L’s BROADWAY

Hey families, it’s time to go to the theater and bring a friend!  

The Broadway League and NYC&Co invite you to experience Broadway Week in New York City! 

Twenty-two Broadway shows are offering 2-for-1 ticket deals for selected performances January 20-February 5. 

Visit the Broadway Week page at NYCGo.com to purchase your tickets and for important details and restrictions.

Shows participating in Broadway Week Winter 2015:*

• Aladdin

• Beautiful: The Carole King Musical

• Cabaret

• Chicago The Musical

• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

• A Delicate Balance

• Disgraced

• A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder

• Honeymoon in Vegas

• If/Then

• It’s Only a Play

• Jersey Boys

• Kinky Boots

• Les Misérables

• The Lion King

• Mamma Mia!

• Matilda the Musical

• On the Town

• The Phantom of the Opera

• The River

• Wicked

• You Can’t Take it With You

*Subject to availability. Blackout dates may apply.

PS. Reminder – Kids’ Night on Broadway® takes place from January 9-15! Kids age 18 and younger can see a participating Broadway show for free when accompanied by a full-paying adult. 

Tickets are still available at KidsNightonBroadway.com

Hey Kids—-let’s put on a show!

Casting call for the kids in your life that love to rock out!  School of Rock—The Musical is launching a coast-to-coast search for its new, Broadway-bound class of pint-sized rock stars, offering the once-in-a-lifetime chance to join the most famous kid band of all time.  

A massive open casting call will take place in New York on Saturday, January 24 at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre (1634 Broadway), on the stage where the show is set to have its world premiere later this year.  

Additional open casting calls for young performers will take place in Los Angeles on January 17 at Screenland Studios (10501 Burbank Blvd.) and Chicago on Saturday, January 24 at Actor’s Equity Association (557 W. Randolph Street).  All open calls begin at 10:00 a.m. (local time), with sign-in at 9:00 a.m.  

Based on the smash hit 2003 film of the same title, School of Rock will feature music from the movie, as well as new music written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Glenn Slater, with a book by Julian Fellowes.  School of Rock—The Musical will be directed by Laurence Connor (currently represented on Broadway by Les Miserables). 

In School of Rock—The Musical, down-on-his-luck wannabe rock star Dewey Finn poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school to make ends meet. When he discovers his students’ musical talents, he enlists his fifth-graders to form a rock group and conquer the Battle of the Bands.

School of Rock—The Musical will feature Choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter, Scenic and Costume Design by Anna Louizos, Lighting Design by Natasha Katz, Sound Design by Mick Potter, and Music Supervision by Ethan Popp.

School of Rock—The Musical is produced on Broadway by The Really Useful Group, Warner Music Group & Access Industries, The Shubert Organization, and The Nederlander Organization.  Nina Lannan serves as Executive Producer.

www.SchoolOfRockTheMusical.com

SIDE SHOW has the next big thing and it’s not conjoined twins!

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David St. Louis

When I was invited to see the wonderful new musical Broadway revival of SIDE SHOW which dazzles under the masterful hands of director Bill Condon, with music by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger, I recevied an unexpected treat— that chill that goes through the body when you see a new talent that has the “it” factor.

You know the “it” factor. It’s that unseen yet powerful energy that sets someone apart.  

Billed around the true story of people with “unusual” abilities, this story focuses on the real life of conjoined twins twins Daisy and Violet Hilton— Emily Padgett and Erin Davie —and their search for love and fame.

In the first act, in walks the actor David St. Louis, who plays Jake who, like the conjoined twins, worked in the side show as “freaks.”

In the opening sequence the character Jake is shackled and billed as a “wild man”and using his color and race as a card of horror and fear, he ran among roaring, biting and causing a fitful scene.

That was the show.  Curtains down and the patrons gone, the loving Jake is the protect of the fragile twins and has a soft spot for Violet, who also shares the same warm feeling.

Violet never allows herself to love Jake because during that era, to be married to a Black woman would have made her more of a target, a fate that she would not venture. 

I caught up, briefly, with David St. James between matinees of SIDE SHOW and here is what he had to share:

myNewYorkeye: David, you have “it.”  How long have you been mastering your craft?

David St. Louis: Thank you for your kind words.  Well, I was a voice major at Oberlin Conservatory but I decided I wanted more from the stage. I decided to study acting at Howard and I found my love, my calling. Since, I could already sing, I focused in musical theater. I kept my nose to the grind and worked, landed TV work and when I left university, I had all of my union cards and a special thing, as well, which is a Helen Hayes award.

myNewYorkeye: Your no stranger to Broadway, new to me but you’ve been in RENT and a few others.  What was your favorite production?

David St. Louis: Favorite? This one definitely (SIDE SHOW) and the New York production of HARLEM SONG.

myNewYorkeye: Your singing voice is deep and rich but your speaking voice, well, it’s not the same (laughing).

David St. Louis: (affecting a deeper tone) “No? It’s not the same?” My voice is a big tricky because most composers write for tenor.  I love when people work against that idea.

myNewYorkeye:  I was very uncomfortable about how the character, Jake, is first seen on stage. A black man, in chains and being called such despicable things. OMG.

David St. Louis:  I understand but you must remember the year these events occurred and pay mind to the historical accuracy.  What I enjoy most about my character is that’s he’s a bridge to the very “weird” world for the audience.  He has no physical affliction, so, in that way I become their respersentatve in the show.

myNewYorkeye:  Your right. I found myself always looking for Jake to explain it me!  What do you love about the magic of being in theater?  I was impressed by the costumes and the lighting!

