London shows hit Broadway

From London to New York: Priscilla, Sister Act, War Horse and Jerusalem to open on Broadway

Four big West End shows are opening on Broadway in the coming weeks. Priscilla Queen of the Desert is currently in previews at the Palace Theatre on Broadway (and the Palace Theatre, London!), starring Will Swenson as Tick. Swenson appeared in the recent Broadway and London productions of Hair, and is joined in Priscilla by Tony Sheldon, who revisits the role of Bernadette after wowing audiences in Australia and London, and Nick Adams (La Cage Aux Folles) as Adam.

Over at the Broadway Theatre previews start on 24 March for Sister Act, which wings its way to America following a decent run at the London Palladium. The star of the London show, Patina Miller, will reprise her role as nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, joined by Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza) as Mother Superior.

Also transferring to Broadway, the National Theatre’s production of War Horse will start previews at the Lincoln Center in New York from 15 March, and the Royal Court’s smash-hit production of Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem will play the Music Box theatre from 2 April. The play will feature its Olivier Award-winning London star Mark Rylance, who is sure become a major Tony Awards contender for his tour de force performance as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron.

Book tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre, New York

Book tickets to Sister Act at the Broadway Theatre, New York

Book tickets to War Horse at the Lincoln Center in New York

Book tickets to Jerusalem at the Music Box theatre, New York

 

Catch Me If You Can starts previews

Previews begin this week for major new Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can at the Neil Simon Theatre (opens 10 April), based on the Stephen Spielberg movie and the true story that inspired it.

The show is led by rising new Broadway star Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Wicked) as con-man Frank Abagnale, and also stars Kerry Butler and Norbert Leo Butz. Aaron is featured in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair and there is a real buzz about him. The musical comes from the Hairspray and Love Never Dies creative team of Jack O’Brien (director) and Jerry Mitchell (Choreography), with a book by Terence McNally (The Full Monty), and score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Book tickets to Catch Me If You Can at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York

Taymor speaks out over Spider-Man

Another week, another Spider-Man update! In the ongoing saga of the world’s most expensive, and possibly most previewed, musical its director Julie “The Lion King” Taymor has now spoken out about the Spidey woes.

At a conference in California earlier this week, she told the packed audience that she was currently “in the crucible and the fire of transformation” as she and her team of actors and creators continue to work on the show. The current opening night is set for 15 March, but apparently this may delayed again for a sixth time.

“I am in the crucible right now”, she said. “It is my trial by fire. It’s my company’s trial by fire. We have survived because our theme song is ‘Rise Above.’ ”

Taylor went on to say that “Anyone who creates knows — when it’s not quite there. Where it hasn’t quite become the phoenix or the burnt char. And I am right there.”

The show has cost more than $65 million, the most expensive show in Broadway, and possibly world, history. Changes continue to be made to the book, music and direction and we hear that Bono caught up with the show on Tuesday night to see how it is going – the first time since mid-January.

Mid-January? He is co-creator of the show with fellow U2 band member The Edge. It is the most talked about show in decades. The critics have all broken the producer/critics pact to not review a show before opening night and have all piled in with damning reviews. Don’t you think you would see it again before now?

Taymor may well be losing the plot herself given the long volcano anecdote she told the conference, allowing us to compare and contrast with the Spider-Man debacle: “I am on the precipice looking down into a dead volcano on my left, on the right it is sheer shale. I am in thongs and sarong and no hiking boots. I realize I can’t go back the way I have come. I can’t. So I throw away my camera. I throw away my thongs and I looked at the line straight in front of me. And I got down on all fours like a cat. And I held with my knees to either side of this line in front of me — 30 yards or 30 feet, I don’t know. The wind was massively blowing, and the only way I could get to the other side was to look at the line straight in front of me.”

Despite the ongoing drama behind-the-scenes of the show, and sometimes in front of the curtain as a number of the cast have been injured during the complex flying and fight scenes, Taylor maintains that, “it’s right there in the palm of my hands. In all of my company’s hands. I have beautiful collaborators. We as collaborators only get there all together. I know you understand that. You stay there going forward and you see this extraordinary thing right in front of your eyes.”

You’ve got to give her something for that.

LINKS

Spider-Man news and features

Spider-Man reviews

VIDEO: Trailer for Spider-Man

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York

Sierra Boggess to play Broadway

Broadway: Spider-Man Reviews Round-up

The critics have cracked. And it’s “prognosis negative”!

