Stephen Sondheim’s death on Friday morning — an unexpected loss to the people in his life and to musical theater — attaches a new significance to the third Broadway revival of 1970’s Company. The musical, which marked the beginning of Sondheim’s decade-long collaboration with director Hal Prince, is now the last production that Broadway’s most revered composer-lyricist of the past 50 years directly worked on.Continue Reading
EQUITY-LEAGUE FUND STATEMENT ABOUT ITS STOCK SALE
The following is the complete statement from the Equity-league Health Trust Fund, attributed to its trustees, in response to questions from Broadway Journal. A spokesman emailed it in August.Continue Reading
‘MOULIN ROUGE!’ TAKES 10 TONYS, FIRST BIG-BUDGET BEST MUSICAL WINNER IN 12 YEARS
More than two years after opening on Broadway, Moulin Rouge! won 10 Tony Awards and became the first big-budget best musical winner since 2009. The pandemic-delayed ceremony celebrated the return of the industry and explored its uneven efforts to diversify and become more inclusive.Continue Reading
BROADWAY LEAGUE SAYS AUDIENCES MUST BE VACCINATED
Because the night belongs to the vaccinated.
Following the lead of Springsteen on Broadway, which is halfway through its summer run at the Walter Kerr, the Broadway League said it’s requiring audiences to show proof of vaccination at the district’s 41 theaters.Continue Reading
ACTORS’ EQUITY, BROADWAY LEAGUE REQUIRE VACCINATIONS FOR EMPLOYEES, NOT AUDIENCES
Actors’ Equity Association and the Broadway League mandated that actors and other employees at Broadway theaters be fully vaccinated — with a few exceptions — while unvaccinated audience members will be admitted and asked to wear a mask.Continue Reading
LUPONE-LED ‘COMPANY’ TO OPEN ON JAN. 9, 2022; ‘DOUBTFIRE,’ ‘COME FROM AWAY’ ALSO ANNOUNCE RETURN DATES
In comes Company — again. Marianne Elliott’s revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s revered 1970 musical will resume previews on Dec. 20 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre ahead of a Jan. 9, 2022 opening night, its producers announced today. Continue Reading
SHUTTERED-VENUE PROGRAM IS FLUSH AFTER WEEK ONE (EXCLUSIVE)
In a hopeful sign for performing arts organizations, music venues and theater producers seeking help to resume live, in-person programming, the federal government’s shuttered-venue subsidy program had $6 billion remaining after its first week accepting applications.Continue Reading
‘CHICAGO,’ ‘SIX,’ ‘PHANTOM’ LIMIT PERFORMANCES ON REOPENING
Some of the first Broadway shows to return in the fall will restart gradually.
Six , the pop concert musical that was poised to open when Broadway shut down in March 2020, is offering tickets for six performances a week after it returns on Sept. 17. Exceptions are its first full week of previews — when it’s scheduled for seven performances — and holiday weeks, when it will play seven or eight shows. Its limited performance schedule is through March, according to Ticketmaster, its primary ticket outlet.Continue Reading
PRODUCERS WEIGH REDUCING PERFORMANCE WEEK FOR RESTART
As Broadway faces the unprecedented challenge of reopening after at least 18 dark months, producers have proposed cutting back the standard eight-performance week while demand for tickets ramps up.
“One of the ideas that’s being thrown around is instead of doing eight performances a week, doing four performances a week for a while as things get started again — and prorating everything,” said Carl Pasbjerg, the general manager of the musical Come From Away and the upcoming Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.Continue Reading
‘BOOK OF MORMON’S BLACK ACTORS PUSH TO CHANGE PORTRAYAL OF AFRICANS (EXCLUSIVE)
If and when The Book of Mormon resumes performances on Broadway, the take-no-prisoners musical will reconsider its mission.
In a video call last summer organized by lead producer Anne Garefino, co-writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone assured Black cast members that they were eager to take a fresh look at the 10-year-old blockbuster and were open to making changes, a person familiar with the conversation said. The call came in response to a letter from the actors — both original and current cast members — outlining their concerns regarding the musical, which is about inept Mormon missionaries in a Ugandan village ravaged by AIDS and civil war. Among other issues, the letter addresses the challenges of differentiating between racial stereotyping and satirical storytelling, especially in moments of the show when African characters are treated as “props and punchlines.”Continue Reading
