broadway
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Joey Fatone is heading back to the Broadway stage, this time for the Shakespeare-inspired & Juliet. & Juliet opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in New York City in 2022 and features songs by the legendary and Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Max Martin. The show reimagines the classic Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet, picturing what life would have […]
The original Broadway cast recording of Suffs hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart for the first time, as it re-enters atop the list dated Oct. 12 following the set’s CD release. Shaina Taub wrote the show’s book, music and lyrics, while the project counts Hillary Clinton as one of its producers. Billboard’s Cast […]
Gavin Creel, an accomplished Broadway actor best known for his performance in Hello, Dolly!, has died. He was 48 years old. The star’s publicist told The Associated Press that Creel died at home in NYC after a two-month battle with metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma. Per Mayo Clinic, the rare form of cancer starts […]
Charli D’Amelio is headed to fair Verona. As announced Monday (Sept. 30), the 20-year-old TikTok star is set to make her Broadway debut with a three-month run in the cast of & Juliet. According to The Hollywood Reporter, D’Amelio will play Charmian, a dance-heavy role in the jukebox musical’s ensemble. She’ll start Oct. 29 and […]
Grammy winner and Americana luminary Allison Russell is set to make her Broadway debut in the eight-time Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown.
Beginning on Nov. 12, Russell will perform as the Greek goddess Persephone in the lauded musical. Hadestown is based on the 2010 concept album adapting the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice by folk singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell, who then went on to create the show’s music, lyrics and book.
On her Instagram, Russell celebrated her upcoming debut, while recalling her first time seeing Mitchell perform the show’s song “Why We Build The Wall” in Santa Barbara, California in 2008.
“I was transfixed,” Russell wrote. “When Anaïs told me later that night that she was working on a ‘folk opera’ based on the myth of Orpheus & Eurydice all my hairs stood on end — I had a premonition that it would be become a piece that would outlive us all…”
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After Mitchell released Hadestown in 2010, the project was later turned into a stage musical and made its U.S. debut in 2016. Three years later, the musical opened on Broadway and won eight Tony Awards that same year, including best musical.
“It has been a keen and continuous joy to have a front row seat to the evolution of this great opus — from the 2010 album to Off Broadway to the Edmonton Theatre to the London Theatre and finally to Broadway and the Walter Kerr Theatre,” Russell wrote. “Anaïs has been and is a lodestar artist, writer and friend to me since that night in 2008 … impossible for me to fully convey how deeply meaningful, resonant, uplifting, full circle and THRILLING it is to be making my Broadway debut, starring in the role of Persephone (a Goddess and archetype I have explored in both poetry and song myself since childhood) in this generational masterpiece and my favourite musical.”
Russell also added that she is “proud to be joining the sisterhood of artists who’ve embodied Persephone, proud to be joining this extraordinary ensemble, proud to become a part of this living, growing legacy. This is a World I’ve dreamt of and one I get to live in now. I am excited and grateful beyond measure to be joining @hadestown! See you way down under the ground.”
For Russell, early 2025 is slated to be filled with performances. The singer-songwriter, who has been supporting Hozier’s Unreal Unearth Tour this year, is also slated for a brief run of tour dates in Australia in April 2025, and will then embark on her rescheduled All Returners Tour later than month, with the tour launching April 30 in South Burlington, Vt. and including shows in New York, San Francisco and Nashville.
At this week’s Americana Music Awards — set for Wednesday, Sept. 18 in Nashville — Russell is also nominated for the evening’s artist of the year trophy, alongside Tyler Childers, Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell and Noah Kahan.
See Russell’s announcement post below:
The story of Buena Vista Social Club, the musical ensemble primarily comprised of Cuban musicians (many of them elderly), whose acclaimed debut album from 1997 became a global sensation, will arrive on Broadway early next year, producers Orin Wolf, John Styles and Barbara Broccoli announced on Monday (Sep. 16).
The musical BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, which had its world premiere off-Broadway in December 2023, will begin preview performances at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater (36 West 45th St) in New York on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, before opening officially on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
With a book by Marco Ramirez inspired by true events, the Saheem Ali-directed show will feature a band of international musicians to narrate the legendary story of the artists who brought the original album to life. BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB will features music from Cuba’s golden age, with choreography by Patricia Delgado and Justin Peck and a music team led by David Yazbek and musical supervisor Dean Sharenow.
