Musical Theatre

Highlights from this Washington Post story and interview, mostly about The Bridges of Madison County but also a little about his new show The Connector:

Brown agreed to collaborate with Marsha Norman and director Bartlett Sher to build a show around that central conflict — and to take some liberties with the rest of the text. “I will continue to say it’s not a very well-written book,” Brown says. “A lot of the places that the book focuses its energies just seemed bizarre. But what was very powerful about it was this idea about what it means to be in the middle age of your life and to reach a sort of crossroads.”

Q: The score to “The Bridges of Madison County” is often lush and operatic, but also folksy and fast-paced. How do you balance a range of eclectic sounds with tonal consistency? A: I think I’m very aware of setting. In the case of “The Bridges of Madison County,” the world was pretty easy for me to diagram because it’s Iowa in the early ’60s. Then I was able to add to it these two people who don’t belong in Iowa in the ‘60s. Francesca comes from Italy, so I thought to use Neapolitan folk song and a little bit of opera. It’s more art song than opera, but that idea of real Italian art music. Then we have Robert, who also doesn’t belong there, and he foreshadows music of 10 years to come. Then, hopefully, I’m a strong enough musician and a resourceful enough composer that once I have that information, I can start combining chemicals in fun ways and seeing what gets combustible.

I value in the work I do a certain kind of ambiguity and a certain kind of ambivalence. Those are qualities that are very resonant to me personally. But I don’t think the Broadway musical as a rule traffics in ambiguity and ambivalence. Broadway audiences are trained on certainties. They are trained on absolutes. They are trained on big declarative statements. In “The Bridges of Madison County,” we just didn’t make big declarative statements. It’s a show that talks about really complex emotions and talks about them in a very real way, and I’m not sure that the commercial audience of 2014 was really ready to hear that the way that we wanted to say it.

When I talk about that thing about ambivalence and ambiguity, I’m not only talking about it on a verbal level. There is a lot in my music that I deliberately leave open not just to interpretation but, really, I like to leave space for the audience to make a decision about what they feel about something. If all you’re doing is living in a world of major and minor chords, the music tells you what you’re supposed to say all the time and tells you what you’re supposed to feel. I think I left enough space in “Parade,” in “Songs for a New World,” even in “13,” that those shows get to be filled with the era that the audience sees them.

I very much like being the elder statesman, but I worry sometimes that what I pass on is actually so far out of fashion that it’s not entirely valuable to the people I’m mentoring. But I still so much value a particular kind of musical storytelling that I just keep trying to keep that tradition alive and pass that word on.

Q: Let’s discuss your new work. What can you say about “The Connector”? A: “The Connector” is, in a lot of ways, a very unconventional musical and a very dangerous musical. We in the audience aren’t entirely sure who we’re supposed to believe at any point throughout the show. I think there’s a very obvious political element to that, but there’s also, to me, a very powerful personal element to that. It’s just this sense of, “What do we trust about people? What do we trust about the stories that they tell us?” There’s a lot about the show that is very explosive, in a way, because it takes an audience to certain places and then asks the audience to make some decisions about what they saw.

Once Upon a One More Time, the Broadway musical that uses Britney Spears hits to re-tell and revise various fairy tales, has announced an early closing. The final performance at the Marquis Theatre will be on 3 September 2023. Once Upon A One More Time started previews in May 2023 and opened in June to mixed reviews.

Said James L. Nederlander and Hunter Arnold in a joint statement announcing the news:

We could not be prouder of this beautifully joyous and exhilarating show — which is not only a love letter to Britney’s iconic artistry and singular effervescence, but also a brilliant display of the boundless talent of our cast and creative team. We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to this dream team of collaborators, performers, designers, staff, crew and investors who continue to share our passion and joy for this project. As plans take shape for the show’s future life around the globe, we’re excited to share more news soon!

Once Upon a One More Time came hot on the heels of Bad Cinderella, another glossy, fizzy fairy-tale reimagining with a hot-pink coat of feminist paint, which also closed early after lukewarm critical reception. Both shows opened in the wake of October 2022 breakout & Juliet, a Max Martin jukebox musical that offers a feminist retelling of Romeo & Juliet, and also happens to offer four Britney Spears musical numbers.

