The year begins with four new notable musical theater-related books. First is Sportin’ Life (Oxford University Press), a biography of John W. Bubbles by Brian Harker. Bubbles was a groundbreaking tap dancer who inspired performers from Fred Astaire to the Nicholas Brothers. For more than 30 years, he was part of the vaudeville duo Buck and Bubbles, but his signature role was Sportin’ Life in the original Porgy and Bess. After a short film career, he made a comeback in television and concert work, playing comic foil to stars like Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, and Barbra Streisand. This compelling book tells his dramatic story for the first time.
Second is The Phantom of the Opera (Titan Comics), a graphic novel by writer Cavan Scott and artist José María Beroy. Based on the original libretto of the long-running musical, this authorized adaptation vividly illustrates the story set in 1881 Paris, as the cast and crew of a new production of Hannibal are terrorized by the mysterious Phantom of the Opera, a hideously disfigured man who lives beneath the Opera House. Hopelessly in love and obsessed with Christine Daaé, one of the opera’s chorus singers, the Phantom will stop at nothing to make her the star of the show … even if that means murder.
Third is B Is for Broadway (Doubleday Books for Young Readers), a picture book by writer John Roberty Alltman and artist Peter Emmerich. This sequel to A Is for Audra may be intended for ages 3 through 7, but it’s easily enjoyed by theater fans of all ages. From “Auditions” to “Ziegfeld,” this rhythmic alphabet book explores Broadway’s songs and shows, as well as its onstage talent and backstage artists, from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Patti LuPone, Michael Bennett to Jennifer Holliday, Ethel Merman to Billy Porter. It’s a colorful celebration of the American stage, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Actors Fund.
Fourth is Sondheim in Our Time and His (Oxford University Press), a wide-ranging collection edited by W. Anthony Sheppard that offers new perspectives on the landmark works and career of Stephen Sondheim. Each contributor explores an aspect of biography, collaboration, or context that has affected the creation and reception of Sondheim’s musicals. In addition, several authors explore how the shows themselves have been revised and adapted over the years, while others focus on individual musicals and specific topics throughout Sondheim’s career. This volume offers some intriguing thoughts about Sondheim’s work in his day and in ours.
The Library of Congress has released more than six hours of previously unseen interviews with Stephen Sondheim, conducted in his New York City townhouse over three days in 1997 by library senior music specialist Mark Eden Horowitz. With music manuscripts at hand, the conversations are a deep dive into Sondheim’s compositional process, though the content is wide-ranging, touching on many aspects of his career and craft. These interviews focus particularly on his shows Passion, Assassins, Into the Woods, Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, and Pacific Overtures, though nearly all of his work to that date comes up in conversation. Edited transcripts of the interviews were published as Sondheim on Music: Minor Details and Major Decisions, which includes illustrations of most of the music examples discussed. Below is first of four parts from the November 19 session. For a full transcript and more information, visit the Library of Congress website.
New York theater critics have given mixed reviews to the Encores! concert presentation of The Tap Dance Kid, the 1983 Tony-nominated musical based on Louise Fitzhugh’s novel Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change about 10-year-old Willie, who dreams of becoming a professional tap dancer, despite his father’s disapproval. The creative team includes Charles Blackwell (book), Henry Krieger (music), Robert Lorick (lyrics), Lydia Diamond (adaptation), Kenny Leon (direction), Jared Grimes (choreography), Joseph Joubert (music direction), Derek McLane (sets), Dede Ayite (costumes), Allen Lee Hughes (lights), and Kai Harada (sound). The cast includes Alexander Bello (Willie) and Joshua Henry (William) with Tracee Beazer (Carole), DeWitt Fleming Jr. (Daddy Bates), Trevor Jackson (Uncle Dipsey), Shahadi Wright Joseph (Emma), Chance Smith (Winslow), and Adrienne Walker (Ginnie). The production plays at New York City Center through February 6.
AM NY (Matt Windman): The Tap Dance Kid, though not a particularly great or noteworthy musical, is an ideal title for the Encores! series. It was a genuine hit in its day. … However, it has received virtually no new productions since then. … Encores! productions have not made major changes to the shows being revived. However, The Tap Dance Kid uses a revised book by Lydia R. Diamond, which resets the musical from the 1980s to the 1950s and emphasizes Black cultural progress and the history of Black entertainers. Truth be told, Wednesday’s opening night performance felt especially rough and under-rehearsed. … This being said, The Tap Dance Kid has many standout moments, and it looks ahead to a promising new era for Encores!
