Grindr, The Musical

"Come get fisted...right in the heart."

How To Make A Musical For The Deaf

Via Buzzfeed:

Deaf West Theatre is a premiere deaf theater company based in Los Angeles. Their recent production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Spring Awakening, performed simultaneously in American Sign Language and spoken English, is headed to Broadway this fall.

HIGHLIGHTS: Broadway Bares 25

Sunday night the 25th anniversary edition of Broadway Bares played to two sellout audiences at Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom. This year's show was titled Top Bottoms Of Burlesque and as you'll see, it was spectacular from the moment the curtain arose to reveal the bouncing bottoms of buff chorus boys. All 25 years of Broadway Bares are available on DVD and they are taking pre-orders for this year's show.

2015 Tony Awards: Meet The Nominees

The show is Sunday, June 7th.

Producers Pull Plug On Duck Dynasty Musical Two Weeks Into Its Run

Via the Randy Report: "Duck Commander Musical, based on the popular reality TV show Duck Dynasty, has announced it will close May 17th. The show had it's official opening on April 15th at the Rio’s Crown Theater in Las Vegas. According to reports, calls were made to the crew today informing them the show would close. To be fair, the reviews were not bad. Not GREAT mind you, but not bad. I hate seeing actors out of work, but clearly the brand has lost it's lustre."

TRAILER: Duck Commander, The Musical

The Duck Dynasty musical has opened in Las Vegas and the reviews aren't terrible.

It’s not a spoof, but it might be satire. When Miss Kay (Mimi Bessette) sings to troubled Robertson family patriarch Phil (Tad Wilson) “Hey redneck, my sweet redneck …” it isn’t a “Saturday Night Live” bit. It is even, gasp, a bit touching. “Duck Commander Musical,” the new Broadway-style show at the Rio based on the “Duck Dynasty” family, lives up to its pledge not to make fun of its subjects. But making fun of how and why the Robertsons are famous? Open season. Perhaps the creators from the New York side of this cultural collision want to bring in their friends and point out a deeper layer; that their well-crafted and tuneful froth is also a looping “meta” musical about pop culture spiraling to the point where we have a “Duck Dynasty” musical.

You can listen to songs from the show here. Trailer below.

Try To Remember The Fantasticks

Playbill has the news:

The Off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks, still the longest-running musical in world history and the longest-running play of any kind in American history, has announced that it will close in May. The little musical about a Boy, a Girl and the wall that separates them will close May 3, the 55th anniversary of the opening of the show in 1960. At the time of its closing, the production will have played a total of 20,672 performances in NYC: 17,162 at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village, and 3,510 at the Jerry Orbach Theatre at the Snapple Theater Center at the corner of Broadway and 50th Street. Producer Catherine Russell told Playbill.com, "It has become increasingly challenging to sell lots of tickets consistently--we are either incredibly busy and selling out or selling fewer tickets that we have been in previous years. It's feast or famine. So due to this uncertainty,I have reluctantly decided to close The Fantasticks on the 55th anniversary of its opening on May 3, 1960.

Broadway Backwards: Cell Block Tango

Posted in full yesterday: "Highlights from Broadway Backwards 2015 included Chicago's 'six merry murderesses' represented in a sexy, all-male version of Cell Block Tango featuring Joshua Buscher-West, Marty Lawson, Alfie Parker Jr., Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Alex Ringler and Ryan Steele."

HIGHLIGHTS: Broadway Backwards 2015

Broadway Backwards Raises Record $466K For Broadway Cares & NYC LGBT Center

Via press release:

The 10th anniversary of Broadway Backwards capped off an exuberant, exhilarating and emotional evening of performances on Monday, March 9, 2015 with news that this year’s event raised a record $466,717 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. The sold-out show included 20 audience-pleasing numbers and multiple standing ovations for Tituss Burgess, Lena Hall, Florence Henderson, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White and more Broadway favorites, as well as a special appearance by recent Kennedy Center Honoree Lily Tomlin. Julie Halston and Rob McClure served as the evening's jovial hosts. Broadway Backwards is the annual celebration where gays and lesbians see their stories told through the great songs of musical theatre, sung by their favorite Broadway performers. It is produced by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and was presented again in the historic Al Hirschfeld Theatre, home to the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots. This year’s edition of Broadway Backwards featured a spirited 66-person cast and an onstage orchestra of 13 performing some of the most memorable numbers from previous editions of the benefit.

I was there with my buddy Mike and it was fantastic as always. As she did several years ago, 81 year-old Florence Henderson stole the show with a bawdy performance that included a macking session with an Alice stand-in. Peering into the upraised hindquarters of a muscular dancer, she quipped, "Is that the Holland or Lincoln tunnel? Helloooooo?" Mrs. Brady would not have approved. I'll post videos when they become available - in the meantime check out Playbill's photo gallery.

