Broadway may be dark but four musicals will perform for the 94th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 26. The casts of Hamilton, Mean Girls, Jagged Little Pill, and Ain’t Too Proud will be filmed in the next few weeks and aired during the broadcast. Before taping, the cast and crew all took coronavirus tests and temperature checks, and everyone wore masks, though the actors did remove them to sing. Other events that have been cancelled this season will also get the chance to perform. Macy’s will present a ballerina dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy from New York City Ballet’s The Nutcracker as well as taped clips of entertainers from the cancelled St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Pride March, National Puerto Rican Day Parade, and West Indian American Day Carnival Association events.
The remaining lineup includes the Muppets, Leslie Odom Jr., Dolly Parton, the Rockettes, and, of course, Santa Claus. The balloons and floats may be traveling just one city block down 34th Street, without an audience, but you can catch all the action from the comfort of your home beginning at 9 a.m. ET on NBC-TV and on Verizon’s Twitter (@Verizon) and YouTube (Youtube.com/Verizon) platforms, hosted by Today stars Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker.
The holiday musical Jingle Jangle, now streaming on Netflix, has received positive reviews from film critics. Set in imaginary Cobbleton, the story follows a toymaker whose granddaughter saves him after a trusted apprentice steals his most prized creation. The cast includes Forest Whitaker (Jeronicus Jangle), Madalen Mills (Journey Jangle), Keegan-Michael Key (Gustafson), Hugh Bonneville (Mr. Delacroix), Anika Noni Rose (Jessica Jangle), Phylicia Rashad (Grandmother Jangle), and Ricky Martin (Don Juan Diego).
The creative team includes David E. Talbert (direction, script), Ashley Wallen (dances), Remi Adefarasin (camera), Gavin Bocquet (sets), Michael Tronick, Joe Galdo, and Virginia Katz (editing), Michael Wilkinson (costumes), Sharon Martin (hair), John Debney (music), and Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan & Michael Diskint, and John Legend (songs).
Entertainment Weekly (Leah Greenblatt): The magic, for the most part, is in the execution — not least the brilliant costumes, pixie-dusted production design, and soaring musical numbers. But it’s also in the message — one that manages to champion hope and equality and inclusion without feeling blandly lecture-y. … In a year short on so many of those things, Jangle feels like finding something sweetly familiar but also new, finally, under the tree. Grade: B+
Guardian (Cath Clarke): It’s a film that may be a bit sugary for some tastes, but it’s made with real care and craft: from exquisite stop-motion inserts to the blast of energy dance routines by Kylie choreographer Ashley Wallen and stunning hair design from Sharon Martin – creating Victoriana styles inspired by natural afro hair. … A film beaming with positivity – and yuletide good cheer. 3 stars out of 5.
Hollywood Reporter (Frank Scheck): Featuring a cast almost entirely composed of people of color, the film is a proudly over-the-top, entertaining musical comedy extravaganza that should prove very popular this holiday season. … The colorful production and costume designs will best be appreciated on the largest screen possible, as will the musical numbers that thankfully eschew overly frenetic cutting in favor of a more classical visual approach.
New York Times (Lovia Gyarkye): The magic of Jingle Jangle … hinges on belief — in reinvention, imagination and the ability of even the most familiar stories to offer fresh lessons. … The movie is packed with thrilling sequences, charming songs, flashy dance numbers and a delightful cast. Although parts of the film veer on cliché, its intentions are well-meaning and its messages about nurturing curiosity and fostering community are well worth hearing.
Variety (Peter Debruge): Talbert has crafted an upbeat eyeful, set in a Dickensian toy store where steampunk gizmos with shiny brass gears whistle and whirl and all but overwhelm the senses. … Digital embellishments aside, this fairly conservative production would port over well to a standard proscenium. … Wouldn’t that be something? In greenlighting a Black Christmas movie, Netflix may have opened the door to so much more.
The musical biopic Clouds has received mixed reviews from film critics. The story, based on the memoir Fly a Little Higher by Laura Sobiech, concerns high school musician Zach Sobiech, who learns that the rare cancer he has been fighting has become terminal. The cast includes Fin Argus (Zach), Sabrina Carpenter (Sammy), Madison Iseman (Amy), Neve Campbell (mom Laura), Tom Everett Scott (dad Rob), Summer H. Howell (Grace), Vivien Endicott-Douglas (Alli), Dylan Everett (Sam), Lil Rel Howery (Mr. Weaver), and Jason Mraz (as himself). Many of Zach Sobiech’s real-life friends make cameos in the film. The creative team includes Justin Baldoni (direction), Kara Holden (script), Ben Kutchins (cinematography), Brett M. Reed (editing), Brian Tyler (music), and Zach Sobiech and Sammy Brown (songs). The film is streaming now on Disney+.
