Broadway - Page 8

DeltAlum · #**106** 10-16-2005, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SigmaChiCard
I'm going back to NYC for christmas and seeing Chicago this time...I really want to see wicked, but I just don't see it happening...so expensive! maybe i can get into spamalot

Spamalot is next to impossible to get tickets for unless you buy them a couple months in advance. I don't know for sure, but I'd be surprized if Wicked is still sold that far in advance.

I saw Spamalot on a whim. I was walking by the theatre just kind of wasting time on a weekend afternoon, and decided to stand in the line for returned/unused tickets -- and got in. I'll bet there were twenty or so of us who did.

Another thing I've done in the past is gone to the threate in the morning and gotten Standing Room Only tickets. They generally only cost $25 to $30, and they aren't that long. I've seen some recent Tony winners that way.

On the other hand, I saw Light on the Piazza just after the Tony's by just walking up to the ticket window for a matinee. They had seats available.

Be creative!

moe.ron · #**107** 10-16-2005, 04:12 PM

Yes, go and see The Light on the Piazza. I have the cd and love Kelli O'Hara's voice.

DeltAlum · #**108** 10-16-2005, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by moe.ron
Yes, go and see The Light on the Piazza. I have the cd and love Kelli O'Hara's voice.

I think that our son met her when he saw Light on the Piazza. She went to Oklahoma City University and the theatre types from there and O.U. are fairly close.

She's obviously older than he, but I think she stopped to chat at the proverbial stage door since he and the woman he saw the show with are both Musical Theatre types from Norman.

DeltAlum · #**109** 10-17-2005, 10:11 AM

This is a little bit of a digression, but it has to do with a young woman who performed in high school theatre with our son.

We just read last night that Erica Walters has been accepted in the process for the next American Idol series. I don't know if that means she has already auditioned and will be on the show for sure, or is just beginning the final part of the process. She is heading for Hollywood today.

In any event, that means that in the years that our three kids attended the school, 2 of their friends have appeared on Broadway (one is presently performing), at least one is currently in a national tour, one is the reigning Miss Colorado, her sister has entertainied on several cruises and Tokyo Disney and numerous have done lesser professional threatre parts. The school itself is only about 15 years old. While not an official "performing arts" school, more students participated in the arts than in athletics there.

Sorry for the digression, but I think that's pretty impressive.

PS I have nothing against athletics -- one daughter was a varsity athlete and cheerleader -- and I made part of my living televising sports events, but I think it's an impressive stat anyway.

moe.ron · #**110** 10-17-2005, 10:40 AM

Unfortunately Erica won't go far in American Idol. They seem to have a grudge against trained voice. I know people who were cut by American Idol because their voice was "too trained". If you notice the people that they go after, they're mostly raw talents.

emleepc · #**111** 10-17-2005, 11:47 AM

Well, crap-it-all; The last showing of The Lion King was yesterday here in the 'Ham. I missed it due to previous family engagements (my October has been booked solid) and mostly just lacked funds.

Edited cause I can't spell

moe.ron · #**112** 10-17-2005, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
I think that our son met her when he saw Light on the Piazza. She went to Oklahoma City University and the theatre types from there and O.U. are fairly close.

She's obviously older than he, but I think she stopped to chat at the proverbial stage door since he and the woman he saw the show with are both Musical Theatre types from Norman.

Is she good looking? I saw her when she did Jeckly and Hyde. Unfortunately I had crappy seats and couldn't tell from the nose bleed section.

DeltAlum · #**113** 10-17-2005, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by moe.ron
Is she good looking?

Good looking -- yes. A super beauty? No. As you know, though, fantastic voice and good actor.

moe.ron · #**114** 10-19-2005, 08:48 AM

Rumors are flying around that Liza Minelli will be playing Morrible starting sometime in February.

DeltAlum · #**115** 10-19-2005, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by moe.ron
Rumors are flying around that Liza Minelli will be playing Morrible starting sometime in February.

