Universal Pictures has released the first official trailer for the film adaptation of the 2015 Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which is scheduled to be released on September 24. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, the screenplay is by the show’s Tony-winning librettist Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics by the show’s Grammy- and Tony-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The remaining creative team includes Brandon Trost (cinematography), Anne McCabe (editing), Beth Mickle (production design), Brittany Hites (art direction), and Lance Totten (set decoration).
The show’s Tony-, Grammy- and Emmy-winning star Ben Platt reprises his performance in the title role. The cast also includes Julianne Moore (Heidi Hansen), Kaitlyn Dever (Zoe Murphy), Amy Adams (Cynthia Murphy), Danny Pino (Larry Murphy), Colton Ryan (Connor Murphy), Amandla Stenberg (Alana), and Nik Dodani (Jared).
Two-time Oscar-winning writer Howard Ashman was born May 17, 1950, in Baltimore. At age 6, he discovered his passion at Children’s Theater Association. His first known writing was L’il Abner’s Poke Chops, which he also directed and starred in at age 10. He spent a year at Boston Univ., then transferred to Goddard College, where he earned a B.A. in theater (1971). For his master’s at Indiana Univ., he wrote the libretto for a children’s musical based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.”
In 1974, he moved to New York, working as book editor by day and playwright by night. He had two one-acts produced “only one night, sans sets, costumes, everything, but … I’m in heaven,” he told his sister. In 1976, Circle Rep workshopped his play The Confirmation, and WPA Theater produced his musical Dreamstuff, which he wrote with Marsha Malamet and Dennis Green. The following year, Ashman and boyfriend Stuart White became WPA’s co-artistic directors. A year later, the WPA musical Gorey Stories transferred to Broadway.
In 1979, Ashman wrote a new libretto for The Vagabond King at Houston Grand Opera and directed a workshop of Maury Yeston’s Nine at the O’Neill Theatre Center. He then acquired rights to create a musical based on God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and Yeston suggested that Ashman work with composer Alan Menken. It opened in May 1979 at the WPA and transferred in October for a monthlong Off-Broadway run. The following year, White left WPA (and Ashman). Below are excerpts from the 2016 Encores! revival of Mr. Rosewater.
Ashman and Menken next wrote the revue Real Life Funnies (1981), adapted from Stan Mack’s Village Voice comic strip, and the musical Babe, based on the life of Babe Ruth. MTC produced the first show, but Ashman abandoned the second in favor of a musical based on the low-budget film Little Shop of Horrors. That show opened in May 1982 at the WPA and transferred in July for a five-year Off-Broadway run. It brought Ashman, his first Drama Desk Award as well as Grammy and Olivier nominations. For the 1986 film version, Ashman wrote the screenplay and lyrics for two new songs, including “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space,” which earned an Oscar nomination.
Over the next few years, Ashman wrote with several other composers, including Jonathan Sheffer on songs for the revue Diamonds (1984); with Marvin Hamlisch on the Broadway musical Smile (1986), which earned Ashman his first Tony nomination; and with Barry Mann on the song “Once upon a Time in New York City” for Disney’s film Oliver & Company (1986), which earned Ashman his second Grammy nomination. Below are the 60 Minutes story on the making of Smile and the official Huey Lewis video of the Oliver & Company song.
While at Disney, Ashman learned of another project the studio had been working on for a few years: The Little Mermaid. Ashman asked Menken to join him for the film, which began what is considered to be the Disney Renaissance. The score received nominations for three Oscars, two Golden Globes, and two Grammys, earning one of each for the song “Under the Sea.”
Ashman and Menken next contributed to the anti-drug special Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990), for which they won a special Emmy Award for the song “Wonderful Ways to Say No,” and to the 1990 benefit An Evening with Friends of the Environment, including “I’m No Angel” and “Fire Down Below.” Below are Ashman’s Emmy-winning song and a clip of Cher singing the two benefit songs.
While working on Little Mermaid, Ashman pitched an animated musical adaptation of Aladdin. He wrote a 40-page treatment, but the studio shelved the idea and recruited him and Menken to instead write songs for Beauty and theBeast (1991). During production, Ashman’s health began to decline. Soon after the first screening of the film, Ashman died on March 10, 1991, in Manhattan. The film would go on the earn nominations for three Oscars, three Golden Globes, and four Grammys, with the title song winning all three awards.
