by Mike Haber | Nov 2, 2021 | Blog, Broadway, Casting, News, Shows
We’re celebrating the return of Broadway all Fall along. However, it does not mean we are free from what has happened within this past year and a half. Our Theater scene just like the rest of the world are continuing to follow current ongoing COVID-19 safety guidelines.
One of the many shows that just returned is the groundbreaking Award winning smash hit 9/11 musical
Come From Away. Earlier today, the Broadway company made Healthy & Safety Protocol video (done in the style you would see when you’re flying on a plane). This is all to make the best of your experience to be back at THE ROCK in a protected matter.
by Mike Haber | Nov 2, 2021 | Blog, Broadway, Casting, News, Shows
BREAKING NEWS:
Lindsay Pearce announced that she is aiming to return to the Broadway company of
WICKED around mid-December. The performer (best known for playing “Harmony” on
Glee) has been out of the Award winning
Stephen Schwartz musical just a week after it had just reopened on the Great Bright Way post pandemic this past September due to a leg injury. Pearce is taking extra precaution to take care of herself, heal, and recover.
She did reveal that she will start re-rehearsing the show at the end of of this month of November 30th, 2021.
Currently,
Jennifer DiNoia is back on the broom DEFYING GRAVITY 8 times a week as “Elphaba” fulltime as Pearce continues to recover. For those who may not know, DiNoia has been playing the role of the misunderstood green girl on the past 14 YEARS. She has done it on 4 continents. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, DiNoia returned to the Broadway production in 2019 (after having previously did a year long fulltime Principal contract from 2016-2017) once again serving as the standby for “Elphaba” (being the 1st to go on in Pearce is out).
With DiNoia taking over once again as the main principal “Elphaba”, her usual track as the standby currently is now temporary being performed by another returning alumni cast member
Alyssa Fox (most recently seen for the last 3 years as the standby for “Elsa” in Disney’s
Frozen).
Continue to get better Lindsay.
We will see you back in OZ soon.
by Mike Haber | Nov 2, 2021 | Blog, Broadway, Casting, News, Shows
DELICIOUS NEWS: She’s played a ringmaster, a mysterious free-spirited gypsy, and an icy princess turned snow queen. Now,
Ciara Renée (Broadway’s
Pippin and last seen before the COVID shutdown as “Elsa” in Disney’s
Frozen plus the US Premiere of the stage version of Disney’s
The Hunchback of Notre Dame) is making her way to the diner to show bake some of the most delicious pies on Broadway as she joins the cast of the limited engagement revival of the Tony and Grammy nominated
Waitress.
Beginning November 29th, 2021 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, the Broadway favorite will take over the lead role of “Jenna Hunterson”. She stays with the production till its final performance on January 9th, 2022.
Renée succeeds Grammy Award winner
Jennifer Nettles who ends her limited engagement playing the role of the pregnant pie maker with big dreams on November 24th, 2021.
by Mike Haber | Nov 2, 2021 | Blog, Broadway, News, Shows
SNAP, CLICK! After 20 months dark and a recent debut on
Netflix, Broadway is ready to LIGHT THE WORLD. Tonight, the royal new musical
Diana officially relaunches its Broadway run. The show resumes preview performances before officially having its long awaited Opening Night on November 17th, 2021 at the Longacre Theatre.
DIANA was one of the few newer shows that was just getting started at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. It had completed only a week and a half of previews with an initial Opening for March 31st, 2021. However, the show was put on hold due to to Live Theaters dark.
Break a leg to the entire cast, crew, musicians, and creative team!!
by Mike Haber | Nov 2, 2021 | Blog, Broadway, News, Shows
OMIGOD BROADWAY FANS!! Live Theater back along with fans gathering around to experience New York’s MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET is just 23 DAYS AWAY. The 95th Annual
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is almost here. To get us in the mood of how amazing this parade has continued to give the Theater community so much love, we just want to give super SNAPS to our friends at New York Broadway Tours as they continue their TOP 30 TONY AWARDS COUNTDOWN. They got an iconic Broadway number that we can ALL relate to bursting into song and dance.
