New York City Theater

I received permission from producer/host/critic extraordinaire Scott Siegel to post tonight's songlist, but sans the correpsonding performers. He wants there to be "surpises." (Does this mean what I think: Bruce Vilanch singing Rose's Turn?)

BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1959
RUNNING ORDER

ACT 1
The Sound of Music
I'll Marry the Very Next Man
I’m Back in Circulation
Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most
Do Re Mi
Old Fashioned Girl
Take Me Along
Shy
When Did I Fall in Love?
Yesterday I Loved You
All I Need is the Girl
You Gotta Get a Gimmick
Some People

INTERMISSION

Act II
Entr’acte: Love Held Lightly
Let Me Entertain You
I Say Hello
Edelweiss
I Wish It So
Ballad of the Sad Young Man
Rose Lovejoy of Paradise Alley
But Yours
I’ll Try
Everything's Coming Up Roses
Climb Ev’ry Mountain
So Long, Farewell

Let me admit first that I am both an OCC and DD member. Though considering the conspicously awkward nature of the OCC noms, I am seriously reconsidering my membership...

Unlike the Tonys, these awards honor both Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. “Mary Poppins,” which received mixed reviews in November, unexpectedly received 11 OCC nominations including Best New Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for Ashley Brown. “LoveMusik,” a new musical about the life of Kurt Weill which opens next week, received 12 DD nominations, the most of any show. In a sign of great disparity, “Spring
Awakening” received ten DD nominations and merely three OCC nominations.

DRAMA DESK NOMS

Outstanding Play:
David Harrower, Blackbird
Terrence McNally, Some Men
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Tom Stoppard, The Coast of Utopia
Bernard Weinraub, The Accomplices
August Wilson, Radio Golf

Outstanding Musical:
Curtains
In the Heights
Legally Blonde
LoveMusik
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Outstanding Revival of a Play:
The Hairy Ape
Hedda Gabler
Journey's End
Talk Radio
The Taming of the Shrew
Woyzeck

Outstanding Revival of a Musical:
110 in the Shade
The Apple Tree
Company
Di Yam Gazlonim!
H.M.S. Pinafore
Les Miserables

Outstanding Actor in a Play:
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Goes Boating
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brían F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio
Kevin Spacey, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Paul Sparks, Essential Self-Defense

Outstanding Actress in a Play:
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Orlagh Cassidy, The Field
Blythe Danner, Suddenly Last Summer
Jennifer Mudge, Dutchman
Sandra Oh, Satellites
Annie Parisse, The Internationalist
Meryl Streep, Mother Courage and Her Children

Outstanding Actor in a Musical:
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
John Gallagher, Jr., Spring Awakening
Jonathan Groff, Spring Awakening
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains
Martin Short, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me

Outstanding Actress in a Musical:
Ashley Brown, Mary Poppins
Laura Bell Bundy, Legally Blonde
Kristin Chenoweth, The Apple Tree
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Lea Michele, Spring Awakening
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play:
Anthony Chisholm, Radio Golf
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
John Ortiz, Jack Goes Boating
Andrew Polk, The Accomplices
Frederick Weller, Some Men

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play:
Myriam Acharki, Woyzeck
Xanthe Elbrick, Coram Boy
Sarah Nina Hayon, Rearviewmirror
Jan Maxwell, Coram Boy
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia
Rita Wolf, The American Pilot

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical:
Brooks Ashmanskas, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me
Christian Borle, Legally Blonde
Aaron Lazar, Les Misérables
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
Orville Mendoza, Adrift in Macao
David Pittu, LoveMusik

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical:
Linda Balgord, The Pirate Queen
Celia Keenan-Bolger, Les Misérables
Debra Monk, Curtains
Orfeh, Legally Blonde
Barbara Walsh, Company
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Outstanding Director of a Play:
Declan Donnellan, Twelfth Night
Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
Doug Hughes, Inherit the Wind
Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia
Ciarán O'Reilly, The Hairy Ape
Tom Ridgely, Marco Millions (based on lies)

Outstanding Director of a Musical:
John Doyle, Company
Thomas Kail, In the Heights
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde
Harold Prince, LoveMusik
Alex Timbers, Gutenberg! The Musical!