Opening In NYC: Clinton, The Musical

Via press release:

If President William Jefferson Clinton behaved like two different people—one moment noble, the next naughty—that’s because he was! Clinton The Musical explores the two very different sides of the 42nd President of the United States: “WJ,” (Tom Galantich) the wholesome, intelligent one, and “Billy,” (Duke Lafoon) the randy, charming one. With Hillary (Rodham) Clinton (Kerry Butler) at their side, the two will handle issues from The White House to Whitewater, the sax to the sex, social security to social climbers, and in the process make history. Maybe. You cannot miss this “Hillary-ous” new musical and outrageous double Bill! The cast features Tony Award nominee Kerry Butler as Hillary (Rodham) Clinton, Tom Galantich (Tail! Spin!, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as WJ Clinton and Duke Lafoon (MONICA! The Musical, A Wonderful Life) as Billy Clinton, Emmy Award winner Judy Gold as Eleanor Roosevelt, John Treacy Egan (Nice Work If You Can Get It, Sister Act) as Newt Gingrich, Veronica J. Kuehn (Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q) as Monica Lewinsky. 

Previews begin March 25th at New World Stages.

Invisible Thread From Witness Uganda

Clip description:

Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews, the award winning team behind the Broadway bound musical WITNESS UGANDA, blur the boundaries of real life and theater with the release of the single, "Invisible Thread." The song was written for their show, which tells the true story of their experiences as aid workers in Africa. But here, the song takes on a more personal twist as the couple struggles to balance their careers and their life together. At the core, Griffin and Gould’s work grapples with questions central to a generation straddling their responsibilities as citizens of the world and citizens of our own communities. Griffin and Gould dedicate this song to people across the world who are fighting for their right to love who they choose. Despite our distances and political and cultural differences, we are all bound together by our struggle to love and be loved.  All proceeds from the sale of "Invisible Thread" on iTunes will benefit the education of Ugandan students in the hopes that an educated population is the best remedy for intolerance and hatred.

Now available on iTunes.

High Demand For George Takei Musical

Via the New York Post:

Can Twitter followers turn a Broadway show into a hit? “Star Trek” star George Takei has a total 9.5 million followers on social media, and demand for tickets to his upcoming Broadway show has been riding high months before tickets actually go on sale. Takei’s musical, “Allegiance,” opens in October, and the box office isn’t open for months. But producers have been getting so many ticket requests, they’ve set up a priority list to give fans first dibs on tickets. They’ve received 10,000 orders to date, and are also giving early birds a download of the cast album when it comes out.

The show debuted in San Diego in 2012. Highlights below.

The Ten Hottest Chorus Boys Of 2015

Time Out New York has published their annual listing of the ten hottest chorus boys now appearing on Broadway. Beefcake and scruff at the link as well as the hottest chorus girls of this year. Seen above is Garen Scribner of An American In Paris, which opens next month.

Broadway Backwards Reveals 2015 Cast

The tenth annual Broadway Backwards is next month and to celebrate the anniversary some of the show's most noted performers will be returning.

The roster of stars joining this year's Broadway Backwards includes Tony Award winners Len Cariou (Sweeney Todd, TV’s “Blue Bloods”) and Brian Stokes Mitchell (Kiss Me, Kate), Tony nominee Tony Yazbeck (On the Town) and Broadway favorites Tituss Burgess (The Little Mermaid), Julie Halston (You Can’t Take It With You), Ann Harada (Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Avenue Q), Florence Henderson (Oklahoma!, TV’s “The Brady Bunch”), Jackie Hoffman (On the Town) and Aaron Lazar (The Last Ship). Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks. Performers subject to change. "I’m thrilled to welcome back these talented performers for this special 10th edition of Broadway Backwards," creator Robert Bartley said. "Thanks to them and the hundreds of talented performers who have participated in the nine editions of Broadway Backwards so far, we've been able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars that help provide lifesaving medications, counseling and support for LGBT youth and those struggling with HIV/AIDS." This year's edition of Broadway Backwards will be performed at 8 PM at Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45th Street, NYC), home to the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots.

Broadway Backwards is my favorite Broadway event and I've only missed one since the show launched. Get tickets here. You might enjoy my slideshow of the 2009 show where Florence Henderson and Eve Plumb (Jan Brady) had an encounter in a women's prison.

Duck Dynasty, The Musical

Yes, this is going to be a thing.

Undertaking one of the more audacious theater projects in recent years, the Robertsons — known for their long beards, duck-hunting merchandise and occasional inflammatory remark — are moving to expand their Louisiana-based multimedia franchise with “The Duck Commander Family Musical.” The 90-minute show, with actors playing the family members from A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” as they celebrate the family’s long history from rags to riches, hopes to open in February at the Rio hotel and casino, where the Chippendales show and Penn & Teller are now running.

