Exclusive: Susan Stroman, the celebrated Broadway director and choreographer, has revealed that an acclaimed UK revival of musical comedy Crazy for You, which features show-stopping numbers from the George and Ira Gershwin songbook, will transfer from the Chichester Festival Theater into Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Lw Theatres-owned Gillian Lynne Theatre for a strictly limited 30-week West End season from June 24. Opening night is July 3.
The production with British stars Charlie Stemp and Carly Anderson played to packed houses during an eight-week summer run at Chichester.
Related Story ‘The Wiz’ Sets 2024 Broadway Return With New Material By Amber Ruffin Related Story Andrew Lloyd Webber & Producer Michael Harrison Announce New Musical Theater Partnership Related Story Love Changes Everything: Michael Ball Will Revisit 'Aspects Of Love' In A Reimagined Version Of Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical
It’s a coming home of sorts for Stroman, who won the Tony Award for Best Choreography when...
The production with British stars Charlie Stemp and Carly Anderson played to packed houses during an eight-week summer run at Chichester.
Related Story ‘The Wiz’ Sets 2024 Broadway Return With New Material By Amber Ruffin Related Story Andrew Lloyd Webber & Producer Michael Harrison Announce New Musical Theater Partnership Related Story Love Changes Everything: Michael Ball Will Revisit 'Aspects Of Love' In A Reimagined Version Of Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical
It’s a coming home of sorts for Stroman, who won the Tony Award for Best Choreography when...
- 12/1/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Today in 1992, Crazy for You opened at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 1622 performances. Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as 'The New Gershwin Musical Comedy', it is largely based on the songwriting team's 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well. Crazy for You won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production was directed by Mike Ockrent and choreographed by Susan Stroman.The cast included Jodi Benson as Polly, Harry Groener as Bobby Child, Bruce Adler as Bela Zangler, John Hillner as Lank Hawkins, Michele Pawk as Irene Roth, Jane Connell as Mother, and Beth Leavel as Tess.
- 2/19/2021
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
More than 200 theater writers – playwrights, composers, lyricists, librettists – have joined a nationwide letter writing campaign urging the incoming Biden-Harris Administration to prioritize its commitment to an arts community ravaged by Covid-19. Among other goals, many of the letters urge the administration to create a Department and Secretary of Arts & Culture.
Organized by the non-partisan grassroots coalition Be An #ArtsHero in partnership with The Dramatists Guild of America, the “Dear Mr. President and Madam Vice President” campaign asserts that “the Arts are vital to our nation’s soul and our collective humanity, as well as being an essential driver of the economy.”
Among those writing letters: Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown), Heidi Schreck (What The Constitution Means To Me) as well as V (formerly Eve Ensler), Craig Lucas, Theresa Rebeck, Sarah Ruhl, Marsha Norman, Lynn Ahrens, Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, Bekah Brunstetter, Carla Ching, Vichet Chum, Paul Downs Colaizzo,...
Organized by the non-partisan grassroots coalition Be An #ArtsHero in partnership with The Dramatists Guild of America, the “Dear Mr. President and Madam Vice President” campaign asserts that “the Arts are vital to our nation’s soul and our collective humanity, as well as being an essential driver of the economy.”
Among those writing letters: Jeremy O. Harris (Slave Play), Anaïs Mitchell (Hadestown), Heidi Schreck (What The Constitution Means To Me) as well as V (formerly Eve Ensler), Craig Lucas, Theresa Rebeck, Sarah Ruhl, Marsha Norman, Lynn Ahrens, Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, Bekah Brunstetter, Carla Ching, Vichet Chum, Paul Downs Colaizzo,...
- 1/14/2021
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Last night, Roundabout Theatre Company welcomed back Emmy, Golden Globe amp SAG Award winner and Oscar amp Tony Award nominee Alec Baldwin, and Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Anne Heche in a one-night-only reunion benefit reading of Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy Twentieth Century, reuniting the original stars of Roundabout's 2004 revival with director Walter Bobbie.
- 4/30/2019
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
Last night, Roundabout Theatre Company welcomed back Emmy, Golden Globe amp SAG Award winner and Oscar amp Tony Award nominee Alec Baldwin, and Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Anne Heche in a one-night-only reunion benefit reading of Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy Twentieth Century, reuniting the original stars of Roundabout's 2004 revival with director Walter Bobbie.
