Theater Guide To Fun: From Las Vegas to New York to London
By Atoosa Arfa
OnlineTickets.com
Katie Holmes Headed to Broadway?
Monday, Mar. 31 – Although not yet official, it has been reported that Katie Holmes is in final talks to soon star in the Broadway production of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.”
If the rumors are true, Katie Holmes – who has not performed on stage since high school - will join an all-star cast which includes John Lithgow and two-time Oscar winner Dianne West.
“All My Sons,” loosely based on a true story, deals with a man who sells faulty airplane parts to the United States military during World War II and indirectly causes the deaths of 21 pilots. Katie would take the role of Ann Deever, a beautiful young woman who dated a pilot who becomes missing.
"God of Carnage" Premieres at the West End
Tuesday, Mar. 25 – Starting today, French playwright Yasmina Reza premieres her latest play, "God of Carnage," at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End. "God of Carnage" stars such big names as Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet McTeer, and Ken Scott.
"God of Carnage" portrays two sets of parents who decide to hold a meeting to discuss the disruptive conduct of their children. The meeting could go two separate ways: calm and composed or heated and irate!
Yasmina Reza, who is half Persian and half Hungarian, previously had yet another hit, Art, which became a worldwide success back in 1996 at the West End’s Wyndham Theatre. For "God of Carnage," Reza reunites with Art’s creative team, including director Matthew Warchus, producers David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, translator Christopher Hampton, and designer Mark Thompson, to name just a few.
With a set of talented, well known actors and a fantastic creative team, "God of Carnage" promises to be a success. Book your tickets to see "God of Carnage" today!
“Cry Baby” Gets Ready to Make Broadway Debut
Tuesday, Mar. 11 - Broadway, get ready to welcome another John Waters film adaptation hit the stage.
A story that crosses the intersections of "West Side Story," "Grease," and "Romeo and Juliet," John Waters’ “Cry Baby” takes place in Baltimore in the 1950s, where bad boy Wade “Cry Baby” Walker from the Drapes, the gang from the other side of the tracks, and good girl Allison from the Squares fall in love and set out to fight repression and unite the two disparate groups together.
"Cry Baby" is John Waters’ second commercial film; his first was "Hairspray," which is now an Emmy Award-winning Broadway show as well as a successful movie musical remake starring John Travolta. However, don’t compare "Cry Baby" to "Hairspray" - John Waters considers Cry Baby to be “sexy,” “irreverent,” and “ruder than Hairspray.” However, "Cry Baby" will also have “great music and a social theme,” so it will certainly be a fantastic addition to the Broadway playbills.
Joining the cast of "Cry Baby" will be James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley, and Harriet Harris, who take over the roles played by Johnny Depp, Amy Locane, and Polly Bergen in the original 1990 film. Making their Broadway songwriting debuts are David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, known for their work on “The Daily Show” and “That Thing You Do!” respectively. The show will be directed by Mark Brokaw and choreographed by Rob Ashford.
Previews will begin on March 15, and "Cry Baby" will make its official Broadway debut on April 24.
Cate Blanchett Starring in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Monday, Mar. 10 – Beginning August 2009, Oscar winner Cate Blanchett will star as Blanche DuBois in the Australian production of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann will direct A Streetcar Named Desire for Sydney’s 2009 theatre season. Not only will Blanchett star as Blanche DuBois, but she and her husband Andrew Upton will produce the play as well. Blanchett and Upton are also expecting a child in a month.
The two exciting news comes after Blanchett’s loss at the 2008 Academy Awards, where she was nominated for two Oscars for “I’m Not There” and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” but lost to Tilda Swinton and Marion Cotillard.
However, this isn’t Blanchett’s first venture on the stage. Besides her numerous film roles, including her Oscar-winning performance in The Aviator and her famous portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I, Cate Blanchett also previously starred as the title character in “Hedda Gabler” in New York, as well as starred in “Plenty” in London and “Top Girls,” “Kafka Dances,” and “Oleanna” in Sydney.
High School Musical Gets Super Competitive
Tuesday, Mar. 4 - Disney's
"High School Musical 3: Senior Year" may be the last film in the
franchise for the film's stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley
Tisdale, and the rest of the gang, but it won't be the last bit of the
franchise for its millions of fans worldwide.
ABC has recently announced plans to develop a reality competition based on High School Musical,
in which they search the nation for talented contestants - i.e., other
Troys, Gabriellas, Sharpays, and Ryans in the country - who study at a
music conservatory. Just like American Idol, contestants will be
eliminated each week until there is only one winner standing. However,
as of now there aren't any details regarding what exactly the winner of
the competition will win or even what the age-range cutoff is for the
show.
This isn't the first time Disney has made High School Musical
into a reality show, though. Last year, the Disney Channel followed a
group of Texas high schoolers putting on High School Musical as their
annual play, and aired their trials and tribulations in little
five-minute segments - called "High School Musical: The Music in You" -
in between Disney Channel shows. It is the first time, however, in
which High School Musical will leave the boundaries of the Disney
Channel and into a sister network (ABC) geared more towards adults.
Be on the lookout for the High School Musical reality show as it hits the ABC airwaves around the summertime.
The Return of London's Lost Musical Series
Monday, Feb. 25 - Starting March, London's Lost Musical series will return to the stage for its 18th season.