Even before rehearsals start, the show is courting controversy. Several Broadway producers, many of whom are liberal, gay, or both, are aghast that colleagues would work with a family whose patriarch, Phil Robertson, has compared homosexuality to bestiality. Gay rights leaders are also eyeing the show with concern, while evangelical Christians — many of whom admire the Robertsons — might be hesitant to go to a Las Vegas casino and see whether New York artists have fairly rendered the family.

The show is being produced by Michael David, the same guy that brought you the multiple Tony-winning Jersey Boys. The show's gay-married director Jeff Calhoun, who won the Tony for Newsies, says that he and the Duck Dynasty clan have "agreed to disagree" on gay issues.

Liza With A Tree

Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS has issued this year's fundraising holiday ornament.

The zeventh ornament in our Broadway Legends ornament series—yes, that’s seventh with a “z”—is the beloved Broadway superstar Liza Minnelli! Draped in a sexy red sequined outfit, our Liza conjures up her signature 1970s Halston look when she won her second Tony Award® for The Act. With the “City Lights” of New York as her back-drop and her hand placed confidently on her hip, our glittery Liza will be the star of your holiday season. The 6” tall glass ornament was designed exclusively for BC/EFA by artist Glen Hanson with the Christopher Radko Company.

Ms. Minnelli reacts: "I'm simply delighted and so honored to be immortalized with such a wonderfully crafted ornament. I'm especially proud to help support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, an organization that has been very dear to my heart for more than two decades." Still available are the Julie Andrews and Gwen Verdon ornaments from previous years.

TOMORROW: Broadway Flea Market

The 28th Annual Broadway Cares / Equality Fights AIDS flea market returns to Shubert Alley tomorrow.

Among the priceless lots available through this year's Grand Auction are private meet-and-greets with stage-and-screen stars Hugh Jackman and Idina Menzel, opening night VIP tickets to 17 of this season's new Broadway shows, walk-on roles at 13 Broadway shows, tribute packages to Elaine Stritch and Joan Rivers, and much more. From posing for photos with your favorite Broadway stars, to buying that lost cast recording, rare costume sketches or special gift you can't find anywhere else – the Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction promises something for everyone.

Among the many Broadway stars on hand tomorrow will be Tony winners Boyd Gaines, Lena Hall, James Monroe Iglehart, Nikki M. James, Bebe Neuwirth, David Hyde Pierce, Billy Porter, and Alice Ripley. 

Patrick Gallagher - Swipe Right

Maggie Gallagher's son Patrick, as we've long known, writes musicals and once performed in an off-Broadway production of Sodom: The Musical. In 2012 Patrick debuted a new song at an AIDS fundraiser held at the Duplex, the famed West Village gay cabaret and nightclub. Here's his latest:

"Swipe Right (The Tinder Song)" Performed by Patrick Gallagher, Lizzie Rainville, Kameron Nelson, Franklin Wagner, Ashley Braxton, and Johna Miller. Music by William TN Hall. Lyrics by Patrick Gallagher. From Pretty People Suck (And Other Indisputable Facts About the Universe). Originally performed at The Playwrights' Center as part of the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Patrick Gallagher's song writing partner performs regularly at Manhattan's gay piano bars such as Don't Tell Mama. Patrick sings first in the clip.

(Tipped by JMG reader Christopher)

RELATED: From a 2011 story on Patrick Gallagher:

We offered Patrick the opportunity to tell his side of things, but given the obvious personal conflict he feels about the situation, he declined. Though Patrick doesn’t want to comment directly, it has become clear that his views differ from his mother’s. According to Patrick, Maggie has been very supportive of his career and has not obstructed her son’s goals and dreams – like a mother should. One thing Patrick did say, which I don’t think he’d mind sharing is “Maybe one day I’ll write a hell of a musical about this.” Patrick’s a good guy who doesn’t deserve to be in the middle of this – but we feel that his and Maggie’s story is an important one that demonstrates the strength of a “non-traditional” family.

TRAILER: Into The Woods

From the recap:

“Into the Woods” is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few choice stories and exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy)—all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife (James Corden & Emily Blunt), their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch (Meryl Streep) who has put a curse on them.  Rob Marshall, the talented filmmaker behind the Academy Award®-winning musical “Chicago” and Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” helms the film, which is based on the Tony®-winning original musical by James Lapine, who also penned the screenplay, and legendary composer Stephen Sondheim, who provides the music and lyrics. Produced by Marshall, John DeLuca, “Wicked” producer Marc Platt and Callum McDougall. Starring Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick and Chris Pine, “Into the Woods” is a humorous and heartfelt musical that follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel—all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.

The film opens on New Year's Day.

(Tipped by JMG reader Brad)

RELATED: Last month Sondheim revealed that he had agreed with Disney's requests for some fairly major plot changes.