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We hope you enjoy this issue and will invite your friends and family to join the Fan Club. Your subscription settings can be found below. See you on Broadway!
NOTE: This is an archived version of this newsletter. Not all shows and offers still apply. Some links may no longer be accessible. |
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Continental Airlines presents
Stars in the Alley® |
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Broadway's Spring Block Party!
Wednesday, June 7th at 11am Shubert Alley: 45th Street (between Broadway and 8th)
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This free outdoor concert will feature appearances by Lucie Arnaz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Samuel Barnett (The History Boys), Kate Burton, Sutton Foster (The Drowsy Chaperone), David Garrison (Wicked), Jonathan Hadary (Awake and Sing!), Carol Kane (Wicked), Judy Kaye, Jena Malone (Doubt), Cynthia Nixon, Ian McDiarmid (Faith Healer), Alison Pill (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), Oliver Platt (Shining City), Jonathan Pryce (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Pablo Schreiber (Awake and Sing!), David Wilmot (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), and Rita Wilson (Chicago).
Performances from Avenue Q, Chicago, The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, Jersey Boys, The Light in the Piazza, Mamma Mia!, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Rent, Monty Python's Spamalot, Sweeney Todd, The Wedding Singer, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Sprint and The New York Times are official sponsors of the concert, with additional support from the New York Marriott Marquis and Broadway Previews.
Click here for more information. |
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The 60th Annual Tony Awards® |
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Don't Miss 60 Stars Celebrating 60 Years of Broadway Excellence!
Sunday, June 11th at 8/7c on CBS
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The 60th Annual Tony Awards welcomes some of the biggest stars of stage and screen to Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Join Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts, Glenn Close, Eric McCormack, Ralph Fiennes, Cynthia Nixon, Martin Short, Anna Paquin, Harry Connick, Jr., James Earl Jones, and many more!
With performances from the hottest shows of the Broadway season, including The Color Purple, The Drowsy Chaperone, Jersey Boys, The Pajama Game, Sweeney Todd, The Three Penny Opera and The Wedding Singer.
Visit TonyAwards.com for full Tony coverage, including an exclusive webcast of the pre-television portion of the ceremony, beginning at 7:15pm.
Watch and Win a trip to next year's Tony Awards!
Watch the 2006 Tony Awards® on CBS for your chance to win a trip to the 2007 Tony Awards® in New York City!
Click here for more information. |
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Target presents Broadway Under the Stars® |
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Later This Month, Broadway Moves to Central Park!
Monday, June 26th at 8pm
The Great Lawn
Free Admission
The stars come out in Central Park as Target presents the fifth annual Broadway Under the Stars. | |
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This one-of-a-kind concert will feature music from the shows of multiple Tony Award-winner Harold Prince and will be directed by Jeff Calhoun.
Phil Reno returns as music director.
Click here for more information. |
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Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Auction |
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The League of American Theatres and Producers and CBS News' The Early Show have teamed up with eBay to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS with exclusive auctions. The eBay auctions have been organized in conjunction with The Early Show series, “My Broadway Debut”, a competition that gave drama students the chance to win a walk-on role on Broadway.
Items up for auction include VIP show tickets, framed and autographed show posters, roundtrip airfare on Continental Airlines, a chance to forecast the weather on the The Early Show, a pair of tickets to the US Open, and more! Bidding continues through June 12.
