BROADWAY MAGAZINE- On February 28, 1991, the Cameron Mackintosh-produced Les Miserables began previews at the Broadway Theatre with Colm Wilkinson as Jean Valjean and Terrance Mann as Javert.
The show was already a hit in London and Paris, and the Broadway run followed suit, lasting for sixteen years and winning eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Plus, the show was given an honorary loaf of bread from the now defunct Broadway Bakers Association Of The Performing Arts And Sciences.
Celebrate by making plans to catch famous Les Miserables star Lea Salonga at The Carlyle this March in New York City. We will.
Tucci Makes Broadway Debut, Earns First Academy Award Nomination
It was a pleasure to meet Stanley Tucci this week at the Lend Me A Tenor press event. America knows Tucci from his film roles in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia both where he starred alongside Meryl Streep. His performance in The Lovely Bones earned him his first Academy Award nomination (watch what Tucci says about leaving New York to go to the Academy Award in Los Angeles next week). Meryl Streep is nominated alongside Tucci for an Academy Award this year for her role in Julie and Julia, Streep has already won a Golden Globe for her role in Julie & Julia.
Tucci is making his Broadway directorial debut in Lend Me A Tenor, something he says he feels is very natural. Watch the video above to see our interview with Tucci.
Writers Note: Nora Ephron wrote and directed Julie & Julia, she also has a current off Broadway show Love, Loss & What I Wore. Meryl Streep told us that she wants to come to Broadway. Stanley Tucci is directing Lend Me A Tenor. See our interview here where, separately all three say they have talked about working together.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE- Happy 78th birthday, Elizabeth Taylor! The icon was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Ms. Taylor first appeared on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful with Sammy Davis Junior. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Little Foxes, and famously appeared on Broadway with sometime husband Richard Burton in Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
Of course, Elizabeth Taylor did her part to bring great playwrights to the big screen too. She won an Oscar for her role as Martha in the film adaptation of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, as well as a nomination for playing Maggie in the film version of Tennessee Williams’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
- Schuyler Velasco, Broadway Magazine
Celebrate the Birthday of Broadway’s Elizabeth Taylor with us on Twitter. No cake, but some singing.
A List Group All Have Done Movies Together… Broadway Soon?
When we were at the Golden Globes this year, we asked Meryl Streep if she ever thought of coming to Broadway. She surprised us and told the world (Streep’s answer to our question was on NBC National) that she is actually currently looking for the perfect Broadway production to be in.
Streep and Stanley Tucci both had celebrated performances in The Devil Wears Prada. Nora Ephron wrote and directed Julie & Julia where Streep and Tucci both starred. Ephron also wrote the current off-Broadway hit Love, Loss & What I Wore. Tucci is making his directorial debut on Broadway this season with Lend Me A Tenor.
Yesterday, we had the chance to interview both Nora Eprhon and Stanley Tucci. Before those interviews we started to think. Have Streep, Ephron and Tucci talked about doing a Broadway production together?
The answer is yes. You heard it here first. Watch the video above to learn more.
Writer’s Note: While on the subway in New York today, we saw the picture below and smiled.
Tony Shalhoub is a recognizable face in most American households. Winning three Emmy awards playing Adrian Monk on the widely popular television series Monk, Shalhoub now is starring in the Broadway revival of Lend Me A Tenor. Shalhoub’s wife Brooke Adams is also in the revival.
Yesterday we interviewed Shalhoub at the new 42nd Street Studios and asked him how prepairing for Broadway differs from preparing for a television series. Watch the video above to see what he has to say.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE - On February 26, 1891, Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler premiered in Oslo, Norway. Iben’s work ushered in the era of modern drama, and his ill-fated heroine has been played by scores of famous actresses, including Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Annette Bening, Cate Blanchett, and Mary-Louise Parker in the most recent Broadway production. For more on Hedda click here.
An avid snowboarder, Henrik Ibsen would’ve loved the winter Olympics. Our guess is Hedda would’ve fared well in the Cross-Country Skeet shooting or Manuscript Burning competitions.
Matthew Modine is a Golden Globe Winner and Emmy Award Nominee who has appeared in over 50 feature films and he was on the CW 11 News In NYC this morning talking about his new play on Broadway, The Miracle Worker.
Modine stars alongside Abigail Breslin and Alison Pill and see why The Miracle Worker is such an amazing story, watch the video to see why.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE- Ah, a weekend in the country…On February 25, 1973, Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music premiered on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, starring Glynis Johns, Len Cariou, and Patricia Elliot. Critics embraced the quiet, complex little show, which won six Tony Awards including Best Musical.
A revival of A Little Night Music, starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones, opened in December 2009 and is currently running on Broadway, and was featured in the January issue of Broadway Magazine. Earning rave reviews and performing well at the box office, it is another jewel in the crown of Stephen Sondheim.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE- On February 24, 1999, Julie Taymor’s musical adaptation of The Lion King received a Grammy award for Best Musical Show Album. The show also nabbed five Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director of a Musical for Taymor, the first woman in history to win the award. The Lion King is still running at the Minskoff Theatre, and remains the ninth longest-running Broadway show of all time. Read more about the show here.
Taymor’s new musical Spiderman Turn Off the Dark, with music and lyrics by U2’s Bono and The Edge, is scheduled to open this season eventually.
–Schuyler Velasco, Broadway Magazine
Join us on Twitter and keep the Broadway celebration going.
Most know Sean William Scott as the goofball Stifler from the American Pie movies, but did you also know he loves Broadway?
In a recent interview cinemablend.com asked Scott if he would ever like to do something onstage, Scott said, “I have an idea. You know what my dream is? The Nightmare Before Christmas, I want to do that on Broadway, [playing] Jack Skellington. Because I grew up singing. I’m a much better singer than actor, which doesn’t really say a whole lot. But that would be an incredible musical. I’m actually going to record myself for Tim Burton.”
Scott can be seen in the Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan movie “Cop Out” in theaters on Friday.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE- Happy 78th birthday, Elizabeth Taylor! The icon was born on February 27, 1932 in London, England. Ms. Taylor first appeared on Broadway in Mr. Wonderful with Sammy Davis Junior. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance in The Little Foxes, and famously appeared on Broadway with sometime husband Richard Burton in Noel Coward’s Private Lives.
BROADWAY MAGAZINE- On February 24, 1999, Julie Taymor’s musical adaptation of 