Outstanding Choreography:
Patricia Birch, LoveMusik
Andy Blankenbuehler, In the Heights
Matthew Bourne, Edward Scissorhands
Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Bill T. Jones, Spring Awakening
Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde

Outstanding Music:
John Kander, Curtains
Paul Leschen, Twist: Please, Sir, May I Have Some More?
Peter Melnick, Adrift in Macao
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, Legally Blonde
Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening

Outstanding Lyrics:
Fred Ebb with added lyrics by John Kander and Rupert Holmes, Curtains
Lin-Manuel Miranda, In the Heights
Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin, Legally Blonde
Steven Sater, Spring Awakening
Bill Strauss, Elaina Newport and Mark Eaton, Capitol Steps
Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me

Outstanding Book of a Musical:
Scott Brown and Anthony King, Gutenberg! The Musical!
Julian Fellowes, Mary Poppins
Heather Hach, Legally Blonde
Rupert Holmes and Peter Stone, Curtains
Steven Sater, Spring Awakening
Alfred Uhry, LoveMusik

Outstanding Music for a Play:
Mark Bennett, The Coast of Utopia
Adam Cork, Frost/Nixon
Gerard McBurney, Oliver Twist
The Propeller Company, The Taming of the Shrew
Ray Rizzo, Adam Rapp, and Lucas Papaelias, Essential Self-Defense
David Van Tieghem, Inherit the Wind

Outstanding Orchestrations:
William David Brohn, Curtains
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Company
Alex Lacamoire and Bill Sherman, In the Heights
Duncan Sheik, Spring Awakening
Jonathan Tunick, The Apple Tree
Jonathan Tunick, LoveMusik

Outstanding Set Design of a Play:
Bob Crowley and Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
David Gallo, Radio Golf
David Korins, Essential Self-Defense
David Korins, Jack Goes Boating
Garin Marschall, Hell House
Scott Pask, Blackbird

Outstanding Set Design of a Musical:
Beowulf Boritt, LoveMusik
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Anna Louizos, Curtains
Anna Louizos, In the Heights
David Rockwell, Legally Blonde
Kris Stone, Brundibar/But the Giraffe

Outstanding Costume Design:
Mara Blumenfeld, Lookingglass Alice
Judith Dolan, LoveMusik
William Ivey Long, Curtains
Santo Loquasto, Suddenly Last Summer
Robert Morgan, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

Outstanding Lighting Design:
Howell Binkley LoveMusik
Maruti Evans, Blindness
Paul Gallo, Blackbird
Jonathan Mark, Prometheus Bound
Kenneth Posner, Brian MacDevitt, Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia
Japhy Weideman, Jack Goes Boating

Outstanding Sound Design:
Acme Sound Partners, In the Heights
Mark Bennett, The Coast of Utopia
Gregory Clarke, Journey's End
Duncan Robert Edwards, LoveMusik
Frank Gaeta, Dai (enough)
Richard Woodbury, Talk Radio

Outstanding Solo Performance:
Iris Bahr, Dai (enough)
Ed Harris, Wrecks
Capathia Jenkins, (mis)Understanding Mammy: The Hattie McDaniel Story
Anna Manahan, Sisters
Vanessa Redgrave, The Year of Magical Thinking
Nilaja Sun, No Child?

Unique Theatrical Experience:
Absinthe
Amajuba: Like Doves We Rise
Be
Brundibar/But the Giraffe
Edward Scissorhands
Hell House

Special Award Winners:
Outstanding Ensemble: In the Heights
Outstanding Ensemble: Lebensraum
John Kander and Fred Ebb
Austin Pendleton
Transport Group
National Yiddish Theatre Folksbeine

OCC NOMS

Outstanding New Broadway Play
The Coast of Utopia
Coram Boy
Frost/Nixon
Radio Golf

Outstanding New Broadway Musical
Curtains
LoveMusik
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play
Exits and Entrances
Indian Blood
The Pain and the Itch
The Scene

Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical
In the Heights
Evil Dead: The Musical
Floyd and Clea: Under the Western Sky
Gutenberg! The Musical!

Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off Broadway)
Curtains
In the Heights
Mary Poppins
Spring Awakening

Outstanding Revival of a Play
Inherit the Wind
Journey's End
Talk Radio
The Voysey Inheritance

Outstanding Revival of a Musical
The Apple Tree
A Chorus Line
Company
110 in the Shade

Outstanding Director of a Play (Lucille Lortel Award)
Michael Grandage, Frost/Nixon
David Grindley, Journe's End
Melly Still, Coram Boy
Jack O'Brien, The Coast of Utopia

Outstanding Director of a Musical
John Doyle, Company
Richard Eyre & Matthew Bourne, Mary Poppins
Thomas Kail, In the Heights
Michael Mayer, Spring Awakening

Outstanding Choreography
Rob Ashford, Curtains
Andy Blankenbuehler, In the Heights
Matthew Bourne & Stephen Mear, Mary Poppins
Carol Leavy Joyce & Graciela Daniele, The Pirate Queen

Outstanding Set Design
Bob Crowley & Scott Pask, The Coast of Utopia
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Ti Green & Melly Still, Coram Boy
Derek McLane, The Voysey Inheritance

Outstanding Costume Design
Bob Crowley, Mary Poppins
Judith Dolan, LoveMusik
Martin Pakledinaz, The Pirate Queen
Catherine Zuber, The Coast of Utopia

Outstanding Lighting Design
Neil Austin, Frost/Nixon
Paule Constable, Coram Boy
Howard Harrison, Mary Poppins
Brian MacDevitt/ Kenneth Posner/ Natasha Katz, The Coast of Utopia

Outstanding Actor in a Play
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Brí­an F. O'Byrne, The Coast of Utopia
Christopher Plummer, Inherit the Wind
Liev Schreiber, Talk Radio

Outstanding Actress in a Play
Eve Best, A Moon for the Misbegotten
Jennifer Ehle, The Coast of Utopia
Carla Gugino, Suddenly Last Summer
Allison Pill, Blackbird

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Michael Cerveris, LoveMusik
Raúl Esparza, Company
Gavin Lee, Mary Poppins
David Hyde Pierce, Curtains

Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Ashley Brown, Mary Poppins
Kristin Chenoweth, The Apple Tree
Audra McDonald, 110 in the Shade
Donna Murphy, LoveMusik

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Billy Crudup, The Coast of Utopia
Boyd Gaines, Journey's End
David Greenspan, Some Men
Stephen Kunken, Frost/Nixon

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Robin Bartlett, Prelude to a Kiss
Jill Clayburgh, The Clean House
Martha Plimpton, The Coast of Utopia
Lily Rabe, Heartbreak House

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Jason Danieley, Curtains
Daniel Jenkins, Mary Poppins
David Pittu , LoveMusik
Bobby Steggert, 110 in the Shade

Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Charlotte d'Amboise, A Chorus Line
Rebecca Luker, Mary Poppins
Orfeh, Legally Blonde
Karen Ziemba, Curtains

Outstanding Solo Performance
Daniel Beatty, Emergence-See
Ed Harris, Wrecks
Jay Johnson, The Two and Only
Nilaja Sun, No Child...

John Gassner Award
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Daisy Foote, Bhutan
Bob Glaudini, Jack Goes Boating
Bruce Norris, The Pain and the Itch
Nilaja Sun, No Child...

Please, a moment of silence for THE PRODUCERS, one of the most financially successfully and - in a lot of other ways - artistically important shows in musical comedy history.

Do you remember 2001? The way the critics roared for Nathan and Matthew, for Mel Brooks' hilarious songs, for Susan Stroman's delightfully amiable staging?

I went back to the show three months ago, when Tony Danza played Max. It was, to say the least, a very depressing experience. Here I was, back at the St. James Theatre, at a show that was once "the king of Broadway." But by then, it had become a disaster. The place was not even a third full. Danza could not sing any part of the score. Roger Bart, having no one to play off of, looked lost. And I just sat there feeling sadly nostalgic for the time when I first saw the show six years earlier.

