All stories by Matthew Blank on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: Enter the "Roaring Twenties" World of Frank Wildhorn's Zelda With Lauren Kennedy by Matthew Blank

Musical theatre (and Playbill) favorite Lauren Kennedy is currently starring in the new Frank Wildhorn musical Zelda: An American Love Story, charting the lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald and wi…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:15PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: A First Look at Stark Sands, Billy Porter and Annaleigh Ashford in Kinky Boots by Matthew Blank

Kinky Boots, the new Cyndi Lauper-scored musical based on the 2005 film of the same title about two unlikely business partners, began a Chicago world-premiere engagement Oct. 2 at the Bank o…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:58PM[SHARE]

PHOTO ARCHIVE: Angela Lansbury on the Broadway Stage by Matthew Blank

Angela Lansbury, most recently on Broadway in Michael Wilson's revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man, celebrates her 87th birthday Oct. 16. Playbill.com offers a look back at her most memora…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:45AM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Second Stage Theatre Celebrates Jon Kern's Modern Terrorism by Matthew Blank

Second Stage Theatre held a party Oct. 15 to celebrate the world premiere of Jon Kern's dark comedy Modern Terrorism, or They Who Want To Kill Us and How We Learn To Love Them, which beg…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:29AM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Claybourne Elder, Andy Mientus, Alex Wyse and More Celebrate Falling's Off-Broadway Opening by Matthew Blank

Producers Terry Schnuck, James and Catherine Berges, Crystal Beuerlein, and Michael and Noemi Neidorff present the Off-Broadway premiere of Falling, a new play by Deanna Jent that officially…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:13AM[SHARE]

PLAYBILL.COM'S CUE & A: Pulitzer Prize Winner and Don't Go Gentle Star Michael Cristofer by Matthew Blank

Stage and screen veteran Michael Cristofer, who stars in Stephen Belber's Don't Go Gentle at MCC Theater, fills out Playbill.com's questionnaire of random facts, backstage trivia and pop…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:01AM[SHARE]
Monday, October 15, 2012

PHOTO CALL: Max Von Essen, Kara Lindsay, the Keenan-Bolgers, Adam Chanler-Berat, Nick Adams and More Campaign for Obama by Matthew Blank

Tony Award nominee Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Nick Adams, Max Von Essen, Kara Lindsay and Nikki Renée Daniels are among the performers who took part in the Oct. 14 "Broadway Gets Out th…

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:37PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Liza Minnelli and Tony Danza Join Nicolas King Onstage at Iridium by Matthew Blank and Joseph Marzullo

Tony Danza, who recently penned the book "I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had," and Liza Minnelli joined Nicolas King onstage at King's Oct. 9 performance at …

SOURCE: Playbill at 04:17PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Giant, Here Lies Love, Fun Home and More Perform at the Public Theater Block Party by Matthew Blank

Performances from the upcoming musicals Giant, Here Lies Love, Fun Home and last season's The Total Bent puntcuated the Public Theater's Oct. 13 block party celebrating the reop…

SOURCE: Playbill at 02:13PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Nick Adams, Ashley Brown, Lorna Luft, Saycon Sengbloh and More Salute Streisand by Matthew Blank

Lorna Luft, Ashley Brown, Ann Hampton Callaway and Steven Brinberg were part of Hello Gorgeous! A Salute to the Streisand Songbook, an Oct. 12 benefit concert for Broadway Cares/Equity Fight…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:42PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Lindsay Mendez, Nic Rouleau, The Skivvies, Kate Rockwell Sing Once Upon a Time in New York City by Matthew Blank

Once Upon a Time in New York City, a benefit concert featuring new material from emerging songwriters celebrating the city of New York, was offered Oct. 14 at Joe's Pub.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:56PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Laura Osnes, Derek Klena, Krysta Rodriguez, Montego Glover Celebrate Don't Go Gentle Opening by Matthew Blank

The world premiere of Stephen Belber's Don't Go Gentle, about a retired conservative judge who struggles to maintain order in his personal life, opens Off-Broadway Oct. 14 at MCC The…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:32AM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot and Aaron Lazar Sing Rodgers and Hammerstein at Carnegie Hall by Matthew Blank

South Pacific stars Paulo Szot and Kelli O'Hara reunited for Some Enchanted Evening: The Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, which opened the New York Pops' 30th season Oct. 12 at Carn…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:04AM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Anne Hathaway, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfried in Les Miz Poster Art by Matthew Blank

The film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Les Misérables will have a Christmas Day opening, hitting theatres in a wide release Dec. 25.

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:34AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 12, 2012

PHOTO CALL: Meet the Cast of Broadway's Dead Accounts, With Katie Holmes and Norbert Leo Butz by Matthew Blank

Theresa Rebeck's comedy Dead Accounts, starring Katie Holmes and Norbert Leo Butz, begins previews Nov. 3 at the Music Box Theatre. The cast and creative team greeted the press Oct. 12.

