BROADWAY UNDERCOVER

 Idina Menzel made others turn green with envy when she walked away with the 2004 Tony Award for her performance as Elphaba in Wicked.  Always involved in music on some level, this Long Island native went from singing at weddings and Bar Mitzvahs to a Broadway stage, making her debut in Rent in 1995.  She’s been performing ever since in concert, on CDs and, of course, the stage.  In an interview in Northeastern News, the student newspaper of Northeastern University, she talks about her new album “I Stand,” and how she manages to write songs about heartbreak while happily married to actor Taye Diggs.

“Well, first of all, no marriage is perfect.  My husband and I love each other very much, but we have our struggles, and ways that we miscommunicate, and the fact that we live in different cities all the time and have to spend a lot of time apart…We’ve been together 12 years, so you grow together, you grow apart, you have to find a way back to each other and I can write a really sad song about just a normal argument because I feel so badly when the two of us don’t get along.  It can be something so simple, but for that moment the emotion is so deep for me that I just write about how that feels.”

Asked where she sees herself in ten years, she said, “I’d like to have a baby soon.  But that doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily slow down for that long.”  She adds that she’d like to do another album and another Broadway show.  “I just want to stay true to myself and do things that move me and really connect with people.”  

 Yes indeed, Mrs. Tom Cruise, a/k/a Katie Holmes, is in final negotiations to bring her celebrity to Broadway later this year in the revival of Arthur Miller’s gripping drama All My Sons, to be directed by British-born Simon McBurney.  According to The Daily Mail, Holmes, 29, plans to participate in a workshop in May in preparation for her Broadway debut which marks her first play since high school.  She’ll be in good company joining John Lithgow and Dianne Wiest in this heartbreaking saga, the first revival of any of Miller’s plays since his death three years ago.  Holmes’ previous credits include film roles in The Ice Storm, Pieces of April and Batman Begins, among others, as well as Dawson’s Creek, a popular television series.  Her talent may possibly have been overshadowed by her marriage and public persona akin to that, but the stage will supply the naked truth.  Can Ms. Holmes cut the mustard?  We’ll be there to find out.       

 With an energetic cast led by James Snyder, Elizabeth Stanley and Harriet Harris, Cry Baby is indeed a crowd pleaser. As seen at Monday night’s preview it may not be the greatest show out there, but it surely provides a fun theatrical experience. With an off-beat sense of humor with lyrics to match it’s in keeping with John Waters’ material.

Mark Brokaw, the show’s director, was busy taking notes to make the necessary changes to improve the overall production. BU learned from one of our spies that one number in Act I was already being cut in an attempt to tighten up the show. As an ensemble cast member put it, “It’s a new show every day as they continue to make changes.”

James Snyder, a Sacramento, California native, makes a terrific Broadway debut in the title role of the misunderstood Cry Baby from the wrong side of the tracks who can’t shed a tear.  As he said, “It’s not too bad.” in response to BU’s praise.  It’s his first time in New York and he’s loving it.

The show boasts a lot of choreography and Harriet Harris (Mrs. Vernon-Williams) said, “The dancers are working so hard…Rob Ashford (choreographer) is a genius. ”

Elizabeth Stanley (Allison) agreed it was quite a difference from her role as April in Company. Unfortunately, BU thinks she is miscast appearing older than Snyder.  She wondered whether we thought Cry Baby gets a PG rating. We would add a “13″ to that. Check it out at the Marquis Theatre and judge for yourself.

 Broadway Undercover took in Ethan Coen’s off-the-wall three one-act plays, Almost an Evening, this afternoon at the Theatres at 45 Bleecker Street.  The stellar cast is headed by F. Murray Abraham, Mark Linn-Baker and Joey Slotnick.  This show is a different sort of comedy in Coen brothers’ style.  The first play was a quiet comedy; the third one is boisterous and out there, and the second fell somewhere in the middle.  BU has waited at many a stage door following a show, but this experience with Abraham was a first.   We never met the man before and expected someone akin to his intimidating movie persona.  However, the warm hug he gave put all that to rest as an engaging, charming, and friendly man emerged.   When asked about Ethan Coen, Abraham said that the way Coen was on the Academy Awards is exactly how Coen is in person.  “He’s not pretentious, he’s really very sincere and quiet.  He’s a wonderful man.” 

Although Tom Stoppard’s play Rock and Roll  brought down it’s final curtain on March 9th, the memory of Rufus Sewell’s performance remains.  After getting terrific reviews as well as the Evening Standard and Olivier awards in London, it opened on Broadway a year later to similar accolades. 

In an Associated Press article as reported by LoHud.com, Sewell considers himself  “a comic actor, that’s what I actually am.  Everything else is a stretch.”  It’s an accepted fact that the Brits and Americans don’t laugh in sync with one another which was made obvious in the Broadway crowd’s response to the play’s humorous moments.  He felt that some jokes went over better than others and that American audiences “get some things in a much quicker way; they get other things in a slower way.  It’s just a slightly different sensibility.” 

