Results tagged “musical”

The stage adaptation of Green Day's Grammy-winning rock opera American Idiot is coming to Broadway, following a successful debut at Berkeley Rep. A spokesman for the production tells Playbill, "There is a Broadway future for the show, but at this time no dates or theatre are confirmed." So, you know, get excited... or indifferent. We're no fans of Green Day's simplistic faux-punk mascara rock, but if this thing's a hit, maybe we can look forward to Steady Diet of Nothing: The Musical? Tony Roberts would make a great Justice Brennan.

FINALLY: Run-DMC is going to Broadway, people! Joseph Simmons (Run) and Darryl McDaniels (DMC) are cooperating with the estate of Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) to create a stage musical about themselves: Run-DMC, the hip-hop pioneers from Hollis. Maybe it's not so crazy? Run-DMC were hilarious master showmen, and we could see their larger-than life personas served well by a big, loud Broadway spectacle. On the other hand, the producer is Hollywood's Paula Wagner, known for her association with Tom Cruise and War of the Worlds, which gives us a not-so-fresh feeling.

The latest Improv Everywhere mission brought the troupe to the Best Yet grocery store in Astoria, Queens to end fruit segregation... in musical form!

Fuck me gently with a chainsaw, producers are still going through with a so-crazy-it-just-might-work plan to turn the '80s black comedy Heathers into a musical! According to Variety, they're aiming for a regional run next year, before premiering on Broadway in 2011. Kristen Bell from Gossip Girl has been participating in readings, but she hasn't yet committed to coming to Broadway. Blow this one Bell and it's keggers with kids all next year!

In 1967, the Public Theater's production of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical hit the theater world like a martini spiked with mescaline. The show's sensational embrace of the sixties counterculture struck a nerve with hippies and squares alike, and the production ran for four years on Broadway, garnering two Tony award nominations (but losing to 1776, of all things, in both categories). Some four decades, three Woodstocks, and one 40 Year Old Virgin later, the quintessential rock musical is back on Broadway, following a critically-acclaimed run at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park last summer. Judging by the packed houses at the Al Hirschfeld theater, the Age of Aquarius still has considerable cross-generational appeal, and this month the production accomplished the seemingly impossible: recouping its entire $5,760,000 investment, becoming one of the fastest recouping musicals in Broadway history.

Producers of a forthcoming Broadway version of The Addams Family have confirmed that Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth have signed on to star in the new musical. According to the Post, Lane will play family patriarch Gomez, and Neuwirth will co-star as his wife, Morticia. The production, expected to premiere next March (rights were granted two years ago), will mainly riff on the aesthetic of Charles Addams' old New Yorker cartoons—not the classic TV series they spawned. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) have written the book, and Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) has penned the music and lyrics. The Times reports that "the plot will revolve around the couple’s daughter Wednesday, now 18, and her family’s adjustment to her coming of age, her new boyfriend and his parents." Krysta Rodriguez, the cute In the Heights vet, will play Wednesday, and Terrence Mann (Les Misérables) and Carolee Carmello (Parade) will play her boyfriend's parents.

It was one year ago that irreverent theater company Banana Bag & Bodice presented New Yorkers with The Fall and Rise of The Rising Fallen, a rock musical which told the intriguing yet aurally execrable story of an oil rig's house band. They've now resurfaced with another offbeat musical extravaganza, and I'm happy to report that this production, which uses the epic poem Beowulf as a narrative template, is a far more successful fusion of rock and non-narrative theater. Credit for that goes to composer Dave Malloy, whose anthemic, bruising score is jubilantly performed by a sprawling onstage orchestra of brass, strings, piano, accordion, guitar, drums and saw.

