Datebook: Week of January 23, 2005
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 23
ALSO: Lincoln Center Theater's revival of The Rivals plays its final performance at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre… Brooklyn, The Musical welcomes the Actors' Fund of America for a special benefit performance… Heather Raffo's Nine Parts of Desire closes at off-Broadway's Ensemble Theatre.
A LITTLE LITERARY CLASSIC SINGS
After years in the works, the Broadway musical version of Louise May Alcott's Little Women opens tonight at the Virginia Theatre. The Civil War-era story of headstrong Jo March and her sisters growing up in Concord, Massachusetts, the show stars Tony winner Sutton Foster (Thoroughly Modern Millie, at left), Megan McGinnis (Beauty and the Beast), Jenny Powers and Amy McAlexander with Broadway and nightclub vet Maureen McGovern making a welcome return to the stage as Marmee. After the bows, the cast will celebrate with a swanky affair at Tavern on the Green.
Little Women plays at the Virginia Theatre, 245 West 52nd Street. Click for tickets and more information!
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MONDAY, JANUARY 24
ALSO: Before Ferguson takes the stage, John Tartaglia--currently in his final week in Broadway's Avenue Q--brings back his acclaimed Joe's Pub show John Tartaglia AD-LIBerty for an encore presentation at 7PM… Standup stars like Joy Behar, Kate Clinton, Rick Crom, Colin Quinn and the cast of off-Broadway's Newsical join host Jim David at 7PM for a night of Comedy Cares at Caroline's on Broadway, benefitting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
SPELLING BEE STAR SINGS OUT
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (left), the copper-topped performer who first made a splash as Chip in George C. Wolfe's short-lived On the Town revival and is currently part of the cast of off-Broadway's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, makes his solo Joe's Pub debut tonight. The funny, funny boy promises to "name drop, practice the art of storytelling and sing the music of William Finn and Michael John LaChiusa" in the hourlong set.
Jesse Tyler Ferguson plays at the Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, at 9:30PM. Tickets are $15. Click for more information!
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TUESDAY, JANUARY 25
ALSO: In music stores pick up the PS Classics recording of Lincoln Center Theater's The Frogs, sure to be a powerful tool to help woo Tony nominators in the spring... Also on CD is the "original cast recording" of off-Broadway's The Marijuana-Logues on Comedy Central Records, featuring tracks like "If Pot Could Talk," "Best Weed Ever" and "Bong/Joint/Pipe."
MEET THOM PAIN
Downtown hipster actor James Urbaniak starts performances off-Broadway tonight as Thom Pain, the role that won him the Best Actor Award at the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival last year. The ordinary man at the center of hot playwright Will Eno's Thom Pain (based on nothing), the character muses on childhood, yearning, disappointment and loss in this solo play. Critics raved for the show overseas so head over to the DR2 Theatre now and get your tickets for this sure-to-be hot ticket.
Thom Pain (based on nothing) opens at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th Street, on February 1. Tickets are available at the theater box office.
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26
ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR PHANTOM
Phantom, Phantom, Phantom! We know you can't escape the mega-musical these days, but the Andrew Lloyd Webber phenomenon has something to crow about tonight. It's champagne time over at the Majestic Theatre (again!), where the cast and crew of the musical celebrate their 17th birthday on Broadway. The show currently features a trio of terrific longtime stars: Hugh Panaro as The Phantom, Sandra Joseph as Christine and John Cudia as Raoul. A new addition to the company is Anne Runolfsson--who stood by for Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria in the role of grande dame Carlotta.
The Phantom of the Opera plays at the Majestic Theatre, 247 West 44th Street. Click for tickets and more information!
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THURSDAY, JANUARY 27
ALSO: Tony winner Anthony Crivello (Kiss of the Spider Woman) headlines an INTAR Theatre workshop of a new flamenco musical set on the eve of the Spanish Civil War called Deep Song.
REEFER MADNESS PREMIERES AT SUNDANCE
Reefer Madness, the grossly underrated Los Angeles cult musical that failed to find an audience when it opened off-Broadway shortly after 9/11, may be ready the big time. Tonight, the Showtime adaptation of the hilarious cautionary tale of sodapop sweethearts Jimmy and Mary who fall into a deadly descent into reefer hell, premieres for the hip crowd of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Stage director Andy Fickman helms the film with off-Broadway castmembers Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, John Kassir and Robert Torti (as Jesus) still onboard with exciting new co-stars including Neve Campbell (left), Alan Cumming, Ana Gasteyer, Steven Weber and Amy Spanger.
Reefer Madness plays today through Saturday at the Sundance Film Festival and premieres later this spring on Showtime.
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FRIDAY, JANUARY 28
PATRICK WILSON SUCKS ON SUNDANCE CANDY
With Phantom now over with and done, Patrick Wilson unveils his next film project out at the aforementioned Sundance Film Festival at tonight's midnight screening, one of four. Shot on a shoestring budget last year, Hard Candy is a psychological thriller that casts Wilson as a thirtysomething professional who meets up at a coffee shop with a teenage girl that he picked up on the Internet. The creation of director David Slade and screenwriter Brian Nelson, the intense two-character flick is being said to be filled with "tension that goes from flirtatious to dangerous as smoothly as a scalpel through flesh." Might this be the big screen breakthrough Patrick's Broadway fans have been waiting for?
Hard Candy plays January 23, 25, 28 and 29 at the Sundance Film Festival.
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SATURDAY, JANUARY 29
ROCK GODS AND GO-GO GODDESSES AT 1966
Is 1966 a musical? A concert? Let's just call it an event and leave it at that. The brainchild of longtime Broadway publicist Judy Jacksina (who is also directing), 1966 recreates a night on the legendary Sunset Strip in the 1960s, when the rock and roll bands still had edge and the go-go girls had, well, fringe. The press materials for the show promise that the once-a-week off-Broadway engagement will start tonight and "run every Saturday night at 8PM until we've made our point." Now that's a statement!
1966 plays at the Flamingo a Go Go, 547 West 21st Street. Tickets are available at the box office.
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