Stage Rush TV: Episode 5

Duncan Sheik introduces this week’s episode! 

Talking points:

• Duncan Sheik spills details on Spring Awakening movie
• Sheik in concert in South Orange, NJ
• Broadway double-header: rushing A Little Night Music and The Miracle Worker
• Broadway grosses 

What do you think of the Spring Awakening movie news? Are you disappointed that Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff won’t reprise their roles in the film? Are you still terrified of the prospect of McG taking the wheel, or do you think it will be his ticket to respected filmmaker-dom? Were you as disappointed with The Miracle Worker as I was? Did you fall in love with A Little Night Music? Please tell me in the comments!

Duncan Sheik: Original Broadway cast will not reprise roles in 'Spring Awakening' film

Thursday night, the Grammy and Tony award-winning singer and composer Duncan Sheik performed the first show in his six-city concert tour at the South Orange Performing Arts Center in New Jersey. I caught up with Sheik at the post-concert reception, and with a glass of wine in hand, he discussed some details of the Spring Awakening film adaptation, currently in development. 

For those hoping that Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff will reprise their roles in the film, Sheik said there is no chance of any original Broadway cast members making it on screen. Sheik noted that by the time the film goes into production, the actors would look too old to convincingly portray 15 to 16 year olds. 

Regarding the much-talked-about decision to hand directing and producing responsibilities over to McG, mostly known for action movies such as Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and Terminator Salvation, Sheik maintains that the director was adamant about taking on the project. Sheik said McG courted himself and writing partner Steven Sater for 18 months about the project. It was McG’s desire to shoot on location in places like Prague, and to focus on the performances that won Sheik and Sater over. Sheik added that McG has extensive experience with big-budget films, and said he claimed he knew how to make the film look high budget for less. 

Also milling around the reception was Holly Brook, a regular back-up singer and accompanist on Sheik’s tours, who just came off the successful San Diego run of the composer’s latest musical venture, Whisper House. If the musical ghost story makes its way to the east coast, Brook said she would love to reprise her role as the female ghost. While she said she does not yet know of any upcoming production plans, she said one change that would likely be made is to the set design. Brook said that while at the Old Globe, the scenery, which is the interior of a lighthouse in Maine, was a bit complicated and didn’t come across well enough to the audience. Brook added that the redesigned set would probably be more minimalist. 

The concert 

Review: The Miracle Worker

As a nice last-minute rush alternative upon discovering The Addams Family did not have any rush tickets for their matinee performance, I hopped on over to play the ticket lottery for The Miracle Worker. I had good vibes about this lottery, after being skunked by Addams. 

For the play about Helen Keller and her teacher Annie Sullivan who gave her the gift of language, about 15 people entered and the attendant announced they’d be selling 10 lottery tickets. Now keep in mind, it was more like 30 people were playing, since most people register for two tickets. I kept positive and was the fifth name called! The lotto attendant directed the winners to line up in the order our names were picked. We did, but upon directing us to line up in the same order at the box office window to purchase our tickets, the attendant walked away and the order disintegrated. A woman who was called after I was zoomed to the front of the line. I suggested that the woman whose name was called first should be the first to purchase her tickets. The woman protested my suggestion, saying that she was waiting to play the lotto since 11 a.m., and should purchase first. I told her that wasn’t the way a ticket lottery works, to which she called me a “ticket Nazi.” So to the box office workers of the Circle in the Square Theatre, this ticket Nazi is telling you that you should keep your lottery more organized in the future. 

Aside from disorganization, The Miracle Worker ticket lottery is a good one. From what the attendant said, 15 people was the most he’d seen play the lotto, and the tickets are $16 a piece, up to two per person. The seats are in the back row of the theater, and that brings me to my first point of review for this show—the scenery. 

Stage Rush TV: Episode 4

Talking points:

• The Broadway portion of Las Vegas
• The Scottsboro Boys has a rush policy, but no rush tickets
• Evan Rachel Wood backs out of Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark
• Steven Sater: Spring Awakening film could begin production as soon as fall
• Broadway grosses

Please leave your thoughts, questions in the comments below!

Review: Next Fall

A quality family drama can be a greatly effective play because everyone in the audience can relate in some aspect. Geoffrey Nauffts’ new dramedy, Next Fall, has many entrance points of reliability. Not everyone in the audience will relate to the homosexual relationship at the center of the play. Not everyone will relate to the various religious stances held by the characters in the play. What everyone will relate to, however, is the common denominator of religion in our lives and how it influences our views. 

Patrick Breen plays Adam, a man approaching the edge of middle age, who is a cynic and holds no stock in religion. Patrick Heusinger plays Luke, a 20-something optimist who never begins a meal without a Christian prayer. The audience is privy to crucial moments in their five-year relationship through flashbacks, while a hospital waiting room stands as the play’s main hub, where Adam and Patrick’s friends and family converge after a serious accident. We see how the two have made their many differences work over the years, and which ones have gotten the better of them. 

Although it doesn’t reach the heights of August: Osage County (the last great family drama to hit Broadway), Next Fall is a poignant, relevant work that highlights some of America’s most pressing issues. Most importantly, it has a lot of heart, and that it is an original piece is incredibly refreshing. 

Stage Rush TV: Episode 3, LA Edition

Coming to you from Los Angeles this week! Please excuse the wind interference—we weren’t aware of it until we had finished (low-cost equipment here). I had a real, live soldier of the Hollywood entertainment industry collaborating with me this week—my good friend Michelle Mogavero . Having a “crew” was very exciting.





Talking points: 

• Rush FAIL: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno 
• Upcoming interview with Lynne Shankel, former music supervisor for Company, music director for Cry Baby and Altar Boyz. 
• ASTEP's New York City Christmas benefit concert
• Raul Esparza’s performance of “O Holy Night” (YouTube) 
• Broadway grosses 

Please leave your thoughts, questions in the comments below!

‘Glee’ concert tour: What is it with Lea Michele and May 18?

May 18, 2008. It was a big day for me, as I had seats (excellent ones, might I add) to Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff’s final performance in Spring Awakening. Sitting there in the audience, with an electricity of excitement in the air, I knew it was a very important day in Michele’s life too. What I didn’t know is that this date—May 18—would continue to be a milestone day in her life each time it came around for the next two years running. 

Last year on May 19 (give me a little wiggle room here), the pilot episode of Glee broadcast on Fox after part one of the season finale of American Idol. I couldn’t believe that almost exactly a year ago, I was watching Michele perform live to a packed Broadway house, and now I was watching her in a lead role in a debuting major television series, following the most successful show in America. As everyone knows, Glee became a huge hit and threw Michele into superstardom, as well as earning her a Golden Globe nomination just half-way through the show’s first season. 

Fox announced today that the cast of Glee will be hitting the road for a four-city concert tour, kicking off in Phoenix on… May 18. What other date would it possible be?? 

It strikes me as interesting that on this date for three years in a row, Michele has reached a new pinnacle in her career. From someone who maintains a healthy level of OCD, I think it’s rather pleasant that her career contains such symmetry. And to be embarrassingly honest, I was mistily reminiscent when May 18 hit last year, remembering that incredible last performance at Spring Awakening. Needless to say, I think May 18 is going to be a day that I continue to remember—not to speak of what Michele must think of the date. 

What do you think, Rushers? Did you make the May 18 connection with Lea Michele? Are you buying tickets to the Glee concert tour? Do you cry every May 18? (I’m sure you don’t. Only losers do that.) ::looks around suspiciously::