GOOD MORNING BROADWAY FANS. You are waking up with New York Broadway Tours’ Top 30 Tony Awards countdown playing you the best from the past telecast over the last 70 years. We are just 6 days away from Broadway’s Biggest night of the year.
Today at #6 on our countdown is a Musical that originally started as another acclaimed animated film from Disney. It features spectacular sets, costumes, puppets, and celebrating the traditions of the south African cultures. This is of course The Lion King – Musical written by Elton John, Tim Rice, Roger Allers, Irene Mecchi, and more.
From the 1998 telecast, Tsidii Le Loka and members of the original cast perform the show’s spectacular opening and theme song “CIRCLE OF LIFE.”
THE LION KING originally premiered in Minneapolis in 1997 before heading over to Broadway’s beautifully restored New Amsterdam Theatre and later transferring to its current home at the Minskoff. It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 1998 winning 8, including Best Musical. In addition, Julie Taymor who is known for directing, designing sets, costumes, and many more made Broadway History as the first female ever to win for Best Direction of a Musical. The show continues to play to packed houses every night and currently holds the distinction as the 3rd longest running show in Broadway History. It has played way over 7,000 performances so far.
Isn’t this musical a spectacular like no other or what?
HELLO BROADWAY FANS. It’s almost here. Broadway’s Biggest night is almost here and 7 days away. You are once again waking up to some of the best performances from the past 70 years on our Top 30 Tony Awards?countdown.
At #7 on our countdown is not your typical religious musical. It’s filled with the history of this religion, comedy, and lots of R-rated humor. We of course are talking about The Book of Mormon on Broadway written by Bobby Lopez, Matt Stone, and Trey Parker.
From the 2012 telecast, Nic Rouleau and members of the cast opened up that year’s telecast with the show’s opening welcome song “HELLO.”
THE BOOK OF MORMON premiered at Broadway’s Eugene O’Neil Theatre in 2011 breaking its box office records and earning critical acclaim. It’s been running for 5 years already with over 2,000 performances and continues to sell out every night on Broadway, on Tour, in London, and soon in Australia. The show was nominated for 13 Tonys that year winning 9, including Best Musical.
Isn’t this show filled with lot of laughs and show-stopping performances?
GOOD MORNING BROADWAY FANS! Broadway’s Biggest night is only 8 days away and our Top 30 Tony Awards countdown continues playing you the best from the past telecast.
At #8 is a musical that continues to haunt audiences 8 times a week. A disfigured man, his one obsession, and a massive falling chandelier. This is the story of course of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s long-running musical masterpiece,?The Phantom of the Opera. It was co-written by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe.
From the 1988 telecast, Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman perform the show’s iconic Lair scene featuring the title song and the timeless “THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT.”
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA originally captivated audiences in London’s West End in 1986 at its still running home at Her Majesty’s Theatre winning 4 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical. With the buzz in London, the show was brought over to its still running home at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in 1988. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards that same year winning 7, including Best Musical. Phantom has no closing in sight in London’s West End (where it’s currently the 2nd longest running show in West End history) or on Broadway (where it is the 1st longest running show in Broadway history surpassing the original Cats in 2006). The show has played so far over 12,000 ? 13,000 performances in both places.
RISE AND SHINE BROADWAY FANS. You are waking up to the best of the past 70 years of the Tony Awards in our Top 30 Tony Awards countdown. Broadway’s Biggest night of the year is only 9 days away.
At #9 today on our countdown is a rock musical based on a 100-year-abandoned German play about teenagers going through changes in their body and adults not telling you all the details. This is of course Duncan Sheik and Stephen Sater’s rock musical smash Spring Awakening.
From the 2007 telecast, Pre-Glee stars Lea Michele and Tony-nominee (for the 2nd time this year)?Jonathan Groff, along with Tony-winner John Gallagher, Jr. and cast members of the original production perform a medley of some of the show’s high energy, angry, and show-stopping songs including “MAMA WHO BORE ME,” “THE B**** OF LIVING,” and “TOTALLY F*****.”
SPRING AWAKENING originally premiered Off-Broadway at Atlantic Theatre Company before moving on to Broadway’s Eugene O’Neill Theatre for a total of 888 performances. It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2007 and won 8, including Best Musical. The most recent revival (which originally ran for a 2-year stint by the Deaf West Theatre in LA) played a limited engagement at Broadway’s Brooks Atkinson Theatre for 152 performances. The production was known for having deaf actors sign the show while the hearing actors sang the score live. It is nominated again this year for 3 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. In addition, a KickStarter has been made for fans to help the revival give the show a chance to perform on the Tony Awards telecast this year.
