If you are looking for a Broadway show for the entire family, Cirque DreamsJungle Fantasy, now playing a 10-week summer engagement, may be just the ticket. The evening is a colorful collection of musical numbers, where many of the talented acrobats and gymnasts dress up like animals from the jungle. Creator/director Neil Goldberg has spawned a jungle adventure themed musical, with songs by Jill Winters that have a driving disco beat to keep things lively. Although the outstanding routines, mostly acrobatic or aerial balancing acts are more than competent, the show lacks a needed spark of inventiveness.
Guild Hall, the cultural center of East Hampton, launched their Summer Season with an intimate performance by Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole and jazz pianist/singer Billy Stritch at East Hampton Point. Ebersole & Stritch took the stage after dinner and cocktails with a scintillating act that left them wanting more. Look for this duo to show up on the cabaret scene this Fall/Winter season. We overhead talk of the Carlyle. They were dazzling together weaving a subtle spell with their flawless easy style.
Bay Street Theatre opened their 2008 Target Mainstage Season with a revival of "Shanghai Moon" by the legendary Charles Busch, starring Busch and his long time cohort Julie Halston, who were a sensation last season in "The Lady in Question". Photography: Barry Gordin
Paulo Szot, Patti Lupone, Deanna Dunagan, Mark Rylance
The revival of "South Pacific" was the big winner at the Tony Awards hosted by Whoopi Goldberg taking home 7 awards. Best play "August: Osage County," followed" with 5, and best musical "In the Heights" scored 4 awards.
The 2007/2008 Tony Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on CBS this Sunday. When the nominations, recognizing excellence on Broadway, were announced about a month ago In The Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical love letter to the Washington Heights community where he grew up, scored 13 nods covering almost every major category. Not far behind with 11 nominations was the stunning Lincoln Center revival of the American classic South Pacific.
The 53rd annual Village Voice Obie Awards were presented at Webster Hall on Monday night May 19th. Celebrating the world of Off-Broadway, the Obies are granted to artists on the basis of merit. They are noncompetitive awards for which there are no fixed categories or listed nominations. This year the Obie committee, consisting of theater critics and working theater artists, recognized the following individuals and companies for their contributions and accomplishments. Photography: Nanette Shaw
South Pacific heads list of 2007/2008 Drama Desk Awards, with 5 honors followed by August: Osage County, Gypsy and Passing Strange with 3 each. Boeing-Boeing, LesLiaison Dangereuses, Sunday In The Park With George and The 39 Steps are other multiple winners with 2 each. Patti LuPone (Gypsy), Paulo Szot (SouthPacific), Deanna Dunagan (August: Osage County) and Mark Rylance (Boeing-Boeing) Win Top Acting Awards Photography: Barry Gordin
The Tony Award Nominations were announced today with few surprises.In the Heightswas the big winner with 13 nominations, followed by the revival of SouthPacificwith 11 nods. The Pulitzer Prize winning drama August: OsageCounty scored 7 nominations, as did the inventive new musical PassingStrange and the revival of Gypsy with Patti LuPone.
Brooke Shields presented Tommy Tune, a 9 time Tony Award winner, with the first Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards Gala benefitting The Auditory Oral School of New York. The Awards established in 1982 with the cooperation of Fred Astaire to honor him and his sister, Adele, who starred with her brother in 10 Broadway musicals between 1917 and 1931, recognize outstanding achievement in dance on Broadway each season. This year the Awards will be expanded to include dance and choreography for film as this was the métier that brought Fred Astaire to international fame.
The Mike Nichols revival of Clifford Odets’s 1950 play “The Country Girl” headed by two Oscar winning movie stars and a popular film/television actor has been the subject of much speculation along the rialto. Most of the gossip has focused on Morgan Freeman’s inability to remember his lines during rehearsals, adding an element of drama to the unfolding production, with reports in the press of on stage flubs during previews. Nichols even removed what many considered to be a pivotal scene from Act I, only to restore it before opening night to the satisfaction of the purists.
The dazzling Tony Award winning Broadway Diva Betty Buckley lit up the stage with three sold our concerts at Bay Street Theater over the memorial day weekend. Considered one of the quintessential leading ladies of the American musical theatre Buckley charmed the intimate gathering with astonishing interpretations of an eclectic mix of songs from Broadway, the great American songbook, jazz standards and more. Photography: Barry Gordin
Some of Broadways brightest stars were on hand when the Outer Critics Circle presented their 2008 awards for outstanding achievement in the theatre. Theater legend Jerry Herman was a special honoree at the 58th Annual Awards Party held at Sardi’s Eugenia Room where winners in 23 categories were also honored for the 2008 season. Presented included Raul Esparza, Priscilla Lopez, Karen Ziemba and Jerry Herman. The 2008 Award Winner were:
Joshua Schmidt’s haunting musical adaptation of Elmer Rice’s Expressionist tragedy the “Adding Machine,” currently playing downtown at the Minetta Lane Theatre, is a stunning artistic achievement. Directed by David Cromer with daring style the brilliantly conceived production is simply shattering. While the moody chamber piece may not be for the masses, Cromer’s original staging of the dark tale is nonetheless a bracing heartbreaker that remains true to the source material, while courageously avoiding commercial conceits.