Liza Minelli may be one of the exceptions, but I often find that shows built around celebrities are only looking for "name" value. Often the "stars" are less than "shining."

moe.ron · #**116** 10-20-2005, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Liza Minelli may be one of the exceptions, but I often find that shows built around celebrities are only looking for "name" value. Often the "stars" are less than "shining."

I think it's beneath her talent to play a Morrible. She has very few singing lines and no song of her own. I think they'll have to write a new song for her.

KSUViolet06 · #**117** 10-20-2005, 08:46 PM

I love Wicked, Raisin in the Sun, and Caroline or Change. Broadway soundtracks are my guilty pleasure.

moe.ron · #**118** 11-06-2005, 11:57 AM

The duo that made Les Mis and Miss Saigon will have a new musical comming out next year. Rumors have Colm Wilkinson playing the lead role. Chicago will host the pre-Broadway run.
Here is the article (we need more pirates musicals. I love pirates):

Quote:

'Pirate Queen' to dock here for pre-Broadway run

November 4, 2005

BY MISHA DAVENPORT Staff Reporter

An Irish pirate queen will hoist her sails in a Chicago palace in 2006.

The Cadillac Palace Theatre will be the only pre-Broadway stop for "The Pirate Queen," the latest musical from "Les Miserables" and "Miss Saigon" creators Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg. The show will have a limited run Oct. 3-Nov. 26, 2006, before heading to Broadway for the 2006-07 season.

Steppenwolf's Frank Galati will direct. The musical is being produced by Moya Doherty and John McColgan, the duo behind the wildly successful "Riverdance."

Though Dublin was considered for the pre-Broadway engagement, Boublil says the creative team decided on Chicago after Galati (who directed the Broadway musical "Ragtime" and won a Tony Award for "The Grapes of Wrath") and American lyricist John Dempsey came on board.

"We knew the show had to open in America," Boublil said at a news conference Thursday. "Chicago was the obvious choice because the city has always been very kind to us. Both 'Les Miserables' and 'Miss Saigon' enjoyed several full engagements here."

"And Chicago does have a lot of Irish," Doherty added.

Group tickets went on sale Thursday. Individual tickets will be available in February. Casting for the show is under way, and producers will announce stars by the end of the year.

The musical is based on the life of Grace O'Malley, a legendary Irish chieftain and pirate who sailed the 16th century seas and took on England's Queen Elizabeth I.

Traditional Irish instruments will be incorporated into the score. But choreographer Mark Dendy says theatergoers shouldn't anticipate a sequel to "Riverdance."

"You can expect some traditional Irish steps, but not a front line like in 'Riverdance,' " Dendy said.

It's a bit of a departure for French playwright-lyricist Boublil and composer Schonberg. Their previous works were set in France and in the former French colony of Vietnam.

"I am French, Jewish and Hungarian and have nothing to do with the Irish or Irish music," Schonberg said matter-of-factly. "But I also didn't live in 18th century France before writing 'Les Miserables,' and I didn't travel to Vietnam before 'Miss Saigon.' "

Boublil added, "The French and the Irish both had a violent history. We share a common passion with regard to forging our own national identity."

As for how their "Queen" will fare sailing Broadway's dangerous waters, both Boublil and Schonberg are cautiously optimistic.

"So much of Broadway musical theater is about other entertainment at the moment," Boublil said. "John Lennon, Queen, ABBA -- hopefully there is room for the kind of show we like to write."

DeltAlum · #**119** 11-06-2005, 12:18 PM

Oh man, and I wanted an excuse to go to Dublin again.

Well, Chicago is closer...

Munchkin03 · #**120** 01-05-2006, 12:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Liza Minelli may be one of the exceptions, but I often find that shows built around celebrities are only looking for "name" value. Often the "stars" are less than "shining."

Just like Rosie and Harvey in Fiddler.

(insider gossip says that Fiddler won't be up for very long because it's so terrible...I give it until June)