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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Chenoweth To Guest As American Idol Judge

It's that time of year again, when Fox's ratings juggernaut American Idol takes over the airwaves and a new slate of aspiring performers become incessant water cooler talk (a select few even go on to superstardom). During the audition episodes of American Idol, several guest judges will be sitting in on the panel, and among them will be a couple of Broadway babies. Kristin Chenoweth (of Wicked fame) will serve as a guest judge on January 20 for the Orlando auditions, and Neil Patrick Harris (who has several Broadway credits but is more recently known for TV's How I Met Your Mother) will join the Dallas auditions on January 26.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2009

See These Broadway Shows While They Last

As always, January is a brutal month for Broadway, which unfortunately gets a chilly reception from the ticket-buying public. The tourists have all gone home following the December holiday season, and locals are staying in the warmth of their homes as they recover from the financial blow dealt by all that Christmas and Chanukah merriment. Knowing this, Broadway producers frequently decide in advance that they will close their more monetarily troubled shows in early January. This year, those doomed Broadway shows include Burn the Floor and The 39 Steps (closing January 10), and Shrek the Musical and Superior Donuts (closing January 3). The limited-run shows In the Next Room and Irving Berlin's White Christmas will also be shuttering in January. So if you have been dragging your feet on seeing any of these Broadway shows, be sure to get tickets while you can. Even these plays and musicals might not be discounting right over the Christmas holiday, but for most of them you can get good discounts on tickets for January performance dates.

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Saturday, December 19, 2009

The 39 Steps To Move Off-Broadway

The Alfred Hitchcockian comedy The 39 Steps, scheduled to conclude its lengthy Broadway run in January, appears to have its eye on Off-Broadway. Earlier this year, Avenue Q raised eyebrows when, immediately following its Broadway closing at the John Golden Theatre, it announced that the production would be re-opening at New World Stages for another Off-Broadway run. It looks like the producers of The 39 Steps were inspired to try the same strategy, as they are now posting casting notices for a new Off-Broadway production of the show. Like Avenue Q, The 39 Steps is a small show (it only has a four-person cast) that could work quite well Off-Broadway. The fact that it survived two years on Broadway - a major feat for a play - indicates that there is a good audience for the show, so Off-Broadway may be the perfect place for it. There will not be pressure to sell as many tickets to a smaller theater, and the running costs will be lower.

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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Nine Soundtrack Now Available Online

The original motion picture soundtrack to Rob Marshall's film adaptation of the musical Nine is now available to be purchased and downloaded online. The actual CD will be released in stores on December 22. The 16-track recording features several songs from the original Broadway score, including "Guido's Song" (sung by Daniel Day-Lewis), "A Call From the Vatican" (Penelope Cruz), "Be Italian" (Fergie), "My Husband Makes Movies" (Marion Cotillard), "Cinema Italiano" (Kate Hudson), and "Unusual Way" (Nicole Kidman). There are also a couple new songs that composer/lyricist Maury Yeston wrote specifically for the movie, as well as four bonus tracks. The film Nine, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a troubled Italian movie director, opens nationwide on December 25.

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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Ragtime To Begin Talkback Series

The Broadway revival of Ragtime, now playing at the Neil Simon Theatre, is starting a new post-performance talkback series called "Ragtime Talk Time". The discussion series will kick off on December 15 with a post-show chat with Ragtime's composer/lyricist team, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. The duo will talk about the process of working on their Tony Award-winning score for Ragtime, as well as other aspects of their 25-year creative partnership. The post-show Tuesday talks will continue on a monthly basis and are free to anyone attending that night's performance.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Corbin Bleu To Join In the Heights Cast

High School Musical star Corbin Bleu is bound for Broadway, scheduled to join the cast of the Tony Award-winning hit musical In the Heights for a limited time, from January 25th to April 25th 2010. Although Bleu played second banana in the High School Musical franchise as Zac Efron's best friend, he will be taking the lead in In the Heights, assuming the demanding role of bodega owner Usnavi, originally played by the show's co-creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.

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Monday, December 7, 2009

Al Pacino Joins Shakespeare in the Park

The Public Theater is bringing out the big guns once again for its annual Shakespeare in the Park summer season. As previously announced, the season will be two William Shakespeare dramas, The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale, in rep. While most of the casting has yet to be announced, the Public just revealed that The Merchant of Venice will feature legendary actor Al Pacino in the role of Shylock. Actors already set to appear in both productions include Jesse L. Martin (Rent, Law & Order), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (TV's Modern Family), Lily Rabe, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Max Wright. The first 2010 Shakespeare in the Park production will kick off on June 1st at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

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Thursday, December 3, 2009

Broadway Shows Get Grammy Nods

The Grammy Award nominations were announced yesterday, and the Best Musical Show Album category was almost entirely made up of Broadway musicals. The nominated show recordings were: Ain't Misbehavin' (30th anniversary cast recording featuring American Idol's Ruben Studdard and Frenchie Davis), Hair (Broadway revival cast album), 9 To 5 The Musical (featuring a score by country music superstar Dolly Parton), Shrek The Musical (Original Broadway cast recording), and West Side Story (new Broadway revival cast recording). If you want to hear what the fuss is about, three of the musicals - Hair, Shrek, and West Side Story - are still playing on Broadway. The winners of the Grammy for Best Show Album will be announced in January.

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