Indie Wire (David Ehrlich): It only takes a few minutes to realize that Clouds isn’t just another honeyed and ham-fisted piece of evangelical propaganda. … Real enough even when forcing his way through some of the movie’s clumsier dialogue, Argus endows Zach with an eager self-awareness that … prevents Clouds from drifting off into abstract sentimentality. … Clouds keeps its focus squarely on the ground from start to finish, and it soars that much higher for it. Grade: B-.
Los Angeles Times (Gary Goldstein): Clouds has all the makings of a profound and powerful heart-tugger. So why isn’t it more wholly moving and cathartic? It’s no fault of its stars, including a charismatic Fin Argus. … That said, the movie’s plainly stated theme, “You don’t have to find out you’re dying to start living” is, of course, valuable and super-timely. … Straight talk about peer-aged mortality, if not everyone’s cup of entertainment, is a vital discussion.
New York Times (Amy Nicholson): Big on hugs and scant on plot, the gentle, hazy script is jolted by dramatic moments, like Zach bathing in the healing waters of Lourdes, France, and a seemingly self-destructive incident behind the wheel, which is quickly ushered away unresolved as if to shrug, that’s life. … While Clouds is as doe-eyed and puppyish as an acoustic serenade, Baldoni is wise to recognize that attention must be paid to Zach’s survivors.
RogertEbert.com (Nell Minow): This film is particularly perceptive on the issue of what it means to try to be “normal” under excruciatingly painful circumstances. … The focus is on Zach, and the way that his limited time affects the normal teenage concerns. … This movie is a reminder that we should not have to wait to fly above the clouds to keep our lives wild and precious. 3 stars.
Variety (Guy Lodge): It’s not a film that especially distinguishes between the sublime and the stickily sentimental, but in that respect, it feels true to the spirit of many a teenage romantic. … Zach’s songwriting and Baldoni’s storytelling are well-matched in their smiling-through-the-tears gentleness and emotional simplicity. … Its overall softness suits its subject: a brave, smart kid who wrote a pop song about dying, not as an end but as an ascent.
Happy birthday to Tony-winning performer Karen Ziemba, born Nov. 12, 1957, in St. Joseph, Mich. She attended North Farmington H.S., where she starred as Maria in West Side Story, and studied dance at University of Akron. Her first professional theater job was in My Fair Lady at North Shore Music Theatre. Her first major New York job was as one of three leading ladies in the 50th anniversary celebration of Radio City Music Hall.
Ziemba made her Broadway debut in A Chorus Line (1982) as Diana, then moved to 42nd Street (1983) as Peggy. She originated roles in Broadway’s Teddy & Alice (1987) and the 1991 Off-Broadway revue And the World Goes Round, which earned her a Drama Desk Award. She earned her second Drama Desk nom for the Off-Broadway revival of I Do! I Do! (1996) and her first Tony nom for Steel Pier (1997). Below is Ziemba and Steel Pier costar Daniel McDonald in “Second Chance.”
After playing Roxie in Chicago (1998), Ziemba earned three more Tony nominations in her next three Broadway appearances — Contact (1999), Never Gonna Dance(2004), and Curtains (2007) — winning the prize for the first. (The lead photo in this post is Ziemba at the launch party of my theater company, Music in a Box, four months before Contact opened.) Below is Ziemba in “Waltz Eugene” from Part II (Did You Move?) of Contact.
Ziemba’s recent musical work includes: Bullets over Broadway (2014); Prince of Broadway (2017); Kid Victory (2017), for which she received a Lucille Lortel nomination; and the TV pilot for Nunsense (2017). Below is a medley of clips from Kid Victory. (Ziemba appears at 1:00.)