Doesn’t this musical make you want to break free, scream at the world, and rock out?
HELLO THERE BROADWAY FANS. It’s getting closer to Broadway’s biggest night of the year which is only 10 days away. This is the point in our Top 30?Tony Awards Countdown playing you the best Top 10 performances.
At #10 in our countdown is one of the most groundbreaking musicals that ever hit Broadway in the 90’s. It changed a face of a generation bringing more younger audiences to the Theatre. It’s a story of love, loss, struggling, and letting your voice be heard. The show is of course Jonathan Larson‘s legendary hit RENT.
From the 1996 telecast, the original cast perform a medley of two of the show’s anthems, “SEASONS OF LOVE” and “LA VIE BOHEME.”
RENT (a rock Opera based on PUCCINI’S LA BOHEME) first premiered Off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1996 before transferring to Broadway’s Nederlander Theatre that same year playing a total of 5,123 performances (currently the 10th Longest Running Show in Broadway History). It was nominated for 10 Tonys that year and won 4, including Best Musical. It also made history as one of the few musicals to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. RENT was later revived Off-Broadway at New World Stages for 482 performances. Coming up later this year in celebration of its 20th Anniversary, RENT will be heading back to the road.
FUN FACT: Unfortunately, Jonathan Larson never lived to see RENT in its worldwide success. On the morning of the musical’s first public preview performance at the New York Theatre Workshop, he unexpectedly died of an aortic aneurysm. Due to the emotional loss of their friend, the cast and creative team came together and decided to cancel the first preview publicly and instead invited all of Jonathan’s friends and family for a special memorial edition of the show. His family and friends showed up crying and being moved by the entire show. At the very end, there was a moment of silence and someone cried out, “THANK YOU JONATHAN LARSON.” From there, RENT became a worldwide hit on stage and on screen twice (the 2005 film adaptation in which a majority of the original cast reprised their roles, and the 2008 filmed performance of the show’s closing performance on Broadway). In addition, RENT also launched the careers that introduced some of the biggest names of Stage and Screen, including Tony Award-winning superstar Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Anthony Rapp, Adam Pascal,?Jesse L. Martin, and more. It also opened the door to a future generation of contemporary Musical Theatre composers now earning that same success as Jonathan, including Tony and Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey and one of our very own Lin-Manuel Miranda who is nominated again this year for another groundbreaking musical which has been called THE NEW RENT OF THE 2010 ERA,?Hamilton: An American Musical.
For all you RENT-heads out there, most recently we at New York Broadway Tours have launched our all new INSPIRATION OF RENT Walking Tour taking you guys around the East Village to key places whether mentioned in the show or places that Jonathan Larson was inspired by to write for the musical.
GOOD MORNING BROADWAY FANS! It’s getting closer to that time of year again. Broadway’s Biggest night is only 12 days away and we at New York Broadway Tours are continuing our Top 30 Tony Awards countdown playing you the best Musical Theatre performances from the past telecasts.
At #12 today is well known as a TALE AS OLD AS TIME. This is of course the great classic story of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. It was written by Alan Menken (Music), Time Rice (Lyrics), the late Howard Ashman (Lyrics), and Linda Woolverton (Book).
From the 1994 telecast, Tony nominees Susan Egan, Terrence Mann, Burke Moses, Gary Beach, and cast members perform a medley of scenes and songs from the show.
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (which was Disney’s first ever attempt at Broadway and based on the beloved Oscar winning animated film) premiered in 1994 at Broadway’s Palace Theatre and later transferred to the Lunt Fontanne Theatre where it played a total of 5,507 performances. It was nominated for 9 Tonys that year, winning only 1 for Best Costume Design for Ann Hould-Ward. It’s currently the 9th Longest Running Show in Broadway History and is currently still being performed on tour across America as well as productions (schools, community theatres, regional theatres, and more) around the world. Coming up March 17th, 2017, Disney will release it’s all new LIVE ACTION remake of the musical featuring an all star cast. It will feature all the songs we loved from the Animated film plus some new songs from Alan Menken and Tim Rice written especially for the live action remake. Sadly, it will not feature Menken and Rice’s songs that were written for the stage version.
FUN FACT: During the Broadway run when Grammy Award winner Toni Braxton was playing the role of Belle, Alan Menken and Tim Rice wrote an additional song for the show especially for her entitled A CHANGE IN ME. In addition, when Ashley Brown made her Broadway Debut as the 15th Actress ever to play Belle after having sung the song on the National Tour of the the shorten lived Disney revue ON THE RECORD, the ending was changes to more a higher belt and grander orchestrations. Because it fit so well with the story, the song is still in all productions today.
