New Musical of A Christmas Story Begins At Kansas City Rep

Just in time for the holidays, a new musical version of the modern classic Christmas movie A Christmas Story begins performances at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The show's libretto is by Joseph Robinette, and the score is by Scott Davenport Richards. The musical is based on the 1983 film about young Ralphie Parker's quest to get an air rifle for Christmas (the movie was based on humorist Jean Shepherd's stories). This production of A Christmas Story, The Musical! plays at the Kansas City Rep through December 27. Songs from the musical include "I Won (A Major Award)," "On Christmas, We Go Eat Chinese," "Ho, Ho, Ho!" and of course "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!" The show is aiming for a Broadway run in 2010.

Dreamgirls and Ragtime To Perform at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade will feature Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals during its telecast on the CBS network on November 26. The musicals scheduled to perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving parade are the Broadway revivals of Ragtime and West Side Story, as well as the current production of Dreamgirls playing at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. The West Side Story cast will sing "America," and the Dreamgirls trio will perform the musical's title song on the show. The entire Ragtime cast will be gathering in Battery Park to sing the show's big anthem, "Wheels of a Dream," against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Oleanna To Close On Broadway In January

The producers of Oleanna, the Broadway revival of the tense David Mamet drama, announced today that they will be closing the show on January 3rd, 2010. The production, which enjoyed a successful run in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum earlier this year, transferred to Broadway's John Golden Theatre in late September. The play stars actor Bill Pullman (who was previously seen on Broadway in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?) as a college professor and Julia Stiles (Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night) as his disgruntled student. Each performance of the show has been followed by a lively audience talk-back where people discuss the motives and actions of the two characters in this very controversial play about power, education, and gender politics.

Let the Race Begin

David Mamet's new play, which has a provocative four-letter word of a title, starts performances on Broadway tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The four-person Race stars James Spader (Boston Legal), David Alan Grier (In Living Color, Broadway's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Kerry Washington (The Last King of Scotland, Ray), and Richard Thomas (TV's The Waltons, Broadway's Democracy) and is directed by Mamet, in his Broadway directorial debut. The play is about a law firm - made up of two black lawyers and one white one - who have the opportunity to defend a white man charged of a crime against a young black woman. The production will have its official Broadway opening at the Barrymore on December 6.

It's a White Christmas on Broadway

The Marquis Theatre at the Marriott Hotel in Times Square is hosting one heck of a holiday party with Irving Berlin's White Christmas, starting Broadway performances today. This is the second annual limited Broadway engagement of the snow-filled show, which is based on the beloved holiday film of the same name, and also incorporates many other memorable Irving Berlin songs from other movies and musicals. The production, directed by Walter Bobbie, features Tony Yazbeck, Melissa Errico, James Clow, Mara Davi, David Ogden Stiers, and Ruth Williamson in the cast, plus a large ensemble of singers and dancers. White Christmas will play at the Marquis through January 3, 2010.

Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein Join Forces on Broadway

Following a lighthearted publicity stunt in which both artists announced separate upcoming Broadway shows with suspiciously similar titles, Australian drag comedian Dame Edna Everage (also known as Barry Humphries) and piano man/crooner Michael Feinstein (who has just released an album with Broadway actor/singer Cheyenne Jackson) have finally admitted that the new musical entertainment All About Me will be a joint theatrical effort between the two experienced and distinguished performers. Directed by Broadway veteran Jerry Zaks and written by playwright Christopher Durang, the show will begin performances on March 6, 2010, with an official Broadway opening on March 23. A theater has not yet been announced.

Wintuk Takes New York City By (Snow)Storm

In what now looks like it may be an annual holiday tradition in New York City, Cirque du Soleil's theatrical winter fantasy Wintuk is starting its limited engagement at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The holiday show takes Cirque's formula of eye-popping visuals, astounding acrobatics, evocative music, and comedic clowning and gives it an enchanting snowy twist, making it an ideal family show during Christmastime. Wintuk, which features over 50 performers from all over the world, will play at MSG through January 3, 2010.