The animated musical Over the Moon has received mixed reviews from critics. The film premiered at the Montclair Film Festival on Oct. 17, 2020, and is streaming now on Netflix. The story centers around Fei Fei, who builds a rocket to the moon on a mission to prove the existence of the legendary goddess Chang’e. The cast includes Cathy Ang (Fei Fei), John Cho (dad Ba Ba), Ruthie Ann Miles (mom Ma Ma), Sandra Oh (stepmom Mrs Zhong), Robert G. Chiu (stepbrother Chin), Margaret Cho (Auntie Ling), Kimiko Glenn (Auntie Mei), Ken Jeong (Gobi), Conrad Ricamora (Hou Yi), and Phillipa Soo (Chang’e). The creative team includes Glen Keane (direction), Audrey Wells (screenplay), Sony Pictures Imageworks (animation), Edie Ichioka (editing), Steven Price (score), and Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield and Helen Park (original songs).
AP (Mark Kennedy): It opens and closes in modern day China, but the bulk of the film is set in Lunaria, an imaginary kingdom on the dark side of the moon. … The original songs include eight varied and delightful ones. … Fei Fei’s build up for her moonshot and the launch is perhaps the most thrilling element of the film. … But the film looses coherence and urgency on the dark side of the moon. 3 stars out of 4.
CNN (Brian Lowry): Although the movie is visually impressive, the Chinese-American co-production suffers from a too-thin story … and a whole lot of soaring but generally unmemorable songs. … [Keane] clearly learned the tricks of the trade during his time at Disney, with the movie appearing pretty desperate to conjure that sort of magic … a bright, shiny object that never quite escapes the bonds of Earth.
New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski): The catchy lunar tunes leap around genres, from inspiring ballads such as “Rocket to the Moon” to a high-energy dance-pop number called “Ultraluminary.” … We’ve seen this journey before, but, to its credit, Over the Moon gives fleshed-out stories to just about everyone the girl meets. … The movie can, at times, be too nice. Just don’t come looking for the dark side of the moon. 3 stars out of 4.
RogerEbert.com (Brian Tallerico): This is a film that so blatantly cribs from other popular works that it never develops a personality of its own. … The music is generally forgettable, though a song near the end that directly addresses loss is easily the most powerful in the film because it’s the first time the movie feels like it calms down and confronts what it should have been about. 2 stars.
Vulture (Bilge Ebiri): Over the Moon might be one of the most gorgeous animated films ever made — but it’s gorgeous in strange ways. It finds beauty as it whipsaws between wildly different tones and visual styles. … The shifts in form might lose you from time to time, but the film conjures some genuinely powerful emotions. … The story turns out to be not just about those left behind finding a way to move on, but also about those who have departed learning to move on as well.
Happy birthday to two-time Pulitzer nominee Jeanine Tesori, the most honored female Broadway composer in history. Born Nov. 10, 1961, in Port Washington, N.Y., Tesori attended Paul D. Schreiber High School, before studying music at Barnard College. She made her Broadway debut as dance arranger and associate conductor for the 1991 musical The Secret Garden. After gigs as associate conductor for the 1993 musical Tommy and dance arranger for the 1995 revival of How to Succeed… and 1997 revue Dream, she and Brian Crawley wrote the 1997 Off-Broadway musical Violet, which won the Obie and Lucille Lortel awards. Below is Sutton Foster and the Broadway revival cast at the 2014 Tonys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p06JGVvXotw
Tesori returned to Broadway with dance arrangements for the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music and 1999 revue Swing! Her first Broadway score was for the 1998 production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center, which brought Tesori her first Tony nomination. In 2000, she and Dick Scanlan began working on the score for Thoroughly Modern Millie, which transferred from San Diego to Broadway in 2002, earning Tesori her second Tony nom. Below is Sutton Foster and the original Broadway cast at the 2002 Tonys.
She then collaborated with Tony Kushner on the 2004 musical Caroline, or Change, which earned her a third Tony nomination. After contributing to several Disney video sequels, Tesori joined David Lindsay-Abaire for the musical stage adaptation of Shrek, which transferred from Seattle to Broadway in 2008 and earned Tesori her fourth Tony nom. Below is Tonya Pinkins singing “Lot’s Wife” from Caroline, or Change at the 2004 Tonys.
In 2011, she teamed with Lisa Kron for the stage adaptation of Fun Home. The show opened Off-Broadway in 2013, winning an Obie, and moved to Broadway in 2015, earning Tesori her first Tony win. The musical was also a 2014 Pulitzer finalist. Her next musical, Soft Power, written with David Henry Hwang, premiered in Los Angeles in 2018 and opened Off-Broadway in 2019. It was a 2020 Pulitzer finalist. Below is the Los Angeles cast of Soft Power singing “Election Night.”