Although he’s best known for his movie roles (”The Holiday” and “A Knight’s Tale,” to name a few), we think he showed some real acting chops in the live theatre arena and Broadway Undercover would welcome the opportunity to see him back on the great white way.  However, for now he has the independent movie bug which offers more diversity in roles, and he has completed two films (”Vinyan” and “Downloading Nancy”) which were very well received at the Sundance Film Festival.  And for those history buffs, he can now be seen in the new HBO miniseries, “John Adams,”  as Alexander Hamilton.  After being blown away with his “Jan” in Rock and Roll, we think that’s the performance to beat come Tony time. 

Some older musicals can stand the test of time better than others.   As much as we all love the classics such as Oklahoma, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, when revived, these shows often show their age and don’t play as well as they once did.  However, we think Gypsy, set to open March 27, is perhaps the quintessential American musical.  Through the years it has had so many incarnations starring Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters  and now Patti LuPone.  The superior book and score never fail to please. The show never feels dull or dated.  It has humor, drama and a powerhouse female character that is both annoying and endearing all at once.     ”Rose’s Turn” is among the most anticipated final acts of any American musical.  And when LuPone takes her turn at the St. James Theatre, we feel pretty certain everything will come up roses once again.

How about that….with all the success Steve Carell has had in TV and movies, the master comedic actor would love to see his name on a Broadway marquis.  According to an interview he gave to E! Online, “I would love to do something on Broadway…..”  We think he would have made a great addition to King Arthur’s court in Spamalot as well as a Southern not so gentleman in August:Osage County.  For those who take umbrage with that bit of casting, remember his performance in “Little Miss Sunshine” and think again. 

Can you picture Roger Bart as Igor in the current production of Young Frankenstein?  Early on, that was the plan.  When actor Christopher Fitzgerald auditioned for the Mel Brooks’ production, it was not for the part he would ultimately inhabit, that of Dr. Frankenstein’s humpy trusted servant Igor.    He actually auditioned for the role of Dr. Frankenstein, while Roger Bart at the time was set to play Igor.  In an interview in the Chicago Tribune, Fitzgerald says, it made sense to ultimately switch roles.  “The great thing about it is Roger and I work so well together that it did work out.  Ultimately, for us to find each other and be able to work off each other has been really fantastic.”  This is the third Broadway outing for the 35-year-old actor (Wicked, Amour), who counts the ”Young Frankenstein” movie as one of his favorites growing up.  Referring to Marty Feldman, who unforgettably played Igor in the 1974 film, Fitzgerald says, “The main thing I tried to steal was that mischievous spirit.”  He is obviously quite happy at the Hilton Theatre.  “This calls upon every aspect of what I’ve been doing since I was a little tyke,” Fitzgerald says.  “It both flips me out and it seems to make some sort of weird cosmic sense.” 

BU attended a Drama Desk panel discussion at Sardi’s where we caught up with Italian playwright Mario Fratti, who penned the critically-acclaimed Broadway musical Nine.  While he is pleased that Javier Bardem has now been cast in the lead role for the upcoming film version of the musical, he confessed that his personal first choice was Antonio Banderas, who starred in the most recent Broadway revival.  However, Banderas’ wife, actress Melanie Griffith played manager and squashed the deal due to her extraordinary salary demands for hubby.  Too bad, we think Antonio missed the boat on that one.   Fratti is quite proud of the fact, and rightly so, that Nine is one of the few shows that actually recouped its investment in only nine months.  When asked how long it takes him to write a play, he told BU, that it was like being pregnant.  It lives inside of him for as much as nine months, and then he knows exactly what he is going to say.  It takes ten days to write it out in longhand, since he doesn’t like using the computer.  Nine seems to be a magic number for this very charming man.  His next project is a two-character play, Terrorist, which will be performed in Europe.

The panel discussion on dysfunctional families in Broadway productions was moderated by Elysa Gardner, theatre critic for USA Today.  Those participating included August: Osage County cast members Amy Morton, Rondi Reed and Sally Murphy as well as Ian McShane and Raul Esparza of The Homecoming.   Many in the Osage cast are part of the original Steppenwolf Theatre Company out of Chicago and have known one another for years. Reed says, “We do know how very, very lucky we are.  Just because we work together doesn’t mean we get along.  We fight, we yell, we argue.  I think the bar is set pretty high for each other and for ourselves and that causes us to aspire to do the best that we can and we call each on our bullsh*t continually…that’s what keeps you honest and your work at the level that it is.”

Could it be….a musical version of the hit television series surfacing on Broadway?   According to actor Kyle MacLachlan who plays boyfriend Orson Hodges to Marcia Cross’ Bree, it’s a real possibility.  As part of a recent interview given to British radio station Heart, he made it known that Marc Cherry, creator of the show, is considering bringing it to the Great White Way at the end of his ABC seven year tenure.  MacLachlan added he wouldn’t mind be included in the project.  “You never know. It could happen. Never say never right? There is more chance of that than seeing me in a ‘Twin Peaks’ musical.”