Broadway – News Stories About Broadway - Page 9

No Revival in Sight for Battered Broadway

Dec 28, 2008 3:29 PM CST

No Revival in Sight for Battered Broadway

Economic downturn makes investors nervous and theatergoers thrifty

(Newser) - The economic crisis has produced plenty of drama, but it means a bust for Broadway, the Los Angeles Times reports. Investors are jittery about backing just about anything, theaters are cutting costs, and some shows are shutting down early or canceling their openings. "What we had was a small...

Broadway Bigwig's
Secret Struggle

APPRECIATION

Dec 24, 2008 10:34 AM CST

Broadway Bigwig's Secret Struggle

(Newser) - Just before he died last month, Broadway mogul Gerald Schoenfeld finished a memoir revealing a secret but devastating battle with depression, Jeremy Gerard writes on Bloomberg. “This will surprise many of the people who thought they knew the Shubert Organization chairman well. It did me.” The Great White...

Tom Sweetens
Katie's 30th
With Surprise

Dec 19, 2008 10:25 AM CST

Tom Sweetens Katie's 30th With Surprise

Hubby couldn't be on Broadway, so he sent a mountain of sugar in his place

(Newser) - Aw, isn't this sweet: Katie Holmes turned 30 yesterday, and Tom Cruise—who was attending his Valkyrie premiere in LA—sent a towering birthday cake to a Broadway theater in his place, People reports. Holmes, who’s starring in All My Sons, was surprised when the five-tiered pastry was rolled...

'Mercury Count' Speeds Piven's Broadway Exit

Dec 18, 2008 11:57 AM CST

'Mercury Count' Speeds Piven's Broadway Exit

Writer David Mamet is a little skeptical of star's ailment

(Newser) - Jeremy Piven is bailing on Broadway because of a high mercury count, and it doesn’t sound like David Mamet is buying the excuse, Variety reports. “My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer,” said Mamet, who wrote Speed-the-Plow. The...

Ailing Piven May Bail
on Broadway

Dec 17, 2008 4:47 PM CST

Ailing Piven May Bail on Broadway

Sick actor has missed three Broadway performances

(Newser) - Jeremy Piven has been knocked out by an illness so severe his docs suggest abandoning his new Broadway role, TMZ reports. Piven—best known as Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage—has missed three performances of Speed-the-Plow. Doctors advise he end his run with the show pronto, his rep says. The...

Stage Shrek Is
Lumbering but Lovable

theater review

Dec 15, 2008 12:14 PM CST

Stage Shrek Is Lumbering but Lovable

Show lacking in 'inspiration'

(Newser) - Shrek the Musical has its moments, but in the end, it contradicts its own message that substance trumps what’s on the surface, writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times. The “leaden” show presents a “cavalcade of storybook effigies” that “feels like 40 blocks’ worth of...

Cruise: I'd Do a Musical

Dec 12, 2008 9:44 AM CST

Cruise: I'd Do a Musical

Actor does a mean Elvis impersonation

(Newser) - Tom Cruise in a musical? After prodding from Jay Leno last night, the star says he wouldn't mind following wife Katie onto the stage, Broadway World reports. "Yes, I do movies and everything, but I wouldn't say no to Broadway," said Cruise. Turns out, he got his start...

All My Sons Is Money,
and Katie's Why

opinion

Dec 8, 2008 5:11 PM CST

All My Sons Is Money, and Katie's Why

(Newser) - The Broadway show All My Sons became profitable today, mostly thanks to Katie Holmes, Ted Casablanca writes on E! Online. John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest co-star, but "as talented and praiseworthy as those two veteran stars may be, worth drooling over on stage, they are not," writes...

Fonda Heads Back to Broadway

Dec 5, 2008 11:12 AM CST

Fonda Heads Back to Broadway

Starring role marks return after 46 years

(Newser) - Oscar- and Emmy-winning actress Jane Fonda will have another chance to add a Tony to her collection when she returns to Broadway after a 46-year absence, Playbill reports. Fonda, who made her Broadway debut in 1960, will star in Moisés Kaufman's 33 Variations as Katherine Brandt, a musicologist working...

Broadway Giant Gerald Schoenfeld Dies at 84

OBITUARY

Nov 25, 2008 3:12 PM CST

Broadway Giant Gerald Schoenfeld Dies at 84

Powerful owner reshaped Broadway, New York and nationwide

(Newser) - Gerald Schoenfeld, American’s most influential theater owner, died today at 84. The New York native ran the powerful Shubert Organization for 36 years, heading 17 Broadway theaters, doling out millions, and co-producing Cats, Amadeus, and Les Miserables. Though his cherubic face put observers in mind of a teddy bear,...