Beauty and the Beast screenwriter Linda Woolverton reworked Ashman’s Aladdin treatment, then directors Ron Clements and John Musker wrote a draft. As several more rounds of rewrites occurred, Tim Rice joined Menken to fill out the final score, which included three Ashman lyrics: “Arabian Nights,” “Prince Ali,” and the Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated “Friend Like Me.” The soundtrack earned Ashman his fifth Grammy Award.
https://youtu.be/Yhqfd3DbzJw
Since his death, Ashman’s work has seen a resurgence, including the Broadway premieres of Beauty and the Beast (1994, Tony nomination), Little Shop of Horrors (2003), The Little Mermaid (2008, Tony nomination), and Aladdin (2014, Tony nomination) as well as the London premiere of Beauty and the Beast (1997, Olivier Award) and Off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors (2019, Lortel nomination). Among the many tributes to Ashman have been the WPA revue Hundreds of Hats (1995), the album Howard Signs Ashman (2008), and the documentary Howard (2018).
Happy Birthday to Tony and four-time Olivier nominee Siân Phillips, born May 14, 1933, in Bettws, Wales. At 11, she won the Welsh National Eisteddfod and began working for BBC Radio Wales. While attending University College in Cardiff, she continued as a BBC newsreader and repertory company member. In 1955, she won a scholarship to RADA, with whom she made her London stage debut in Magda (1957).
After graduating, she worked in regional repertory, including Oxford New Theatre’s The Holiday (1958) with Peter O’Toole. Later that year, she made her TV debut in “A Game for Eskimos” for Television Playwright, and the following year, she married O’Toole. Phillips made her film debut in The Longest Day (1962), then worked with O’Toole on her second feature, Becket (1964).
Over the next decade, Phillips received increasing critical acclaim, earning a Golden Globe nomination as best supporting actress for the musical film Goodbye Mr. Chips (1969, starring O’Toole), a BAFTA TV Award as best actress for the BBC miniseries I, Claudius (1976), and an Olivier nomination as best actress in a musical for the London revival of Rodgers & Hart’s Pal Joey (1980). Below is Phillips singing “Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered.”
Her subsequent roles in West End musicals included Mrs. Chichester in David Heneker’s Peg (1984), Aunt Alicia in Lerner & Loewe’s Gigi (1985), and Madame Arnfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music (1996), for which she earned her second Olivier nomination (as best supporting performance in a musical). Below is Phillips singing “Liaisons.”
She ended the decade originating the title role in Pam Gems’ musical play Marlene (1998), for which Phillips earned her third Olivier nomination (as best actress in a musical) and her sole Tony nomination. Below is a medley of Phillips singing “Boys in the Back Room” and “La vie en rose.”
In 1999, Philips released her first autobiography, Private Faces, followed in 2001 by Public Places. Between publications, she was awarded Commander of the British Empire(2000). In 2007, she recorded the spoken word for Rufus Wainwright’s song “Between My Legs” and even performed it live at his Old Vic Theatre concert, which you can watch below (Phillips enters at 4:10).
In the past decade, Phillips has appeared in the new cabaret show Crossing Borders (2011), earned her fourth Olivier nomination (as supporting performance in a musical) for the West End revival of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret (2013), and been awarded Dame Commander of the British Empire (2016). Below is Graham Roos’ 2018 interview with Phillips at LAMDA.
Tony-winning performer Bea Arthur was born Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1922, in Brooklyn and raised in Cambridge, Md. After graduating from the Linden Hall boarding school in Lititz, Pa., she studied at Blackstone College but soon left to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. After her honorable discharge, Arthur continued her studies at Franklin Institute but left there as well to study drama at the New School with Erwin Piscator. In 1947, Arthur and her fellow classmates founded their own company at the Cherry Lane Theatre, where she met her future husband, Gene Saks.
She made her TV debut in 1951 on the DuMont anthology series Once upon a Tune and her professional Off-Broadway debut as Lucy Brown in the 1954 premiere of Marc Blitzstein’s English-language adaptation of The Threepenny Opera. The following year, Arthur made her Broadway debut in Plain and Fancy, appeared in Shoestring Revue, then returned to Broadway in Seventh Heaven. Below is Arthur performing “Pirate Jenny” at a 2000 concert of Threepenny and singing Sheldon Harnick’s “Garbage” on the original recording of Shoestring Revue.
