Author Archives: Carly White - Broadway Ticket Expert

Carly White - Broadway Ticket Expert

About Carly White - Broadway Ticket Expert

Sales is the last thing in the world that Carly ever thought she'd be doing, but here she is! A shy girl from Toronto (go Leafs!), Carly was all set to pursue a career in Finance until she took a part-time telemarketing job while in college and realized that she was actually pretty good at it. Next thing she knew, Carly was doing sales for the promising internet start-up eFirewood.com ("A pile of logs delivered right to your door in one hour, no more!"), which sadly went under due to the dot com bust and some feasibility issues. But happily Carly found a new home at nytix.com, where she gets to indulge her love of all things New York and especially Broadway!

Favorite Saying: "The enlightened are free from doubt, the virtuous from anxiety, and the brave from fear." 

Contact Me: Click To Email See me on LinkedIn

Broadway Benefit Concert For Sandy Hook Planned for January 28

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Brian Stokes Mitchell

Brian Stokes Mitchell

Broadway stars are coming out for From Broadway with Love: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook, which will be held at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut on January 28 at 7:00pm. This special event will put performers from the New York theater world alongside students from Newtown based dance groups and choirs.

The Broadway actors and singers scheduled to participate in From Broadway with Love: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook include Brian Stokes Mitchell, Linda Eder, Michael Cerveris, Christine Ebersole, Richard Kind, Andrea McArdle, Nikki Blonsky, Robin de Jesus, Julia Murney, Micky Dolenz, and Seth Rudetsky, along with Wicked composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, Jekyll & Hyde composer Frank Wildhorn, Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman, and members from the casts of former Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet.

The idea of a Broadway benefit concert for Sandy Hook was conceived by Broadway producer Van Dean and Foreverman author Brett Boles, who both come from the Newtown area. Dean stated that “The outpouring of love and support from the Broadway community has been incredibly heartwarming, and everyone was looking for a way they could use their talents to bring something positive to the community. From Broadway With Love provides them with the perfect outlet to do so.”

The Palace Theater, which seats more than 2,500 people, will be filled mostly with impacted families, members of the Sandy Hook Elementary community, and first responders, who are invited to enjoy this night of entertainment for free. But there will also be a limited number of tickets sold for $50-$250. Visit www.FromBroadwayWithLove.org for more information.

Five Broadway Shows Close Today

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War Horse Broadway ShowSeveral Broadway shows end their runs today. After taking advantage of the holiday crowds over Christmas and New Year’s, these Broadway shows determined that it wouldn’t be worth it to continue running through the traditionally slow months of January and February. Of the five, Elf was the only holiday-specific show and had no reason to run any longer, though it may return to Broadway again next Christmas.

Dead Accounts and Grace were the only two straight plays among today’s Broadway closures. Despite boasting film stars (Katie Holmes in Dead Accounts and Paul Rudd in Grace) in their casts, both shows struggled to sell more than a middling number of tickets throughout late autumn and early winter.

A play with music, War Horse was a popular and highly acclaimed show that enjoyed a healthy run but decided to close once ticket sales were starting to run out of steam. Chaplin, on the other hand, one of the first musicals to open this season, had a difficult time during its entire run. Leading man Rob McClure enjoyed a great deal of positive buzz for his performance, but it wasn’t quite enough to create the great reviews and sensational word-of-mouth that a new musical typically needs to succeed.

A Christmas Story, Bring It On, and Radio City Christmas Show Close Today

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Bring It On Broadway MusicalAs 2012 comes to a close, so do a couple of Broadway shows (Bring It On and A Christmas Story, along with one very popular show that is not on Broadway but at the Radio City Music Hall). Two of these shows, A Christmas Story and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, are holiday-themed productions that were designed to appeal to the Christmas tourist crowd visiting New York City. The Radio City Christmas show has of course been a staple of the NYC holiday seasons for many decades, and year after year it plays for approximately six or seven weeks during the holiday season, delighting audiences with the Rockettes’ precision dancing and the live Nativity scene.

A Christmas Story, on the other hand, was enjoying its first time in New York City. This musical adaptation of a beloved Christmas movie made a good impression on the critics and did excellent ticket sales (especially in December), so there is a good chance that this one could return to Broadway next holiday season and perhaps become a Christmas-time regular.

Bring It On‘s closing is not related to the conclusion of the Christmas holiday, but is simply the result of the show no longer selling enough tickets to make a continued run worthwhile. However, Bring It On, which opened in the summer, was originally scheduled for a very limited run that would have concluded in the autumn. But the competitive cheerleading themed musical received a positive response early in its run, prompting extensions that allowed the show to run much longer than initially planned.

Les Miserables Movie Tops Christmas Box Office

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Les MiserablesBroadway musical theater fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the Hollywood box office grosses have revealed that the new Les Miserables movie had a very strong opening day. The 2nd highest ranking Christmas Day opening of all time, Les Miserables earned $18.1 million on its first day in movie theaters, drawing out holiday audiences eager to see Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe go head-to-head on the big screen. The film has also enjoyed a largely positive critical response, currently at 73% positive on RottenTomatoes.com.

While Broadway fans have flooded message boards with reviews of the movie adaptation of the beloved musical, the movie’s great box office performance can be counted as a plus for most Broadway fans whether they like Les Miz or not, because when a new Hollywood movie musical does well it bodes well for future film musicals. There is already buzz that Les Miz‘s success means there will soon be a screen adaptation of Miss Saigon, the other major musical success by Les Miz‘s songwriting team, Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil.

