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Tag: Stage (41-50 of 245)

Jan 18 2011 03:23 PM ET

Melissa Etheridge to rock out in Broadway's 'American Idiot'

Tags: Stage

Melissa-Etheridge Image Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty ImagesMelissa Etheridge has been tapped to appear for one week as St. Jimmy in Broadway’s American Idiot, the show’s producers announced today. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong will finish his 50-show turn as St. Jimmy following Etheridge’s one-week engagement, which will take place from Feb. 1 to Feb. 6. “Billie Joe and I always believed that it would be incredible to have a woman take on the role of St. Jimmy. This character is seductive, thrilling, and dangerous. Melissa Etheridge is all that and so much more. She’s a rock icon and we couldn’t be more thrilled that she’s bringing her immense talent to American Idiot,” Michael Mayer said in a press release.

Jan 18 2011 10:12 AM ET

Anderson Cooper joins Daniel Radcliffe in 'How to Succeed in Business'

by Jeff Labrecque

Tags: Stage, TV

Anderson Cooper is coming to Broadway! The CNN newsman will voice the narrator in the upcoming How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying production starring Daniel Radcliffe. Cooper’s involvement isn’t exactly unprecedented: In 1995, Walter Cronkite performed the same vocal duties for the How to Succeed in Business revival that starred Matthew Broderick. This incarnation of the musical, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, begins previews on Feb. 26, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.

Jan 14 2011 04:58 PM ET

Jude Law has a thing for 'Anna Christie'

by Jeff Labrecque

Tags: Stage

Jude Law is returning to the stage for a West End production of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, according to Reuters. Law, who played Hamlet in London and New York in 2009, will portray Mat Burke, a sailor who falls for the title character, a former prostitute to be played by Ruth Wilson (The Prisoner).

Jan 13 2011 08:33 PM ET

'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' pushes opening night again, to March 15

by Adam B. Vary

Tags: Stage

Producers for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark announced today that the musical has pushed its opening night for the third time, from Feb. 7 to March 15. The show, the most expensive in Broadway history, has been in previews since Nov. 18, and plagued with technical issues, injuries, and actor departures. Performances scheduled for Jan. 18 and Jan. 25 have also been canceled, and ticketholders will be offered refunds or exchanges. In the release, producer Michael Cohl said the show was “ten-times more complicated…than anything else, and the preview schedule allows for only very limited rehearsal time. We simply need more time to fully execute the creative team’s vision before freezing the show.” Cohl also insists “this will be the final postponement” (emphasis his).

Meanwhile, previews of the show have been performing at 100 percent capacity, and last week it was the top grossing show on Broadway.

Jan 13 2011 02:31 PM ET

Carey Mulligan returns to New York stage in adaptation of Ingmar Bergman's film 'Through a Glass Darkly'

by Tanner Stransky

Tags: Stage, Movies

Carey Mulligan is set to return to the New York stage this spring in an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly, the AP reports. The show will premiere off-Broadway beginning May 13. Mulligan, 25, will portray a young woman who loses her mind because of a psychiatric illness and spirals out of control during a vacation to Sweden with her husband, father, and brother. “It’s an incredible descent into insanity,” Mulligan told the AP. “It’s horribly scary and I have no idea what I’m going to do.” Mulligan added: “Everyone wants to play someone with a problem.” Mulligan broke out in 2009′s An Education, for which she garnered an Oscar nomination. In 2010, she starred in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and Never Let Me Go. Mulligan recently starred on the New York stage in the 2008 revival of The Seagull.

