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BROADWAY MAGAZINE – For those of you who might’ve left, The Broadway League has declared September as Back2Broadway month. The trade orginazation for the Broadway theatre owners and producers have packed the month with fantastic events, including free concerts, the great Broadway Flea Market, a Kids Town Hall, Singing, Dancing, and open houses at some of Broadway’s gems.

With so many shows opening and starting previews (we’re looking at you BYE BYE BIRDIE!), we’ve adapted our internal document and would like to share with you our free September Broadway events calendar. Follow us on Twitter to see what else is coming up.

Click this link to download:   Broadway Magazine Free September Calendar of Broadway Events

For those of you interested in reading the latest issue of Broadway Magazine with Jude Law as Hamlet on the cover, click here.

New Play for Broadway Legend 

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – While he didn’t earn a Tony Award nomination for the revival of West Side Story, Broadway Lion Arthur Laurents is still in full stride. Like Henrik Ibsen, the creative output of the Arthur Laurents has not diminished as he’s grown older. Now, the acclaimed director and writer will debut his newest play “Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are” in New Jersey at the George Street Playhouse. Starring the captivating Shirley Knight, will open officially on October 9 and will play through November 1.

“At the heart of any play by Arthur Laurents there are two key ingredients, ” said George Street Artistic Director David Saint. “The first is an honest, richly-drawn cast of characters who wrestle with and stand up for their beliefs, confronting one another when their opinions differ. The other common theme is the truth by which Mr. Laurents has lived his 92 years-and-counting: that, in all of life, the only thing that really matters is love.”

“His newest play, Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are, is no exception”, said Mr. Saint. “It is an intimate, stunning new drama about a woman coping with a devastating loss, her overbearing mother-in-law and the advances of a sexually persistent new suitor. But at its heart, it is a play about love.”

For those looking for a quick Arthur Laurents fix, you can check out West Side Story currently playing and fighting on Broadway. Join us at Twitter to see which Paul Newman film Shirley Knight famously starred in.

West Side Story Tickets and Information here too.

 Harry Potter And The Broadway Return

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – Hold on Hugh Jackman, Jude Law, and Daniel Craig! Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe is not going to cede his Broadway laurels easily. Last season, Mr. Radcliffe earned critical praise and public acclaim for his work in the excellent revival of Equus on Broadway. Now, the star of the Harry Potter films tells OK Magazine that he plans to return to Broadway say:

“Absolutely…Hopefully I will be back in the next few years. I’d love to do something in the States again.”

Of course, is no specific project attached. Still, we’ve put our suggestions forward in the past and can now add his name to the list of possible candidates who might star as Spider-Man on Broadway in the new musical from U2 and Julie Taymor. Of course, we guess it will only be a matter of time before we can tell you about the plans for the Harry Potter musical on Broadway too. Follow us on Twitter and find out when Daniel announces his Broadway return.

Rock N Roll Circus With Spider-Man

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – As is to be expected, Michael Reidel of the New York Post has uncovered more details about the upcoming mega-musical Spider-Man with music by Bono and The Edge of U2, and direction by Julie Taymor. Mr. Riedel attended a sneak preview of the show intended for ticket brokers and others in the tickets business. In an article entitled “SPIDEY SENSES TINGLING,” Riedel reveals bits and pieces that will feed the curious with a desire to know more about what this production will ultimately look like.

Describing the show as a “$40 million theatrical extravaganza that features gigantic, perspective-skewing sets, 3-D projections, more aerial acrobatics than Cirque du Soleil, a cast of heroes and villains from Marvel comic books,” Riedel says that Julie Taymor “warned” theater insiders to avoid using the word “musical” to describe the show,preferring instead that it be described as a “circus rock-n-roll drama.”

Circus rock-n-roll drama…like the Bob Dylan and Twyla Tharp Broadway circus rock-n-roll drama The Times They Are A-Changin’.

Included in the new production of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is a character called Swiss Miss, who has an arsenal of imaginative weaponry including a costume with “consists of rotating knives and swirling corkscrews,” according to the article. It is still unclear if Swiss Miss has the power to spray Spider-Man with hot chocolate.

For the final product, Broadway, U2, and comic book fans will have to wait until January when the show opens at the Hilton Theatre. Ms. Taymor has always had the capacity to achieve the impossible, but if she is able to get the world to call the new Spider-Man musical a Circus Rock-N-Roll Drama, that would be amazing. For those looking for Taymor fix before January. Check out The Lion King again. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Dissenting Critic For Revival

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – The new revival of West Side Story has been riding a wave of mostly positive reviews and completely positive box-office results to become a favorite for the Broadway award season. However, TIME theatre critic Richard Zoglin could be the first critic to suggest that this emperor has no clothes…or at least this incarnation of the revival.

In an article entitled “Is West Side Story Overrated?” Zoglin articulates in detail his specific problems with the current revival, writing that ” the story is what seems least compelling. Partly this is due to the competent but bland cast… a cast of gang members who didn’t look like they stepped out of a Chorus Line audition might help… I do want a love story with at least a hint of conviction, plausibility or sexual heat. The attraction of Maria and Tony is barely motivated to begin with; with two charisma-deficient stars in the roles, it left me cold.”

