Broadway.tv Blog

BROADWAY MAGAZINE- Perhaps Comics and Broadway will never mix. First, the dramas of Spider-Man The Musical and now this. Fans of the production of Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson were eager to see it move to Broadway. The stars seemed to favor the musical from The Public Theatre with the Shubert Theatre folks offering up the venerable Jacobs Theatre as a home for the show. Now, however…the X-MEN have arrived.

According to The New York Times, Bloody star Benjamin Walker has been offered a part in the global hit movie franchise “X-Men”s upcoming project. So, the Bloody arrival on Broadway may have to wait for a few months.

Oh well. Pundits guess is it will still arrive in Broadway before Spider-Man does. Any news about the Hulk Musical?

Follow us on Twitter and tell us if Super Heroes and Broadway will ever mix.

BROADWAY MAGAZINE- With the finale on Sunday at Radio City Music Hall, the 2010 Tony Awards entered the history books. Now, there is news that the 2011 Tony Awards will not take place at historic Radio City Music Hall. According to multiple reports, the Tony Awards are nomads next season.

According to the New York Times, Radio City has a sustained booking for June 2011…perhaps the Barney and Friends Spectacular? According to the same report, the Tony Awards seekers have a list of venues in consideration, including the elegant Beacon Theater or Madison Square Garden.

Looks like a great opportunity to re-imagine the ceremony. Follow along with us on Twitter as the 2011 Tony Home Hunt continues.

“It’s about something bigger than superficial taglines.”  – Terry Johnson, director of the revival

Congratulations to La Cage aux Folles, for its wins for Best Direction of  Musical, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical, and Best Revival of a Musical.

For yes, this play is still remarkably relevant, for its enduring wit and engagement with ever-present issues; for its heart and vivacity, literally laughing in the faces of the intolerant and unwilling to understand; for its vibrance and multilayered nature, even in translation. 

As director Johnson put it, the piece remains “timeless” because “we [still] live in a world of factions” and it is constantly necessary to create “liberal space[s]” in which we can breathe, live, and learn to embody and accept one another’s difference(s) of opinion, heart, and lifestyle. 

That is what theatre ought to be: space for movement, breath, and the songs of birds free from restrictions, rules, and… well, cages.

One of the coolest things about working for Broadway.TV is getting the chance to talk to actors, however briefly, as if they aren’t actors as at all–I’m always surprised by the down to earth personalities of the actors we interview. Before the Tony Awards began we snagged a few minutes on the red carpet with Memphis’s Chad Kimball, who was as excited and starstruck as the poncho-wearing fans screaming just a few feet behind us. There’s absolutely nothing pretentious about this guy–we joked around about the swag room (he’d never heard of it but we’d been told there was a room full of gifts for the actors), and he said quite frankly that the rain didn’t do anything to diminish his excitement about attending the Tonys. I was delighted to see him singing his heart out onstage with Montego Glover, and when he busted some jaw dropping dance moves I could hardly believe that talented performer had been talking with me just a few hours earlier about how crazy it was for him to be at the Tony Awards.  To me it seems like the most natural place in the world for Chad Kimball.

It’s a little hectic in the Press Room because our attention is split between watching the Tonys on the big screens and focusing on the winners as they take the stage for questions. So I’ve definitely missed some things, mostly Sean Hayes’s hosting, which makes me laugh every time I look up, and a few acceptance speeches. Please, if you think of other moments to add to my list, comment away.

Giving a moving acceptance speech is a real art. And as a longtime Broadway fan, I’m a huge sucker for actors (particularly winners of their first Tony) thanking other actors—castmates, mentors, etc. So far I’ve noticed at least four blatant, touching moments of actor love.

The first and most gossipable moment of actor love happened when Scarlett Johansson passionately thanked Liev Schreiber and talked about what an inspiration he was throughout the rehearsal process of A View From the Bridge. When the camera panned over and caught Schreiber tearing up, I think Naomi Watts looked a little jealous.

The second was Eddie Redmayne’s respectful, awestruck description of how amazing it is to work with Alfred Molina. Redmayne’s speech must be a pretty great consolation prize for Molina, who lost his Tony to Denzel Washington.

This one happened in the Press Room, but I’m going to count it anyway because it was so sweet. One of the reporters asked Levi Kreis from Million Dollar Quartet what it was like to perform onstage at the Tony’s with Sean Hayes. “I have to work with him again,” Levi said. “He’s such a great guy.”

This next one is another cheap shot, because they’re getting MARRIED, but Katie Finneran’s devotion to fiance Darren Goldstein was wonderfully moving.

Before the big ones…

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Scarlett Johansson, “A View From the Bridge.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY: Eddie Redmayne, “Red.”

BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY: Michael Grandage, “Red.”

BEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICAL: Terry Johnson, “La Cage aux Folles.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL: Katie Finneran, “Promises, Promises.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL: Levi Kreis, “Million Dollar Quartet.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTRESS IN A PLAY: Viola Davis, “Fences.”

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A LEADING ACTOR IN A PLAY: Denzel Washington, “Fences.”

BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL: “Memphis.”

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (MUSIC AND/OR LYRICS) WRITTEN FOR THE THEATER: “Memphis”

BEST ORCHESTRATIONS: Daryl Waters and David Bryan, “Memphis.”

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAY: Christopher Oram, “Red.”

BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Christine Jones, “American Idiot.”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAY: Catherine Zuber, “The Royal Family.”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Marina Draghici, “Fela!”

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAY: Neil Austin, “Red.”

BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Kevin Adams, “American Idiot.”

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAY: Adam Cork, “Red.”

BEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICAL: Robert Kaplowitz, “Fela!”

___

SPECIAL TONY AWARD FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE THEATER: Alan Ayckbourn and Marian Seldes.

REGIONAL THEATER TONY AWARD: The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Waterford, Conn.

ISABELLE STEVENSON AWARD: David Hyde Pierce.

TONY HONORS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THE THEATER: B.H. Barry and Tim Viola.

(Thanks to our friends at Associated Press sitting a few tables away from us in the Press Room for this partial list).

Eddie Redmayne looks good holding a Tony Award. Really good. And that accent! The cherry on top of his disarming charm. In the interest of full disclosure, I’m going to admit that I spent the first few minutes of Redmayne’s Press Room Q&A distracted by the former Burberry model’s striking looks, but once I calmed down I realized that the stuff he said was actually pretty interesting too.

Despite already having won the prestigious Olivier for his work in RED, Redmayne was still bowled over by the spectacle of the Tony Awards.  “I haven’t really ever been to an awards ceremony and this is a really amazing one to start with. It’s the real deal.”

In response to reporter allegations that Redmayne is considering using his Broadway success to launch a film career: “That’s untrue. That’s completely untrue. I’ve had loads of people sending me emails saying congratulations [here he was referring to a future in the movies, not his Tony nomination]…. But no. I love the color of life in the theater… It makes your life very very colorful.”

We learned a lot about Eddie Redmayne’s NYC lifestyle in the Press Room–he talked about living like an “East Village stereotype”  after buying a guitar and taking up painting in his free time, which he sometimes does on the fire escape. Eight shows a week must be getting to him.

What was his reaction when he found out he’d won a Tony? “My sweat glands just went whoosh….” He made a spastic gesture, demonstrating his waterfall of sweat, and then blushed madly. “It’s genuinely like a blanked moment in my life. Isn’t that just depressing. One of the best moments in my life and it’s just gone because I was so… hyper.”

Swoon.

UPDATE: RED just won the Tony for best new play. How do you guys feel? I had my money on RED all along, although it must have come down to the wire—Next Fall was a tough contender.

Fifteen years ago I caught a glimpse of Denzel Washington’s infamous, solitary, “Glory”-ous tear; the steady stream won him his first Academy Award. Eight years ago I was stunned when Halle Berry became the first black actress to win the Best Actress Oscar, and something like sedated when Denzel Washington followed behind her, winning Best Actor for “Training Day” and continuing a historic trend.I held back a few of my own tears several moments ago as the voracious Viola Davis garnered her second Tony Award for her performance in “Fences,” with Washington — again — close behind: driving in the nails of what, for me, are historic victories for black performers of almost a religious nature.August Wilson was and continues to be a beacon of hope for African American performing artists and audiences, with help from gifted theatre, film, and art-makers like those just honored for their work climbing fences and breaching the wide open spaces from which non-white performers were once barred.– Lauren Neal, Broadway Magazine

Katie Finneran’s acceptance speech had a few of us welling up. Here’s the part where she mentions how much she loved the Tony Awards as a kid watching them on TV: “Back then it felt so far away… And all of us here still feel the same way… Focus on what you love. It’s the greatest roadmap for an extraordinary life.”

I think at that point I was aww-ing out loud, a noise that only intensified after Katie talked about how important love is, and how lost she’d be without her fiance Darren Goldstein. Of their relationship she said, “There’s nothing better than feeling known. We totally support each other…. I was really glad that he was there with me tonight.”

In person she’s just as entertaining as onstage. She kept everyone in the Press Room laughing during her Q&A, particularly when she demonstrated a very convincing impression of a screech owl, which I won’t soon forget. It was that creepily good.

Denzel Washington. Daniel Radcliffe. Scarlett Johansson. Naomi Watts. Catherine Zeta-Jones. Will Smith. Jada Pinkett Smith. Michael Douglas. Laura Linney. Lucy Liu.

Sorry. I just had to do that.Because, had you asked me to write for Broadway Magazine only a few years ago, I would never have imagined those names pulsing through my phalanges, transforming the pin-drop silence of the Tony’s Press Room into a furious party of punched keys.But it has happened. The infamous rapper Jay-Z was another of the starry producing board of “FELA!” The fabulous “FENCES” has been breaking box-office records. Green Day — once just the band responsible for ‘Time of Your Life,’ to which I danced and swooned over along with my eighth grade sweetheart — bounded past me on the red carpet, sometime before Sarah Ruhl but after Aretha Franklin.

So, as it became more and more difficult to do my job on the red-carpet (thanks to a twelve-year-old past self that apparently has only been hibernating and waiting for this rainy June day), I could not help but wonder if it really will take cinematic celebrities to continue to astronomically sell tickets to the theatre.

But then I remember that many of these stars got their start in the theatre; I remember Idina Menzel, Kristin Chenoweth, Lea Michelle… who have exploded off stages into television, film, and MP3 players; I remember that it is the increasingly porous membrane between the theatre, cinema, and television that remind the public that acting and other performance-based disciplines is indeed — at its core — work.

And then I don’t mind so much.Helen Mirren.

Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

— Lauren Neal, Broadway Magazine