Tony Awards Administration Committee Makes First Round of Decisions

The Tony Awards Administration Committee, which meets several times throughout the year to determine in which categories certain performers and plays will be considered eligible, met for the first time this season on November 13th.  Their decisions were:

Saul Williams will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for Holler If Ya Hear Me.

This Is Our Youth will be considered a Revival.

Tavi Gevinson will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for This Is Our Youth.

James Earl Jones, Byron Jennings, Patrick Kerr, Fran Kanz, Mark Linn-Baker, and Reg Rogers will all be eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play category for You Can't Take It With You.

Rose Byrne, Annaleigh Ashford, Johanna Day, Julie Halston, Kristine Nielsen, and Elizabeth Ashley will all be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category for You Can't Take It With You.

Blythe Danner will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for The Country House.

It's Only a Play will be considered a revival.

F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Broderick, Rupert Grint, and Micah Stock will all be considered in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play category.

Stockard Channing and Megan Mullaly will be considered in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play category.

Tony Yazbek will be considered eligible in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category.

How Do They Keep Those Ceilings Up?

Theater Mania posted an interesting article that I wanted to bring to your attention.  The article discusses a side of the entertainment business that most people don't even think about -- the real estate.  Jujamcyn Theaters' Hal Goldberg and Jennifer Hershey talked with Theater Mania about what they do to maintain their buildings, particularly when they have long-running tenants like Jersey Boys, which has occupied the August Wilson Theatre since 2005.


http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/sprucing-up-the-theater-what-are-broadways-landlor_70609.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_name=11nov2014

Additional Casting for Finding Neverland Announced

Additional casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway transfer of Finding Neverland.  The ART-based production, directed by Diane Paulus, is based on the 2004 film of the same name.  In addition to previously announced star Matthew Morrison, the production will also star Laura Michelle Kelly and Kelsey Grammer.  The show is expected to begin previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in March with an anticipated opening date of April 15th.

Matthew Morrison and the Queen of England

Two pieces of news have hit the boards in the last 24 hours about two high-profile performers coming to Broadway this year.


Harvey Weinstein and the producers of the upcoming ART production of Finding Neverland have announced that Tony and Emmy nominated actor Matthew Morrison will replace Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan in the Broadway bound production of the show.  The production premiered at Cambridge, Massachusetts' American Repertory Theatre under the direction of Diane Paulus with Mr. Jordan and Olivier Award nominee Laura Michelle Kelly.


In other news, there has been an interesting announcement about the upcoming Broadway transfer of the London production of The Queen, starring Helen Mirren.  It seems that when the show hits our shores, it will have a different ending than it did in the UK.  Stephen Daldry, the play's Tony winning director, told the LA Times, "Peter [Morgan] will always be re-writing!  For Broadway, it will be essential.  The end will have to change quite radically to reflect the exact moment in current events."

It's The Real Thing -- But What Is It?

I just found a great article on Playbill.com to which I wanted to bring your attention.  The article discusses and dissects The Real Thing -- a 1984 Tom Stoppard play currently being revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company now through January 4th.  For anyone not familiar with Mr. Stoppard's work, they are often academic and can be hard to follow if you're not paying attention, so this article may prove to be useful to viewers, even though this play may be his most accessible.  Check out the article and let me know what you think about it.

http://playbill.com/news/article/love-and-marriage-tom-stoppard-style-ewan-mcgregor-and-maggie-gyllenhaal-search-for-the-real-thing-335018

New "Into the Woods" Trailer Released -- This Time With Singing!

A new 30 second TV spot has been released for the upcoming film adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods.  Unlike previous commercials for the movie, this one actually includes the characters singing.  This may or may not be in response to complaints that the first commercial released for the film did not include any singing or music other than some basic underscoring.


http://playbill.com/news/article/little-red-and-bakers-wife-sing-in-new-into-the-woods-tv-commercial-video-335074

News From Around the Broadway Block

There is news about two shows -- one that's already on Broadway and another that is on its way.

First comes news about the currently-running It's Only a Play.  The star-studded show has made several large-scale announcements in a press release yesterday.  The first is that the play will be extending through March 29, 2015.  The show will continue to play the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre through January 18th.  Then, it will transfer to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre beginning January 23rd.  In additional news, Tony- and Emmy-winner Martin Short will be joining the production beginning January 7th, replacing Tony-winner Nathan Lane.

In other news, there will be another revival of Fiddler on the Roof next year.  No theater has been announced for the show, but the production will be directed by Tony-winner Bartlett Sher and will star five-time Tony nominee Danny Burstein.  Performances will begin November 17th, 2015.

Pippin to Close

Well, folks, I've been a little behind the times.  On Monday, the Tony-winning revival of Pippin announced that it will be closing.  The show opened on April 25th, 2013 to ecstatic reviews and ended up winning four Tony Awards, including Best Director and Best Musical Revival.  At the time of its closing, the show will have played 37 previews and 709 regular performances.

Title of Song Cut From Into the Woods Revealed

Playbill.com has revealed the title of the song that was cut from the film version of Into the Woods.  The song was written particularly for Meryl Streep in her role as the witch.  The song, which was filmed and put into an early cut of the film, but dropped from the final version, is titled "She'll Be Back".  The film's director, Rob Marshall, said in a statement, that cutting the song was "painful, especially a new Sondheim song which is so thrilling," adding that the film simply works better without it.  The song, which was written particularly for Meryl Streep, will be preserved on the DVD release of the film, whenever that happens to be released.

Variety Magazine reports that most of the songs were pre-recorded, unlike the film version of Les Miserables.  The sole exception to this was the witches rap.  Michael Higham, who was the film's music producer/supervisor, told Variety, "Meryl did that live.  It was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen."

Bradley Cooper Laughed His Way to the Stage

The story goes that, when Bradley Cooper walked off stage at the end of a performance of Bernard Pomerance's 1977 play The Elephant Man, his father was shaking.  "You picked the right profession," his father, Charles, is supposed to have said.  But this performance was not at Broadway's Booth Theatre, nor was it at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2012.  It was in 1999, when Bradley was in the Actor's Studio masters program and had performed the play as his thesis.  Cooper's connection to the play began in 1987 when his dad bought a VCR and showed him the movie.  Bradley's obsession with John Merrick never waned over the years and now he is finally playing the role on Broadway eight shows a week.