- 4/30/2019
- by Walter McBride
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company Todd Haimes, Artistic DirectorCEO has just announced that Nick Choksi as 'Dr. Grover Lockwood,' Holley Fain as 'Anita Highland,' Richard Kind as 'Max Jacobs,' Michael Mulheren as 'Conductor,' and Raji Ahsan, Franklin Bongjio, Daniel Fredrick and Evan Powell as the 'Porters' have joined the one-night-only benefit reading of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy Twentieth Century, in a new adaptation by Ken Ludwig, directed by Walter Bobbie. They join the previously announced Alec Baldwin as 'Oscar Jaffe,' Anne Heche as 'Lily Garland,' Henry Winkler as 'Matthew Clark,' Dan Butler as 'Owen O'Malley,' Stephen DeRosa as 'First Beard,' Julie Halston as 'Ida Webb,' and Paul Alexander Nolan as 'George Smith.'...
- 4/26/2019
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company Todd Haimes, Artistic DirectorCEO has just announced that Dan Butler as 'Owen O'Malley,' Stephen DeRosa as 'First Beard,' Julie Halston as 'Ida Webb,' Paul Alexander Nolan as 'Dr. Grover Lockwood,' and Henry Winkler as 'Matthew Clark' have joined the one-night-only benefit reading of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy Twentieth Century, in a new adaptation by Ken Ludwig, directed by Walter Bobbie. They join the previously announced Emmy, Golden Globe amp SAG Award winner and Oscar amp Tony Award nominee Alec Baldwin as 'Oscar Jaffe' and Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Anne Heche as 'Lily Garland.'...
- 4/4/2019
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Henry Winkler, Dan Butler and Julie Halston will join the previously announced Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche in a one-night-only Roundabout Theatre Company benefit reading of Twentieth Century, Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the classic 1932 Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur comedy. The reading, which reunites most of the surviving team from Roundabout’s acclaimed 2004 staging of the play, is set for April 29 at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 theater.
Rounding out the production will be Stephen DeRosa and Paul Alexander Nolan. The casting was announced today by by Todd Haimes, Roundabout Artistic Director/CEO. All proceeds benefit the not-for-profit Roundabout and its programs.
Directed by Walter Bobbie, the Twentieth Century stage reading reunites the director with Baldwin, Heche, Butler, Halston and DeRosa from the 2004 Roundabout production of the play. As previously announced, Baldwin will reprise his role of “Oscar Jaffe,” as will Heche with “Lily Garland.”
Of the newly announced cast,...
Rounding out the production will be Stephen DeRosa and Paul Alexander Nolan. The casting was announced today by by Todd Haimes, Roundabout Artistic Director/CEO. All proceeds benefit the not-for-profit Roundabout and its programs.
Directed by Walter Bobbie, the Twentieth Century stage reading reunites the director with Baldwin, Heche, Butler, Halston and DeRosa from the 2004 Roundabout production of the play. As previously announced, Baldwin will reprise his role of “Oscar Jaffe,” as will Heche with “Lily Garland.”
Of the newly announced cast,...
- 4/4/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Alec Baldwin and Anne Heche will bring back Twentieth Century for a one-night-only benefit reading next month at Broadway’s Studio 54: The two actors will reprise their roles from a 2004 Roundabout Theatre production of the classic 1932 Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur comedy.
The event is set for Monday, April 29, 7:30 pm at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 theater. Walter Bobbie, who directed the 2004 production, will be back in the same capacity for the reading.
The announcement was made today by Todd Haimes, Roundabout Theatre Company’s Artistic Director/CEO. All proceeds benefit the not-for-profit Roundabout Theatre Company and its programs. Tickets go on sale today.
As with the 2004 revival, the benefit will use playwright Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the Hecht-MacArthur comedy. Additional cast members and creative team will be announced soon..
As Roundabout describes Twentieth Century: Bankrupt, with his career on a downslide, egomaniacal Broadway director Oscar Jaffee (Baldwin) boards the Twentieth Century Limited and encounters his former discovery and ex-chorus girl Lily Garland (Heche), now a temperamental Hollywood star. He’ll do anything to get her back under contract and back in his bed, but his former protégé will have nothing to do with him. All of the action takes place on board the legendary Twentieth Century train from Chicago to New York City where Oscar has 20 hours to persuade Lily to return to Broadway in his upcoming show. If he fails, it’s the end of the line.
