May 09, 2008

Broadway news: Tony Awards, Lortels, free plays

First off, if you were planning on buying Broadway tickets soon, you may want to speed that up ahead of Tuesday's Tony Awards nominations announcement. The awards show itself, which will be hosted by Whoopie Goldberg, is set for June 15 at Radio City Music Hall. Tony tickets -- priced at $204.50 and $404.50 -- will go on sale (but only to Visa cardholders) the same day nominations are announced.

See the full list of this year's eligible productions as well as the New York Post's nomination predictions.

Variety's got your early Tony Awards controversy: CBS' pre-Tony special has bumped "Passing Strange" from the lineup because censors think the song "We Just Had Sex" would be inappropriate for broadcast.

"Betrayed" and "Adding Machine" were the big winners in the Lortel Awards.

Coyote Rep has free sound plays -- an "updated twist on the old radio plays" -- you can start downloading via iTunes as of May 11.

Gabriel of Modern Fabulosity was at the private preview of "Billy Elliot" and reports "it was pretty damn fabulous." He likes all three actors who will play Billy, but says David Alvarez is the standout. See his site for pictures and details.

The new new Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" will be cast via an MTV reality show scheduled to air starting June 2. Snap.

Harry Connick Jr. will return to Broadway in March to start in the new musical “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” the New York Times reports.

"Leap of Faith," the 1992 Steve Martin movie, is Broadway-bound, with Raul Esparza signed on for the workshop, according to Broadway Undercover.

Jayne Houdyshell will return to "Wicked" as of June 17 as Madame Morrible, Playbill reports.

The Broadway-bound revival of "West Side Story" will be loaded with "hot- blooded passion" and more vicious Jets and Sharks, Bloomberg News reports after talking with Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book.

A musical version of Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" will start previews August 19 in the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, according to
Broadway.com.

"Kiss of the Spider Woman" will head to Broadway as a play, Playbill reports.

Theater blogger Matthew Freeman points out that leading up to the Tony's, Oxford University Press' blog will feature posts from Thomas S. Hischak, the author of "The Oxford Companion the the American Musical."

Modern Fabulosity has a great list not of best shows of the season, but the 20 best moments on Broadway right now.

The new batch of ads for "Spring Awakening" indicates its "shifting marketing strategies to start reaching audiences of more conventional tastes," Playgoer observes.

Earlier: Links to the official websites for all Broadway shows
'A Catered Affair,' snags 12 Drama Desk nominations
'August,' 'November' among Drama League nominees

May 9, 2008 01:12 PM in Broadway

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