Theatre Offers Many Gifts

The theatre offers many gifts. It’s a simple statement, direct and to the point. And it’s appropriate to make it at this time of the year. After all, it is the season to be giving gifts, to friends and family, to those in need, and to those who have served us well. The holiday season is often one where we show appreciation to others, engage in altruistic acts of kindness, and simply try to be a bit more generous, caring, and loving.

It is also the bleakest time of the year. Over the next few months, we will be surrounded by darkness. In a time that seems to be occupied with and dominated by negativity, each of us seems to be more and more isolated. With depression and anxiety in the US at the highest levels ever, we can certainly use more optimism, community, and meaningful communication. Where might we find it? You may find what you need at the theatre. To reiterate, the theatre offers many gifts to those who take the time to engage it. Why should we do so?

Some REAL Facts

First, consider the facts below. They have been garnered from various publications and reports that were published in 2018. They are all reflective of the condition of those living in the U.S.

• Alcoholism is on the rise and killing more people than ever
• Depression is at an all-time high
• Suicide rates continue to rise
• Stress and anxiety levels have never been higher

There are many reasons for the spikes noted above. In a report filed by NBC News, Dr. Laurel Williams, chief of psychiatry at Texas Children’s Hospital talked about some of the reasons for the rise in depression.

Dr. Williams noted, “Many people are worried about how busy they are.” Plus, she added, “There’s a lack of community. There’s the amount of time that we spend in front of screens and not in front of other people. If you don’t have a community to reach out to, then your hopelessness doesn’t have any place to go.”

Theatre Creates Community – A Shared Experience

Theatre, which is unlike any other art form, offers audiences a unique experience. When we go to the theatre, we form a community. Sometimes this community is primarily made up of strangers, and other times, we may know quite a few people in the audience. But rarely does one go to the theatre alone. That means we’re sitting and sharing an experience with a larger group, and, if we go with someone, a smaller group.

When we go to the theatre, we are to put away our various media-connected devices, focus on one area, and watch from the darkness of the auditorium a special place bathed in light and occupied by people performing live. Not only are they performing, but they are creating characters on stage who are engaged in solving a problem, tackling an issue, or dealing with the ups and downs that life has to offer. In other words, when we watch a stage play or a musical we are viewing a representation of life, a living, three-dimensional model that represents us. As we react to it, the performers hear us. In live performance, the actors take the energies we give them through our attention and reactions, and use them to support their next moments.

In the theatre, there is this give-and-take between actor and audience that does not exist in film, TV, or online. Thus, the community includes audience and actors, as well as often unseen technicians, all engaged with one another for a few hours where the darkened audience is transcended and transformed by the light emanating from the stage.

What Dr. Williams alluded to as lacking from so many of our lives, community, is created by the theatre. Broadway creates one type of community, while Off-Broadway creates another. Unique communities are the product of Off-Off-Broadway, touring, regional theatre, elementary through high school theatre, university and college productions, and community theatre shows. In fact, if you talk to anyone who works in the theatre, whether they be a professional or an amateur, they will point to the feeling of community as being one of the best aspects of any show or production.

True, Theatre Offers Many Gifts – The Most Important One

We said at the beginning that theatre offers many gifts. What are some of those gifts? The theatre allows us to unabashedly feel a range of emotions, to simultaneously forget and remember, to go back in time, and to dream. It can challenge us intellectually, teach us about a range of subjects, and entertain us for a few hours.

When we go to see a play or musical, we have something new to talk about with those with whom we went. We can share our ideas, emotions, and reactions to the event, as we foster connections between the part of the temporary community of which we were just a member. That after-show drink, snack, or dinner allows us to communicate about what we just saw. And we may continue to do so for years to come. When we are at work, see some friends, or meet someone new, we may share our experiences, thoughts, and emotions connected with that show.

But perhaps the most important gift offered by the theatre is one engaged in alone. Contemplation. We can turn that shared event, experience, live performance over and over in our mind, remembering, dissecting, and analyzing it to find comfort in, learn from, or to renew a belief in ourselves, our potential, our goodness, and our caring. In a time that is so negative, the theatre provides us with a chance to be exceedingly positive.