“The Outsiders,” the musical that made its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in March, will begin previews on Broadway on 16 March 2024, at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre. Opening night will be 11 April 2024.

The musical — by bookwriters Adam Rapp and Justin Levine and composers Jamestown Revival (Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance) and Levine — is based on S.E. Hinton’s seminal 1967 young adult novel “The Outsiders.” The coming-of-age story is about 14-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, a smart but directionless orphan in Tulsa, Oklahoma, fighting to survive and find purpose and connection in a harsh world of poverty, class division, gangs, guns and pocket knives. It was adapted into movie by Francis Ford Coppola in 1983.

Hollywood actor Angelina Jolie recently joined the producing team at the prompting of her daughter.

General public tickets go on sale 1 November 2023, with group sales starting on 18 September.

“The Outsiders” is the second La Jolla Playhouse-born show that will be making its Broadway debut this season. The other is Barry Manilow’s “Harmony,” which made its world premiere at the Playhouse in 1997. “Harmony” will open in previews Oct. 18 at New York’s Barrymore Theatre. Opening night is scheduled for Nov. 13.

As someone whose t-shirt and top collection consists of at least 80% theatre merchandise, and who has literally run out of shelf space for musical mugs, I found this Jennifer Ashley Tepper article on the history of Broadway merchandise fascinating.

Fun fact: A friend of mine actually had some Urinetown toilet paper from the original production and kept it in her lavatory... unfortunately some unthinking person actually used it one day!!

SIX: TEEN EDITION has been made available to K-12 accredited schools in the United States and is not yet available in all areas.

SIX: TEEN EDITION is a full-length adaptation of Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’ international phenomenon SIX, modified for performance by teen actors for family audiences.

SIX modernizes the narratives of Henry VIII's six wives, transforming them from Tudor Queens to pop icons who have gathered to give a concert and finally tell their stories from their own point of view

Said Marlow and Moss:

This feels like a real full-circle moment. We wrote SIX for our female and non-binary friends to perform when we were all students, so to now have this teen edition for schools enabling young people to take the mic, use their voice, and claim their own space is truly humbling.

I certainly can't see this show being popular on the schools circuit, nosirree...

Bradley Cooper has faced an onslaught of criticism for wearing a prosthetic nose to play the late conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, in his latest film Maestro. The backlash came after Netflix released the first trailer to the romantic biographical drama, which was also directed and co-written by Cooper.

Critics are calling it a classic case of "Jewface" and it's not the first of its kind Hollywood has seen.

While there's nothing wrong with actors using prosthetics in order to look more like the person they are portraying, the act of enlarging one's nose to resemble a Jewish person has deep historical ties to antisemitism.

Critics also took offence to Cooper for not having any religious or ethnic relations to Judaism.

Bernstein's three children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina, have taken to social platform X to stand in solidarity with Cooper, saying they have been consulted throughout the making of the project.

The casting of gentile actor Katerina McCrimmon as Fanny Brice in the US tour of Funny Girl led to similar criticism by some members of the Jewish community.

Reimagining the Broadway musical for audiences near Beirut meant new character names, choreography and lyrics.

Interesting reading! Highlights include:

Despite dealing with American cultural references and wildly different syntax, translating the musical into Arabic came pretty smoothly, said Roy ElKhouri, the writer, choreographer and director of the adaptation. The context particularly speaks to present-day Beirut, said Anthony Adonis, who adapted the lyrics. “It’s like it was written to be a commentary on the judicial system in Lebanon,” Adonis said.

Yet even with the commonalities, reinterpreting the musical was a complicated process because of the strict guidelines that accompany licenses from Concord Theatricals. The Arabic version had to stay true to the original story line. Characters could not be added nor removed, and neither could songs. And the Lebanese team was required to give the adaptation entirely new choreography — originally by Bob Fosse — and direction.

