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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: musical theater

musical theater stories: 17 news summaries

 Green Day's Rock  
 Opera Hits the Stage 

Multiplatinum American Idiot a coming-of-age story

Sep 2, 09 11:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Green Day’s multiplatinum album American Idiot is taking the stage as a 75-minute rock opera that will “challenge the very definitions of punk, theater, and musical,” writes David Downs in the East Bay Express. A 19-member cast will showcase a “Fight Club-esque story of self-discovery through... More »

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theater • musical theater • Berkeley • musical • rock opera • Jay-ZTV • Green Day • Billie Joe Armstrong

 Bye, Bye Birdie 
 Scene Too Risque 
 for Broadway 

Revival will be even more PC than high school productions

Aug 24, 09 8:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - High school drama clubs have been putting on Bye Bye Birdie for nearly 50 years—apparently they didn’t realize they've been staging a certain scene so risque it makes Broadway blush. The upcoming Broadway revival will cut a dance sequence featuring Rose cavorting on and around a table... More »

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entertainment • Broadway • musical theater • musical • revival • Gina Gershon • Bye Bye Birdie

 Destiny's 'Third' Child 
 Hits London's West End 

Michelle Williams plays Roxie in Chicago

Jul 13, 09 3:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - Often labeled “the third one” in Destiny’s Child, Michelle Williams is swinging the spotlight her way, the Independent reports, playing Roxy in a production of Chicago in London’s West End. “People just think I’m the quiet one. Or not talented,” Williams says of comparisons... More »

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theater • London • Chicago • pop music • musical theater • singer • Beyonce • Michelle Williams • West End theater • Kelly Rowland • Jay-ZTV

 Blago to Appear in 
 Rod Superstar Spoof 

Ex-gov to take the stage to announce extension of musical mocking his career

Jun 10, 09 1:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Second City revue's harshly critical musical send-up of Rod Blagojevich's rise and fall will have a special guest onstage Saturday: Rod Blagojevich. Producers of Rod Blagojevich Superstar say the impeached former Illinois governor will be on hand to announce the hit spoof's extension through August, and will join... More »

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Illinois • musical theater • Rod Blagojevich • political scandal • Second City

(AP) - Billy Elliot, the British musical about a coal miner's son who burns to dance, won 10 Tony Awards tonight in New York, including best musical and a unique best actor prize for the three young performers who share the title role. David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, and Kiril Kulish shyly thanked... More »

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entertainment • theater • Tony Awards • Broadway • award show • musical theater • Marcia Gay Harden • Radio City Music Hall • Billy Elliot • Geoffrey Rush • David Alvarez • Trent Kowalik • Kiril Kulish • Yasmina Reza • Angela Lansbury

 Lloyd Webber Eyes Boyle 
 for Stage Role 

Could even be Evita lead, originally played by Susan's idol

May 15, 09 8:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Susan Boyle’s dream might be coming true. The Britain’s Got Talent superstar—who elicited snickers from the audience when she said before her audition that she aspired to be like British stage icon Elaine Paige—has caught the eye of musical theater composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, who is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • celebrity • musical theater • West End theater • Andrew Lloyd Webber • Susan Boyle • Britain's Got Talent • Jay-ZTV

Theater review


 New Bilingual 
 West Side Story 
 Tender, Uneven  

Production can be uneven, but still enjoyable

Mar 20, 09 11:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - The highly anticipated revival of West Side Story on Broadway opened last night to solid reviews, with critics applauding an unusually tender interpretation in which the women rule. Highlights:
  • “Even when they’re flashing switchblades and kicking people in the ribs, the teenage hoodlums who maraud through Arthur
... More »

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theater • Broadway • musical theater • musical • West Side Story • revival • theater reviews • Stephen Sondheim

China Prepares for Das Kapital:
The Musical

Marx's treatise gets some much-needed singing and dancing

Mar 17, 09 10:38 AM CDT
(Newser) - Karl Marx's Das Kapital offers hundreds of pages of dense German prose on class struggle and modes of production—so why not add some singing and dancing? That's the idea of several Chinese producers who are mounting a Das Kapital musical, which promises a live band and Vegas-style theatrics to... More »

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China • theater • Marxism • musical theater • Karl Marx • musical • Das Kapital

theater review

 Stage Shrek Is 
 Lumbering but Lovable 

Show lacking in 'inspiration'

