It’s no surprise that Broadway producers like to cast celebrities in their shows. If your show, let’s say, is a dramatic British play about horses that wouldn’t attract the average tourist (ahem, Equus), throw a naked Harry Potter on the stage and voila, you just made additional millions. (And this is good because Harry Potter probably doesn’t get naked for cheap.) To no one’s surprise, the 2009-2010 Broadway season is stacked with celebrities. Here’s who you can expect to see, for better or for worse. Let the celeb worship/bashing begin! (And I suppose it’s only fair to remind you that many of these celebs are stage actors with credible resumes.)
John Stamos, Gina Gershon
Bye Bye Birdie (musical, revival)
Performances begin September 10, 2009
Henry Miller’s Theatre
Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman
A Steady Rain (drama, new)
Performances begin September 10, 2009
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
Jude Law
Hamlet (Shakespearean classic)
Performances begin September 12, 2009
Broadhurst Theatre
Sienna Miller
After Miss Julie (drama, revival)
Performances begin September 18, 2009
American Airlines Theatre
Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking (one-woman show, new)
Performances begin September 22, 2009
Studio 54
Julia Stiles, Bill Pullman
Oleanna (drama, revival)
Performances begin September 29, 2009
John Golden Theatre
James Spader, Kerry Washington
Race (drama, new)
Performances begin November 17, 2009
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
Alicia Silverstone, Laura Linney
Time Stands Still (drama, new)
Performances begin January 5, 2010
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
Evan Rachel Wood, Alan Cumming
Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark (musical, new)
Performances begin February 25, 2009
Hilton Theatre
Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth
The Addams Family (musical, new)
Performances begin March 4, 2010
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
With the live band backstage and the cast consisting of only the four girls, audiences at The Marvelous Wonderettes become the audience of the girl group of the same name. The show’s premise is simple: act one has the four girls performing as the entertainment at their 1958 senior prom, and act two takes place at their ten-year reunion as they reunite and sing together once more. Throughout the show we learn about the girls as individuals and their relationships with each other, with their songs loosely connected to the story (e.g. one girl has a crush on her teacher, so they sing “Teacher’s Pet”). In the second act we learn what’s happened to their teenage dreams, and we see how they’ve grown since their glory days.
The Europeans, written by the prolific Howard Barker, tells the tragic story of 1600s Vienna, after a violent clash between Christianity and Islam has pretty much upended society. It’s kind of a love story, it’s kind of a war story, it’s half really sad, and half a farcical romp with lots of laughs.
Therese Raquin is adapted from Emile Zola’s novel, a dark and sultry tale that takes place in 19th-century Paris. Therese is a maladjusted girl who, orphaned at a young age, grows up living with her aunt and her aunt’s sickly son, Camille. She eventually marries Camille, begins to despise him, and reunites with an old family friend with whom she starts a secret affair. Tired of hiding their love, they decide to get rid of Camille so they can be together.
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Well, the Tony Awards aired last Sunday night and there weren’t any surprises of note. Everyone who was supposed to win took home their respective awards and aside from the teleprompter being apparently really hard to read, the night pretty much went as planned. Billy Elliot won almost all of the awards it was up for, including the coveted Best Musical prize. God of Carnage won the award for Best Play, as expected. Neil Patrick Harris proved to be a decent Tonys host, not terribly cheesy but still endearing to Grandmas in Ohio. And the G-rated entertainment offered more musical performances this year including the tours of Legally Blonde, Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia (because that’s apparently what people want).
Brian Yorkey is not an asshole. The playwright of the new Broadway musical Next to Normal would never write disparaging comments on a blog post critical of his show. He actually welcomes intellectual discussions about Next to Normal and is much more humble than proud. So it was obviously disconcerting when he discovered an impostor was posting offensive comments as “Brian Yorkey” on a handful of websites this past spring as Next to Normal opened on Broadway.
If you don’t love theatre or live in New York City, the Tony Awards probably don’t rev your engine the way they do mine. You probably don’t really care if one of the Mary Stuart ladies will beat out the God of Carnage broads for the Best Leading Actress award. You probably don’t stay up at night wondering if Billy Elliot will walk away with the coveted Best Musical prize or if Next to Normal will snatch it out of Sir Elton’s sparkly grip with its edgy rock musical panache. Even if the Tony Awards won’t generate exciting water cooler talk at your office, I’m sure you can still appreciate that they represent the best of the best from the 2008-2009 Broadway season. And just maybe, that little deep-down part of you that occasionally breaks out into jazz hands is a tiny bit interested in this year’s nominees.
Situational comedy doesn’t need bells and whistles. Interesting people in amusing situations can be plenty. Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests introduces six characters at their sick mother’s house over one weekend. It’s a spontaneous family reunion of sorts, and that set-up is enough to spark over six full hours of humor (broken up into three separate plays). The Norman Conquests is a lot like watching your favorite tv sitcom live; it’s neither deep nor insightful, but it’s ripe with jokes and one-liners that you’ll most likely quote for weeks to come. And since the plays are considerably longer than your average 23 minute TV show, there is more time to get to know the characters, and more development of the plot’s antics. Plus, it’s British humor so the play is both physical and over-the-top as well as dry and biting; it’s a brilliant combination that makes for a hilariously entertaining theatrical experience.