Bernadette Peters To Pen New Kids Book

The multi-talented actress/singer Bernadette Peters is at work on her second children's book. Stella Is a Star, due out in early 2010, is about Peters' beloved dog Stella and features illustrations by Liz Murphy. In addition to her performing duties in movies, concerts, and musicals (her most recent Broadway credits include major revivals of Annie Get Your Gun and Gypsy), Bernadette Peters has been a tireless advocate for animal adoption. The proceeds from sales of the new book will go to her charity "Broadway Barks", which she co-founded with Mary Tyler Moore. Broadway Barks was also the title of Peters' first kids' book.

American Idiot Getting Closer To Broadway

The new musical American Idiot, which just enjoyed an acclaimed run at the Berkeley Rep in California, is getting closer to securing a Broadway berth. Ever since the project was announced, insiders always anticipated it would eventually make it to Broadway, and now casting notices and hopeful quotes from publicity reps indicate that the musical is on track for the Great White Way. However, exact dates and a theater have yet to be secured, so the show's New York future is not yet certain. Directed by Michael Mayer, American Idiot is a new musical based on the Green Day album of the same name. The rock musical, which has musical supervision by Tom Kitt (Next To Normal), also features songs from Green Day's most recent album, "21st Century Breakdown".

Broadway Musical 13 To Get New Recording

Last season's Broadway musical 13, with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, will get a new double-disc cast recording from Ghostlight Records. The original Broadway cast album was released before the Broadway production had been frozen, and further changes were subsequently made to the show, so that CD doesn't quite reflect the musical in its current state. The new album, which will also feature bonus demo and karaoke tracks, is meant to be a more accurate representation of 13 as it is now.

Spider-Man's Fate May Be Decided Today

Rumors are flying this morning about the troubled musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. The New York Times reported yesterday that director Julie Taymor, other members of the creative team, and the show's producers are scheduled to have an important meeting today to discuss the show's future. Today, the New York Post's Michael Riedel - a reporter who covers the Broadway beat and passes around the juiciest gossip on the Great White Way - has said that Spider-Man won't be postponed indefinitely as many have suggested over the last several months. Instead, it will just push back opening until the summer of 2010, when Taymor and company will finally have the highly complex show ready. This would mean that Spider-Man won't make the deadline for this year's Tony Awards, but then again most people probably won't need a Tony win as an incentive to see this much-buzzed-about musical with amazing aerial effects and songs by U2's Bono and The Edge.

Shakespeare In The Park To Perform In Rep In 2010

The Public Theater has already announced the two productions that it will present for 2010's "Shakespeare in the Park" series at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. Next year, the summer tradition will truly live up to its name, presenting two of the Bard's plays (rather than one Shakespeare paired with a classic or modern classic, as has been the recent pattern), The Merchant of Venice and The Winter's Tale. Even more interesting is that the Public has decided to run the two Shakespeare in the Park shows in rep, which hasn't been done in nearly 20 years. Both productions will feature the same company of actors and designers, with Daniel Sullivan directing The Merchant of Venice and Michael Greif directing The Winter's Tale.

No Longer Broadway Bound

The Broadway community got a rather stunning announcement today when news came out that the revival of Brighton Beach Memoirs, which just opened less than a week ago, will close tomorrow, Sunday, November 1st. This means that not only will that show be shuttering, but its sister production, Broadway Bound, won't be opening at all. The two Neil Simon plays, both about Simon's alter ego Eugene Morris Jerome at different stages in his life, were going to play in rep at the Nederlander Theatre. The reason for the unusually quick closing of Brighton Beach Memoirs, which stars Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne) and newcomer Noah Robbins, is simple: lack of ticket sales. In a season of dramas featuring big name stars (e.g. A Steady Rain starring Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, Jude Law's Hamlet), these two old-fashioned plays just couldn't drum up enough public interest. Forty years ago, that would have been unthinkable, as Neil Simon's name was a colossal draw at the Broadway box office, but his plays - new or old - simply don't bring in the crowds the way they used to.