South Park Duo to Skewer Mormons—on Broadway

Nov 18, 2008 4:15 PM CST

South Park Duo to Skewer Mormons—on Broadway

Trey Parker and Matt Stone set their comedic sights on Utah religion

(Newser) - Canadians can rest easy. The creators of South Park are ready to offend an entirely new population—Mormons, reports the New York Post. This time, though, they will do so not on the big screen or the small screen but on Broadway. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are bringing the...

Billy Elliot Dazzles in Debut

THEATER REVIEW

Nov 14, 2008 1:38 PM CST

Billy Elliot Dazzles in Debut

Musical includes exciting choreography, Elton John music

(Newser) - The Broadway opening of Billy Elliot has critics dancing in the aisles—or at least wishing they could. The "smashingly realized" show "traffics in a particularly British brand of bitter treacle, wallowing in the glory of the bravely defeated and the pathos of small, trapped lives," writes...

Holmes Holds Own on Stage

theater review

Oct 17, 2008 5:53 PM CDT

Holmes Holds Own on Stage

Supporting performer is center of attention in Broadway production of All My Sons

(Newser) - In a perfect world, stars John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest would be the center of attention in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. “In this world, however, Mrs. Tom Cruise is playing a supporting role,” writes Natalie Finn of E!. So with tabloid-lovers watching...

Broderick to
Return to
Broadway

Oct 7, 2008 9:35 AM CDT

Broderick to Return to Broadway

"The Philanthropist" opens next April

(Newser) - Matthew Broderick will return to Broadway next spring in a revival of "The Philanthropist," a comedy by English playwright Christopher Hampton. Broderick, in his first Broadway appearance since the 2005 revival of "The Odd Couple," portrays Philip, an insular college professor. Directed by David Grindley, the...

Revealing
Radcliffe
Carries
Equus

theater review

Sep 26, 2008 1:10 PM CDT

Revealing Radcliffe Carries Equus

Harry Potter star delivers 'intense' performance

(Newser) - Daniel Radcliffe takes on a “mothball-preserved, off-the-rack part” as a teenage stable boy who blinds horses in the Broadway debut of Equus, and “wears it like a tailor’s delight,” writes Ben Brantley of the New York Times. Radcliffe’s “beautifully understated” acting and his “...

Scientology Protests
Greet Katie on Broadway

Sep 19, 2008 7:59 AM CDT

Scientology Protests Greet Katie on Broadway

(Newser) - Katie Holmes made her Broadway debut in All My Sons last night, but not before about 30 anti-Scientology protesters put on a show of their own outside Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The protesters, some masked, chanted "Scientology kills! and carried "FREE KATIE" placards. And, yes, her famous hubby showed...

Gere, Winger May
Reunite on Broadway

Sep 16, 2008 12:14 PM CDT

Gere, Winger May Reunite on Broadway

Officer and a Gentleman co-stars' first reunion

(Newser) - Richard Gere is weighing an offer to play the Spencer Tracy role in a Broadway production of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?—opposite Debra Winger. The famously feuding co-stars of An Officer and a Gentleman haven't worked together since that 1982 smash hit. The production is stalled as producers search...

Kushner First to Win $200K Prize for Playwrights

Sep 16, 2008 9:22 AM CDT

Kushner First to Win $200K Prize for Playwrights

Unusually large purse will allow him to spend less time in Hollywood

(Newser) - Tony Kushner will be the first recipient of a new biennial prize for playwriting, with a whopping $200,000 purse the benefactors hope will allow recipients to focus full-time on not-so-lucrative theater. Although Kushner is widely regarded as one of America's greatest dramatists, he has spent the past several years...

Naked Harry Hits Internet

Sep 11, 2008 9:06 AM CDT

Naked Harry Hits Internet

Two days in New York was all it took

(Newser) - Just two previews into his bare-all Broadway debut, and naked photos of Daniel Radcliffe —best known to the world for playing a certain boy wizard —have already leaked online, the New York Daily News reports. Radcliffe managed to play the role for five months in London without a...

It's Curtains for
Rent After 12 Years

Sep 7, 2008 5:13 PM CDT

It's Curtains for Rent After 12 Years

Hugely popular musical takes a break from Broadway

(Newser) - Twelve years and 5,124 performances later, Broadway bids adieu today to Rent, the New York Daily News reports. The beloved musical, which follows a group of bohemians and street folk through AIDS-ravaged, early-1990s East Village, “speaks to people's hearts," an original cast members tells the AP. It...