My Broadway Review

“Shrek- the Musical” will premiere at the Broadway Theater in New York from December 14th this year and the preview performances for this entertaining musical play will begin on November 8th. The casting and the technical crew for this play have all been  finalized and will have Brain James, Tony Award nominee, to play the role of Shrek; Chester Gregory II in the  donkey character; Kecia Lewis as the dragon and Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. The musical play is directed by Jason Moore and is produced by DreamWorks Animation and is adapted from the book, Shrek, by William Steig. The tickets for the play will go on sale from May 31st.

The ever elusive Cubby Bernstein is to make a rare appearance at the Helen Hayes Theatre this coming Wednesday, May 24. The eloquent Tony Campaign Manager will also deliver a speech on site. Along with the cast of XANADU, Bernstein will also be selling cupcakes, and all funds will go to the Broadway Cares and Equity Fights Aids foundations. XANADU celebtrates its inaugural year on Broadway and it is commendable that they have garnered the Best Book, Best Choreography, Best Actress as well as the much sought after Best Musical award in recent Tony nominations.

The director of “South Pacific” and the Tony award nominee Barlett Sher will direct the musical, Bruce Lee: Journey to the West, produced by Elephant Eye Theatrical. Tony award winner David Henry Hwang will write the script and David Yazbek will write the lyrics for the musical and will also score the music for the play. “Bruce Lee” will contain the biography of the martial arts star. The choreography for this musical is the responsibility of Dou Dou Huang, the art director. Bruce Lee will target Broadway in 2010. The show will combine diverse martial arts, Chinese Opera, pop music and modern dance forms.

 The Pulitzer Prize winner David Mamet’s new political comedy November is a can’t miss experience. The play features the mega star of Broadway Nathan Lee as President Charles H.P Smith and Laurie Metcalf as Clarice Bernstein the presidential aide. Dylan Baker plays the role of Archer Brown, the presidential advisor.  Joe Mantello is the director of the play and he has portrayed the effort of an unpopular president to get through the re-election with the help of comedy. Dylan Baker with his instinctive comic sense has made the role of Chief of staff memorable. According to reviews, this play has all the essential mixes for a roaring success at the Broadway.

David Hyde Pierce and Sara Ramirez the past winners of the Tony award announced this year’s nominations. “In the Heights” created by Lin- Manuel Miranda and “South Pacific”, the music revival, lead the list of nominations with thirteen and eleven nominations respectively. Lin- Manuel is nominated for best leading actor as well as for his scores in the sentimental drama. “Gypsy” and “Passing Strange” which are autobiographical plays got seven nominations each whereas “Sunday in the Park with George” received nine nominations. Tracy Lett’s August: Osage County received seven nominations including the one for Best Play category. The other major contender for Best Play is “The 39 Steps” adapted from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie.

The revival of the 1949 classic musical “South Pacific” has been done industriously by the Lincoln Center Theater. The story dates back to the IInd World War period and revolves around Nellie Forbush who is a Nurse in U.S Navy and Emile De Becque, a widowed man who is a plantation owner. The thirty- member orchestration had made the scores like “Some Enchanted evening” and “There is nothing like a Dame” that has made the play even more enchanting. The cast of the play includes Tony Award nominee Kelli O’ Hara and Paulo Szot, the Brazilian opera star. This revival will definitely make the Broadway Theater fans very satisfied.

May 17 will be the night when the various bands comprising of Broadway and off Broadway actors, musicians and writers will battle it out during the second annual Broadway Battle of the Bands competition that is conducted by the New York Musical Theater Festival. The show will kick start at 10 pm at the Zipper Factory in Manhattan and the tickets to this one off concert can purchased for 20$ a person.

The band competition produced by Amy Birnbaurn will feature artists of various genres like jazz, pop, rock, R& B, funk etc and the likes of The Fabulous Entourage (featuring actors Perry Silver, Libby Winters, Jimmy Owens and director Chamberlin), Kacie Shiek, Groovelily (Gene Lewin, Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda), Anthony Rapp and his band (Dan Weiss, Pete Asirisi, David Matos and Paul Gil) and many more. The Broadway Battle of Bands is a program formulated to bring out the extraordinary talents of the Broadway artists to the general public and is an event that has received good reviews from the Broadway audience.

Alvin Colt, world famous costume designer for countless Broadway productions have passed away at the age of 92 last Sunday. Official sources said that he perished due to old age surrounded by family and close friends at the exclusive Roosevelt Hospital.

Fellow designer Bob Mackie expressed his condolences and added that Colt was an iconic designed in the world of Broadway and has immense respect for his unrivalled talent. Colt won numerous Tony awards for his contributions throughout more than 60 years of experience in clothing Broadway stars. Colt made his debut with a 1944 musical titled “On the Town” and went on to contribute his talents on shows like “Guys and Dolls” (1950), “Destry Rides Again” (1959) and “Here’s Love” (1963).

The finalist in the famed TV reality show ‘Dancing with  the Stars’ and Extra TV host, Mario Lopez is all set to set the Broadway stage on fire as he will be joining the cast of the Tony Award winning Broadway musical “A Chorus Line”. Lopez did perform on stage on April 15^th and received warm applause and good reviews for his performance. He will be performing at the Broadway‘s Gerald Schoenfeld Theater till September 7^th, 2008. Lopez plays the role of Zach, a director in the play, who is making all efforts to cast chorus roles for his new Broadway musical show.

Mario Lopez will not be performing in the play from May 11^th till June 3^rd of 2008. Fans can catch a glimpse of their favorite star performing on stage from Wednesdays to Saturdays at 8 pm, Tuesdays at 7 pm and the matinee shows will be on at 2 pm on Saturday & Wednesday and at 3 pm on Sunday.