Fall 2010

Looking for fun and feelin’ groovy? Then you’ll want to audition for Lyric’s fall show. Created and directed by Ryan Hicks, this revue of ’60s folk favorites will run November 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 at the Shumiatcher Theatre, Mackenzie Art Gallery.

Auditions will be held Thursday, September 2, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Lakeview United Church.

Brunch 2011

Continuing the ’60s flashback, Lyric’s musical brunch in February will be a revue of musical theatre hits from that decade, created and directed

by Jane Ursan. The brunch runs February 6 and 13, 2011.

Auditions will be held Thursday, December 2.

Spring 2011

Finally, the spring show will be…well, it hasn’t been announced yet. But auditions will be held Thursday, February 17, 2011, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at Lakeview United Church.

Be there, or be square!

The first Broadway revival of Promises, Promises, the musical by Burt Bacharach and Hal David from which comes the well-known song “What Do You Get When You Fall in Love?”, opened April 25 at the Broadway Theatre (which seems like a rather generic name for a, well, Broadway theatre, doesn’t it?).

Starring Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes,  Promises, Promises features a score by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and a book by Neil Simon, and is based on the 1960 Academy Award-winning Billy Wilder film The Apartment. It “tells the story of the Consolidated Life Insurance Company and Chuck Baxter, one of its charming young employees. In an effort to advance at the company, Chuck lends executives his apartment for their extramarital romantic trysts. But things become slightly complicated when Fran Kubelik, the object of Chuck’s affection, becomes the mistress of one of his executives.”

Sondheim on Sondheim, which combines a video documentary with a Broadway revue to tell the life story of Stephen Sondheim, has opened on Broadway at Studio 54.

It was conceived by director James Lapine, who with Sondheim created Into the Woods, Passion and Sunday in the Park With George with Sondheim. The cast includes Barbara Cook, Vanessa Williams, Tom Wopat, Leslie Kritzer, Norm Lewis, Euan Morton, Erin Mackey and Matthew Scott.

The musical portrait integrates stars, songs and dance — plus candid video interviews with the 80-year-old composer-lyricist. Most of the high-def video sequences (on screens that shift in varied patterns throughout the two-act show) were shot specifically for Sondheim on Sondheim, letting the writer talk (sometimes in the setting of his Manhattan studio) about his childhood, his parents’ divorce, his cold mother, his love life, his surrogate father (Oscar Hammerstein II), his work habits, and, of course, his many Broadway scores (A Little Night Music, Follies, Company, Sweeney Todd, Into the Woods, among many others).

Act Two opens with an original song called “God,” written by the master specifically for Sondheim on Sondheim. In it, he pokes fun at how revered (and sometimes reviled) he is by theatregoers and critics. The number was inspired by a past New York magazine cover story that asked, “Is Stephen Sondheim God?”

This limited run (to June 13) coincides with the 80th birthday (on March 22) of Sondheim.

British actor Daniel Radcliffe, best known as “Harry Potter” in the movies but also a Broadway success recently for his role in Equus, will make his Broadway musical debut in a revival of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning Frank Loesser show How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2011.

How to Succeed… follows a young window washer, who with the help of a book with the same name as the show, rises to the top of the World Wide Wickets Company in New York City.

The Book of Mormon, featuring a score and book by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, and Tony Winner Robert Lopez of Avenue Q fame, will open on Broadway in March 2011.

According to the New York Post, The Book of Mormon,  which will be directed by Avenue Q and Shrek the Musical‘s Jason Moore and South Park‘s Parker, “tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent off to spread the word in a dangerous part of Uganda. Their tale is told alongside the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints.”

Cheyenne Jackson, who starred in a 2008 workshop of what was then called Mormon Musical, told the Post,  “It’s hilarious – very acerbic and biting. It offends everybody but does what ‘South Park’ does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say.”

This year’s Pulitzer Prize in Drama went to a Next to Normal, a rock-based musical currently playing on Broadway. (There’s been some controversy about the award, since Next to Normal was not one of the plays specifically recommended by the jury, although they did mention it favorably.)

