Category Archives: Broadway

October 24, 2013 · 4:30 pm

NBC To Resurrect ‘Murder, She Wrote’ with Octavia Spencer

Now, I love Octavia Spencer and she’s an excellent actress, but this just screams “hot mess”.

What ever happened to new ideas?

And Angela Lansbury is only 88 and doing 8 shows a week on Broadway as recently as the last year or so, so I’m not sure she is ready to give this role up.  She may have been planning some specials or movies or something over the next few years….

From Variety:

Turns out, you can’t kill “Murder, She Wrote.”

NBC is reviving the onetime Universal TV series that aired for years on CBS, placing Octavia Spencer in the starring role once held by Angela Lansbury and giving the project a put pilot committment.

David Janollari and Alexandra Cunningham (“Desperate Housewives”) will exec produce the drama, which will aim for a light, contemporary feel, according to NBC. Spencer will play the hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel, then becomes an active participant in true crime investigations.

via NBC To Resurrect ‘Murder, She Wrote’ with Octavia Spencer | Variety.

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October 15, 2013 · 8:33 pm

Let’s Face the Music and Dance

Government shut down…impending debt defaults that could drive us into a recession, if not depression…. idiots in Congress with no grasp of reality or social conscience…..

Sounds like we need Fred and Ginger, to me!

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October 15, 2013 · 7:25 pm

Sondheim Working on a Revised Version of ‘Company’

My first reaction was:  “Oh god, not yet another production of “Company”.  Then I read more….

This is intriguing….and with great people attached.

And I always thought Bobby was Gay anyway…

From the New York Times today…

 

The acclaimed composer Stephen Sondheim and the Tony Award-winning director John Tiffany (“Once”) are collaborating on a major revision of Mr. Sondheim’s celebrated 1970 musical “Company,” a project that Roundabout Theater Company is eyeing for a possible production, according to Mr. Sondheim and others involved.

The biggest change in this new “Company” would be the central character of Bobby. Whereas he has always been a straight man struggling with commitment issues and multiple girlfriends, he has been reconceived by Mr. Tiffany as a gay man with commitment issues and multiple boyfriends. And some characters have had gender reversals; the character of Joanne, who sings “The Ladies Who Lunch” and was originally played by Elaine Stritch on Broadway, is being played by the Tony winner Alan Cumming (“Cabaret”) in Mr. Tiffany’s reading of the work at Roundabout this week.

For years Mr. Sondheim and the musical’s book writer, George Furth, who died in 2008, batted back suggestions that Bobby was furtively intended to be a closeted gay man. But when Mr. Tiffany proposed actually making Bobby gay, Mr. Sondheim said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, the idea intrigued him.

“It’s still a musical about commitment, but marriage is seen as something very different in 2013 than it was in 1970,” Mr. Sondheim said. “We don’t deal with gay marriage as such, but this version lets us explore the issues of commitment in a fresh way.”

MORE:   Sondheim Working on a Revised Version of ‘Company’ – NYTimes.com.

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March 22, 2013 · 8:04 pm

This Week’s Friday Night Videos: New Broadway Does Old Broadway

I kind of enjoy playing on YouTube on a Friday evening….

This evenings theme is:  Old Show Tunes by New Stars:  A New Generation Does Broadway:

First up, Kyle Dean Massey, who was in “Next to Normal” a couple of seasons ago doing an old Anthony Newly/ Sammy Davis Jr song:

Cheyenne Jackson and Kate Baldwin, from a wonderful production of “Finian’s Rainbow” that we saw on Broadway a couple of years ago:

Idina Menzel does two Barbra classics from “Funny Girl”:

I’m not sure people realize how heavily “Glee” pulls talent from Broadway….

Here is Matthew Morrison, “Pre-Glee”, in the wonderful revival of “South Pacific”:

One of my favorite new Broadway Stars, Kelli O’Hara:

And let’s close with “Glee’s” Chris Colfer living every theatre queen’s dream and doing “Rose’s Turn” from “Gypsy”:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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February 28, 2013 · 7:04 pm

Broadway Birthdays-Tommy Tune and Bernadette Peters

The stars must really align for Broadway stardom for people born on this day…

Two all time Broadway greats born today 11 years apart:

Tommy Tune is 74 today:

 

And Bernadette Peters gets her first Social Security check next month.  She’s 65 today:

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January 30, 2013 · 8:58 am

Gomer Pyle Gets Hitched: Jim Nabors Marries His Longtime Male Partner

Well, no one saw this coming….

That’s sarcasm, in case you missed it….

