COME FLY WITH ME: The musical adaptation of Steven Spielberg's so-damn-fun Catch Me If You Can, after encouraging previews in Seattle, will be opening on Broadway this spring and its just-announced talent pool contains many familiar names in these parts: Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Wicked, the NPH Rent this summer) in the Leonardo DiCaprio role co-starring with Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wicked) as the FBI agent portrayed by Tom Hanks. (And, yes, both men played Fiyero.) Also featuring Tom Wopat as the dad, Kerry Butler (Hairspray's original Penny, Xanadu, Beauty and the Beast) as the love interest, and Linda Hart (Hairspray's original Velma von Tussle - Miss Baltimore Crab 1930) as her mom.
Book by Terrence McNally, music by Marc Shaiman and music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and if you're seeing a lot of Hairspray alums here, you won't be shocked to see Jack O’Brien as the director and Jerry Mitchell doing choreography as well. Three actual song titles and one fake: "Fifty Checks," "The Jet Set," "The Man Inside The Clues," "(Don't Wanna Be) Louisiana Barred."
Also, this trivia via Wiki: the film's original cast had James Gandolfini instead of Hanks, Ed Harris instead of Christopher Walken and Chloe Sevigny in place of Amy Adams.
This is going to make for a fascinating Tony year, with arty entrants (Scottsboro Boys), failed arty entrants (Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), wannabe hip entrants (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the Parker/Stone Book of Mormon musical), massive spectacle entrants (Spider-Man, the Frank Wildhorn Wonderland), and four movie adapatations (this, Sister Act, Elf, and Priscilla: Queen of The Dessert). Perhaps because of the surplus of new musicals, only two revivals currently on the books--the Daniel Radcliffe "How To Succeed" and the Sutton Foster "Anything Goes."
ReplyDeleteI tried to get tickets to Elf but wasn't willing to pay $200+ per ticket which is the cheapest I could find them for the weekend I'll be in NYC during the run.
ReplyDeleteThis is film rather than theater-- but I'd love to hear an opinion from any of you on Gwyneth's live performance at the CMAs last night.
I wonder what season saw the fewest revivals? Have there ever been just two (post-, say, 1970?)
ReplyDeleteHells yeah.
ReplyDeleteThere's talk of moving Arena Stage's "Oklahoma!" to Broadway, because of the lack of revivals and because it's getting tremendous raves here (can't wait to see it!) (note to DC Chess fans -- leading lady played Svetlana in Chess, stepped in as replacement Laurey 10 days before opening, and is getting plaudits left and right, no surprise as she's a fabulous performer).
In the 1994-1995 there were only two revivals and two new musicals. Since one of the two new musicals was a revue, "Sunset Boulevard" won book and score by default.
ReplyDeleteAnd after the financial disaster that was the "Ragtime" transfer last year and the lack of big success of the last "Oklahoma" transfer, I'll be surprised if we see anything from Arena transfer. (I may be prejudiced, since one of my least favorite theatrical experiences of recent years--"Crowns: Black Women In Their Church Hats" was at Arena.)
Crowns is very very different from many of Arena's shows. But Crowns is a big moneymaker for them.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, Ragtime's fate is what I'm wondering about. Dammit, that was a terrific show and deserved to do well. Maybe Oklahoma would do better than Ragtime did because of the dearth of other revivals (though Anything Goes could be terrific). Also, I'm thinking Oklahoma as a show gets the casual tourist dollar more than Ragtime as a show, just in terms of being something everyone's heard of.