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Search resuls for: "Sweeney Todd"


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The best theatrical songwriting barely requires a theater. Which is a good thing when so many shows close so quickly. Of the 16 musicals that opened on Broadway in 2023, only four are still running. Like loved ones who leave behind scrapbooks or tchotchkes, many shows leave souvenirs of themselves in the form of cast albums. Below, my highly subjective ranking of a selection of musicals that released cast albums.
Persons: Stephen Sondheim, I’ve
There’s busy, and then there’s bonkers. “Sweeney” wanted new stars in January, the same month as the “Mattress” production. She would have to simultaneously master two scores and two stagings while building the bespoke concert shows and learning to speak with a Cockney accent. And even if, as it turned out, “Sweeney” was willing to wait until her “Mattress” run ended, she’d still have to do double duty — rehearsing “Sweeney” during the day while performing “Mattress” at night. It was just five days after she took her final bows as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, a coarse but determined marriage candidate in “Once Upon a Mattress,” and the applause was thunderous.
Persons: There’s, there’s bonkers, Sutton Foster, Café Carlyle, “ Sweeney Todd, , “ Sweeney ”, she’d, Lovett, Aaron Tveit, Winnifred Organizations: Center, Carnegie Hall, Broadway Locations:
“Kimberly Akimbo” won last year’s Tony Award for best musical, and “Parade” won the Tony for best musical revival. Only “Kimberly Akimbo” and “Sweeney Todd” are still running on Broadway, and if you want to see them in New York, now’s the time: “Kimberly Akimbo” has announced plans to close on April 28 and “Sweeney Todd” is expected to end its run on May 5. “Kimberly Akimbo” is planning a national tour that is scheduled to start in Denver in September. A “Shucked” tour is to begin in Nashville in November, and a “Parade” tour is to begin in January in Schenectady, N.Y., and then Minneapolis. “Some Like It Hot” had announced an intention to tour starting this fall but has not announced any venues.
Persons: Adrianna Hicks, Christian Borle, Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Jesse Green, , J, Harrison, NaTasha Yvette Williams, Scott Wittman, Marc Shaiman, Wittman, Shaiman, “ Kimberly Akimbo, Leo Frank, , “ Sweeney Todd, Barber, Stephen Sondheim, “ Kimberly Akimbo ”, Tony, “ Sweeney Todd ” Organizations: Shubert Theater, Broadway, New York Times Locations: Georgia, New York, Denver, Nashville, Schenectady, N.Y, Minneapolis
Such is the case with Sutton Foster as the eccentric Princess Winnifred in the Encores! revival of “Once Upon a Mattress,” which opened Wednesday at City Center. The central role in this broadly goofy musical was exuberantly, indelibly originated by Carol Burnett in 1959. And Winnifred, described by another character as “a strangely energetic swamp girl,” is an ideal outlet for that sensibility. “Once Upon a Mattress” is nobody’s idea of a great musical, but it is many people’s idea of a fun one.
Persons: Sutton Foster, Winnifred, Carol Burnett, Foster, — she’s, “ Sweeney Todd ”, Janet Van De Graaff, Reno Sweeney, Mary Rodgers’s Organizations: City Center, New York Times, Broadway, CBS Locations:
Joe Locke was so moved when he saw “Next to Normal” at the Donmar Warehouse in London last fall that he called his agent with a request. “I was like, ‘I want to do a musical so bad,’” said Locke, 20, who for two seasons has played the sensitive teenager Charlie Spring in Netflix’s L.G.B.T.Q. coming-of-age drama “Heartstopper.”Soon after, his agent said he’d gotten an email from the casting team of Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd,” and the show was looking for a new Tobias Ragg, an urchin taken in by the scheming pie-maker, Mrs. Lovett. “The easiest way to play him is that he’s a bit simple — he’s not a full egg, as the Irish would say,” Locke said in a phone conversation in early January from his Manhattan apartment, before one of his first rehearsals. “But I think he’s a very street-smart character who’s survived in a world where people like him shouldn’t survive.”
