My Broadway Review

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.

Mya, the sweet and sultry songstress who was slated to make her grand Broadway debut in May playing Velma Kelly, one of the leads in “Chicago” was forced to temporarily call of the show due to a broken foot. This was officially announced by Barry Weissler, producer of “Chicago” recently on Monday. Weissler did not appear perturbed even though the elaborate Broadway production was cancelled. He expressed his opinions and said that accidents are not uncommon in the Broadway scene and that the entire incident was beyond their control. He was also quick to wish her a speedy recovery and will be glad to welcome her back to the production soon as she has recuperated.

For those not in the known, Mya was best known for her chart topping hits such as “Ghetto Superstar” and “Lady Marmalade”, sang alongside Christina Aguilera. Currently no one has been named to replace Mya as yet.

The “Bridge Over Land” written and directed by Gilbert Girion has already started its performance at the Interart Theater Annex from April 18^th and will be entertaining the audiences with its captive stories till the 10^th of May. Girion has three different short plays which do not have character resemblance, but are woven in such a manner that it has a cohesive feeling. The three short plays talks about bridges between people over a course of time and highlights issues like longing, loss and hope.

The Broadway showing of Bridge Over Land is sure to bring in many more theater lovers to the Interart Theater as it has been receiving good reviews from both the masses as well as the classes. Girion has been very careful in choosing the artist to play the different characters in his play and some of the artists are Lisa Chess, Kati Rediger, David Gelles and Ed Setrakian.

The most eagerly awaited Broadway entertainer “Top Girls” has just finished its premiere showing at the Biltmore Theater last Tuesday and the good reviews that the premiere show is carrying will augur well for the show when it opens its limited engagement from May 7^th. A host of award winning artists like Jennifer Ikeda, Marisa Tomei, Mary Catherine Garrison, Martha Plimpton, Ana Reeder and Elizabeth Marvel are performing the characters in the famous show “Top Girls”.

Top Girls is directed by none other than James McDonald who has earlier directed plays like ‘A Number” and “Drunk Enough To Say I Love You”. Top Girls is making its Broadway debut at the Manhattan Theater Club’s Biltmore Theater and the show is produced by Caryl Churchill. The costumes in the Top Girls are beautifully woven by costume designer Laura Bauer and it blends well with the artistic designed sets of art director Lynne Meadow.

While Salt Lake City and Sandy are both vying to feature a Broadway-styled theatre that boasts of 2500 seats capacity, critics are wondering if this is really necessary at all.

Salt Lake City claims that they are in need of a bigger venue for Broadway productions but the fact remains that they already have two venues that are more than enough to accommodate Broadway fans. The Capitol Theatre and Kingsbury Hall each boast their own unique selling points and to date, every major touring musical productions were presented in these two venues.

People have enjoyed “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Les Miserables,” “Hairspray” and “Mama Mia” at  Salt Lake City, and next season “Wicked” will play for five weeks at the Capitol Theatre.

The problem with building these large capacity structures is that other venues already built must be compromised. For sure, a new 2,500-seat venue in Sandy won’t generate better tourism and hotel business for the county but it will simply direct away business that is currently occurring in downtown Salt Lake City.

MyBroadwayReview.com is highly excited over the fact that “Dirty Dancing” is coming to LA at the Pantages Theatre soon!

“Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage” is enjoying world wide phenomenal success and has previously broken box office records, especially in Australia, UK, Canada and Holland. Most recently, it vowed the crowd during the US premiere in Chicago.

The world class production, made possible by Eleanor Bergstein, writer and co-producer will feature an expanded storyline created solely for this stage play. Fans of Baby and Johnny will be glad to know that more heartwarming scenes between the two leads. New music such as “Save the Last Dance”, “This Magic Moment” and “Stubborn Kind of Fellow” will also be enhanced and introduced into the popular production. Through this production, writer extraordinaire Eleanor Bergstein proclaimed her love for dancing, and was the main reason why she wrote the movie in the first place.

“Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage” is produced by Jacobsen Entertainment.

Broadway viewers are offered an attractive deal by the producers of The 39 Steps. The production is offering 39 tickets at $39 for each show of this humorous play. The show will have its premiere in Broadway on April 29th at the Cort Theatre. For the preview show all the tickets will be rated $39. The opening night of the play is on May 8th. The offers are available through phone as well as in person at the Cort Box office.

The reviews say that Maria Aitken has directed this comedy in an appreciable way. This Broadway production is based on the joint concept of Simon Corble and Nobby Dimon. Some of the Broadway reviews describe this play as the most “absurdly enjoyable and “a fast paced fun ride”. The play features Charles Edwards, Cliff Saunders, Arnie Burton, Jennifer Ferrin etc. The costumes and sets are made blending with the mystery mood of the play by Peter McKintosh.

Macbeth-The story of the greedy couple has gripped Broadway from March 29th at Lyceum Theatre. Patrick Stewart plays the role of the murderous general and Kate Fleet Wood comes as his malicious wife. The director of Macbeth Rupert Gold has won the Olivier award for the direction of this Shakespearean play. The story is taking place in a make shift Military Hospital in an unknown country. The set designs by Anthony Ward and lighting design by Howard Harrison has imparted the essence of the villainous theme appropriately.

Macbeth has reached Broadway after gaining much critical acclamations from BAM and West End. According to the reviews from the theatre world, the lead roles are well supported by a group of competent artists. Fights are made realistic by the excellent direction of Terry King. Tickets are available at nominal rates and the play will definitely take you to the bloody tragedy in a very convincing way.