Michael R. Jackson and the team of Ben Bonnema and Christopher Staskel have been named the winners of the 16th annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theater songwriters. Named in honor of the late, Tony-winning lyricist, the awards will be presented by six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald on Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. ET in a virtual ceremony at FredEbbFoundation.org. Jackson won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for his musical A Strange Loop, which premiered Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons. He has also written White Girl in Danger and Teeth (with Anna K. Jacobs). Bonnema and Staskel’s musical One Way was seen at NAMT’s 2019 Festival of New Musicals. Their other collaborations include Slash. Below is the official trailer of Jackson’s A Strange Loop.
The Fred Ebb Foundation, in association with Roundabout Theatre Company, presents the annual awards to recognize excellence in theater songwriting by those who have not yet had significant commercial success. The prize includes $60,000 plus a one-night showcase of the winner’s work produced by the foundation. This year’s selection panel included foundation trustee Mitchell S. Bernard, music director David Loud, and performers Janet Dacal, Natascia Diaz, and Celia Keenan-Bolger. Below is a livestream of Bonnema and Staskel’s staged reading of One Way at the Kennedy Center. (The music starts at 3:00.)
Film critics have given mixed reviews to the musical drama Yellow Rose but praise for its lead, two-time Tony nominee Eva Noblezada, who makes her film debut as “a Filipina teen from a small Texas town who fights to pursue her dreams as a country music performer, while having to decide between staying with her family or leaving the only home she has known.” The cast also includes Lea Salonga (aunt Gail), Princess Punzalan (mom Priscilla), Dale Watson (playing himself), Gustavo Gomez (Jose), Libby Villari (Jolene), and Liam Booth (Elliott). The creative team includes Diane Paragas (direction), Annie Howell and Celena Cipriaso (screenplay), Andy Bienen (story), Christopher H. Knight (music), August Thurmer (cinematography), and Taylor Levy and Liron Reiter (editing).
AP (Jake Coyle): It’s part a Star Is Born-styled coming-of-age tale, part immigrant nightmare. That makes for an often moving, sometimes clunky take on the modern American musical. … The heart of Yellow Rose is true, a testament to Noblezada’s strong presence and her ability to belt the film’s original songs. … Yellow Rose sings an affecting, sorrowful and defiant song where dreams collide with a cruel reality. 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
Houston Chronicle (Cary Darling): Yellow Rose tells a familiar story but does it in a wonderfully unfamiliar and regionally specific way. Director/co-writer Diane Paragas takes what could be a cliché … and puts it in a contemporary Texas setting where worlds and cultures collide. The result is a sweetly earnest character study and coming-of-age tale that’s impressive because of its low-key authenticity. 3 1/2 stars out of 5.
Indie Wire (Kate Erbland): Noblezada offers a well-honed performance that befits this intimate indie, and even when shy Rose starts breaking out behind the mic, the actress always remembers that performing does not naturally come to her character. … When Rose takes the stage for her first big performance, the film ends with a firm nod to her future: Rose is just getting started, and we’re all lucky to be there from the start. Grade: B
RogerEbert.com (Carlos Aguilar): Some of the messaging and most dramatic beats (a second ICE raid) suffer from heavy-handedness, but there are still admirable choices among the crowded landscape of Yellow Rose. … A bona fide star making her film debut, Noblezada beckons our attention with a turn of grave distress and charming effervescence. Her presence salvages the movie from its own stiltedness on multiple occasions. 2 1/2 stars out of 4.
The Wrap(Alonso Duralde): Yellow Rose checks off a lot of boxes as a coming-of-age, artist-finds-her-voice story, but all of this would resonate so much more if, say, we knew anything about Rose beyond her desire to make music or if there were any sense of a larger Filipino community around her. … Even with such an underwritten character, Noblezada finds grace notes and moments of specificity to Rose.
Happy birthday to two-time Tony winner Michael Cerveris, born Nov. 6, 1960, in Bethesda, Md. Raised in Huntington, W.Va., Cerveris graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, N.H., before going on to theater studies at Yale University. After roles in several TV series, including Fame (1986), he made his film debut as a musician in Tokyo Pop (1988). He made his Broadway debut in 1993 as the title character of Tommy, which he had originated at La Jolla Playhouse, receiving a Tony nomination. He returned to Broadway in the 1997 musical Titanic. Below is Cerveris and the original cast of Tommy at the 1993 Tonys.