There's a Rainbow on the Great White Way

The brand new revival of the 1947 musical Finian's Rainbow opened on Broadway this evening. The production, which is playing an open run at the St. James Theatre, began as a part of the City Center Encores! series. Because of its success during that limited run, producers decided that they wanted to transfer it to Broadway. The Broadway production, re-imagined and expanded from the Encores! version, stars Tony Award winner Jim Norton (The Seafarer) as the title character and Christopher Fitzgerald (Young Frankenstein) as the leprechaun who chases him from old Ireland to America's Deep South. Also starring is Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu), Kate Baldwin, Chuck Cooper, Terri White, and William Youmans. A whimsical, satirical, romantic romp, Finian's Rainbow has a score by Burton Lane and E.Y. Harburg that features songs such as "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" and "Old Devil Moon".

Abigail Breslin To Become Helen Keller On Broadway

A new production of William Gibson's wonderful play The Miracle Worker is bound for Broadway in February 2010. Young film actress Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Signs, and the new release Zombieland) will play Helen Keller in this production alongside New York theater regular Alison Pill (Mauritius and The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway) as her determined teacher Annie Sullivan. The production, under the direction of Ruined helmer Kate Whoriskey, will play at the Circle in the Square Theatre. A 2003 production of The Miracle Worker starring Hilary Swank was supposed to come to Broadway following its run in Charlotte, but that engagement fell through. The drama is of course well known to movie audiences everywhere because of the fine film version starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke, who both starred in the original Broadway production.

Scarlet Johansson Gets A View From The Bridge

Movie actress Scarlet Johansson (Lost in Translation, Match Point) is going to be making her Broadway debut later this year in a new revival of the Arthur Miller drama A View From the Bridge. She will be co-starring alongside Broadway regular Liev Schreiber (a Tony winner for Glengarry Glen Ross), who will play her working class Brooklyn uncle, Eddie. The production, directed by Gregory Mosher, will begin performances at the Cort Theatre on December 28, 2009, with an official Broadway opening scheduled for January 24, 2010. A View From the Bridge will be a strictly limited engagement, playing only 14 weeks.

Brighton Beach Memoirs Opens at the Nederlander

The revival of the Neil Simon comedy Brighton Beach Memoirs opens at the Nederlander Theatre tonight. The production will be playing in rep with another Neil Simon play, Broadway Bound, scheduled to open on December 10. Both plays are part of what is known as Simon's semi-autobiographical "Eugene Morris Jerome trilogy," three plays that follow a young man named Eugene Jerome from his youth in Brooklyn (Brighton Beach Memoirs) to his time spent in the army (Biloxi Blues) and on to his developing career as a comedy writer (Broadway Bound); however, Biloxi Blues is not part of this revival. Noah Robbins plays Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs, and also starring in the David Cromer-directed production is Laurie Metcalf (TV's Roseanne, Broadway's November) and Santino Fontana (Billy Elliot).

Shrek To Conclude Its Broadway Run In January

It's a hard life for an ogre on Broadway. Shrek, the new musical version of the book-turned-film franchise, has been struggling to bring in audiences since it opened to tepid reviews last season. You would think that the fact that the musical is both clever and family-friendly, and a much-needed alternative to Disney on Broadway, would have helped it, but apparently that was not enough - the show has announced that it will be closing up swamp on January 3, 2010. Based on William Steig's book, the Shrek musical starred Brian d'Arcy as grumpy green ogre Shrek, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, and Daniel Breaker as Donkey when it first opened at the Broadway Theatre last year. The show's book was written by playwright David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole, Fuddy Meers) and features songs by Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change, Thoroughly Modern Millie).