Click here to view all items up for auction. |
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The Power of the Ensemble |
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While the usual bevy of high-profile performers have made headlines on Broadway this season, two shows have taken the road less traveled by banking as much on the power of their ensembles as on the luminescence of their stars. At the League's recent Spring Road Conference, Sweeney Todd's Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris and The Drowsy Chaperone's Sutton Foster and Bob Martin gathered with directors John Doyle and Casey Nicholaw to discuss the elements of ensemble that make their shows unique. All six panelists were nominated for Tony Awards this year. |
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Sweeney Todd |
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| (l-r) Sweeney Todd director John Doyle with stars Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris at the Spring Road Conference. Photo by Neal Freeman. |
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John Doyle's revival of Sondheim's classic musical thriller, Sweeney Todd, follows a revenge-seeking barber and his scheming neighbor in their delicious plot to slice their way through London society. In this production, now playing at the Eugene O'Neill theatre, the ten actors double as the orchestra. Michael Cerveris, an accomplished singer and songwriter who starred in the Broadway hit The Who's Tommy, portrays the title character:
“Patti and I had to miss the first week of rehearsal, so when we were finally able to join the rest of the cast, we had no idea what we were doing; we just followed people around. When the cast started to stumble through the opening number, I was absolutely gob-smacked. They really knew it! For the next few weeks Patti and I felt like the dumb kids in class trying to catch up. It was great though because John's way of working is very task oriented so everyone had their own jobs to focus on. Working in this way really helps you focus all of your energy on being creative. Even if we had only been able to perform the show one time it still would have been the most thrilling creative process I've ever been a part of.” |
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Patti LuPone, who plays Sweeney's fiendish neighbor, Mrs. Lovett, concurred:
“Being a part of this production has been a phenomenal experience. I've been involved in 2 character plays and I've played 5000 seat houses, but I'm completely comfortable with being part of an ensemble cast. You just have to be able to put yourself in your director's hands. John was great because he created an atmosphere free of tension and strife. We were allowed to experiment and be creative.”
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| (clockwise starting at the top) Patti LuPone, Donna Lynne Champlin, Manoel Felciano, and Michael Cerveris in Sweeney Todd. Photo by Paul Kolnik. |
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Added director John Doyle, “I felt very safe working with this group of people; they're like family. I asked Patti if she felt okay working on this small, little ensemble piece because she's such a huge star, but she's been just great and has really had a wonderful time. I had such a blast working with her and the rest of the cast, and I have to say I've never had a nicer experience.”
Get tickets and information for Sweeney Todd. |
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The Drowsy Chaperone |
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(l-r) The Drowsy Chaperone director Casey Nicholaw with stars Bob Martin and Sutton Foster at the Spring Road Conference. Photo by Neal Freeman. |
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The new musical The Drowsy Chaperone gives an entertaining yet satirical look at a fictional 1920's musical, and also borrows heavily on the power of ensemble-playing. Sutton Foster plays Janet Van De Graaff, a Broadway starlet looking for love. She spoke of the value of the ensemble experience for her:
“I really wanted to work on something completely different from 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' and Jo from 'Little Women', both of which were enormous roles. I was basically fried and burned out, and I wanted to take on something that was more of an ensemble piece. What's so great about this experience is that everyone has the chance to shine; everyone has their moment. I feel satisfied artistically. I feel like I still have my moments, and yet I also have time to breathe. It's the best job ever!” |
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| The cast of The Drowsy Chaperone. Photo by Joan Marcus. |
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Foster's costar, Bob Martin, who co-wrote the musical's book, talked about the tension-free creative process with his collaborators.
“I've known Lisa Lambert, who co-wrote the music and lyrics, as well as my co-writer Don McKellar, since I was 15. We completely understand each other. I've also known Greg Morrison, the composer, for about 12 years, so all of us get along really well. The surprising thing was that Casey Nicholaw, the director, and everybody else on the music side all got along too. It's very unusual to be a part of something this large where there aren't tears and screaming and swearing, but for us it's been incredibly smooth.”
Director Casey Nicholaw agreed, adding, “If you've seen the show, you'll understand why this cast works. There's not a bad egg in the show, there really isn't, and it needs to be that way because everyone works so closely together. Drowsy is an ensemble piece, and this ensemble cast is just great!”
Get tickets and information for The Drowsy Chaperone. |
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The 2006 Touring Broadway Awards |
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The Touring Broadway Awards, established in 2001, are the only national awards to recognize Touring Broadway. League presenters act as a blue-ribbon panel to select award recipients from their Broadway Series.