The first step was coming up with relevant Arabic names for characters, including Selma (Mirva Kadi), whose name rhymed with Velma. Roxie Hart, whose killing of her lover sets the story in motion, became Nancy Nar (Cynthya Karam), alluding to the Lebanese pop star Nancy Ajram.

Other changes involved wordplay: The smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn, who frees murderers from prison, became Wael Horr (ElKhouri), his last name meaning “free.” Roxie’s loyal husband, Amos, became Amin (Fouad Yammine, who helped adapt the script), which means “faithful.” And the sympathetic journalist Mary Sunshine became Nour El Shams (Matteo El Khodr), whose full name translates to “the light of the sun.”

Translating the songs was a bigger challenge. The legal and showbiz jargon of “Razzle Dazzle” — “Shubeik Lubeik” in Arabic (“Your Wish Is My Command”) — were especially tricky. Adonis wrote at least three versions until the team settled on the one that most aligned with the music. “It was like doing very, very complicated math,” he said.

Lebanese references were trickled throughout the musical. In “Cell Block Tango,” or “Kan Yistahal” (“He Deserved It”), the prisoners’ dialects reflected the country’s diversity. The character of Hunyak, who is Hungarian in the original, became Armenian, a reference to Lebanon’s Armenian population.

An interesting and informative article on the evolution of Operation Mincemeat, the hit musical currently playing in London.

Worth a read, especially for anyone in how musicals are developed.

Some highlights:

There were several discussions about musical style. Hagan had considered restricting himself to period forms, then rejected that restriction. The resulting score is eclectic, moving among pop, R&B, stride piano. The song that closes the first act transitions between sea chantey and electronic dance music, the EDM a play on a submarine’s pinging sonar. “We needed to make sure it didn’t feel old,” Cumming said.

In writing the script, they agreed to never change the story’s facts, even as they allowed themselves a playful approach to the characters. Yet the facts were often incredible. After an invited dress rehearsal, SpitLip read through feedback forms, some of which scolded the company for lying about history. (“The dads,” Roberts said, “can be very defensive about the war.”)They hadn’t lied, but they jettisoned [several elements considered by audiences as too unbelievable]

[...] the show that debuted at the 80-seat New Diorama was a shambolic one (one song lasted about 25 minutes), with an unwieldy second act rewritten just days before opening. [...] The show transferred to other London venues, Southwark Playhouse and Riverside Studios. A half-hour was cut. (It now runs just over two hours.) That 25-minute song was drastically shortened. At the New Diorama, the show’s creators discovered that audiences connected with the story’s emotional beats and that they wanted more of them. This was a surprise. “Funnily enough, at our werewolf comedy, tears did not flow,” Roberts said. “We were still taken aback by how passionately people cared about these characters and felt for them.” Initially “Operation Mincemeat” had leaned away from emotional moments, undercutting them with jokes. Increasingly, the show leaned in.

For the West End transfer, a director and a choreographer were hired. A “glitzy finale” was added.

Josh Groban posted on his Instagram account on August 18 2023 that he has tested positive for Covid and that he will be sidelined from the Broadway production of Sweeney Todd during his recovery. Regular Pirelli and standby Sweeney Nicholas Christopher will play the Demon Barber during Groban's recovery.

This is unfortunate news for anyone who has tickets to see the show specifically for Josh Groban, but good news for anyone looking to get well-priced tickets in his absence, as undoubtedly many people will be looking for a refund or exchange. Annaleigh Ashford continues to play Mrs Lovett.

BroadwayWorld has published part 1 of a two-part history of the Sweeney Todd story (not just the musical)

Les Miserables will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2025. Whether in its full theatrical form, a blockbuster musical movie — which Mackintosh says is currently being digitally remastered and will be re-released later this year — or any of its spectacularly staged concert performances, there’s no denying audiences love “Les Mis” and keep coming back for more.

(The article talks about how certain scenes are staged in the James Powell and Laurence Connor directed production currently touring the US. It gives the impression that these changes are new, but this production has been around since 2009!)

