All tagged Cats
This episode features the hosts of the brilliant podcast The Fabulous Invalid, Jamie DuMont and Rob Russo. Jamie and Rob educate me on the deep history of CATS, their love of the show, Rob’s Stage Left thesis on CATS, and everything else you might want to know about the history of the show.
On this week’s show, Jamie and Rob close season two with the final installation of their special three part mini-series looking at some of the biggest Broadway musical hits of all time. In part three, the British Invasion lands on our shores, and a Windy City murderess, an iconic mask, a helicopter, and La Vie Bohème visit Broadway! At the top of the episode, the always fabulous Jennifer Simard stops by to check in and say farewell for the summer.
Phylicia Rashad to direct Charles Randolph-Wright's "Blue" at the Apollo Theater; Shakespeare in the Park season will be “Richard II” and “As You Like It”; "The Notebook" to premiere in Chicago; reimagined “Aida" will premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2021; "Hairspray" national tour launches in the fall; "The Karate Kid" musical in development; "Almost Famous" headed to Broadway? "The Phantom of the Opera" turns 32; RIP: Margo Lion, Joseph P. Patria Jr., and Peter Larkin
"Sing Street" will transfer to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre; "What to Send Up When it Goes Down" will return off-Broadway; "Trevor: The Musical" will play Stage 42; ABC will present "Young Frankenstein" live; the New York Musical Festival has shut down; Ciara Renée and McKenzie Kurtz will be the next Elsa and Anna in "Frozen"; Ben Cook departs "West Side Story"; Jake Gyllenhaal to produce and star in “Fun Home” movie; Laura Linney to record a "My Name is Lucy Barton" audiobook
"West Side Story" will now open on February 20th; "To Kill a Mockingbird" will play a special free performance at Madison Square Garden on February 26th for 18,000 students; Daniel Fish will premiere a new production of Frank Loesser's 1956 musical "The Most Happy Fella" at the Bard SummerScape Festival; 2019 Broadway grosses were 3.7% below the record set in 2018, but attendance reached a record 90.51%; Greta Gerwig is writing a new musical that will feature tap dance; RIP composer Allee Willis, playwright Pamela Payton-Wright, composer Jerry Herman, and production designer Peter Larkin
Ephraim Sykes will star as Michael Jackson in "MJ" the musical on Broadway; Martin McDonagh's "Hangmen" will play a limited engagement at Broadway's Golden Theatre; "Tootsie" will close on January 5th; "Hadestown" recoups; Imelda Staunton will star in "Hello, Dolly!" on the West End; Dominic Cooke will direct “Follies” film; The Drama Book Shop will reopen in a new location in 2020; RIP Laurel Griggs
Jessie Mueller, Tracy Letts, Armie Hammer, and Austin Pendleton will star in Letts' "The Minutes" on Broadway; Donmar Warehouse's "City of Angels" will transfer to the West End; Lear deBessonet will replace Jack Viertel as artistic director of City Center Encores!; Katharine McPhee will return to close "Waitress" on Broadway; Ariana DeBose will play Alyssa Greene in the Netflix film adaptation of "The Prom"; Andrew Garfield will star in "Tick, Tick ... Boom!" film; Spencer Liff will direct and choreograph the premiere of "Spring Awakening" in China; "Jagged Little Pill" to release a cast album on December 6th; "Wicked" is now the fifth longest running show in Broadway history; RIP Andile Gumbi and Ann Crumb
"American Buffalo" will play Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre this spring; "The Who's Tommy" will return to Broadway in 2021; full cast announced for “Company”; Taylor Swift and Andrew Lloyd Webber collaborated on a new song for the "Cats" film; Jane Alexander and James Cromwell join Second Stage's "Grand Horizons"; Drew Gehling returns to close "Waitress"; Whoopi Goldberg to helm 2020 West End revival of "Sister Act"; Jessica Chastain to perform "A Doll's House" on the West End; "American Utopia" will receive a cast album; RIP: the Times Square Sbarro (1996-2019)
The city that never sleeps also boasts a theatre scene that never sleeps. With the summer now behind us, this is an overview of all that’s coming to New York stages this fall (spoiler alert: it’s a lot).
"Frankie and Johnny" closing a month early; "Beautiful" will close on October 27th and "Waitress" will close on January 5th; Jeremy O. Harris' "Slave Play" will play a 17 week run at the Golden Theatre; Robert Schenkkan's "The Great Society" will play a 12 week run at Broadway's Vivian Beaumont Theatre; starry productions of "Little Shop of Horrors" slated for Off-Broadway and Pasadena Playhouse; cast announced for Ivo van Hove's upcoming "West Side Story"; "Fairview" extends to August 11th; "What the Constitution Means to Me" recoups; Jack Viertel will retire as artistic director of the annual Encores! at City Center; Paul McCartney has written a musical adaptation of "It's a Wonderful Life"; RIPHugh Southern, former executive director of TDF and co-conceiver of the TKTS booth in 1973
List of Olivier Award winners; Michael Urie to host Drama Desk Awards; Ryan Murphy to adapt "The Prom" into a movie musical for Netflix; "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical" books Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre; Patti LuPone may head all-female version of "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Broadway next season; "Do You Feel Anger?" extends; a musical of "The Outsiders", a Maya Angelou bio-play, 3 musicals using the BMG catalogue, and a musical of "Mr. Saturday Night" are all in development; 2 new songs from “Beetlejuice”; “The Cher Show” cast recording out tomorrow; RIP Eric LaJuan Summers
"Hadestown" books the Walter Kerr, “Burn This” books the Hudson; "Head Over Heels" closing January 6th; "True Blood" musical in development; Andy Blankenbuehler to choreograph "Cats" movie; Park Avenue Armory announces 2019 season; cast announced for MCP's "The Scarlet Pimpernel"; is Springsteen trend good or bad for Broadway?; magician, actor, and author Ricky Jay is dead at 70 (or 72)