Next to Normal, already a Tony Award-winner, features music by Tom Kitt and a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. It’s about the struggle of a woman (and her family) with bi-polar disorder and depression.

The Pulitzer comes with a $10,000 prize, and is “for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.”

The last musical to win a Pulitzer was Jonathan Larson’s Rent in 1996. Other musicals to earn the Pulitzer include Sunday in the Park With George, A Chorus Line, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Fiorello!, South Pacific and Of Thee I Sing.

Regina Summer Stage, our fellow Regina community musical theatre organization, has announced auditions for its summer production, My Fair Lady, directed by Patrick French, with Diane Taylor-Neale as music director and Chip McDaniel as choreographer.

Here’s are the details:

Dates: Friday, April 30, 7 to 9 p.m., Saturday, May 1, 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 to 4 p.m.

Callbacks: Sunday, May 2, 2 to 4 p.m.

Location: Regina Performing Arts Centre, 1077 Angus St. (at Fourth Avenue)

Requirements: If auditioning for a principal role, a prepared monologue of your choice, not to exceed two minutes.

If auditioning for a principal role, supporting role, or chorus, a song in the musical theatre genre that showcases your vocal quality, range, and volume.

An accompanist will be provided, but you may bring your own if you wish.

A vocal range check, vocal exercises, and/or cold read from the script may be requested at the discretion of the directors.

A prepared resumé (with photo if available) is appreciated but not required.

Callbacks will involve movement/choreography. Please dress appropriately.

Roles: All roles are for adults, 18 years of age and older.

Three male leads, one female lead, supporting roles and chorus.

Males: Henry Higgins, Colonel Pickering, Alfred P. Doolittle, Freddy Eynsford-Hill

Females: Eliza Doolittle, Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Mrs. Higgins, Mrs. Pearce

Visit www.reginasummerstage.com for a complete list of roles.

Performances: Eight performances from July 8 through 11 and July 13 through 16.

All performances commence at 8 p.m. except for the 2 p.m. matinee on July 11.

Venue: University Theatre, Riddell Centre, University of Regina.

Auditions will be scheduled beginning Monday, April 19.

1. Contact the Regina Summer Stage office at 522-9078. Leave a message indicating your name, telephone number, and if you wish, your e-mail address.

or

2. Visit www.reginasummerstage.wordpress.com and click on Leave a Comment. Provide your contact information as noted above.

Regardless of where you leave your message, the stage manager will contact you to arrange a specific time for your audition. Please notify us if you must cancel or reschedule.

All individuals cast in the show must be members of Regina Summer Stage. A ten-dollar membership fee is required.

What’s playing in New York right now? Lots of stuff. So if you’re going (lucky you) how do you decide what to see?

I recommend Terry Teachout’s regular post of “So You Want to See a Show.” Teachout is the theatre reviewer for The Wall Street Journal, and an acclaimed author (his most recent book is Pops, a biography of Louis Armstrong.)

The musicals he’s currently recommending are Fela! and the long-running revival of South Pacific (“brilliantly staged but unsuitable for viewers acutely allergic to preachiness,” he writes). Off-Broadway, he recommends Avenue Q (which used to be on Broadway, but has moved) and another perennial, The Fantasticks.

Teachout’s blog, About Last Night, is always worth a visit.

The Addams Family, a new musical starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth (above) as Gomez and Morticia, opens on Broadway tomorrow at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The musical’s book is by Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman (Jersey Boys), and the music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa (Off-Broadway’s The Wild Party.)

Playbill describes the show:

The musical’s plot, not based on “Addams Family” TV or film plots of the past, concerns teenage daughter Wednesday (played by In the Heights‘ Krysta Rodriguez) falling in love with a college kid she meets in Central Park, Lucas Beineke (played by Wesley Taylor). His Ohioan parents, Mal and Alice (played by Terrence Mann and Carolee Carmello), come to dinner at the Addams’ manse (on the edge of Central Park, apparently) to meet the family. All Wednesday wants is “One Normal Night,” as she sings in Act One.

Add the producers:

“In this original story, the famously macabre Addams Family is put to the test when outsiders come to dinner, hurling Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester, Grandmama and Lurch headlong into a night that will change the family forever.”