oh, Mary!” is the best kind of stupid: a broad, wildly funny comedy that spits in the face of American history and uses it as joke fodder for some endlessly campy humor.…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:22PM
Wednesday, July 10, 2024

‘Oh, Mary!’ Broadway Star Cole Escola Would ‘Love’ for Pedro Pascal or Tituss Burgess to Replace Them as Mary Todd Lincoln in the Hit Comedy by Marc Malkin

Cole Escola, the 37-year-old star and writer of the hit Off Broadway farce ”Oh, Mary!,” isn’t letting fame get to their head. (Escola identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them pronoun…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:14PM
Tuesday, July 9, 2024

‘Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil’ Review: Musical Adaptation is a Promising, Boldly Unconventional Retelling Anchored by Standout Performa by Gordon Cox

In the admirably bold, unconventionally self-aware new stage musical version of John Berendt’s 1994 blockbuster bestseller “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil,” transgender icon T…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:36PM
Saturday, July 6, 2024

‘Alma Mater’ Review: A Timely if Overplotted Drama About Feminism and Academia by Gordon Cox

When too many contemporary theatre writers mistake the grinding of political axes for properly developed drama, it’s a relief to realize that Australian playwright Kendall Feaver is more t…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:28PM
Sunday, June 30, 2024

’Starlight Express’ Review: Wobbly Revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Roller-Skating Musical Never Hits Stride by Brent Lang

Is it a musical? Is it a roller derby? Is it a game-show? When the roller-skating phenomenon that is “Starlight Express” opened in London in 1984 it was all of those and more, as evidenc…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:30PM
Friday, June 28, 2024

’A Strange Loop’ Review: One Man’s Mind Games Get Funny, Then Wrenching, in Superlative L.A. Take on the Bold Broadway Hit by Chris Willman

At some point, if you are enthusiastically trying to get everyone you know in Los Angeles out to see “A Strange Loop” — and anyone who hasn’t should try to, as the production come…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:01PM
Wednesday, June 26, 2024

‘The Constituent’ Review: James Corden Impresses in Timely but Contrived Political Play by Brent Lang

Regardless of one’s political allegiance, it’s almost universally agreed that in recent years political expediency rather than truth has been, literally, the governing principle behind s…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:44PM
Monday, June 24, 2024

‘Drag: The Musical’ Announces Off-Broadway Opening (EXCLUSIVE) by Marc Malkin

“Drag: The Musical” has announced the dates of its off-Broadway run. The show, about two rival drag bars that go head-to-head amid financial troubles, was written by “RuPaul’s Drag R…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM
Friday, June 21, 2024

‘Jelly’s Last Jam’ Review: Pasadena Playhouse Production Brings a Too-Rarely Revived Classic Jazz Musical Back to Rousing Life by Chris Willman

It’s been just over one year since the Tonys gave the Pasadena Playhouse an award for regional theater, and that honor looks more justified than ever now that the venue is presenting a muc…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:13PM
Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Ian McKellen Says ‘My Recovery Will Be Complete and Speedy’ After Falling Off Stage: ‘I Am Looking Forward to Returning to Work’ by Michaela Zee

Ian McKellen has thanked fans and the medical professionals who offered support following his fall during Monday evening’s performance of “Player Kings” at the Noël Coward theatre in …

SOURCE: Variety at 03:25PM
Monday, June 17, 2024

Inside the Tony After-Parties With Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Billy Porter and Ariana DeBose (PHOTOS) by Marc Malkin

After Tony Awards host Ariana DeBose closed the 77th ceremony at Lincoln Center by dropping her mic and announcing, “DeBose — out,” this year’s winners, nominees, presenters and Broa…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:48PM

Inside the Tony Awards: From Jay-Z’s Lobby Act, an Accidental F-Bomb to Overzealous Ushers, Here’s What You Didn’t See on TV by Rebecca Rubin

Angelina Jolie may get the award for most enthusiastic audience member. The A-list star was seated in the front row at the Tony Awards on Sunday and jumped to her feet at every win for “Th…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:30PM

Tony Awards 2024 Snubs and Surprises: ‘Outsiders’ Outmaneuvers ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ F-Bombs Fly and More by Gordon Cox

