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Album Review: My Fair Lady (2018 Broadway Cast Recording)

I succumb to the charms of My Fair Lady once again with this 2018 Broadway Cast Recording

“I’ll be off a second later and go straight to the theatre”

I wasn’t expecting to like this 2018 Broadway Cast Recording of My Fair Lady half as much as I did. Rumblings of discontent about Lauren Ambrose’s casting as Eliza stuck in my mind, as did the unlikeliness of Harry Hadden-Paton being her Henry Higgins, and who wants American versions of English accents? (I’m sure they feel the same!)

But there’s something rather delicious about this recording that makes it really shine. It helps of course to have a score and lyrics as gloriously evergreen as Lerner and Loewe’s, MD Ted Sperling’s treatment of the original orchestrations making them feel as fresh as a cockney sparrer, and his orchestra sound like a dream. – you really could listen to them all night.  Continue reading “Album Review: My Fair Lady (2018 Broadway Cast Recording)”

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The Curtain Up Show Album of the Year 2018 nominees

Best UK Cast Recording
Broken Wings – Original Concept Album
Calendar Girls – Original London Recording
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Original West End Cast Recording
Six The Musical – Studio Cast Recording
Working: A Musical – Original London Cast Recording
Young Frankenstein – Original London Cast Recording

Best American Cast Recording
Frozen – Original Broadway Cast Recording
Mean Girls – Original Broadway Cast Recording
My Fair Lady – 2018 Broadway Cast Recording
Once On This Island – New Broadway Cast Recording
Pretty Woman – Original Broadway Cast Recording
The Prom – Original Broadway Cast Recording

Best Solo Album
Audra McDonald – Sing Happy
Carrie Hope Fletcher – When The Curtain Falls
David Hunter – Silver Linings
Louise Dearman – For You, For Me
Natasha Barnes – Real
Sutton Foster – Take Me To The World

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Winners of 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards

John Gassner Playwriting Award
Kate Benson, [PORTO]
WINNER – Jocelyn Bioh, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play
Lindsey Ferrentino, Army and the Orphans
Meghan Kennedy, Napoli, Brooklyn
Dominique Morisseau, Pipeline

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
David M. Lutken, Woody Sez
Conor Ryan, Desperate Measures
WINNER – Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants
Continue reading “Winners of 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards”

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The complete 72nd Tony nominations

Best play
The Children
Farinelli and the King
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two
Junk
Latin History for Morons

Best musical
The Band’s Visit
Frozen
Mean Girls
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical

Best book of a musical
Itamar Moses for The Band’s Visit
Jennifer Lee for Frozen
Tina Fey for Mean Girls
Kyle Jarrow for SpongeBob SquarePants: The Musical Continue reading “The complete 72nd Tony nominations”

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Nominations for 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards

John Gassner Playwriting Award
Kate Benson, [PORTO]
Jocelyn Bioh, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play
Lindsey Ferrentino, Army and the Orphans
Meghan Kennedy, Napoli, Brooklyn
Dominique Morisseau, Pipeline

Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Harry Hadden-Paton, My Fair Lady
Joshua Henry, Carousel
David M. Lutken, Woody Sez
Conor Ryan, Desperate Measures
Ethan Slater, SpongeBob SquarePants
Continue reading “Nominations for 2017-2018 Outer Critics Circle Awards”

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Round-up of news and treats and other interesting things

National treasure Matthew Kelly and West End superstar Josefina Gabrielle are to star in the brand-new stage adaptation of The Box of Delights, possibly the creepiest children’s tv show ever and one which is indeliby etched on my psyche. This original production is the first time Poet Laureate John Masefield’s festive classic has been reimagined for the stage, and will be brought to life by an ensemble cast in the gloriously Christmassy surroundings of Wilton’s Music Hall.
 
Joining Kelly and Gabrielle as part of the stellar cast will be Mark Extance, Safiyya Ingar, Tom Kanji, Samuel Simmonds, Rosalind Steele and Alistair Toovey.

Continue reading “Round-up of news and treats and other interesting things”

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Album Review: Allegro (2009 First Complete Recording)

“He’s just a lug
You’d like to hug
And hold against your heart.”

It remains a source of constant fascination that we continue to find scarcely-known works by some of our most famous writers – Tennessee Williams had plays coming out of his ears but we’ve recently been treated to things like Arthur Miller’s rediscovered first play and in the world of musicals, Southwark Playhouse will be bringing us the European premiere of a Rodgers and Hammerstein show of all things.

Allegro was written in-between Carousel and South Pacific and though the theatre is leading with the fact that it took the highest advance in Broadway history on its 1947 debut, it is less forthcoming about the decidedly mixed critical and commercial success it received. As such, it remains relatively unperformed and it took until 2009 for a first complete recording to be made of the score. Continue reading “Album Review: Allegro (2009 First Complete Recording)”

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65th Tony Award winners

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play 
Mark Rylance – Jerusalem as Johnny “Rooster” Byron
Brian Bedford – The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell
Bobby Cannavale – The Motherfucker With the Hat as Jackie
Joe Mantello – The Normal Heart as Ned Weeks
Al Pacino – The Merchant of Venice as Shylock

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Frances McDormand – Good People as Margie Walsh
Nina Arianda – Born Yesterday as Emma ‘Billie’ Dawn
Lily Rabe – The Merchant of Venice as Portia
Vanessa Redgrave – Driving Miss Daisy as Daisy Werthan
Hannah Yelland – Brief Encounter as Laura Jesson

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical 
Norbert Leo Butz – Catch Me If You Can as Carl Hanratty
Josh Gad – The Book of Mormon as Elder Cunningham
Joshua Henry – The Scottsboro Boys as Haywood Patterson
Andrew Rannells – The Book of Mormon as Elder Price
Tony Sheldon – Priscilla Queen of the Desert as Bernadette Continue reading “65th Tony Award winners”

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Winners of the 2011 Drama Desk Awards

Outstanding Play
Jon Robin Baitz, Other Desert Cities
Adam Bock, A Small Fire
Stephen Adly Guirgis, The Motherf**ker With the Hat
Samuel D. Hunter, A Bright New Boise
Rajiv Joseph, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People
Nick Stafford, War Horse

Outstanding Musical
In Transit
Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical
See Rock City & Other Destinations
Sister Act
The Book of Mormon
The Kid Continue reading “Winners of the 2011 Drama Desk Awards”

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65th Tony Award nominations

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play 
Brian Bedford – The Importance of Being Earnest as Lady Bracknell
Bobby Cannavale – The Motherfucker With the Hat as Jackie
Joe Mantello – The Normal Heart as Ned Weeks
Al Pacino – The Merchant of Venice as Shylock
Mark Rylance – Jerusalem as Johnny “Rooster” Byron

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Nina Arianda – Born Yesterday as Emma ‘Billie’ Dawn
Frances McDormand – Good People as Margie Walsh
Lily Rabe – The Merchant of Venice as Portia
Vanessa Redgrave – Driving Miss Daisy as Daisy Werthan
Hannah Yelland – Brief Encounter as Laura Jesson

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical 
Norbert Leo Butz – Catch Me If You Can as Carl Hanratty
Josh Gad – The Book of Mormon as Elder Cunningham
Joshua Henry – The Scottsboro Boys as Haywood Patterson
Andrew Rannells – The Book of Mormon as Elder Price
Tony Sheldon – Priscilla Queen of the Desert as Bernadette Continue reading “65th Tony Award nominations”