Datebook: Week of January 9, 2005
A new year brings new ideas and an openness to change, which is exactly what I want to talk to all of you about today.
I've made a decision to "retire" my Stage Notes column to allow myself to focus my energies on some exciting new projects coming down the I-9 here at Broadway.com. I can't talk about anything officially yet, but let's just say that 2005 will bring new visions, new sections and even some transatlantic travel!
Thanks for all of your continued support. It's been fun getting to know so many of you via e-mail over the past 20 months, so keep in touch!
One of my new projects is the Broadway.com Datebook, which I'm premiering in these pages to get the ball rolling. I believe the Datebook will become an invaluable guide to the goings-on in our little theater world. I hope you enjoy it!
Signing off, for now.
Paul Wontorek
Editor-in-Chief
MONDAY, JANUARY 10______________________________________________________
CHARLOTTE ROCKS CHICAGO...AGAIN
Longtime Broadway baby (and genuine triple threat) Charlotte d'Amboise returns to the role of Chicago's Roxie Hart, a part she's played to great acclaim on and off for several runs both on Broadway and in the national tour. The pixie phenom is one of the best Roxies the production's got to offer so a return visit may be in store if you've never seen her in the role. Tonight, d'Amboise rejoins a company which includes current stars Terra C. MacLeod (Velma Kelly), Brent Barrett (Billy Flynn), Anne L. Nathan (Mama Morton) and P.J. Benjamin (Amos Hart).
Chicago plays at the Ambassador Theatre, 219 West 49th Street. Click for tickets and more info!
ALSO: Longtime Producers star Brad Oscar makes his West End debut as Max Bialystock in the London production of the show, which recently won the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical. (Click for tickets and more info!)
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 11
HIGH TIME FOR HURLYBURLY
As Lily Rabe, his college-aged daughter with Jill Clayburgh, prepares to make her Broadway debut in the Steel Magnolias, playwright David Rabe revisits his 1984 sensation that helped put her through school. Starring Ethan Hawke (left) as Eddie, a fast-talking, coke-sniffing Hollywood casting director, The New Group's revival of Hurlyburly starts performances today and opens January 27. Also featured in the impressive cast are Bobby Cannavale, Josh Hamilton, Catherine Kellner, Parker Posey, Wallace Shawn and young newcomer Halley Wegryn Gross. New Group artistic director Scott Elliot directs Rabe's reworked script.
Hurlyburly plays at The Acorn Theatre in the Theatre Row complex, 410 West 42nd Street (between 9th and 10th Avenues). Click for more info!
ALSO: William Finn's quirky new musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee—a hit in the Berkshires last summer—starts previews at Second Stage… Geraldine Hughes brings her one-woman play Belfast Blues, "one wee girl's story of family, war, Jesus and Hollywood," to off-Broadway's The Culture Project… Former Spin City co-stars Richard Kind and Alan Ruck are reunited as Broadway's newest Bialystock & Bloom pairing in The Producers… David Ayers (Fiddler on the Roof) and Jeffrey Kuhn (Assassins) join the company of Wicked, as Fiyero and Boq, respectively. (Click for tickets and more info!)
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 13
ALL SHOOK UP FACES WINDY CITY CRITICS
All Shook Up, the newest show to weave an original story around the familiar hits of a recording artist (in this case, the King himself, Mr. Elvis Presley), opens for critics in Chicago. Directed by Christopher Ashley with a book by Joe DiPietro, the musical comedy features a cast of theater faves: Cheyenne Jackson (left) as a lonely brooder, Jennifer Gambatese as the tomboy who loves him and Jonathan Hadary, Leah Hocking, Nikki M. James, John Jellison, Alix Korey, Mark Price and Sharon Wilkins as a collection of lovelorn locals in 1950s small-town America. Following this out-of-town run, he show will start performances at Broadway's Palace Theatre on February 23.
All Shook Up plays at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 West Randolph Street, through January 23. Click for tickets and more info!
ALSO: Fresh off a well-received out-of-town run in California, Donald Margulies' Brooklyn Boy—about a novelist who hits the big time—starts performances at Broadway's Biltmore Theatre, courtesy of Manhattan Theatre Club. (Click for tickets and more info!)
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 14
CAROLINE AT THE CURRAN
Everyone's favorite disgruntled maid (with the possible exception of Florence Johnston from TV's The Jeffersons) is still at it! That's right—Caroline Thibodeux, the heroine of the Caroline, or Change has taken her show on the road—landing at San Francisco's Curran Theatre tonight. A collaboration between librettist/lyricist Tony Kushner, composer Jeanine Tesori and director George C. Wolfe, Caroline is a love-it-or-hate-it shows but one you just have to see to believe—after all, how often does one encounter singing washing machines and transit buses? Recreating their acclaimed Broadway performances are leading lady Tonya Pinkins (left) and Anika Noni Rose, who won a 2004 Tony Award in the role of Caroline's considerably more upbeat daughter.
Caroline, or Change plays San Francisco's Curran Theatre, 445 Geary Street, through February 20. Click for more info!
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