Broadway Archives

Caught Curtains on Broadway early this month, so without further ado, here’s a mini-review!

Curtains is an old fashioned type of song and dance musical, that relies more on an actual story told through expository singing and clever chorus configurations than on a funny premise, glitzy set pieces and ironic jokes about today’s world.

Curtains opens with a parody of terribly cheesy all-American musical (think the worst of Lil’ Abner or Oklahoma) cleverly presented from from front and back stage. It almost seems reminiscent of Kiss Me Kate for a moment, with a bad-tempered leading lady in a not-quite wonderful show, but that all ends in the 2nd scene when it’s [SPOILER!] CURTAINS [/SPOILER!] for her.

The setup in the first act does drag a little. Songs seem like they could be tightened up. The actors are fun and the lyrics are witty, but there were a few scenes in which the show seemed to indulge a little too much in itself. The 2nd act, where the story really picks up, was wonderfully good.

And, of course, the great highlights of the show were the actors. Standouts among them included Megan Sikora as Bambi (the not-so genuine blonde bimbo), Jill Paice as Niki Harris (the unbelievably sweet and innocent chorus girl) and David Hyde Pierce as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (the stagestruck cop with a heart of gold who sounds nothing like Niles Crane).

• Matthew McConaughey in Wax Form [ASL]
• Jesse Metcalfe Has a New Girlfriend [DListed]
• Britney Blames Other People For Her Problems [IDLYITW]
• Cameron Diaz is So Skinny, She Doesn’t Need a Bra [Egotastic]
• Jake Gyllenhaal Gets His Smoothie On[PopSugar]
• What’s That Under Fergie’s Panties? [HollywoodTuna]
• Ashlee Simpson in Harpers’ Bazaar [HollywoodRag]
• Christina Aguilera Fans Attack! [CityRag]
• Love It Or Hate It: Reese Witherspoon [ImNotObsessed]
• The Dustbowl Look [Trendmill]
• Victoria’s Posh Underthings [TMZ]
• Neil Patrick Harris: Why I Came Out [UsWeekly]

• Matthew Fox has signed on to play Racer X in the live-action update of the 1960s cartoon Speed Racer alongside Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon and John Goodman.
• Donald Trump on Monday sent Barbara Walters the girdle-like outfit Rosie O’Donnell wore in the movie Exit to Eden. The outfit was bought at a charity auction by a fan who later sent it to Trump. Trump told Page Six he wanted Walters to hang it in her office.”
• Sources say Tom Brady acted like a diva during a shoot for Stetson cologne, which he is the new face of. Brady supposedly demanded a trailer and refused to put on a cowboy hat, apparently a staple in the cologne ads.
• Lisa Rinna is replacing Joan and Melissa Rivers as TV Guide Channel’s leading red-carpet host. The actress will make her debut at the Emmy Awards on Sept. 16.
• The next installment of Survivor will be in China!!!

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is being made into… (drum roll, please) Spider-Man: The Broadway Musical. Can you imagine??

Marvel Studios is taking the Spider-Man franchise and extending it into a full-fledged Broadway musical.

The superhero musical will be directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor (The Lion King), with U2’s Bono and the Edge working the music and lyrics.

No dates have been set yet for Spider-Man’s Broadway debut but Spider-Man 3 will hit theaters on May 4.

Doesn’t Broadway already have a giant spider and spider web in Tarzan: The Musical?

The new Sandy and Danny from the Broadway production of Grease actors Max Crumm and Laura Osnes get familiar with their new “home” in Times Square on Tuesday morning in New York City.

For 30+ pictures of Max and Laura in Times Square, CLICK HERE!

Congratulations to Max Crumm and Laura Osnes for being cast as the lead roles of Danny Zuko and Dumbrowski in the $10 million revival of Grease, opening on Broadway this summer!

Max, 21, and Laura, 20, were chosen by and voted for by America, announced Sunday during the final episode of the NBC reality series Grease: You’re the One That I Want.

Other Grease cast members known so far: Kirsten Wyatt is Frenchie, Matthew Saldivar is Kenickie, Robyn Hurder is Marty Maraschino, Jenny Powers is Betty Rizzo, and Jose Restrepo is Sonny, and Lindsay Mendez is Jan.

Christina Sivrich (The Wedding Singer) has also joined the ensemble, understudying Frenchie, Marty, and Miss Lynch.

The musical opens Aug. 19 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Preview performances begin July 24.

It was a full house with the cast of Hairspray was on hand at ShoWest on Wednesday night — John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Brittany Snow, James Marsden, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, Christopher Walken, and Nicole Blonsky as the lead.

HOLY HAIRSPRAY, TRACY! 20 minutes of footage from the film (out July 20) was previewed at ShoWest and the reviews are great! Read the first one at AICN. SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For 60+ pictures of the entire Hairpsray cast at ShoWest, CLICK HERE!

For Hairspray movie stills, CLICK HERE. More Here! »

The rumors are true! American Idol Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino joins the Oprah Winfrey-produced musical The Color Purple.

Fantasia will take on the role of the central character named Celie, a young woman who is sexually abused by her father and impregnated by her father (who, she later discovers, is her stepfather).

She joins other American Idol veterans who have made their way onto Broadway including Constantine Maroulis in The Wedding Singer and Diana DeGarmo in Hairspray.

Just caught The Little Dog Laughed on Broadway late last week. Check out the promo pics below; more after the jump! And here’s a mini-review:

Before the curtain rises, the atmosphere is set with series of sultry whispers, set to a modern lounge beat, that repeat (annoyingly) over and over and over.

Just four characters appear on stage in The Little Dog Laughed, a “good, naughty, laugh-out loud” funny comedy surrounding the serendipitously intermingled lives of Diane (Julie White), Mitchell (Tom Everett Scott of TNT’s Saved), Alex (Johnny Galecki—you know him as Darlene’s ex on Rosanne), and Ellen (Ari Gaynor).

Scenes between Ellen, Alex’s girlfriend, and Alex tended to be too over-the-top cool (though that might have been the intention), and dragged on a little until the story really picked up.

Scenes involving Mitchell, a schmoopy, dopey rising movie star and Alex, an impossibly hip and urbane callboy as the two go through the thrills and complexities of an hush-hush romance are played alternately humorously, with witty lines that usually get lots of laughs, but sometimes fall flat, and (sometimes too) seriously.

By far the best performer, because you did not feel that she was acting, was Julie White as Diane, Mitchell’s very modern, competent, thoroughly entertaining (and thoroughly Machiavellian) Hollywood agent. The character’s hilarious lines (on everything from Cobb salads to Hollywood contract negotiations to awards ceremonies) coupled with White’s sparkling performance add a dose of wit that turns The Little Dog Laughed into a can’t-miss comedy of modern manners.

Sidenote: Tom Everett Scott plays drinking games with his children. Umm…

More Here! »