A new production of Jesus Christ Superstar, directed by Ivo van Hove, will tour the Netherlands in 2024. The cast includes Jeangu Macrooy (Jesus), Freek Bartels (Judas), Edwin Jonker (Pilate), Alex Klaasen (King Herod) and Magtel de Laat ( Maria Magdalena).

Base on a google translation of the website, it seems that the production will be an immersive one, with audiences able to be on stage surrounded by the action, or sit in more conventional seats.

The show will be performed in English. The tour will kick off on 21 January 2024 at the DeLaMar Theatre in Amsterdam, with tickets currently selling for various cities (including Emmen, Tiel, Maastricht, Apeldoom, Alkmaar, Rotterdam, Breda, Nijmegen, Leeuwarden, Entschede, Heerlen, Tilburg, Zwolle, Groningen, Doetinchem, and and intriguingly named 's-Herogenbosch) through to end of June 2024.

Here We Are, Sondheim's final show, has hardly any songs in its second act, according to sources familiar with the book and score.

One insisted it has “zero,” adding, “Steve bailed because he could not write Act 2. He gave it up and never thought it would be done.”

The insider went on to say that “there are only six songs in Act 1, and one is repeated in every single scene.”

Here We Are is based on two films by Spanish surrealist director Luis Buñuel — 1972’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and ’62’s “The Exterminating Angel.”

Act 1 is said to be “Discreet Charm,” while Act 2 is “Angel.” The second part is heavily reliant on playwright David Ives’ book.

The Dismissal is a new Australian musical created and produced by independent theatre company Squabbalogic, and based on what is considered Australia’s greatest constitutional and political crisis. It features characters ranging from former prime ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser to then governor-general Sir John Kerr and TV comedy star Norman Gunston.

“We wanted to create something a bit more serious than Keating! and a bit funnier than Hamilton,” says co-writer and director Jay James-Moody. “It’s a political satire and a satire of musicals themselves.”

The show runs from 26 August 2023 at Sydney's Seymour Centre.

Submissions are now being accepted for Round 2 of BROADWAY SHARK TANK where writers of new musicals and plays may submit their project for consideration to be presented to a panel of industry experts.

The event is open to all writing teams who have completed a first draft of their original musical/play (whether it be in “concept” phase, or have had a full production). Teams should submit their materials HERE.

The submission deadline is Sunday 10 September 2023 at midnight and the selected teams will be notified by Monday 18 September.

If selected, each show’s team will be allowed 8 minutes to speak about the project and present 1-2 songs (or excerpts). Each team is responsible for covering any costs associated with presenting their work (stipend to their actors, pianist, etc).

The panel will consist of prominent figures in the Broadway industry. The team will provide constructive feedback on each pitch and advice as the show progresses towards their next steps. Panel members to be announced soon.

Maestra (the organisation for women and nonbinary people in theatre, founded by Georgia Stitt) has launchd RISE Theatre. RISE (Representation, Inclusion, & Support for Employment) is a Maestra program that seeks to build a more equitable and inclusive theatre industry by centralizing DEIA tools and resources through a network of partners and a national personnel directory that focuses on folks from underrepresented backgrounds.

Membership is free for professionals across more than 120+ job categories, including Choreography, Costume Design, Direction, Hair/Make-up, Lighting, Management, Music, Producing, Props, Scenic/Carpentry, Sound, and Writing, among others. Members must have at least one verifiable production credit to appear in searches.

RISE is supported by Lin-Manuel Miranda's Miranda Family Fund.

When William Finn began work on A New Brain after leaving the hospital following a harrowing brush with arteriovenous malformation, he wrote a number of songs that did not survive the cutting process on the journey to its 1998 Off-Broadway debut. One of these songs, "Anytime," remained hidden until Norm Lewis introduced it in the 2001 anthology show Infinite Joy, prior to Carolee Carmello memorably folding it into 2003’s Elegies.

Nearly 25 years later, "Anytime" is returning to A New Brain at Barrington Stage Company in the Berkshires, Massachusetts. Performed by Darrell Purcell, Jr. as Roger, the tender song elaborates on the depth of devotion between protagonist Gordon and his boyfriend Roger.

