Lear deBessonet is preparing to stage a Broadway revival of Ragtime at the Vivian Beaumont Theater this fall, in her debut as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater.
Previews are scheduled to begin September 25 ahead of an Oct. 16 opening, people familiar with the production said.Continue Reading
Sia, the Australian pop star whose songs are featured in the jukebox musicals Moulin Rouge! and Hell’s Kitchen, is developing a theater score of her own.
The singer-songwriter behind “Chandelier” is writing music and lyrics for an off-Broadway adaptation of the 2017 independent movie Saturday Church. Damon Cardasis, who wrote and directed the critically acclaimed story about a gay teenager’s difficult coming of age, is collaborating on the musical’s book with the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames (Fat Ham).Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: The prolific production company Seaview plans to reopen the 296-seat venue that Second Stage relinquished, a vote of confidence for off-Broadway theater as nonprofit companies retrench.
Seaview, led by Greg Nobile and backed by Sony Music, will produce its own shows in the space, according to an application for a state liquor license filed with Manhattan Community Board 4. In 2024, Second Stage ended its lease for the Rem Koolhaas-designed theater, in the former bank building on 43rd Street and Eighth Avenue. Known as the Tony Kiser, Second Stage presented plays and musicals there, including developmental productions of Dear Evan Hansen and Next to Normal. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Producers of Operation Mincemeat are raising at least $11.5 million to transfer the critically acclaimed, Olivier Award-winning musical to Broadway, according to financial documents. People familiar with the show said the plan is to open at the Golden Theatre early next year as part of the current, 2024/25, season.
The Golden is home to Stereophonic — the Tony Award-winning play about a fractious rock band making an album– which recently “extended by popular demand for a final time” to Jan. 12, 2025.Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Newly minted Tony Award winner Jonathan Groff will play the 1950s and ’60s crooner Bobby Darin in a staged reading next month, ahead of a planned Broadway opening in spring 2025, people familiar with the musical said.Continue Reading
In an out-of-the-box hire to revive one of the nation’s preeminent summer theaters, the playwright, producer and actor Jeremy O. Harris has been tapped to program the Williamstown Theatre Festival, a person familiar with the company said.
The 34-year-old Slave Play playwright will lead a “creative collective” at the 70-year-old Western Massachusetts institution, which in recent years has been a prime tryout venue for Broadway. Acting alumni include Matthew Broderick, Audra McDonald and Bradley Cooper.Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Four decades after Gerard Alessandrini introduced his Broadway satirical revue at an Upper West Side cabaret, the ever-changing spoof will finally plant its funny flag in a Broadway theater.
Forbidden Broadway, Merrily We Stole a Song is scheduled to run at the Hayes Theater July 29 to Nov. 4, according to a pitch deck prepared for prospective investors. The title is a play on Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Merrily We Roll Along, which evolved from 1981 flop to this season’s boffo revival, which is on the cusp of recouping its $13 million capitalization.Continue Reading
Ambassador Theatre Group and Underbelly Productions plan to transfer their hit West End revival of Cabaret to Broadway, two people familiar with the production said.
Eddie Redmayne has committed to reprise his performance as the louche Weimar-era nightclub emcee — a role made famous by Joel Grey in the 1966 Hal Prince-directed musical and in the 1972 Bob Fosse-helmed movie, and more recently by Alan Cumming in two Roundabout Theatre Co. revivals. Rebecca Frecknall is slated to direct the production, which is to begin previews in March 2024 ahead of an April opening.Continue Reading
New York State extended the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit, a subsidy of up to $3 million per Broadway show, as the industry struggles with rising costs and subpar sales.
On May 3, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the two-year extension through 2025 and said commercial Off-Broadway shows will also be eligible, albeit for a smaller credit. The Broadway League trade association lobbied for preserving the program. It was designed to jumpstart the industry, which contributes billions to the economy, and encourage productions “to begin performances sooner and come back stronger” as the city recovered from Covid-19.Continue Reading
Parade, the 1998 Broadway musical featuring a Tony Award-winning score by the-then 28-year-old Jason Robert Brown, will be revived this spring by Greg Nobile’s Seaview Productions and Ambassador Theatre Group, according to a pitch deck distributed to investors.
Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen) will star in the dark historical drama, following an acclaimed weeklong tryout at New York City Center in November. Platt will reprise the role of Leo Frank, a Jewish Brooklynite transplanted to Marietta, Georgia, where he was falsely accused of murder and lynched by a mob in 1915. Micaela Diamond (The Cher Show), who earned stellar reviews playing Leo’s loyal wife, Lucille Frank, also returns to the cast. Platt, who like Diamond is Jewish, has spoken eloquently about the story’s timeliness amid rising antisemitism. Continue Reading
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