Monday, April 29, 2013

2013 Drama Desk Award Nominations

drama desk awards nominations
Perhaps the most "fair" of the NYC theater awards, the Drama Desk definitely decided to spread the love evenly this year with their with their nominations of both Broadway and Off-Broadway shows.  As we did with the previous award nominations, Off-Broadway Nominees are in GREEN.

Outstanding Play  
Annie Baker, The Flick (Playwrights Horizons)
Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
 
Joe Gilford, Finks (EST)
Richard Greenberg, The Assembled Parties
 
Amy Herzog, Belleville (New York Theater Workshop)
Deanna Jent, Falling
Richard Nelson, Sorry (The Public)


Outstanding Musical  
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Giant
(The Public)
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
(The Public)
Matilda
Natasha, Pierre + The Great Comet of 1812
(Ars Nova) 

The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)

Outstanding Revival of a Play  
Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Golden Boy
Good Person of Szechwan
(The Foundry/LaMama)
The Piano Lesson
(Signature Theater)
The Trip to Bountiful
Uncle Vanya
(Soho Rep)


Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
Passion (Classic Stage Company)
Pippin
Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
The Golden Land
(
National Yiddish Theatre)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Working: A Musical
(Prospect Theater Company)



Outstanding Actor in a Play  
Reed Birney, Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep)
Daniel Everidge, Falling

Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
 
Shuler Hensley, The Whale (Playwrights Horizons)
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?


Outstanding Actress in a Play  
Maria Dizzia, Belleville (New York Theater Workshop)
Amy Morton, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
 
Julia Murney, Falling (EST)
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist (Rattlestick Theater)
Miriam Silverman, Finks (EST)

Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful


Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Eric Anderson, Soul Doctor (New York Theater Workshop)
Brian d'Arcy James, Giant
(The Public)
Jim Norton, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
 
Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)
Ryan Silverman, Passion
(Classic Stage Company)
Anthony Warlow, Annie


Outstanding Actress in a Musical  
Kate Baldwin, Giant (The Public)
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
 
Lindsay Mendez, Dogfight (Second Stage)
Donna Murphy, Into the Woods (The Public)
Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
 
Jenny Powers, Donnybrook! (Irish Rep)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play  
Chuck Cooper, The Piano Lesson (Signature Theater)
Peter Friedman, The Great God Pan
(Playwrights Horizons)
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
 
Aaron Clifton Moten, The Flick (Playwrights Horizons)
Brían F. O'Byrne, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet (Roundabout Theater)

Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy


Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play  
Tasha Lawrence, The Whale (Playwrights Horizons)
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
 
Kellie Overbey, Sleeping Rough  (Page 73)
Maryann Plunkett, Sorry (The Public)
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
 
Laila Robins, Sorry (The Public)

Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical  
Stephen Bogardus, Passion (Classic Stage Company)
John Bolton, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Bertie Carvel, Matilda
 
John Dossett, Giant (The Public)
Andy Karl, The Mystery of Edwin Drood


Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
 
Melissa Errico, Passion (Classic Stage Company)
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Jessie Mueller, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Christiane Noll, Chaplin: The Musical
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
 
Kate Wetherhead, The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)

Outstanding Director of a Play  
Lear Debessonet, Good Person of Szechwan (The Foundry/LaMama)
Sam Gold, Uncle Vanya (Soho Rep)
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Restoration Comedy (The Flea)

Pam MacKinnon, Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lynne Meadow, The Assembled Parties
 
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson (Second Stage)

Outstanding Director of a Musical
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
 
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre + The Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova)
John Doyle, Passion
(Classic Stage Company)
Diane Paulus, Pippin

Emma Rice, The Wild Bride (Kneehigh/St. Ann's Warehouse)
Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love
(The Public)
Matthew Warchus, Matilda


Outstanding Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Warren Carlyle, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda
Josh Rhodes, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
Sergio Trujillo, Hands on a Hardbody
Chet Walker and Gypsy Snider, Pippin


Outstanding Music
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
 
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love (The Public)
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
(The Public)
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre + The Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova)

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story: The Musical

David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)

Outstanding Lyrics
Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On: The Musical
 
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant (The Public)
Dave Malloy, Natasha, + The Great Comet of 1812
(Ars Nova)
Tim Minchin, Matilda
 
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)

Outstanding Book of a Musical
Dennis Kelly, Matilda
 
Sybille Pearson, Giant (The Public)
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story: The Musical

David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen (Soho Playhouse)
Jeff Whitty, Bring It On: The Musical
Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody


Outstanding Orchestrations
Trey Anastasio and Don Hart, Hands on a Hardbody
Larry Blank, A Christmas Story: The Musical
 
Bruce Coughlin, Giant (The Public)
Larry Hochman, Chaplin: The Musical
 
Steve Margoshes, Soul Doctor (New York Theater Workshop)
Danny Troob, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella


Outstanding Music in a Play  
César Alvarez with The Lisps, Good Person of Szechwan (The Foundry/LaMama)
Jiří Kadeřábek, Mahir Cetiz, and Ana Milosavljevic,
Act Before You Speak: The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (
Throes Theater/The Flea)
Glen Kelly, The Nance
 
Eugene Ma, The Man Who Laughs (Stolen Chair Theatre Company)
Steve Martin, As You Like It
(The Public)
Jane Wang, Strange Tales of Liaozhai (HERE)


Outstanding Revue  
Forbidden Broadway: Alive + Kicking!
Old Hats
(Signature Theater)
Old Jews Telling Jokes


Outstanding Set Design
Rob Howell, Matilda
 
Mimi Lien, The Whale (Playwrights Horizons)
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy

David Zinn, The Flick (Playwrights Horizons)

Outstanding Costume Design
Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz, Chaplin: The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
 
Chris March, Chris March's The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet (HERE)
Loren Shaw, Restoration Comedy (The Flea)
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre + The Great Comet of 1812
(Ars Nova)

Outstanding Lighting Design
Ken Billington, Chaplin: The Musical
 
Jane Cox, Passion (Classic Stage Company)
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
 
Justin Townsend, Here Lies Love (The Public)
Daniel Winters, The Man Who Laughs
(Stolen Chair Theatre Company)
Scott Zielinski, A Civil War Christmas (New York Theater Workshop)


Outstanding Projection Design
Jon Driscoll, Chaplin: The Musical
 
Wendall K. Harrington, Old Hats (Signature Theater)
Peter Nigrini, Here Lies Love
(The Public)
Darrel Maloney, Checkers (The Vineyard)
Pedro Pires, Cirque du Soleil: Totem
Aaron Rhyne, Wild With Happy
(The Public)

Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Hands on a Hardbody
Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy, Chaplin: The Musical
Tony Meola, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Brian Ronan, Bring It On: The Musical
 
Brian Ronan, Giant (The Public)
Dan Moses Schreier, Passion (Classic Stage Company)


Outstanding Sound Design in a Play  
Ien DeNio, The Pilo Family Circus (Godlight Theatre Company)
Steve Fontaine, Last Man Club (Axis Theater)
Christian Frederickson, Through the Yellow Hour (Rattlestick Theater)
Lindsay Jones, Wild With Happy
(The Public)
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Fergus O'Hare, Macbeth


Outstanding Solo Performance  
Joel de la Fuente, Hold These Truths (Epic Theatre Ensemble)
Kathryn Hunter, Kafka's Monkey (Theater For A New Audience)

Bette Midler, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
 
Julian Sands, A Celebration of Harold Pinter (Irish Rep)
Holland Taylor, Ann
 
Michael Urie, Buyer + Cellar (Rattlestick Theater)

Unique Theatrical Experience  
Bello Mania (New Victory Theater)
Chris March's The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
(HERE)
Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
That Play: A Solo Macbeth
(Stage Left Studio)
The Fazzino Ride
(The Ride)
The Man Who Laughs
(Stolen Chair Theatre Company)


Outstanding Ensemble Performance This year the nominators chose to bestow a special ensemble award to the cast of Working: A Musical. "Marie-France Arcilla, Joe Cassidy, Donna Lynne Champlin, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Nehal Joshi, and Kenita R. Miller created a memorable ensemble of marvelously gifted singer-actors working together in pure artistic harmony." Individual cast members receiving this award are ineligible for acting awards in the competitive categories. (Prospect Theater Company)

Special Awards
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and significant contributions to the theater. For 2012-2013, these awards are:


The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Isaac Robert Hurwitz, Executive Director and Producer: for a decade of creating and nurturing new musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form.


Wakka Wakka (Gabrielle Brechner, Kirjan Waage, and Gwendolyn Warnock): for sophisticated puppet theater, as represented by this season's SAGA, that explores with wit, imagination, and insight serious issues of our times.


Jayne Houdyshell: for her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer.


Samuel D. Hunter: His empathic and indelible The Whale affirms his arrival as a distinguished dramatist who depicts the human condition.
(Playwrights Horizons)

• Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: Maruti Evans, the for his ingenious lighting designs, reflecting an exquisite and bold theatrical aesthetic. This season's The Pilo Family Circus and Tiny Dynamite confirm his incandescent creativity. (Godlight Theatre Company)

Saturday, April 27, 2013

WHITE HOT Trailer

The Flea has done a terrific job producing video trailers for their shows.

Here is their latest, for their current production WHITE HOT by Tommy Smith, directed by Courtney Ulrich and featuring The Bats. 

