With no indication of when New York and Broadway will reopen for business amid a worsening public health and economic catastrophe, producer Scott Rudin cancelled his revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
CUOMO ORDERS BROADWAY SHUTDOWN AS MAYOR PREDICTS ‘LONG BATTLE’
Broadway will go dark for at least a month — its longest shutdown in modern times — as U.S. performing arts and professional sports screech to a halt in an attempt to limit the public health threat of the coronavirus pandemic.
With Broadway in the thick of its annual spate of openings to qualify for Tony Awards, sixteen new productions — including Six, scheduled to have opened tonight — must reset as all eligible theaters go dark. Most off-Broadway shows also close beginning tonight.Continue Reading
BROADWAY GOES BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH ‘WEST SIDE STORY’: REVIEW
Video has a starring role in the dazzling new revival of West Side Story.
HUGH JACKMAN & SUTTON FOSTER ‘MUSIC MAN’ TIX TOP OUT AT $499 (FOR NOW)
EXCLUSIVE: Scott Rudin knows the territory — the Broadway territory, that is. Visiting River City with Hugh Jackman in Rudin’s upcoming revival of The Music Man won’t come cheap.Continue Reading
‘A STRANGE LOOP’ EXPANDS BOUNDARIES: REVIEW
Did he really just say that? And sing that?Continue Reading
A NERD’S GUIDE TO THE 2019 TONY NOMINATIONS
It’s been a few years since an old-fashioned mainstream comedy won best musical at the Tony Awards. Tootsie could change that.
Its primary challenger appears to be the acclaimed New Orleans-infused folk opera Hadestown. But don’t count out the thriving Temptations musical, Ain’t Too Proud, or the inclusive comedy The Prom.Continue Reading
HUGH JACKMAN TO STAR IN RUDIN-PRODUCED ‘MUSIC MAN’
Cementing his position as Broadway’s most prolific and arguably most powerful producer, Scott Rudin said today that he’s reviving The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman, in October 2020.Continue Reading
LAVISH ‘DOLLY!’ EARNS MODEST RETURNS
EXCLUSIVE: Investors in Scott Rudin’s celebrated revival of Hello, Dolly! have earned a profit of 5 percent, according to two people familiar with the production.
In a flop-filled business, recouping is considered the benchmark for success, and investors months ago earned back their money. The musical was the talk of the 2016-17 season, won four Tony Awards, and last week was the third-bestselling musical, behind Hamilton and The Lion King. For angels seeking prestige, glamour and the satisfaction of helping to create a revival worthy of the iconic, 1964 original, Dolly delivered and made them money.
Others, however, expected more from a production that’s grossed $126 million.Continue Reading
NOR’EASTER PUTS DAMPER ON BROADWAY GROSSES; ‘CAROUSEL,’ ‘FROZEN’ SHINE
Disney’s Frozen and Scott Rudin’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel performed promisingly in an otherwise wet and dismal week.
Frozen was a near sellout, grossing $984,000 in five previews. Its composers, Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, picked up their second Academy Award last night, for best original song with Remember Me, from the Disney film Coco, which shouldn’t hurt Frozen‘s prospects when it opens at the St. James on March 22.
RUDIN, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ESTATE TENTATIVELY SETTLE ‘GLASS MENAGERIE’ LAWSUIT
EXCLUSIVE: A promising Broadway courtroom drama appears to be closing out of town.
Scott Rudin and the University of the South have agreed in principle to settle the University’s lawsuit alleging that Rudin’s production company failed to pay royalties on his Glass Menagerie revival starring Joe Mantello and Sally Field. Lawyers for both sides filed papers in Federal Court in Tennessee disclosing the tentative deal yesterday, exactly a year after the play began previews at the Belasco Theatre.