“‘Anytime’ is one of Bill Finn's most beautiful songs," says director Joe Calarco. "It was rehearsed for the Lincoln Center Theater production in 1998 but was cut before the show went into performances. I asked Bill and James Lapine if we could reinstate it, and they generously said yes. Besides its beauty, the song allows us to see the full range of Gordon and Roger's relationship and their deep love for and commitment to each other.”

This revival of A New Brain, which begins performances August 16 2023 and runs through to September, also brings another element of the original Off-Broadway production back to the fore: three-time Tony nominee Mary Testa, who will play Gordon's mother, Mimi. Testa created the role of Lisa in the 1998 world premiere Off-Broadway production at Lincoln Center Theater.

Anthony Warlow will star as Billy Flynn in a new Australian tour of Chicago. Zoe Ventoura will star as Velma Kelly and Lucy Maunder as Roxie Hart. Peter Rowsthorn will play Amos.

The production will open in Perth in November 2023, then tour Brisbane (from January 2024), Melbourne (March 2024) and Sydney (June 2024).

In an interview with Limelight magazine Warlow says:

It has always been a bucket list show of mine. I was fortunate to see that first Australian production at the Opera House with Nancye and Geraldine, and I then saw it again in New York in 1997. That was special to me because the guy playing Billy Flynn – James Naughton – was in Planet of the Apes, which used to be my favourite TV show.

[...] when this popped up, I said yes straight away. I can’t think of a better time to play the spin doctor, the professional liar. There’s something so very of-the-moment about that, especially with everything that’s going on in the United States.

Now I'm picturing Warlow in a production of The Simpsons' Planet of the Apes musical...

The Broadway production of Beetlejuice will have its Australian premiere at Melbourne's Regent Theatre in April 2025.

Beetlejuice features songs by Melbourne writer/performer Eddie Perfect, book by Scott Brown and Anthony King, and is directed by Alex Timbers.

Casting has yet to be announced, although when I saw the show on Broadway I thought that Eddie Perfect would actually be perfect (no pun intended) as the lovable undead ratbag - this being more or less his default performing persona.

The new game aims to adapt the story of the revolutionary Founding Father into an immersive online environment for a new generation.

In the Hamilton Simulator, players use their own avatars as they rub shoulders with the musical's characters and negotiate through 10 levels set during the Revolutionary War.

The journey commences at New York's docks, with the objective of liberating the city from British rule. Players assemble a squad from characters in the musical — James Madison and Charles Lee, perhaps, to begin with, and more valuable characters like Maria Reynolds and Angelica Schuyler coming later — to confront Redcoats.

The 10 settings include a tavern, George Washington's office, town squares, the ballroom where Hamilton and Angelica fall in love and the Battle of Yorktown.

Each level has songs from the musical, including “Guns and Ships,” “You'll Be Back,” and “The Schuyler Sisters,” used as a sort of sonic laser to wear down and defeat enemies.

David Korins, the stage designer of "Hamilton," contributed to the visual aspects of the simulator, including hidden Easter eggs that only true fans of the Broadway production would notice.

Joining the London company of Les Miserables on 25 September 2023 will be Katie Hall as Fantine, Luke Kempner as Thénardier, Will Callan as Marius, Amena El-Kindy as Eponine and Djavan van de Fliert as Enjolras.

These actors will join current cast members Josh Piterman as Jean Valjean, Stewart Clarke as Javert, Claire Machin as Madame Thénardier, and Lulu-Mae Pears as Cosette.

The company is completed by Annabelle Aquino, Hazel Baldwin, Brad Barnley, Michael Baxter, Emily Olive Boyd, Rosy Church, Ben Culleton, Matthew Dale, Matt Dempsey, Sophie-May Feek, Matt Hayden, Tom Hext, Christopher Jacobsen, Jessica Johns-Parsons, Yazmin King, Sam Kipling, Anouk van Laake, Harry Lake, Sarah Lark, Ellie Ann Lowe, Ben Oatley, Adam Pearce, Jordan Simon Pollard, Jonathan Stevens, Phoebe Williams, and Ollie Wray.

