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Quick Close of “Testament of Mary” Tests Power of Tonys and the New York Times
First there was the Tony nomination for Best Play. Then the closing. Within hours came news that the run of “The Testament of Mary” — which also received nods for lighting and sound but not for its...
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“Natasha” and the Perils of Immersive Theater
At a recent performance of “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” the new musical hit in a carnival tent next to the Standard High Line, a nasty altercation between two patrons provided a new...
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Will the World’s Most Famous Gorilla Nest in Broadway’s Biggest Theater?
The recent news that a subsidiary of the Ambassador Theatre Group, one of Britain’s leading theater owners, had acquired the Foxwoods Theatre turned the spotlight once again on the 1930-seat venue and...
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Prestige Leads CBS to Re-Up Tony Telecast Despite Low Ratings
Last year’s Oscar telecast brought in a domestic viewership of 40.3 million. The Grammys, 28 million. The Tonys? Last year’s telecast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, attracted a paltry six million...
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Bette Midler and Tom Hanks Brighten a Dismal Season
Battered by Hurricane Sandy and a weak slate of fall shows, Broadway attendance plunged by 6.2 percent during the 2012-13 season, compared to the previous year. The proverbial “asses-in-seats”...
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“Sleepless in Seattle” is Troubled in Pasadena
Tom Hanks may well be poised to win a Tony Award this Sunday for his Broadway debut in “Lucky Guy.” But almost every critic mentioned him in reviewing the new stage musical of “Sleepless in Seattle,”...
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Stock Rises for “Kinky Boots” and “Pippin” in Tony Aftermath
If you want to assess the fallout from the Tony Awards, it’s useful to think of Broadway shows as stocks with their average ticket price as an indication of what they are trading at. For example, for...
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“Kong” Takes Melbourne By Storm
“King Kong, the Musical” opened in a world premiere engagement on June 15 in Melbourne and the consensus from the critical fraternity from Down Under is that the libretto is undercooked, some of the...
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Neil Patrick Harris Brings an “Angry Inch” to Broadway
Those who had begun to despair that Broadway was losing its edge amidst the welter of family-friendly pabulum received some good news recently. It just was announced that Neil Patrick Harris would...
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What Mike Tyson Hath Wrought — Here Comes Terry Bradshaw
America’s favorite dumb blonde? No, it’s not Paris Hilton or Jessica Simpson. By his own admission, it’s Terry Bradshaw, the Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer and Fox NFL commentator. His...
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Broadway’s 2012-13 Scorecard: New Shows Surprisingly Strong
Fallout from the Annual Tony Awards usually includes announcements of shows closing because their lagging box-office didn’t get enough of a kick from the telecast. In an unusual development for...
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Zach Braff to Broadway With “Bullets”
Zach Braff has been cast to star in one of the most highly-anticipated musicals in decades: “Bullets Over Broadway.” He will play David Shayne, the idealistic young playwright who gets involved with...
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“The Jungle Book” Faces the Broadway Challenge
The reviews were fairly positive for Mary Zimmerman’s “The Jungle Book,” which recently opened a highly anticipated world premiere engagement at Chicago’s prestigious Goodman Theatre. But the critical...
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“Magic Mike” Takes Off for Broadway
According to a recent report in Deadline Hollywood, “Magic Mike,” the 2012 Steven Soderbergh film about male strippers, is on a fast track to Broadway. No surprise there. New York musical theater has...
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Hot Ticket Alert: “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical”
The talented actor Jessie Mueller has been threatening to break out as a bona-fide Broadway star since she made a stunning New York debut in the 2011 musical revival of “On a Clear Day You Can See...
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Unsinkable “Titanic” Back on the Boards in London
In 1997, two versions of the Titanic story surfaced: James Cameron’s Oscar-winning epic which became one of the highest-grossing films of all time; and the Maury Yeston-Peter Stone Broadway musical,...
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Andy Karl Gets His Shot at “Rocky”
The highly-anticipated musical version of “Rocky,” slated to open this spring on Broadway, has found the guy who will slip on the boxing gloves and silken shorts made iconic by Sylvester Stallone in...
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“Here Lies Love” Will Transfer This Season to Manhattan’s Hotel Pennsylvania
Since “Here Lies Love” opened to almost universal rave reviews at the Public, there has been speculation that the David Byrne-Fatboy Slim musical about the rise and fall of the Marcos regime in the...
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Barry Manilow’s “Harmony” Strikes the Right Chords in Atlanta — Finally
After two decades, “Harmony,” Barry Manilow’s labor of love, seems to have finally found its groove. The musical, about a popular sextet in the Weimar Republic that ran afoul of the Nazis, opened in...
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“Mamma Mia!” Hits a Major Milestone
“Nobody thought ‘Mamma Mia!’ was going to work,” said Judy Craymer, its lead producer, on the cusp of the Broadway musical reaching the milestone of 5,000 performances and moving from the Winter...
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