And the play or musical does not have to have an upbeat ending for us to take something affirmative from it. Because after we leave the theatre, having gone on a shared journey with a group that has found a common energy and engaged in a unique experience where audience, performers, and technicians have shared in the creative process, we possess a new understanding of and renewed energy for life. And when that happens, anything is possible. Indeed, the theatre offers many gifts.

Written by Paul Mroczka, Director of Theatre, Plymouth State University

Harry Potter and all the events around the franchise really shaped my childhood. My whole family would make plans to attend midnight book release parties at Barnes and Noble and we would meet up at the movie theatres every time to see Hollywood try to take on the characters well loved. The newest installment in Rowling’s neverending story is coming to Broadway from the West End where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been a sold out hit!

In Previews: Opening April 22nd!

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is currently in previews and opens April 22nd at the Lyric Theatre. It is the eighth installment to the Harry Potter saga about the boy who lived, grew up to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort, and saved the wizarding world. In this installment, we see older versions of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and other notable characters. We also see the children of our triumvirate including Harry’s son, Albus Potter, who must deal with the unwanted legacy of his father. As the show synopsis says: “As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.”

The Story That Lived

I have to admit that I wasn’t a big fan of the book when it was released. For whatever reason, I didn’t think the stage directions and character dialogue matched what I knew from the original series. It felt like a fanfiction version of the story…and maybe partly because the show’s main conceiver is not J.K Rowling at all. Playwright Jack Thorne used ideas from Rowling to create the work.

Despite my beliefs about the book, the production has received some incredible reviews. TIME Magazine reviewed the production after its opening night on the West End and stated: “…this is a story that feels made for the stage. Yes, it’s packed with effects as characters cast spells, fly and even transform, achieved through old school stagecraft rather than digital trickery.”

Even though I was skeptical about the book, I have to admit that I have a “blow my savings” attitude about seeing the production in NYC. If I had tickets, I would be there in a heartbeat in a cape and a big old sorting hat right next to my mom who would be dressed the same way!

Those who see The Marvelous Wonderettes at Theatre Row’s Kirk Theatre are in for a hot time. The fact is Marvelous Wonderettes groups enjoy a major “Heat Wave” that warms the deepest winter chill and calms the most powerful north wind. This show has a host of up tempo numbers all of which climbed the charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The first act of the musical comedy is set in 1958 at the senior prom of Springfield High where the girl-group, The Marvelous Wonderettes, has been asked to entertain.

Suzy, Missy, Cindy Lou, and Betty Jean are adorned in crinoline and ready to sing their hearts out. Act two sees the four ladies return to Springfield High to entertain the class in 1968, during their 10-year reunion. In each act, we learn about their lives, dreams, hopes, and relationships as they weave a melodic and harmonious chain of songs that sometimes unites and at other times divides them.

Upbeat Numbers Drive the Show

It’s true that there are ballads and other songs that are more contemplative in tempo in this musical, including “Leader of the Pack,” Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight,” and “You Don’t Own Me,” but there are plenty of upbeat tunes. These songs drive the energy of this musical. Included are the hits “Lollipop,” “It’s in His Kiss,” and the exceptionally energetic “Heat Wave.”

“Heat Wave,” which was released as a 45-rpm single on July 9, 1963, on the Gordy label, a subsidiary of Motown, hit number one on the Billboard Hot R&B chart. It stayed there for a month. It also hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The group that made the song a hit was Martha and the Vandellas.

Act Two Curtain Raiser

When you start the second act of a musical you usually want to do so with a bang. The Marvelous Wonderettes certainly does that by beginning the act two with “Heat Wave.” It’s a very hot rendition of the tune that first involves Missy, Cindy Lou, and Betty Jean. Finally, at one point in the number, they are joined by a very pregnant Suzy. It’s a massively energetic opening to the second act that then offers a reprise of the harmonious “Mr. Sandman.”

Marvelous Wonderettes Groups Love This Cool Heat Wave

For Marvelous Wonderettes groups, the song “Heat Wave” defines the ultimate energy of this musical comedy, which is optimistic, uplifting, and completing engaging. For group tickets to The Marvelous Wonderettes contact All Tickets today by calling 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716 or emailing us at janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com .

Marvelous Wonderettes groups can get tickets for just $45.00 per person. Plus, the professional and personable staff at All Tickets can book your group’s restaurant reservations, hotel rooms, and tickets to other great Off-Broadway and Broadway shows. We’re here to serve you.