Dec 15, 08 12:14 PM CST
(Newser) - Shrek the Musical has its moments, but in the end, it contradicts its own message that substance trumps what’s on the surface, writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times. The “leaden” show presents a “cavalcade of storybook effigies” that “feels like 40 blocks’ worth of... More »

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theater • Broadway • musical theater • reviews • Shrek

 Parton Kicks Off 9 to 5 Premiere 

Parton offers mini concert at debut show

Sep 11, 08 1:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Tuesday's premiere of 9 to 5: The Musical came with an unexpected treat when Dolly Parton leaped on stage and performed songs to cover up a technical glitch, says the Los Angeles Times Music Blog. She roused the audience into singing along to the "9 to 5" theme,... More »

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celebrity • musical theater • Dolly Parton • musical • 9 to 5: The Musical • Ahmanson Theatre

 It's Curtains for
 Rent After 12 Years

Hugely popular musical takes a break from Broadway

Sep 7, 08 5:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - Twelve years and 5,124 performances later, Broadway bids adieu today to Rent, the New York Daily News reports. The beloved musical, which follows a group of bohemians and street folk through AIDS-ravaged, early-1990s East Village, “speaks to people's hearts," an original cast members tells the AP. It... More »

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theater • Broadway • musical theater • Rent

 150 Animals to
 Star in Massive
 'Ark' Musical 

Where? Where but Branson, Missouri?

May 24, 08 8:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hold on to your camels, folks: A full-blown Biblical gala is opening tonight in Branson, Mo., in the form of Noah—the Musical. The show will feature more than 40 actors and 150 animals, half live, half animatronic, the Economist reports. More »

MORE ABOUT:
theater • Christianity • Noah's Ark • Missouri • musical theater • Christians • musical • Branson, Missouri

 Baltimore Ready for 
 Broadway Moment 

City takes advantage of native son's sleazy musicals

Apr 29, 08 2:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Known as a harbor city plagued by gang violence and urban decay, Baltimore is hoping for a Broadway-style makeover—courtesy of John Waters, native son and creator of Hairspray and Cry-Baby. His gleefully trashy films are the inspiration for two cleaned-up musicals now on Broadway, and Baltimore hopes their sparkle... More »

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tourism • Broadway • Hairspray • Baltimore • musical theater • John Waters • Cry-Baby

Theater Review

 No Tears in Soulless Cry-Baby 

Latest Waters musical lacks heart

Apr 25, 08 9:16 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cry-Baby, the latest broadway musical based on a John Waters movie, is tasteless—and not in the good way, writes Ben Brantley in the New York Times. It’s not offensive, it just has no flavor. Its 1950s bad-boy-meets-good-girl premise is tired, and James Snyder can’t match... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Broadway • Hairspray • musical theater • reviews • John Waters • musical • Cry-Baby

Christian Sues Springer Musical for Blasphemy

Pole-dancing Eve doesn't wash with critic

Nov 21, 07 6:53 AM CST
(Newser) - A Christian activist in Britain is battling in court to sue the men behind hit musical "Jerry Springer—The Opera" for blasphemy. The play, which depicts Eve as a pole dancer and Jesus as a diaper-wearing deviant, is a "spiteful, willful denigration of Christian belief," his attorney... More »

MORE ABOUT:
opera • musical theater • Christians • court cases

Singer Robert Goulet Awaits Lung Transplant

Life 'hanging on the edge, but he's
 strong,' says wife

Oct 24, 07 7:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Critically ill singer Robert Goulet is sedated and on a respirator awaiting a lung transplant at a Los Angeles hospital, his wife said yesterday. A suitable donor has yet to be found, and a hospital committee has not yet determined that Goulet, 73, would make a good transplant candidate. He... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Broadway • musical theater • singer • Robert Goulet • Vera Goulet • Camelot

'Beauty and
the Beast'
Takes Last Bow on Broadway

Belle waves adieu;
Ariel to wave hello

Jul 29, 07 12:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - The final curtain falls on Beauty and the Beast today after more than 5,000 performances and 13 years on Broadway. The show that started the Disney-on-Broadway rage will exit the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to make room for a stage adaptation of another kiddie staple, The Little Mermaid, the AP reports. More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • music • theater • Broadway • Disney • Beauty and the Beast • musical theater • The Little Mermaid • Bill Nabel

17 Stories


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