The full cast for the upcoming world premiere of Close Up The Twiggy Musical in London, will include Elena Skye as Twiggy, Lauren Azania AJ King-Yombo, Matt Corner, Darren Day, Beth Devine, Aoife Dunne, Hannah-Jane Fox, Steven Serlin, Emma-Katie Adcock, Liam Buckland, Harriet Bunton, Leanne Garretty, Luke Johnson, David McIntosh, Danny Nattrass, Sydney Spencer, and Karen Walker.

Written and directed by Ben Elton Close Up will open 27 September 2023 at the Menier Chocolate Factory, for a run through 18 November.
The world premiere explores the life of Twiggy, the world's first supermodel.

In the current London production of Cabaret, from 25 September 2023, the roles of The Emcee and Sally Bowles will be played by Jake Shears and Rebecca Lucy Taylor AKA Self Esteem.

They join Nathan Ives-Moiba as Clifford Bradshaw, Beverley Klein as Fraulein Schneider and Teddy Kempner as Herr Schultz. Emily Benjamin will continue as the production’s alternate Sally Bowles until 18 October, with Nic Myers taking over (scheduled to perform once a week) from 19 October.

Also joining the company on 25 September are Wilf Scolding as Ernst Ludwig, Jessica Kirton as Fraulein Kost/Fritzie, Liv Alexander as Texas, Natalie Chua as Frenchie, Taite-Elliot Drew as Hans, Damon Gould as Victor, El Haq Lateif as Helga, and Travis Ross as Bobby, joining Laura Delany as Rosie, Grant Neal as Herman/Max and Hicaro Nicolai as Lulu. The cast is completed by Rebecca Lisewski, Ela Lisondra, Nic Myers, Andy Rees, Toby Turpin and Patrick Wilden.

From 16 October, the prologue company will be Rachel Benson, Ami Benton, Onyemachi Ejimofor, Joseph Hardy, Liz Kamille, Andrew Linnie, Aine McLoughlin, Jack Parry, Jazmyn Raikes, Oliver Stockley and Ena Yamaguchi.

Casting is now complete for the West End revival of Sunset Boulevard.

The Jamie Lloyd-directed production will star Nicole Scherzinger as Norma, with Rachel Tucker playing Norma on Monday performances from 16 October 2023 to 6 January 6, 2024, as well as 12 October 2023 matinee. The cast will also include the newly announced Tom Francis as Joe Gillis, Grace Hodgett Young as Betty Schaefer, and David Thaxton as Max Von Mayerling.

Completing the cast are Carl Au, Georgia Bradshaw, Hannah Yun Chamberlain, Tyler Davis, Kamilla Fernandes, Ahmed Hamad, Laura Harrison, Charlotte Jaconelli, Olivia-Faith Kamau, Luke Latchman, Emma Lloyd, Mireia Mambo, Gregor Milne, Kody Mortimer, Jon Tsouras and Charlie Waddell, Lara Denning Jordan Cork, Shayna McPherson, Catherine Cornwall, Michael Lin, Jon Reynolds, Kirsty Anne Shaw, Harrison Wilde, and Lillie-Pearl Wildman.

Newcomer Nichelle Lewis Will Lead THE WIZ as Dorothy on Broadway and US National Tour.

The cast will include previously announced Wayne Brady to lead the production as The Wiz on Broadway, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Alan Mingo Jr. will star in the role of The Wiz in the following cities of the US National Tour, including Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Atlanta, Greenville, Chicago, Des Moines, Tempe, and San Diego. The cast will also include previously announced Deborah Cox as Glinda and Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene, Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman, and Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow.

The upcoming Broadway revival of Eric Idle and John Du Prez' SPAMALOT will feature Christopher Fitzgerald, James Monroe Iglehart, Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, Ethan Slater, Jimmy Smagula, Michael Urie and Nik Walker.

