Brian Stokes Mitchell, Laura Osnes, Tracey Ullman & More Hop on The Band Wagon at Encores!
by Lindsay Champion view article on Broadway.com There’s a whole slew of stars jumping on The Band Wagon! The Encores! production begins a limited engagement November 6, and we’ve got a first look at the new cast, who took a break from rehearsal to take this gorgoeus snapshot. Featuring music by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics […]
‘Cottage’ The Place for Summer Theatre In Aspen
by Michael Conniff view review on HuffingtonPost.com ASPEN, COLORADO—To say a play is “dated” is to confine it to the dustbin of history and simultaneously to leech the story of any contemporary meaning. In a movie, being dated is an irrevocable curse that can arrive with the wrong soundtrack or a cellphone as big as […]
Public Theater closes its 39th season with the randy, rowdy ‘Noises Off’
by Sharon Eberson view article on Post-Gazette.com Don Stephenson gets out of his chair in a Pittsburgh Public Theater conference room to demonstrate what it has been like filling in for Tony nominee Jefferson Mays in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” this season’s most nominated Broadway show with 10. He performs as eight […]
A Sickening Season on Broadway
by Stefanie Cohen view article on WSJ.com Even veteran stars are succumbing to illness this winter. Earlier this month, Jefferson Mays’ greatest fear came true: He fell victim to a virulent stomach flu in the middle of his starring run in the hit Broadway musical, “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” “It’s such a […]
Original Broadway Cast Member Don Stephenson Will Stage Avery Fisher Hall Concert of Titanic; Creative Team Announced
by Adam Hetrick view article on Playbill.com The creative team has been announced for the Avery Fisher Hall concert presentation of Maury Yeston and Peter Stone’s Tony Award-winning musical Titanic. Manhattan Concert Productions, which presented the starry concert of the Tony-winning musical Ragtime last winter, will return to Lincoln Center for the Feb. 17, 2014, […]
Frisky Comedy and Hotel-Room Farce
by Michael Sommers read review on nytimes.com One of the nicest features of the Broadway revival of Ken Ludwig’s “Lend Me a Tenor” back in 2010 was John Lee Beatty’s creamy rococo hotel suite where the operatic characters dashed about. The Paper Mill Playhouse’s exuberant staging of “Lend Me a Tenor” in Millburn utilizes Mr. […]
Despite an Arduous Start, ‘1776’ Educates and Entertains
by Naomi Siegel view review on NYTimes.com The Congress is in obstructionist mode. Conservatives and liberals lock horns. Debates about taxes, an escalating war, the erosion of human liberties and a restructuring of the social order end in stalemate and standoff. “Piddle, twiddle and resolve; nothing ever do we solve,” is the way one wag […]
They Can Do It! Stadlen & Stephenson Are New Max & Leo in Bway Producers; Brad Oscar Will Tour
by Kenneth Jones view article on Playbill.com The news has circulated in the Broadway acting community for weeks, but the producers of The Producers have made it official: Lewis J. Stadlen and Don Stephenson of the first national tour will jump into the Broadway troupe, and Brad Oscar will tour with the second national. Oscar, […]
On Stage: ‘Producers’ stars say show was hard fun
by Christopher Rawson It’s time to bid farewell to the stars of “The Producers,” Lewis J. Stadlen (Max) and Don Stephenson (Leo), based on brief chats as they were leaving after entertaining Pittsburgh for three weeks in the national premiere of the road company. But first, some “Producers” trivia to add to the flap about […]
Mel Brooks Says Stadlen and Stephenson on Tour; Lane and Broderick in London
by Robert Simonson & Kenneth Jones view article on Playbill.com The casting of the lead roles in the national tour of The Producers has been an open secret for weeks going on months—but without any official confirmation. The word of Mel Brooks, however, would seem official enough. The casting of the lead roles in the […]