broadway
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As smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets New York City, Broadway performances of “Hamilton” and “Camelot” was among those canceled Wednesday night (June 7). Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “Hamilton” organizers scrapped the show less than two hours before the 8pm ET curtain call on account of […]
Julianne Hough and Skylar Astin will co-host The Tony Awards: Act One, a live pre-show on Pluto TV, on Sunday June 11 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. ET/3:30-5:00 p.m. PT. Both stars have found success both on stage and television. Hough, star of last season’s Broadway play Potus, has received three Primetime Emmy nominations for outstanding choreography on […]
A musical based on the classic 1959 Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot was the top winner at the 67th Annual Drama Desk Awards, which were announced on Wednesday (May 31). The show — for which Mariah Carey is one of the producers — won eight awards, including outstanding musical and outstanding lyrics for […]
Warner Bros. unveiled the trailer for the big-screen musical adaptation of The Color Purple on Monday (May 22), starring Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Fantasia and more. “Today, our teacher taught us about a place called Africa,” Bailey says as young Nettie Harris tells her older sister Celie to open the preview. “She say our mamas come […]
Lea Michele will have to take a week off from Broadway’s Funny Girl after testing positive for COVID again. The production announced on Instagram that the singer/actress will sit out the production through May 23, with Julie Benko playing the role of Fanny Brice until Michele is able to return; Ephie Aardema will step in […]
President Joe Biden will host the stars of the Broadway revival of Parade at the White House on Tuesday (May 16) at an event that will mark Jewish American Heritage Month. According to the Associate Press, the gathering will also highlight the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the rising tide of antisemitism across the nation. […]
Fifty-six years after they each won Tony Awards for the Broadway smash Cabaret, actor Joel Grey and composer John Kander will receive 2023 Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. The awards will be presented at the 76th Annual Tony Awards, which will air live on Sunday, June 11.
The award may soften the disappointment Kander may have felt on Tuesday, May 2, when his score for New York, New York, on which he teamed with Lin-Manuel Miranda, was passed over for a Tony nomination for best original score.
Grey won featured actor in a musical for his role as the Emcee in Cabaret at the 21st annual Tony Awards on March 26, 1967. (It was the first Tony ceremony to be nationally televised). Kander and his late collaborator, lyricist Fred Ebb, won two Tonys on the night, for best musical and best original musical score.
Kander and Ebb went on to win two additional Tonys for best original score for Woman of the Year and Kiss of the Spider Woman: The Musical.
They also shared a Grammy for the Cabaret cast album and two Emmys, for Singer Presents Liza With a Z (1973) and Liza Minnelli Live From Radio City Music Hall (1993), both starring Liza Minnelli, the star of Cabaret. (Kander and Ebb would have become EGOT winners had they also earned an Oscar.) They were nominated for best original song twice, for “How Lucky Can You Get” from Funny Lady (1975) and “I Move On” from the screen adaptation of Chicago (2002).
Ebb, who died in 2004, did not receive a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, nor has Minnelli, though the star did receive a special Tony in 1974 “for adding lustre to the Broadway season.”
Kander and Ebb also received two Grammy nominations for song of the year, for “My Coloring Book” (1962) and “Theme From New York, New York” (1980). Minnelli introduced the latter song in the 1977 film of the same name, but it didn’t become a standard until Frank Sinatra covered it in 1980.
In addition to his Tony for Cabaret, Grey won an Oscar for reprising the role in the 1972 film adaptation. He is one of only nine actors in history to win a Tony and an Oscar for the same role. He has also received Grammy and Primetime Emmy nominations, for Anything Goes and Brooklyn Bridge, respectively.
“Mr. Grey and Mr. Kander are true giants of the theatre, and we are honored to say ‘Wilkommen’ as the recipients of the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Awards,” Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, said in a statement.
“We are immensely thrilled to honor two legends in their own rights,” added Charlotte St. Martin, president of The Broadway League.
Hosted by Ariana DeBose, the 76th Annual Tony Awards will air live on Sunday, June 11, from the historic United Palace in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City from 8 to 11 p.m. ET/ 5 to 8 p.m. PT on CBS. The show will also stream live and on demand on Paramount+.
Mariah Carey took to social media on Tuesday morning (May 2) to celebrate Some Like It Hot scoring more than a dozen Tony Award nominations.