50 Shades of Grey Parody Musical To Play NYC

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50The best-selling Fifty Shades of Grey book trilogy is now a musical, and it will be making its New York City premiere this January. A parody of the literary phenomenon, 50 Shades! The Musical has already played at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and in Chicago.

Featuring the comedy ensemble Baby Wants Candy, the 50 Shades musical is set at a women’s book club, and as the ladies read Fifty Shades of Grey, their interpretations of the books come to musical life in the form of dance numbers and original songs like “They Get Nasty” and “There’s a Hole Inside of Me”.

50 Shades! The Musical will play at the Gramercy Theatre (127 E. 23rd Street) from January 11-12, 2013. Learn more at BabyWantsCandy.com and buy tickets at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

A Better Holiday Concert Tonight

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Santino Fontana

You may think you’ve been to the best holiday concert of the season already, but the It Gets Better Project promises “A Better Holiday Concert” tonight from 7 to 10pm at XL Nightclub, located at 512 West 42nd Street.  Hosted by The Haus of Mimosa comedy duo, the event will feature a number of Broadway and Off-Broadway performers, including Santino Fontana (soon to be the Prince in Broadway’s Cinderella), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies), Max von Essen (Evita), Donna Vivino, Condola Rashad, and Randy Harrison.

The It Gets Better Project is dedicated to helping lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender people see “the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives will reach”.  All of the proceeds from the ticket sales for the concert will go to the Ali Forney Center, an organization that offers support and services for homeless and runaway LGBTQ youth but saw its drop-in center destroyed by Hurricane Sandy last October.

“A Better Holiday Concert” will start with a cocktail party that begins at 7pm.  During the hour-long cocktail reception, the art of photographer Victor Haim will be shown and sold (half of the proceeds from those sales will go to the Ali Forney Center).

Tickets for the concert can be purchased here.

James Barbour Hosts Holiday Concerts Dec 6-8

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Broadway leading man James Barbour (A Tale of Two Cities, Jane Eyre) presents his fifth annual holiday season concert series at Sardi’s, December 6-8.  Under the musical direction of Jeremy Roberts, the concerts will feature Barbour singing a mix of holiday music and beloved Broadway ballads in his warm, beautiful baritone voice.  He will also be singing songs from his CD, “Bring Me Giants”.

Each holiday concert begins at 9pm and will take place at the legendary Broadway establishment Sardi’s, located at 234 West 44th Street (2nd floor).  Tickets are priced at $25, $45, and $65, and are available through www.smarttix.com or by calling 212-868-4444.

A special “Santa Seating Gift Give Away” is being introduced this year.  At each evening’s concert, a Kindle Fire will be given to one lucky guest.

Autism-Friendly Broadway Performances Scheduled in 2013

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TDF’s Autism Theater Initiative (ATI) has announced that it will be presenting autism-friendly performances of Broadway shows in the coming year.  These performances will be performed in a supportive environment for an audience made up of children and adults on the autism spectrum, as well as their friends and family.  The productions themselves may include slight adjustments, such as the reduction of jarring sounds or disturbing lighting effects (such as strobe lights).  The lobby of the theater will have designated quiet areas and activity areas, where autism experts will be on hand if any audience members feel the need to leave the theater during the performance.

“When we piloted this program we had a sense that there was a large audience of families in need of this service,” said Executive Director of TDF, Victoria Bailey.  “After the first performance it was clear that our presumption was true.  Watching families experience live theatre together for the first time in an environment that was safe and supportive is a truly emotional and gratifying experience.”

Four Broadway shows are currently scheduled to present autism-friendly performances in 2013:  Elf, the Musical on Saturday, January 5 at 2pm; Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark on Saturday, April 27 at 2pm; The Lion King and Newsies on Fall 2013 dates to be determined.  Tickets for the Elf performance are already on sale at www.tdf.org/elf.

Theater’s Stars Shine at Broadway Unplugged

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Cheyenne Jackson

A new edition of “Broadway Unplugged” is scheduled for Monday, December 3 at 8pm, and the event has announced a list of great Broadway performers who will be taking part.  Cheyenne Jackson (The Performers), Laura Osnes (soon to be Broadway’s own Cinderella), Andy Karl (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Julia Murney (Falling), Orfeh (Legally Blonde), Natalie Toro, William Michals, Jeffry Denman, and Bill Daugherty are currently on the roster.  More names are expected to be announced soon.

A New York City theater tradition, “Broadway Unplugged” is produced by Scott Siegel.  What makes these concerts different than your average concert featuring Broadway talent is that this one harkens back to the early days of Broadway by having the singers perform without the aid of microphones.  In addition to allowing the audience to better appreciate Broadway songs in their pure, un-amplified form, “Broadway Unplugged” also gives its stars a chance to show off their chops by filling the 1,500-seat Town Hall theater space with their voices.

To find out more about “Broadway Unplugged” or to purchase tickets, click here.

Thanksgiving Week Features Many Broadway Schedule Changes

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Due to the fact that ticket buying patterns tend to change significantly over holidays, most Broadway shows are altering their schedules accordingly this week.  The biggest changes are on Thursday, November 22, Thanksgiving Day itself, when the majority of Broadway shows are canceling performances entirely.  Notable exceptions are Chicago, A Christmas Story, and The Phantom of the Opera, which are still planning to hold shows that day.

Almost as significant are the changes made to Broadway show schedules on Friday, November 23.  To make up for the lost Thanksgiving Day performances, and to account for the fact that many families are looking for entertainment on that Friday, most Broadway musicals and plays have added matinee performances in addition to their usual Friday evening performances.

There are a few other scattered performance additions and cancellations from now through Sunday.  To see the complete Broadway performance schedule for this week, visit the Broadway League’s schedule page here.