Hollywood and Broadway intertwined in complicated ways once again when Broadway veterans Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph both won Golden Globe Awards last night for their roles in “The Holdovers,” one of my favorite recent movies. Both are better known now for their screen roles, but Giamatti performed on four Broadway shows in four years (1995-99) and Randolph first made a splash in the 2012 Broadway musical adaptation of “Ghost,” nominated for a Tony for her role as the psychic Oda Mae Brown.
Oda Mae Brown was plays in the original film “Ghost” by Whoopi Goldberg. who is of course herself a Tony-winning Broadway producer, writer and performer. Goldberg first made a splash as Celie in the first film adaptation of “The Color Purple,” and makes a cameo in the current “The Color Purple,” a film adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was nominated for two Golden Globes, including for Fantasia Barrino as Celie, but didn’t take home the trophy.
Celie was portrayed in the acclaimed 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple musical by Cynthia Erivo, who is portraying green-skinned Elphaba in the forthcoming film adaptation of the Broadway musical “Wicked.”
(See also below the trailer for “Mean Girls,” the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was an adaptation of the original “Mean Girls” movie.)
It’s enough to make your head explode – which is a really lousy segue to “Oppenheimer,” which got the most love from the revamped award show, grabbing Best Motion Picture, Drama and four other trophies. (Complete list of Golden Globe winners.)
Back in New York, theater is exploding
January 2024 New York Theater Openings
January Theater Festivals Make a Comeback
Broadway Poll: Spring 2024 Show You Most Want To See
Top 3 choices so far: Cabaret, The Who’s Tommy and The Notebook, but the favorites are fairly spread out. (Only a little more than a quarter of the poll-takers have chosen Cabaret.)
The Week in Theater Reviews
Under the Radar: Open Mic Night
Under the Radar at Lincoln Center: Queens of Sheba, The First Bad Man, Search Party.
It’s a Motherf—ing Pleasure Review. Making Fringey-fun of Ableism, and the Disabled.
The Week in New York Theater News
“Kimberly Akimbo” will close April 28, having played 32 previews and 612 performances on Broadway. The musical will kick off a 75-week, 60-city tour in Denver in Sept. Here’s hoping the run has boosted the careers of its wonderful cast.
In Memoriam
Sarah Rice, 68, the original Johanna in “Sweeney Todd”
Mike Nussbaum, 99, elebrated Chicago theater actor with Broadway credits as actor and director.
Glynis Johns, 100, a stage actor from the age of 12, the Suffragette mother in the movie Mary Poppins, a Tony winner for originating the role of Desiree Armfeld in “A Little Night Music,” the first to sing “Send in the Clowns”
Isn’t it rich
Isn’t it clear
Losing my timing this late
In my career
Where are the clowns
There ought to be clowns
Well, maybe next year
The Week’s Theater Video
(Notice how little music is in this trailer for a movie musical, as if that might scare audiences away.)