Performances of The Marvelous Wonderettes are on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036. Use our link to learn more about The Marvelous Wonderettes and the hit song “RESPECT.”

One of the more than two-dozen top 40 songs in The Marvelous Wonderettes is Aretha Franklin’s mega-hit “RESPECT.” Those who take advantage of the low prices for Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets find themselves caught up in this exciting rendition of Franklin’s anthem. The song, which features a driving beat, is all about a woman demanding a “little respect” from her man.

Franklin’s Hit

Franklin’s “RESPECT” charted at number one in the US in 1967. It was number two in Canada, number 10 in England and number 11 in Australia.

The song begins with a demand for “just a little bit” of “respect. But as it progresses to the end, the singer gets more and more demanding. Finally, at the end, she comes to the conclusion that if she doesn’t get what she wants, then the singer will pick up and leave. As it says:

“I get tired (just a little bit)
Keep on tryin’ (just a little bit)
You’re runnin’ out of fools (just a little bit)
And I ain’t lyin’ (just a little bit)
(Re, re, re, re) when you come home
(Re, re, re ,re) ‘spect
Or you might walk in (respect, just a little bit)
And find out I’m gone (just a little bit)
I got to have (just a little bit)
A little respect (just a little bit)”

Marvelous Wonderettes Brings It Home

At the end of The Marvelous Wonderettes, a very pregnant Suzy takes the stage. She extremely emotional, as she worried about her relationship with Ritchie and ultra-self-conscious about being pregnant. She sings a tearful rendition of “Maybe I Know.” Missy, in an attempt to bolster Suzy, sings “Needle in a Haystack.” Suzy begins singing “Rescue Me,” but ultimately finds strength when Missy, Cindy Lou, and Betty Jean sing “RESPECT.”

The show ends happily with Ritchie, who’s running the light board for the shows, signals his love for Suzy by blinking the lights. Also at the end, Cindy Lou and Betty Jean mend their friendship and it looks like Missy is going to marry Mr. Lee. Through the no nonsense pop song “RESPECT,” the woman find their way to a happy, musical comedy ending.

Get Marvelous Wonderettes Group Tickets Today

If you’re looking to get some respect from your theatre group, then we suggest that you contact us for Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets. This is a fantastic Off-Broadway show at a great price. At just $45.00 per person, Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets will definitely get you a whole lot of respect. Group numbers for The Marvelous Wonderettes can be as small as eight (8)

For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716. When you contact us, please be sure to ask us about booking your pre-show or after-show group dining or any other group services you may need.

Performances of The Marvelous Wonderettes are on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036. For further information, please see our Off-Broadway listing for this show.

If you’re looking for NYC theatre group tickets to a great show, then check out The Marvelous Wonderettes today. This Off-Broadway musical comedy is as sweet as “Sugartime.” Remember that big hit by The McGuire Sisters, “Sugartime?” It was a massive success in 1958, which is when Act One of The Marvelous Wonderettes takes place.

Those who purchase New York City theatre group tickets to The Marvelous Wonderettes enjoy a great evening of entertainment that includes over 30 hit songs from the 50s and 60s. Along with the hits, that just keep on coming, groups love the fact that this Off-Broadway musical comedy has quirky, fun characters, fantastic performances, and a story that anyone and everyone can simply enjoy.

Harmony and “Sugartime”

“Sugartime” is one of the first songs sung in The Marvelous Wonderettes. The musical comedy opens with two songs made famous by the Chordettes, “Mr. Sandman” and “Lollipop” and then it goes into “Sugartime.” This trio of hits gets The Marvelous Wonderettes off to a fast, positive start, as each is an upbeat pop song about love featuring wonderful harmonies.

The fourth number, “Wedding Bell Blues,” changes the mood and dynamic of the musical for a bit, but not until the optimistic, feel-good energy of this hit musical comedy is well established. Along with the wonderful energy produced by the tempos and lyrics of the three opening numbers, which is topped off by “Sugartime,” there are the amazing harmonies that define this type of music. Those harmonies also tell us something about the four Marvelous Wonderettes and their enduring friendships, which may run into rocky times, but never to the point of destroying the bonds that unite the four women.

Get Yourself Some Sugar Today

It’s always sugartime with The Marvelous Wonderettes. When you get NYC theatre group tickets to this sweet musical comedy and experience its energy and good times, you’ll want to go back and see it again. It’s that much fun.

