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Broadway News Report
Thu 3 Jun 2010 return to previous page

Next to Normal: M. Mazzie & J. Danieley to star

Marin Mazzie Jason Danieley


Multiple Tony Award nominee Marin Mazzie and Broadway veteran Jason Danieley will lead the cast of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Next to Normal, beginning performances on 19 Jul 2010 at Broadway’s Booth Theatre.

Mazzie and Danieley will play Diana and Dan Goodman, a married couple dealing with Diana’s bipolar disorder and the effect it has on their family.

Next to Normal marks the first time the married Mazzie and Danieley will appear together in a Broadway musical. The couple last appeared on stage together in New York in the off-Broadway play, 'The Trojan Women: A Love Story' in 1996.

Alice Ripley and Brian d’Arcy James, who currently perform the roles of 'Diana' and 'Dan,' will give their final performances on 18 Jul 20210.

Marin Mazzie received Tony and Drama Desk nominations and an Outer Critics Circle Award for her performance as 'Lilli/Katharine' in the hit revival of 'Kiss Me, Kate,' and later received an Olivier Award nomination when she made her West End debut in the show. Other Broadway credits include Lucy Prebble's 'Enron,' as corporate vice president 'Claudia Roe,' 'Monty Python’s Spamalot' (also West End), 'Ragtime' (Tony nomination), 'Passion' (Tony nomination), 'Man of La Mancha,' 'Into the Woods' and 'Big River.'

Jason Danieley most recently starred on Broadway in Kander & Ebb's 'Curtains'. He made his Broadway debut as the title character in 'Candide,' directed by Harold Prince, and also starred in 'The Full Monty' on Broadway and in the West End.

Directed by Michael Greif, Next to Normal currently stars Alice Ripley (Diana), Brian d’Arcy James (Dan), Kyle Dean Massey (Gabe), Jennifer Damiano, Adam Chanler-Berat and Louis Hobson.

Winner of three Tony Awards including 'Best Score' 'Best Orchestrations' and 'Best Actress in a Musical' (Alice Ripley), Next to Normal, opened at the Booth Theatre on 15 Apr 2009, following previews from 27 Mar 2009, and is currently selling tickets through to 22 Aug 2010.

The musical recently received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize Board described the show as, “a powerful rock musical that grapples with mental illness in a suburban family and expands the scope of subject matter for musicals.”

The musical opened to mixed, but mostly good reviews: "It has rhythm and angst and unexpected harmonies. What is doesn't have is a story that I can believe."
(newyorktheatreguide.com); "a work of muscular grace and power" (New York Times); "more than a triumph - it's next to wondrous" (New York Daily News); "close to good may not be enough" (New York Post); "easier to admire than love." (Bloomberg); "powerful, riveting and not to be missed" (The Record); "touches your heart and gets under your skin" (NY1).

Next to Normal is a contemporary musical that explores how one suburban household copes with crisis, and shows how far two parents will go to keep themselves sane and their family's world intact.

Next to Normal features set design by Mark Wendland, costume design by Jeff Mahshie, lighting design by Kevin Adams, and sound design by Brian Ronan.

The musical is being produced on Broadway by David Stone, James L. Nederlander, Barbara Whitman, Patrick Catullo, and Second Stage Theatre.

Next to Normal opened at Off-Broadway's Second Stage Theatre on 13 Feb 2008 and was significantly reworked in a subsequent out-of-town run at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, where it opened on 10 Dec 2008 and played through to 18 Jan 2009.

Not ignoring, just life gets in the way

So I haven't neglected this on purpose.... but with school, work, and a wedding --- this fell to the wasteside. Though this is the weekend of the Tony Awards, my own persoanl joy. Usually I have a Tony's party at my house, with some dress up clothes much to the delight of my niece and nephew, but this year I'm out of town on the grand night. So YouTube will allow me the performances, but California will probably get my attention tomorrow night.

Anyway, enjoy the Tony's!

Sondheim Theater = good, Replacing Henry Miller = bad

I love stephen sondheim. no, make that - L.O.V.E. him. but i also really like Henry Miller so this is bitter sweet for me. but alas, sondheim is more of this time, so i dig it.

