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Here is the answer to the many inquiries Man In Chair has been receiving about tickets to the upcoming Thea Sharrock-helmed production of Equus staring Daniel Radcliffe and Tony and Olivier Award winner Richard Griffiths:
Opening night at the Broadhurst (where Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is currently playing) is scheduled for September 25, and the production will play a 22-week engagement through February 8, 2009.
According to Broadwayworld.com, tickets can be purchased by American Express Gold Card members Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 9am ET by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com.
A cursory look at telecharge this morning still lists Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Broadhurst, but no Equus yet. Also not sure when tickets will go on sale for non-Amex holders, and a quick call to Tele-charge gained me no additonal info.
Stay posted to MIC for more Equus ticket news.
Equus comes to Broadway from the West End, where the production received critical praise and played to SRO houses during its five-month engagement at the Gielgud Theatre last year. The production is designed by John Napier, with lighting design by David Hersey, and sound design by Gregory Clarke.
If you have an American Express, you can now get your tickets to the limited run (March 29-May 24) of the Patrick Stewart-led Macbeth transferring from a sold out run at BAM to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre. Go to Telecharge.com with your blue, platinum, plum, gold, silver, or black Amex and get started.
Tickets go on sale to the rest of us Visa/Mastercard/Discover carrying schmucks on March 22.
For more information about the show, click on the title of this post, and scroll down to the “related articles” section.
No definite information yet on when tickets for the Broadway transfer of Patrick Stewart’s Macbeth will go on sale, but here are a couple of clues:
1. Playbill.com has Macbeth listed on its Broadway listings, with the ticket sale date listed as TBA. This would be a good place to keep checking.
2. Looks like Telecharge.com will be the ticket vendor. All that’s listed right now on Telecharge at the Lyceum is Is He Dead?, which is closing March 9.
3. According to Bloomberg, the first ad for the transfer is scheduled to be published in the New York Times on March 9. According to the same article, the show will have to sell out right away in order for the investors to turn any sort of profit:
With $800,000 raised to finance the show, the producers will need all of Stewart’s star power for the Shakespeare drama to turn a profit. “We have to sell out right away,” said a member of the producing team, who insisted on anonymity because not all of the arrangements for the move have been completed.
While the actual cost of transferring the production is well under $200,000, the budget rose because of the cost of keeping the large company on payroll during the time between the end of the BAM run and the Broadway opening.
4. There is also a thread tracking progress of the transfer at Broadwayworld.com. This is often one of the hottest spots for the latest breaking theatre news.
5. And if the hits to Macbeth-related posts on Man In Chair are any indication, there are TONS of people looking for tickets, so don’t get lazy if you want to see this one. Keep checking here and at the sites listed above.
Just got an email in my inbox for free tickets to the 1950s Lesbian Pulp Fiction Drama Beebo Brinker Chronicles playing Off-Broadway at 37 Arts.
Set in pre-Stonewall Greenwich Village, the Beebo Brinker Chronicles celebrates the era when “the love that dares not speak its name” began breaking the old rules. Fueled by booze and furtive sex, the play follows the lives and loves of Laura, Beth and Beebo as they navigate uncharted territories of desire.
The play is based on six novels that are a touchstone of lesbian culture. Written by Ann Bannon from 1957 to 1962, the books were distributed as pulp — meaning they were printed on cheap paper, were peddled at drugstores and bus stations, and received no mainstream press — but sold hundreds of thousands of copies.
Said the New York Times of the show:
The Beebo Brinker Chronicles aggressively goes after laughs, playing with the novels’ more dated and histrionic elements. But it doesn’t settle for caricature. The loneliness yawning beneath Jack’s worldly facade, Laura’s desperation for fulfillment, Beebo’s jealous rages: these complex emotions darkly edge the play’s absurdities, anchoring what could easily have been an exercise in camp.
Here’s the link:
Free tickets to Beebo Brinker Chronicles.
Tickets will go fast, so if it’s sold out by the time you get there, they also have half price tickets to Fuerzabruta.
Half price tickets to Fuerzabruta
I’m sure this news will cause a flurry of Post-Its over at the [title of show] [tos]ibility board, but it seems that BAM’s sold out production of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart, may get the chance to bloody the boards of Broadway. (HT: Broadway Abridged)
According to Reidel, Emanuel Azenberg, the veteran producer behind The Odd Couple and Movin’ Out, has quietly met with theater owners to see where Macbeth could land in this packed season.