Persons: Joe Locke, , ’ ”, Locke, Charlie Spring, , he’d, Broadway’s “ Sweeney Todd, Tobias Ragg, Lovett, ” Locke Organizations: Donmar Locations: London, Netflix’s L.G.B.T.Q, Manhattan
NEW YORK (AP) — Jordan Fisher is going to hell this winter and he's very happy about it. I think it was like the second week of it being up and I was absolutely blown away, right? FISHER: What it’s doing is it’s stretching every creative muscle that I love to have from a live performance perspective. FISHER: From an actor’s perspective, playing Orpheus, this is the most fun that I have had on a Broadway stage. FISHER: If I can be even more candid, 2023 has been the hardest year of my life, my family’s life.
Persons: — Jordan Fisher, Orpheus, Eurydice, , Evan Hansen, ” “ Sweeney Todd ”, “ Hamilton, , Walter Kerr, Reeve Carney, Fisher, FISHER, I’d, that’s, Ellie Woods, He’s, You've, we’re, There’s, ___ Mark Kennedy Organizations: Walter, Walter Kerr Theatre, Associated Press, Broadway Locations: Florida, New York
There’s a lot of Stephen Sondheim in New York at the moment: the premiere staging of his last musical, “Here We Are,” and star-studded revivals of “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Sweeney Todd” on Broadway. And for one weekend this month, there was also one more show of his on: “The Frogs.”This endearingly weird, Aristophanes-inspired musical — created with Burt Shevelove and famously premiered at a Yale University swimming pool in 1974 — hasn’t been onstage in New York since a heavily revised 2004 revival that Sondheim conceived with Nathan Lane, who also performed the role of Dionysos. Few local institutions have the skill or interest to pull off “The Frogs” — with its bookish references and ironic-then-impassioned music — but it’s typical, delightful fare for MasterVoices and its artistic director, Ted Sperling, who mounted and conducted a concert staging of the musical at the Rose Theater. (Lane was there, too, now as a host guiding the audience through the show.)
Persons: Stephen Sondheim, “ Sweeney Todd ”, , Burt Shevelove, — hasn’t, Sondheim, Nathan Lane, Ted Sperling, Lane Organizations: Yale University, MasterVoices, Rose Theater Locations: New York
It’s not often that the standout star of a show is its music supervisor, arranger or orchestrator, but in the gala presentation of “Pal Joey” at New York City Center through Sunday, all three are one man, Daryl Waters. That the rest of the revival (really a new creature, made from spare parts) is more suggestive than convincing is no crime; there has never been a satisfactory “Pal Joey.” Though the 1940 original featured some soon-to-be standards by Rodgers and Hart — “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” chief among them — its book by John O’Hara, based on his epistolary novel and New Yorker stories, didn’t match them in tone or dramatic serviceability. Back then, the problem was thought to be the nature of Joey himself, a greasy heel trying to scheme his way from itinerant crooner to supper club smoothie. Along the way he picked up and discarded an innocent named Linda English, traded sex for financial support with a socialite named Vera Simpson and generally ruined everything he touched with his grifty hands. The problem faced by the various would-be saviors of “Pal Joey” — there were Broadway revivals in 1952, 1963, 1976 and 2008 — is rather what new throughline to impose and how to make the best use of its songs.
Persons: It’s, “ Pal Joey ”, Daryl Waters, Waters, , , Pal Joey, Rodgers, Hart —, John O’Hara, Joey himself, Linda English, Vera Simpson, Brooks Atkinson, J, Pierrepont Finch, Sweeney Todd, Evan Hansen, “ Pal Joey ” — Organizations: New York City Center, , New York Times Locations: New, ’ Da, York , New York
The pair sat down for some hummus and a doggy biscuit at a West Village restaurant near Kingsman’s rented home away from home. My mom is British, one of the “Ten Pound Poms”: They needed an immigration boost in Australia so they handed out 10-pounds tickets to British people. But there is a brilliant industry in London and once I started working, it was very hard to leave. When my character says “Women’s voices aren’t getting heard in theater,” a U.K. audience knows that’s me doing a joke about a woman who would say that very sincerely onstage. Somebody’s died: ‘Oh no.’ ” I just started laughing at a very serious-themed play.
