I wasn’t able to swing a ticket during my recent trip to NYC, so imagine my crestfallen look when I read that I’m partly to blame for the show closing on July 20th. However, Spike Lee to the rescue! He’s going to be filming the July 19th showing, with an eye towards working it into a larger film project later.

Image details: 2008 Summer TCA Tour – Day 3 served by picapp.com

This bodes well for the future, as people like me can experience it – who knows, maybe Stew will take it on the road? Or perhaps it will simply open the doors to future endeavours. Either way, it’s a nice way for the screen to help the stage and preserve the art for the future.

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1. “She’s a pro and I’d say to be herself,”
2. “She’s going to be wonderful.”
3. “We haven’t worked together yet but it’s going to be great.”
4. [She] “will be so happy. There is nothing like it. It’s the Olympics. It’s the college of theater,”
5. “Get a lot of sleep and stay healthy. It takes so much energy to be on stage 7 days a week so she needs a good night’s sleep everyday,”
6. “I’m sure she will do just fine.”

And here’s your choices for the quotes:

1. Kristin Chenoweth
2. Oprah
3. L. Ron Hubbard
4. Brooke Shields
5. John Lithgow
6. Gray  Miller
   

Put in your matches in the quotes; the answers will be revealed tomorrow!

image courtesy of Newscom 

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Passing Over Passing Strange

One award: best book of a musical. Now, don’t get me wrong – Stew is probably quite pleased to have gotten that. He’s on record as saying that he considers himself first a musician, and that the idea of getting a Tony is pretty far removed from most musicians.

Maybe that’s why I wanted him to sweep the Tony’s. Something to do with the underdog, the newcomer, something capturing the imagination rather than dominating to distraction with some huge Disneyesque production. Yes, yes, I know that Miranda winning Best Musical for The Heights is also an underdog, a tale of a young kid coming out of nowhere making it big on the Great White Way…but The Heights was a more traditional musical, and I was kind of rooting for something new to shake things up. Must be my performance art background.

Living in the Past

I have to confess that I’m also quite disappointed that the lion’s share of the awards (and some of the performances, to boot) went to established, safe musicals. Look, it’s all well and good to have Gypsy and South Pacific still playing – though I really dislike the latter, Gypsy has lots of charm. But the thing is: they’ve both been done for decades. It’s not that there isn’t anything new to do with them – I fully respect the art of the Revival. But because they’ve been around so long, a lot of the dead ends and mistakes have been made. In some ways, putting these actors and crew in the same race as some new piece like August: Osage County (which didn’t too shabbily, either, adding Best Play and four other awards to the Pulitzer already on the shelf) seems like having a high school basketball star playing alongside Kobe Bryant – no matter how good the kid does, experience will tell.

I did take secret delight in Katrina Lindsay winning best Costume Design- Play for her work on the period piece “Les Liaisons Dangereuses.” I know, that completely makes the previous paragraph hypocritical – but I dated a costume designer who specialized in that period of costume, and it holds a soft spot in my heart.

Taking Suggestions

Then again, I’m just grumpy because the Tonys – always a great advertisement for Broadway – is a reminder of the shows I wish I were seeing. But I’ll get my chance…in a few weeks I head out to NYC for a couple of days. If I could only see one show: what should I see?

Image Courtesy of Newscom

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So You Thought You Could Dance?

Like me, the TV Grapevine had a personal connection to someone who auditioned for the show. Like me, that person didn’t make it past the preliminary stages – but in their case, she was able to stay the extra day to see the “individual round.”

Yes, that’s right. That “individual round” is not the first time the judges see the dancers. Nigel Lythgoe, Mary Murphy, and whoever is with them saw all of them in a group cattle call audition the day before . They specifically invite back the dancers they want to see in the individual shows.

Think about that. All the dancers that you see that are so awful, that the judges berate for wasting their time – they were specifically invited back. Why? Not because, as they thought, they had a chance. No, it’s for entertainment value, for ratings, and that’s kind of a shabby way to treat people who want to dance.

