All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 14, 2014

Sylvester Stallone at Broadway's 'Rocky': 'I Feel Like I've Gone 15 Rounds' by Gordon Cox

What if David Fincher directed "Rocky"? It might look something like "Rocky" the musical. That was part of the concept, anyway, for Alex Timbers, the director of the spectacularly staged new…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:57AM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 13, 2014

Broadway Review: 'Rocky' the Musical by Gordon Cox

Whatever your expectations going into “Rocky,” you come out rocking the technology.  No mystery about where the $16.5 million capital investment went in this musical iteration…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]

The Broadway Channel Expands Into Local New York Broadcasting by Gordon Cox

The Broadway Channel, a producer and distributor of legit-centric video content, has partnered with PIX11, the New York CW affiliate, to produce segments and primetime specials focusing on B…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:02PM[SHARE]

Cynthia Nixon Returns to Broadway, and to 'The Real Thing' by Gordon Cox

Cynthia Nixon has signed on to star opposite Ewan McGregor and Maggie Gyllenhaal in the Roundabout Theater Company’s Broadway revival of “The Real Thing,” the 1982 play in …

SOURCE: Variety at 05:29PM[SHARE]

L.A. Theater Review: Barry Manilow's 'Harmony' by Gordon Cox

"Harmony" confirms Barry Manilow's musical theater chops. The pop legend invests this biotuner of the Comedian Harmonists — a real-life German male sextet, pre-WWII toasts of two conti…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:47PM[SHARE]

George Takei Uses Social Media Following to Tout Broadway-Bound Tuner by Gordon Cox

If you haven't come across George Takei lately, you might be living under a digital rock. The former "Star Trek" actor has, over the past five years, morphed into one of social media's more …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Blythe Danner Kicks off Manhattan Theater Club's 2014-15 Season on Broadway by Gordon Cox

Blythe Danner and scribes Donald Margulies and David Auburn have lined up world premieres as part of the Manhattan Theater Club’s 2014-15 season, a lineup that sees the Gotham nonpr…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Off Broadway Review: 'Hand to God' by Gordon Cox

Meet Tyrone, the dirty-minded, foul-mouthed sock puppet who steals the show in “Hand to God,” Robert Askins’ pitch-black comedy about a teenage boy (a sensational perf from…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:48PM[SHARE]

Laura Benanti to Host New York's Drama Desk Awards (Instead of the Tonys) by Gordon Cox

The Drama Desk has tapped Laura Benanti, the Broadway fave (“Gypsy”) whose TV credits include “Go On” and “The Sound of Music Live,” to host the org’…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 10, 2014

Producers Aim to Establish 'A Confederacy of Dunces' On Broadway by Gordon Cox

The movie adaptation may be a nonstarter, but John Kennedy Toole’s novel “A Confederacy of Dunces” has taken its first steps toward the stage as producers announced a legit…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:13PM[SHARE]

Broadway Box Office: Menzel and Denzel Fuel Socko Sales Debuts by Gordon Cox

Idina Menzel and Denzel Washington flexed their box office muscle on Broadway last week, as Menzel topliner "If/Then" and Washington starrer "A Raisin in the Sun" each posted impressive tall…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:19PM[SHARE]
Thursday, March 6, 2014

Broadway Producers Finding It Easier to Move Between Commercial, Nonprofit Sectors by Gordon Cox

Commercial producers aren't just commercial anymore. At least not all of them " not since the divide between the commercial theater industry and the not-for-profit legit sector has crumbled …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM[SHARE]

Joss Whedon, Courteney Cox, Katie Holmes, 'Zombeavers' and Bronies Round Out the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival Slate by Gordon Cox

The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival has filled out its 2014 feature slate with a starry Spotlight section as well as midnight and special screenings, a group that taken together includes a new mo…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies' to Play West End by Gordon Cox

"Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies," the Royal Shakespeare Company's hit staging of Hilary Mantel's Booker-winning novels, has lined up a commercial West End run that will open at the Aldw…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, March 4, 2014

D.C. Theater Review: 'Beaches' by Gordon Cox

It was a best-selling novel and a profitable film, but Iris Rainer Dart's tear-jerker, "Beaches," struggles to find a footing as a compelling musical in its premiere at Arlington, Va.'s Sign…

SOURCE: Variety at 08:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, March 3, 2014