Persons: England —, , aren’t, that’s, “ Sweeney Todd, , gravitas, Somebody’s Organizations: Locations: Village, Kingsman’s, Britain, Australia, England, London, New York, American
The union representing some 1,500 Broadway workers reached a tentative deal Thursday with theater industry management, averting a strike that would have closed the curtains on theatrical productions in New York as well as touring shows across the country. The deal was announced jointly by the union, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and two organizations representing management: the Broadway League, the industry's trade group, and Disney Theatrical, a division of the media conglomerate. IATSE had been conducting a strike vote when negotiators agreed to a tentative deal. The agreement still needs to be formally ratified by IATSE members, a body that includes stagehands and other backstage employees. "The respective parties will inform their members of the details of this agreement in the coming days," the union and management groups said in a joint statement.
Persons: IATSE, Hamilton, Sweeney Todd, King, Matthew D, Loeb, America's Organizations: Behind Entertainment, NYC, International Alliance, Broadway League, Disney, IATSE, Broadway, North, Walt Disney Studios, Writers Guild of America, SAG Locations: Flatiron, Manhattan , New York City, New York, New York City, North America
That’s the idea behind the mother-daughter tour of Florence in “The Light in the Piazza,” the 2005 musical romance composed by Adam Guettel and written by Craig Lucas. revival directed by Chay Yew opened on Wednesday, a sensational performance by Ruthie Ann Miles delivers a feeling close to the sublime. She honeymooned in Italy; now it’s the summer of 1953, and her marital flame is dimming just as her daughter, Clara (Anna Zavelson), first discovers desire. That Margaret and Clara are Asian American adds a further layer of shading to their outsiderness abroad. (“I’m as different here as different can be,” Clara sings.)
Persons: Adam Guettel, Craig Lucas, Chay Yew, Ruthie Ann Miles, Miles, “ Sweeney Todd, , Margaret, Clara, Anna Zavelson, Miles imbues, ” Clara, it’s, Fabrizio, James D, Gish Organizations: New York City Center, Broadway Locations: Florence, , Italy, American
Miles was at the top of the Encores! list for the role of Margaret. She recalled learning English while growing up in Hawaii as her Korean language skills diminished and becoming frustrated with her mother’s stubborn accent and lack of concern, unlike her friends’ parents, about things like having nice clothes. Over time, she said she even developed a sort of bitterness toward her mother. “And so I carry all of these stories and these ideas with me when we’re building Margaret,” she said.
Persons: Miles, Margaret, Ben Brantley, Miles “, ” Ramos, Tony, “ Sweeney Todd, Organizations: Broadway Locations: United States, South Korea, Hawaii
Tony Awards 2023: Highlights and winners
  + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +2 min
[1/25] The cast of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" perform onstage at the 76th Annual Tony Awards in New York City, U.S., June 11, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid - HP1EJ6C05QLC2See pictures and a running list of winners at the 76th Tony Awards, the highest honors in American theater. BEST MUSICALKimberly AkimboBEST PLAYLeopoldstadtBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAYPrima Facie: Jodie ComerBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAYGood Night, Oscar: Sean HayesBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICALKimberly Akimbo: Victoria ClarkBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICALSome Like it Hot: J. Harrison GheeBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICALKimberly Akimbo: Bonnie MilliganBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICALShucked: Alex NewellBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAYThe Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window: Miriam SilvermanBEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAYLeopoldstadt: Brandon UranowitzBEST BOOK OF A MUSICALKimberly Akimbo: David Lindsay-AbaireBEST REVIVAL OF A MUSICALParadeBEST REVIVAL OF A PLAYSuzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/UnderdogBEST DIRECTION OF A MUSICALParade: Michael ArdenBEST DIRECTION OF A PLAYLeopoldstadt: Patrick MarberBEST CHOREOGRAPHYSome Like it Hot: Casey NicholawBEST ORIGINAL SCOREKimberly Akimbo: Jeanine Tesori for music and David Lindsay-Abaire for lyrics. BEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A PLAYLeopoldstadt: Brigitte ReiffenstuelBEST COSTUME DESIGN OF A MUSICALSome Like it