Below is a list of this year's winners. Click on a title for more information on each show.
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Best New Musical
Wicked
Best Play
Golda's Balcony
Best Production Design
Wicked
Best Musical Score
Wicked
Best Direction
Jack O'Brien for Hairspray
Best Choreography
Ann Reinking for Chicago
Best Long-Running Musical (shows that have been on the road for over three years)
Les Misérables
Touring Broadway Achievement Award (recognizing a performer, individual or organization that has shown exceptional dedication to Touring Broadway)
Clark Transfer
For more information, visit TouringBroadwayAwards.com. |
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The 2006 League Awards |
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Each year the League salutes members of the touring Broadway community who have demonstrated exemplary service to the industry. The 2006 League Awards were presented on May 8th as part of the League's annual Spring Road Conference. |
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Distinguished Lifetime Service Award: Tommy Tune, a 9-time Tony Award winner, has lit up the Great White Way since 1965 with his acting, singing, directing, and producing. He has won Tonys as Best Supporting Actor for Seesaw, Best Actor and Best Choreographer for My One and Only, Best Choreographer for A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, Best Director for Nine , and back-to-back Tony Awards for both Best Choreographer and Best Director for Grand Hotel and The Will Rogers Follies. In 1991 he was inducted into Broadway's Theatre Hall of Fame and in 2003 he received the nation's highest honor for artistic achievement, The National Medal of Arts. He is currently playing the title role in the national tour of Dr. Dolittle, which he also directed.
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| Tommy Tune. Photo by Melanie Seinfeld. |
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Click here for a full list of the 2006 League Award winners.
Congratulations to all of the 2006 Touring Broadway and League Award recipients! |
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In Memoriam: Cy Feuer |
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Cy Feuer – legendary Broadway producer, director, composer, musician, and immediate past chairman and longtime president of The League of American Theatres and Producers – passed away on May 17, 2006 at age 95. During his fifty-plus year career on Broadway, he produced such musicals as Where's Charley, Guys and Dolls, Can-Can, The Boy Friend, Silk Stockings, Whoop-Up, the Tony Award® and Pulitzer-Prize winning How to Succeed in Business Without
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Really Trying, Little Me, The Goodbye People, and The Act. He directed as well as produced Skyscraper, Whoop-Up, Little Me, and Walking Happy, and he directed the play I Remember Mamma. Mr. Feuer was nominated for nine Tony Awards, winning three; one for Guys and Dolls and two for How To Succeed. Mr. Feuer received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in 2003. He is survived by two sons, Jed and Bob, and their families. A celebration of his life will be announced at a future time.
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Quick Bits |
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-More than 110 Tony Award-winning actors and actresses from the past 59 years gathered at the Shubert Theatre earlier this month to pose for a reunion photograph in celebration of the 60th annual Tony Awards®. Click here to view the photo and a list of participants.
-Father Duffy Square, in the heart of Manhattan's Theatre District, is getting a makeover! With construction now underway (expected completion by late December), the new design will improve pedestrian traffic and include a brand-new TKTS discount tickets booth. To facilitate construction, the TKTS booth
is temporarily located just outside the New York Marriott Marquis hotel on West 46th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. |
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-The Broadway Show League kicked off its summer season with a first pitch ceremony on May 25th. Pictured below from left to right are the honorary pitchers: Felicia Finley (The Wedding Singer), Sutton Foster (The Drowsy Chaperone), Jenn Gambatese (Tarzan), Patrick Wilson (Barefoot in the Park), Schuler Hensley (Tarzan), and Josh Strickland (Tarzan). |
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| Photo by Neal Freeman. |
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This e-mail was not sent unsolicited. You have signed up to receive e-mail from The League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. by submitting your name through our website, or through a League-sponsored program. You may remove yourself from this e-mail list at any time, or change your e-mail address.
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© The League of American Theatrees and Producers, Inc. 2005, All Rights Reserved
226 West 47th Street, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10036 |
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