“Congratulations to the amazing cast and crew!!! Couldn’t have asked for better news to wake up to!!!” the Songbird Supreme turned Broadway producer shared on her Instagram Stories.
The musical leads this year’s pack of Tony nominees with 13 nominations, including best musical, best performance by a leading actor in a musical (both Christian Borle and J. Harrison Ghee), best performance by a featured actor in a musical (Kevin Del Aguila), best performance by a featured actress in a musical (NaTasha Yvette Williams), best direction, best book, best original score and more.
Carey, meanwhile, serves more than one function in the musical. Not only is she a member of the production team, but she also lent her voice to the pre-show announcement before the curtain rises. (“Welcome to the Shubert Theater!” she tells the audience each night. “At this time, please take a moment to turn off your cell phones. And remember: The use of photographic equipment and recording devices is strictly prohibited. And now, Some Like It Hot.”)
Should Some Like It Hot take home the Tony for best musical, Mariah would technically be halfway to EGOT status, thanks to the five Grammys she’s collected over the years out of 34 total nominations — including wins for best new artist in 1991 and best R&B song for 2005’s “We Belong Together.”
Check out Mimi’s reaction to her first Tony nomination before it expires here.
“Because you can can can!” is the hedonistic rallying cry of Parisian club owner Harold Zidler at the outset of Broadway’s adaptation of Baz Luhrmann’s celebrated 2001 film Moulin Rouge!. And through July 16 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in Manhattan, Joanna “JoJo” Levesque is currently proving she can can can soar in a sumptuous major musical despite no previous credits on the Gay White Way.
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Yes, experiencing JoJo in Moulin Rouge! involves a few moments of processing that the Satine in front of you is the same person who, at age of 13 in 2004, earned a No. 1 on Pop Airplay with the punchy “Leave (Get Out).” But that biographical tidbit quickly fades as you lose yourself in Satine’s journey as she sheds her performative shield and embraces love, death and everything in between.
It’s a triumphant transformation that Levesque subtly reveals through shifting reactions to the world around her — while, naturally, showing off her substantial vocal range and a nuanced ability to interpret hit songs from other artists. It’s such a convincing sublimation of her pop star identity that my companion at the Hirschfeld, despite several assurances, refused to believe it was THAT JoJo on stage in front of us and not a Broadway pro (eventually, she was convinced, and cried at the end of the play).
Of course, casting a known pop, film or TV star in a Broadway play is nothing new — and lately, it’s been a boon for theatrical box offices as they recover from the pandemic. Earlier this year, two-time Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon pulled in packed, enthusiastic audiences for Chicago as Mama Morton. But rarely do outsiders make their Broadway debut playing the lead role in a musical, which makes JoJo’s 14-week run as Satine even more impressive – and a sparkling diamond of a delight on Broadway.
Before we talk about the play, I want to ask about your initial reaction to the movie when it came out in 2001.
Obsessed. Baz Luhrmann is one of my favorite filmmakers. I love the energy, the pulse you can feel throbbing in all of his work. Nicole Kidman just shattered me with Satine. I was like 10 years old when it came out, but I revisit it time and time again because it’s so delicious. I saw the Moulin Rouge! musical theater production when it opened in L.A. at the Pantages [in 2021], and I went back and rewatched the movie again I was like, “Ugh, it’s so good!” I’m totally in love with the Baz stuff.
When you auditioned for the role of Satine on Broadway, how did you feel? Were you confident about what you delivered?
I workshopped with the producers and director and I knew that I had prepared as much as I possibly could have. I walked away feeling, “If I don’t get it, I can feel good about the work I did going into it.” And that’s what I’m looking to feel at this point in my life in general: I laid it all out there and come what may. But I was hoping that it would work out, and when it did, I was so relieved. I really wanted the opportunity to use all the different things I love that I’ve been working on since I was a little girl at once: Singing, acting, performing. This is the perfect opportunity for that.
As you rehearsed and prepared for the role, what was the hardest part for you?
The quick costume changes backstage are one of the most challenging components. Some of the changes are 25 seconds and there’s wig changes, shoe changes. That stressed me out a little bit because I didn’t want to throw anybody else off – not hit a mark and set the whole show back. But I learned. There’s a whole squad of people who are there to help it all move seamlessly. And that’s my favorite part of musical theater, the community aspect of it – we’re all parts in this living, breathing organism.