Manhattan Digest (Ryan Leeds): Tap dancing of the highest quality. It’s a rare, precious commodity in live theater these days. But those wishing for a jolt of thrilling choreography intertwined with a feel-good story should head to New York City Center for the first show of the Encores! Series, The Tap Dance Kid. … At times, the show feels a bit bogged down. … Once the big, ensemble numbers reignite the story, all is forgiven. The Tap Dance Kid is a marvelous slice of Broadway history that is sure to entertain. While it might not be primed for a current Broadway revival, it’s a blessing that Encores! Artistic Director Lear DeBossonet has chosen to breathe it back to life.
New York Stage Review (David Finkle): The renewed look-see at The Tap Dance Kid comes across like a house on fire. That’s thanks to choreographer Jared Grimes, to his chorus of 14 hot-footed tappers, and especially to Alexander Bello as the tap-dancing kid himself, to Trevor Jackson as … tap-dancing uncle Dipsey, and to Dewitt Fleming Jr. as Daddy Bates. … So, no let-down in the tap front. Then there’s the Tap Dance Kid book. … Things, as well directed by Kenny Leon, work out eventually but not aided by too much of the Krieger-Lorick score. … Furthermore, a soliloquy seems blatantly misplaced now as it was in 1983. Just before closing, William … unleashes a tantrum. … It doesn’t work here. Where would it work?
New York Stage Review (Steve Suskin): The Tap Dance Kid is brimful of tap dancing. … When the characters are otherwise engaged — with dialogue, non-dance numbers, that sort of stuff — the temperature is tepid. … Director Kenny Leon and adaptor Lydia R. Diamond have done some surgery on the book. While the original was never a masterpiece of dramaturgy, some of the present changes are logistically questionable. … That said, [Shahadi Wright] Joseph’s performance is just about the highlight of the show. Next to the dancing of Bello and Jackson. … So while The Tap Dance Kid is not a Broadway classic nor an Encores! classic, the entertainment value at City Center this weekend is mighty high.
Theater Mania (Kenji Fujishima): In one respect, the new Encores! production of the 1983 musical The Tap Dance Kid … proves to be a fascinating rediscovery. … Turns out, The Tap Dance Kid features a climactic musical number, “William’s Song” … that rivals [“And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”] in searing operatic intensity. … Thankfully, there is more to celebrate in The Tap Dance Kid than just that one number. … Ultimately, though, it’s Joshua Henry and “William’s Song” that may stay with you the most. … It’s an incendiary moment whose disturbing implications this otherwise feel-good show never truly wrestles with. But it’s enough to make this revival well worth seeing.
Just five weeks after its debut on Billboard’s Hot 100 at #50, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” has reached the top of the pop chart. Performed by Encanto film cast members Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, and Stephanie Beatriz, the song marks composer Lin-Manuel Miranda’s first #1 single and only the second song from a Disney animated film to reach those heights, following “A Whole New World” from Aladdin in 1993. “I feel like this is my ‘Send in the Clowns,’ which was the late Stephen Sondheim’s biggest hit and probably the most random of an incredible career and life making music,” Miranda told People magazine, “but I’ll take it!”
Only three other Disney songs have come close to the top spot in the past three decades: “Let It Go” from Frozen (#5 in 2014), “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas (#4 in 1995), and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” from The Lion King (#4 in 1994). The popularity of “Bruno” has also kept the film’s soundtrack at the top of Billboard’s Top 200 album chart. You can listen to “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” below.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for its 75th annual awards. Leading the pack with 11 film nods is Dune, many in the technical categories. With five nominations, West Side Story is the leading musical contender. TV presenters AJ Odudu and Tom Allen, who will serve as red carpet hosts for BAFTA’s EE British Academy Film Awards, presented the list of contenders at the academy’s recently refurbished building in London. An in-person award ceremony is scheduled for March 13 at Royal Albert Hall, with actress Rebel Wilson in her hosting debut.
The five nominations for West Side Story include Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose), Supporting Actor (Mike Faist), Casting (Cindy Tolan), Production Design (Adam Stockhausen, Rena Deangelo), and Sound (Brian Chumney, Tod Maitland, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom). Four nominations went to Cyrano, including Outstanding British Film, Production Design (Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer), Costume Design (Massimo Cantini Parrini), and Make Up & Hair (Alessandro Bertolazzi, Siân Miller).