Check it out: 


Then buy a ticket: Here

The Flea Theater presents
WHITE HOT
by Tommy Smith
directed by Courtney Ulrich
with Janice Amaya, Bradley Anderson, Jamie Bock and Sean McIntyre 

April 26 – May 26 

POST-SHOW CONVERSATION - MAY 6
With playwright CRAIG LUCAS (Prelude To A Kiss, Blue Window) and White Hot playwright TOMMY SMITH.


Tickets: $15 – $30

The Flea Theater
41 White Street
(between Church and Broadway)
New York, NY 10013

 


Friday, April 26, 2013

Flashback Friday: CHARLOTTE SWEET


Once upon a time, there was a sweet little musical called Charlotte Sweet. With libretto by Michael Colby and music by Gerald Jay Markoe, the NY Times said that the show, “mixes the adorable and the strange, and it is delectable.” And it was.


It originally opened in the spring of 1982 at the ATA/Chernuchin Theatre where it had a brief run. The show reopened in the summer at the Westside Arts (now just the Westside) Theater.

The cast included the charming Christopher Seppe, who had just come off of a run as The Boy in The Fantastics, Polly Pen who would go on to write the musicals Christina Alberta's Father and Bed and Sofa and Mara Beckerman in the title role, who was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for this performance alongside Betty Buckley (for Cats) and Ellen Greene (for Little Shop of Horrors) - not bad!

The show itself was a looney, but oh-so-clever story of a music hall troupe whose members each had unique vocal abilities. And the talents of the creative team of Colby and Markoe  were on full display.  I saw this show at a fairly young age, but it set the bar rather high for the rest of my theater-going career.

If ever there was a show ripe for revival, it’s Charlotte Sweet!

You can read the original NY Times review: HERE
 
Info on the performance rights are: HERE








 

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Discount Tix: 3 KINDS OF EXILE @ Atlantic Theater

With arresting theatricality, humor and great psychological insight, John Guare probes the lives of an exiled actress, a writer and a mysterious traveler.  In 3 Kinds of Exile, he weaves the stories of three real émigrés from Czechoslovakia and Poland into a riveting and dramatic tapestry; probing the meaning of home, identity and how we carry the past with us.

Save on tickets to the new play by John Guare!

Save 30% (valid for all performances thru 6/9/2013)
Tickets: $49.50 (reg. $70)
Code: EXPC
Phone: 1-866-811-4111 and mention code EXPC
Online: Click Here and enter code EXPC

Atlantic Theater Company presents 
3 Kinds of Exile
Linda Gross Theater 
336 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011

Drama League Award Nominations

The Drama League announce their nominees this morning, and once again Off-Broadway was nicely represented, most surprisingly in the Outstanding New Musical category, a category that is usually synonymous with Broadway, yet four of the seven nominees are for Off-Broadway productions including the fantastic Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 which begins performances again in a commercial run on May 1st.

The Drama League is a little strange in that they nominate a ton of actors (probably so that they all will attend their luncheon) and there is a single winner, who can never win that award again.  Past winners who appeared in shows this year (and were therefore ineligible to win again) were:  Norbet Leo Butz (Dead Accounts) Kathleen Chalfant (Red Dog Howls), Stockard Channing, (The Exonerated), Patti LuPone, (The Anarchist), Bebe Neuwirth, (Golden Age) and Francis Sternhagen, (The Madrid).

As we did with the Outer Critics Circle nominations, Off-Broadway nominations are in GREEN.

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

The Assembled Parties
Manhattan Theatre Club/Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
by Richard Greenberg
Directed by Lynne Meadow
Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Producer

I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Booth Theatre
By John Logan
Directed by Joe Mantello
Graydon Carter, Arielle Tepper Madover, James L. Nederlander, The Shubert Organization, Terry Allen Kramer, Stephanie P. McClelland, Jeffrey Finn, Ruth Hendel, Larry Magid, Jon B. Platt, Scott and Brian Zeilinger, producers

Lucky Guy
Broadhurst Theatre
by Nora Ephron
Directed by George C. Wolfe
Colin Callender, Roy Furman, Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger and William Berlind, Stacey Mindich, Robert Cole and Frederick Zollo, David Mirvish, Daryl Roth, James D. Stern/Douglas L. Meyer, Scott and Brian Zeilinger, producers, in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and The Shubert Organization

The Nance
Lincoln Center Theater/Lyceum Theatre
by Douglas Carter Beane
Directed by Jack O'Brien
Andre Bishop, Artistic Director; Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer

Old Hats

Signature Theatre Company
by Bill Irwin and David Shiner
Directed by Tina Landau
James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director


The Testament of Mary
Walter Kerr Theatre
by Colm Toibin
Directed by Deborah Warner
Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson, Jon B. Platt, Roger Berlind, Broadway Across America, Scott M. Delman, Jean Doumanian, Roy Furman, Stephanie P. McClelland, Sonia Friedman Productions/Tulchin Bartner Productions, The Araca Group, Heni Koenigsberg, Daryl Roth, and Eli Bush, producers