Broadway News Report

Tue 23 Mar 2010

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Stephen Sondheim Theatre: Henry Miller’s to be renamed Longtime collaborators James Lapine and John Weidman announced the renaming of Henry Miller’s Theatre to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. The renaming of the theatre is dedicated to Stephen Sondheim, "the greatest and best known artist in American musical theatre on his 80th birthday." The announcement was made at Roundabout Theatre Company’s gala performance on 22 Mar 2010 of the new Broadway musical Sondheim on Sondheim. A small group of Stephen Sondheim devotees initiated a generous contribution to the renaming dedication of the theatre to support Roundabout’s Musical Production Fund. The Musical Production Fund was established in 2003 by Roundabout’s Board of Directors to sustain this important art form and insure that Roundabout can continue its mission to produce musical revivals as well as developing new musicals by both established and emerging composers. At their request, the amount of the contribution to the Musical Production Fund will not be disclosed. Stephen Sondheim is widely acknowledged as the most innovative, most influential, and most important composer and lyricist in modern Broadway history. He is the winner of an Academy Award, numerous Tony Awards, multiple Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Some of his other accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center Honors (1993), the National Medal of Arts (1996), the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Music (2006) and a special Tony Awardâfor Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre (2008). Roundabout Theatre Company' Artistic Director Todd Haimes said, “Stephen Sondheim is, quite simply, an artistic genius. Perhaps no writer of musical theatre has had a greater influence on his chosen art form. We are so proud that Roundabout has had the privilege of being a theatrical home to some of Steve’s greatest works, including 'Company,' 'Follies,' 'Assassins,' 'Pacific Overtures,' 'Sunday in the Park with George' and the concert performance of 'A Little Night Music.' It’s thrilling to see one of the greatest artists of our time be able to join the other legendary theatre artists who have had Broadway theatres named after them, like Ethel Barrymore, David Belasco, Edwin Booth, George Broadhurst, George Gershwin, Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne, Richard Rodgers, Helen Hayes, Eugene O’Neill, Neil Simon and August Wilson.” John Weidman said,“Steve Sondheim has been, without question, the pre-eminent artist working in the musical theatre for the last fifty years. The appropriateness of naming a theatre after him is self-evident. The hope in naming a theatre after him is that it will become a home for artists whose work aspires to the heady level of daring, honesty and rigor which has always characterized Steve’s. It’s been my experience that billing has never mattered much to Steve, but it’s nice to know there is now one Broadway house where his name will always appear above the title.” The Durst Organization and Bank of America completed construction and restoration of the Henry Miller’s Theatre on West 43rd Street in Times Square in May 2009. Henry Miller’s Theatre is the first new Broadway theatre built in over a decade. The Theatre sits behind the preserved and restored neo-Georgian façade of the original 1918 theatre.

Addams Family - To Broadway!

PAUL FANLUND | The Capital Times

CHICAGO – As the new musical “The Addams Family” closes its two-month run here next week and moves to New York City, the buzz in theater circles is whether its Midwestern preview will have served as the launching pad for the next Broadway mega-hit.

After all, in recent years Chicago’s theater district has been a proving and refining ground for “Spamalot,” “The Producers” and “Movin’ Out” before the musicals’ smash debuts on Broadway.

If “The Addams Family” does not prove hugely popular when it opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York this spring, it will not be for the lack of A-list talent, on stage or off.

Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, creators of the 2006 Tony Award-winning best musical, “Jersey Boys,” wrote the book for “The Addams Family” and composer Andrew Lippa (“The Wild Party”) created the music and lyrics. Lippa’s awards include a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle and a Grammy nomination. But the greatest sizzle is on stage, with two of the biggest Broadway stars of this era: Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth.

Lane (Gomez Addams) has won two Tonys and an Emmy, and is best known for his roles as Albert in the movie “The Birdcage” and as Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” where he co-starred with Matthew Broderick.

While most familiar to television audiences for her Emmy-winning role as Lilith – the wife of Dr. Frasier Crane on the shows “Cheers” and “Frasier” — Neuwirth (Morticia Addams) burst onto the Broadway scene in “A Chorus Line” nearly 30 years ago and gained her greatest stage success with the revival of the musical “Chicago” in the 1990s.

Surprisingly, “The Addams Family” is not based on the TV series from the mid-1960s, but instead on the “bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams” in The New Yorker magazine, according to the show’s Web site.

The story is built around a love affair. Wednesday, daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams, falls for a “normal” boy named Lucas Beineke from a conservative Ohio family. When the Beineke family comes to the creepy and brilliantly staged Addams mansion for dinner, the cultural collision is joined, with music, dancing and lots of subplots and one-liners along the way.