For the sweetest NYC theatre group tickets offer around contact All Tickets today. Our Marvelous Wonderettes are just $45.00 per person for groups of eight or more. For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716.

At All Tickets, our personable and professional group sales agents are happy to answer your questions, help set up your group’s entire NYC trip, including booking your pre-show or after-show group dining, and ensure you have a great time.

Our Marvelous Wonderttes group tickets have become very popular. January is a great time to plan your next or your first-ever theatre trip to New York. Get your New York City theatre group tickets to The Marvelous Wonderettes now. Everyone in your group will have a great time at this musical comedy, which features a hit pop music score, beautiful harmonies, and engaging characters. For more reasons as to why groups love The Marvelous Wonderettes, please see our blog from last week.

Performances of The Marvelous Wonderettes are on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036.

The Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets deal from All Tickets makes it easy and economical for you to get your contingent to this hit Off-Broadway musical comedy. Groups of eight or more have access through All Tickets, Inc. to the low $45.00 per person ticket price. This is a fantastic deal on what is one of the most upbeat, feel-good musicals currently running in New York.

There’s More for Your Theatre Group

All Tickets is a full-service provider for groups, which means whatever your group wants and needs we can supply and at a great price. We can secure your group restaurant, hotel, and transportation reservations, get tickets for other theatre shows, as well as take care of your group’s museum, tour, and special event reservations.

When you book your group’s excursion through All Tickets you are assured that you’ll receive:

• The best possible group rates
• The best available seats
• The finest group packages
• Personalized customer service
• Friendly, professional reps who will guide you throughout the process

How Popular Was “Leader of the Pack?”

“Leader of the Pack,” which was released in September 1964, was number one on the Billboard Hot 100, number one on New Zealand’s Lever Hit Parades, number three on Canada Top Singles, and number 11 on UK Singles. It topped the charts in 1965. It was The Shangri-Las biggest hit and the one record for which they are best known. The B side of the 45 was “What Is Love.”

The Shangri-Las singing “Leader of the Pack” in 1964, and then The Shangri-Las’ lead singer Mary Weiss performing it many years later at The House of Blues.

In The Marvelous Wonderettes, “Leader of the Pack” is sung in Act Two during the 10-year reunion of Springfield High’s 1958 class. It’s Cindy Lou who sings “Leader of the Pack” partly as a commentary on Springfield High School bad boy Billy Ray Patton, who’s suspension resulted in his group being cut as prom entertainment 10 years earlier (Act One) and allowed The Marvelous Wonderettes to snag the gig. Cindy Lou, who had Hollywood aspirations that did not work out after she graduated from high school, is back in Springfield and in love with Billy Ray. In a way, the version sung in The Marvelous Wonderettes is done as a torch song.

Marvelous Wonderettes Group Tickets Deal – Last Thoughts

Be the leader of your pack and contact All Tickets today for your Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets deal, which offers tickets at just $45.00 per person. For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716.

We’ll be happy to answer your questions, help set up your group’s entire evening, including booking your pre-show or after-show group dining, and take care of any other group services you may need. Remember that group numbers for The Marvelous Wonderettes can be as small as eight (8)

Our Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets deal won’t last forever. This is a great time to plan your next or even your first theatre trip to New York and to book your group tickets to this popular show. Everyone in your group will have a great time at this engaging, funny, and entertaining show.

Performances of The Marvelous Wonderettes are on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036.

The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Marvelous Wonderettes is a great show for groups. All Tickets Inc. can secure the best Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets for you if your theatre party is comprised of at least eight. If you’re wondering why you should get group tickets to this particular show, we’ve put together 10 very short reasons as to why groups love The Marvelous Wonderettes. Read on and read quickly!

