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| Last update: March 6, 2010 |
In addition to Minnelli, newly added performers for the March 8 gala include Jason Danieley (Curtains), Mario Cantone and Norm Lewis. “Curtains” Tony Award winner David Hyde Pierce hosts the evening that will boast previously announced Kander and Ebb veterans including Chita Rivera (Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Rink, Chicago), as well as Debra Monk and Karen Ziemba, both of whom starred in the Kander and Ebb musicals “Curtains” and “Steel Pier”. Also announced to appear are Julia Murney and Heidi Blickentsaff. Liza Minnelli made her Tony Award-winning Broadway debut in the title role of Kander and Ebb's “Flora, the Red Menace” in 1965. Her work in that short-lived musical was the beginning of a lifelong collaboration with the songwriting team, who tailored material for her in “The Act”, "Liza with a Z" and “Liza's Back”. Minnelli earned an Academy Award for her work in the film of "Cabaret" and first sang their legendary song "New York, New York" in the film of the same title. On stage, Minnelli has appeared in the Kander and Ebb musicals “The Rink” and “Chicago”. Tickets for the gala evening are available by calling Scott Pyne at 212-353-3366 ext. 242 or online at VineyardTheatre.org in Playbill On-Line by Adam Hetric and Ernio Hernandez |
in Playbill On-Line by Krissie Fullerton |
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The McGinn/Cazale Theatre is located in Manhattan at 2162 Broadway between 76th and 77th Streets. Tickets, priced $25, are available by calling (212) 579-4230 or by visiting www.iseats.net. Visit www.musicalstonight.org for more information. in Playbill On-Line by Adam Hetrick |
in Playbill On-Line by Andrew Gans |
Stroman directs and choreographs the musical featuring music and lyrics by John Kander and the late Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman) and a book by David Thompson. The show will officially open March 10 for a run through April 4. THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, according to an announcement, "explores the famous 'Scottsboro' case of the 1930s — in which a group of young African American teenagers were unjustly accused of attacking two women — and the boys' attempts to prove their innocence." Billed as a "new musical," the work was one of the final collaborations from the famed songwriting team before Ebb's death. The show reunites Stroman (The Producers), Kander, Thompson and the Vineyard, which previously presented the revival of “Flora, The Red Menace”. Cullum (Urinetown, Shenandoah), Dixon (The Color Purple, Ray Charles Live!) and Domingo (Passing Strange, A Boy and His Soul) — who appeared in a June 2009 reading of the work — star. The cast also includes Sean Bradford, Josh Breckenridge, Derrick Cobey, Rodney Hicks, Kendrick Jones, Forrest McClendon, Julius Thomas III, Sharon Washington, Cody Ryan Wise and Christian White. The design team includes Beowulf Boritt (set), Toni-Leslie James (costumes), Kevin Adams (lighting) and Peter Hylenski (sound). David Loud serves as music director. Orchestrations are by Larry Hochman." Tickets to The Scottsboro Boys at The Vineyard Theatre, 108 East 15th Street, are available by calling (212) 353-0303 or on the web at VineyardTheatre.org in Playbill On-Line by Ernio Hernandez |
The 8:30 PM performance will feature songs from such Kander and Ebb musicals as CABARET; CHICAGO; FLORA, THE RED MENACE; THE RINK; and more. Peter Napolitano directs with musical direction by Adam West Hemming. Marquee Five comprises singers Mick Bleyer, Adam West Hemming, Vanessa Parvin, Sierra Rein and Julie Reyburn. The performers will be backed by Dan Feyer on the piano. "Tight harmonies, clever arrangements, and an actor's sensibility characterize" the vocal group, according to press notes. There is a $17 cover ($12 for MAC/Cabaret Hotline/Actor Unions) and a two-drink minimum; cash only. Don't Tell Mama is located in Manhattan at 343 West 46th Street (Restaurant Row, between 8th and 9th Avenues). For reservations call (212) 757-0788 after 4 PM daily." For more information visit www.marqueefive.com. in Playbill On-Line by Andrew Gans |