After reporting earlier this week that New York critics were starting to get jumpy about being kept away from Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York, despite the fact that thousands of people have already seen the show, Monday saw the gloves finally come off.

The endlessly postponed official first night, which was to finally be Monday 7 February, was postponed again. This proved too much for critics, including the all-powerful Ben Brantley of the New York Times, and UK critics who had booked their flights and were not going to rebook for anyone!

$65 million dollars is a lot to spend on a musical, and it’s safe to say that the show is nothing less than a phenomenon in the US, but not necessarily for all the right reasons.

The critics who have filed reviews so far did not hold back, with all of the majors we highlight below damning the show in pretty much every regard.

Whether their opinions will mean much to a show that is doing great weekly business at the box-office is hard to say, although much of the hype is built on the injuries and problems that have plagued the show rather than any kind of artistic or entertainment merit.

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York.

Spider-Man: critics right to feel aggrieved

Why wait to review a show when hundreds of thousands of audience members have seen it before you?

It appears that theatre critics of some of the major New York and US press are losing their patience with Julie Taymor and Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.

The show has been delayed countless times since its original opening date of 21 December 2010. Producers recently announced that the new opening night would be set for 15 March 2011, to allow more fine-tuning of the complicated technical aspects of the show, notably the flying sequences, which have caused a number of high-profile injuries during rehearsals and previews.

Julie Taylor, director of The Lion King, has justified the repeated delays by arguing that the extended previews are in lieu of the usual pre-Broadway, out-of-town try-out for big New York musicals.

But New York critics are becoming increasingly angry about not being allowed to review the show, exacerbated by Spider-Man pulling in large audiences at the Foxwoods Theatre, beating Wicked at the box-office and often drawing over $1.5 million a week.

The New York Drama Critics’ Circle, which represents critics at papers such as the New York Post, The New Yorker, the Wall Street Journal and Newsday, met earlier this week and Spider-Man was on the agenda. President of the organisation, Adam Feldman, wrote on his TimeOut New York blog that, “the discussion was spirited but that we did not resolve to stick to any specific course of action as a group on the question of when to review the show, whose preview period has been extended multiple times.”

That said, critics at major New York and US papers are apparently preparing to review the show ahead of the official opening night, despite protests from the show’s producers. Also a number of New York critics have already filed reviews based on preview performances, something which is frowned upon by producers on both sides of the Atlantic. Jeremy Gerard from Bloomberg News and Linda Winer from Newsday have both broken ranks with other critics and written reviews.

Critics are right in feeling frustrated. The gentleman’s agreement between critics and producers to wait until the official opening night before filing a review should work both ways. Continually preventing the press from expressing an opinion on a major show, whilst audiences swell in, makes a mockery of their profession.

In an age of blogging, when amateur critics feel no compunction to honour these kinds of agreements and happily post reviews during previews, producers should respect the work of professional theatre critics.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, who encountered vocal bloggers during previews of his new Adelphi show Love Never Dies, must be watching Spider-Man events with interest. Lloyd-Webber was particularly perturbed by the bloggers, but must be wishing that he, too, had risked lengthening the preview period to iron out some of its creases.

————————————-

Since posting this, Mark Shenton of the Stage and Charles Spencer of the Telegraph have both filed reviews of the show. And they are not good. Both have lost patience and personally bought tickets to review the show. Would they have done this if it was in London? Hard to say, and would be interesting to know.

LINKS

Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York

Spider-Man No.1 on Broadway

The world’s most expensive musical, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, has knocked Wicked off the Number One slot at the box-office on Broadway.

The new show, directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and previewing at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York, pulled in $1,588,514 at the box-office last week.

The show was originally slated to open on 11 January. However, a number of set-backs have led the costly show to put back its official opening to 7 February.

Such has been the  intense interest around the musical that a number of New York critics have filed reviews based on preview performances, something which is frowned upon by producers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Jeremy Gerard from Bloomberg News and Linda Winer from Newsday have both broken ranks with other critics and written reviews, joining the wave of on-line bloggers who have been posting about the show.

The production has suffered a series of cast injuries during its rehearsals and previews as a result of the ambitious flying sequences staged throughout the show. The most serious incident was stunt man Christopher Tierney, who suffered from four broken ribs and three cracked vertebrae after falling 30 feet into the orchestra pit. He hopes to return to the show once he recovers.

Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark features music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge and stars Reeve Carney as the Marvel comic book hero Peter Parker who is bitten by a spider and finds he has super powers.

Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York

Spider-Man starts on Broadway

The world’s most expensive musical, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, starts previews tonight, Sunday 29 November, on Broadway.

The major new show directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and featuring music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge, starts previews tonight, Sunday 28 November 2010, at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway.

A new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has been released to publicise the show, which formally opens at the venue on 11 January 2011, after technical delays prevented it opening before Christmas as previously scheduled.

The show features direction by Taymor (The Tempest, Across The Universe, The Lion King), music and lyrics by 22-time Grammy® Award-winners Bono and The Edge, and a book co-written by Taymor and Glen Berger (Underneath The Lintel).

Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark is widely seen as the most ambitious production ever undertaken on Broadway, and stars Reeve Carney as the Marvel comic book hero Peter Parker who is bitten by a spider and finds he has super powers.

The $50 million show has suffered a number of financial and funding problems, with delays causing original cast members Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming to drop out of the production. The star of the show, Reeve Carney, is a member of rock band CARNEY, alongside his brother Zane. His acting credits include Ferdinand in Taymor’s forthcoming movie The Tempest, alongside Helen Mirren as a female Prospero, Ben Whishaw as Ariel and Djimon Hounsou as Caliban.

Watch a video of the new TV commercial for Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York

VIDEO: Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark

TV commercial for major new Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark, starring Reeve Carney and directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor and featuring music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge.

VIDEO

Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark – TV Commercial

Book tickets to Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark at the Foxwoods Theatre in New York

Elaine Paige cast in USA Follies

Elaine Paige to sing I’m Still Here in new US production of Follies; new album Elaine Paige and Friends out Monday; new EP concert tour announced.

More news on the new American production of  Stephen Sondheim’s Follies (see our August piece, Fantasy Casting). Sadly, speculation that Kim Cattrall would be joining Bernadette Peters (who is playing Sally) to perform the role of Phyllis was just that, speculation! Instead Jan Maxwell will take the role at Washington’s Kennedy Center in May and June next year.

Jan is a Broadway stage regular whose recent turns in The Royal Family and Lend Me a Tenor in New York earned her Tony Award nominations for both parts.

Perhaps even more exciting is that First Lady of British Musical Theatre Elaine Paige (for that is her full name) is continuing her US offensive by taking the part of Carlotta Campion. She’s too OLD we hear you cry! But Elaine playing the seen-it-all-before ex-Follies girl and fading film star, who belts out show-stopper “I’m Still Here”, will be something to behold and follows a long line of gutsy broads who have played the part including the late Eartha Kitt in London.

Other cast include Terrence Currier as Theodore Whitman, Rosalind Elias as Heidi Schiller, Florence Lacey as Sandra Crane, Linda Lavin as Hattie Walker, Régine as Solange LaFitte, David Sabin as Dimitri Weismann, Susan Watson as Emily Whitman and Terri White as Stella Deems. The show will be directed by Eric Schaeffer with choreography by Warren Carlyle.

MORE ELAINE NEWS

Elaine has announced her UK concert tour to follow her new album, Elaine Paige and Friends.

The tour starts in February 2011 and covers much of the country’s A-list venues including Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre, the Royal Festival Hall in London, The Edinburgh Playhouse and Symphony Hall in Birmingham. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, 28 October.

Her album will be released this Monday, 1 November 2010 and features duets with a host of big stars. Watch videos with her duet stars John Barrowman, Olivia Newton John and Billy Ocean here.

Buy Elaine Paige and Friends here.

ELAINE PAIGE CONCERT DATES

IPSWICH: Regent Theatre – 23 Feb, www.ipswichregent.com
BLACKPOOL: Opera House – 25 Feb, www.blackpoollive.co.uk
GATESHEAD: The Sage – 26 Feb, www.thesagegateshead.org
EDINBURGH: The Playhouse – 28 Feb, www.edinburghplayhouse.org.uk
GLASGOW: Royal Concert Hall – 1 March, www.glasgowconcerthalls.com
EASTBOURNE: The Congress Theatre – 3 March, www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk
LONDON: Royal Festival Hall – 4 March, www.southbankcentre.co.uk
MANCHESTER: Bridgewater Hall – 6 March, www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk
BIRMINGHAM: Symphony Hall – 7 March, www.thsh.co.uk
CARDIFF: Wales Millennium Centre – 9 March, www.wmc.org.uk
TORQUAY: Princess Theatre – 11 March, www.princesstheatre.org.uk

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