10 Reasons Why Groups Are Loving This Musical

Here is why you’ll want to purchase the best Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets as soon as possible. Groups love this musical comedy due to:

1. Hit music and lyrics- more than 30 songs!
2. The Marvelous Wonderettes, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy, ARE marvelous and wonderful
3. The Three F’s – Funny, frenetic, fantastic
4. Cross-generational family fun
5. Melody, Harmony, Hilarity
6. Intimate setting connects you with energetic performers
7. Warm, Welcoming, and Wistful – a great nostalgic journey
8. Upbeat, feel-good ending
9. Perfect for winter blue and spring thaw
10. All Tickets Inc.’s low, cannot-be-beat $45.00 group ticket price

Get Best Prices and Seats

All Tickets Inc. guarentees you’ll have the best Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets. We’ve got the best seats and the best group prices ($45.00 per person), and offer the best customer service. We make it easy for you to secure your great group ticket rate. Plus, we can plan your group meals, hotel stay, sightseeing tour, and more. Groups for The Marvelous Wonderettes start at eight. Contact us today by emailing either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or by calling 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716

Performance of The Marvelous Wonderettes are at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036 on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

The Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets provide audiences the chance to have a shared experience that is filled with great performances, hit music, and hilarious comedy. There are also very touching and heartfelt moments, engaging interactions with the audience, and an overall uplifting and positive energy that defines the evening’s entertainment. This is the type of show that audiences of all ages love, families can enjoy together, and all groups find to be an entertaining journey from those 1950s teen years to 1960s adulthood.

The Hits Are Here!

When you purchase your Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets you’ll have a gateway to hearing beautiful, polished, and exciting renditions of some of the biggest hits of the 50s and 60s. Like the presently running Beautiful and former long-running Mama Mia!, both Broadway shows, the Off-Broadway hit The Marvelous Wonderettes is a top 40 hit-machine. The major difference being that with Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets you’ll have the chance to hear melodies and lyrics written by a range of amazing pop composers and writers and not a few writers or those recorded by one group.

You’ll hear songs like “Heat Wave” written by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier and first recorded and made a hit by Martha and the Vandellas in 1963, and then covered and once again made a hit in 1975 by Linda Ronstadt, and recorded by Phil Collins in 2010 and “Wedding Bell Blues” written by Laura Nyro and and made a major hit by the 5th Dimension in 1969.

Then there’s what is perhaps the best known of all teen tragedy songs, “Leader of the Pack,” written by George “Shadow” Morton, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich. It jumped to number one on the pop charts in 1964 when The Shangri-Las recorded it. It was their biggest hit. See below a live television version sung by the American girl group The Shangri-Las and featuring singer Robert Goulete mugging on a motorcycle. The clip is from the popular quiz show I’ve Got a Secret.

The Marvelous Wonderettes offers over 30 pop hits, all beautifully performed, some soulfully, others comically, that you will simply enjoy.

Character and Situation Comedy

The Marvelous Wonderettes includes plenty of character and situation comedy, as we get to know each of the unique young ladies who make up the group, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy. Each one has her dreams, which include everything from being named prom queen to one of the girls stealing another’s song to marriage.

As an example, how did they get to perform at the senior prom? Suzy and Missy explain to the promgoers, that is those in the audience including those in your group, how the boy’s glee club was supposed to perform, but Billy Ray Patton, their lead singer, was suspended from school for smoking. As they note, “Tobacco can kill, and make you ill.” Thus, the school principal, Mr. Lee, asked The Marvelous Wonderettes to perform instead. The girls then announce that the theme of the prom is “Marvelous Dreams,” and with that, they segue seamlessly into a medley of “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and “Dream Lover.”

Name That Tune!

You don’t have to buy The Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets to participate in our trivia challenges that are upcoming. Some questions are of the name-that-tune variety, where we offer the lyric and you provide the artist and/or song title, while others require that you know something specific regarding the content of the song. Be sure to watch for our theatre trivia focusing on The Marvelous Wonderettes this week.

Purchasing The Marvelous Wonderettes Group Tickets

Contact us today to purchase your Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets, which are just $45.00 per person. For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716. We’ll be happy to answer your questions, help set up your group’s entire evening, including booking your pre-show or after-show group dining, and take care of any other group services you may need. Remember that group numbers for The Marvelous Wonderettes can be as small as eight (8).

Performance of The Marvelous Wonderettes are on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Kirk Theatre, Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036. Call or email us today for the ultimate Marvelous Wonderettes group tickets experience.

Audiences find The Marvelous Wonderettes offers a great evening of theatre, as the show is upbeat, funny, and completely entertaining. Parties who participate in The Marvelous Wonderettes group discount tickets program enhance their experience by being able to share the experience of this show before, during, and after the performance. This musical is perfect for groups looking for a positive, feel-good show that offers insights into who we were in the 1950s, and how we changed in the 1960s.