I can't help but wonder who would want to attend today's final performance of THE PRODUCERS. Still, wait a few months, when YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN opens at the St. James. Chances are that history will repeat itself, and the St. James will again become the hottest ticket on Broadway.

Till then, goodbye Max, Leo, Ulla, Roger and company. We'll try to remember only the good years.

So....instead of yet again awarding no drama the the prize, this year the Pulitzer people decided to instead give it to a seemingly acceptable, somewhat well-received yet rather mediocre play.

Last year, I gave David Lindsay-Abaire's RABBIT HOLE 2 out of 4 stars, expressing admiration for Cynthia Nixon's compelling performance as a mother whose young son was recently killed in a vehicular accident, but found the play rather dull, along the lines of a Lifetime TV movie.

Was it the right choice? On the plus side, it shows that the prize is still winnable and that the Pulitzer people remain interested in drama. On the minus side, like the year we gave the award to ANNA IN THE TROPICS, giving the Pulitzer to a somewhat admittedly second rate work degrades the prestige of the award.

And no offense to David Lindsay-Abaire, but isn't this the same guy who wrote the libetto of HIGH FIDELITY?

I must admit that my initial fondness of contemporary musical theater songwriter Jason Robert Brown comes from the fact that we both attended the same theater camp growing up, though of course we added quite a few years apart. Still, what keeps me going to his cabaret concerts, even as he continues to do the same pack of songs over and over - SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, LAST 5 YEARS, PARADE, THIRTEEN, URBAN COWBOY, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, SOMEONE ELSE'S CLOTHES - is how wonderfully dynamic he is as a piano-bar player-singer, alternating between high energy piano punching, hitting high notes and providing improv comedy for the audience. He spent Passover week doing 8 shows over 4 days at Birdland. I attended his final late show on Saturday night at 11pm. His guest for the evening was Jenn Colella, veteran of URBAN COWBOY and the fall's flop Broadway musical HIGH FIDELITY. Colella provided a simply amazing performance of "I'm Not Afraid" from SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, and dynamic "Mr. Hopalong Heartbreak," from the little heard, unrecorded score of URBAN COWBOY.

As for the Shakespeare Marathon, I stayed for just under two hours of the three and a half hour set. It opened with Lee Wilkoff and Richard Kind serending "Brush Up Your Shakespeare." Cute, but a rather awkward way to begin the festivities. After all, all these Shakespeare connoiseurs in the audience have obviously heard the song before and are unlikely to still laugh at Cole Poter's jokes. The real highlight for me was seeing Michael Cerveris play Leontes in a scene from THE WINTER'S TALE, and a 10 minute preview from the upcoming HBO film of AS YOU LIKE IT, with Kevin Kline as Jacques.

Star Ledger article link

Playbill.com Article Link

Essentially, the $3 million to finish the season has been ensued via credit, but the problem is far from solved.

Well, while we wait for an update on the Papermill situation, let's look back on some of the other shows over the past year and a a half that join THE PIRATE QUEEN in meriting Zero stars:

1. IN MY LIFE

2. LESTAT

3. PIG FARM

4. THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN

RUNNERS UP:

1. TARZAN (1 star)

2. IN THE HEIGHTS (1 star)

3. RACHEL CORRIE (1 star)

4. HEARTBREAK HOUSE (1.5 star)

5. MACBETH with Liev Schrieber (1.5 star)

6. SHOUT THE MOD MUSICAL (1.5 star)

7. THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING (1.5 star)

From what I understand, via numerous press statements and other articles, Papermill has raised about $200,000 as far, quite far from its goal of reaching $1.5 million by tomorrrow.

NJ lawmakers have proposed an emergency grant of about $400,000, but that would not come through till August.

A rally will take place outside the theater on Monday, regardless of whether the doors close tomorrow.

What's my take? Unless they find some funding super fast, the theater supposedly will close tomorrow and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, which I was supposed to go to see next Sunday night for review, won't happen. Likewise, PIRATES! probably wouldn't happen either. However, I do think that the 2007-08 season will happen, albeit maybe in an abridged or modified form.

