Stage Rush TV: Episode 61
Talking points:
- Priscilla: Queen of the Desert‘s Nick Adams on being taken seriously as an actor
- Tony Award nominee predictions! What categories can Born Yesterday, Baby It’s You!, The Normal Heart, and The People In The Picture hope for?
- Watch the Tony Award nominations announcement LIVE on Stage Rush: Tuesday, May 3 at 8:30 a.m.
- Broadway grosses
What do you think, Rushers? Do you think Nick Adams’ good looks can act as a double-edged sword regarding how he is perceived as an actor? What do you think of Aaron Tveit’s statement on the subject? Do you agree with my Tony Award nominee predictions? Who do you think will get nominated? Feel free to go Tony-Award crazy in the comments below!
Follow Stage Rush on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the weekly newsletter!
How fitness and Facebook made a drag queen out of Nick Adams
Nick Adams nearly didn’t play Felicia in Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, the role that has made him a fan favorite on Broadway. Casting directors originally planned to make Adams an understudy for the role of the young, mischievous drag queen. But then Facebook lent a hand.
Fans of Adams created a Facebook group, lobbying for his casting in the role, a la the social media campaign to get Betty White to host Saturday Night Live last year. “The producers actually noticed that people were pushing for me and they paid attention to it,” Adams said. “It’s amazing that the people who have been supportive are able to come celebrate this triumph with me.” It seems the celebration has turned into a never-ending party. Adams has over five thousand followers on Twitter and Priscilla enjoys repeat ticket buyers who have seen the show dozens of times since it opened in March.
Since making his Broadway debut in Chicago in 2006, Adams, 27, has hit the Great White Way running. His second role as Larry in the revival of A Chorus Line in 2008 got him massive attention, although unintended. Michael Riedel of The New York Post reported that TV star Mario Lopez felt upstaged by Adams’ muscular physique, so producers put him in a less revealing costume and moved him to the back of the dance line. The story was harped on in the gossip columns and tabloids for weeks, but soon all Broadway enthusiasts knew Adams’ name. (Adams and Lopez have since laughed off the incident and are reportedly friends.) A brief stint in the ensemble of the critically acclaimed La Cage aux Folles last spring followed, and then Priscilla’s stiletto heels were ready to be filled.
Video: Nick Adams on his emotional connection to Priscilla and award season nerves
Stage Rush TV: Episode 52, Spring Broadway Preview
Talking points:
- The five shows coming to Broadway this spring that we’re most excited about:
Priscilla: Queen of the Desert
Arcadia
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
The Book of Mormon
Catch Me If You Can - Broadway grosses
(Using an iPhone or iPad? Watch on YouTube) Read more 
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