There were a whole lot of sure things heading into the 2024 Tony Awards ceremony — “Stereophonic,” “Merrily We Roll Along,” Daniel Radcliffe. But this year’s full list of winners…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00AM
Sunday, June 16, 2024

Tony Awards: ‘Stereophonic,’ ‘Merrily We Roll Along,’ ‘The Outsiders,’ and ‘Appropriate’ Take Top Prizes by Meredith Woerner

“Stereophonic” and “Merrily We Roll Along,” two shows that examine the tension between art and commerce, triumphed at the 77th Tony Awards on Sunday, capturing prizes for best play a…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:55PM

‘Reefer Madness: The Musical’ Review: Campy or Not, an L.A. Revival of the Weed-Themed Spoof Doesn’t Bogart the Show-Biz Razzle-Dazzle by Chris Willman

A lot of bong water has passed under the bridge since “Reefer Madness: The Musical” first premiered at the Hudson Theatre on Santa Monica Blvd. in 1998. Like, legalization of the demon w…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:50PM

From ‘Illinoise’ to ‘Stereophonic,’, Broadway Is Celebrating Artists and the Creative Process by Jenelle Riley

 “Sunday in the Park With George,” “Nine,” “Red”: Stories about artists and the process of making art have long fascinated theater audiences. This season’s Tony nominations ad…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:15PM

‘Prayer for the French Republic,’ ‘Appropriate’ Among Tony Nominees Tackling Antisemitism, Racism and More Social Issues by Gordon Cox

Live theater always reflects the moment in which it’s presented, but this season, Broadway charged head-on into the politics of today with unusual force: A play that directly addressed ant…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:05PM

Nick Jonas, Adrienne Warren Starring on Broadway in ‘The Last Five Years’ by Brent Lang

Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren will team up for the first-ever Broadway production of Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years.” The musical, a look at the flowering and dissolution …

SOURCE: Variety at 09:23AM
Saturday, June 15, 2024

Why the Tony Awards Producers Promise This Year’s Ceremony Will Wow You by Gordon Cox

Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, the duo who have produced and directed the Tony Awards telecast since 2003, won’t share too many specifics about the Tony ceremony coming up on Sunday. But …

SOURCE: Variety at 11:02AM
Thursday, June 13, 2024

‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’s’ Jocelyn Bioh on Becoming the First Black Woman Playwright Nominated for a Tony: ‘It’s For Every Single Bl by Angelique Jackson

April 30 was a “great day” to be Jocelyn Bioh, playwright of the hit Broadway show “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Bioh was up to watch the Tony Awards nominations — “Me, my hu…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:40PM

‘Gatsby’ Review: A Smartly Stinging Musical Adaptation With Spectacle, Grit and Florence Welch Tunes by Gordon Cox

For all its jaw-dropping spectacle, and the musical excitement of the tunes by Florence Welch (of Florence and the Machine) and Thomas Bartlett (a/k/a Doveman), the American Repertory Theate…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:30PM

How ‘Invasive Species’ Built Big Downtown Buzz for Writer-Star Maia Novi’s Off Broadway Debut by Gordon Cox

Buzz for the new play “Invasive Species” infiltrated the downtown New York theater scene like a swarm of spotted lanternflies. Maybe you noticed one of those photos of Jennifer Lawrence …

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00AM
Wednesday, June 12, 2024

Ben Platt and Brandy Clark on Their Haunting Duet, ‘Treehouse,’ a Joint Summer Tour, and How Platt’s ‘Honeymind’ Album Expands the Queer Ame by Chris Willman

For his new “Honeymind” album, singer and actor Ben Platt brought in an especially honeyed voice as a counterpart on one song, Brandy Clark. He had written “Treehouse” in a writing s…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:45PM
Monday, June 10, 2024

‘Pitch Perfect’ and ‘Spring Awakening’ Star Skylar Astin to Host Tony Awards Simulcast (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

Actor and singer Skylar Astin will help theater lovers celebrate Broadway’s biggest night. The “Pitch Perfect” star has been tapped to host the American Express “Broadway Fanfare” …

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM
Friday, June 7, 2024

TodayTix Group Buys Digital Advertising Agency Arthouse (EXCLUSIVE) by Brent Lang

TodayTix Group has acquired Arthouse, a full-service digital advertising agency. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said that Arthouse will operate independent…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM

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