Banderas, according to the New York Post, will head the cast of a Broadway revival of ZORBA next season. Barry and Fran Weissler will produce the production, which will be directed by “The Color Purple”s Gary Griffin with choreography by Sergio Trujillo. No official announcement about the production has been made. ZORBA features a score by John Kander and the late Fred Ebb and a book by Joseph Stein. The musical is based on the Nikos Kazantzakis novel "Zorba the Greek" (also known as a 1965 film starring Anthony Quinn and Alan Bates). Quinn starred in a revised 1983 revival of the zesty 1968 musical. Herschel Bernardi originated the role on stage. Book writer Stein told the Post, "Antonio Banderas is, of course, much younger than Herschel and Tony were, and we'll have to make some adjustments [in the show] to that. But he will bring his own wonderful personality to it." ZORBA, according to press notes for a recent York Theater Musicals in Mufti production, "is set in Crete in 1924 and is about the friendship between Zorba and Nikos, a young American student who has inherited an abandoned mine on Crete, and their romantic relationships with a local widow and French woman, Hortense, respectively." Antonio Banderas, best known for his work in such films as “Evita,” “The Mask of Zorro,” “Philadelphia” and “Mambo Kings,” made his Broadway debut in the revival of Maury Yeston's “Nine”, earning a Tony nomination for his work as fictional film director Guido Contini. A member of Spain’s prestigious National Theater of Spain acting company from 1981-1986, the actor studied at the School of Dramatic Art in Malaga.” in Playbill On-Line by Andrew Gans |
Asking this question of the Tony Award-winning composer, who lost his longtime lyricist Fred Ebb less than three years ago, is a little like asking a widow if she'll marry again anytime soon. Kander and Ebb — who penned songs for CABARET, CHICAGO, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN and Broadway's current CURTAINS — had a 42-year collaboration that launched hits and misses, helped punctuate the chapter in musical theatre history known as "the concept musical," and were responsible for not a few pop songs ("My Coloring Book," "The Theme From 'New York, New York.'") K&E mattered. So the question is a natural one: What's next for the 80-year-old Kander? The short answer, he told Playbill.com, is that he's in a shepherding phase in which he's working toward giving life to the last four — or, now that CURTAINS has a commercial life, three — shows he and Ebb were working on before the lyricist died Sept. 11, 2004. CURTAINS is now open on Broadway. Waiting in the wings are ALL ABOUT US, their musical of "The Skin of Our Teeth" (with book writer Joseph Stein), which will play April 10-28 at Westport Country Playhouse; their musical THE VISIT (with Terrence McNally), getting a revised production in the fall at Virginia's Signature Theatre; and THE MINSTREL SHOW, their "vicious" (his term) musical take on a slice of Depression-era American injustice, which is in limbo, but has collaborators David Thompson and Susan Stroman attached. "Those shows were unfinished, just as [CURTAINS] was," Kander said. "[CURTAINS] has five new songs…since Fred died. And there will be some changes in the score of ALL ABOUT US and I haven't visited the THE VISIT yet, but I know there are at least two chunks that need to be rewritten." THE MINSTREL SHOW, a musical that uses blackface to tell the story of the "Scottsboro Boys," black men in Alabama wrongly accused of raping white women, "was almost complete at Fred's death," Kander said. "I've added a couple songs to it." CURTAINS has songs by Kander and Ebb, with additional lyrics by Kander and Rupert Holmes. Will revisions and additions to ALL ABOUT US and THE VISIT have new lyrics by Kander? "At the moment, yeah," Kander said. "I mean, I have no pride about all this. I'm enjoying the lyric writing that I'm doing — that I do with much less confidence [than the music], of course. I would have no compunctions about asking somebody for help." Is there a future writing partner for Kander, a future show beyond those already conceived? Kander observed, "I've said this before, and to myself also: 'I have to get these four pieces done.' When they are done, I will be very curious to find out what I feel like writing. This is a commitment now — it's where my energies are going." The path could be lonely, but Kander said he knows he's part of a community of other theatre artists — collaborators — who bring shows to life. "On CURTAINS I've had this incredible support from both [director] Scott [Ellis] and Rupert," Kander said. "We function as a collaboration. I try not to think back a lot. This is now. Fred is omnipresent, God knows, in this piece. In terms of the work that has to be done, you just have to do it. You can't grieve or become self-pitying, or anything like that. Whether he would've liked what I've written or not, he would have approved of the idea of us proceeding and proceeding this seriously." He mimics the salty Ebb's tone of voice: "Do it or not! Are we gonna do this or not?" in Playbill On-line by Kenneth Jones / photo © Joan Marcus |
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