EXCLUSIVE: Seven years after Hamilton began previews at the Public Theater and gave the business of Broadway and touring a shot in the arm, its lead producer, Jeffrey Seller, is following a similar playbook. He’s underwriting The New Group‘s world premiere of Black No More.Continue Reading
EDIE FALCO RADIANT IN MTC’S ‘MORNING SUN’: REVIEW
In Morning Sun, a world premiere presented by Manhattan Theatre Club, British playwright Simon Stephens precisely captures 60 years of history, local custom, and mother-daughter dynamics via three generations of ordinary women just trying to get through in an ever-changing Manhattan.Continue Reading
PANIC OR PRUDENCE? INSIDE THE EQUITY-LEAGUE SUMMER STOCK DRAMA (EXCLUSIVE)
March 2020 ushered in a three-ring crisis for the Equity-League Health Trust Fund, the healthcare plan for theater actors and stage managers.
As the industry shut down indefinitely in response to Covid-19, the fund’s biggest revenue source, employer contributions, largely dried up; its stocks plunged amid a pandemic-induced market crash; and actors and stage managers lost their livelihood. In response, the trustees overseeing the fund’s investments sold all of its publicly traded stock, which as of May 31, 2020 was valued at $25 million, or 23 percent of total net assets of $107 million.
As a result, the fund missed most of a stock market rebound that would’ve generated millions of dollars. The liquidation may slow the fund’s recovery from the shutdown — at a time when few Actors’ Equity Association members, its primary constituency, qualify for even basic coverage and Broadway grosses are off by a third from two years ago.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
RUDIN ANGLES TO RETAIN ‘MORMON’ PROFITS AS LAWSUITS FLOURISH (EXCLUSIVE)
Five months after announcing that he would “step back from active participation” on his Broadway shows, producer Scott Rudin is still negotiating the terms of his exit from his biggest hit, The Book of Mormon, a person familiar with the situation told Broadway Journal.
Rudin is battling his former partners, the South Park creative team of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who with their business associate Anne Garefino are the remaining lead producers of The Book of Mormon. (London-based producer Sonia Friedman is also heavily involved in the U.K edition of the musical, which Parker and Stone wrote with composer-lyricist Bobby Lopez.) Continue Reading
‘PASS OVER’ IS TENSE, TAUT DRAMA: REVIEW
Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s one-act drama, Pass Over, Broadway’s first play in 18 months, is a bleak yet funny and poignant mash-up of Waiting for Godot and the Book of Exodus. Two poor young black men, mired in a hell-scape of deep-seated racism and gratuitous violence, dream of a better future. So many in their neighborhood have been killed that they can’t remember all of their names.Continue Reading
SONIA FRIEDMAN CONFIRMS BEANIE FELDSTEIN FOR ‘FUNNY GIRL’
The producers of the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl, planned for the spring of 2022, confirmed that Beanie Feldstein has been cast to play Fanny Brice, the role that made Barbra Streisand famous. Continue Reading
A ‘MERRY’ RETURN OF SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK: REVIEW
“It’s been a long, hard year,” John Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent) complains in Merry Wives, Jocelyn Bioh’s update of Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Delacorte Theatre. “Been stuck in the house just eating snacks. Watching Netflix. Bored outta my Got-damned mind!” So when it comes to his somewhat clumsy attempts to seduce his neighbors’ wives, Falstaff finishes with a flourish, “Can you blame me for tryna get with Madam Page and Madam Ford?”Continue Reading
WILL ‘FUNNY GIRL’ REIGN OVER BROADWAY’S REVIVAL PARADE?
Broadway producers are people who need people — especially courageous people willing to congregate indoors during a pandemic. And maybe even get excited about a new take on a classic musical.
Four new musical revivals are expected on Broadway over the next eight months. The latest to throw its hat in the ring is Funny Girl, scheduled to begin performances on April 2, 2022, per a recent casting notice. It will star Beanie Feldstein (Booksmart), according to industry sources.Continue Reading
