In my Broadway Poll about the Fall show theatergoers are most looking forward to, I added a second question: What’s the biggest reason for your choice? Forty percent answered: “The cast” — far more than any other reason. (Second choice, with just 15 percent: “I saw it before.”)
The cast is the chief (but not the only) reason for the poll’s two top choices, “Chess” and “Ragtime,” each getting about a quarter of the vote. A new starry cast is what keeps some shows going (See “Chicago”), although it doesn’t always work. (“Cabaret” is now closing on September 21.)
The cast may also explain what the Wall Street Journal misleadingly calls the “16 Hour Line for Shakespeare” — by which they mean that theatergoers have been getting to Central Park as early as 2:30 a.m. in order to get the free tickets to see Sandra Oh, Peter Dinklage, Lupita Nyong’o, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Daphne Rubin Vega et al in “Twelfth Night” which runs for one more week. The headline is misleading, because, as the Public Theater’s page on Free Shakespeare in the Park ticket distribution explains, the tickets are distributed at noon. So the most anybody has been waiting on line is nine and a half hours — and they have plenty of time to go home and take a nap before the 8 p.m. curtain time. (The page also says: “Please remember that Central Park is officially closed from 1AM to 6AM, and we strongly discourage forming a line outside the Park overnight or before 6AM.”)
The Week in Reviews
we come to collect: a flirtation, with capitalism
Jenn Kidwell’s ninety minutes of aggressive theatricality “debunks the alluring tale of American economic might” — or so we were promised. I didn’t actually decipher any systematic debunking amid the effusion and confusion, effulgence and indulgence…what I most appreciated about the show was the full integration of American Sign Language, as performed by Brandon Kazen-Maddox, who functions not just as an interpreter, but as a character
Griffin in Summer
Writer/director Nicholas Colia’s delightful first-time feature film will inspire some of the same knowing laughs among grown-up theater kids as “Theater Camp,” and some of the same sympathetic sighs and cringes of recognition among grown-up queer kids as “Trevor” or “Fun Home.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist
Lin-Manuel Miranda is a sponge, a ham, a charmer, a dynamo, an eager collaborator, a sensitive sobber, and an extraordinarily talented, acclaimed and busy artist who is clear-eyed about his legacy: “Hamilton is the first line of my obituary. I’m never topping it as a cultural event.” So, for the rest of his life: “I can only do things out of love. And I like to work on things I’ll learn from.”
All of this I already knew before reading “Lin-Manuel Miranda : The Education of an Artist “(Simon and Schuster, 400 pages), a new biography by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner that is largely a familiar chronological narrative of Miranda’s life and work, “womb to Tick…Tick Boom,” as the author puts it in a prologue… Pollack-Pelzner’s plan, as he pitched it to Miranda seeking his cooperation, was to write about Miranda’s “education as an artist, focusing on the range of teachers – friends, relatives, classroom instructors, mentors, professionals – who helped him learn how to do what he now does so well.” With this focus, he hoped to illustrate “ a different understanding of creativity” – that it is not necessarily the result of genius, but of hard work and an openness to learning.
The Week in New York Theater News
Broadway Week starts today
When Cabaret closes Sept 21, about a month earlier than was previously announced. It will have played 592 regular performances.
Jane Krakowski will become Mary Todd Lincoln (the Cole Escola part) in “Oh, Mary’ in the role of ‘Mary Todd Lincoln’ Oct 14 – Dec 7
Thomas Schumacher, 67, who led Disney Theatrical Group for decades and helped it produce musical theater hits including The Lion King and Aladdin is leaving the company. (AP)
The first-ever “Made in NY” Awards Ceremony for Theatre and Live Performance, taking place at Gracie Mansion on September 15, will honor are Tony Award® winning actor and producer as well as co-founder and president of the Black Theatre United LaChanze; founder and artistic director of Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse Susan Feldman; public relations executive and founding co-chair of the NYC Theatre and Live Performance Industry Council Ken Sunshine; and Tony Award® Winning Choreographers of Buena Vista Social Club on Broadway Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck.
For “Just in Time,”Sadie Dickerson will play Sandra Dee beginning September 16 while Sarah Hyland will play Connie Francis beginning October 8. Erika Henningsen will play her final performance as Sandra Dee on September 14, and Gracie Lawrence will play her final performance as Connie Francis on October 5
Chess (opening November 16 at Imperial Theater) full cast: Joining the previously announced Tony Award winner Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge), Emmy Award nominee Lea Michele (Funny Girl) and Nicholas Christopher (Sweeney Todd) are Hannah Cruz (Suffs), Bradley Dean (The Phantom of the Opera), Tony Award nominee Sean Allan Krill (Jagged Little Pill) and Tony Award nominee Bryce Pinkham (A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) and an ensemble that includes Kyla Louise Bartholomeusz (Hamilton), Daniel Beeman (Once Upon a Mattress), Shavey Brown (Sunset Blvd), Emma Degerstedt (Broadway Debut), Casey Garvin (Smash), Adam Halpin (Glory Days), Sarah Michele Lindsey (Once Upon a Mattress), Michael Milkanin (Shucked), Aleksandr Ivan Pevec (Something Rotten!), Aliah James (Gypsy), Sydney Jones (Sunset Blvd.), Sean MacLaughlin (Lestat), Sarah Meahl (Death Becomes Her), Ramone Nelson (MJ), Fredric Rodriguez Odgaard (Moulin Rouge), Michael Olaribigbe (Once Upon a Mattress), Katerina Papacostas (Tootsie), Samantha Pollino (The Great Gatsby), Regine Sophia (Broadway Debut) and Katie Webber (Smash).
In Memoriam
Broadway marquees will dim a September 9th at 6:45 p.m. to honor:
George Wendt
Beth Newburger
Edie Cowan
Mark Brokaw
Paul Libin
Richard Greenberg
Cleo Laine
Jack Batman
and Lloyd Williams
The Week’s Theater Video
Jordan E Cooper: I Am Proud to be an Intentional Fool, and other Thoughts on being a Black Artist.
Jordan E. Cooper, Tony-nominated performer and playwright of “Ain’t No Mo’” whose new play “Oh Happy Day!” is opening at the Public Theater on October 15, delivered a keynote address Saturday at the daylong “Black Theater Advance” at the Park Avenue Armory, and then engaged in conversation with Jonathan McCrory, the executive artistic director of National Black Theatre, the co-sponsors of the salon.
00:00:00 Sound Check
00:51:10 Lin-Manuel Miranda
00:52:53 Book of Mormon
01:03:30 Aladdin
01:06:25 Mamma Mia!
01:10:31 The Lion King
01:15:10 Moulin Rouge!
01:20:59 Six
01:25:19 Two Strangers
01:29:37 Death Becomes Her
01:33:46 Operation Mincemeat
01:39:12 Chicago
01:44:23 The Great Gatsby
01:50:40 Buena Vista Social Club
01:59:33 & Juliet
02:02:09 The Outsiders
02:06:32 Maybe Happy Ending
02:12:20 Cabaret
02:16:42 Just In Time
02:19:23 Hell’s Kitchen
02:25:15 MJ: The Musical
02:29:24 Wicked
02:36:42 New York, New York ft. Jessica Vosk