But director Julie Taymor says ugh, stop calling it a musical. The Broadway adaptation of the Marvel comic, with a score by U2's Bono and The Edge, is going to be a "circus rock-'n'-roll drama." Taymor, Bono, and other members of the creative team held a presentation for ticket brokers yesterday, and the Post's Michael Riedel weaseled in. Actors sang six songs from the show, which has the irritatingly nonsensical title Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and Taymor insisted that Spider-Man "is not going to sing and dance in tights." Riedel opines that one of the musical numbers—er, circus-rock anthems—is "as good as any rock ballad in Rent," and it seems he means that as a compliment. And who do we have to thank for all this? Andrew Lloyd Webber, of course. Bono revealed that he was motivated to do the score after hearing the Starlight Express creator express gratitude to rock musicians "for leaving me alone for 25 years. I've had the theater all to myself." Bono added, "We've decided to give Andrew a little competition." But Webber's not sweating it; he's got his Phantom of the Opera sequel coming soon, God have mercy on our souls.

A musical adaptation of the '80s black comedy Heathers is in the works, according to Hollywood Reporter. Andy Fickman, director of a musical adaptation of Reefer Madness, is working on the adaptation with "Reefer" collaborator Kevin Murphy. Composer Larry O'Keefe, who earned a Tony nomination for the Broadway version of Legally Blonde, is composing the score. Readings of the script have already been held, with "Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell playing the lead and Christian Campbell as J.D. The three Heathers were read by Jenna Leigh Green (Wicked), BrokeDown Cadillac lead singer Corri English and Christine Lakin (the CW's "Valentine"). The final cast will likely be different, and while it's unlikely Winona Ryder and Christian Slater will reprise their iconic roles, one never knows—things are a tad slow for those two these days. Producers plan to premiere the show out of town next year and then, fingers crossed, take it to Broadway! Explaining his motives, Fickman just says it would be perfect if the famous utterance, "I love my dead gay son," could be expressed in song. And "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" is already done!

Music from Michael Jackson's smash-hit Thriller album will become the basis for a Broadway musical, and the Gloved One is to oversee "every aspect of the creative process," E online reports. Producer James L. Nederlander has acquired the rights to stage an adaptation of Jackson's "Thriller" video, and the show will include songs from the eponymous album, as well as tracks from Off the Wall. Nederlander tells the Associated Press, ''I love the idea of making 'Thriller' a musical. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, boy has big secret, now what?'' Charge through the nose for tickets and merch? Playwright Matthew Freeman has set up an official "joke thread" on his blog, and the first of many catty quips has been left in the comments: "I think the review for Thriller can be two words long: Beat It."

Over a dozen Broadway musicals and plays will close this month, and Charles Isherwood at the Times is getting a little verklempt about it. The number of productions bowing out amounts to almost half the total number of shows currently on Broadway! According to Crain's, box office grosses increased during the holiday season, but were still 10.6% less than the same time period in 2007.

          

Read our Passing Strange review, our interview with Stew, and click on the other images for the Gothamist top ten of '08.

Every year the real life Fame kids of Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts put on a musical, but now the NY Times delivers some sad news: "amid serious budget cuts from the city and the state, the bright lights have dimmed...For the first time in recent memory, the school postponed its annual musical this fall and is now considering canceling it." With a normal production budget that can reach up to $70K, it's not all that surprising with massive budget cuts slicing through the system; one teachers' union head at the school commented on the extreme measures, saying: “Forget about cutting to the bone, we’re talking about full-level amputations now.” Now parents are left trying to raise money for a possible springtime production. Their kids want to live forever after all, and can't be expected to without their lifeblood being cut off. Perhaps the school should get a cut from the new movie remake.

Broadway insiders say Julie Taymor is out of control on the set—er, rehearsal studio—of the upcoming musical adaptation of Spider-Man. The projected budget has soared to $40 million so far, with sources telling the Posts's Michael Riedel, "She doesn't care what it costs. Does not care at all. Her attitude is: It's for the art, and you don't question artists." To be sure, with music by U2's Bono and the Edge and direction from the Tony-winning Taymor, Spider-Man could easily be the most fabulous piece of, um, art on Broadway since Capeman. But Riedel predicts that with a weekly running cost of $1 million, the show would "have to run about 8,000 years" to break even. Producers are supposedly eying the big Hilton Theatre for a 2009 opening—they just need the current occupant, Young Frankenstein, to admit defeat.