In 1998, Cerveris played the title character in Hedwig and the Angry Inch Off-Broadway, reprising the role in 2000 on London’s West End. In 2004, he appeared in the musical film Temptation and as John Wilkes Booth in the Broadway premiere of Assassins, for which he won his first Tony Award. In 2005, he performed with Kristin Chenoweth in the City Center Encores! concert version of The Apple Tree and as the title role in the Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, for which he received his third Tony nom. Below is a clip of Cerveris singing “The Ballad of Booth.”
He next appeared on Broadway in the 2007 musical LoveMusik, receiving his fourth Tony nomination, and appeared Off-Broadway in the 2008 production of Road Show. Cerveris then played Perón in the 2012 Broadway revival of Evita, receiving his fifth Tony nom, and Bruce Bechdel in the 2015 Broadway musical Fun Home, for which he won his second Tony. Below is Cerveris and the Broadway cast of Fun Home at the 2015 Tonys.
Stephen Sondheim’s second collaboration with James Lapine, Into the Woods, opened Nov. 5, 1987, at the Martin Beck Theatre and ran for 765 performances on Broadway. The musical intertwines the plots of several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault fairytales, tied together by a story of a childless baker and his wife on their quest to lift the curse a witch has placed on them and start a family.
The musical debuted Dec. 4, 1986, at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it ran for 50 performances. After nearly a year of rewriting and reworking the characters, the show opened on Broadway. The cast included Tom Aldredge (Narrator, Mysterious Man), Kim Crosby (Cinderella), Ben Wright (Jack), Chip Zien (Baker), Joanna Gleason (Baker’s Wife), Joy Franz (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Kay McClelland (Florinda), Lauren Mitchell (Lucinda), Barbara Bryne (Jack’s Mother), Danielle Ferland (Little Red Ridinghood), Bernadette Peters (Witch), Edmund Lyndeck (Cinderella’s Father), Merle Louise (Cinderella’s Mother, Grandmother, Giant), Robert Westenberg (Wolf, Cinderella’s Prince), Pamela Winslow (Rapunzel), Chuck Wagner (Rapunzel’s Prince), Philip Hoffman (Steward), Jean Kelly (Snow White), and Maureen Davis (Sleeping Beauty).
The creative team was Stephen Sondheim (music, lyrics), James Lapine (book, direction), Paul Gemignani (music direction), Lar Lubovitch (musical staging), Charles Reynolds (magic consultant), Tony Straiges (sets), Ann Hould-Ward (costumes), Phyllis Della Illien (hair), Richard Nelson (lights), Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations), Wendall Harrington (projections), and Alan Stieb and James Brousseau (sound).
The original cast recording won a Grammy Award, and the Broadway production was nominated for ten Tony Awards, winning three: score (Sondheim), book (Lapine), and actress (Gleason). Peters left the show after five months due to a film commitment, and the Witch was played by Phylicia Rashad when the show performed at the 1988 Tony Awards. Below is a medley by the cast at the Tony ceremony.
In May 1989, the original cast reunited for three performances to tape the musical for the PBS American Playhouse series, which first aired on Mar. 15, 1991. Below is Peters and the cast in “Last Midnight.”
The musical has since been produced many times, including a 1988 US national tour, 1990 West End production, 1997 tenth anniversary concert, 2002 Broadway revival, 2010 London revival, and 2012 Shakespeare in the Park outdoor production. Disney released a film adaptation on Dec. 25, 2014. The cast included James Corden (Baker), Emily Blunt (Baker’s Wife), Meryl Streep (Witch), Anna Kendrick (Cinderella), Daniel Huttlestone (Jack), Lilla Crawford (Little Red Riding Hood), Mackenzie Mauzy (Rapunzel), Chris Prince (Cinderella’s Prince), Billy Mangussen (Rapunzel’s Prince), Tracey Ullman (Jack’s Mother), Simon Russell Beale (Baker’s Father), Frances de a Tour (Giant), Johnny Depp (Wolf), Christine Baranski (Cinderella’s Stepmother), Tammy Blanchard (Florinda), Lucy Punch (Lucinda), Richard Glover (Steward), Joanna Riding (Cinderella’s Mother), and Annette Crosbie (Grandmother).
The creative team was Rob Marshall (direction), Stephen Sondheim (music, lyrics), James Lapine (screenplay), Dion Beebe (cinematography), Wyatt Smith (editing), Dennis Gassner (production design), and Colleen Atwood (costumes). The film earned three Oscar nominations: supporting actress (Streep), production design (Gassner), and costume design (Atwood). Below is Streep and the cast in “Last Midnight.”