Innocence- 1950s vs. 1960s

Part of the reason The Marvelous Wonderettes group discount tickets program is popular with audiences of all ages is that the musical has a sense of innocence, mirroring a feeling that seemed to pervade the 1950s, which is when the first act is set. (For more on this musical’s sense of innocence, read our previous blog!) That seems to have been a simpler period, and for many audience members, it’s a nostalgic time. The four characters who make up the Wonderettes, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy, embody the simplicity of the time.

Act two, which takes place in 1968 during the 10-year Springfield High School reunion, is also defined by innocence, but it’s a different kind of innocence. The four ladies who are The Marvelous Wonderettes have gone through many changes since they were in high school, and so too has the U.S. These changes are reflected in the stories of the four women’s lives, their relationships on and off stage, and the music that they sing. This period, although seen by many as being more complicated, is also filled with nostalgia.

Lesley Gore – It’s My Party

Singer Lesley Gore, who has three of her songs featured in the second act of the musical “Maybe I know,” “It’s My Party,” and “You Don’t Own Me”), may very well define this new innocence. It’s one in which many female singers end up telling it like it is. They define the realities and difficulties of being in love and decide how they will make their stand. The women are saying they are strong enough to weather the emotional storm in which they find themselves, or they’re contemplating independence, or they’re devoted to becoming independent. Where these songs are concerned, the innocence isn’t about the simplicity of life, but rather, that the simple solutions offered in the lyrics will be easy to achieve.

“Maybe I Know” is a song in which the singer knows the man she loves is cheating on her, but she believes that “deep down” he loves her and she hopes that one day he will “settle down.” It’s a simple solution to a complex problem. In “It’s My Party,” the singer, who’s in the midst of her birthday party, is in love with Johnny, and he’s supposed to be in love with her, but he’s managed to disappear from the party and Judy, whose hand he was holding, is gone too. At the end of the song, they come back to the party and are engaged. This is a tune about being completely open with your emotions.

“You Don’t Own Me” features a very strong character, as the singer proclaims to the man she is seeing that she knows she’s just one of his “many toys,” and that means that she will be who she wants to be and do what she wants to do. In other words, he’s one of her toys too. Of the three Gore numbers in The Marvelous Wonderettes, this offers a vision of a woman who’s decided that she gets to play by the same rules to which men have access.

Feel-Good Future

If groups find The Marvelous Wonderettes offers great party feelings, what sort of feelings are they exactly? About what type of party are we talking? What do those who participate in The Marvelous Wonderettes group discount tickets program get from this musical? Unlike the party in “It’s My Party,” the celebration offered by The Marvelous Wonderettes is optimistic and includes, ultimately, a happy ending. By the end of the musical, the four characters still have their challenges, but they are also ready to take them on and move forward.

Contact us today for group tickets to The Marvelous Wonderettes, offering audiences a fantastic musical theatre experience at a great price. Group ticket prices are just $45 per person and a group can be a few as eight people! We make it easy for you to secure your great group ticket rate.

For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716. Performances are at Theatre Row, Kirk Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036 on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.

1950’s musical innocence defines The Marvelous Wonderettes, and that very innocence is something that audiences find very attractive. The first act of the show takes place in 1958, a time when American Bandstand offered wholesome entertainment, Pat Boone was a teen idol, and girl’s skirts still went down to the knee. The four young ladies who are The Marvelous Wonderettes, Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy, and Suzy, represent that period.

The second act, which is set in 1968, a time of turbulence in the U.S., still embraces musical innocence, but in a different way, as many of the songs in that act are more about teens, specifically women, setting new rules and following their dreams. Still, all-in-all, musical innocence defines The Marvelous Wonderettes, making it fun, endearing, and eminently enjoyable by a large cross-section of audiences.

Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show

One show that certainly defined the late 50s was Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show, which ran from February 15, 1958 to September 10, 1960. Sponsored by Beechnut Gum, the popular variety show was aired Saturdays from 7:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Clark’s show featured chart-climbing musical performers, interviews with celebrities such as Bob Hope, Tony Randall, and Johnny Carson, and a countdown from the number 10 down to the number one songs on that week’s top 40.