Legally Blonde: the Search for Elle

Tonight at 10 MTV debuts a reality show (produced by the same people that brought you The Biggest Loser) to find the new lead for Legally Blonde: The Musical. This did not fill me with much anticipation, after the way they did Grease: You’re the One. However, Loser was pretty well thought out, and there seems to be a couple of other glimmers of hope.

The judges have some serious cred: musical auteur Heather Hach, casting director Bernard Telsey, Paul Canaan (veteran of the Broadway Musical and choreographer Jerry Mitchell. Of course, Grease also seemed to have good judges and…well, you saw how that went.

But there are apparently a lot of musical numbers with members of the actual Broadway cast, a “boot camp” to whip the contestants into shape, Haylie Duff provides some mentorship and guidance, and besides, it’s already been done – all eight episodes have been shot and the new Elle will be joining the cast on Broadway in October.

So let’s see if MTV can do it better than NBC. I’ll give it a grudging chance.

image courtesy of Newscom

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Melissa Gilbert: Typecasting or Resource?

I find myself questioning the casting of Melissa Gilbert in the role of “Ma Ingalls” – not because I doubt her abilities as an actress, but more because there is quite a difference between acting – even on a stage – and performing in a musical. She has more than enough cred with “straight plays”: A Shayna Maidel (for which she received an Outer Critic’s Circle Award for Best Debuting Actress) and roles in The Glass Menagerie, The Miracle Worker, Bus Stop, and Love Letters.

Singing and dancing may come naturally to her – I just hope that the producers and directors don’t water down the part. She’s playing opposite Steve Blanchard, veteran of eight years as the Beast in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and that kind of a mismatch would be almost heartbreaking to see in such a beloved American classic.

Image details: 2007 Winter TCA Press Tour – Day 1 served by picapp.com

Casting Yourself

Melissa Gilbert was an instrumental part of the casting process, and I wonder how it must have felt to see all the young hopeful Lauras – many, apparently, with dog-eared copies of “Little House on the Prairie” in their hands – and realize that you are casting an American icon that you, yourself, created.

The starring role went to Kara Lindsay, with Jenn Gambatese as older sister Mary. The ensemble includes Sara Jean Ford (touring as Christine in Phantom) as Nellie and Kevin Massey (another Disney/Broadway veteran from Tarzan) as the heartthrob Almanzo.

The opening is August 15th, and it’ll play at the Guthrie until early October. I’m hoping to get tickets and make the trek up there – if you do, drop me a line and let me know what you thought!

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Back when entertainers were more than a pretty face (not that pretty faces don’t work hard, I wouldn’t say that)? But when there were people like Sammy Davis Jr., who could sing, dance, act, and do a mean stand up act, all at once. It’s been a while since we’ve had triple threats like that in stardom.

Usher: a Man of All Stages

While he came to fame as an R&B singer, Usher made the move to Broadway with a role in Chicago. You have to give credit to someone who reaches beyond their immediate skillset – it doesn’t always work out (Mel Gibson’s Hamlet, anyone?).

But it seems that the stage bug must have bit Usher, because he’s done a reprise of Gene Kelly’s famous “Singin’ in the Rain” for the MTV Music awards:

And word has it that he is slated to play in a revival of Golden Boy, a role pioneered by Sammy Davis Jr. I suspect the man would be proud of his successor…

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Stew Gets an Obie for Passing Strange

I wrote recently how musician and auteur Stew had garnered no fewer than seven Tony nominations – but there’s more out there than Tony. The Village Voice also gives out its own theatre award, the “Obie”, and Passing Strange has secured Best New Theatre Piece. I’m a little amused, though, because part of the prize is $1,000 – to be split between Stew, co-author Heidi Rodewald and director Annie Dorsen – which I think is just about enough to go out to dinner there in New York…

Katie Holmes Secures Her Role in “Fathers and Sons”

OK, it’s been called “Broadway’s worst kept secret,” but Playbill confirms that Katie Holmes is going to be starring in the Arthur Miller play (for which he also garnered a Tony Award). What I find a little dismaying is that the headlines are all talking about Ms. Holmes – and it’s her debut. She may not be good. There’s no shame in not being good at stage acting.