David St. Louis: The crew is exceptional but the costumes are a neat trick.  It’s not your ordinary costume rack show.  It is the result of a truly imaginative team.  The music is good too!

myNewYorkeye: In closing, what is it about NYC and Broadway that gives you that extra “kick?"

David St. Louis: This is a city that crackles with vitality.  You know, I like the hub going on in the lobby and outside the theater.  That’s become a part of my ritual but each show is so different for me.  That’s what makes being in NYC so special, it’s always changing.

Website: http://davidstlouis.com/

In Fields Where They Lay

You can’t throw a stone, in this city, and not find a great theatrical treat!  The holidays are especially packed with goodies and In Fields Where They Lay, with music by Ricardo Pérez González and directed by Brad Raimondo, is getting strong buzz!

The play playing at the  New Ohio Theatre, (154 Christopher St) opened on 12/5 and runs until 12/27.

In Fields Where They Lay  commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Christmas Truce, the spontaneous ceasefire that occurred all along the Western Front, during the first year of the war.  

The casting is the result of director, Brad Raimondo’s keen vision.  

That included selecting British born, Nigerian actor Equiano Mosieri, who we profiled last week.  

In regard to the casting choices, Raimondo shared this: “In Fields Where They Lay has always been a very tricky play to cast because it's an epic story told on a very human scale. So we need an ensemble that can bring the intimacy and immediacy, while capturing a sense of the period and the grandeur of this incredible moment in time,” he says. “That's why I'm so pleased that we've assembled a cast with so much Shakespearean experience -- veterans from Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Jeff Gonzalez), Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (Jeff Gonzalez), and Alabama Shakespeare (Joe Kolbow). Because although this play is very contemporary, it also asks a lot of the same things of an actor that Shakespeare does.”

The bright cast also includes Stephen James Anthony, who rose from puppeteer to assume the role of Billy Narracott, in the Tony-winning production of War Horse, playing Private Thomas Pfeiffer.  

His character is loosely based on Harry Patch, Britain’s last surviving WWI soldier who passed away in 2009 at the ripe old age of 111.  Spencer Davis Milford, who played Ronnie Winslow in the critically acclaimed Roundabout Theater revival of the Old Vic Production of The Winslow Boy, opposite Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Michael Rees, plays Private Theodore “Teddy” Jones, a 16-year-old who enlists for battle by falsifying his age.

The Christmas Truce, according to those who witnessed it, began with a spontaneous outbreak of Christmas Carols across “No Man’s Land”, five months into the War to End All Wars, on Christmas Eve 1914.  Playwright Ricardo Pérez González has beautifully captured this singular moment in time, when the sounds of war were silenced.  

In Fields Where They Lay will be presented as part of New Ohio Hosts, New Ohio Theatre’s curated rental program, which provides subsidized theatre space to innovative, not-for-profit theatre companies and independent theatre artists.

Tickets for In Fields Where They Lay are now on sale at www.dreamscapetheatre.org  or by calling, 888-596-1027.

“ F U N  H O M E ” 

Fun Home, the acclaimed Broadway is coming this Spring!

It’s time for fun with the new musical Fun Home coming to Broadway this Spring.  The performances begin at Circle in the Square on March 27, 2015 and the big opening day, with all it’s bells and whistles is April 19th.

The savvy producers, Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman know the value of having a Tony® Award-winnesr on board, so they cast a few to make Fun Home — fun!  

Tony® Award-winning Michael Cerveris (‘Bruce Bechdel’), three time Tony® Award nominee Judy Kuhn(‘Helen Bechdel’), join Beth Malone (‘Alison’), Obie Award-winner Sydney Lucas (‘Small Alison’),and Emily Skeggs (‘Medium Alison’)

Returning to the cast is Joel Perez and Roberta Colindrez  with Zell Morrow and Oscar Williams joining the production as Alison’s brothers John and Christian respectively. With music by four-time Tony® Award nominee Jeanine Tesori, a book and lyrics by Tony® Award nominee Lisa Kron and direction by Drama Desk nominee Sam Gold.

Pronounced “a beautiful, heartbreaker of a musical” by the New York Times, Fun Home is the groundbreaking new Broadway musical based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir.  

Rummaging through a box of her father’s stuff, the memories of Alison’s uniquely dysfunctional family – her mother, brothers, and her volatile, brilliant, enigmatic father – connect with her in surprising, powerful and revealing new ways. Named “Best Musical of the Year” by the New York Times, New York Magazine, Daily News and more, Fun Home is a refreshingly honest coming-of-age story about seeing your parents through grown-up eyes.

Fun Home opened to rave reviews at The Public Theater in October 2013, and was quickly extended four times due to popular demand. It was named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, and received the OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle and Off Broadway Alliance Awards in the 2013-2014 season; the musical was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The creative team of Fun Home also includes Danny Mefford (Choreography), David Zinn (Set and Costume Design), Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), Kai Harada (Sound Design) and Chris Fenwick (Music Direction).

Fun Home will be produced on Broadway by Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman, along with Carole Shorenstein Hays, Tom Casserly, Paula Marie Black, Latitude Link, Terry Schnuck/Jack Lane, Nathan Vernon, Elizabeth Armstrong, JAM Theatricals and Scott M. Delman.

The Original Cast Recording of Fun Home is now available on PS Classics. 

 Critics’ Pick!

“A beautiful heartbreaker of a musical.  Fun Home finds a shining clarity that lights up the night!

-- The New York Times 

“Warm, Funny, Heartbreaking!”
-- Variety

“A collaboration to cherish! Lisa Kron knows precisely how to mix the demands of a musical and the brilliance of Bechdel’s memoir. Jeanine Tesori finds just the right voices.”

-- Newsday