Broadway’s ‘The Lion King’ featured intricate puppets and costumes. Ensemble dancers marched across the stage with grass hats. Kellen Stancil operated a giraffe puppet on stilts. Aisha Mitchell’s large, wooden cheetah extended from her chest. The actors communicated a story about African ecosystems.
Unleash your inner kid with magic and spirits
Vineyard Theatre celebrated their 40th Anniversary with a red carpeted fundraising gala that honored Tony winning actor, Billy Crudup. Funds raised from the event, held in the Edison Ballroom in NYC on Feb. 13, will support the theatre’s upcoming season; including their Fair Pay Initiative and the “Good Neighbor” ticket program which offers free and affordable theatre tickets to thousands of local theatre goers.
The Roundabout Theatre Company’s newest production is stacked with an excellent cast, a beautiful set, and a heartfelt story.
Presented by Atlantic Theater Company, Elyria tells the story of two immigrant women, their families, and their interweaving lives. Staged in the round at the Linda Gross Theatre, the play begins at a festival where Vasanta (Nilanjana Bose) and Dhatta (Gulshan Mia) unexpectedly run into each other after. They exchange tense words in Gujarati, Swahili, and English with a slight British accent. Their conservation is stiff, there’s a two-decade-old secret these women share, and all will be revealed in an unlikely place: Elyria, Ohio in 1982.
Hudson Yards is now home to New York City’s newest entertainment venue. And not only that, but the midnight theater will also be home to Mastercard’s new Innovative Multisensory Experiences, and the very first home at that. The beautiful 160-seat theater has a cozy, art deco feel that will make audience members feel like theyre floating as they enjoy the music and shows that the venue has to offer.
“After over 20 years of creating film, TV and digital content, I’m thrilled for Dolphin to make its first foray into a brick-and-mortar, live entertainment venue with the debut of our major investment, Midnight Theatre,” CEO Bill O’Dowd said. “We couldn’t have a more creative and hardworking partner than Warren Adcock, who along with partner Josh Cohen has driven the vision and will steer the innovation of this magnificent space, bringing premium and discoverable talent to our state-of-the-art theater. And with Mastercard as our powerful partner, helping us create even more unforgettable experiences, we truly believe that NYC will be more exciting, more glamorous, and more delicious with the addition of Midnight Theatre to its landscape.”
The concept came from Creative Director Warren Adcock to be a unique home setting for talent in all genres of music, magic, theater and performance art. Mastercard holders will have special opportunities to unlock exclusive experiences.
To celebrate the exciting opening, Holly James (Moulin Rouge, Hamilton, American Psycho, Porgy and Bess), Olutayo Bosede (Moulin Rouge, The Wiz LIVE, West Side Story), Ericka Hunter (Moulin Rouge, Miss Saigon, American Psycho, Rock of Ages), and Jin Ha (Hamilton, M. Butterfly) put on a beautiful array of songs, directed by Keiji Ishiguri (Rent, 54 Sings Series).
It was an exciting night full of laughs and stories alongside the music, as the four immensely talented performers have all known each other for years, hence the title of the show. The stars shined in performances of Hamilton’s Burn and many other mashups.
Hear all about the Midnight Theater here!
In her shocking, bold and astonishing broadway show Dana H, Deirdre O’Conell lip syncs to tapes created by Dana Higgenbotham, telling the harrowing story of her five months of abduction, creating a theater experience unlike any other. The play is crafted by Higgenbotham’s son, Lucas Hnath, and the concept of the tapes is an extremely unique way to do a show, but Deirdre takes on the challenge with grace. She has now earned herself a Tony Award nomination for best leading actress in a play. We spoke to Deirdre on the red carpet for The Vineyard Theater Gala on Monday, taking place at the iconic Daryl Roth theater. The gala honored the amazing New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera, and celebrated the music of the extraordinary late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro with performances and speeches by Latoya Edwards, Julie Benko, Brandon Victor Dixon Mandy Gonzalez, Judy Kuhn, Anika Noni Rose, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia. It was truly such a special night to be apart of as we watched incredibly talented people share stories, words, and miraculous performances in support of this amazing theater. We spoke to Mandy Gonzalez, Julie Benko and Deirdre O’connell about what it meant to be there in support of the arts, check out the full conversation below!