But shouldn’t the real news be the rest of the cast? John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, Patrick Wilson, costumes and sets by Tom Pye, and directed by Simon McBurney – between them all they could furnish an entire house with Tony’s and Obie’s. I think it’s a real tribute to their dedication to the theatre that instead of going for the easy mega hit they’re devoting their time to a straight play and keeping the genre alive.

Mamma Mia Passes My Fair Lady

No, this is not about the upcoming film adaptation of Mamma Mia! (though seeing Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan will be quite a treat). No, this is a different kind of record, and just kind of a fun one: the Broadway stage production of Mamma Mia! recently supplanted My Fair Lady as the 17th longest-running musical of all time. We talk a lot about stage-to-screen and vice versa, but this is sort of vinyl-to-stage-to-screen, since the entire musical is based off of ABBA songs.

If you do go see the movie (and why wouldn’t you?) don’t hesitate to see the touring musical as well. The costumes are sacrificed in the film version, and it’s a pity…the neon outfits really make it the Speed Racer of musicals.

Ok, fine, here’s the preview to the movie, too.

images courtesy of Newscom

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Jealous of my Friends: A fellow blogger and online friend of mine, Viviane, is sitting as I write this at a performance of Passing Strange, the hot new musical on Broadway. I mentioned a while back that this looks to be the hot new show, and it’s getting hotter. Seven – count ‘em, seven – Tony nominations, including four for the shows auteur and autobiographical subject, Stew:

• Best Musical
• Best Actor: Stew
• Score: Stew and Heidi Rodewald, and lyrics by Stew;
  
• Book Musical: Stew
  
• Orchestrations: Stew and Rodewald
• Featured Actor and Actress: Daniel Breaker and de’Adre Aziza

I recommend that when the Tony’s happen you gather with friends in front of a big screen TV with a lot of rolled-up white socks. Whenever someone thanks God, or has a horrific dress, or seems insincere, or you just feel like it, hurl your socks at the screen, booing loudly.Trust me, it’s fun. Almost as much fun as watching the nominated musicals (damn you, Viviane!). I will console myself with some of the free music downloads that are available, but I’m sure you’ve already done that yourself, right? Or, like me, you’re counting the days until May 27th when the whole cast album becomes available on iTunes…

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It’s got to be heartbreaking for first-time authors and actors Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, both in their early 20’s, to have come so close to their dream only to have it shut down. Of course, they’ve got lots of opportunities to continue their Broadway career – hell, Gabriel Byrne didn’t get his break until age 40 – but it’s still got to be depressing, even if there is some sort of Producers-like strategy going on with the money men.

It doesn’t exactly seem fair, though. I was reading about Los del Rio and the song “The Macarena.” While they were successful musicians, that was arguably their only hit. Yet because of it, in 2003 they made $250,000 in royalties – eight years after the song was first released. Basically, they’re set for life based on one song.

Developing a play is arguably much harder. And yet it’s unlikely that Glory Days will net the auteurs anything more, in spite of their good reviews in VA.

So…I salute them, at least for their efforts. And wish them luck next time.

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What about Mario Lopez?

Oh, that quote? It’s what he said about himself in response to a question about his singing and dancing in the role of Zach in A Chorus Line. He doesn’t have any solos, but he admits that he can carry a tune, and he’s definitely physically fit; “Mario Lopez’s Knockout Fitness” book is destined to hit the stores May 13th.

“I work really hard,” he adds, and while that’s definitely a great attitude, I don’t think even he expected the level of work his debut on the stage would take. On his first night it could be expected that there would be nervous jitters for a novice thespian. However, Mario had to deal with not one, not two, but four understudies in their roles (trust me, that would throw any show off). As if that wasn’t enough, a female audience member had a heart attack (no reports as to whether that was in response to Mario Lopez or not).

Still, he seems happy with the direction his career has taken since his debut on Dancing With the Stars. Here’s a clip from that, with dancer Karina Smirnoff. An actor who can move, indeed.

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