Off Broadway Review: 'The Happiest Song Plays Last' by Gordon Cox

“Elliot:  A Soldier’s Fugue” began the cycle of plays by Quiara Alegria Hudes about a young Marine’s re-entry into the land of the living after a soul-destroying t…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]

Broadway Box Office: 'Les Miserables,' 'Aladdin' Muscle Onto the Scene by Gordon Cox

"Les Miserables" stormed back to Broadway and "Aladdin" made a little box office magic of its own last week, with the two big-name tuners beginning previews in a seven-day frame that saw ove…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:27PM[SHARE]

Travolta's Oscar Flub Could Be Good for Broadway Musical 'If/Then' by Gordon Cox

John Travolta memorably mangled Idina Menzel’s name during the Oscars on March 3 and that may have been rough for Menzel right before she belted out the hit tune from Disney’s &#…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:07PM[SHARE]

London Theater Review: 'Versailles' by Gordon Cox

"Old-fashioned" is most often a derogatory term, but it can also mean traditionally well-crafted. That's definitely the case with "Versailles," Peter Gill's highly articulate, leisurely yet …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:02PM[SHARE]

'Tuck Everlasting' Joins 'Bull Durham' Musical Up at Bat at Alliance Theater by Gordon Cox

"Tuck Everlasting," the tuner that had been targeting a Broadway run during the 2013-14 season before getting detoured, and the world preem of the musical adaptation of "Bull Durham" are amo…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:52AM[SHARE]

Gemma Arterton Leads 'Made in Dagenham' to West End by Gordon Cox

A new musical adaptation of “Made in Dagenham,” the 2010 British indie that starred recent Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins, will premiere at the Adelphi Theater on the West End this …

SOURCE: Variety at 10:56AM[SHARE]
Friday, February 28, 2014

American Theatre " March 2014 by Gordon Cox

Commercial and not-for-profit theatres can't do without each other, but hooking up can be as problematic as it is profitable

SOURCE: Theatre Communications Group at 02:00PM[SHARE]

'Les Miserables': Will the Movie Help the Broadway Revival? by Gordon Cox

A movie helps a Broadway show. But will the film version of "Les Miserables" give a leg up to the new Main Stem revival of the title that inspired it? Beginning previews March 1, "Les Misera…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, February 27, 2014

Several Broadway Shows Consider Shift to Thursday Matinees by Gordon Cox

Who says a matinee has to be on a Wednesday afternoon? Well, Broadway does, and has for years. But later this spring, a concerted push to institute a Thursday matinee option will bring the M…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse Has Broadway in its Season's Sights by Gordon Cox

The Broadway-aimed revival of “Can-Can” and the world premiere of the musical version of 1998 Cinderella redux “Ever After” are among the titles on the 2014-15 slate …

SOURCE: Variety at 05:37PM[SHARE]

Diane Ladd, Eden Brolin to Star in Indie 'I Dream Too Much' by Gordon Cox

Diane Ladd and Eden Brolin have been tapped to topline “I Dream Too Much,” an indie feature to be exec produced by Richard Linklater. Danielle Brooks (“Orange is the New Bl…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:52AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

West End Review: 'The Full Monty' by Gordon Cox

Most movies are regenerated on stage for one reason alone: No matter how unwieldy the material, familiarity breeds box-office contentment. But there's a solidly theatrical reasoning behind s…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:09PM[SHARE]

Tony Awards Take a Page from the Oscars with Option to Supersize Major Categories by Gordon Cox

Ask anyone in the theater industry with a horse in the awards-season race, and they’ll tell you that the Tony category for best musical — or any of the four major awards for over…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:27PM[SHARE]

'Lady Day' Dawns on Broadway with Audra McDonald by Gordon Cox

Tony favorite Audra McDonald will topline “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” in a last-minute addition to Broadway’s 2013-14 slate, confirming an expected move t…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:12PM[SHARE]
Monday, February 24, 2014

Off Broadway Review: Bruce Lee Bio-Drama 'Kung Fu' by Gordon Cox

Looks like “Kung Fu,” David Henry Hwang’s reverential homage to Bruce Lee, should have been a musical after all.  Cole Horibe, Taekwondo Olympic medalist (and finalist o…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]

Broadway Box Office: Is 'Rocky' a Contender? by Gordon Cox

Is "Rocky" a Broadway box office contender? Too soon to tell, but sales for the large-scale new musical's initial string of previews suggest audiences are at least showing a steady curiosity…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:36PM[SHARE]

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