Stewart and Knight bring backstage life front and center
In early September after a full day of rehearsal, Patrick Stewart, T.R. Knight, and director Neil Pepe met with journalists at a midtown pub to discuss their upcoming show, A Life in the Theatre. Written by David Mamet in 1977, the play is making its Broadway debut (it ran off Broadway the year it was published) and focuses on the backstage life of two actors in a repertory theater company—one whose career is nearing its end and the other’s whose is just beginning.
Pepe, who last directed Speed-the-Plow on Broadway, describes the play as a “love letter to the theater,” due to its focus on the behind-the-scenes lives of actors. Stewart says taking part in the production is an appropriate move, given his shared affection for theater that he and his character Robert have. After a long string of years working on the X-Men film franchise, Stewart noted that he has since worked almost exclusively in the theater, getting back to the medium he prefers. “My life has been spent in dressing rooms back stage, where every scene of our play takes place,” Stewart said. “All I ever wanted to be was a stage actor. Everything else that has happened to me was an accident. A happy accident; but an accident nonetheless.”
Video: Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight talk last-minute checks before going on stage and kooky mentors
Gregory Jbara’s happy career of paper towels, pills, and pirouettes
Gregory Jbara might not be cold and stubborn like Jackie Elliot, the role he won a Tony for in Billy Elliot, but they both have families that are separated by work and dreams. In the musical, Jackie’s son Billy yearns to enroll in the Royal Ballet School in London, while conversely, Jbara’s Billy commitments keep him in New York while his wife and two sons reside year-round in Los Angeles. After a three-month sabbatical from the show in LA where he spent time with his family, Jbara returned to Billy in April with renewed energy and new plans for his Billy future. The film and commercial actor sat down with Stage Rush to discuss balancing work and family, morphing Billy actors, and being mobbed by Robert Pattinson’s groupies.
Do you get to go back to Los Angeles and see your family often?
I don’t. We iChat every night. When they’re on vacation from school, they come to New York. Although, my producers have been very generous. I just extended for another nine months, which will be announced soon I imagine. They’ve given me almost one week off every month to go back home. Being away from my family—it’s lousy. It’s absolutely lousy.
Being that you live so far from your kids and you play a father in Billy Elliot, does that affect your performance at all, make it more emotional? Does it become an advantage?
On a daily basis, it doesn’t really influence what I do. There are some nights, like the day before my family arrives or the evening I say goodbye to them, I find that my own personal reality kind of creeps into the performance at times, especially around Dad’s song. But for the most part, the reality of the characters and the show is based on imagination and fiction. Read more
Ticket giveaway: ‘Lombardi’
The new Broadway season has just begun and it’s time to get you Rushers out there and into these new shows! Stage Rush has a pair of tickets to Lombardi, a new play about the iconic American football coach, starring Dan Lauria and Judith Light.
Here are the easy steps you need to take to have your chance to win these babies:
- Enter on Facebook by writing on Stage Rush’s Facebook wall (“Like” us, if you haven’t already done so)
- Enter on Twitter by retweeting one of Stage Rush’s tweets about the contest (@StageRush must be mentioned somewhere within your tweet, or else we won’t receive your entry)
You can enter this contest one time via each method. So if you enter through Facebook and Twitter, you will have two entries in the contest. No more than two entries per person will count. If you play through Facebook, you must be able to be contacted via private message. If you play through Twitter, I must be able to direct message (DM) you (you have to be following @StageRush in order for this to happen).
The giveaway will end on Friday, October 1. I will notify the winner through Facebook and/or Twitter private message.
All participants must be able to see the show between the dates of October 2 and October 31. The tickets are not valid for resale and must be picked up at the show’s box office on the day of the performance.
What are you waiting for, Rushers? Get over to the Stage Rush Facebook wall or retweet us on Twitter—it couldn’t be easier!
Stage Rush TV: Episode 31
Talking points:
- Broadway on Broadway concert lacks new material
- Stage Rush’s top 3 most-anticipated musicals of the fall
- Diving into John Tartaglia’s mind in Imaginocean
- Broadway grosses
Were you at Broadway on Broadway, Rushers? Did you love the concert, or were you left wanting more performances from new shows? What show opening this fall are you most excited for? Have you seen Imaginocean? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments!
Don’t forget to follow Stage Rush on Twitter and Facebook for on-the-go updates, news, and sightings!
