And speaking of Comden and Green – which I did last Tuesday – J2 Spotlight Productions will present their 1960 musical DO RE MI this week and next. Make no mistake: DO RE MI has nothing to do with THE SOUND OF MUSIC – although the sound of Jule Styne’s music complements Comden and Green’s lyrics extraordinary well. You may well wonder why the three would select DO RE MI as their title only 13 months after Rodgers and Hammerstein had debuted one of their most famous, beloved and clever songs. Styne, Comden and Green knew that that familiar phrase had already made its mark on Broadway. So, why c ..read more

Here’s a different slant on “There are no small parts – just small actors.” Mallory Portnoy and Nick Blaemire were lucky and talented enough to land the roles of Betty Comden and Adolph Green in one of 2023’s most acclaimed films: MAESTRO. There’s a tiny, tiny moment in the film where Comden and Green entertain, which is what they did so often when they weren’t writing a book and/or lyrics for Broadway musicals. Portnoy and Blaemire decided to build on the opportunity. Last month they again portrayed the illustrious couple, but in far greater detail. They replicated A PARTY WITH BETTY COMDEN A ..read more

Today, Sony Masterworks Broadway, along with producers The Araca Group, American Zoetrope, Olympus Theatricals, Sue Gilad & Larry Rogowsky and Angelina Jolie, announce the forthcoming release of the Original Broadway Cast Recording of The Outsiders – A New Musical.  With music and lyrics by Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay & Zach Chance) and Justin Levine, the digital album arrives May 22, 2024 and the physical CD is set for release on June 28, and available for preorder now.  Today’s album announcement is accompanied by the third track release “Soda’s Letter,” which features ..read more

Those of us who attended THE WHO’S TOMMY on March 27 learned that it was a special evening. Before the show, director Des McAnuff stood near the orchestra pit and told us that this was “Alumni Night.” Many of the cast and crew members from his original 1993 Broadway production were in attendance in the Nederlander Theatre. They were undoubtedly anxious to see what McAnuff – who’d 31 years ago steered the show to a 25-month success – would do this time around. (Yes, 31 years. They should have the opening night party at Baskin-Robbins.) McAnuff paid tribute to TOMMY veterans who had passed in th ..read more

“A blank page or canvas” aren’t the only things that offer “so many possibilities,” as SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE tells us. So does a bare stage. Eamon Foley certainly knew how to use it in his recent production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1985 Pulitzer Prize-winner. He made the 40-year-old musical about a Neo-Impressionist make quite a new impression. Foley first came into prominence 19 years ago when he appeared in THE AUDIENCE, a 2005 musical about people watching a musical. He played an 11-year-old kid who was wide-eyed and smiled widely while witnessing his first-ever live ..read more

Steve Lawrence’s death on March 7 reminded me of the time when many Broadway observers assumed that producer Joseph Cates had lost his mind. In 1963, Cates was about to produce a musical version of Budd Schulberg’s classic 1941 novel WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN? It would again center on Sammy Glick, a young man who’d make shady deals, blame others, betray lovers, and cause a friend to commit suicide. Or, how to succeed in Hollywood by really lying. What’s more, Cates was counting on a score by a rank Broadway musical theater rookie. True, Ervin Drake had had some success as a songwriter (with songs f ..read more

Frank Loesser, of GUYS AND DOLLS and HOW TO SUCCEED fame, once asked “What are you doing New Year’s Eve?” Instead, I’ll ask “What are you doing on Tuesday, March 19 at 7:30 p.m.?” If you’re in town, do drop by the Drama Book Shop to hear me interview Ellis Nassour, the esteemed author of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR: Behind the Scenes of the Worldwide Musical Phenomenon. And, oh, are we going to have a lot to talk about … Nassour’s 306 pages of salient information started me thinking about JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE IN CONCERT. John Legend played Jesus, Brandon Victor Dixon of HAMILT ..read more

Memories of 1989 came flooding back. Last week, Walter Willison, an original cast member of GRAND HOTEL, edited, produced and directed a marvelous 35th anniversary tribute to the musical. It reiterated what a miraculous entertainment this show was – and is. It started out as a 1958 musical called AT THE GRAND. Luther Davis, its librettist, told me in a 2001 interview that “I wanted to do a musical that didn’t have its hand out for laughs – which you can even find in ‘Pore Jud Is Daid.’ What had serious characters who could sing?” He thought of GRAND HOTEL, Vicki Baum’s famous novel that was la ..read more

So, did you know that February 27th is National Retro Day? I remembered this while approaching the August Wilson Theatre. The great playwright for whom the theater was named had the brilliant notion, as well as the talent and fortitude, to write a play set in each of the ten decades of the 20th century. That brought to mind an idea that a producer once told me. His theater would do ten musicals over two years. Season One would have a show representing each of the first five decades of the 20th century, meaning the 1900s to the 1940s. Season Two would finish with musicals denoting the final fiv ..read more

When a celebrity reaches an advanced age, journalists start writing an obituary, knowing that the star’s death could come at any moment. Considering that all others who write about theater had had their Chita Rivera obituaries ready to go, readers have been asking me why I didn’t. I guess there was a part of me that thought Chita Rivera was never going to die. That’s silly, of course, but Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero was one of those who seemed to be immune to time passing. What I did write, moments after I’d heard the news, was this post on Facebook: “The first time I ever encountered ..read more