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Lincoln Center Theatre/Golden Theatre
by Christopher Durang
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe/Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt and David Elliot, Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O'Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper Jiranek/Michael Palitz, Mark S. Golub and David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, Shadowcatcher Entertainment, Mary Cossette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson, producers, in association with McCarter Theatre Center and Lincoln Center Theater

The Whale
Playwrights Horizons
by Samuel D. Hunter
Directed by Davis McCallum
Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director, Carol Fishman, General Manager


OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL


Dogfight
Second Stage Theatre
Book by Peter Duchan, Music and Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Directed by Joe Mantello
Carole Rothman, Artistic Director; Casey Reitz, Executive Director


Here Lies Love
The Public Theater
Music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Concept and Lyrics by David Byrne
Directed by Alex Timbers
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director


Kinky Boots
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
Book by Harvey Fierstein; Music and Lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
Directed by Jerry Mitchell
Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig, James L. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Independent Presenters Network, CJ E&M, Jayne Baron Sherman, Just For Laughs Theatricals/Judith Ann Abrams, Yasuhiro Kawana, Jane Bergere, Allan S. Gordon and Adam S. Gordon, Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Lucy and Phil Suarez, Bryan Bantry, Ron Fierstein and Dorsey Regal, Jim Kierstead/Gregory Rae, BB Group/Christina Papagjika, Michael DeSantis/Patrick Baugh, Brian Smith/Tom and Connie Walsh, Warren Trepp and Jujamcyn Theaters, producers

Matilda The Musical
Shubert Theatre
Book by Dennis Kelly, Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin
Directed by Matthew Warchus
The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Dodgers, producers

Motown: The Musical
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Book by Berry Gordy, Music and Lyrics by Various Artists
Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright
Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, producers

Murder Ballad

Manhattan Theatre Club/Union Square Theatre
Conceived by and with Book and Lyrics by Julia Jordan, Music and Lyrics by Juliana Nash
Directed by Trip Cullman
Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer; Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Producer


Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
Ars Nova/Kazino
Written and Composed by Dave Malloy
Directed by Rachel Chavkin
Jason Eagan, Artistic Director; Jeremy Blocker, Managing Director
Howard and Janet Kagan, Randy Weiner, Simon Hammerstein, producers



OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY PLAY

As You Like It
The Public Theater/Delacorte Theater
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Daniel Sullivan
Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Patrick Willingham, Executive Director

Golden Boy
Lincoln Center Theater/Belasco Theatre
by Clifford Odets
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Andre Bishop, Artistic Director; Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer

Macbeth
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
by William Shakespeare
Directed by John Tiffany and Andrew Goldberg
Ken Davenport, Hunter Arnold, Carl Daikeler, Cody Lassen, Joan Raffe and Jhett Tolentino, Julia Broder, Luigi and Rose Caiola, Michael DeSantis, Neil Gooding Productions, John C. Hall, Marguerite Hoffman, Ken Mahoney, Elliott Masie, Dean Roth, Bellanca Smigel Rutter, and Kat White, producers

The Piano Lesson
Signature Theatre Company
by August Wilson
Directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson
James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director


The Trip to Bountiful
Stephen Sondheim Theatre
by Horton Foote
Directed by Michael Wilson
Nelle Nugent, Paula Marie Black, David R. Weinreb, Kenneth Teaton, Stephen Byrd, Alia M. Jones, Carole L. Haber/Philip Geier, Wendy Federman/Carl Moellenberg/Ricardo Hornos, Fifty Church Street Productions/Hallie Foote, producers, in association with Kevin Liles, Joseph Sirola, Howard and Janet Kagan/Charles Salameno, Sharon A. Carr/Patricia R. Klausner, Raymond Gaspard, Willette Murphy Klausner/Reginald M. Browne

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Booth Theatre
by Edward Albee
Directed by Pam MacKinnon
Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Susan Quint Gallin, Mary Lu Roffe, Kit Seidel, Amy Danis and Mark Johannes, Patty Baker, Mark S. Golub and David S. Golub, Richard Gross, Jam Theatricals, Cheryl Lachowicz, Michael Palitz, Dramatic Forces/Angelina Fiordellisi, Luigi and Rose Caiola, Ken Greiner, Kathleen K. Johnson, Kirmser Ponturo Fund, Will Trice, and GFour Productions, producers

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A BROADWAY OR OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL

Annie
Palace Theatre
Book by Thomas Meehan, Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Martin Charnin
Directed by James Lapine
Arielle Tepper Madover, Roger Horchow, Sally Horchow, Roger Berlind, Roy Furman, Debbie Bisno, Stacey Mindich, James M. Nederlander, Jane Bergere/Daryl Roth, Eva Price/Christina Papagjika, producers