Clark did 136 shows, all of which were broadcast live. Of the 136 shows. 131 were broadcast from Manhattan’s Little Theater located at 240 West 44th Street, NYC. (It is now the Helen Hayes Theatre.) The other five shows were broadcast from various parts of the U.S. from June 11, 1960 to July 9, 1960.

The Chordettes

As musical innocence defines The Marvelous Wonderettes, it also defined Clark’s show. One of the prime examples would be the appearance of The Chordettes, who on February 22, 1958 sang two of their hits, “Lollipop” and “Mr. Sandman.” Both of these songs can be found in the first act of The Marvelous Wonderettes

The Chordettes singing “Lollipop” and “Mr. Sandman” on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show

Act II and The Marvelous Wonderettes

Although the second act of The Marvelous Wonderettes includes a reprise of “Mr. Sandman,” the majority of the songs focus on themes that are less innocent, such as rebellion (“Leader of the Pack”), cheating (“Maybe I Know”), equality (“RESPECT”), and female independence (“You Don’t Own Me”). Although 1950’s musical innocence defines The Marvelous Wonderettes in its initial act, there’s a different type of musical innocence in act two. Our next blog considers that new type of innocence and how so many of the songs by Lesley Gore, featured in The Marvelous Wonderettes, contain this new energy.

Please contact us today for group tickets to The Marvelous Wonderettes, with performances at Theatre Row, Kirk Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St., NYC 10036 on Wednesdays at 2:30 p.m. & 8:15 p.m., Thursdays at 8:15 p.m., and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Group ticket prices are just $45 per person with the group rate kicking in with eight or more. We make it easy for you to secure your great group ticket rate. For group sales, email either janet.robinson@jrgroupsales.com or info@allticketsinc.com or call 212-362-5797 or 800-922-0716.

The holiday season seems to sneak up on us every year. Even if we aren’t ready when it comes, we submit to celebrating by watching holiday films, singing carols, and investing in tickets to the theatre or ballet. Today, we’re talking about those holiday theatre traditions you can travel to NYC to see as well as national tour of shows that may be performing in your native state!

A Holly, Jolly Christmas

If you’ve got the funds to head to New York City this December, there are a couple performances you shouldn’t miss. If you got to see the Rockettes at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year, then you know you should go see The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. This year’s performance was the best I’ve seen on the television special in years. Besides the spectacular, take a visit to The New York City Ballet to see George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. These locations are pretty obvious ones for tourists but if you haven’t seen them yet, they’re a no brainer.

At Your Own Front Door

Two of the biggest national tours for the holidays will be circulating as late as December 31st. Whether you’re a youngster or just young at heart, you’ll enjoy the live performances of Elf the Musical and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on tour. These productions are going to many cities around the country. Check out the hyperlinks to see if there is a production near you!

There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays

If you aren’t planning on going to NYC or driving to a packed theatre to see a productions, there is another live event to consider. On December 17th at 7:00pm eastern time, A Christmas Story the Musical will be live on the Fox Network. The musical stars Matthew Broderick, Maya Rudolph, Jane Krakowski, Chris Diamantopoulos, and Ana Gasteyer. Fix your own snacks and set your family up in front of the television to witness this holiday event!

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is my favorite television event of the year. For the past few years, I’ve set an alarm for 8:55am, and run down the stairs in my pajamas like a kid on Christmas to change the channel to NBC. Let it be known that I am 25 years old… Even though I know the performers aren’t singing live and are probably freezing their butts off out there, the Broadway performances have always been a magical part of celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Read today’s All Tickets Buzz Stream post about the Broadway shows that we’ll all be running down the stairs to on Thursday.

Some Old, Familiar Faces

The 91st Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be featuring two Broadway shows fans are familiar with this year: Dear Evan Hansen and Anastasia. Dear Evan Hansen won multiple Tony Awards in June this year including best musical, best score, and best book. Ben Platt, the show’s original Broadway cast star, has recently left the musical so we may be seeing his replacement, Noah Galvin, at the parade.

As for Anastasia, this new musical didn’t see as much spotlight on Tony Award night as Dear Evan Hansen but it certainly has the right amount of wonder to be perfect for an event like the parade. With music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on this Island), I’m extremely excited to see this performance in front of the Macy’s storefront.