Over the next decade, Arthur returned to Broadway as Yente in Fiddler on the Roof (1964), then as Vera in Mame (1966), which her husband directed. She earned her sole Tony Award for her role as Vera, which she reprised in the 1974 film adaptation. She headlined Richard Adler’s 1968 musical A Mother’s Kisses, but it closed out of town after its two-city tryout. Below are Arthur and Angela Lansbury singing “Bosom Buddies” from Mame at the 1987 Tony Awards, and Arthur singing “There Goes My Life” from A Mother’s Kisses at the 1974 Tony Awards.
In 1971, Arthur was invited by TV producer Norman Lear to guest star on All in the Family as Edith Bunker’s outspoken cousin Maude Findlay. After just one episode, the CBS execs asked her to star in her own series. She earned five Emmy nominations for Maude (1972-78), winning in 1977. Her other TV work in the 1970s includes a guest spot on the TV variety show Laugh-In (1977), which brought her a sixth Emmy nomination, and The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Below is Arthur singing “Hard Hearted Hannah” on the 1973 episode “Maude’s Musical” and “Good Night but not Goodbye” in the 1978 special.
She began the 1980s as host of The Beatrice Arthur Special on CBS, performing with such stars as Rock Hudson, Melba Moore, and Wayland Flowers and Madame. Then in 1985, Arthur joined another long-running series, The Golden Girls. She received four Emmy nominations for her work as Dorothy, winning for leading actress in 1988. Below is the full broadcast of Arthur’s 1980 special and a clip from The Golden Girls of her singing “Miami,” accompanied by cast mate Betty White.
Arthur went into semi-retirement in the 1990s, returning to TV in 2000 for a guest spot on Malcolm in the Middle, for which she earned her 11th Emmy nomination, and to Broadway (for the final time) in 2002 with the one-woman show Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, which was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Special Theatrical Event. She died at her Los Angeles home on April 25, 2009. Below is Lifetime’s Intimate Portrait documentary of Arthur.
On the heels of the announcements earlier this week from more than a dozen Broadway productions about their planned reopening dates, after remaining dark for more than a year due to the pandemic, Patti LuPone has released her own video message. “If there’s an upside to having to be away from my spiritual home for so long,” she said, “it was that it made me realize just how much theater means to me.” The two-time Tony winner, who was a mere ten days away from the opening night of the gender-swapped revival of Company when Broadway shuttered, then shared her excitement by belting out a few bars of Gypsy’s “Broadway.” The producers of Company have announced that they plan to resume performances on December 20 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, with their new opening night set for January 9.
The legendary musical Carrie opened on May 12, 1988, at Broadway’s Virginia (now August Wilson) Theatre. In 1981, Lawrence D. Cohen, who wrote the 1976 film Carrie, and Michael Gore began work on a musical adaptation of the Stephen King novel. They soon brought in Gore’s Fame collaborator Dean Pitchford, and in 1984, they staged a workshop of the first act with Annie Golden (Carrie), Maureen McGovern (Mrs. White), and Laurie Beechman (Miss Gardner). A Broadway premiere was planned for 1986, but the funding fell through.
In 1988, producer Friedrich Kurz and the Royal Shakespeare Company picked up the show, which premiered Feb. 13 for a limited engagement in Stratford, England. Directed by Terry Hands and choreographed by Debbie Allen, the cast included Linzi Hateley (Carrie), Barbara Cook (Mrs. White), and Darlene Love (Miss Gardner). Below is a British documentary about the making of that production, featuring interviews with Cohen, Gore, Hands, Hateley, and more, as well as clips of the songs “Wotta Night,” “Do Me a Favor,” “Unsuspecting Hearts,” “Dream On,” and “Don’t Waste the Moon.”
The RSC production was plagued with problems, and rewrites continued after each performance. When Hateley was doused with fake blood in the prom scene, her microphone would short-circuit, and Cook gave notice when she was nearly decapitated by an elaborate set piece during “Open Your Heart” on opening night. Below is the RSC’s archive video of the production. (Note that the curtain rises at 1:00.)
The production transferred to Broadway at a cost of $8 million, a remarkable amount for the time. Hateley (who would win a Theatre World Award for her performance) and many of the RSC cast made the transfer from England, but Cook was replaced by Betty Buckley, who had played the teacher Miss Collins in the 1976 film. After mostly negative reviews, the backers pulled the plug, and the show closed on May 15, after only 16 previews and five performances. Below is the Broadway press reel, featuring “In” with Darlene Love, “Carrie” with Linzi Hateley,“Evening Prayers” with Betty Buckley, and more.