Fela! Begins Performances On Broadway October 19

Following a brief but buzz-generating Off-Broadway run, the new musical Fela! comes to Broadway for a run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Directed and choreographed by modern dance legend Bill T. Jones (who previously electrified Broadway with his Spring Awakening choreography, for which he won a Tony Award), Fela! is about the life and music of African musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. Bill T. Jones and Jim Lewis wrote the book for the biographical musical, which features Fela's own music, performed onstage by local Afrobeat group Antibalas. The role of the musical's hero is performed alternately by Sahr Ngaujah and Kevin Mambo. Fela! is set for an official Broadway opening on November 23.

The Royal Family Extends Through Mid-December

The Manhattan Theatre Club's new production of the comedy The Royal Family will be reigning supreme at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway for an extra two weeks. It was recently announced that the limited-run production will not close on November 29 as was originally planned, but instead the show will continue its Broadway run on through December 13. The extension of the 1929 play about a renowned showbiz family, which was written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, was due to popular demand, which is no surprise given The Royal Family's impressive cast list. The production stars an excellent cast of theater notables, including Rosemary Harris, John Glover, Larry Pine, Jan Maxwell, Reg Rogers, and Ana Gasteyer.

Bid To See A Steady Rain and Meet Hugh Jackman

The only thing better than seeing Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig live on stage at the Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway in A Steady Rain? Seeing them in A Steady Rain then actually getting to meet Hugh Jackman in person after the show. Which you can do, if you bid on this charity auction for the opportunity to get two tickets to the show and a meet-and-greet with Jackman. The current bid is at $2,250, and the auction doesn't end for another six days. Although the price is obviously steep, Jackman will be donating the money to a good cause, Oprah's Angel Network. And when you consider you're getting two tickets to the 'hot ticket' Broadway show of the season, as well as the chance to chat and get a photo with a major movie star, it's not such a bad deal.

Replacement Cast For God of Carnage Announced

Yasmina Reza's dark comedy God of Carnage, a breakout hit last season and the Best Play Tony Award winner, is still going strong at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. Unfortunately its all-star cast - James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels, and Hope Davis - wasn't prepared for such a long run, so the show's producers are having to bring in a new cast in order to keep the play running. The good news is that they have secured some fine actors. As of November 17, the four actors playing God of Carnage's dysfunctional couples will be Jimmy Smits, Annie Potts, Christine Lahti, and Ken Stott (who was in the original London production of the play).

The Domain Name BroadwayShows.com Up For Sale - Again

Just as the fall leaves come and go, the much-sought-after domain name of www.broadwayshows.com is up for auction, yet again.

Its unclear just how many times this URL has been put up at auction, although records indicate that its at least been a couple of times in the last year-once at the TRAFFIC 2008 Domain Conference & Expo and now once again at TRAFFIC at New York on October 26th 2009.
broadwayshows.com has a lot of promise, but with a reserve price of $800,000, its unclear who would want it at that price. Even at $800K, the domain comes with no brand established, no content, backlink anorexic and a pagerank of 2. What it does have going for it is a great set of keywords, two keywords in particular - "Broadway" and "Shows" that almost certainly guarantee a top slot in Google when some actual Broadway show content is finally posted.

Lets examine who in the Broadway business community would be interested in buying the url and why it doesn't make financial sense to any of them - Analysis that the domain owner probably hasn't done.

BROADWAY SHOW PRODUCER - The URL is too generic and the investment amount is too high - would be a great as a landing page for producers that have a Broadway show track record, but the financial backers for each show aren't going to support a development that is not specific to their show - this means that the producer themselves would have to stump up the cash - producers don't have that kind of investment cash, and if they do its for show investment where they can get immediate investment recoup.

THEATRE OWNER - The URL is too generic for the theatre owners, but could work for Jujamcyn which owns a number of theaters - The investment amount is unrealistic though as they don't actually sell any tickets, which is where the assumed recoup is in this case. This would be a straight power play to establish a theatre owner on the web - But they really don't need the retail customer to know who they are unless they have an ego to stroke.