Initial reviews of the show were mixed. Most notably, an influential Chicago Tribune critic suggested the show needs more spontaneity and a sharper focus. Apparently in response, producers announced Monday that Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks had been hired to supervise changes to “take this original musical to the next level” before it hits Broadway, he told the New York Times.

Still, in viewing a holiday performance last weekend before the announcement, it would be hard to imagine it not becoming a big thing on Broadway.

To start with, the roles of the lead couple seem to have been written for Lane and Neuwirth. With a twinkle in his eye, Lane produces a bemused, stylish and consistently funny portrayal of Gomez. A highlight is his rendition of “Happy/Sad,” a touching song about the conflicted feelings a parent has watching his child grow up and chart her own path in life.

Neuwirth is a perfect fit for the role of Morticia. She is both eccentric and elegant, and floats across the stage in a sleek black dress, haunted by worry that she is losing her sex appeal.

While it is hard to imagine anyone else originating these roles, it is a young, less-credentialed actress named Krysta Rodriguez who most stands out. She plays the part of Wednesday Addams beautifully, with emotive eyes, understated intensity and a stellar voice. Judging from her credits to date, “The Addams Family” appears to be her big career break.

As one might expect in a $16.5-million production with marquee headliners, the other roles are occupied by actors with huge credentials.

The part of Mal Beineke, the father of Wednesday’s suitor, is played by Terrence Mann, whose Broadway credentials include the role of Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” and Javert in “Les Miserables,” both of which earned him Tony nominations. And the part of Alice Beineke, the mother, is played by Carolee Carmello, whose Broadway credits include the lead role of Donna in “Mamma Mia!”

Even the part of the eccentric Uncle Fester is performed by a big-time Broadway talent. Kevin Chamberlain, a Tony nominee, played the role of the odd and rotund Fester with humor and style.

Yet the pressure is really on, perhaps because critics expect “The Addams Family” to be such a commercial success this spring. A New York Post column headline “Flaws Run in the Family” brought a holiday scolding from Lane.

“Everyone on the creative team is working very hard to bring the best possible show into New York,” wrote Lane in a letter published in the paper. “I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to anyway: Birthing a new musical is no day at the beach. As (another critic) said, ‘If Hitler’s alive, I hope he’s out of town with a new musical.’ After your column today, I feel (Hitler) might be working for the New York Post.”

After watching Lane’s portrayal of Gomez Addams, that feisty spirit seems like it could have come from either Gomez Addams or Nathan Lane.

Here from the hinterlands, informed by a nearly-ready-for-prime-time version of the musical, it will be fun to watch the bullets over Broadway this spring.

Ode to the belters and the style of belting

(photo courtesy of the most basic Google search)

I was having a discussion with one of my friends who is a choral singer. She is trained, talented, singer, paid to sing with a church choir and while we both respect most music, our favorites differ. She loves the pretty, choral, harmonies, and classic musicals like Rodgers and Hammerstein. I love R&H and some "pretty" musicals are some of my favorites, but I also respect the belters and the direction musical theater is taking in modern music.

Take for example, Idina and "Wicked" - she doesn't like it, can't even listen to it or her. (horrors upon horrors for me). We talked about the different style of song and how it may require a belter - the message, the music, the composer. But I never met someone who couldn't handle belting.

I do agree that some of the "belters" can't sing pretty, which I think was my friends point; however I think most can and more importantly belting is a style and there are some that are meant for it and others that weren't. Idina may be the best Elpeba, but I don't think she'll pull off an aria or pretty song. [In the concert version of "Chess" the song "You and I" just wasn't as heartbreaking as it could of been. Her voice is just too large] "I'm not that girl" was close, but not "The Hills are Alive" or "Tell me on a Sunday". It's not a slam, as I am the girl who was told by a director, "You're my Annie and great for stage, but this is choir and it's a different style. It's about blending." I know I excel in theatrical singing over "Ave Maria" and I prefer it. So I love Idina for belting what I could only dream to belt. Let the other choral songbirds rock out the arias - there's more of them anyway, and less who can pull off the belting and range that the belters must have.

So this is my ode to belters, some of which can do the pretty too, but I love them for their range:

Idina Menzel

Marian Mazzie

Alice Ripley

Sutton Foster

Bernadette Peters

Stephanie Block

Sherie Rene Scott