The show was enshrined in Broadway lore with Ken Mandelbaum’s 1991 book, Not Since Carrie, which chronicled the history of flop musicals. Cohen and Gore were anxious to redeem the show’s reputation, and they continued to revise the show. Finally in 2009, they held a reading of their new version, with Molly Ranson (Carrie), Marin Mazzie (Mrs. White), and Sutton Foster (Miss Gardner). MCC Theater then produced the Off-Broadway revival on Mar. 1, 2012, with Carmen Cusack replacing Foster. The production received nominations as best revival from the Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, and Lucille Lortel Awards. Below are highlights from that version.
There was no official cast recording of the original 1988 Broadway production, but several bootleg audiotapes began to circulate shortly after the show closed. The cast album of the Off-Broadway revival was the show’s first official release, and it topped Billboard’s Cast Albums chart the week of Oct. 13, 2012. Below is a short documentary about the making of that recording.
The 2012 version was later seen on London’s Off-West End in 2015 with Evelyn Hoskins (Carrie), Kim Criswell (Mrs. White), and Jodie Jacobs (Miss Gardner). Below is a trailer for that production.
A new environmental-immersive version of Carrie also opened in 2015 at La Mirada Theatre in Los Angeles. Directed by Brady Schwind and choreographed by Lee Martino, the cast included Emily Lopez (Carrie), Misty Cotton (Mrs. White), and Jenelle Lynn Randall (Miss Gardner). This version featured a further revised book and score. Below are highlights from that production.
Other notable apperances of the show include the Riverdale episode “Chapter Thirty-One: A Night to Remember,” which premiered April 18, 2018, and is featured on the TV cast album. Below is series regular Madelaine Petsch performing “Carrie.”
Recently, Out for Blood, a digital series exploring the history of the musical, premiered on the Broadway Podcast Network. Hosts Holly Morgan and Chris Adams, lifelong fans of the musical, interview the creators, original stars, fellow super-fans, and others to answer their burning questions about the show’s journey from the Royal Shakespeare Company to Broadway and beyond.
This morning, musical theater stars L. Steven Taylor (Mufasa in The Lion King), Krystal Joy Brown (Eliza in Hamilton), and Alexandra Billings (Madame Morrible in Wicked) joined Good Morning America host Michael Strahan to announce that their shows will be among the first Broadway productions to reopen, more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic forced all of New York’s theaters to go dark. “‘Circle of Life’ is an iconic moment … a call for the community to come together,” Taylor said, finding inspiration in the song as the nearly 97,000 furloughed workers in the Broadway community come back together. You can watch the announcement here.
The current list of reopening dates includes: Sept. 14 — Chicago, Hamilton, The Lion King, Wicked; Sept. 17 — Six (opening Oct. 3); Sept. 21 — Come from Away, Little Shop of Horrors; Sept. 24 — Moulin Rouge!;
Sept. 28 — Aladdin; Oct. 8 — Tina; Oct. 16 — Ain’t Too Proud;
Oct. 21 — Jagged Little Pill,Mrs. Doubtfire (opening Dec. 5); Oct. 22 — The Phantom of the Opera; Nov. 2 — Diana (opening Nov. 17); Nov. 4 — Flying over Sunset (opening Dec. 6); Nov. 15 — Jersey Boys; Dec. 6 — MJ (opening Feb. 1); Dec. 11 — Dear Evan Hansen; and
Dec. 20 — Company (opening Jan. 9).
Happy Birthday to four-time Tony-winning performer Boyd Gaines, born May 11, 1953, in Atlanta. During a “gypsy childhood,” due to his salesman father’s frequent job transfers, Gaines attended some dozen grammar schools, eventually graduating high school in California. He began his theater training at Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria, Calif., and moved to New York in 1975 when he was accepted into the Juilliard School Drama Division’s Group 8.
Gaines made his professional debut in 1978 as Melchior in Juilliard’s revival of the play Spring Awakening, which had impressed Joseph Papp enough to move Off-Broadway. A year after graduating, Gaines won a Theatre World Award in Roundabout’s Off-Broadway revival of the play A Month in the Country. That same year, he made his film debut in Fame, then secured a recurring role on the sitcom One Day at a Time (1981-84) as the boyfriend (then husband) of Valerie Bertinelli’s character.