Anyway, congratulations to Jim Nabors!

Mayberry will never be the same….

From WBTV Charlotte:

Jim Nabors, the Hawaii resident well known for his starring role in the 1960s television sitcom “Gomer Pyle, USMC,” married his longtime male partner early this month, he told Hawaii News Now Tuesday.

Nabors, 82, said he married his companion of 38 years, Stan Cadwallader, who’s 64, in Seattle on Jan. 15.

Nabors declined an on-camera interview but spoke to Hawaii News Now by phone.

“I’m 82 and he’s in his 60s and so we’ve been together for 38 years and I’m not ashamed of people knowing, it’s just that it was such a personal thing, I didn’t tell anybody,” Nabors said. “I’m very happy that I’ve had a partner of 38 years and I feel very blessed.  And, what can I tell you, I’m just very happy.”

Nabors said he and Cadwallader traveled to Washington state, where gay marriages became legal in early December 2012. They were married at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle.

A judge performed the marriage ceremony in the privacy of their hotel room with a couple of friends who live down the street from them near Diamond Head as witnesses, Nabors said.

Before they were married, Nabors said, “It’s pretty obvious that we had no rights as a couple, yet when you’ve been together 38 years, I think something’s got to happen there, you’ve got to solidify something.  And at my age, it’s probably the best thing to do.”

via EXCLUSIVE: Actor Jim Nabors marries his longtime male partner – WBTV 3 News, Weather, Sports, and Traffic for Charlotte, NC.

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January 29, 2013 · 8:23 pm

For Your Consideration: Anne Hathaway

Let me start by saying, I love Anne Hathaway.  I find her extremely talented, likable, poised and attractive.  She is one of my favorite actresses and I see everything she does.

Criticizing her is almost like kicking a kitten….

But….

I’ve never seen such a blatant Oscar campaign as the one waged on her behalf this year….

She was very good in “Les Miz”, but not great….and that’s partly the Director’s fault.  Too many tight shots over blew the performances quite a bit and I was not thrilled with some of his other choices.  I thought Samantha Barks and Eddie Redmayne gave the best performances in the film.

“Lincoln” was also a flawed film, but with some great performances-especially by Daniel Day Lewis.  If I could vote, I wouldn’t vote for it for Best Picture either-“Argo” would be my choice.  But I would surely vote for Sally Field, over the lovely Anne, for Best Supporting Actress.  Ms Field was just wonderful as Mary Todd Lincoln and did the almost impossible- made me forget I was watching Sally Field.

Again, I love Anne Hathaway.  Her day on the podium will come, realistically, probably in a couple of weeks.  She’s definitely still the favorite.

But it should be later and for a better role and performance in a better film.

And unexpected upsets to the front runner have happened before.  Ask Lauren Bacall….

Anyway, what do I know?

In any event, here is a great parody of Anne’s campaign by the very talented Emma Fitzpatrick.

Thanks to my FB friend, Chris, for first posting it for me to see….

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July 13, 2012 · 4:37 pm

New Cheyenne Jackson Video!

Really cute new video from Cheyenne Jackson- one of my Broadway favorites- for his new Pop Song Single:

What a nice way to start the weekend!

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July 3, 2012 · 12:38 pm

Rest in Peace, Andy Griffith and Lonesome Rhodes

The news just broke this morning that Andy Griffith has died….

Most people will always remember Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry….

I’ll always remember him for his great performance as Lonesome Rhodes in the great film “A Face in the Crowd.”

He should have at least gotten an Oscar nomination for this….

And I wish more people would watch the film today….

Rest in Peace, Andy….you won’t be forgotten….

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June 26, 2012 · 10:55 pm

Cher Developing Broadway Musical Based On Life and Career

This is truly scary…

Who knew Cher could write?  Period?

Still, I would be so tempted to see this….

Or run from it…

From Playbill.com:

Producers are at work developing a Broadway musical based on the life of Academy and Grammy Award-winning performer Cher, the pop star recently tweeted.

The star states that the musical will incorporate songs from her career, with three different actresses set to play her at various stages of her life. One actress will play a young Cher through her “Sonny and Cher” years, while another will play the icon through the “Believe” tour, with a third to inhabit the star at the current point in her life.

The show will incorporate a theatrical conceit that allows all three actresses to talk to one another and perform together.

Cher also revealed that she is part of the writing process on the musical, which has been in development for “quite a while.” Broadway is the goal.

via Cher Developing Broadway Musical Based On Life and Career – Playbill.com.

Of course, I always thought she had already told her story in song:

Just kidding!!!

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