Saturday, April 27, 2024My girlfriend, whose love of Ingrid Michaelson knows no bounds, made me go see "The Notebook" on Broadway and I cried for 2 1/2 hours straight. The much anticipated premiere of "The Notebook" a new musical by Ingrid Michaelson at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre brought a captivating and emotional experience to the audience. Everyone knows both the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel as well as the 2004 film staring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. The film has become ubiquitious when talking about great love stories and the unwavering eventual end of every love story. The seamless transition between the modern nursing home
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Henry Nalyor Talks About “Afghanistan is Not Funny”
Henry Naylor brought is award winning one-man show "Afghanistan is Not Funny" at the Soho Playhouse as part of its International Fringe Encore festival. In between performing to packed houses, he was kind enough to answer a few questions from Stagebiz. Stagebiz: What did you think you were going to find when you left for Afghanistan? What were your pre-conceived ideas and how right or wrong were you? HN: I’d followed the post 9/11 Afghan War obsessively on the news. So my perceptions were shaped – and distorted - by our well-meaning media. Inevitably because I watched the British news, I believed that
BroadwayCon Reveals Star-Studded Line-Up
BROADWAYCON REVEALS STAR-STUDDED LINE-UP OF TOP BROADWAY SHOWS AND PERFORMERS FOR ITS HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED IN-PERSON RETURN TO NEW YORK CITY Performers from A Strange Loop, POTUS, CHICAGO, Dear Evan Hansen, Hamilton, Disney Princess - The Concert, and Beetlejuice among many others, are confirmed to appear at this year’s event, July 8-10, 2022 NEW YORK, NY – June 2, 2022 – BroadwayCon, the premiere fan convention for all things Broadway, today announced the programming lineup, featuring performances and appearances from some of Broadway’s biggest shows and influential names in theater. Taking place, July 8-10, 2022 at the Manhattan Center & The New Yorker Hotel,
Karl Mansfield: A Broadway Piano Man, and More
David Byrne's American Utopia has had an interesting, pandemic-interrupted run on Broadway, and it will be closing at the St. James Theatre April 3. This seemed an appropriate time to reflect on the way the show has developed and played. Karl Mansfield, the show's musical director, has been kind enough to talk to Stagebiz.com about the project. Stagebiz: How did you get involved in the development of American Utopia? KM: I was conductor, keyboardist, and synthesizer programmer for David’s Joan of Arc at the Public Theater, in 2017. When he needed someone to perform those same duties for his 2018 American Utopia
New York Theatre is Back!
New York Theatre is reopening! Here are the shows that were running when the pandemic shut us down that are returning: Hadestown From September 2 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Waitress From September 2 (for a limited run through January 9) at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Chicago From September 14 at the Ambassador. Hamilton From September 14 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The Lion King From September 14 at the Minskoff Theatre. Wicked From September 14 at the Gershwin Theatre. Come From Away From September 21 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Moulin Rouge! The Musical From September 24 at the Al Hirschfield Theatre. Aladdin From September 28 at the
Adapting a Theater to the New Normal
This letter arrived in my email inbox late last week, and I think it bears sharing with the readers of Stagebiz.com. Erez Ziv is in charge of both the Kraine Theater and Under St. Mark's as well as being the managing artistic director of the Frigid New York festival. He has undertaken significant and expensive changes to the physical layout of the Kraine, and it is the kind of thing most theater and performance spaces need to do. Remember, performances in New York City are coming back April 2. After a year of shuttered venues, streaming performances, and lots of planning
Now Playing — A “Playhouse 90” for the 21st Century
The Pandemic has shuttered New York Theatre, and London is operating with limited capacity. Live entertainment is on hold. Yet the desire for story-telling, the urge to see something new is greater because we are all in various stages of lockdown. Artists are a bit like nature in that they abhor a vacuum, and where there is a theatrical void, artists will try to fill it. That brings us to a new venture by Jay Michaels and Mary Elizabeth Micari -- “Now Playing” will be a new theatre streaming service on “CHANNEL I”. StageBiz: First off, tell us about CHANNEL
Casey York is New Off-Broadway League President
The Off Broadway League today announced the election of Casey York as its new President. The organization also announced two new officers, Evan O’Brient as 2nd VP, and Steven Chaikelson as Treasurer and four new board members: Emily Currie, Toni Davis, Teresa Gozzo, and Kyle Provost. York replaces Terry Byrne who served in the role of President for two years and was on the Board of directors since 1993. The leadership transition at the volunteer-led organization occurs six months into an unprecedented and historic shutdown that has resulted in the suspension or cancellation of countless Off-Broadway productions to date, with
Technology Brings Theater to the Home
The constrictions the theater community has faced in the wake of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic are unlike anything we have had to face in our lifetime. And while there is no way of knowing when traditional theaters will reopen, technology has offered fans a wealth of options to remain sated: Professionally recorded productions are being released online and live performances are being broadcast from actors’ homes, keeping the artform alive in a different way. Preserved for Posterity The National Theatre has been releasing previously recorded productions on YouTube each week for limited “runs” of several days, encouraging viewers to donate to the
Helping Theatre Survive the Current Unpleasantness
Stagebiz.com has been the beneficiary of a lot of support and plain affection from the NY theatre industry in the last few years. From the big Broadway shows to the black-box theatres to the press agents large and small, each has been more than generous to our reviewers and by extension our readers. In order to keep as many afloat as possible, we are going to provide you links that will allow you to give what you can to aid these artists and entrepreneurs during the pandemic. One of my personal favorites is Frigid New York in my old neighborhood -- the