Issue #178: September 1, 2006
- Among my favourite experiences while living in New York
was attending a couple of the City Center Encores! series in the
mid nineties. One of those presentations launched the current Broadway
revival of Chicago, which will be celebrating ten years in November.
As well, New York audiences may enjoy Victoria Clark in the Encores! production of Follies in February
- Also in February you can catch Liev Schreiber starring
in Eric Bogosian’s play Talk Radio.
- Gwenyth Paltrow’s mum Blythe Danner stars in
the Off Broadway revival of Suddenly Last Summer beginning November 15.
- The national tour of the troubled Bombay Dreams touched
down for a brief one-week engagement in Toronto recently. The musical
spoof on the Bollywood industry arrived three years after it’s original
tour stop. Due to mixed reviews when it opened in London in 2002, and
scathing reviews when it opened in New York in 2004, the production
underwent numerous rewrites along with a revolving door of producers. The
reception by Toronto critics were mixed but with a large South Asian
community the musical performed well at the box office.
- The new Kander and Ebb musical Curtains recently
opened in L.A. to encouraging reviews. Sitting in for the deceased Ebb is lyricist Rupert Holmes who has big shoes to fill but by all
accounts is up to the task. Look for this work to evolve and grow before
seeing the lights on Broadway.
- This fall at the Freud Playhouse in L.A. John C. Reilly will be joining the cast of Tale of Two Cities.
- There is quite a movement towards rockers taking on legit stage.
We’ve already seen evidence of it with recent works featuring the music of Billy
Joel, Queen, The Who, John Lennon and recent Tony-winner Frankie Valle
and the Four Seasons-based Jersey Boys. The latest slate of
musicians to try their hand at the stage are Patty Griffin an
alternative country writer whose songs have been recorded by The Dixie
Chicks and Bette Midler. The funky band Flaming Lips is
currently working with busy director Des McAnuff (The Who’s Tommy, Jersey Boys) on a musical based on their album “Yoshimi Battles the Pink
Robots” and The Metropolitan Opera has commissioned a work by Rufus
Wainwright. So it seems we will be seeing more rocking musicals on theatre
stages in the years to come.
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