Twice in the musical you descend from the ceiling on a swing. Is that terrifying?
I have a safety harness. Sometimes I don’t click it exactly right and it gets stuck, and that gives me a little nervousness. But being up in the air is okay. It’s fun. I don’t love roller coasters, but it’s the perfect dose of a roller coaster. It sets my character up for the audience to understand who she is at the Moulin Rouge. And it helps me get into character, honestly, coming down from the ceiling. JoJo hasn’t done that before, but Satine does. That makes me feel better. I’m not myself, I’m not Joanna; I’m embodying Satine.
JoJo in Moulin Rouge
Evan Zimmerman
What’s your favorite song to perform each night?
I love doing “Elephant Love Medley” with Derek [Klena]. It’s such a cute moment of him trying to win her over and her being like, “You don’t understand what life is actually like, bro. You’re crazy.” But there’s something charming about his purity and how he has not been wounded by life the way she has. I love that moment. It’s when they’re really falling in love and when she decides she’s going to follow her heart for once as opposed to trying to do what she needs to do to survive.
The next time you hit the stage as you, do you think you might incorporate some of the Moulin Rouge! stuff?
I have a festival performance coming up May 6 for Lovers & Friends in Las Vegas, while I’m doing this [Broadway run]. It has informed that. I have a couple ideas I’m going to bring into my set in Vegas. I think this is making me a more well-rounded performer, getting to play with different people every night, sometimes two times a day. I love that repetition and finding freedom within it. And doing your own play on other people’s songs is a treat.
What have you learned about yourself doing this?
I learned how much I was yearning for some aspect of community that I haven’t had in my life before. I started so young as a solo artist and I’m an only child. I still had that sense of being an outsider, the odd girl out, and I was bullied in middle school. I was like, “Will I be embraced?” I did have those fears. And to let myself be vulnerable and be open, let people know my heart and get to know other people’s hearts, that’s been a nice experience. And [I learned] how to pace myself. If you’re doing 7-8 shows a week, you have to learn how to take care of your instrument, your body, everything.
What informs your portrayal of Satine?
I want to always keep in mind how difficult her life has been. The fact that she is performing most of her life, whether it’s on the streets or for men or at the Moulin Rouge, she doesn’t really get a moment to let her guard down. There was a time in my life where that was very much the truth for me. I didn’t even know how to be honest; I didn’t even know how to get in touch with myself. I’m still trying to find the most authentic version of myself.
Do you want to do more acting on Broadway?
I love it here. I love doing stuff like this. If they’ll have me, I’ll be here. I’d love to originate a role, I’d love to be part of writing the music for original shows. To be a part of this has been a highlight of my life. I feel like I’m growing, I’m learning, and that’s what makes me happy: to be where these amazing performers are and where we’re stretching and growing. I could definitely see more of it.
Lea Michele, star of the hit revival of Funny Girl, and Myles Frost, a 2022 Tony winner for his portrayal of Michael Jackson in MJ, are set to announce the 76th Annual Tony nominations on Tuesday, May 2.
The nominations announcement will air live from Sofitel New York on the Tony Awards’ official YouTube Page at 9 a.m. ET. Selected categories will be read live on CBS Mornings at 8:30 a.m. ET. A complete list of the 2023 nominations will be available on the Tony’s website immediately following the announcement.
As a replacement (for Beanie Feldstein) in the revival of Funny Girl, Michele isn’t eligible for a Tony nomination. Barbra Streisand received a 1964 Tony nod for best actress in a musical for her performance in the original production.s a
In 2010, Michele received an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her breakout role in Glee. She was named as one the most influential people of 2023 by TIME, on their TIME100 list.
Frost received the 2022 Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical for his performance in MJ. At 22, he became the youngest actor to ever win in that category. Frost will next be seen in Ava DuVernay’s feature film Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.
The Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date for the 2022-23 season is Thursday, April 27, for all Broadway productions that meet all eligibility requirements.
The 76th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Ariana DeBose, will air live from United Palace Theatre in New York City on Sunday, June 11. The celebration will commence at 7 p.m., ET/4 p.m. PT, with one hour of exclusive content streaming on Paramount+, followed by the presentation of the 76th Annual Tony Awards from 8 to 11 p.m. ET live on CBS, and streaming live and on demand on Paramount+.