Call them crazy, but a group of producers are convinced that Bret Easton Ellis's violently satirical novel American Psycho will make a fabulous Broadway musical adaptation. Snicker if you must, but remember that naysayers also dismissed the novel as un-filmable, and that ended up getting a lot of critical acclaim. Of course, producers still need to contract a couple hacks to write the book and music, and they don't yet have the rights to those Genesis and Huey Lewis songs, either. But producer David Johnson (a former MGM exec) tells Variety the timing couldn't be more perfect: "Now in particular it seems relevant, especially given what's happening on Wall Street." He also tells Hollywood Reporter he wants the production to be "very real, (though) obviously exaggerated." Which can only mean that the first few rows in the Bateman splatter zone will receive commemorative ponchos, just like Evil Dead: The Musical!

After twelve years, 5,124 performances and a haul of $280 million, Rent's Broadway run has come to an end. The musical closed yesterday after a final sold-out performance packed with diehard fans (the "Rentheads") and a smattering of celebrities (a couple Gossip Girl cast members). Just before the curtain came down for the final time, members of the show's original company joined the current cast on stage to "Seasons of Love," one of the show's most famous songs, the Associated Press reports.

Here’s an abbreviated list of show biz references that went completely over my head during [title of show], Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell’s audacious meta-musical about two theater “g’nerds” struggling to write a musical: Mary Stout getting hit by a hot dog cart; Dee Hoty; Henry, Sweet Henry; Betty Buckly, Dina Manoff, Ruthless: The Musical. I could go on – that’s just the first ten minutes. Suffice it to say, [title of show] is first and foremost a Broadway musical for people who adore Broadway as much for its dreadful flops as for its glittering triumphs.

If you happen to be reading this in East Harlem, you’ve got a good shot at getting quick tickets to the Shakespeare in the Park revival of that ‘60s rock musical HAIR – you know, the one with that song "Age of Aquarius" from The 40 Year Old Virgin. The Public Theater is giving away vouchers for free tickets in all five boroughs through Saturday – today they’re at the El Museo Del Barrio (1230 5th Ave @ 104th Street) until 3 p.m. Sure, tickets are free anyway, but there's (theoretically) not such a crazy line for these. Just check the website for all the uptight, 21st century details about what “voucher” means to those squares at the Public.

Forget The Dark Knight – the hype is already giving way to disappointment. It’s time to start getting really, really excited about Spider-Man the Musical, which will feature a score by U2’s Bono and the Edge and direction from Julie Taymor of Lion King fame. In May, Marvel Executive Peter Cuneo announced that the show could open as soon as next year, with Jim Sturgess and Evan Rachel Wood – Taymor’s stars in Across the Universe – playing Peter Parker and Mary Jane.

Wow, this show is bizarre. But bizarre in a way that carries on P.S. 122’s scintillating legacy as a downtown refuge for freaky, outré performance art. Musician/performer Neal Medlyn’s latest rock "tragic-comedy," Unpronounceable Symbol, pays musical homage to Prince, with a live band led by Kiki & Herb’s Kenny Mellman, who co-wrote the show and rearranged a bunch of Prince B-sides for the score.

We ran into Passing Strange co-creator Heidi Rodewald at Two Boots in the West Village over the weekend, and she confirmed news that Spike Lee will be directing a film version of the critically acclaimed but box office-challenged rock musical. Lee will film the show three times this month for cable TV; twice with audiences and once without. At Two Boots, Rodewald summed up Passing Strange’s difficulty selling tickets on Broadway by paraphrasing an old producers’ maxim: “We made the mistake of making art.”

Do you enjoy ingeniously crafted rock tunes, with brilliant lyrics and arrangements for accordion, keyboard, ukulele, guitar, bass and drums? Do you like pirates? How about puppets? Rum based drink specials? Laughing until your sides hurt? If you answered yes to even one of these questions, you’re ready to set forth on the dread ship Jollyship the Whiz-Bang, the rollicking “pirate puppet rock odyssey” that’s currently docked at Ars Nova.