Concert recap: Broadway on Broadway
The new Broadway season swoops in with quite a homecoming when it takes over the area it inhabits. During the annual Broadway on Broadway concert, Broadway the art takes full control of Broadway the district. In its nineteenth year, the free outdoor concert in Times Square offered strong performances, many of theater’s biggest stars, and a lack of new offerings.
Sponsored by The Broadway League and billed as a kick-off to the new theater season, Broadway on Broadway should (and usually does) feature the new musical productions that will be bowing in the coming months. It’s an exciting sneak peak of shows that are opening in a few weeks, and some much further into the year. Last year, new productions like Finian’s Rainbow and Memphis were among those that debuted their songs and cast to the Times Square audience. This year, just two new musicals performed, out of the 10+ productions slated for Broadway this year.
Only one of those two productions, Elf, features original music. Beth Leavel was on hand to perform “There Is A Santa Claus,” which was pretty paint-by-numbers in melody, but embodied a strong seasonal flavor. Will Swenson (with newly cropped hair, much to the female audience’s audible disdain) performed “I Say A Little Prayer” from Priscilla Queen of the Desert—a jukebox musical. Not two of the strongest numbers of the day, but still exciting, being they were new.
Where was the cast of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, who is clearly ready to go? The Scottsboro Boys are still performing at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, so they get a pass on this event. But why couldn’t Reeve Carney represent Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark like he did on Good Morning America on Friday? Were the A-list stars of Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown above the free concert? Being that all these shows are set to open in the next two months, a one-song performance couldn’t have been too far out of their reach. Instead of performances, Sutton Foster, from the upcoming revival of Anything Goes (another production that didn’t perform—like she doesn’t know how to sing “Blow, Gabriel, Blow?) appeared on stage to read from the list of all these shows that are coming to Broadway and wouldn’t be performing. Some tease. Read more
Stage Rush TV: Episode 30
Talking points:
- Thank you for making 30 episodes of SRTV possible!
- Winning the American Idiot ticket lottery and getting a detailed view of the show
- Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson cast rocks the press and gives sneak peak of show
- Trust underwhelms, but the acting saves
- Broadway grosses
Have you gotten a close-up view of American Idiot, Rushers? Are you marking your calendar’s for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’s first performance on Broadway? What did you think of their performance for the press? Did you catch Zach Braff in Trust? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below!
Follow Stage Rush on Twitter and Facebook for on-the-go updates, news, and sightings.
‘Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson’ readies for Broadway
Indians and politicians invaded the Playwrights Horizons Theatre on Wednesday when the cast and creative team of Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson met with the press to promote their upcoming September 20 Broadway bow. The cast came armed with a medley performance of two of the show’s numbers, and writer/director Alex Timbers offered a sneak peak of what will happen when Jackson takes the stage.
Video: The cast of Bloody Bloody Andre Jackson performs “Populism, Yea Yea” and “Rock Star”
Ensemble Watch: ‘Rock of Ages,’ Part 2
In this second part of Ensemble Watch, Jeremy Woodard and Andre Ward of the Rock of Ages ensemble give details on how they stay rocker-fit for the show, the pressure’s of on-stage physique, and what rehearsals are like during a long run of a production.
(If you missed Part 1, catch it here)
Were you surprised that Andre and Jeremy don’t have to work harder to stay in shape for the show? What did you think about their views on pressure to stay fit for Rock of Ages? Are you surprised about all the rehearsal that’s still required of them?
Don’t forget to follow Stage Rush on Twitter and Facebook for additional updates, news, and sightings on the go!
Stage Rush TV: Episode 29
Talking points:
- Jeremy Woodard and Andre Ward of Rock of Ages sit down for Ensemble Watch
- The Scottsboro Boys offers discounted tickets to its first preview performance
- Trust is difficult to rush, but there is still a discount to be had
- Broadway grosses
Are you a fan (or a groupie?) of Jeremy Woodard and Andre Ward from Rock of Ages, Rushers? Did any of their backstage stories surprise you, like the cable TV story surprised me? Did you snap up one of the $19.31 tickets to The Scottsboro Boys? Have you seen Trust? Did you manage to rush it? Leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below, and don’t forget to watch Part 2 of Ensemble Watch: Rock of Ages early next week.
Don’t forget to follow Stage Rush on Twitter and Facebook for additional updates!