Marry Me a Little

Keen Company
Conceived and Developed by Norman Rene and Craig Lucas; Songs by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by Jonathan Silverstein
Jonathan Silverstein, Artistic Director; Adam Fitzgerald, General Manager


The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Roundabout Theatre Company/Studio 54
Book, Music and Lyrics by Rupert Holmes
Directed by Scott Ellis
Todd Haimes, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Managing Director; Julia C. Levy, Executive Director

Passion
Classic Stage Company
Book by James Lapine; Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed by John Doyle
Brian Kulick, Artistic Director ; Greg Reiner, Executive Director


Pippin
Music Box Theatre
Book by Roger O. Hirson, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Directed by Diane Paulus
Barry and Fran Weissler, Howard and Janet Kagan, Lisa Matlin, Kyodo Tokyo, A&A Gordon/Brunish Trinchero, Tom Smedes/Peter Stern, Broadway Across America, Independent Presenters Network, Norton Herrick, Allen Spivak, Rebecca Gold, Joshua Goodman, Stephen E. McManus, David Robbins/Bryan S. Weingarten, Philip Hagemann/Murray Rosenthal, Jim Kierstead/.Carlos Arana/Myla Lerner, Hugh Hayes/Jamie Cesa/Jonathan Reinis, Sharon A. Carr/Patricia R. Klausner, Ben Feldman, Square 1 Theatrics, Wendy Federman/Carl Muellenberg, Bruce Robert Harris/Jack W. Batman, Infinity Theatre Company/Michael Rubenstein, and Michael A. Alden/Dale Badway/Ken Mahoney, producers

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella

Broadway Theatre
New Book by Douglas Carter Beane, Original Book by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Directed by Mark Brokaw
Robyn Goodman, Jill Furman, Stephen Kocis, Edward Walson, Venetian Glass Productions, The Araca Group, Luigi Caiola and Rose Caiola, Roy Furman, Walt Grossman, Peter May/Sanford Robertson, Glass Slipper Productions LLC/Eric Schmidt, Ted Liebowitz/James Spry, Blanket Fort Productions, producers, in association with Center Theatre Group


DISTINGUISHED PERFORMANCE AWARD
One winner is selected from this category. The recipient can only receive the award once during his or her career.

Alec Baldwin, Orphans
Danny Burstein, Talley's Folly
Bobby Cannavale, The Big Knife and Glengarry Glen Ross
Bertie Carvel, Matilda The Musical
Tracee Chimo, Bad Jews
Lilla Crawford, Annie
Alan Cumming, Macbeth
Brandon J. Dirden, The Piano Lesson
Brandon Victor Dixon, Motown: The Musical
Jesse Eisenberg, The Revisionist
Edie Falco, The Madrid
America Ferrera, Bethany
Jake Gyllenhaal, If There is I Haven't Found it Yet

Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Jessica Hecht, The Assembled Parties and Harvey
Shuler Hensley, The Whale
Bill Irwin, Old Hats

Judith Ivey, The Heiress
Brian d'Arcy James, Giant
Scarlett Johansson, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Judy Kuhn, Passion
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Valisia LeKae, Motown: The Musical
Tracy Letts, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Constantine Maroulis, Jekyll and Hyde
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Rob McClure, Chaplin
Lindsay Mendez, Dogfight
Laurie Metcalf, The Other Place
Bette Midler, I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Patina Miller, Pippin
Amy Morton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Donna Murphy, Into the Woods
Kristine Nielsen, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Jim Norton, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Seth Numrich, Golden Boy
Laura Osnes, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella
Tina Packer, Women of Will
David Hyde Pierce, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Lily Rabe, As You Like It
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist

Chita Rivera, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Paul Rudd, Grace
Roslyn Ruff, The Piano Lesson
Stark Sands, Kinky Boots
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Michael Shannon, Grace
Fiona Shaw, The Testament of Mary
Ryan Silverman, Passion
Phillipa Soo, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812

Tom Sturridge, Orphans
Holland Taylor, Ann
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Michael Urie, Buyer and Cellar
Courtney B. Vance, Lucky Guy
Anthony Warlow, Annie
Stephen Tyrone Williams, My Children! My Africa!
Vanessa Williams, The Trip to Bountiful


DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSICAL THEATRE
Bernadette Peters
Presented by Mary Tyler Moore

UNIQUE CONTRIBUTION TO THE THEATRE
Madison Square Garden Entertainment and The Rockettes
Presented by Tommy Tune

FOUNDERS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DIRECTING
Jerry Mitchell
Award Presented by Cyndi Lauper

Monday, April 22, 2013

Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations

The Outer Critics Circle Award Nominations have been announced and there are a few Off-Broadway nominees (Off-Broadway nominees are in GREEN)

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY PLAY
Grace
Lucky Guy
The Nance
The Testament of Mary
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
Chaplin: The Musical
A Christmas Story
Hands on a Hardbody
Kinky Boots
Matilda the Musical