The 2004 production of Twentieth Century kicked off Baldwin’s continuing association with the Roundabout: He subsequently starred as “Ed” in Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Roundabout’s Off Broadway Laura Pels Theatre. He currently serves on the Roundabout’s Board of Directors.
The event is set for Monday, April 29, 7:30 pm at the Roundabout’s Studio 54 theater. Walter Bobbie, who directed the 2004 production, will be back in the same capacity for the reading.
The announcement was made today by Todd Haimes, Roundabout Theatre Company’s Artistic Director/CEO. All proceeds benefit the not-for-profit Roundabout Theatre Company and its programs. Tickets go on sale today.
As with the 2004 revival, the benefit will use playwright Ken Ludwig’s adaptation of the Hecht-MacArthur comedy. Additional cast members and creative team will be announced soon..
As Roundabout describes Twentieth Century: Bankrupt, with his career on a downslide, egomaniacal Broadway director Oscar Jaffee (Baldwin) boards the Twentieth Century Limited and encounters his former discovery and ex-chorus girl Lily Garland (Heche), now a temperamental Hollywood star. He’ll do anything to get her back under contract and back in his bed, but his former protégé will have nothing to do with him. All of the action takes place on board the legendary Twentieth Century train from Chicago to New York City where Oscar has 20 hours to persuade Lily to return to Broadway in his upcoming show. If he fails, it’s the end of the line.
The 2004 production of Twentieth Century kicked off Baldwin’s continuing association with the Roundabout: He subsequently starred as “Ed” in Entertaining Mr. Sloane at the Roundabout’s Off Broadway Laura Pels Theatre. He currently serves on the Roundabout’s Board of Directors.
- 3/4/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Philip Bosco, the Broadway veteran and Tony-winning actor also known for his big-screen work in such films as Working Girl and The Savages, died Monday night, his grandson, Luke Bosco, reported. He was 88.
Bosco, who appeared on Broadway in some 50 productions, won his Tony Award in 1989 for his performance as the general manager of a Cleveland opera company in the Ken Ludwig farce Lend Me a Tenor.
He received his first of six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, Rape of the Belt, in 1960, and the last for his performance as angry Juror No. 3 (Lee J. Cobb in the ...
Bosco, who appeared on Broadway in some 50 productions, won his Tony Award in 1989 for his performance as the general manager of a Cleveland opera company in the Ken Ludwig farce Lend Me a Tenor.
He received his first of six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, Rape of the Belt, in 1960, and the last for his performance as angry Juror No. 3 (Lee J. Cobb in the ...
- 12/4/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Philip Bosco, the Broadway veteran and Tony-winning actor also known for his big-screen work in such films as Working Girl and The Savages, died Monday night, his grandson, Luke Bosco, reported. He was 88.
Bosco, who appeared on Broadway in some 50 productions, won his Tony Award in 1989 for his performance as the general manager of a Cleveland opera company in the Ken Ludwig farce Lend Me a Tenor.
He received his first of six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, Rape of the Belt, in 1960, and the last for his performance as angry Juror No. 3 (Lee J. Cobb in the ...
Bosco, who appeared on Broadway in some 50 productions, won his Tony Award in 1989 for his performance as the general manager of a Cleveland opera company in the Ken Ludwig farce Lend Me a Tenor.
He received his first of six Tony nominations for his Broadway debut, Rape of the Belt, in 1960, and the last for his performance as angry Juror No. 3 (Lee J. Cobb in the ...
- 12/4/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Signature Theatre presents The Gershwins' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You. This new production is directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Signature's West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles with choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas. Crazy for You runs now through January 14, 2018 in Signature Theatre's Max Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...
- 11/15/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Signature Theatre presents the Gershwins' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You. This new production is directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Signature's West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles with choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas. Crazy for You runs now through January 14, 2018 in Signature Theatre's Max Theatre. Check out a brand-new trailer for the show below...
- 11/13/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Signature Theatre presents The Gershwins' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You. This new production is directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Signature's West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles with choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas. Crazy for You will run from tonight, November 7, 2017, through January 14, 2018 in Signature Theatre's Max Theatre.