At # 23 on the countdown, we get to know the life of a certain popular UCLA fashion icon and Sorority President who follows her Harvard Law School boyfriend just to win him back by becoming a fellow lawyer. On the way, she discovers more about herself and learns to be true to the way she is no matter what people think. This is
Legally Blonde. Based on the book by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film of the same name, the musical features a score by husband and wife composing duo Nell Benjamin and Laurence O’Keefe along with a book by
Heather Hach.
From the 2007 NBC Telecast, Tony Award nominee
Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods” and the cast stalk Dean of Harvard Law in Herald Square to show the world that “Elle” is SERIOUS and the right material for the Law School in the show stopping number…. Very appropriate for a parade since there’s a Marching Band and a cheerleading squad in it…… WHAT YOU WANT.
FUN FACT ABOUT THIS PERFORMANCE: As you might notice, the cast are wearing their show T-Shirts instead of their usual costumes they wear in the show 8 times a week. Around that time of the parade, Broadway shows were actually shut down but very briefly due to that year’s Stagehands Union Strike.
LEGALLY BLONDE was developed through early readings and workshops labs around 2004 and 2005. It would have its world premiere out-of-town run in San Francisco, LEGALLY BLONDE arrived at Broadway’s Palace Theatre in 2007 running for 30 previews and 595 regular performances. Under the direction and choreography by
Jerry Mitchell, the cast was led by….
2 time Tony winner Christian Borle as “Emmett Forrest”,
Richard H. Blake as “Warner Huntington III”,
Tony nominee
Orfeh as “Paulette”
Nikki Snelson (later Nicolette Hart) as “Brooke Wyndham”,
future Tony winner
Annaleigh Ashford (later Haven Burton and Kate Rockwell) as “Margot”,
Olivier winner and 2 time Tony nominee
Andy Karl as “Kyle”.
The show earned mixed reviews but still went on to be nominated for 7
Tony Awards in 2007 including BEST LEADING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL (for Laura Bell Bundy) and BEST ORIGINAL SCORE (for Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin). But it lost all it’s categories.
Following its Broadway run, the show went on to become an International hit across North America, London’s West End (where it took home glory at the
Olivier Awards for BEST NEW MUSICAL), Australia, and more.
During its run on Broadway, LEGALLY BLONDE made history as the first Broadway show ever filmed for
MTV. It featured a whole performance of the show filmed in front of an invited audience all dressed in pink and hosted by
Lauren Conrad,
Audrina Patridge, and
Whitney Eve Port from the MTV show
The Hills. It featured an entire performance of the show plus behind the scenes footage.
Following the success of the MTV performance, the channel continued to support the show by presenting a reality casting TV show to help search for a newcomer leading lady to replace Laura Bell Bundy as “Elle Woods”. It was called perfectly enough LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL: THE SEARCH FOR ELLE WOODS. The winner was Bailey Hanks who played the role for the remainder of the run. The series was hosted by Haylie Duff (who also served as mentor of the aspiring “Elle’s”). In addition, they were judged and critiqued by the show’s casting director Bernard Telsey of
Telsey & Company Casting, the show’s book writer Heather Hach, and LEGALLY BLONDE Ensemble member Paul Canaan. Each episode featured the girls in an intense callback boot camp learning material from the show, acting exercises, being mentored, and performing with members of the cast. At the end of each episode, the 3 weakest “Elle Woods” wannabes were sent to the casting office where the panel would determine who would continue and be eliminated. Some of the runner-up’s for the role of “Elle” who were eliminated went on to even better Broadway successes including…
Autumn Hurlbert (who ended up appearing in the Ensemble and understudied “Elle” and recently seen as “Portia” on the tour of
Something Rotten),
Today, LEGALLY BLONDE: THE MUSICAL continues to be performed in schools, regional, and community theaters everywhere.
How fabulous was that performance?