One possibility is the Imperial, now home to the critically acclaimed August: Osage County. In April, August will move next door to the Music Box, freeing up the Imperial for Billy Elliot in late summer. That leaves a potential window - from the end of April to the middle of June - for a limited engagement of Macbeth.
Everything hinges on how soon the producers of Billy Elliot want to start building their set at the theater. If they want to move in right away, Macbeth will be out in the cold.
So if you missed your chance to get tickets in Brooklyn, stay tuned to Man In Chair to find out if Birnam wood will be moving to West 45th.
Since I haven’t posted for awhile, I thought I’d jump back in with a doozy. Like I did last Fall, I’ve compiled the pertinent information for the upcoming six musicals and seven plays scheduled to open in the next several months on Broadway. Thanks to Playbill.com for the inspiration.
Plays first, in order of first performance dates. Enjoy!!
SHOW: November
BY: David Mamet
CAST: Nathan Lane, Laurie Metclaf, Dylan Baker, Michael Nichols, Ethan Phillips, directed by Joe Mantello
SYNOPSIS: November, a political play by David Mamet, who wrote the screenplay for Wag the Dog, is set in the month notable for elections as well as presidential pardons of Thanksgiving turkeys.
PERFORMANCES BEGAN: December 20, 2007
RUNS:Open-Ended, beginning January 17, 2008
SHOW: Come Back, Little Sheba
BY: William Inge
CAST: S. Epatha Merkerson, Kevin Anderso, Lyle Kanous, Zoe Kaza, Brian J. Smit, Brenda Wehl, Matthew J. Williamson, directed by Michael Pressman
SYNOPSIS: Marie, an attractive young boarder, gives new meaning to the lives of Doc and Lola Delaney, married for 20 years and grindingly unhappy. For Lola, Marie is the child she never had. Doc, who has been drinking away his frustrations, has less than paternal feelings. Shocking in 1950 for its frank references to alcoholism and premarital pregnancy, Sheba helped usher in an era of realistic domestic dramas.
PERFORMANCES BEGAN: January 3, 2008
RUNS: January 24 through March 16, 2008
SHOW: The 39 Steps
BY: John Buchan, adapted by Patrick Barlow from an original concept by Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon
CAST: Charles Edwards, Arnie Burton, Jennifer Ferrin, Cliff Saunders, directed by Maria Aitken
SYNOPSIS: Part espionage thriller and part slapstick comedy, the production features four actors who portray all the characters and all the action from the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, including the chase atop the Flying Scotsman train, a bi-plane crash and the death-defying finale in London’s Palladium theatre,
PERFORMANCES BEGAN: January 4, 2008
RUNS: January 15 through March 23, 2008
SHOW: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
BY: Tennessee Williams
CAST: Terrence Howard, Anika Noni Rose, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, directed by Debbie Allen
SYNOPSIS: Will manipulative patriarch Big Daddy leave his plantation to his weasly son Gooper or his handsome alcoholic son Brick? And why doesn’t Brick have a son of his own? Hotblooded wife Maggie does her best to tempt Brick from his brooding and back into her bed. Winner of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: February 12, 2008
RUNS: March 6 through April 13, 2008
SHOW: Thurgood
BY: George Stevens, Jr.
CAST: Laurence Fishburne, directed by Leonard Foglia
SYNOPSIS: The one-man show is based on the life and momentous times of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: March 30, 2008
RUNS: April 20 through July 20, 2008
SHOW: The Country Girl
BY: Clifford Odets
CAST: Morgan Freeman, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, directed by Mike Nichols
SYNOPSIS: A washed-up actor is given a final shot at redemption, but his drinking threatens to derail things. Can his put-upon wife save the situation, or is she the cause of it?
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: April 1, 2008
RUNS: Open Ended
SHOW: Top Girls
BY: Caryl Churchill
CAST: Mary Catherine Garrison, Elizabeth Marvel, Martha Plimpton, Marisa Tomei, directed by James Macdonald
SYNOPSIS: Marlene celebrates her promotion to managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency by throwing a “Mad Hatter” type dinner party for a fanciful array of mythical and historical women, including a Victorian-era Scottish traveler, a Japanese courtesan turned Buddhist nun, Pope Joan and Chaucer’s Patient Griselda. Crossing cultures, generations and politics, the sparkling dinner conversation reveals the sacrifices made as well as the joys experienced by these extraordinary women.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: April 15, 2008
RUNS: May 7 through June 22, 2008
SHOW: Stalig 17
BY: Donald Bevan and Edmund Trzcinski
CAST: TBA, directed by Spike Lee
SYNOPSIS: A war drama set in a German prison camp. Billy Wilder directed the 1952 film based on the play, which, in turn, spawned the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes.”