Other musicals earning nods include Everybody’s Talking About Jamie for Outstanding British Film, Encanto for Animated Film, and Summer of Soul for Documentary and for Editing (Joshua L. Pearson). The nominees for Original Score are Being the Ricardos (Daniel Pemberton), Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell), Dune (Hans Zimmer), The French Dispatch (Alexandre Desplat), and The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood).
The entertainment talk show Variety Studio: Actors on Actors begins its 15th season this month. Curated by Variety Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis and Variety Chief Correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister, the series offers intimate discussions on craft and life by unique pairings of actors who gave memorable film performances over the past year. Below is the conversation between Golden Globe winners Andrew Garfield (Jonathan Larson in the biographical musical Tick … Tick, Boom!) and Rachel Zegler (Maria in the new musical adaptation of West Side Story), in which they discuss their love for musical theater, Stephen Sondheim, and what is what like keeping the secrets of Spider-Man: No Way Home for a full year.
New York theater critics have given mixed reviews to MJ, the new jukebox musical about pop icon Michael Jackson. The creative team includes Lynn Nottage (book), Jason Michael Webb (music direction, orchestrations), David Holcenberg (music supervision, orchestrations), Christopher Wheeldon (direction, choreography), Derek McLane (sets), Natasha Katz (lights), Paul Tazewell (costumes), Gareth Owen (sound), Peter Nigrini (projections), Charles LaPointe (hair & wigs). The cast includes Myles Frost (Michael Jackson), Quentin Earl Darrington (Joe Jackson, Rob), Whitney Bashor (Rachel), Gabriel Ruiz (Alejandro), Antoine L. Smith (Berry Gordy, Nick), Joey Sorge (Dave), John Edwards (Jackie Jackson), Ayana George (Katherine Jackson), Apollo Levine (Quincy Jones, Tito Jackson), Tavon Olds-Sample (Michael), Lamont Walker II (Jermaine Jackson), and Zelig Williams (Marlon Jackson). Walter Russell III and Christian Wilson alternate as Little Michael, while Devin Trey Campbell plays Little Marlon.
Deadline (Greg Evans): If MJ can’t contain the shock of the new that turned his 1983 television performance into an era-defining moment, it is in no short supply of its own thrills. … The third-rail allegations of child molestation go unstated if not entirely ignored. The approach is, historically speaking, defendable: The events of MJ are set in 1992 … a year before the public accusations and police investigations. … MJ pushes hard and unceasingly to move beyond the just-good-enough nostalgia that can turn even second-rate jukebox productions into crowd pleasers. It succeeds: MJ is a wildly entertaining marvel … a visual spectacle that would have dazzled the King himself.
Hollywood Reporter (Lovia Gyarkye): Who was Michael Jackson? That question was difficult to answer when he was alive and is even more so now after his death. MJ, a remarkable Broadway musical, … deftly probes this weighty topic. … The musical takes audiences through Jackson’s life and catalog with impressive ease, expertly chronicling major milestones. … But times have changed, especially the public’s scrutiny of celebrity accounts, along with conversations around what constitutes abuse and its impact on mental health. MJ will undoubtedly introduce a new generation to the artist’s work, but I wonder if it will cast the same spell.
New York Stage Review (Elysa Gardner): Myles Frost … does not disappoint. It’s all there: the gleaming tenor, by turns shivery and siren-like, and piercing falsetto; the elastic limbs and feet, sliding as if on ice, jumping and jerking in bursts that seem at once frenetic and impeccably controlled. … MJ neither defends its subject from the most serious charges against him nor urges us to distinguish between the artist and his art. Like most jukebox fare, it’s at its most winning when song and dance are in progress. … Whatever price he paid, or toll he exacted on others, will no doubt continue to be a source of speculation. Let’s just hope it’s not in another musical.
New York Times (Jesse Green): Michael Jackson was such a magnet for strange stories that they nearly obliterated his gift. Yet in defensively brushing off the ones that don’t matter while pointedly ignoring the one that does, the new musical MJ … may be the strangest Michael Jackson story yet. Not all strangeness is bad, of course, and within the confines of the biographical jukebox genre, MJ … is actually pretty good — for a while. … In the second half, the pleasure that compensated for its inherent ickiness can no longer do the job. … Ultimately, the problem with MJ is not its ethical stance but the way that stance distorts its value as entertainment. … We cannot understand or accept the main character if he’s deliberately kept from us.