This season, the two musicals will be "Park Avenue" and "Sail Away." Park Avenue, a 1946 collaboration between Arthur Schwartz, Ira Gershwin, George S. Kaufman, and Nunnally Johnson, is a hilarious musical spoof about the rich, famous, and wealthy, and it features songs such as "Don't Be A Woman If You Can." Sail Away, Noel Coward's last fully written musical comedy back in 1961, follows Mimi Paragon, a former actress from the United States who begins work as a hostess on a British cruise.
The two musicals will be performed at the Lilian Baylis Theatre at Sadlers' Well and will be directed by Ian Marshall Fisher. Fisher has enjoyed much achievement in London, having succeeded in bringing 77 neglected Broadway shows to London audiences throughout the past years.
"Park Avenue" will run for six performances beginning March 30 and ending April 27, and "Sail Away" will run for seven performances beginning June 15 and ending July 13.
The Original Tracy Turnblad Joins "Dancing with the Stars"
Tuesday, Feb. 19 - Marissa Jaret Winokur, a Tony Award-winning Broadway star, has just been announced to be a featured celebrity dancer in the upcoming season of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."
Winokur is probably most famous for her role as overweight dancing teenager Tracy Turnblad in the musical Hairspray, of which she not only won a Tony Award for in 2003, but also the Drama Desk Award, the Theatre World Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Winokur has also co-starred in the now-canceled Pamela Anderson sitcom Stacked, and she has appeared in many Hollywood movies, including American Beauty, Scary Movie, and Fever Pitch.
Joining Winokur in the sixth season of "Dancing with the Stars" are Shannon Elizabeth, Priscilla Presley, Adam Corolla, Kristi Yamaguchi, Jason Taylor, Steve Guttenberg, Marlee Martin, Christian de la Fuente, Mario, Penn Jillette, and Monica Seles.
"Dancing with the Stars" will premiere on March 17 on ABC. Also, be sure to catch Marissa Jaret Winokur as she promotes "Dancing with the Stars" on Jimmy Kimmel Live on February 21.
Mya Makes Broadway DebutTuesday, Feb. 12 - This summer, Grammy
award-winning singer Mya will make her Broadway debut as she joins the
cast of " Chicago" at the Ambassador Theatre.
Mya will be playing Velma Kelly, a '20s nightclub performer who
murders her husband after a show for sleeping with another woman. Velma
Kelly is then joined by competing songstress Roxie Hart, who murders
someone of her own, in a battle of Chicago courtrooms, theaters, and
newspaper headlines. The role of Velma Kelly was played by Catherine
Zeta-Jones in the 2003 film version of Chicago - where Mya also had a
minor supporting role as the character Mona.
Mya (full name Mya Harrison) gained fame around the onset of the new
millennium and is probably best known for her R&B hits "Case of the
Ex," "Ghetto Superstar," and "My Love is Like...Wo." She also performed
alongside Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, and Pink in the glitzy,
chart-topping, Grammy award-winning remake of "Lady Marmalade," sung
for another movie musical, Moulin Rouge.
Besides her new upcoming Broadway gig, Mya can also be featured in a
(RED) campaign for Dell and Microsoft and is a spokesperson for the
North Shore Animal League's 2008 Tour For Life, which supports animal
welfare.
Be sure to catch Mya during her limited-engagement role as Velma Kelly in Chicago on Broadway beginning May 12! 2008 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards
Monday, Jan. 28 - On Friday, March 28, the 2008 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards will take place at the Hudson Theatre in New York. The TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards have taken place every year since 1993 and honor those who have significantly contributed to the performing arts' costume designing community in theatre, dance, opera, or film.
This year, John Conklin will receive the most distinguished award at the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards - the Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design. Conklin has been active in the theatrical community for many years, designing costumes for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1974, The Philadelphia Story in 1980, A Streetcar Named Desire in 1988, and the Metropolitan Opera. Robert Fletcher will also receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to How to Succeed in Business Without Really Try, Hadrian IV, Little Me, and High Spirits.
Tanya Moiseiwitch may have died in 2003, but her Tony-nominated work for shows like The Matchmaker and The Misanthrope have garnered her a Memorial Tribute Award this year. Bessie Nelson, who has worked on such high-end shows as The Producers and Wicked, will receive the Artisan Award. Finally, Fabio Toblini will receive the Young Master Award for his work on Fame, Beauty and the Beast, and Bat Boy.
The winners this year are preceded by Bob Mackie, Murell Horton, Kermit Love, Rouben Ter-Arutunian, and Santo Loquasto, last year's TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients.
The Little Mermaid Makes Waves on Broadway
Monday, Jan. 14 - This past Thursday, Disney's The Little Mermaid made a splash onto Broadway.
The Little Mermaid on Broadway replaces the long-running Beauty and the Beast, which ended in July 2007, at New York's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Yet along with its other Disney-on-Broadway counterpart, The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, The Little Mermaid went above and beyond its expectations in true Disney magic.
Before the big premiere, critics wondered how the show would showcase an ocean and how the sea creatures - including the mermaids, crabs, eels, and the occasional sea witch - would walk and dance on the stage. Their answer? A type of shoe similar to Heelys, popular among elementary school kids because of the ability to transform into roller blades, except with a whole lot more glitz and blended in with the elaborate costumes.
The star of the show, Denver-born red-head Sierra Boggess as Ariel, also gives The Little Mermaid plenty of charm on Broadway with her passion on stage and fantastic voice. Formerly Christine in Las Vegas' Phantom Spectacular, a variation of the Phantom of the Opera, you can bet Sierra Boggess will be sure to stick around Broadway in the future.
Be sure to check out The Little Mermaid on Broadway on your next stop to New York City!
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