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The Broadway company features Natalie Venetia Belcon as Omara Portuondo, Julio Monge as Compay Segundo, Mel Semé as Ibrahim Ferrer and Jainardo Batista Sterling as Rubén González — with Isa Antonetti, Da’von Moody, Wesley Wray and Leonardo Reyna as their younger versions, respectively. Renesito Avich will play Eliades Ochoa, and Ashley De La Rosa a young Haydee. Also performing are Angelica Beliard, Carlos Falú, Hector Juan Maisonet, Ilda Mason, Marielys Molina, and Sophia Ramos, among others.
The musical band will consist of Marco Paguia (piano, musical direction, composition, and arrangements), David Oquendo (guitar, additional arrangements), Gustavo Schartz (bass), Hery Paz (wind instruments), Eddie Venegas (trombone), Jesús Ricardo (trumpet), Javier Díaz (percussion, additional arrangements), Mauricio Herrera (percussion) and Román Díaz (percussion).
Buena Vista Social Club was formed in Cuba 1996, in a project organized by World Circuit executive Nick Gold, produced by American guitarist Ry Cooder and directed by Juan de Marcos González, who named the group after a popular music venue in Havana in the 1940s. To showcase popular styles of the time, such as son, bolero, and danzón, they recruited a dozen veteran musicians, some of whom had been retired for years.
The group’s eponymous debut album was released in September 1997 and quickly became an international sensation. On the Billboard charts, it reached No. 1 on Tropical Albums, where it stayed at the top for 24 weeks and spent a total of 266 weeks on the chart. It also reached No. 1 on Top Latin Albums and World Albums, and spent 19 weeks on the Billboard 200. In 1988, it won the Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album, and the Billboard Latin Music Award for Tropical/Salsa Album of the Year by a Group.
“It’s been my honor to help develop Buena Vista Social Club into a new musical alongside Marco Ramirez, Saheem Ali, Patricia Delgado, Justin Peck and David Yazbek — all artists at the very top of their game,” producer Orin Wolf says in a press release. “From our trips to Cuba getting to meet the incredible artists who created the album to our Off-Broadway premiere, the artistic process has been as invigorating as the energy and music that will begin pouring out of the Schoenfeld Theatre next year.”
“I first heard the Buena Vista Social Club as a precocious youngster growing up in Nairobi, wearing out the original album from my father’s eclectic CD collection,” adds director Saheem Ali. “Though we spoke Swahili and not Spanish, I memorized the lyrics in my broken accent. I felt connected to the beautiful songs embodying the spirit of a distant culture. Decades later, I’m thrilled to be joining Orin, Marco and the entire creative team on the journey to bringing this extraordinary, singular musical to Broadway.”
Book writer Marco Ramirez says: “In 1968, my grandfather left Cuba and got a job washing dishes a block from the Schoenfeld Theatre. Almost 60 years later, we’ll be blasting his favorite songs there. Alongside some of the best artists — and people — I’ve ever met, I’m humbled by the chance to forge connections between two of the most musically iconic islands the world has ever known- Cuba and Manhattan.”
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB is produced on Broadway by Orin Wolf, John Styles, Barbara Broccoli, Atlantic Theater Company, Luis Miranda, LaChanze and John Leguizamo, with executive producer Allan Williams. The off-Broadway production was nominated for Best Musical by the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle organizations.
For tickets and more details, click here.
A musical based on the play by Josefina López and HBO’s movie adaptation Real Women Have Curves will debut on Broadway in 2025.
Featuring music and lyrics written by Grammy Award-winning artist Joy Huerta of the Mexican pop duo Jesse & Joy, producers Barry Weissler, Fran Weissler, and Jack Noseworthy announced on Thursday (Sep. 12) that Real Women Have Curves: The Musical will also feature music by composer and lyricist Benjamin Velez, a book by Lisa Loomer, additional material by Nell Benjamin, music supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo, and direction & choreography by Tony and Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo.
“I am thrilled to be a part of bringing Real Women Have Curves: The Musical to Broadway,” said Huerta in a press release. “Songwriting for theater is a new undertaking for me, and it’s been a thrill to collaborate with Sergio, Bejamin, Lisa, Nell, and the rest of this extremely talented team. Ana’s story is such a powerful and universal one that already holds so much cultural relevance, and we look forward to bringing it to new audiences in this musical format.”
The show will arrive on Broadway following its 2023 world premiere at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T) at Harvard University. Dates, cast and additional creative team will be announced at a later date.