SOURCE: Playbill at 02:38PM[SHARE]

PHOTO ARCHIVE: Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl Days by Matthew Blank and Joseph Marzullo

Academy Award-winning actress, singer and director Barbra Streisand offered her first public performance in her hometown of Brooklyn Oct. 11 at the Barclays Center, with an encore performanc…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:34PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: New Poster Art and On-the-Set Shots from the Les Miz Film by Matthew Blank

The film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Les Misérables will have a Christmas Day opening, hitting theatres in a wide release Dec. 25.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:11PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Cyrano de Bergerac Opens on Broadway; Red Carpet Arrivals, Curtain Call and Party by Matthew Blank

As if performing in an animated Baroque-era painting, Clémence Poésy, Patrick Page, Bill Buell, Kyle Soller and Tony Award winner Douglas Hodge star in the new Broadway product…

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:35AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 11, 2012

PHOTO CALL: Matthew Holzfeind Is Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at Bailiwick Chicago by Matthew Blank

The Tony Award-nominated Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, a rock-musical portrait of the controversial populist American president, gets its Chicago debut by Bailiwick Chicago, the non-Equity c…

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:08PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Stephen Spinella, Ron Cephas Jones, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Kristen Connolly Celebrate the Public's "Shakespeare Machine" by Matthew Blank

On Oct. 10 The Public Theater held a reception celebrating evening celebrated Ben Rubin’s "Shakespeare Machine," the new installation hanging from the center of the company&#…

SOURCE: Playbill at 04:27PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Off-Broadway's Bare Cast, Stafford Arima, Travis Wall and More Celebrate National Coming Out Day by Matthew Blank

Stafford Arima, Travis Wall and cast members from the upcoming Off-Broadway rock musical Bare, about a secret love affair between two teenage boys at a Catholic boarding school, celebrated N…

SOURCE: Playbill at 02:11PM[SHARE]

PHOTO ARCHIVE: Hugh Jackman's Stage Career... So Far by Matthew Blank

Hugh Jackman, who was honored at this year's Tony Award ceremony with a Special Tony celebrating his contributions to the Broadway community, celebrates his birthday Oct. 12. We look bac…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:45PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: John Hurt, Gary Oldman, Eric Idle, John Glover at Krapp's Last Tape L.A. Opening by Matthew Blank

The Gate Theatre Dublin's production of Samuel Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape starring John Hurt opened Oct. 10 in a Los Angeles run through Nov. 4 at Center Theatre Group's Kir…

SOURCE: Playbill at 01:06PM[SHARE]

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: A Week at the NAMT New Musicals Festival With Bryce Ryness and Friends by Matthew Blank

An impressive roster of Broadway's best come together each year for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals, a two-day event that showcases short present…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:06PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: John Slattery, Giancarlo Esposito and More Celebrate Atlantic's Harper Regan Opening by Matthew Blank

Christopher Innvar, Mary McCann, Mary Beth Peil, Jordan Lage, Madeleine Martin, Gareth Saxe and more bring Simon Stephens' tale of Harper Regan to life for Off-Broadway's Atlantic Th…

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:48AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

PHOTO CALL: Tracee Chimo, Philip Ettinger, Molly Ranson, Michael Zegen Are Bad Jews Off-Broadway by Matthew Blank

Roundabout Theatre Company presents the Roundabout Underground production of Joshua Elias Harmon's Bad Jews beginning Oct. 5 in the 62-seat Black Box Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Ste…

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:23PM[SHARE]

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "Hello Love!" Get to Know the Members of Paper Mill's Chorus Line by Matthew Blank and Nikka Graff Lanzarone

Nikka Graff Lanzarone, currently playing the role of Bebe in Paper Mill Playhouse's staging of A Chorus Line, offers exclusive photos and trivia about her castmates. Channeling the show&…

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:02PM[SHARE]

PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "Hello Love!" Get to Know the Members of Paper Mill's Chorus Line by Matthew Blank and Nikka Graff Lanzarone

Nikka Graff Lanzarone, currently playing the role of Bebe in Paper Mill Playhouse's staging of A Chorus Line, offers exclusive photos and trivia about her castmates. Channeling the show&…

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:02PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Michelle Ryan, Will Young and Matt Rawle Star in West End Cabaret by Matthew Blank

Rufus Norris' remounting of his Olivier Award-winning production of Kander and Ebb's Cabarert opened at the West End's Savoy Theatre Oct. 9.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:28PM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Daisy Foote World Premiere, Him, Opens Off-Broadway by Matthew Blank

Primary Stages' world-premiere production of Him, a new play by Daisy Foote, starring Tony Award nominee Hallie Foote, Tim Hopper, Adam LeFevre and Adina Verson, officially opensed …

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:31AM[SHARE]

PHOTO CALL: Grace Men Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon and Edward Asner Honored With Sardi's Caricatures by Matthew Blank

Paul Rudd, Michael Shannon and Edward Asner, the men of the new Broadway play Grace, received caricatures that now adorn the walls of the famed eatery. An unveiling was held Oct. 9.

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:09AM[SHARE]

All that Chat