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY PLAY
Bad Jews
Cock
My Name is Asher Lev
Really Really
The Whale

OUTSTANDING NEW OFF-BROADWAY MUSICAL
February House
Dogfight
Giant
Here Lies Love
Murder Ballad

OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Cinderella
Chaplin: The Musical
Dogfight
Kinky Boots
Matilda the Musical

OUTSTANDING NEW SCORE
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Chaplin: The Musical
Dogfight
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
Kinky Boots

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A PLAY
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Golden Boy
Orphans
The Piano Lesson
The Trip to Bountiful
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL OF A MUSICAL
(Broadway or Off-Broadway)
Annie
Cinderella
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Passion
Pippin

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A PLAY
Pam MacKinnon Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nicholas Martin Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Jack O'Brien The Nance
Bartlett Sher Golden Boy
Michael Wilson The Trip to Bountiful

OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL
Warren Carlyle Chaplin: The Musical
Scott Ellis The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Jerry Mitchell Kinky Boots
Diane Paulus Pippin
Alex Timbers Here Lies Love

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER
Warren Carlyle Chaplin: The Musical
Peter Darling Matilda the Musical
Jerry Mitchell Kinky Boots
Josh Rhodes Cinderella
Chet Walker Pippin

OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN
(Play or Musical) 
John Lee Beatty The Nance
Rob Howell Matilda the Musical
David Korins Here Lies Love
Scott Pask Pippin
Michael Yeargan Golden Boy

OUTSTANDING COSTUME DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Amy Clark + Martin Pakledinaz Chaplin: The Musical
Gregg Barnes Kinky Boots
Dominique Lemieux Pippin
William Ivey Long Cinderella
William Ivey Long The Mystery of Edwin Drood

OUTSTANDING LIGHTING DESIGN
(Play or Musical)
Ken Billington Chaplin: The Musical
Paul Gallo Dogfight
Donald Holder Golden Boy
Kenneth Posner Cinderella
Kenneth Posner Pippin

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A PLAY
Tom Hanks Lucky Guy
Shuler Hensley The Whale
Nathan Lane The Nance
Tracy Letts Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
David Hyde Pierce Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Tracee Chimo Bad Jews
Amy Morton Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Vanessa Redgrave The Revisionist
Joely Richardson Ivanov
Cicely Tyson The Trip to Bountiful

OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Bertie Carvel Matilda the Musical
Santino Fontana Cinderella
Rob McClure Chaplin: The Musical
Billy Porter Kinky Boots
Matthew James Thomas Pippin

OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Lilla Crawford Annie
Valisia LeKae Motown: The Musical
Lindsay Mendez Dogfight
Patina Miller Pippin
Laura Osnes Cinderella

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A PLAY
Danny Burstein Golden Boy
Richard Kind The Big Knife
Jonny Orsini The Nance
Tony Shalhoub Golden Boy
Tom Sturridge Orphans

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A PLAY
Cady Huffman The Nance
Judith Ivey The Heiress
Judith Light The Assembled Parties
Kristine Nielsen Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Vanessa Williams The Trip to Bountiful

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTOR IN A MUSICAL
Will Chase The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Dan Lauria A Christmas Story
Raymond Luke Motown: The Musical
Terrence Mann Pippin
Daniel Stewart Sherman Kinky Boots

OUTSTANDING FEATURED ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL
Annaleigh Ashford Kinky Boots
Victoria Clark Cinderella
Charlotte d'Amboise Pippin
Andrea Martin Pippin
Keala Settle Hands on a Hardbody

OUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE
Bette Midler I'll Eat You Last
Martin Moran All the Rage
Fiona Shaw The Testament of Mary
Holland Taylor Ann
Michael Urie Buyer and Cellar

John Gassner AWARD
(Presented for an American play, preferably by a new playwright)
Ayad Akhtar Disgraced
Paul Downs Colaizzo Really Really
Joshua Harmon Bad Jews
Samuel D. Hunter The Whale
Aaron Posner My Name is Asher Lev




Special Achievement Award 
Irish Repertory Theatre Charlotte Moore, artistic director and Ciarán O'Reilly, producing director in recognition of 25 years of producing outstanding theater.

Congratulations to ALL nominees and to the terrific Off-Broadway companies that keep theater interesting in NYC: MCC, Playwrights Horizons, The Public, Rattlestick Theater, LCT3, Second Stage and Classic Stage Company.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

The NEA 4 Are Back...and at the New Museum


Karen Finley, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and Tim Miller - collectively known as the NEA 4 because of their battle with the NEA over funding in the 1990s - are in residence at the always inspiring New Museum in May and June 2013.


Part 1: NEA 4 in Residence

A series of four individual residencies with Karen Finley, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and Tim Miller sets the stage for tackling contemporary issues surrounding funding for performance art today in light of the culture wars of the early ’90s.