Theater Mania (Zachary Stewart): With so many wildly divergent angles from which to approach the story of the late King of Pop, it should shock no one that [MJ] … settled on the least contested: Michael Jackson’s music is irresistible, and it is best when performed before a live audience. … The story seems to spring naturally from the imagination of its subject, making MJ more artful (and therefore more watchable) than most musicals of its kind. Much credit should go to Nottage for that. Wheeldon uses Nottage’s script as a springboard for fast-paced and dynamic staging. … The result is the most impressive dancing on any Broadway stage. … It’s going to be a big fat hit.
Time Out (Adam Feldman): The authorized biomusical MJ wants very much to freeze Michael Jackson in 1992. … Expertly directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, MJ does about as well as possible within its careful brief. In and of itself, it is a deftly crafted jukebox nostalgia trip. … The music and the dancing are sensational. And isn’t that, the show suggests, really the point in the end? … By setting the musical in 1992, MJ sidesteps the need to have Jackson address the abuse issue even as it touches sympathetically on other personal problems. … I left the theater entertained, but not convinced I had really seen the man in the smoke and mirrors.
Variety (Naveen Kumar): [MJ] is not so much a biomusical as a high-shine and surface-skimming rehabilitation tour for its late subject, flattening rather than reckoning with his complex legacy. … MJ narrows in on a troubled time for the artist, apparently for the sake of depicting him as a victim of the tabloid press and presenting an oblique denial of unspecified wrongdoing. … It’s an uncomfortable deflection that keeps the character’s humanity at a forced remove and hollows out the story’s core. But maybe it’s the closest to portraiture we can expect of an idol worshiped for his ambiguity and artifice as much as his soul.
Last night, Dear Evan Hansen Olivier winner Sam Tutty and X Factor alum Shan Ako hosted The Stage Awards 2022 ceremony at London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Sharing top honors as Theatre of the Year were Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre and the Battersea Arts Centre. The Marlowe was noted for its engagement efforts like its Projekt Europa residency for migrant artists and its Catalyst for Culture commissions. The Battersea was noted for its pay-what-you-can pricing and its Co-Creating Change partnership, which has awarded nearly £150,000 for projects in underserved communities.
London’s New Diorama Theatre was named best Fringe Theatre for the second time, while the West End’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane was named Theatre Building of the Year. Part of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres, the Drury Lane recently underwent a £60 refurbishment, reopening in June and welcoming the UK premiere of Frozen in August. Musical theater producer Michael Harrison, who presented the West End premiere of The Drifters Girl and UK tour of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, won Producer of the year.
The Innovation of the Year award went to the Theatre Green Book initiative for its work toward sustainability in the arts. Of the two new categories this year, Digital Project of the Year went to the National Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet, while Community Project of the Year went to teen theater Company Three’s When This Is Over, which was created to coincide with the COP26 UN climate conference in Glasgow. A special Unsung Hero Award was also dedicated to all of the understudies and covers who have kept shows across the UK up and running throughout the pandemic.
New York theater critics have given universally positive reviews to the new chamber opera Intimate Apparel, adapted by Lynn Nottage from her 2003 play that centers around Esther, an African-American seamtress in turn-of-the-century New York City. The creative team includes Ricky Ian Gordon (music), Lynn Nottage (libretto), Bartlett Sher (direction), Dianne McIntyre (choreography), Steven Osgood (music direction), Michael Yeargan (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes), Jennifer Tipton (lights), Marc Salzberg (sound), and 59 Productions (projections). The cast includes Justin Austin (George Armstrong), Errin Duane Brooks (Mr. Charles), Kearstin Piper Brown (Esther), Adrienne Danrich (Mrs. Dickson), Arnold Livingston Geis (Mr. Marks), Anna Laurenzo (Young Woman), Jasmine Muhammad (Corinna Mae), Naomi Louisa O’Connell (Mrs. Van Burne), Krysty Swann (Mayme), and Jorell Williams (Young Man). The production is booking through March 6 at Lincoln Center’s Off-Broadway Newhouse Theater.
New York Theatre Guide (Juan Michael Porter II): What is most remarkable about the new production … is that it continues to function as a play. There is no flattening of nuance or emotion. … Brown’s performance is much like Zuber’s magnificent costumes: contained and lovely, but even more magnificent once the top layers are removed to reveal the intricate undergirding below. … Gordon’s passages accentuate the storytelling, much like Esther’s designs flatter the forms of her customers. … Opera demands true storytelling, and when wedded with wonderful acting and directorial vision as it is here, the results are equal to and possibly greater than any play.