Hot: Gregg BarnesBEST ORCHESTRATIONSSome Like it Hot: Charlie Rosen and Bryan CarterSee picotures and a running list of winners at the 76th Tony Awards, the highest honors in American theater.cNew York, New York: Beowulf BorittBEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A PLAYLife of Pi: Tim Hatley and Andrzej GouldingBEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICALSweeney Todd: Natasha KatzBEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A PLAYLife of Pi: Tim LutkinBEST SOUND DESIGN OF A PLAYLife of Pi: Carolyn DowningBEST SOUND DESIGN OF A MUSICALSweeney Todd: Nevin SteinbergOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons: Sweeney Todd, Barber, Tony, Brendan Mcdermid, Tony Awards, Kimberly Akimbo, Jodie Comer, Sean Hayes, Victoria Clark, Bonnie Milligan, Alex Newell, Miriam Silverman, Brandon, David Lindsay, Lori Parks, Michael Arden, Patrick Marber, Casey Nicholaw, SCORE Kimberly Akimbo, Jeanine Tesori, Abaire, Brigitte Reiffenstuel, Gregg Barnes, Charlie Rosen, Bryan Carter, Tim Hatley, Andrzej Goulding, Natasha Katz, Tim Lutkin, Pi, Carolyn Downing, Nevin Steinberg Organizations: REUTERS, Prima, Victoria Clark BEST, Michael Arden BEST, SCORE, theater.c, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, York , New York
How to Watch the Tony Awards
  + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Michael Paulson | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +1 min
Lea Michele is going to lead a number from the revival of “Funny Girl” that opened a year ago. And Joaquina Kalukango, one of last year’s Tony winners, will sing a song to accompany the In Memoriam segment. Broadway is still struggling to recover from the lengthy coronavirus shutdown — attendance remains 17 percent below prepandemic levels — and producers view the Tony Awards as an important way to introduce a large audience to the newest shows. Also, the Tonys are a way to lift up theater as an art form, often boosting the careers of the artists involved. Wins and nominations help plays get staged at regional theaters and taught in colleges, and telecast performances help musicals sell tickets and tour.
Persons: Ariana DeBose, Steven Spielberg’s “, Donna Summer, Julianne Hough, Skylar Astin, , ” “ Kimberly Akimbo, , “ Sweeney Todd, Lea Michele, Neil Diamond, Tony Locations: ” “ New York , New York
Other roles came, several of them further variations on the dumb blonde: Glinda in “Wicked”; Essie in “You Can’t Take It With You,” her Tony-winning part; Sylvia in “Sylvia,” in which she played a blond dog. Yoked with that mind is a clarity of purpose, tinged with a belief in the divine, which can resemble a kind of innocence. Sarah Paulson, who worked with her on “Impeachment: American Crime Story” and filmed a movie with her last summer, described that clarity as lending Ashford a certain buoyancy. “She can seem like she’s dancing in the ether a little bit,” Paulson said. But Ashford also has a seriousness to her, which Paulson described as “a fierce self-possession, this unassailable confidence that is wild to me.”
'Some Like It Hot' leads 2023 Tony nominations
  + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
May 2 (Reuters) - Film-turned-musical "Some Like It Hot," led the nominations announced Tuesday for the 2023 Tony awards, the highest honors in American theater, followed by "& Juliet," "New York, New York," and "Shucked." "Kimberly Akimbo," and a revival of "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," also topped the list of nominations by production for the 76th annual awards, according to a statement from the Tony Awards committee. Best new musical nominees were "& Juliet," "Kimberly Akimbo," "New York, New York," "Shucked" and "Some Like it Hot," with "Sweeney Todd" and "Into the Woods" among the productions earning nods for best musical revival. The stage adaptation of the 1959 crime comedy film "Some Like It Hot," opened on Broadway in December and topped the list with 13 nominations. Reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
BARONE The book could not be staged as-is now, just as much of opera makes you cringe the closer you look. VINCENTELLI The “Phantom” legacy is most visible in business terms, with a generation of blockbusters that run for years, decades even. The current “Sweeney Todd” revival has luscious orchestrations but the staging and most of the performances are so timid. A couple of years ago I saw “Phantom” at the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. “Phantom” is similar to Puccini not only in its music, but also in its specificity; you can’t really stretch Puccini, conceptually, and with “Phantom,” you have to either go big or go home.
