All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Monday, January 13, 2014

Disney Considering 'Frozen' for Broadway, Obviously by Gordon Cox

A spokesman for Disney Theatrical Prods. has confirmed that Disney Animation’s hit “Frozen” is in early development for the stage, following a Fortune interview in which…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:35PM[SHARE]

Broadway's 'Beautiful': The Porno Didn't Make It Into the Musical by Gordon Cox

Carole King didn’t even show up for the Jan. 12 opening of “Beautiful,” the new Broadway musical that features her songs. But that’s no surprise. Everyone knows she&#…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:46AM[SHARE]
Sunday, January 12, 2014

Broadway Review: 'Beautiful " The Carole King Musical' by Gordon Cox

The early life and career of legendary singer-songwriter Carole King surely deserves more imaginative treatment than the corny chronological storytelling (And then we wrote …) and old-…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]
Friday, January 10, 2014

Tourists Take Broadway: Out-of-Towners Bought Two-Thirds of All 2012-13 Tickets by Gordon Cox

Tourist biz, an increasingly dominant force on Broadway in recent years, hit a high-water mark last season, with out-of-town visitors accounting for a whopping 66% of all ticket sales during…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:56PM[SHARE]

Jordan Roth Makes Legit Moves in Digital Space by Gordon Cox

Let's face it: The Broadway industry's reputation for being hidebound isn't entirely undeserved. So you wouldn't expect a theater exec to be the one to create a digital social network aimed …

SOURCE: Variety at 08:26AM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 9, 2014

Tony Awards Tackle Eligibility for Broadway's Fall Titles by Gordon Cox

Mark Rylance and Samuel Barnett, two major players in this season’s much-lauded and recently profitable revivals of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III,” won’…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:21PM[SHARE]

U.K. Theater Review: 'Wolf Hall' and 'Bring Up the Bodies' by Gordon Cox

"Who will get me my divorce?" Thundered out by fierce Henry VIII (Nathaniel Parker), that's the problem underpinning Hilary Mantel's huge novels "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies," now tr…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:37PM[SHARE]

Bard In The Black On Broadway: 'Twelfth Night' and 'Richard III' Recoup by Gordon Cox

The Shakespeare’s Globe’s repertory staging of “Twelfth Night” and “Richard III” has ticked over into the hit column, recouping its $3.1 million capitaliz…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:23PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Tupac Shakur Hits Broadway This Summer with 'Holler If You Hear Me' by Gordon Cox

Tupac Shakur, Broadway composer. “Holler If You Hear Me,” the musical inspired by the lyrics of the late rapper Shakur, has locked in a Broadway slot at the Palace Theater, where…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:54AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Broadway's 'Glass Menagerie,' Starring Zachary Quinto, Turns a Profit by Gordon Cox

The current Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’  ”The Glass Menagerie” has recouped its $2.6 million in capitalization costs, according to producers, allowing produc…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:49PM[SHARE]
Monday, January 6, 2014

Broadway Box Office: Snow Can't Put Holiday Sales on Ice by Gordon Cox

Hercules who? Broadway box office held up admirably last week, with the final push of holiday tourist traffic helping to keep sales aloft despite a weekend winter storm that threw a wrench i…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:02PM[SHARE]

Jim Norton Joins Broadway's 'Of Mice and Men' Starring James Franco by Gordon Cox

Jim Norton, the Brit actor who scored a 2008 Tony for his perf in "The Seafarer," has signed on to join James Franco and Chris O'Dowd in the upcoming Broadway revival of "Of Mice and Men." N…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Friday, January 3, 2014

Two Broadway Publicists Hang Out Shingles as Hartman Group Closes by Gordon Cox

A pair of Broadway press agents at PR firm the Hartman Group, long one of the two big dogs in the small world of Broadway praiseries, are striking out on their own as the Hartman Group close…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:09PM[SHARE]
Thursday, January 2, 2014

Broadway Box Office: 'The Lion King' Snatches the 2013 Crown from 'Wicked' by Gordon Cox

In the midst of their ongoing tussle for the number one slot in Broadway's weekly Top 10, sixteen-year-old musical "The Lion King" has taken the title of top earner of the year, wrestling it…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 30, 2013

Broadway Box Office: 'Wicked' Breaks the $3 Million Barrier in Record-Breaking Christmas Week by Gordon Cox

This year after Christmas, the floor wasn’t just strewn with torn wrapping paper — it was littered with the remains of broken Broadway records in a B.O.-busting holiday frame. &#…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:46PM[SHARE]

Broadway's 'Spider-Man' Is Not a Flop, At Least Not to One Theater District Restaurant by Gordon Cox

