Kenneth Branagh is generally regarded as one of the top Shakespearean actors in recent decades. But is it possible that Branagh can get a little too much into his latest Shakespearean stage role about a certain murderous Scottish king? According to an audience member, an unnamed actor was accidentally injured […]
You’ve heard of the Tonys, Emmys and Oscars, but have you ever heard of the Jimmy Awards? If you are performer in high school, you know exactly what the awards are all about.
Big Fish, starring Norbert Leo Butz and Kate Baldwin, is headed to Broadway this September!
It’s hard to believe that vampire Bill Compton would love nothing more than to star in musicals. But in fact, True Blood’s Stephen Moyer will soon be appearing at the Hollywood Bowl in a production of Chicago.
Bette Midler just wrapped a hugely successful run on Broadway in Sue Mengers: I’ll Eat You Last (trust us, it was one of the most successful examples of “star casting” in recent years), her first appearance on Broadway since 1980.
New Yorkers and tourists know that one of the best ways to score discount tickets to Broadway performances is Times Square’s TKTS Booth, which just celebrated its fortieth anniversary as a New York City institution this month.
History has shown that child actors on film and television often face tremendous “growing pains,” with many of them spiraling into drug and alcohol abuse and falling prey (in a variety of terrible ways) to older people that they trust.
Five years ago Jane Lynch was best known for her hilarious appearances in Christopher Guest’s ensemble mockumentaries and doing abbreviated runs on soon-to-be-canceled television series. Though she was a familiar face, she never seemed to reach her potential. Then came Glee and her career-changing starring role as Sue Sylvester… and Lynch’s world has never been the same since
After hosting the Tony Awards, Neil Patrick Harris won’t be away from Broadway too long. It looks like as soon as he’s done with the last season of How I Met Your Mother, he’s headed back to New York to start in the Broadway premiere of Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Such is the case with playwright Neil LaBute and a recent review of his play Reasons to be Happy, which is now running off-Broadway at the MCC Theatre and stars The Office‘s Jenna Fischer and Crossing Jordan’s Leslie Bibb.
Jersey Boys has not only been a Broadway hit since opening in 2005 at the August Wilson Theatre, but has been a popular favorite in in theaters all over the world. All in all, the various Jersey Boys productions have grossed over one billion in sales over the past eight years — so all those talented performers must have been doing something right.
It’s hard to think of any actor who has been more associated with Broadway in the last twenty-five years than Nathan Lane. The two-time Tony Award winner has rarely been off the New York stage during that time and he currently stars in The Nance, a play about a New York burlesque theater actor in the 1930s.
Last week, I analyzed examples of the most successful examples of star casting on Broadway in recent years. While those productions are on the top tier, other productions don’t fare as well – with some even closing early, which is usually considered a major embarrassment for the star in question in additional to the significant financial loses faced by the producers.
Second Stage Theatre just announced that 2013 Tony Award nominees Stephanie J. Block and Will Chase will co-star in this fall’s production of the new musical comedy, Little Miss Sunshine.
In this video, the great Shalita Grant performs a “cinematic interpretation” from Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, where she plays a waitress predicting gloom and doom.
In the past few years it seems like a Hollywood star opens a play on Broadway on almost a monthly basis. While this is a huge boost for Broadway and New York City – think of how many people traveled to Manhattan just to see Tom Hanks on stage in the last few weeks – the trend of “star casting” is controversial among Broadway regulars, many of whom see it as outsider stars jacking up ticket prices and “taking away” roles from legitimate Broadway actors for huge paychecks.
I, for one, can’t wait for the Tony Awards. It’s by far the best of the awards shows hands down.
So life after The Office begins for its principal cast, like Jenna Fischer, who had been with the show for the entirety of its nine-year run. For Fischer “life after” starts with her New York theater debut at the strictly limited engagement world premiere of Reasons to Be Happy, a play by Neil LaBute, which runs through the end of June at the Lucille Lortel Theatre
David Morse is an actor who has had a long career in film, television, and theater for over thirty years and has never seemed to take a break. He has returned to the stage in New York in The Unavoidable Disappearance of Tom Durnin at the Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre.
The producers of Broadway’s Annie are enjoying a solid boost from Jane Lynch’s limited engagement (and Broadway debut!) as Miss Hannigan.
