Undeterred by the second biggest blizzard that New York has experienced since 1869 – which shut down the city and Broadway too — they came from Canada and Florida, Las Vegas and down the block, dressed in the Hilton Hotel as the Hilton Sisters from Side Show, or King George III from Hamilton (several of those) or Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray.
The nearly 6,000 theater fans who attended the first-ever BroadwayCon – which an organizer described as “like Comic Con but with more jazz hands and green face paint” – were treated over three days to some 36 hours of meet-ups, sing-alongs, panel discussions, theater celebrity signings and sightings, and an hour-long original musical about the origins of BroadwayCon, using jokey songs (“The Con Where It Happens” sung to Hamilton’s “The Room Where It Happens”) with a cast of Broadway professionals that included Rob McClure and Ann Harada, with a curtain call attended by Tommy Tune and Ben Vereen.
Sneak peek @NerdsMusical @bwaycon #BroadwayCon Bill Gates Age 20 pic.twitter.com/XF09VwUsqF
— Broadway Curiosity (@BwayCuriosity) January 24, 2016
What’s the difference between a theater fan and a theatergoer? Andy Mientus, Ann Harada, and BroadwayCon co-founder Anthony Rapp weigh in, along with several costumed attendees, in the video below:
“I may be gay but I’m not stupid!” -said by @JennColella – #Groffsauce # @bwaycon #BroadwayCon @looking4evah pic.twitter.com/DTU0KtW0D1
— Sean Gowers (@Broadway_RN) January 23, 2016
One of the most amazing weekends of my life. Thank you @bwaycon #BroadwayCon @albinokid #MischiefMgmt for putting this all together ❤️😜🎭🎟🎼🎤
— Sean Gowers (@Broadway_RN) January 25, 2016
More on BroadwayCon from DC Theatre Scene
80 articles on BroadwayCon by Playbill, sponsors of the event.
Blizzard on Broadway
For the second January in a row, Broadway was shut down because of a blizzard — this time on a Saturday, and due to more than TWO FEET of snow. Broadway and the Blizzard of 2016
The Week in New York Theater Reviews
Dominique Morisseau was moved to write Skeleton Crew, her compelling play about a group of Detroit auto workers, after the playwright met a woman who was reduced to living in her automobile – especially infuriating and heartbreaking in Motor City, where people are supposed to manufacture cars, not live in them.
Mother Courage and Her Children
Kecia Lewis is nearly heroic as Mother Courage in the Classic Stage Company’s production of Brecht’s anti-war epic – not the way she’s playing the character, but the actress herself, because she agreed to take over from Tonya Pinkins, who left two days before the show’s planned January 7th opening.
..As it turns out, in Kecia Lewis’s hands Mother Courage is indeed strong – both fierce and earthy as an itinerant merchant who tries to make a profit over whichever side is winning the war at the moment. She is also, as Brecht wrote her, delusional…
Our Mother’s Brief Affair begins with Linda Lavin in a mother’s deathbed confession to her grown gay twin children, but by the end two hours later playwright Richard Greenberg has sprung several surprises. The biggest surprise is how much the play feels like a first draft for a better play…or notes for several other plays.
The Week in New York Theater News
Bette Midler will return to Broadway as Dolly Levi in Hello,Dolly, scheduled to open April, 2017, with Jerry Zaks directing. It will be the fifth time for the musical on Broadway and the fifth time for the Divine Miss M (if you include her Broadway concerts.)
Yes, I am taking on the role of the beloved Dolly Levi in “Hello, Dolly!”. We open next year on Broadway! So excited!
— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) January 19, 2016
A revival of Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber is set to open at Broadway’s Neil Simon August 2, directed by Trevor Nunn, and choreographed by Hamilton’s Andy Blankenbuehler
Memory All alone on the marquee I can smile at the old days Show was beautiful then~ @CatsBroadway (Apologies @OfficialALW/eliot)
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 21, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Week in Endings
Bowie, Bogosian and Bobby Moreno
Bobby Moreno and the rest of the cast of “Lazarus” performed it for the final time on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 at the New York Theatre Workshop, where, every night, the flowers and other items in tribute piled up outside the theater doors.
Thank you @DeafWest for @SpringBway/ @SA_Musical, congrats on a wonderful run. https://t.co/H1NE0mbgWApic.twitter.com/hZ2YhMpZ1b
— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) January 25, 2016
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