“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” may take the title as the money-losing-est musical in Broadway history when it closes Jan. 4 — but don’t call it a flop. At least not …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:33PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 23, 2013

Broadway Box Office: Revving Up Before the Christmas Boom by Gordon Cox

Who says Broadway has to wait until Christmas to start opening presents at the box office? Last week Rialto B.O., as if impatient for the spike that the current holiday week is sure to bring…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:59PM[SHARE]

Hugh Jackman Exits Brewing Broadway Musical 'Houdini' by Gordon Cox

Hugh Jackman has stepped away from the upcoming Broadway musical “Houdini,” citing the scheduling demands of developing a new tuner as the cause of his departure from a project t…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:40PM[SHARE]
Friday, December 20, 2013

'Harry Potter' Wooed to Stage By Two Transatlantic Industry Veterans by Gordon Cox

It doesn’t take a genius to peg the uber-successful Harry Potter franchise as ripe for a stage incarnation, and author J.K. Rowling has said she’s been besieged over the years by…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:53AM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 19, 2013

West End Review: Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Stephen Ward' by Gordon Cox

Here's the mystery surrounding Andrew Lloyd Webber's new tuner "Stephen Ward": How could the fallout from Britain's most notorious real-life sex-and-politics scandal have been turned into so…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:20PM[SHARE]

Jeanine Tesori: Busy Composer Enjoys Working a Bit Off-Center by Gordon Cox

Jeanine Tesori has a lot to celebrate this holiday season. The composer of musicals including "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Caroline, or Change" will follow up the popular and critical suc…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM[SHARE]

'Wicked' Flies to New Broadway Press Agency by Gordon Cox

A team of four Broadway publicists will join agency Polk and Co. in the wake of the shuttering of the Hartman Group, the firm led by one of the Rialto’s veteran press agents. The quart…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, December 18, 2013

'Iceman,' Starring Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy, Cometh to New York After All by Gordon Cox

The Goodman Theater’s much-lauded 2012 staging of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” has locked in a New York run that will play the Brooklyn Academy of Music…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:44AM[SHARE]

Rose Kuo Steps Down from Leadership Post at Film Society of Lincoln Center by Gordon Cox

A switchup in top brass at Film Society of Lincoln Center is now complete, with Rose Kuo, who has been the org's executive director since 2010, announcing she will step down. Her exit comes …

SOURCE: Variety at 08:38AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

London Theater Review: 'Coriolanus' Starring Tom Hiddleston by Gordon Cox

Making enthralling theater out of one of Shakespeare's best-known titles is one thing. It's an achievement of an altogether higher order to take the austerely forbidding "Coriolanus" —…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:40PM[SHARE]
Monday, December 16, 2013

Broadway Box Office: 'Spider-Man' On the Upswing in its Final Weeks by Gordon Cox

Broadway sales slipped last week, but not by much, as tourism declined a bit in preparation for the deluge that traditionally hits the Main Stem over the weeks of Christmas and New Year's. S…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:32PM[SHARE]
Thursday, December 12, 2013

London Theater Review: 'American Psycho' Starring Matt Smith by Gordon Cox

Since soullessness is the essence of Patrick Bateman, the anti-hero of Bret Easton Ellis's notoriously savage fantasia on 80s greed "American Psycho," you could argue that an all-style and n…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00PM[SHARE]

Broadway Play 'Velocity of Autumn' Speeds into Crowded, Competitive Spring by Gordon Cox

The final pieces of Broadway's spring puzzle are falling into place as one more play, "The Velocity of Autumn," accelerates into the Booth Theater to start performances there in April. But t…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:51PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, December 10, 2013

'Heathers' Musical Looks to Slay Off Broadway by Gordon Cox

The musical version of dark teen comedy “Heathers” has locked in its Off Broadway run, setting a timeline that will see the tuner begin performances this spring at New World Stag…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:03PM[SHARE]

Magic Show Directed by Neil Patrick Harris, 'Nothing to Hide,' Recoups Off Broadway by Gordon Cox

“Nothing to Hide,” the Off Broadway magic show directed by Neil Patrick Harris, has recouped its $400,000 capitalization in eight weeks, according to producers. That $400,000 pri…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:20PM[SHARE]

Linda Lavin Reunites with Nicky Silver and Off Broadway's Vineyard Theater by Gordon Cox

Linda Lavin will reunite with playwright Nicky Silver, helmer Mark Brokaw and Off Broadway’s Vineyard Theater to star in “Too Much Sun,” the new Silver play set to open at …

SOURCE: Variety at 12:12PM[SHARE]

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