For the first time in more than a decade, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man will return to Broadway in the Spring 2012 season. Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Michael B. Rothfeld, and Darren Bagert will present the show’s first major revival since 2000.
A play about power, ambition, political secrets, ruthlessness and the race for presidency, The Best Man will be directed by Michael Wilson. The Best Man originally played on Broadway in March of 1960 and was nominated for 6 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Starring Melvyn Douglas, the production ran for 521 performances.
The most recent revival played on Broadway in September of 2000, and starred Elizabeth Ashley, Charles Durning, Christine Ebersole, Spalding Gray, Michael Learned, Chris Noth, Mark Blum, Jonathan Hadary, and Jordan Lage. The production was honored with the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for outstanding revival of a play.
LEFT: Gore Vidal, cred: J.M. Heller, WireImage.com
Manhattan Theatre Club’s Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have announced that Olivier Award nominee Sierra Boggess will appear opposite Tony and Emmy Award winner Tyne Daly in the upcoming Broadway production of Master Class by Terrence McNally. Directed by Stephen Wadsworth, the production will begin previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Tuesday, May 24, and will open officially open Tuesday, June 21st. Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks.
Terrence McNally’s award-winning play about Maria Callas takes us to one of her famous master classes where, late in her career, she challenges the next generation to make the same sacrifices and dare to rise to the same heights she did, making her the most celebrated, the most reviled and the most controversial singer of her times.
LEFT: Sierra Boggess, cred: Ferdaus Shamim, WireImage.com
The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theatres, general managers, press agents and marketing firms, will hold the seventh in its series of seminars focused on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway on Sunday, February 27, 2011. The seminar, titled “Marketing Off Broadway”, will feature HHC Marketing President Hugh Hysell (Fela; The 39 Steps; My Big Gay Italian Wedding), SRO Marketing President Meri Krassner (Forbidden Broadway; The Last Five Years; I Love You, Your’e Perfect, Now Change) and Bay Bridge Productions Co-Founder Laura Wagner (Fuerza Bruta; Grey Gardens; Irena’s Vow). John Capo, President of John Capo Public Relations, will moderate the discussion.
“Marketing Off Broadway” will be held at The Snapple Theater Center’s Jerry Orbach Theater. Doors will open at 11:30 am, and the panel will take place from Noon-1:3o pm. Admission for the seminar is free, however reservations are required. To RSVP for the event, visit http://marketingoffbroadway.eventbrite.com/ before February 26th. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservation.
Rehearsals began yesterday, February 14th, for the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The People in the Picture, starring two time Tony Award-winner Donna Murphy, and directed by Leonard Foglia. With book and lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler, the production is scheduled to begin performances on April 1 at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street) and has an official opening set for April 28. Billed as a limited engagement, The People in the Picture will run through June 19th.
The cast will also feature Alexander Gemignani (Moishe), Christopher Innvar (Chaim), Nicole Parker (Red), Rachel Resheff (Jenny), Hal Robinson (Doovie, Rabbi Velvel), Lewis J. Stadlen (Avram Krinsky), Chip Zien (Yoshie Pinsker), Brad Bradley, Rachel Bress, Jeremy Davis, Emilee Durpe, Maya Goldman, Louis Hobson, Shannon Lewis, Jessica Lea Patty, Megan Reinking, Jeffrey Schecter, Paul Anthony Stewart and Stuary Zagnit. Additional casting will be announced soon.
Once a darling of the Yiddish Theatre in pre-war Poland, now a grandmother in New York City, Bubbie has had quite a life. But what will it all mean if she can’t pass on her stories to the next generation. Though her granddaughter is enchanted by her tales, her daughter Red will do anything to keep from looking back. A fiercely funny and deeply moving new musical that spans three generations, The People in the Picture celebrates the importance of learning from our past, and the power of laughter.
Teri Lamm and Zak Berkman, cred: Dario Cantatore, WireImage.com
New York’s Epic Theatre Ensemble announced yesterday that Zak Berkman will be departing the theatre company to become Associate Artistic Director at People’s Light & Theatre Company, one of Pennsylvania’s largest non-profit theatres. Berkman will shift to People’s Light in September 2011. In the interim he will work with Epic co-founders, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell and James Wallert to oversee the transition. Berkman will also remain on Epic’s Board of Directors.
Under Berkman’s ten year tenure as Executive Director of Artistic Programming at Epic Theatre Ensemble, the company has developed and produced the Off-Broadway premieres of numerous award winning new plays including Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play, Nilaja Sun’s No Child…, Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End and Hannah and Martin by Kate Fodor.
