All stories by Gordon Cox on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Broadway's 'Ann,' Starring Holland Taylor, Will Close Early by Gordon Cox

Broadway play ‘Ann,’ the solo show written by and starring Holland Taylor, has moved up its closing date, with the production now scheduled to close at the end of the month. TV a…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:30PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Legit Review: 'Reasons to Be Happy' by Gordon Cox

It’s payback time for the “regular” looking girls whose boyfriends humiliated them for being insufficiently gorgeous in Neil LaBute’s 2008 play, “Reasons to Be …

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]

'Kinky Boots' Triumph Is an All-American Feat by Gordon Cox

At the parties following June 9's Tony ceremony " which saw new musical "Kinky Boots" walk all over Brit hit and critical fave "Matilda" " the dominant topic was a postgame analysis that wou…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]

Disney Theatrical Eyeing Muppets On Stage (EXCLUSIVE) by Gordon Cox

Disney Theatrical Prods. has quietly initiated early explorations of a live stage show featuring the Muppets, commencing late last month with a short but elaborate presentation directed by A…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:30PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 10, 2013

Broadway Shows Concoct Post-Tony Plans by Gordon Cox

With the Tonys out of the way, the Broadway productions featured on the kudocast have begun to lock in upcoming plans as winning play “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike” set…

SOURCE: Variety at 07:08PM[SHARE]

'Kinky Boots' Pairs Awards Muscle with Box Office Might by Gordon Cox

The good news just keeps coming for "Kinky Boots." The musical capped its Tony Award triumph by posting its best weekly sales figure so far, sashaying its way up to number four in the frame'…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:17PM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 9, 2013

Tonys Crown the Night's Early Winners by Gordon Cox

The Tony Awards are off and running, handing out an early thesping trophy to Courtney B. Vance, who appears alongside Tom Hanks in "Lucky Guy."

SOURCE: Variety at 08:20PM[SHARE]

Tony Works Outs Some Pre-Telecast Kinks by Gordon Cox

This year it might have been something of a blessing that the pre-show awards weren't televised: It gave the ceremony's voice-over announcer a little time to work out the kinks.

SOURCE: Variety at 08:02PM[SHARE]
Friday, June 7, 2013

Tony Honoree Larry Kramer an Activist at Heart by Gordon Cox

"I was surprised," he says, when he heard the Tony Awards had decided to give him its annual Isabelle Stevenson Award for significant contribution to humanitarian or charitable causes.

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]

Broadway's Season of Famine and Feast by Gordon Cox

Judging by numbers alone, the 2012-13 Broadway season was kind of a bummer. Sales and, even more notably, attendance were down. So why is the nation's network of road presenters so excited?

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]

Local Hero: Thelma Pollard, 'Phantom' Production Makeup Supervisor by Gordon Cox

At every performance of musical "The Phantom of the Opera," on Broadway and around the country, the tortured title character rips off his mask to reveal his disfigured face. That deformed mu…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]

'Bridges of Madison County' Musical Set for Broadway by Gordon Cox

The gestating musical version of “The Bridges of Madison County” has lined up its Broadway run, with the production inked in for a February opening at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theat…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:44PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 6, 2013

Mark Rylance Leads Bard Doubleheader to Broadway by Gordon Cox

Brit thesp Mark Rylance will reprise his two lead roles in the Shakespeare's Globe all-male productions of "Twelfth Night" and "Richard III" on Broadway this fall in a double bill with a cas…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:33PM[SHARE]

Broadway 'Rear Window' Has Writer, Director in View by Gordon Cox

The brewing Broadway adaptation of "Rear Window" has tapped scribe Keith Reddin and helmer Terry Kinney to bring the thriller to the stage. Reddin is a veteran legit scribe whose plays inclu…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:21PM[SHARE]

Competition Intense for Tony-Nominated Plays by Gordon Cox

"The identification with the play, I think, is about family and what home means to you," says producer Nelle Nugent. She's talking about her Tony-nommed revival of Horton Foote's "The Trip t…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Legit Review: 'Somewhere Fun' by Gordon Cox

The Vineyard polishes its rep as an incubator of offbeat plays by eccentric playwrights with “Somewhere Fun,” another highwire act in twisted linguistics from Jenny Schwartz. …

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM[SHARE]
Monday, June 3, 2013