BROADWAY SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITE - Great URL, but eats a massive amount of funding - social networking sites are usually about organic growth with a new brand, there is no brand here, just familiar terms which bring good traffic, but poor brand.

OFFICIAL TICKET OUTLETS - Ticketmaster and Telecharge wouldn't look twice at this as their brand recognition is already strong and no new ticket companies can move into this space because of the ticket sales duopoly on Broadway.

BROADWAY TICKET RESELLER - Sites like ticketsnow.com and others would love the traffic from this URL , but only at a 1/20th of the price - They don't have that kind of investment capital. The Broadway show business is not big and fast enough to recoup the investment. If the URL wasn't so "Broadway" focused, it might have wider appeal.

DISCOUNT TICKET WEBSITES - Great traffic from this URL , but would they never have that kind of investment capital. The investment recoup would take 10+ years, in terms of internet growth and changes that may be an eternity.

BROADWAY MARKETING & ADVERTISING COMPANY - They wouldn't know what to do with it and would probably mothball it (better to keep it out of someone else's hands than actually develop something useful) They might be able to raise the capital though, would suit someone like Serino Coyne, that is part of a bigger group with deep financial pockets.

The cynic in me says that this auction is nothing more than a lazy way of promoting the URL without actually doing anything useful. It may increase the URL awareness, but domain speculation is so 2001. The current domain owners should be careful because if the eminent domain law ever gets passed they would lose the URL in one second flat - like the proverbial empty house right in the middle of the path of the road construction.

For example, if the famous broadway.com (Which is a secondary market ticket broker) was just beginning today, it wouldn't have invested in an expensive URL and probably would have been called secondarymarketbroadwaytickets.com, thus losing its edge, fame and success. broadwayshows.com won't be sold to a Broadway.com after-market competitor because the initial investment far outstrips the potential recoup in their line of business, unless they can cross sell it to another part of the business, like concert ticket sales for instance - Problem is the URL says Broadway shows, not Miley Cyrus.

So what's the true value of broadwayshows.com - Probably $100k if it gets sold to another domain speculator or $50k if its sold to an actual Broadway company that does something with it.

So who will ultimately buy this white elephant ? My bet is that if its ever gets sold, its going to be another domain name speculator who, you guessed it, ends up trying to auction it at TRAFFIC 2010 Las Vegas as a white elephant with a suntan.

The Jersey Boys Go Platinum

Decades after their chart-topping pop successes, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons are making records again. The cast recording of Jersey Boys, the Broadway musical retelling of Valli and the Seasons' rise to fame, has just been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. These days it is rare for a Broadway cast album to sell a million copies so soon after its release, so this is quite an achievement for Jersey Boys. The Grammy-winning recording, which features the talents of John Lloyd Young, J. Robert Spencer, Daniel Reichard, and Christian Hoff, has a slew of tunes made famous by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, including such hits as "Oh, What a Night," "Sherry," "Walk Like A Man," "Big Girls Don't Cry," and "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You".

It's Opening Night For Oleanna At The John Golden Theatre

With recent revivals of Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, and Speed-the-Plow, Broadway has been a great friend to playwright David Mamet lately. Tonight marks the opening night for the latest Mamet revival, Oleanna, starring Bill Pullman (The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? on Broadway) and Julia Stiles (Shakespeare in the Park's Twelfth Night, Off-Broadway's Fran's Bed) as a college professor and student, respectively. The Doug Hughes-directed production of the play about sexual politics was seen previously in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, and now hits Broadway's John Golden Theatre for an open run. David Mamet will next be represented on Broadway with a new drama, the race-related play Race starring James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, and Richard Thomas.

