Five shows have already closed on Broadway in January, but three others are opening this month, the beginning of what looks to be an exciting season.
The Week in New York Theater
Monday, December 30, 2013
Broadway veterans we lost in 2013:
Eileen Brennan
Joan Fontaine
James Gandolfini
Julie Harris
Peter O’Toole
Jean Stapleton
#RIP
What kind of arts patron will Mayor Bill de Blasio be? His wife is a poet, they frequent “upstart museums”
What IS a playwright in residence? Nine reply, offer definitions and opinions. (“I don’t find they work very well”
I will never ever forget the love and beautiful sadness that we felt last night at the final performance of @BigFishBroadway.
— Bobby Steggert (@bsteggert) December 30, 2013
Lady Gaga as Gogo?
Now that Carly Rae Jepsen is going to make her Broadway debut as the title character in Cinderella, what other pop singer would you like to see on the Rialto?
@NewYorkTheater @ladygaga she went to Tisch and would be the perfect choice for a revival of Guys and Dolls or Louise in Gypsy.
— Alexia Patterson (@Life_as_Lexi) December 30, 2013
@NewYorkTheater @OfficialAdele @rihanna @ladygaga @taylorswift13 @Beyonce all of them in yet another Godot (Gaga is Gogo, Riri Didi).
— Anne Margaret Daniel (@venetianblonde) December 30, 2013
@NewYorkTheater also Lady Gaga has a real background in musical theatre pre pop-stardom. I’d say her on Broadway is just a matter of time.
— Daniel Bourque (@Danfrmbourque) December 30, 2013
@NewYorkTheater @ladygaga as Sally Bowles in Cabaret. I think she’d be perfect actually in such a burlesque type role. #popstarsonbway
— Lisa Vigna (@Lavesq) December 30, 2013
@NewYorkTheater All of them in Glengarry Glen Ross.
— Raymond McNeel (@RaymondMcNeel) December 30, 2013
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Magical Moments on Stage in 2013
Wednesday, January 1, 2014: New Year’s Day
#HappyNewYear. For a billion people, the new year begins in NYC’s theater district! You think that’s a coincidence? No-siree-bob!
Like it or not, life in 2014 MT @vineapp Happy New Year! Wishing you a memorable 2014 from Times Square https://t.co/WxEBn2U4l7
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 1, 2014
However this may look to you, dogs are NOT happy wearing hats of any kind, not even on New Year’s Day. pic.twitter.com/VJJsw27KjK
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 1, 2014
First baby born in 2014 in NYC: Shannon-Lee Willis, now 10 hours, 7 minute old pic.twitter.com/AUJitJsCPk
— Jonathan Mandell (@NewYorkTheater) January 1, 2014

Ring in the New Year – and Keep the Old: My review of What’s It All About? Burt Bacharach Reimagined
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Broadway Spring 2014 Season Preview Guide
Tony n Tina’s Wedding, 1988 “immersive” comedy, returns to NYC in March, performed in Jacqueline Onassis High School for the Performing Arts on 46th Street,then Shubert Alley,then at Guy Pierce’s Restaurant
David Brooks on Marijuana vs. The Arts
Laws profoundly mold culture, so what sort of community do we want our laws to nurture? What sort of individuals and behaviors do our governments want to encourage? I’d say that in healthy societies government wants to subtly tip the scale to favor temperate, prudent, self-governing citizenship. In those societies, government subtly encourages the highest pleasures, like enjoying the arts or being in nature, and discourages lesser pleasures, like being stoned.
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Broadway and the Blizzard of 2014
Bullets Over Broadway first look
God is my producer, my doctors are the directors. I am the star of the show – Valisia LeKae on her cancer.
“First off, make sure people can get into your fucking theater”~actor/director/disabled activist Michael P. Thornton. Everyone’s story is worth telling, but reducing the marginalized to an Issue is an exercise in empathetic tourism
What To Say BackStage*
“I LOVED your hair!”
“You were working so hard up there!”
“That was so brave!”
“YOU!”
“That was really different!
You’ll never know what you did up there tonight!”
“Always so great to see you on stage.”
I am looking for the words–there are none!”
It’s everything I hoped it would be!
I loved that moment you had.
“The typeface in the program made it really easy to read!”
“I can’t tell you what I think of your performance!”
4
Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark ends.
5
“Whoever told you that “if you just follow your bliss, the money will follow” was full of shit…. I netted about $2,000, after expenses, from playwriting in 2013. The money probably isn’t coming. The sooner you accept that, the happier you’ll be and maybe you can get on with your work. –Patrick Gabridge.
The sun will not come out tomorrow for Annie, and First Date is having its last date. Both end their runs on Broadway today.
Betrayal also ends its run.
And the year is young.
* The sources of the nice things to say backstage, in order:
Peter Marks @petermarksdrama
SeekingTheExit @blackoutpete
Peter Marks
Blackout Peter
klange@klange
that was really different!
Stuart Elliott @stuartenyt
Pippin Parker @PippinParker
Peter Marks
Rachel Manteuffel @RachelMan2
Warren Leight @warrenleightTV
Peter Marks quoting Tina Fey
Charles McNulty @CharlesMcNulty