On Thursday night at the Staples Center in the heart of downtown LA, the BET Experience showcased two of comedy’s funniest entertainers: Mike Epps and Katt Williams. Everyone in attendance was ready to laugh, from out of towners sporting all white to locals looking cool with drinks in hand to paparazzi friendly celebrities with shades on.
On Monday June 20th, the acclaimed new documentary Life, Animated held its New York premiere screening at the Crosby Street Hotel. The film tells the story of Owen Suskind, a young autistic man, who with the help of his family was able to use his love of Disney animated films to learn to communicate with the world. The film from Oscar winning documentarian Roger Ross Williams arrived after several engagements at festivals including Sundance where Williams claimed the Directing Award for a U.S. Documentary.
On Monday June 20th, Netflix stars and Industry staples gathered as the Museum of Moving Image honored Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos and Late Night host Seth Meyers.
The Glass Menagerie is coming to Broadway next season with Two-Time Academy Award Winner SALLY FIELD and Two-time Tony Award Winner JOE MANTELLO, under direction by Tony-Award Winning Director Sam Gold.
70th annual Tony Awards ceremony was full of those
Last night, the 70th annual Tony Awards, recognized Broadway’s finest at the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan. We were lucky enough to sit in the media room, and interview some of the winners face to face.
Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur’s classic 1928 comedy will be BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE this Fall by Three-Time Tony Award Winner Jack O’Brian. Producer of the show Scott Rudin has announced the complete cast list for the upcoming production of THE FRONT PAGE! This hilarious comedy takes place in the world of the newspaper business in Chicago. In the Chicago’s Criminal Courts Building, reporters are competing to be the first to cover the story of an escaped prisoner. When stand-out reporter Hildy Johnson (played by Emmy Award-nominated actor John Slattery) unintentionally comes across the runaway convict, he and his editor (Walter Burns, played by Nathan Lane) decide to hide the prisoner from other reporters, putting themselves on track to win the race for the juiciest news story of their careers.
Big names of this stellar cast include : John Goodman (as Sheriff Hartman, played Pozzo in Broadway’s Waiting for Godot, For the 2015 Toronto Film Festival film Trumbo he was nominated by The Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture ), Jefferson Mays (as Bensinger, from A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder) Sherie Rene Scott ( plays Mollie Malloy,is co-author/actor for Everyday Rapture at Roundabout Theater and Second Stage, Tony Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Book of a Musical, Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Musical, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown in which she received a Drama Desk nomination). Also included are Holland Taylor ( as Mrs. Grant ) and Robert Morse (as Mr. Pincus) along with Dylan Baker (as McCue), with Patricia Conolly ( as Jennie), Halley Feiffer ( as Peggy Grant), Dann Florek (as The Mayor), John Magaro (as Earl Williams), Danny Mastrogiorgio ( as Diamond Louis), Christopher McDonald(as Murphy), David Pittu (as Schwartz), Joey Slotnick (as Wilson) Lewis J. Stadlen (as Endicott), Micah Stock (as Woodenshoes Eichorn), and Clarke Thorell (as Kruger).
Previews of THE FRONT PAGE! begin Tuesday September 20, 2016 at the Shubert Organization’s Broadhurst Theatre and OPENING NIGHT is set for Thursday, October 20th, 2016.
-Alexa Christina Politis (@risingstarxoxo)
On June 9th at 10:30am, The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was the host for the Pre-Press Preview (behind-the-scenes workshop) of Born to Dance, the new dance-based Broadway musical by Broadway veteran Daniel C. Levine (Guys & Dolls, Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, also the Artistic Director for the Ridgefield Playhouse Broadway & Cabaret Series).
After the official premiere of ‘Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story’ we took part in the Q&A with cast and crew.
Himself and Nora, now playing at the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwhich Village, though advertised as a “Robust Romantic Musical” has far more to offer audiences than just a story about two people in love. The “Himself” in the title refers to the central character James Joyce, played with swaggering charm and neuroticism by the talented Matt Bogart.
You wouldn’t know, however, that the musical had anything to do with the literary legend until stepping into the theatre or reading a review due to the focus marketing has steered towards portraying the love story, or rather ANY love story, in order to reign in a wider audience for this off-broadway commercial theatre endeavor.
The happy discovery upon 8 o’clock curtain, then, is that the musical tells an enchanting tale of James Joyce’s exile from Ireland, his endless pursuit of literary perfection in Ulysses, and the passionate, tumultuous relationship with his lifelong partner, Nora Barnacle (played with sensuous wit and grit by Whitney Bashor). All of this to the tune of composing veteran Jonathan Brielle’s upbeat, contemporary musical score which ranges from jig-inducing Irish step music to wistful, crowd-pleasing ballads.
The show runs through September 4 at Minetta Lane Theatre. You won’t want to miss this gem of a musical with some of Broadway’s finest talent in a theatre space as intimate and inviting as Minetta Lane, so get your tickets now at http://himselfandnoramusical.