Robin Williams To Bring His One-Man Show To Town Hall

Earlier this year, Robin Williams planned to bring his one-man comedy show Weapons of Self-Destruction to Broadway's Neil Simon Theatre, but then suffered heart problems that caused him to postpone the engagement. Although Williams will not be bringing his show to Broadway, the now-healthy performer has now announced that he will do Weapons of Self-Destruction at Town Hall, a popular New York City venue in midtown. The dates for the show will be November 23-25, November 30, and December 1-3. Tickets for the event go onsale on October 12.

Avenue Q Returns To Off-Broadway

After a mere month-long hiatus, the popular musical Avenue Q re-opens in New York City today, this time at Off-Broadway's New World Stages in Times Square. The amazing thing about this opening is that it marks the extremely rare event of a show beginning life Off-Broadway (at the Vineyard Theatre), transferring successfully to Broadway (at the John Golden Theatre), enjoying a healthy multi-year Broadway run, closing, and then almost instantaneously transferring back to Off-Broadway. Rare though this approach is, it seems logical since the "puppet musical", which is still known and loved by audiences, will be cheaper to produce Off-Broadway and will not have to fill as many seats. This "new" Avenue Q is essentially the same production as the one seen on Broadway, but it features brand new cast members.

The Royal Family Opens on Broadway Tonight

The Royal Family will hold court at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre tonight when it has its official Broadway opening. The 1927 comedy by playwriting greats George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber is about a family of flamboyant theater performers called the Cavendishes (based on the legendary real-life Barrymore clan). This Manhattan Theatre Club production of the play stars a cast of theater pros, including Rosemary Harris, Jan Maxwell, Larry Pine, Reg Rogers, Tony Roberts (Broadway's Xanadu), John Glover (recently on Broadway in Roundabout's Waiting For Godot revival), and Ana Gasteyer (Wicked, TV's Saturday Night Live). Directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes (Doubt), the production is scheduled to run at the Friedman Theatre through November 29th.

Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking Opens At Studio 54

The Roundabout Theatre Company presents the first show in its Studio 54 space this season, Carrie Fisher's one-woman comedy Wishful Drinking. The writer/performer, still best known for playing the iconic character Princess Leia in the Star Wars movies, has been performing Wishful Drinking in venues around the country and now brings it to Broadway. Word on the street is that the show is hilarious, which should be no surprise considering that Fisher (who can currently be seen on the big screen in the teen horror flick Sorority Row) is known for her sharp, dark, and dry wit. The solo play is an autobiographical tell-all in which she recounts her Hollywood childhood and career, and her problems with everything from drug addiction to bipolar disorder. Wishful Drinking's Broadway run is scheduled to go through January 3, 2010.

Superior Donuts Officially Opens At the Music Box Theatre

Fans of the recently-departed darkly comedic drama August: Osage County may now want to return to its old Broadway home, the Music Box Theatre, since August playwright Tracy Letts now has a new play there. Superior Donuts is his latest work, which also debuted at Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago before coming to Broadway. Superior Donuts, a poignant comedy, is a return to the intimacy of Letts' earlier works (Bug, Killer Joe) and is quite unlike the sprawling epic drama of August: Osage County. Superior Donuts stars Michael McKean as the proprietor of a dingy old Chicago donut shop and Jon Michael Hill plays the young employee who wants to turn the business around. The play is scheduled for an open run.

A Steady Rain Opens On Broadway

There's A Steady Rain on Broadway, of the theatrical kind. The new play by Keith Huff is opening at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, where it is scheduled to play a strictly limited engagement through December 6. Although Huff is undoubtedly a fine playwright, the fact is that the big draw of this two-person Chicago cop drama is that it features two major movie stars, Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Wolverine, Australia) and Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake, The Golden Compass). Neither are new to the stage. Jackman's big breakout in the theater world was his role as Curly in a London revival of Oklahoma! in the late '90s, and he went on to win a Tony Award for his Broadway debut, the Peter Allen musical The Boy From Oz. Craig, known as the new James Bond on the big screen, did London stage work early in his career and was trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, but A Steady Rain marks his first appearance on Broadway.