- 11/7/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Signature Theatre will present the Gershwins' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You. This new production will be directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Signature's West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles with choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas. Crazy for You will run from November 7, 2017 - January 14, 2018 in Signature Theatre's Max Theatre. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal in the video below...
- 10/25/2017
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Old Globe today announced the additional productions in its 2018 Summer Season, including the classic Neil Simon comedy Barefoot in the Park directed by Jessica Stone Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood, Arms and the Man, and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Globe, which will run July 28 - August 26, 2018. The Summer Shakespeare Festival lineup will include The Tempest, running June 17 - July 22, 2018, and Much Ado About Nothing, directed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall the Globe's Love's Labor's Lost, running August 12 - September 16.
- 10/20/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Signature Theatre has announced the full cast and creative team for Signature Theatre's production of The Gershwins' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You. This new production will be directed by Signature Theatre's Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner Signature's West Side Story, La Cage Aux Folles with choreography by Tony Award nominee Denis Jones Broadway's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas. Crazy for You will run from November 7, 2017 - January 14, 2018 in Signature Theatre's Max Theatre.
- 10/12/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Pioneer Theatre Company will produce A Comedy of Tenors by Ken Ludwig, opening Oct. 20, 2017. The hilarious sequel to the Tony Award-winning 1989 comedy Lend Me a Tenor is directed by Wes Grantom and will run through Nov. 4, 2017.
- 10/6/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Danny Gardner Broadway's Dames at Sea and Ashley Spencer Broadway's Grease are set to star in The Gershwins ' amp Ken Ludwig's musical comedy Crazy For You at Signature Theatre.
- 9/22/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team of an exciting Globe-commissioned world premiere comedy, Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood...
- 7/22/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The world's leading theatrical publishing and licensing company, Samuel French, announced today that Ken Ludwig, Dominique Morisseau, and the writing team of Chris Miller amp Nathan Tysen will be honored at the second annual Samuel French Awards.
- 7/11/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Center Theatre Group Artistic Director Michael Ritchie and Broadway producer Joey Parnes announced today that the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, 'Crazy for You,' with music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by two-time Tony Award nominee Ken Ludwig 'Lend Me a Tenor', will be produced by Center Theatre Group in an exclusive pre-Broadway engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre. Susan Stroman 'The Producers,' 'Show Boat,' 'Contact', who won the first of her five Tony Awards for choreographing the original 1992 Broadway production of the musical, will direct and choreograph this limited Los Angeles engagement which will begin performances February 7, 2018, and run through March 18, 2018.
- 6/7/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
McCarter Theatre Center presents the World Premiere production of Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's mystery masterpiece, Murder on the Orient Express, running now through April 2, 2017. An iconic classic, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express has thrilled mystery lovers from the page, the screen, and over the airwaves since its publication in 1934. Below, go behind the scenes with acclaimed costume designer William Ivey Long...
- 3/16/2017
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Old Globe today announced the remaining productions in its 2017 Summer Season, including a brand-new comedy, Ken Ludwig's Robin Hood, and a Summer Shakespeare Festival lineup featuring Robert Sean Leonard in the title role of the towering history play Richard II, directed by Erica Schmidt. Shakespeare's exhilarating tragedy Hamlet follows, directed by Old Globe Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare.
- 10/28/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Old Globe today announced the first production of its 2017 Summer Season Guys and Dolls, a musical fable of Broadway. Based on the stories and characters by Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, Guys and Dolls will be directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, returning to the Globe after the great successes of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, which he directed, and Bright Star, which he choreographed.
- 9/8/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Today in 1992, Crazy for You opened at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 1622 performances. Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as 'The New Gershwin Musical Comedy', it is largely based on the songwriting team's 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well. Crazy for You won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production was directed by Mike Ockrent and choreographed by Susan Stroman.The cast included Jodi Benson as Polly, Harry Groener as Bobby Child, Bruce Adler as Bela Zangler, John Hillner as Lank Hawkins, Michele Pawk as Irene Roth, Jane Connell as Mother, and Beth Leavel as Tess.
- 2/19/2016
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Cleveland, Birmingham, Denver and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Ken Ludwig's A Comedy Of Tenors at the Tony Award-Winning Cleveland Play House, Big Fish in Birmingham, and the Regional Premiere of Rock Of Ages in Denver, just to name a few.
