December 23, 2008
Melora Hardin, who plays a recurring role on NBC's "The Office," will be taking over the role of Roxie Hart for a limited engagement with the Broadway production of Chicago from December 29th to February 12th. While this will mark Hardin's Broadway debut, she is no stranger to singing, having previously played a seductive chanteuse in Disney's The Rocketeer and releasing two albums of her own. Hardin is best known for her work on "The Office," but she has also been featured on the hit USA series "Monk" and "Cover Me," as well as the upcoming Hannah Montana Movie with Miley Cyrus and Seventeen Again with Hairspray's Zac Efron. Tickets are currently on sale for Hardin's seven-week limited engagement.
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broadway, chicago, cover me, hairspray, hannah montana, melora hardin, miley cyrus, monk, musical, roxie hart, seventeen again, the office, zac efron
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Posted on 12/23/2008
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December 22, 2008
In the case of Broadway V. Harry Potter, Et Al, the main consideration is this: can a child actor, constrained by a role he's played since he was twelve, expect to be taken seriously by theater-goers and the Broadway intelligencia? What's more, can he overcome that role after five films and before three more? It's difficult to think of Equus outside of its apparent function of breaking Daniel Radcliffe out of his mainstream perception as the do-gooder wizard, and, in truth, a great deal of the buzz surrounding the play has to do with the very fact that this nineteen year-old actor is trying to shatter his million-dollar mold. There's an argument to be made for Radcliffe's involvement in the revival of Paul Shaffer's play being the stuff of a great PR firm, but with Richard Griffiths—Harry Potter's Uncle Vernon, in other words—there's an argument to be made that maybe—just maybe—this all happened rather organically.
Equus itself, however, can be approached without prejudice. Now over thirty years old, Paul Shaffer's play has endured throughout the years for very good reason. The pacing and phrasing of dialogue—both as performed on stage and as read in the play itself—is as rhymthic as a hymnal; the movement of the story never stops or bloats. Themetically, the play pits the worshipful against the worshipless as Alan Strang (Radcliffe) is put right by Dr. Martin Dysart (Griffiths): while Dysart sighs over the distant majesty of Greek mythology and questions the sterile, passionless results of his life's work, Strang embraces—shamelessly—what he believes to be a real, living god.
Despite what audiences may think going into the play, Daniel Radcliffe is, for the most part, a supporting actor in target="_blank">Equus, taking center stage off and on throughout the play. He does shrug off the gold-and-red mantle pretty successfully, if only because Alan Strang couldn't be further from the bespectacled wizard. There is a coldness to Radcliffe's performance that is preternatural, and he evokes the dark spirituality of his character with chilling precision. Equus is the hump for Radcliffe, a necessary one where his performance that cannot be talked about without referencing the Harry Potter franchise, and in February, when he puts Equus behind him, he'll turn to find that he's cleared the hump quite well.
From the first curtain, Richard Griffiths is the play's magnetic north, its molten core. The trick of Equus is that it is deeply disturbing and diabolically clever at the very same time, in an equal and balanced measure that never makes an absurdity out of either characteristic. While Paul Shaffer's writing bears the most blame for this tremendous feat, the whole house of cards would collapse without Griffiths' affable congeniality, his self-loathing deprecation, and the dark whimsy of his delivery. Dysart is unable to reconcile his exaltation of the godly with the defilement he perpetrates upon the children he treats, but Griffiths makes him sympathetic instead of monstrous and delivers the intent of Shaffer's writing with a precision above that of Dysart's scalpel. Like the set design, Griffiths' portrayal is sparse at first glace, but as he and the other actors move the four blocks that comprise the main set pieces into a doctor's office, a private hospital room, a suburban home, and a bed of straw, Griffiths moves the dark, simple shapes of his character into unthought-of architecture, a complex structure made of the simplest shapes and angles.
With a little over a month left in the limited engagement, Equus will soon fade from the minds of theater-goers who meant to go and Harry Potter fans who lined up at the Broadhurst's back door instead of at the box office, but for those who saw it, the play will linger for a long time.
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broadhurst theater, broadway, daniel radcliffe, equus, harry potter, kate mulgrew, paul shaffer, richard griffiths
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Posted on 12/22/2008
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December 16, 2008
Hollywood heavyweights John Goodman and David Strathairn are set to join Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin in the Roundabout Theatre's upcoming revival of Samuel Beckett's groundbreaking Waiting For Godot at Studio 54. The big-name cast seems to be a fattening exercise in otherwise lean times, with strapped producers trying their best to ensure their productions have longevity. With the field thinning considerably after the new year, there will be less mouths at the feast, but it's important to keep in mind that a star-studded cast didn't help American Buffalo. Waiting For Godot begins previews on April 10th, 2009.
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american buffalo, beckett, bill irwin, broadway, david strathairn, hollywood, john goodman, nathan lane, previews, roundabout theatre, samuel beckett, studio 54, waiting for godot
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Posted on 12/16/2008
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December 08, 2008
As the economy constricts, Broadway is feeling the pinch rather quickly. In the first two weeks of January, ten shows will draw the curtain for the last time. January 4th sees 13, Young Frankenstein, Boeing-Boeing, Grease, and Hairspray closing their shutters while blockbusters like Wicked, Jersey Boys, and The Lion King continue to rake in huge box office totals. It's not surprising that the hits will remain solvent through the current economic climate, but the high-roller-takes-all world of Broadway is still killing rather critically-acclaimed, moderately successful productions left and right. However, circumstances haven't kept Billy Elliott from becoming an instant smash hit with audiences and critics alike, nor has it hindered the box office takes of Mary Poppins and the Little Mermaid. Would All My Sons have survived if people weren't hell-bent on seeing the big four when they come to New York? Probably not, and so it seems understandable that they're shuttering on January 11th, the same day as Spamalot, whose closing date was moved up a week from the 18th, which is coincidentally when Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening will go to sleep forever. Also, through no fault of their own, Slava's Snowshow and White Christmas will go out as the holiday season fades into frenzied urban memory. Unlike American Buffalo's short and inauspicious run, the impending Broadway closes represent a last chance to see some really fantastic productions that--under better global circumstances--would have had long, celebrated runs. Moral of the story: buy your tickets now!
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13, all my songs, billy elliott, boeing, broadway, chicago, closing, final performance, grease, hairspray, jersey boys, lion king, mary poppins, new york, snowshow, spamalot, spring awakening, white christmas, wicked, young frankenstein
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Posted on 12/8/2008
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