Zoglin has high praise for Karen Olivio and the dancing in the production. Also, at the end of his critique of the revival, he concludes that it is still worth seeing, but notes that “unlike some other recent Broadway comebacks (the revival of Hair, for example), I didn’t come away feeling that a great show had had its place in Broadway history triumphantly renewed. I left the theater with the gnawing sense that a revered Broadway classic may have seen better days.”

 The Perfect Title For A Mamet Play?

BROADWAY MAGAZINE—News this week that David Mamet will direct his show RACE on Broadway next season. RACE. Could there be a more ideal David Mamet title? It is short, direct, layered with meaning, and provocative. While we’ll have to wait until November to meet the play, we’d like to congratulate David Mamet on a perfect title. No wonder he wants to direct it. Rehearsals start October 26. According to the release, the play will open on Thursday, December 10th at a Shubert theater to be announced. We guess it will be one of the theatres with seats. Photo from the revival of Speed-The-Plow.

 It’s Not That Way, It’s Over Here

(BROADWAY MAGAZINE) The clock is ticking. The actors are in rehearsal. Exit The King is about to face the clock on Broadway. The absurdist mischief-maker Eugene Ionesco will shortly join the Broadway line-up making 2008-2009 the Year of the Great Playwright on Broadway (sort of, among other things). Chekhov, Arthur Miller, Ibsen, Beckett, Mamet are just a few of the notables scribes to note on Broadway this season…and that doesn’t even touch the Brits.

For those who can’t wait for their Ionesco fix, Off Broadway’s classic theater ensemble One Year Lease Theatre Company is staging The Bald Soprano at Teatro Circulo 65 East 4th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in the East Village) starting February 13. Eugene wrote the play after learning English from a traditional grammar book. There is little traditional about the play, though. For the uninitiated, consider it a primer for Exit The King. Best of luck to all. Run ends March 7. As the master wrote: Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti, Krishnamurti. Picture Not From Exit The King Nor Bald Soprano.

Fonda and Beethoven Go Brodway

(BROADWAY MAGAZINE) After a 46-year hiatus, Jane Fonda returns to Broadway in 33 Variations, a production written and directed by Moises Kaufman presented at The Eugene O’Neill Theatre. Jane Fonda made her Broadway debut in the 1960 play There Was a Little Girl for which she earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured actress. Fonda’s last appearance on Broadway was in the 1963 production of Strange Interlude. For more on The Fondas on Broadway, check out Tara Puckey’s Broadway Magazine profile.

This production will also mark the Broadway debut of Moises Kaufman as a playwright. Kauffman is in no way a stranger to Broadway, of course, having directed a slew of plays and earning Tony and Emmy nominations for his direction. –Carmen Blanco, Broadway Magazine

Photo of Ms. Fonda and her 33 Variations castmates including Colin Hanks,
Zach Grenier and Samantha Mathis shown here at the “33 Variations” photo call at the New York Theatre Workshop. Countess/WireImage.com

 West Side Story Director and Kate Winslet’s Husband

(BROADWAY MAGAZINE) There can be very little argument that the “it” director on Broadway right now is none other than the 90 year old King Arthur Laurents. Yes, we call him King Arthur Laurents, and believe everyone should do the same. With last year’s highly praised, and thrilling production of Gypsy coupled with the big buzz for his revival of West Side Story, Laurents is fine wine that keeps getting finer. So, what’s this about talking smack on Smiling Sam Mendes?

According to the FemaleFirst web-site, which apparently got its hands on the new Laurent’s autobiography, Mendes gets heat from the legend for his revival of Gypsy and other Broadway work. The New Age Of Laurents can be traced to King Arthur’s re-mounting of Gypsy, which King Arthur helped to create in the first place. Well, the husband of Kate Winslet, Smiling Sam Mendes, put his own stamp on the work with Bernadette Peters in 2003…and King Arthur did not smile. According the site, Laurents writes about the Mendes’ Gypsy:

‘Surprised’ was not the word for my reaction to what Sam Mendes did. ‘Surprised’ is a happy word.

Well, past is past, and no doubt King Arthur has his eyes fixed on the future. Everything is coming up rosy for his new West Side Story, and surely even Mr. Mendes is excited about that. Photo Joan Marcus.

 Was Ibsen Norway’s Greatest Party Machine?

(BROADWAY MAGAZINE) No one knows how to party quite like Henrik Ibsen, and so it is only fitting that the opening night bash for the latest Broadway revival of Hedda Gabler should celebrate in Ibsen-style. On hand to toast and cheer Mary-Louise Parker in her role as Hedda were stars like Joan Rivers, Liza Minnelli, and Helen Carey. Of course, Mary-Louise Parker and the rest of her castmates were there too.

Though Henrik Ibsen has developed a reputation as a severe personality, with little joy, the true Ibsen was not a prude. In fact, he fathered an illegitimate child, was rumored to have mistresses throughout his life, and even spent much of 1862 wandering drunk through the streets of Christiania, Norway…but, hey!, who didn’t do that?

In fact, though the critics may not have been kind to Henrik’s latest off-spring on Broadway, we have no doubt that he’d take it all with a stern frown, and thoroughly enjoy himself. You can catch Ms. Parker as Ms. Gabler in the limited run of Hedda Gabler at the American Airlines Theatre. Photo J. Kohen/WireImage.com.