- 9/18/2015
- by BWW Special Coverage
- BroadwayWorld.com
The West Coast Premiere of Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a new work by one of America's great comic playwrights, familiar to millions for Lend Me a Tenor and Crazy for You,is directed by Josh Rhodes, who previously choreographed the Globe's productions of Bright Star and Working, as well as Broadway's It Shoulda Been You, First Date, and Rodgers Hammerstein's Cinderella, atThe Old Globe. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below...
- 7/30/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Carol Burnett – comedic trailblazer, actor, singer, dancer, producer and author – has been named the 52nd recipient of SAG-aftra’s highest tribute: the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Burnett will be presented the performers union’s top accolade at the 22nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at 8 p.m. (Et), 7 p.m. (Ct), 6 p.m. (Mt) and 5 p.m. (Pt). Given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” the SAG Life Achievement Award will join Burnett’s exceptional catalog of preeminent industry and public honors, which includes multiple Emmys, a special Tony, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and both a Kennedy Center Honor and its Mark Twain Prize for Humor.
In making today’s announcement, SAG-aftra President Ken Howard said, “Carol Burnett is a creative dynamo and a comedic genius.
In making today’s announcement, SAG-aftra President Ken Howard said, “Carol Burnett is a creative dynamo and a comedic genius.
- 7/20/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Today in 1992, Crazy for You opened at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for 1622 performances. Crazy for You is a musical with a book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin. Billed as 'The New Gershwin Musical Comedy', it is largely based on the songwriting team's 1930 musical, Girl Crazy, but interpolates songs from several other productions as well. Crazy for You won the 1992 Tony Award for Best Musical. The Broadway production was directed by Mike Ockrent and choreographed by Susan Stroman.The cast included Jodi Benson as Polly, Harry Groener as Bobby Child, Bruce Adler as Bela Zangler, John Hillner as Lank Hawkins, Michele Pawk as Irene Roth, Jane Connell as Mother, and Beth Leavel as Tess.
- 2/19/2015
- by Stage Tube
- BroadwayWorld.com
The play's afoot Sherlock Holmes battles one of his greatest mysteries to date at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a world-premiere adaptation from Tony Award-winning playwright Ludwig Broadway's Lend Me a Tenor. Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved The Hound of the Baskervilles, this fast-paced comedic tale of murder, intrigue and a wild hound is directed by Amanda Dehnert Arena Stage's The Fantasticks as part of Arena Stage's 65th anniversary season. A co-production with McCarter Theatre Center, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery runs now through February 22, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below...
- 1/22/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The play's afoot Sherlock Holmes battles one of his greatest mysteries to date at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater in Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, a world-premiere adaptation from Tony Award-winning playwright Ludwig Broadway's Lend Me a Tenor. Adapted from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved The Hound of the Baskervilles, this fast-paced comedic tale of murder, intrigue and a wild hound is directed by Amanda Dehnert Arena Stage's The Fantasticks as part of Arena Stage's 65th anniversary season. A co-production with McCarter Theatre Center, Ken Ludwig's Baskerville A Sherlock Holmes Mystery runs tonight, January 16, through February 22, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.
- 1/16/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
NEW YORK -- Coming on the heels of one of their most popular and critically acclaimed films ("The War Room"), documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus take on a significantly more lighthearted subject in "Moon Over Broadway", a behind-the-scenes account of what goes on during the creation of a Broadway show.
Detailing the efforts to get the Carol Burnett starrer "Moon Over Buffalo" to the Great White Way, this film is a godsend to theater lovers, who will salivate at this no-holds-barred backstage look. Although lacking the historical immediacy of their previous effort, this specialized item could do fairly good business, especially in New York, before being assigned a permanent place in theater lovers' video libraries. The film recently received its U.S. premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
As with "The War Room", where they simply had to turn the camera on James Carville in order to ensure something interesting happening, the filmmakers have a great advantage in the presence of such pros as Burnett and Philip Bosco, both of whom enliven the proceedings with their comic shenanigans. Indeed, this effort avoids the usual pitfall of making documentaries -- the fact that people tend to alter their behavior for the camera. Here, many of those being filmed are so accustomed to performing that their behavior seems utterly natural.