It says a lot about Harvey Fierstein's distinctiveness that it's almost impossible to even say the name 'Harvey' without thinking of that endearingly gravelly voice. Whether you know him as Homer Simpson's assistant Karl, Robin Williams's brother in Mrs. Doubtfire, or Hairspray's Edna Turnblad, the Brooklyn-born actor's uninhibited, self-assured persona is thoroughly his own. Now the four-time Tony winner is back on Broadway with A Catered Affair, the musical adaptation of the 1956 film about a blue collar Bronx couple and their increasingly elaborate plans for their daughter's wedding. Fierstein wrote the book and plays the family's closeted uncle with a poignant mix of humor and regret. The show also stars Tom Wopat and Faith Price, who yesterday received a Tony nomination for her performance.

The 2008 Tony Award nominees were just announced, and looking over the list we’ve got to admit that it was a pretty good year for Broadway, at least in terms of quality. The phenomenal rock musical Passing Strange picked up seven nominations, including Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Lead Actor (Stew, pictured). Also competing in the Best Musical category are the tepidly received Cry-Baby, the harmless Xanadu, and the underdog Latino musical In the Heights.

Elmer Rice's 1923 play The Adding Machine is an expressionist parable about a miserable bean counter named Mr. Zero who, after twenty five years at the same desk, is replaced by the titular technological marvel. For Rice, the roar of the twenties was the sound of capitalism crushing workers' souls; his play would go onto inspire Tennessee Williams and presage Death of a Salesman.

If more NYU kids were like John Waters, the university’s downtown super-saturation would at least be a bit more colorful. In a recent interview with Details, Waters took a nostalgia trip back to his NYU days, when he, uh, did a lot of tripping:

Back then you weren’t very interested in school. Who lasted at NYU longer, you or Woody Allen? I bet Woody went longer, because I think I was there from September to October. I only went to one class. I went to the movies on 42nd Street. It wasn’t NYU’s fault, I don’t blame them. I was out of my mind. I never went to class. Back then I was on LSD. Speed. Diet pills. I was up a lot. I had to see four movies a day; I couldn’t be going to class except to steal textbooks and then go sell them back so I had money to go to the movies.

If you haven’t yet seen the phenomenal new Broadway show Passing Strange, you’re really missing out. There are plenty reasons why you don’t dare pass on this electrifying, decidedly un-Broadway triumph, but it’s Stew, the single-named writer, co-composer and onstage narrator of Passing Strange, who’s best equipped to sell you on it: “You wanna know the most terrifying combination of words in the English language to me? Rock Musical. Because the music featured in such so-called productions is stuff that no self-respecting rock fan would ever be caught dead listening to. Therefore, Passing Strange is the musical you can take your friend to who hates musicals.”

I hate going to Broadway shows: fighting through the mobs in Times Square, being herded into the theater like livestock, cramming into a tiny seat while feedback from hearing aids and hacking coughs reverberate on all sides. Admittedly, I’m a world-class grouch when it comes to these things, so it’s no faint praise that I’d eagerly subject myself to it again for Passing Strange, the multidisciplinary rock musical that just blazed onto Broadway. It’s a phenomenal experience that deserves a run ten times longer than Cats and Phantom combined.

It’s fitting that the elegant revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Sunday in the Park with George – currently at Studio 54 following an acclaimed London run – brings the latest advances in animation and digital projection to the stage. After all, the show takes as inspiration Georges Seurat and his 19th century masterpiece A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, which was itself informed by cutting-edge theories on color and optics, particularly the discovery that two juxtaposed colors could suggest a new color when seen from a distance. Hence Seurat’s famous depiction of a lazy French Sunday using innumerable colored dots, the style that came to be called pointillism.

RENT, the surprise smash hit musical that premiered in 1996 and went on to become the seventh-longest-running Broadway show in history, will close June 1st, producers have announced. Over the years the show cultivated a fanatical army of young repeat viewers (“Rentheads”) whose ardor has translated into profits of $280 million on Broadway, four Tony awards and a Pulitzer. Productions have been mounted on six continents, while an ill-conceived movie version of the show, filmed in San Francisco, opened in 2005 to widespread derision. And the musical was also famously parodied by the South Park creators in their film Team America, which depicts the faux-hip cast of the Broadway show LEASE belting the show’s climactic chorus, “Everyone has AIDS!”