Here’s our latest Broadway Stage Spy, with gossip from the Great White Way, including Eddie Redmayne and Cabaret; Bernadette Peters and Broadway Barks; Dreamgirls on Broadway; and Merrily We Roll Along.
Eddie Redmayne Broadway bound?
There’s just too much Broadway chatter to ignore the fact that Eddie Edmayne seems to be poised to give his ‘Emcee’ in New York next year.
Rebecca Frecknall’s applauded and awarded production of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret is looking like it’s Broadway bound, and Eddie will once again star at The Emcee, following his critically acclaimed and Olivier Award winning performance in London.
There’s no news on which venue the producers intend to transform into the Kit Kat Club using Tom Scutt’s extraordinary designs, or who might play Sally Bowles, but it looks like it’s happening!
Our own London production of Cabaret continues to go from packed house to packed house. It announced yesterday that it is extending to 29 June 2024, and currently stars Maude Apatow (HBO’s Euphoria) as Sally Bowles and Mason Alexander Park (Netflix’s The Sandman) as the Emcee.
UPDATE: Cabaret has now been confirmed for Broadway – playing the August Wilson Theater from Spring 2024. Casting to be confirmed!
Broadway Barks! West End Woofs?
Is it time that the West End got its own version of Broadway Barks?
The New York institution is an annual star-studded dog and cat adoption event which was founded by Mary Tyler Moore and Bernadette Peters. Produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the event benefits New York City animal shelters and adoption agencies and brings more than 200 cute (and adoptable!) dogs and cats to Broadway.
This year’s 25th annual event took place on 8 July 2023 in Shubert Alley on Broadway, hosted by Bernadette Peters and Randy Rainbow, and with special guests Josh Groban (Sweeney Todd).
Also in attendance were the casts of Moulin Rouge!, Some Like It Hot, Funny Girl, Kimberly Akimbo, Sweeney Todd, Wicked, Shucked and more.
Bernadette Peters is heading over to London any day now to start rehearsals for Cameron Mackintosh’s Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London from 16 September 2023 to 6 January 2024.
Maybe she can rally us whilst she’s here, and get West End Woofs up and barking.
Dreamgirls back to Broadway?
Another rumour whipping up and down the Great White Way at the moment is that Dreamgirls may be ripe for a resurrection on Broadway.
Sonia Friedman produced the West End production starring Glee’s Amber Riley, and Friedman is now a big Broadway player too, with shows including Merrily We Roll Along, New York, New York and Leopoldstadt. So is she set to bring Dreamgirls back home?
Tony winner Alex Newell from Shucked has been mentioned as a possible Effie, as well as Amber.
We can not wait!
Merrily We Roll Along extends
Talking of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, the show announced yesterday that it is extending its Broadway run – before it has even opened!
The show is extending by two months at the Hudson Theatre to 24 March 2024, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez.
Performances begin on 19 September 2023, and is produced by Sonia Friedman, David Babani, Patrick Catullo, and Jeff Romley.
The production, which originally opened at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2022, is directed by Maria Friedman, and has music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, a book by George Furth, and is based on the original play by George S. Kaufman & Moss Hart.
Actually, it originally originally opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and then had an Olivier Award winning West End run. Maybe Sonia Friedman will move the show back to London for another spell after Broadway?
It’s unclear if Daniel Radcliffe as Charley Kringas, Jonathan Groff as Franklin Shepard, and Lindsay Mendez as Mary Flynn would travel to London with the show, but we sure hope so.