The film chronicles the road to Broadway, beginning with the first reading of the play and culminating in the opening night and the aftermath of the critics' reviews, most of which were complimentary to the stars but savage to the play. Many of the participants are obviously nervous about the show's prospects, especially Ken Ludwig, the highly insecure playwright whose goal was to create a classic farce a la Feydeau, and Burnett, making her first Broadway appearance in 30 years.
The film captures the mounting desperation as the playwright attempts rewrite after rewrite, the performers cope with material that is often desperately unfunny and wonder why their attempts to contribute are being ignored, and the creative team wonders if Burnett will be able to contain her television persona and play her part as written.
Trouble continues with a tryout in Boston, where a typical review called the show "a hoot short of a hoot and a half" ("I'd call that mixed", declares the theater owner with understatement). The show's director, Tom Moore, announces, "This wouldn't cut it in New York," and Ludwig sardonically comments, "I heard a laugh a half-hour into it ... it really bolstered me right up."
The filmmakers were also present during a preview in New York when the scenery malfunctioned and Burnett was forced to go out solo and entertain the audience with an off-the-cuff question-and-answer session. She received bigger laughs than the play ever received, providing solid evidence for the value of having a star above the title. Another telling moment is a clip demonstrating all too vividly the discomfort that results when one of the actors, in this case Bosco, misses his lines.
Despite the turmoil, "Moon Over Broadway" went on to have a decent nine-month run, and the play has received many other productions, including one in Pasadena.
MOON OVER BROADWAY
Directors-editors D.A. Pennebaker,
Chris Hegedus
Producers Frazer Pennebaker, Wendy Ettinger
Cinematographers D.A. Pennebaker,
Nick Doob, James Desmond
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Detailing the efforts to get the Carol Burnett starrer "Moon Over Buffalo" to the Great White Way, this film is a godsend to theater lovers, who will salivate at this no-holds-barred backstage look. Although lacking the historical immediacy of their previous effort, this specialized item could do fairly good business, especially in New York, before being assigned a permanent place in theater lovers' video libraries. The film recently received its U.S. premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
As with "The War Room", where they simply had to turn the camera on James Carville in order to ensure something interesting happening, the filmmakers have a great advantage in the presence of such pros as Burnett and Philip Bosco, both of whom enliven the proceedings with their comic shenanigans. Indeed, this effort avoids the usual pitfall of making documentaries -- the fact that people tend to alter their behavior for the camera. Here, many of those being filmed are so accustomed to performing that their behavior seems utterly natural.
The film chronicles the road to Broadway, beginning with the first reading of the play and culminating in the opening night and the aftermath of the critics' reviews, most of which were complimentary to the stars but savage to the play. Many of the participants are obviously nervous about the show's prospects, especially Ken Ludwig, the highly insecure playwright whose goal was to create a classic farce a la Feydeau, and Burnett, making her first Broadway appearance in 30 years.
The film captures the mounting desperation as the playwright attempts rewrite after rewrite, the performers cope with material that is often desperately unfunny and wonder why their attempts to contribute are being ignored, and the creative team wonders if Burnett will be able to contain her television persona and play her part as written.
Trouble continues with a tryout in Boston, where a typical review called the show "a hoot short of a hoot and a half" ("I'd call that mixed", declares the theater owner with understatement). The show's director, Tom Moore, announces, "This wouldn't cut it in New York," and Ludwig sardonically comments, "I heard a laugh a half-hour into it ... it really bolstered me right up."
The filmmakers were also present during a preview in New York when the scenery malfunctioned and Burnett was forced to go out solo and entertain the audience with an off-the-cuff question-and-answer session. She received bigger laughs than the play ever received, providing solid evidence for the value of having a star above the title. Another telling moment is a clip demonstrating all too vividly the discomfort that results when one of the actors, in this case Bosco, misses his lines.
Despite the turmoil, "Moon Over Broadway" went on to have a decent nine-month run, and the play has received many other productions, including one in Pasadena.
MOON OVER BROADWAY
Directors-editors D.A. Pennebaker,
Chris Hegedus
Producers Frazer Pennebaker, Wendy Ettinger
Cinematographers D.A. Pennebaker,
Nick Doob, James Desmond
Color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 10/23/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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