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: TBA
And now the musicals…
SHOW: The Little Mermaid
BY: Lyrics—Howard Ashman & Glenn Slater; Music—Alan Menken; Book—Doug Wright
CAST: Sierra Boggess, Sherie Rene Scott, Sean Palmer, Norm Lewis, Tituss Burgess, Eddie Korbich, Jonathan Freeman, Derrick Baskin, Tyler Maynard, Trevor Braun, Brian D’addario, Cody Hanford, J.J. Singleton, Adrian Bailey, Cathryn Basile, Heidi Blickenstaff, James Brown Iii, Robert Creighton, Cicily Daniels, John Treacy Egan, Tim Federle, Merwin Foard, Ben Hartley, Meredith Inglesby, Michelle Lookadoo, Joanne Manning, Alan mingo, jr., Zakiya Young Mizen, Betsy Morgan, Arbender J. Robinson, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Bret Shuford, Jason Snow, Chelsea Morgan Stock, Kay Trinidad, Price Waldman, Daniel J. Watts, directed by Francesca Zambello
SYNOPSIS: After rescuing a handsome young prince, Ariel, a young mermaid, makes a faustian bargain with an unscrupulous sea witch that allows Ariel to be human, but at a terrible cost.
PERFORMANCES BEGAN: November 3, 2007
RUNS: Open-Ended, beginning January 10 2008
SHOW: Sunday in the Park with George
BY: Music & Lyrics—Stephen Sondheim, Book—James Lapine
CAST: Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell, Michael Cumpsty, Alexander Gemignani, Jessica Molaskey, Mary Beth Peil, Ed Dixon, Santino Fontana, Kelsey Fowler, Jessica Grove, Alison Horowitz, Stacie Morgain Lewis, Drew McVety, Anne Nathan, Brynn O’Malley, David Turner, directed by Sam Buntrock
SYNOPSIS: The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical chronicles the life of maverick French impressionist painter Georges Seurat during the creation of his now celebrated masterpiece, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte-1884.” Act Two is set in the 1990s, when Seurat’s great-grandson encounters different artistic struggles.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: January 25, 2008
RUNS: February 21 through April 6, 2008
SHOW: Passing Strange
BY: Lyrics & Book—Stew; Music—Stew and Heidi Rodewald
CAST: Stew, de’Adre Aziza, Daniel Breaker, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo, Chad Goodridge, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Heidi Rodewald, Jon Spurney, Christian Cassan, directed by Annie Dorsen
SYNOPSIS: An African-American rock musician’s desire for authenticity takes him to some exotic locales to find the meaning of life.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: February 8, 2008
RUNS: Open-Ended, beginning February 28, 2008
SHOW: In the Heights
BY: Music & Lyrics—Lin-Manuel Miranda; Book—Quiara Alegría Hudes
CAST: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Andréa Burns, Janet Dacal, Robin De Jesús, Carlos Gomez , Mandy Gonzalez, Christopher Jackson, Priscilla Lopez, Olga Merediz, Karen Olivo, Seth Stewart , Tony Chiroldes, Rosie Lani Fiedelman, Joshua Henry, Afra Hines, Nina Lafarga, Doreen Montalvo, Javier Muñoz, Krysta Rodriguez, Eliseo Roman, Luis Salgado, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Rickey Tripp, Michael Balderrama, Blanca Camacho, Rogelio Douglas Jr., Stephanie Klemons, directed by Thomas Kail
SYNOPSIS: It’s the July 4th weekend in Washington Heights, a vibrant and tight-knit neighborhood at the top of Manhattan. The musical explores the joys, heartbreaks and bonds of a Latino community struggling to redefine home.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: February 14, 2008
RUNS: Open-Ended, beginning March 9, 2008
SHOW: South Pacific
BY: Lyrics—Oscar Hammerstein II; Music—Richard Rodgers; Book—Joshua Logan & Oscar Hammerstein II
CAST: Kelli O’Hara. Paulo Szot. Loretta Ables Sayre. Matthew Morrison. Danny Burstein, directed by Bartlett Sher
SYNOPSIS: South Pacific concerns the lives of U.S. military men, nurses and the residents of the Polynesian island they occupy during World War II. Nurse Nellie Forbush is “In Love With a Wonderful Guy,” a French planter with small children. Clean-cut Lt. Cable has fallen hard for Bloody Mary’s daughter Liat. And the seabees, sailors and marines will tell you that there is “Nothing Like a Dame.” The show’s gorgeous score also includes “Cockeyed Optimist,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair,” “Some Enchanted Evening,” “Younger Than Springtime,” “Honey Bun” and “This Nearly Was Mine.”