He ended the decade in the Off-Broadway premiere of Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer-winning play The Heidi Chronicles (1988), with which he made his Broadway debut and earned his first Tony Award. In 1993, Gaines made his Broadway musical debut as the lead in Roundabout’s revival of She Loves Me, for which he earned his second Tony and first Drama Desk Award. Below is Gaines performing the show’s title song.
His next two Broadway appearances were in the leading roles of musical revivals also produced by Roundabout: Robert in Company (1995) and Cliff in Cabaret (1999). Below is Gaines singing “Being Alive” from the former show.
Three months after his stint in Cabaret, Gaines originated the lead role of the dance show Contact, for which he earned his first Lortel Award, his second Drama Desk nomination, and his third Tony Award. Below is the cast performing to “Simply Irresistible” at the 2000 Tony Awards.
Gaines earned his fourth Tony nomination and second Drama Desk Award for the 2007 revival of the play Journey’s End. A year later, he won his fourth Tony and his third Drama Desk for the 2008 revival of Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone. He earned his fifth Drama Desk Award for the play The Grand Manner (2011). Below is Gaines, LuPone, and Laura Benanti performing “Together, Wherever We Go” in Gypsy.
On Sunday, May 16, at 3 p.m. ET, the digital broadcast TV network Buzzr will air a rare episode of the Goodson-Todman game show Password that features Stephen Sondheim. In the episode, which originally aired over CBS on Dec. 11, 1966, host Allen Ludden welcomes celebrity contestants Sondheim and Lee Remick (who had starred in Sondheim’s 1964 musical, Anyone Can Whistle) playing against fellow performers Peter Lawford and Audrey Meadows. It was the second game show in which Sondheim had appeared during 1966, following the Nov. 1 episode of Goodson-Todman’s Match Game. Below is a clip of that Password episode, which hasn’t been seen in nearly 55 years.
Happy Birthday to Olivier- and Tony-winning director Nicholas Hytner, born May 7, 1956, in Manchester, England. He studied at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University, where he cowrote the 1977 Footlights Revue and directed the Brecht-Weill opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. After graduating, Hytner began directing at Kent Opera. In 1983, he joined English National Opera, who produced his 1988 English translation of Handel’s Xerxes. Below is the overture and opening aria, “Ombra mai fu,” sung by Ann Murray.
Impressed by Hytner’s opera work, producer Cameron Mackintosh hired him to direct the West End premiere of Miss Saigon (1989), based on Verdi’s opera Madame Butterfly, which earned Hytner the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Director. The Broadway debut of the musical in 1991 brought Hytner his first Tony nomination. Below are Simon Bowman and Lea Salonga of the original London cast singing “The Last Night of the World.”
In 1990, Hytner became an associate director of London’s National Theatre. His 1992 direction of Carousel brought him his second Olivier Award, and its 1994 Broadway transfer brought him his first Tony and Drama Desk awards. In 1996, he earned a BAFTA Award and a Cannes Palme d’Or nomination for the film The Madness of King George, which he had originally directed on stage at the National in 1991. Below is the opening sequence of the London production of Carousel.
Hytner began the next decade with the musical film Center Stage (2000). A year later, he was appointed artistic director of the National Theatre. He received a Drama Desk nomination for the Broadway musical Sweet Smell of Success (2002) and a Tony nod for Tom Stoppard’s Jumpers (2004), then he won an Olivier, a Tony, and a Drama Desk for Alan Bennett’s The History Boys (2006). Below is John Lithgow and the Broadway cast of Sweet Smell of Success performing “Dirt” at the 56th annual Tony Awards.
In the past decade, the National Theatre’s Broadway transfers have included: War Horse (2011), which brought Hytner a Tony; One Man, Two Guvnors (2012), which brought him a Tony nod for his direction; and a revival of the musical Fela! (2012). Hytner left the National in 2015, cofounding the Bridge Theatre with Nick Starr in 2017. Below is a look at the creation of that new company.
Universal Pictures has released the first official trailer for the film adaptation of the 2015 Tony-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which is scheduled to be released on September 24. Directed by Stephen Chbosky, the screenplay is by the show’s Tony-winning librettist Steven Levenson, with music and lyrics by the show’s Grammy- and Tony-winning songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The remaining creative team includes Brandon Trost (cinematography), Anne McCabe (editing), Beth Mickle (production design), Brittany Hites (art direction), and Lance Totten (set decoration).