Karen Finley in Residence: $ite-$pecific at the New Museum
Karen Finley presents a site-specific performance work that alchemizes the fundamental divergences between performance art and visual art economies.

May 3 – The Money Shot: Roundtable with Karen Finley
May 23–26 – “Sext Me if You Can” by Karen Finley: Performance and Installation

Holly Hughes in Residence: Discipline and Legacy in Queer Performance
Holly Hughes quarries queer strategies for teaching queer performance and performing queer histories.

May 5 – Queer(ing) Performance Pedagogy: Roundtable with Holly Hughes
May 10 – Expanded forms of Reenactment in Queer Performance: Holly Hughes and Cindy Carr in Conversation

John Fleck in Residence: A Snowball’s Chance in Hell Revisited
John Fleck revisits A Snowball’s Chance in Hell (1992) to consider a potential New York City premiere twenty years later.

June 15 – Blessed Are All the Little Snowballs in Hell: Screening and Discussion with John Fleck
June 20 – A Snowball’s Chance in Hell, Revisited

Tim Miller in Residence: Exhibit Q: Queer Bodies Performance Workshop
Tim Miller leads a performance workshop during Gay Pride Week, culminating in a world premiere ensemble-devised performance on Friday June 28 at 7 p.m.

June 24–28 – Exhibit Q: Queer Bodies Performance Workshop
June 28 – Exhibit Q: Queer Bodies Public Performance

Part 2: Performing Beyond Funding Limits

NEA 4, in collaboration with four curators who supported their work during the culture wars of the ’90s, will select four New York–based artists whose practices present unique challenges within the limits of traditional funding models for performance. The selected artists will engage in a weeklong research residency to develop radical “business plans” for better sustaining their own practices and to imagine new strategies for adapting their practices beyond the limits of available funding.

Full Details can be found HERE

Friday, April 19, 2013

David Greenspan: The Agrument + Plays


Transport Group will present a one-night only presentation of two wonderful solo pieces by David Greenspan, The Argument and Plays, on Sunday April 28th at 7pm, as part of their Dark Night Series during their regular run of The Memory Show.

The Argument by David Greenspan
Based on both Aristotle’s Poetics and the essays of Gerald F. Else, The Argument is a passionate student’s love-letter and farewell to his teacher – reminding us of the personal pathos that binds us to the Greeks, and firing us to capture that chimera, art. The 40-minute monologue dramatizes the attack on poetry made by Plato in the Republic, and the coherent rebuttal offered by Aristotle in the Poetics.

Plays by Gerturde Stein
Plays is Gertrude Stein’s whimsical and provocative lecture on theatre; a hidden gem of theatricality and wit that only Stein could have delivered – a coherent account of her development as a playwright and her exploration of theatre from the standpoint of sight and sound rather than story and action.

Transport Group presents
DAVID GREENSPAN: 
The Argument + Plays

Sunday April 28th at 7pm

Tickets $25

The Duke
229 W 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036

For Tickets + Info: Click Here

Thursday, April 18, 2013

6 Things To See In May 2013


OLD-FASHIONED PROSTITUTES
(A TRUE ROMANCE)

Snapshots from an enigmatic fairy-tale in which Suzie, the elusive coquette, brings Samuel to his knees – from where he worships a life he only half understands. OLD-FASHIONED PROSTITUTES (A TRUE ROMANCE) is an expressionistic chamber-play that twists emotional heartache into a landscape of continual mental invention, marking the return to theater of a celebrated artist whom The New York Times has dubbed “the Godfather of the American avant-garde.”

The Public Theater in association with Ontological-Hysteric Theater.
OLD-FASHIONED PROSTITUTES
(A TRUE ROMANCE)
Written, Directed, and Designed by Richard Foreman
Featuring Stephanie Hayes, Alenka Kraigher, Nicolas Norena, Rocco Sisto, David Skeist

April 30 - June 2

Tickets: $61.50 - $71.50

The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street
NY, NY 10003

For Tickets + Info: Click Here


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SOMEWHERE FUN

Rosemary and Evelyn met “a hundred thousand years ago” in Central Park when their children were barely born. SOMEWHERE FUN reunites the two women thirty-five years later on Madison Avenue, one windy fall day. With their children now grown and the world changing rapidly before (what’s left of) their eyes, each finds herself face to face with the terrors, joys, and surprises of life and time. Jenny Schwartz returns to the Vineyard following her critically-acclaimed play GOD’S EAR with this wildly original story about connection — to our families, our memories, our moment in time. Schwartz reunites with director Anne Kauffman (BELLEVILLE, SLOWGIRL) following their collaboration on GOD’S EAR.