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: March 1, 2008
RUNS: April 3 through June 22, 2008
SHOW: A Catered Affair
BY: Music & Lyrics—John Bucchino; Book— Harvey Fierstein
CAST: Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Matt Cavenaugh, Harvey Fierstein, Leslie Kritzer, Philip Hoffman, Katie Klaus, Heather MacRae, Lori Wilner, Kristine Zbornik, directed by John Doyle
SYNOPSIS: In 1953, relationships are strained to the limit when a Bronx couple must choose whether to spend their life savings on a family business or to launch their only daughter’s marriage with a lavish catered affair.
PERFORMANCES BEGIN: March 25, 2008
RUNS: Open-Ended beginning April 17, 2008
Broadway producers have worked out a subscription offer for three of this season’s plays, hawking one ticket to each of three shows—August: Osage County, The Homecoming and November—for a total of $199. (Variety)
About the three shows, Playbill.com tells us:
August: Osage County at the Imperial is the praised Steppenwolf import by Pulitzer Prize nominee Tracy Letts. The family drama under the direction of Anna Shapiro stars Ian Barford, Deanna Dunagan, Kimberly Guerrero, Francis Guinan, Brian Kerwin, Dennis Letts, Madeleine Martin, Mariann Mayberry, Amy Morton, Sally Murphy, Jeff Perry, Rondi Reed, and Troy West. (Reviews have been stellar.)
Golden Globe Award-winner Ian McShane and Tony-nominee Raúl Esparza join Eve Best (A Moon for the Misbegotten), Michael McKean, James Frain, and Gareth Saxe for the 40th revival of Harold Pinter’s provocative The Homecoming under the direction of Daniel Sullivan. Currently in previews, The Homecoming opens Dec. 16 at the Cort Theatre.
Finally, David Mamet and Joe Mantello are reunited for the politically-inspired November, starring Tony winner Nathan Lane. The latest work from the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Glengarry Glen Ross, set days before the presidential election, also stars Laurie Metcalf, Tony-nominee Dylan Baker, Ethan Phillips and Michael Nichols. November begins previews Dec. 20 in anticipation of a Jan. 17 opening at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
The tickets are all in the orchestra or front mezzanine, and normally sell for around $99, so the three-for-$199 deal might also be construed as two-for-the-price-of-three.
Semantics aside, it’s a pretty good way to see three plays from primo locations at a pretty good price.
More info at www.3greatplays.com.
NOTE: This post is about getting tickets to the now-closed BAM run of Macbeth. For tickets to the Broadway transfer, scroll down to the “related articles” section.
Man In Chair wants to make life easy for you.
I have spent this morning navigating the slippery slope of the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s website to present to you clearly and concisely your options for purchasing tickets to Rupert Goold’s much anticipated production of Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood.
This version of Shakespeare’s tale of the ultimate dysfunctional marriage, first opened in June at Chichester Festival Theatre, and was hailed as the “Macbeth of a Lifetime” by critics when it transferred to the West End, where it opened at the Gielgud Theatre on September 26 and closes on December 1 (whatsonstage.com). Stewart won Best Performance in a Play at the Theatrical Management Association (TMA) Awards, which honor regional productions across the UK.
The show will transfer for a six week run from February 12 to March 22 at BAM’s Harvey Theatre. Except for opening night, which is a Benefit for BAM with an 8:00 curtain, the show will run Tuesday—Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 2pm & 7:30pm, and Sunday at 3pm. The running time will be three hours with intermission.
There are several ticketing options and special events associated with the show. Ian McKellan’s recent star turn as King Lear in the same venue sold out quickly and spare tickets were being sold at insane mark ups. Macbeth will likely follow suit.
Individual tickets go on sale January 2 for the general public and December 17 for Friends of BAM (add another $75 to join Friends of BAM)
If you want to get your tickets now, you can purchase a Season Subscription to BAM’s Spring Season of twelve “events”, which also include:
® The National Theatre of Britain’s production of Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days
® The bands Soulive, Citizen Cope, and The National, as part of the Brooklyn Next series
® Grupo Corpo, Brazil’s most exalted contemporary dance company and
® South African actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona in Athol Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi is Dead.