A lot of criticism is being levied against Papermill for supposedly having gone from classical musical theater shows (i.e. MY FAIR LADY, CAMELOT, CAROUSEL) to more unusual fare (i.e. HAROLD AND MAUDE, ROMANCE ROMANCE, SUMMER AND SMOKE). But it wasn't an artistic decision - it was purely economic, at least from how I see it. What's the difference between MY FAIR LADY and ROMANCE ROMANCE - a 30 person chorus and a 25 person orchestra. With dwindling subscriptions, Papermill attempted to create seasons that combined smaller shows (ROMANCE ROMANCE, GODSPELL) with larger ones (SEVEN BRIDES, PIRATES). Unfortunately, its subscribers smelled trouble, and the problems thereby worsened.

This is next year's season at Papermill, if it happens, which is said to be only of crowdpleasers: FRANKENSTEIN, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, THE MIRACLE WORKER, STEEL MAGNOLIAS, KISS ME KATE, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

If I were them, I'd axe FRANKENSTEIN (a world premiere) and replace with something like YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN or SEUSSICAL or BYE BYE BIRDIE.

Link to Playbill article

Link to Star Ledger Article

I find this news to be truly upsetting.

Essentially, the theater could be dead in 3 days time. This is not good.

Well, now that I'm actually in NJ for Passover, let's take some time to go over some recent cast recordings I've found in my mail.

1. MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME - Are you kidding?? They actually recorded this?? 28 tracks, at that. I could barely make it past track 9 before I turned it off, never to be heard on my IPOD again. Martin Short has the kind of energy that would be perfect for a musical comedy - but a real one.

2. COMPANY - Yes, it's missing the volume of strings and brass that complimented the original orchestrations, but John Doyle's (brilliant, beautiful, bold, ect) Broadway revival also makes a very well done cast recording. At that, it actually makes a better listen than the recording of his SWEENEY TODD. It also preserves far more dialogue than on previous COMPANY albums.

3. BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1929 - Scott Siegel's Broadway By the Year concerts tend to appear in cast album form about two years after each passes. This actually marks the first of such albums where I actually also attended the concert. They are all similar in format - Siegel, as at the show, is heard providing commentary, historical fun facts and even some serious dramaturgy, all the while a talented cast of six to ten Broadway actors do marvelous work with a treasure trove of musical theater history.

4. THE REMASTERED SONDHEIM COLLECTION - SWEENEY TODD, MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, INTO THE WOODS - The original cast album of MERRILY is possibly my favorite cast album in the world, and the original SWEENEY TODD could run a close second. In remastered form, these albums have never sounded sharper, particularly in the orchestrations. I highly recommend them!

Last Sunday I attended a concert presentation of the 1978 Public Theater/Broadway musical RUNAWAYS, an experimental revue about runaway teenagers filled with monologues, confessional solos and some pretty great upbeat numbers. I myself was once in a production of it at theater camp in 1998. As such, I was one of few attending the concert who actually knew the show inside and out. Speaking of theater camp, a friend of mine from there was also part of the concert cast. He even dyed his hair green for the occasion. The material was somewhat "updated" by Rodney Hicks, though the bulk of it still plays very well and powerfully. But could it be produced again? Where? It couldn't work commercially, to be certain. How about a revival at say New York Theatre Workshop or The New Group?

Following FOLLIES at Encores, which made many accuse the revered series of selling out by producing a revival of a show that is constantly produced professionally, Encores has retreated to the long-forgotten treasure trove of musical theater in producing FACE THE MUSIC, a 1930s revue with songs by Irving Berlin and a book by Moss Hart. John Rando, who most recently made news by accusing regional theaters of copying his staging of Urinetown, provides a decent, if underinspired staging. His cast, which includes Judy Kaye, Eddie Korbich, Walter Bobbie and Meredith Patterson, is perfectly fine for the occasion. The cast's weakest link was Rick Cromm, who clearly had not made an attempt to memorize his lines. FACE THE MUSIC also marks a return to Encores for conductor/music director Rob Fisher, who left his post there two years ago.

The production closes Sunday. If you're around, I highly recommend it for good clean, old-fashioned musical comedy fun.