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Set in East L.A. in 1987, Real Women Have Curves follows 18-year-old Ana García, a daughter of immigrants parents who struggles between her ambitions of going to college and the desires of her mother for her to get married, have children, and oversee the small, rundown family-owned textile factory. The 2002 movie, directed by Patricia Cardoso, put a young America Ferrera on the map with a stellar performance that garnered her a best debut performance nomination for the Independent Spirit Awards and a special jury prize for acting at the Sundance Film Festival.
Fans can get an exclusive first look at the show on Sunday, September 15 with a special live performance of the musical’s title track “Real Women Have Curves” by Florencia Cuenca Jennifer Sanchez, Elisa Galindez, and Aline Mayagoitia. The time and location will be announced on the show’s social media accounts.
Two years after making his acting debut in the miniseries Once Upon a Time… But Not Anymore, Sebastián Yatra is taking a leap to Broadway, where he will close out 2024 starring in the musical Chicago. The Colombian star will spend four weeks playing the charmingly corrupt lawyer Billy Flynn, from Monday, Nov. 25 to Sunday, Dec. 22.
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“It’s news that I’ve been eager to share for a long time,” Yatra tells Billboard Español on Wednesday (Sep. 4) from Medellín. “This is not only big for me but for Colombia, big for Latinos to keep doing these kinds of things.”
Set in the 1920s, Chicago —the longest-running American musical on Broadway after almost three decades— is a scathing satire of how show business and the media make celebrities out of criminals. With a book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander and lyrics by Ebb, it includes killer songs like “All That Jazz,” “Cell Block Tango” and “Mr. Cellophane”.
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The role of Billy Flynn — famously played by Richard Gere in the 2002 film adaptation — will receive the Latin treatment from Yatra, who hopes to bring some of his contemporary and tropical flair.
“Latinos have something special even when we are speaking English, there is a lot of love within us, a lot of passion,” says the singer-songwriter, known for No. 1 hits on the Billboard Latin Airplay chart like “Tacones Rojos,” “Un Año” with Reik and “Robarte un Beso” with Carlos Vives. “I think I can offer a perspective from someone who is living in 2024 at almost 30, how he sees that world, also knowing that I could have perfectly been a lawyer and could be that person standing there. Thank God Billy and I don’t share the same values, because that would be messed up!” he adds with a laugh.
Over the years, Chicago has invited various Latin stars to join the musical for brief seasons. The list includes Colombian actress Sofia Vergara, who in 2009 played Matron “Mama” Morton, and Mexican singer and actor Jaime Camil, who in 2016 portrayed Billy Flynn.
Yatra says that he received the invitation to join the cast about six months ago via email, and, although he was very surprised, he did not hesitate to accept this new challenge immediately.
“Many times you get a proposal like this and it’s easy to get scared and say, ‘Oh no, I’m not an actor, better leave it for another time, in a couple of years’. But opportunities come when they come in life and if you don’t dare to take them, you don’t know if they’ll come again,” he says, adding that now, “it’s the right moment” as he is just starting working on his fourth studio album, whose first single, “Los Domingos,” was released last week.
The artist, who said he was fascinated 12 years ago when he saw Ricky Martin performing as Che in the Broadway musical Evita, has already received the endorsement of his Puerto Rican friend and colleague, who commented on Wednesday on Yatra’s Instagram post about his foray into the theater Mecca of New York: “That’s it 🙌 We will be there, little brother. Absolutely. Congratulations.”
Currently preparing remotely, learning his lines and taking acting classes, Yatra is due to arrive in New York City to start in-person rehearsals a month prior to his debut. It’s an experience he is really looking forward to.
“Living in New York in December, with the snow, doing Broadway, is something I really want to live very much in the present, enjoy it, learn from it,” he said. “There are a million things to learn from all these people — the actors, the crew, the directors, the production. It’s impeccable. I was watching the play in New York City recently and it really runs like clockwork, so being able to adjust to become one more piece of that clock is going to be beautiful.”
Chicago is presented at the Ambassador Theatre (219 W. 49th St.) For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ChicagoTheMusical.com.
A month after The Outsiders: A New Musical took home four Tony Awards, including best musical, the original Broadway cast recording of the show hits No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart. The set jumps 10-1 on the July 27-dated list, following the album’s CD release. The album had previously been available to purchase only […]
Broadway fans will soon have to bid “auf wiedersehen” to Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin when they depart from the Tony Award-winning musical Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. But soon after, they’ll be saying “willkommen, bienvenue, welcome” to a new set of Broadway stars. On Wednesday (July 24), the production announced that pop singer […]