David Hyde Pierce Comes In For 'The Landing' by Gordon Cox

Off Broadway’s Vineyard Theater has booked David Hyde Pierce, currently up for a Tony for his perf in “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” to star in its upcoming product…

SOURCE: Variety at 02:29PM[SHARE]

Stony Brook Film Festival Sets 2013 Slate by Gordon Cox

The world preem of "A New York Heartbeat," a screening of upcoming Epix doc "TWA Flight 800" and a career kudo for Killer Films’ Christine Vachon are among the highlights of the …

SOURCE: Variety at 07:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 2, 2013

Legit Review: 'Far From Heaven' by Gordon Cox

It’s really hard to pull off a production style that says: “Yoo-hoo, I’m being ironic here!” without patronizing or caricaturing its targets of irony. Todd Haynes exe…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 30, 2013

Legit Review: 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle' by Gordon Cox

Christopher Lloyd has made a career of playing mad geniuses, which makes this brilliant clown a perfect fit for Azdak, the wise fool who injects some cockeyed sanity into the state-sanctione…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:00PM[SHARE]

Bette Midler Pushes B'way's 'I'll Eat You Last' Into the Black by Gordon Cox

"I'll Eat You Last," the Broadway play toplined by Bette Midler, has become one of the first of the spring's shows to make it into the black, according to producers, with the show recouping …

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM[SHARE]

'Les Miserables' Barricades Back at Broadway's Imperial by Gordon Cox

Turns out you can go home again: The incoming Broadway revival of "Les Miserables" will open next spring at the Imperial Theater, the venue where the original Rialto production played for mo…

SOURCE: Variety at 12:00PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Legit Review: 'Chimerica' by Gordon Cox

How do you turn an analysis of contemporary East/West politics into a smart-mouthed, sharply paced drama? Pour it into a convincing thriller plot. That's what Lucy Kirkwood has done in her s…

SOURCE: Variety at 04:00PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Broadway Box Office Ends Record-Breaking Streak by Gordon Cox

Broadway left its B.O. records unbroken in the 2012-13 season, logging drops both in cumulative gross and, more notably, in attendance. It's been a while since a Main Stem season didn't brea…

SOURCE: Variety at 05:31PM[SHARE]

Legit Review: 'Beneatha's Place' by Gordon Cox

Kwame Kwei-Armah's play "Beneatha's Place" has turned legit industry heads as part of an ambitious project at Baltimore's Center Stage, which is presenting the new title, inspired by "A Rais…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:30PM[SHARE]

Rebecca Hall to Star in Broadway 'Machinal' by Gordon Cox

Rebecca Hall will topline a Broadway revival of American expressionist play "Machinal" at the Roundabout Theater Company, where the show will be directed by Brit helmer Lyndsey Turner. Sophi…

SOURCE: Variety at 01:00PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 25, 2013

Broadway? Bigscreen? 'Blue Highway' Preps for Both by Gordon Cox

There are a couple of well-established paths to Broadway for a new play. "Blue Highway" isn't taking any of them. The new work by David Marlett (pictured at left) is being developed simultan…

SOURCE: Variety at 09:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 23, 2013

Tony Awards Dive Into the Digital Stream by Gordon Cox

This year the Tonys will launch a second-screen digital destination, with interactive content set to stream during the annual live kudocast on CBS " a measure other TV skeins, such as the AM…

SOURCE: Variety at 06:00PM[SHARE]

New Ethan Coen Play Set for Off Broadway's Atlantic by Gordon Cox

Ethan Coen returns to Off Broadway this fall with new play "Women or Nothing," set to bow at the Atlantic Theater Company in a run that precedes the December release of his latest pic, "Insi…

SOURCE: Variety at 03:00PM[SHARE]

New Foxwoods Owner Faces Big Challenges on Broadway by Gordon Cox

If theater owners are the most powerful figures on Broadway, then there's a new power player in town. The purchase this week of Broadway's largest venue, the 1,930-seat Foxwoods, reps the fi…

SOURCE: Variety at 11:30AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Legit Review: 'Murder Ballad' by Gordon Cox

I love you, I hate you, I’ll kill you. That’s the lurid premise of “Murder Ballad,” the hot and sticky rock opera that made auds sweat when it opened six months ago a…

SOURCE: Variety at 10:00PM[SHARE]

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