Are ya 1? Are ya 2? Are ya 3?…and the extension of the “Happy Birthday” song continues, much to the dismay of those dreading adding another year to their tally. Noah Haidle’s latest play (and Broadway debut), Birthday Candles challenges the negative connotations of the passage of time and ideas associated with getting older, as it focuses on aging as the concept of adding tools to life’s toolkit and wisdom to one’s rhetorical autobiography (and on the amount of goldfish and buttery, vanilla cake one can consume).
But truly, what’s in a lifetime? Time doesn’t end when you go to college. Time doesn’t end when you find love. Time doesn’t end if/when you get married. Time doesn’t end when you have kids, grandkids, and then on. Hell, time doesn’t end if you end a first marriage and pivot the direction of your career at age 48. If anything, time moves on and new opportunities are presented to you. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, and everything in between. Birthday Candles touches a bunch of extremely relatable themes such as mental health, questioning one’s self identity, priorities, boundaries, but most importantly (in my opinion) is that it’s never too late.
We had the remarkable opportunity to sit down with Noah and connect on Birthday Candles.
TK: Firstly, what a BRILLIANT piece of work. Congratulations! Poignant, sophisticated, yet casual, relatable, funny yet emotional. How did you go about approaching a piece that could tap into all of those emotions and more?
NH: I knew if I got this one right it could be a very effective play (as opposed to some of the plays I’ve written which have been complete shit), so I tried to approach it with great caution.
TK: Process wise, how long did this take you to write?
NH: Six years. The first word I wrote for this play was in April of 2016 and the last was a week before opening in April of 2022. With a total of just over 15,000 words, that’s like 6.8 words a day, which is pretty much as many as the list of ingredients of mayonnaise. Pretty slow.
TK: One of the things I love most about Birthday Candles is that it shows that life is not perfect, but it happens. People make mistakes. Sometimes huge mistakes, but it’s never too late to change your mind and revisit prior thoughts. Was this theme based on any event(s) in particular for you?
NH: Yes. More than I would prefer.
TK: Debra Messing. That’s it. The way she portrays Ernestine at every stage, it’s remarkable. Do you have a favorite aged Ernestine of hers?
NH: My favorite is her hunched and surly 107 year old. I don’t know if I’ll be so lucky to make it that long, but if I do, I want to be exactly like Debra’s rambunctious yet open hearted 107, including, of course Debra’s otherworldly sense of comedic timing.
TK: Bravo to you for tackling mental health, aging, divorce, illness in relatable and practical ways – what is one key takeaway you wish for audience members to take away from seeing Birthday Candles? (it can be more than one)
NH: That life is a miracle. (Might as well go big, right?)
TK: How many goldfish have you owned in your life?
NH: One. As a kid. Spot. The idea for the play began when I was telling my wife about Spot and she misinterpreted my reminiscences as an expression of deep longing to own another goldfish and surprised me with a new, unwanted goldfish for my birthday. (If you haven’t seen the play, this anecdote will mean nothing, if you haven’t seen the play, you totally should).
We loved chatting with Noah as much as we loved watching his writing play out on stage. With brilliant direction by Vivienne Benesch, this play is funny, heart-wrenching, emotional at its core – a work for all ages.
P.S. – Debra Messing is truly outstanding in this work! What she is able to accomplish in those 100 minutes is beyond impressive and worthy of a visit to the American Airlines Theatre alone.
Birthday Candles is a Roundabout Theatre Company production and runs thru May 29. You can learn more about the show and ticket information by visiting: https://www.roundabouttheatre.org/
We were able to catch a press preview of English, a play by Sanaz Toossi, this past Saturday at the Linda Gross Theater in Chelsea.
Last night symbolized the official reopening of Broadway as the iconic Winter Garden Theatre housed the 74th Annual Tony Awards.