Outside the Nederlander Theater last Saturday night, hundreds of eager ticket holders lined up for the new Broadway musical “Shucked.” What exactly was the plot of the show? “I just know it is about corn,” said Roe Woolf, who was visiting from Nashville. “Who doesn’t like corn?” said Danielle Chamberlin, who had come in from Clayton, N.J.Food has long been a staple of Broadway musicals. The in-house merchandise store sells key chains, magnets, hats and tote bags all adorned with corn. The bar serves Corn Nuts, candy corn and corn-themed cocktails like Honk if You’re Corny and Corn to Be Wild.
New YorkThe new Broadway revival of “Sweeney Todd,” the ghoulish marvel of a musical comedy that may represent the greatest achievement of composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim , reaches a deliriously mad peak just when it should, as the bloodlust of the title character, played by the pop phenomenon Josh Groban , unites with the desperate pragmatism of the pie-making Mrs. Lovett, embodied with hilarious zest by Annaleigh Ashford .
CNN —New York City’s Broadway theaters plan to dim the lights on Saturday evening in tribute to the late actress Angela Lansbury, who died this week. The Committee of Theatre Owners will dim the lights for one minute at 7:45 p.m. in her honor, the Broadway League said in a statement. Not yet 20 years old, Lansbury garnered her first Oscar nomination for her movie debut in “Gaslight” in 1944. She also accepted an honorary Oscar in 2013 and amassed 11 Emmy nominations for her role as Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote,” but never won. She also hosted or co-hosted the Tony Awards five times, more than any other individual.
The world should mourn the loss of Angela Lansbury, a gifted actress who died this week at 96 after a career of more than seven decades. Angela Lansbury stars as mystery writer and crime solver Jessica Fletcher on the CBS television series "Murder, She Wrote" in 1990. “Murder, She Wrote,” however, featured not only a woman, but an older one at that. I remember well Lansbury’s character, with her constant bike riding and quick mind. While I’m sorry that Lansbury is no longer with us, I’m glad that the era of “Murder, She Wrote” has passed.
"We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Angela Lansbury," according to statement by Actors' Equity, the union representing live stage performers. "A star of stage, TV and movies, Lansbury was an Equity member for an astounding 65 years. Angela Lansbury stars as mystery writer and crime solver Jessica Fletcher on the CBS television crime drama series "Murder, She Wrote" in 1990. The TV academy nominated Lansbury for 12 Emmys for “Murder,” although she never took home the trophy. Edgar Lansbury was mayor of the London borough of Poplar, while George Lansbury served as Labour Party leader in 1932-34.
The Last Word: Angela Lansbury
  + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Mervyn Rothstein | Kassie Bracken | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +11 min
In between, Angela Lansbury’s career spanned seven decades and countless transformations on stage, screen and television. It was missing the night of the fire.” “Jessica Fletcher was probably about as close not to me, but to the sort of woman that I might have been had I not been an actress.” Angela Brigid Lansbury was born in London in 1925. I didn’t know anything. ‘This could be it.’ And I had a special dress made and, oh, I don’t know, It’s just — I think soon after that, I came to New York.” In the mid-’60s, Angela Lansbury returned to the theater. In 2009, she won her fifth Tony Award for playing Madame Arcati in “Blithe Spirit.” Ms. Lansbury was 83 years old.
LOS ANGELES— Angela Lansbury , an actress whose career spanned more than 60 years and included legendary performances as diverse as Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” and Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote,” has died in Los Angeles, according to a statement from her family. She was 96 years old. “The children of Dame Angela Lansbury are sad to announce that their mother died peacefully in her sleep,” the statement said. A cause of death was not given.
Nearly seven decades after her first film, she was awarded an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement at age 88 in November 2013. "I feel really undeserving of this gorgeous chap," Lansbury said, referring to the golden Oscar statuette she was given. "Not since the heyday of Bette Davis had there been an actress of this range and accomplishment," wrote critic David Shipman. Lansbury was born in London in 1925 and went to the United States in 1940 to avoid the war with her mother, actress Moyna McGill, who appeared in several Hollywood films. Lansbury, who lived in Los Angeles, married actor Richard Cromwell in 1945 but the union lasted less than a year.
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