Off-Broadway’s Primary Stages has announced a one-week extension through March 27 of A.R. Gurney’s new comedy, Black Tie. Directed by Mark Lamos, Black Tie is the final production for the 2010-2011 season, and had its World Premiere on Tuesday, January 25 at Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street). The production opened on February 8 after a near sellout preview run, and is continuing as one of Primary Stages’ top sellers.
Featuring a five member cast, the production stars Ari Brand as Teddy, Daniel Davis as Curtis’s Father, Gregg Edelman as Curtis, Carolyn McCormick as Mimi, and Elvy Yost as Elsie.
Father of the groom, Curtis, simply wants to make memorable toast. But before he is able to raise his glass, he must defend the time-honored ways of his past, including his attire. Cultures clash when a surprise guest is announced, threatening to throw convention out the window. Curtis finds that balancing the standards of his late father and the needs of his future family may prove too messy for a black tie affair.
How to Succeed in Business gets a Broadway revival this season, and the mad workplace antics in this musical couldn’t come at a more apropos time. Theatrics and business collide when window washer J. Pierrepont Finch (played by Daniel Radcliffe), picks up a book by the same name as the musical title, and finds himself rocketing up the corporate ladder at the World Wide Wicket company. Though the only work Mr. Finch seems to do is to give himself the appearance of being a hard worker, nor does he ever even seem to have any idea what a Wicket actually is, he manages somehow to make his way to the top. But, when he falls in love with secretary Rosemary Pilkington, he might just have to make the choice between love and corporate success.
Directed by Rob Ashford, the production also stars John Larroquette in the role of J.B. Bigley, Rose Hemingway as Rosemary Pilkington, Tammy Blanchard as Hedy La Rue, and Christopher J. Hanke as Bud Frump. With previews beginning on February 26 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, the show is scheduled for an open run with an official opening on March 27.
Meet the cast in these special How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying videos.
Ordinary Days, a musical written by Adam Gwon opens tonight at Trafalgar Studios 2 Theatre (Whitehall) in London’s West End. After a successful run in New York’s Roundabout Underground Black Box Theater and Off-West End, Ordinary Days is making its West End debut. Starring Daniel Boys and Julie Atherton, the production was in previews since February 8, and will remain open through March 5.
When Deb loses her most precious possession–the notes to her graduate thesis–she unwittingly starts a chain of events that turns the ordinary days of four New Yorkers into something extraordinary.
The Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65th Street) at Lincoln Center will host a new musical by Austin Pendelton–A Minister’s Wife–with performances beginning Thursday, April 7th. The production will be directed by Michael Halberstam, and features a score by Joshua Schmidt with lyrics by Jan Levy Tranen. LCT producers have announced that Liz Baltes, Kate Fry, Drew Gehling, Marc Kudisch and Bobby Steggert will headline the cast, which will celebrate an official opening on Sunday, May 8. The production arrives in New York after a world premiere last spring at Writers’ Theatre in Glencoe, Illinois.
Based on an early 1898 version of Candida by legendary playwright George Bernard Shaw, A Minister’s Wife explores the troubles beneath what appears to be an ordinary marriage. The Reverend James Morell (Marc Kudisch) and his wife, Candida (Kate Fry) are happily married until their lives are upended with the arrival a romantic young poet (Bobby Steggert).
A leading producer of plays in New York, Lincoln Center Theater boasts a lineup of shows this season that includes the West End hit, War Horse and a new play by Jon Robin Bait, Other Desert Cities currently playing at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.
The second show the of spring 2011 season begins performances tonight as the revival of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, That Championship Season returns to Broadway. Directed by Gregory Mosher, the play features an all-star lineup with Broadway veterans Brian Cox, Jason Patric and Chris Noth taking centerstage. Making their Broadway debuts are Jim Gaffigan and Kiefer Sutherland.
That Championship Season revolves around a group of former high school basketball stars, and their return to the school for a reunion 20 years after winning the state championship. That Championship Season made it’s original debut at the Public Theater in May 1972, and in the 1973 season moved to Broadway and earned a Tony Award for Best Play. Written by Jason Patric’s father, Jason Miller, That Championship Season proves to be a family affair.
For the first time in more than a decade, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man will return to Broadway in the Spring 2012 season. Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Michael B. Rothfeld, and Darren Bagert will present the show’s first major revival since 2000.