Vineyard Theatre presents
SOMEWHERE FUN
By Jenny Schwartz
Directed by Anne Kauffman
Starring Makenna Ballard, Richard Bekins, Griffin Birney, Brooke Bloom, Kathleen Chalfant, Greg Keller, Kate Mulgrew, Maria Elena Ramirez, and Mary Shultz.

Set Design – Marsha Ginsberg, Costume Design – Jessica Pabst,
Lighting Design –Japhy Weideman, Sound Design – Daniel Kluger, Wig Design- Paul Huntley, Production Stage Manager - Megan Schwarz Dickert, Assistant Stage Manager - Mary Spadoni

MAY 15 - JUNE 23

Tickets: $30 (box seats)- $75 (standard) - $100 (premium)

For Tickets + Info: Click Here


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Deadly She-Wolf 
Assassin at Armageddon!

A Martial Arts-Samurai Sword Fighting-Music/Theater Fantasy Action-Adventure Blockbuster homage to “Lone Wolf and Cub” (Kozure Ogami) in a story of imperial decline and desperation, revenge, intrigue and catharsis. Fred Ho’s super-talented team unleashes a music/theater work of dazzling spectacle and emotional power.

LaMama, ETC presents
Deadly She-Wolf Assassin at Armageddon!
Music and Concept by Fred Ho
Written by Fred Ho and Ruth Margraff
Directed by Sonoko Kawahara

May 16 – June 2, 2013

Tickets: $30; $25 (Students/Seniors)

Ellen Stewart Theatre
66 E 4th St
New York, NY 10003


For Tickets + Info: Click Here


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A Public Reading 
of an Unproduced 
Screenplay 
About the Death 
of Walt Disney

Tonight Walt is going to read you a screenplay he wrote. It’s about his last days on earth. It’s about a city he’s going to build that’s going to change the world. And it’s about his brother. It’s about everyone who loves him so much, and it’s about how sad they’re going to be when he’s gone.
Right? I mean, how can they live without him? How can anyone live without him?
Artistic Director Sarah Benson directs the world premiere of Lucas Hnath’s adrenaline-charged odyssey, a supersonic portrait of the man who forever changed the American Dream.

Soho Rep.
in association with John Adrian Selzer presents
A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney
a new play by Lucas Hnath
directed by Sarah Benson

Choreography by Annie B Parson, Set Design by Mimi Lien, Costume Design by Kaye Voyce, Lighting Design by Matt Frey, Sound Design by Matt Tierney, Special Effects by Steve Cuiffo, Props by Jon Knust, Production Stage Manager: Heather Arnson, Production Manager: BD White.

Featuring Larry Pine as Walt Disney.

April 30 - May 26

Tickets: $30 (regular); $40 (reserved)

Soho Rep
46 Walker Street
New York, NY 10013

For Tickets + Info: Click Here


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3 KINDS OF EXILE

With great psychological insight and arresting theatricality, John Guare presents us with three artists, all of whom forged complicated lives in exile, having struggled and suffered amid the cultural and political turmoil of Eastern Europe in the mid-20th Century.
In 3 Kinds of Exile, the celebrated author of The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation draws from the experiences of three real exiles from Czechoslovakia and Poland. Guare weaves the stories of these lives into a riveting dramatic tapestry and probes the meaning of home, identity and how we carry the past with us.

Atlantic Theater Company presents
3 KINDS OF EXILE
by JOHN GUARE
directed by NEIL PEPE

May 15 – June 23, 2013

Tickets: $70

Atlantic Theater Co
Linda Gross Theater
336 W 20th St
New York, NY 10011

For Tickets and Info: Click Here

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Reasons To Be Happy

Three years after a contentious break-up, Steph and Greg are wondering if they can make a fresh go of it. Trouble is, she’s married to someone else and he’s just embarked on a relationship with Steph’s best friend, Carly, a single mom whose jealous ex-husband, Kent, has trouble articulating his feelings. Navigating the rocky landscape of conflicting agendas and exploding emotions isn’t going to be easy for any of them. Reasons to Be Happy is a funny, surprising, and poignant new play about the choices and sacrifices we are willing to make in the pursuit of that often elusive ideal: happiness.
Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, Talladega Nights), Jenna Fischer (NBC's "The Office"), Josh Hamilton (The Coast of Utopia, Proof on Broadway) and Fred Weller (MCC's Still Life and In a Dark Dark House) star in Reasons to Be Happy, Neil LaBute’s companion piece to his critically-acclaimed, Reasons to Be Pretty, first produced at MCC Theater in 2008 before moving to Broadway and receiving three 2009 Tony Award nominations, including Best Play.

MCC Theater presents
REASONS TO BE HAPPY
Written and Directed by Neil LaBute
With Leslie Bibb, Jenna Fischer, Josh Hamilton and Fred Weller

May 16th - June 23rd, 2013

Tickets: $69 - $79

Lucile Lortel Theater
121 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014

For Tickets and Info: Click Here
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