Iglehart, Kritzer, Smagula, Urie and Walker will be reprising their roles from the run at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. At the Kenendy Center, the role of Lancelot was played by Alex Brightman, who is currently starring on Broadway in The Shark Is Broken.

Performances begin Tuesday, October 31, 2023, and the official opening knight is Thursday, November 16, 2023 at Broadway’s St. James Theatre

Austin Scott joins the the cast of & Juliet on 15 August 2023 at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre as William Shakespeare. Scott succeeds Stark Sands, who played his final performance on 6 August 6 as he prepares for his next project, the Avett Brothers musical Swept Away

Jake Pedersen joined the Broadway company of Wicked on 14 August 2023. Pedersen played Boq in the Wicked US tour. He succeeds Michael Wartella, who played his final performance 12 August 2023.

[The upcoming Broadway musical Harmony announced its full cast and creative team.]((https://www.broadwaynews.com/harmony-complete-cast-and-creative-team-announced/) Newly announced cast members include Allison Semmes, Andrew O’Shanick, Zak Edwards, Dan Hoy, Bruce Landry, RhonniRose Mantilla, Daniel Z. Miller, Benjamin H. Moore, Matthew Mucha, Constantine Pappas, Kayleen Seidl, Kyla Stone, Bronwyn Tarboton, Kate Wesler, Stuart Zagnit and Lee Zarrett.

They will join the previously announced Chip Zien, Sierra Boggess, Julie Benko, Sean Bell, Danny Kornfeld, Zal Owen, Eric Peters, Blake Roman and Steven Telsey. The Barry Manilow / Bruce Sussman show will begin previews on 18 October 2023 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

The original cast recordings of “Company,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Into the Woods” and “Assassins” have been remixed and remastered. The new editions mark the release of the final legacy project on which Sondheim consulted before he died.

Sony’s 360 Reality Audio format wraps listeners in a field of sound using 360-degree spatial sound technology. With this tech, individual sounds from the recordings — including vocals, piano, guitar and live audience sounds — can be put into a spherical sound field. Dolby Atmos adds clarity, space and depth to music, allowing people to become enveloped in the listening experience using surround-sound technology. The new Dolby Atmos editions are available via Apple Music, as well as Amazon Music and TIDAL.

The editions include fresh details that emerged when the recordings were re-explored, including the few seconds at the start of “Tick Tock” on the “Company” recording (which were cut from the original LP release and previous reissues).

Eva Noblezada played her final performance as Eurydice in Hadestown on 13 August 2023 at the Walter Kerr Theatre.

Noblezada began playing the role in 2018 at London’s National Theatre (I was there for the first preview!) before transferring with the production to Broadway in 2019. She subsequently received a Tony nomination for her performance. Noblezada was previously Tony-nominated for her work as Kim in the 2017 revival of Miss Saigon.

Original cast members Amber Gray, Patrick Page, and Tony winner André De Shields were on hand to mark the occasion.

Noblezada will be succeeded by Solea Pfeiffer, who will join the cast 15 August 2023.

Noblezada will star with Jeremy Jordan in the New Jersey Papermill Playhouse production of The Great Gatsby in October, with tickets now on sale to the general public.

Tom Jones, who wrote the book and lyrics for the longest-running musical “The Fantasticks,” died Friday 14 August 2023 at his home in Sharon, Connecticut of cancer. He was 95.

Jones and the late composer Harvey Schmidt created the musical allegory “The Fantasticks,” which opened in 1960 in Greenwich Village and ran off-Broadway for a record-setting 42 years and over 17,000 performances.

Jones grew up in Coleman, Texas, and attended the University of Texas, Austin, in the late ’40s, where he met Schmidt, with whom Jones collaborated on 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!, Celebration, Philemon, Colette, Mirette, and Roadside.

Jones was writing revised lyrics to The Fantasticks as recently as 2022, for a Flint Repertory Theatre production that featured two men cast as the romantic leads.

Jones is survived by his sons Michael and Sam Jones from his second marriage to choreographer Janet Watson, who died in 2016.

An article on some of the musicals at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe which are hoping to duplicate the success of SIX, which also got its start at the Fringe.