Jan 11 2011 10:12 AM ET

'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' beats 'Wicked' at Broadway box office

by Adam Markovitz

Tags: Stage

After taking a beating in the press for its accident-prone stunts, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has some good news to share: The $65 million Julie Taymor-directed musical was Broadway’s biggest grosser last week with a $1,588,514 haul, besting evergreen hit Wicked by a mere $58. Both shows played at 100 percent capacity, though Spider-Man‘s Foxwoods Theater is slightly larger than Wicked‘s Gershwin Theater. Since its first preview on Nov. 28, Spider-Man has proven its ability to draw crowds despite controversies over its safety and tepid advance reviews. Time will tell if the high-profile show can hang onto the top spot; Spider-Man is still in previews leading up to its official Feb. 7 opening, while Wicked has been a Broadway stalwart since 2003.

More Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark:
‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’ exclusive: Producer says injured actor can rejoin the show ‘anytime he wants’
‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’ exclusive: Bono and The Edge will be in NYC next week to attend all preview performances
‘Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’: The first (unofficial) reviews are in

Jan 7 2011 06:59 PM ET

'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' may be violating consumer protection laws, says public advocate

by Kate Ward

Tags: Stage

Yet another bump in the road for Broadway’s troubled Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: New York City public advocate Bill de Blasio sent a letter to New York’s Department of Consumer Affairs, claiming that the show may be violating consumer protection laws. According to the Jan. 5 letter, Spider-Man could be fined for not clearly distinguishing when its preview performances end and its official shows begin. Blasio argued that consumers should be aware of the state of the show they are seeing, since prices for tickets could reach well into the hundreds. “At those prices, consumers deserve to know what they are purchasing, and there is a real difference between seeing an unfinished show in previews versus one that has officially opened. That many shows do not advertise that they are previews, either in promotions or at the point of ticket sales, is unacceptable.”

Rick Miramontez, a spokesperson for the production, issued the following statement to EW: “It seems that everyone in the world, with the exception of a few critics, is well aware of the fact that the show is still in previews. The preview period is an essential part of making any show, and it’s an exciting time to be in the audience. It is also very clear and well documented that our opening night is Feb. 7.”

Jan 4 2011 03:31 PM ET

Julia Stiles heading to Broadway for 'Fat Pig'

by Margaret Lyons

Tags: Stage

Image Credit: Paul Morigi/WireImage.comJulia Stiles will join Dane Cook and Josh Hamilton in the Broadway debut of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig, the show’s producers announced today. Stiles will play Jeannie, one of Hamilton’s former flames.

Fat Pig premiered Off Broadway in 2004.

Jan 4 2011 10:04 AM ET

'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' promotes cast member

by Margaret Lyons

Tags: Stage

More changes are afoot at Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark: Actress T.V. Carpio will officially assume the role of Arachne, a spider villainess, the show’s producers announced today. Natalie Mendoza originated the role but was injured during a performance and left the show at the end of December. Carpio, whose previous credits include director Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, starts her official run tonight but has already covered the role several times.

“I don’t have any fear in terms of safety,” Carpio said today on Good Morning America. “I have a great want to step into some big shoes and do the best I can do to service this piece.”

Jan 3 2011 05:30 PM ET

Actors' Equity Prez addresses 'Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark' injuries

by Kate Ward

Tags: Stage

Nick Wyman, the president of the Actors’ Equity Association, has issued a statement on the AEA’s website regarding the widely reported injuries suffered during performances of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. “I have been very disturbed and distraught by the serious injuries sustained by our member Chris Tierney at the Dec. 20 performance of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” Wyman writes on the site. “That Chris is not the first actor, nor the second, but rather the fourth to be injured on Spider-Man is frustrating and maddening and, to some, infuriating.” (Tierney is set to be released from the rehab center where he is being treated for a hairline skull fracture, broken ribs, a broken scapula, and other injuries sustained during a performance of Spider-Man.)

The long statement also claims that Equity has met with the production, OSHA, and the Department of Labor to ensure safety on the stage, and is looking forward to an injury-free future during the Spider-Man‘s run. “I understand the wish to point fingers, to find someone who is culpable,” Wyman writes. “The more useful, productive exercise is to discover what we can do to improve things, to prevent a recurrence of this accident. This is what our staff has been doing.”