The Spring Subscription can only be purchased by filling out and mailing/faxing/phoning in this handy PDF. Choose four or more events, and your seating sections, and receive a 20% discount on tickets. For Macbeth that means $24, 48, & 72 instead of $30, 60, & 90.
Although the PDF doesn’t explain the seating, it goes like this:
P1=Center Orchestra
P2=Side Orchestra
P3=Back Orchestra
P4=Gallery
There is a talk back with Director Rupert Goold on Friday, February 15 at 6pm for and additional $8, and with Patrick Stewart on Sunday, February 17 after the show, which is free for ticket holders.
BAM TICKET SERVICES
Hours: Mon—Fri, 10am—6pm
Phone: 718.636.4100
Fax: 718.636.4106
E-mail: tickets@BAM.org
This has been a public service announcement from Man In Chair. Your reward for reading all the way to the end of the post: Patrick Stewart as Oberon.
It seems that Dolly Parton has followed through on her intimations a few months ago that the musical version of 9 to 5 is in the works.
According the theatremania.com: “Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, Marc Kudisch, and Allison Janney will star in the world premiere of the Broadway-bound musical 9 to 5 at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre, September 3-October 19 2008. The production will be directed by Joe Mantello, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler.”
The particulars are thus:
® Stephanie J. Block, Wicked’s current Elphaba, will play Judy—the naive newcomer—originally played by Jane Fonda.
® Megan Hilty, one of Wicked’s recent Glinda’s, will play Doralee—object of the boss’ sexual harassment—originally played by Dolly Parton.
® Allison Janney, best know for The West Wing, but also from Broadway’s Present Laughter, will play Violet—the veteran employee who keeps getting passed over for promotions—originally played by Lily Tomlin.
® Mark Kudish, currently treading the boards in The Glorious Ones, will play Franklin Hart—their sexist and egotistical boss—originally played by Dabney Coleman.
In the film, each woman shares a fantasy with her co-workers about various ways they think about doing their boss in, and then they each act them out in one way or another. From imdb: “Judy imagines a scenario where she hunts down Hart in the office with a shotgun, while Doralee turns the tables on Hart and sexually harasses him before roasting him alive on a spit. Violet envisions a fairy tale where she is a Snow White type character who poisons Harts coffee and sends him falling to his death outside his office window.”
Parton’s original radio interview also mentioned Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago) as office snitch Roz; and Andy Karl (Legally Blonde), among others, including an ensemble. The show will feature a book by Patricia Resnick, co-author of the film’s screenplay, and a score by Grammy Award winner Dolly Parton, who penned the film’s hit title song. The creative team will also include Scott Pask (sets) and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting).
In Jill Santoriello’s new musical version of A Tale of Two Cities, one of the characters sings “Buried alive, buried alive, and I must dig him out.” That is akin to how this blogger has felt in trying to dig up reviews of the Broadway-bound musical’s premiere at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Judging from the activity at the search engines, people are clamoring for info on this show, and I aim to please the clamoring public.
Thanks to David for pointing out this one from Sarasota Magazine. “[Santoriello] has managed to successfully streamline this famous book without damaging its core, and, aided by director Michael Donald Edwards and the musical staging of Warren Carlyle, to smoothly handle its swiftly swirling changes of scene and tone while still engaging our hearts, ears and eyes.”
“First praise here must go to [James] Barbour, who perfectly embodies the jaded, world-weary Carton, whose love for Lucie ultimately lifts him to redemption through self-sacrifice; both his acting and his singing are superb….”
From Broadway.com’s Stagenotes: “…this Broadway-bound musical is on the right path, thanks especially to a handful of stirring Jill Santoriello songs, Michael Donald Edward’s brisk staging, Tony Walton’s ingenious scenic design and a strong company led by James Barbour, pouring his soul into a towering performance as Carton.”
son_of_a_gun_25 at the broadway.com bulletin boards says this: “Natalie Toro (Mme. Defarge)- I would go see this show again and again just to see her performance. She is a phenomenal talent and really embodies the rage and revenge that has taken over her characters life.”
And erdrag had this to say in the comment section of Man In Chair: “The first act is long — a complicated story has to be set up, characters need to be established. Midway through the first act and through the entire second act, the story is emotionally engaging. I wish I could see it 10 more times.”
More reviews after the jump…