Sunday, July 24, 2011

TheatreScene: July 18 - 24

BE SURE TO CAST YOUR VOTE IN THIS WEEK'S POLL (TO YOUR RIGHT)!

LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?  BECOME A "FOLLOWER"!

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEK:
July 18: Broadway Vocabulary Quiz
July 19: LOGOS: RENT
July 20: ASK JEFF: Puzzles Answered and More
July 21: LOGOS: Death Takes a Holiday
July 22: REVIEW: Death Takes a Holiday
July 23: UPDATE: Broadway Boys and Girls Today

TOPS AND BOTTOMS (July 11 - 17):
  • Top Gross: Wicked ($1.86M)
  • Top Attendance: The Book of Mormon (102.4%)
  • Bottom Gross: RAIN ($245K)
  • Bottom Attendance: RAIN (51.7%)
  • $1M Club: The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Wicked, Mary Poppins, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying 
  • SRO Club: War Horse, The Lion King, The Book of Mormon, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Anything Goes, The Motherfucker with the Hat 

COMINGS AND GOINGS:
Casting
  • Idina Menzel will be back on Glee next season for half the season, it was announced this week.  She returns as Shelby, Rachel's (Lea Michele) mother, and will be a new teacher at McKinley High School.
  • Original London Mary Poppins, Laura Michelle Kelly, returned to the role on Broadway on July 19, replacing Original Broadway Mary Poppins, Ashley Brown.
Jay Sullivan

  • Much to the chagrin of John Gallagher Jr. fans, he has left Jerusalem for the last 5 weeks of its extended run due to other obligations.  Jay Sullivan will make his Broadway debut playing the role originated by Gallagher Jr. for the final weeks of the show at the Music Box Theatre.
  • Playbill Online announced this week that Memphis star Chad Kimball, who has lately been missing several performances of the show, will be taking an indefinite leave from the show beginning October 23 to rest from a neck nerve injury.  That date coincides with the end of his current contract.  No announcement has been made as to his replacement.
  • Other Desert Cities, opening this fall at the Booth Theatre, has announced its Broadway cast.  Joining off-Broadway original cast member Stockard Channing will be Judith Light (Lombardi) and Rachel Griffiths (TV's Brothers and Sisters) who will be making her Broadway debut in the Jon Robin Baitz play.
  • How to Get Gleeks to Broadway: Darren Criss, star of Glee, is in talks to replace Daniel Radcliffe when his contract ends in January.  Should he join the show, it will be for a brief 3 week run.  Count me in!
Shows

  • Follies began rehearsals on July 18.  The show will begin previews on August 7, and is scheduled to open September 12.  As of now, the show is a limited engagement, scheduled to close at the Marquis Theatre on December 30.
  • W;t the Pulitzer Prize winning drama about a cancer patient will finally have its Broadway debut, courtesy of the Manhattan Theatre Club.  The production will star Tony-winner Cynthia Nixon and will be directed by Lynn Meadow.
Milestones
  • On July 16th, Rock of Ages, celebrated its 1,000th New York performance, which includes its off-Broadway run at New World Stages, its Broadway engagement at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, and, after a hiatus, its continuing run at the Helen Hayes Theatre.  The show, as of today, will have played 877 Broadway performances.

Ghost: The Musical
  • Ghost: The Musical, based on the popular film, opened in London on July 19.  It stars Hair and Hairspray (on Broadway) star Caissie Levy.
  • Actual Presidential family members took to the Presidential Box at the Kennedy Center when First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters took in the July 15 performance of Wicked at the complex's Opera House.
  • July 19 marked the 100th performance of Sister Act on Broadway.  You go, Sisters!
  • RAIN will close earlier than previously announced.  Now the show will vacate the Brooks Atkinson on July 31, not September 4.


BROADWAY PICTURES OF THE WEEK:


The latest of Ken Fallin's series of Broadway caricatures: the return of Hair.


Two of my favorite Broadway stars, Tony Yazbeck and Curtis Holbrook, are starring in St. Louis MUNY's Singin' in the Rain.


Jeff
2.330

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