New York Times (Jesse Green): A woman so bent on betterment in an age that makes it almost impossible deserves the most serious and ambitious musical treatment available — and gets it. … Many plays sewn so tightly unravel completely as they stretch toward their crisis. Not Intimate Apparel; with its eye on the big picture, it maintains both its integrity and its tension to the end. … When Esther [says] “My life ain’t really worthy of words,” she means that she isn’t special enough to be made permanent on paper. That isn’t true; as Nottage and now Gordon have shown, she is worthy of even more. She is worthy of music that is finally worthy of her.
Theater Mania (Hayley Levitt): Intimate Apparel in its new musical form is allowed to keep its delicacy while also cutting enough seams to let its content soar to the rafters. … The text is pared down to its bare essentials to allow both literal and metaphorical space for composer Ricky Ian Gordon’s score to do its work. And while some of Nottage’s luscious verbiage is lost, Gordon’s music successfully plumbs the depths of the original piece. … As you march through Esther’s story of ambition, fortitude, and longing for love, only to see her etched in history as “unidentified Negro seamstress,” you’ll agree it’s an ending worthy of operatic tragedy.
Variety (Frank Rizzo): Rich vocal talents fill Ricky Ian Gordon’s sung-through music not just with soaring notes but with heartfelt expression. Leading them is the sensitive soul at the center of it all, a mesmerizing Kearstin Piper Brown. … Nottage has stripped down her play to a tight libretto. There’s an elegant, poetic simplicity in its essential journey of the human heart as it navigates matters of race, gender, religion and class. Overlaying it all is Gordon’s lush score. … Each act ends with large sepia-toned photographs of “unidentified Negros.” … This new and glorious opera reclaims their stories, passions and humanity as well as their rightful place woven into the American tapestry.
Netflix has released a new half-hour documentary short about the making of the Tick, Tick … Boom! (which you can watch below), featuring interviews with cast and creative team members Andrew Garfield, Robin de Jesús, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, and Vanessa Hudgens as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda. The film adapation of the 2001 Off-Broadway musical had its world premiere at the AFI Fest on November 10 and began streaming on Netflix on November 19. The film was well-received by critics, particularly for Garfield’s performance and Miranda’s direction, and earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) and Best Actor (Motion Picture Musical or Comedy), which Garfield won.
The year begins with four new notable musical theater-related books. First is Sportin’ Life (Oxford University Press), a biography of John W. Bubbles by Brian Harker. Bubbles was a groundbreaking tap dancer who inspired performers from Fred Astaire to the Nicholas Brothers. For more than 30 years, he was part of the vaudeville duo Buck and Bubbles, but his signature role was Sportin’ Life in the original Porgy and Bess. After a short film career, he made a comeback in television and concert work, playing comic foil to stars like Bob Hope, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, and Barbra Streisand. This compelling book tells his dramatic story for the first time.
Second is The Phantom of the Opera (Titan Comics), a graphic novel by writer Cavan Scott and artist José María Beroy. Based on the original libretto of the long-running musical, this authorized adaptation vividly illustrates the story set in 1881 Paris, as the cast and crew of a new production of Hannibal are terrorized by the mysterious Phantom of the Opera, a hideously disfigured man who lives beneath the Opera House. Hopelessly in love and obsessed with Christine Daaé, one of the opera’s chorus singers, the Phantom will stop at nothing to make her the star of the show … even if that means murder.
Third is B Is for Broadway (Doubleday Books for Young Readers), a picture book by writer John Roberty Alltman and artist Peter Emmerich. This sequel to A Is for Audra may be intended for ages 3 through 7, but it’s easily enjoyed by theater fans of all ages. From “Auditions” to “Ziegfeld,” this rhythmic alphabet book explores Broadway’s songs and shows, as well as its onstage talent and backstage artists, from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Patti LuPone, Michael Bennett to Jennifer Holliday, Ethel Merman to Billy Porter. It’s a colorful celebration of the American stage, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to The Actors Fund.
Fourth is Sondheim in Our Time and His (Oxford University Press), a wide-ranging collection edited by W. Anthony Sheppard that offers new perspectives on the landmark works and career of Stephen Sondheim. Each contributor explores an aspect of biography, collaboration, or context that has affected the creation and reception of Sondheim’s musicals. In addition, several authors explore how the shows themselves have been revised and adapted over the years, while others focus on individual musicals and specific topics throughout Sondheim’s career. This volume offers some intriguing thoughts about Sondheim’s work in his day and in ours.