The New Guys

So…these musicals aren’t exactly new if you’ve been keeping up with videos from Playbill… however, Spongebob The Musical and the revival of Once on this Island will be creating some buzz with their performances at the parade as well. Both shows are currently running in previews. Spongebob is currently set to open December 4th and Once on this Island will open December 3rd.

More Options

If the Broadway performances end and you’re seriously wanting more of that instead of giant pikachu… there is a second option! Change your dial to CBS during the parade and see the casts of Waitress and Come from Away featured on the CBS network. They will also be showing snippets of the parade besides these featured performances. If you’re having a hard time deciding which network you’ll watch that morning, know that Jason Mraz will be performing in Waitress. If you have a crush on him like I do, that might help you make a decision…

One of the most quotable movies of the millennial generation is going to be premiering on Broadway in 2018. From questioning butter as a carbohydrate to wearing pink on Wednesdays, this is an entertainment phenomenon that has connected fans for over a decade. With a book by Tina Fey and music by her spouse, Jeff Richmond, the world will soon be subscribing to the plastics and their perfect, little, preppy world live onstage. Mean Girls will begin preview performances at the August Wilson Theatre on March 12th of 2018. Before that, it will be housed by the National Theatre in Washington D.C.

There’s a Thirty Percent Chance It’s Already Raining…

Mean Girls was a film from 2004 that starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, and Tina Fey herself! The film was based on a book called Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. Fey took the book that was all about women and the cliques they subscribe to in school and added her own twist of humor. The film centered around Lohan’s character, Cady Heron, a smart, beautiful young girl who had just switched to a public high school after living her whole life in South Africa. Unfamiliar with the hierarchy of her new school she makes friends with the art geeks, Damien and Janis. After Cady has a run in with the popular girls in school Janis decides to take revenge on the Plastics leader, Regina George, by having Cady pose as a popular girl who secretly wants to ruin Regina’s life.

Someone Should Totally Just Stab Caesar

The question going forward is about whether this musical production can make Mean Girls fans think the live production is just as “fetch” as the original. The characters have to be extremely hateable, likeable, and quotable at the same time. The marketing team for the show just put out a little teaser on Monday, September 11th. View the video below to see what the Plastics have to say about the musical:

Cher is a style icon, music mogul, and LGBTQ activist whose career has brought forth so many memorable songs and performances. Starting in June of 2018, it seems that she will be working with Broadway creatives to “Turn Back Time” on her career with a five week musical engagement in Chicago. The Cher Show is going through a month long lab now in NYC with Jersey Boys librettist, Rick Elice, Avenue Q director, Jason Moore, choreography by Newsies’ Christopher Gattelli, and production by Hamilton’s Jeffrey Seller.

Babe, Lady, and Star

The casting breakdowns for the production revealed the most to curious fans about the production plot. Three women will play Cher at three different points in her life. The first, Babe, will represent Cher as a young woman: Independent, insecure, and in love with Sonny Bono. Lady will represent Cher in the middle section of her life where she becomes famous and starts to transition to that next part of her star studded life. Star is the final version of Cher who has aged into her successes but still sees failures and hardships.

Could It Be Better Timing?

Because of this eruption of LGBTQ pop culture within the current decade, this could be the perfect time for a Cher musical. Audiences who love Cher also tend to watch television like RuPaul’s Drag Racewhere her son Chaz is a frequent judge and strong advocate for LGBTQ rights. Besides this, Will and Grace is back on television and making national commentary on sexuality like it used to. Sean Hayes’ character on the show loves Cher and even meets her in a past season:

My guess is that there is a specific market for people who would want to go to a Cher musical. The question is if the musical draws them in enough with a good production to get them saying, “Yaass, Cher! I Got You, Babe!”

It was recently announced that ticket sales for the 18 week special engagement of Angels in America starring Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield have begun. To purchase them now, you have to be an Audience Rewards member. But if you’re like me and you’re not… general ticket sales will begin October 30th and tickets to both parts of the epic story will be sold together. The production comes to Broadway from London’s National Theatre marked as a “Gay Fantasia on National Themes.”

“The Fastest Selling Show in National Theatre History”

The Neil Simon Theatre will be housing this British transfer starting February 23rd for previews that recently had an entirely sold out run at the National Theatre in London. The original production opened on Broadway in May of 1993. It won Tony awards for Best Actor (Ron Leibman), Best Direction (George C. Wolfe), Best Featured Actor (Stephen Spinella), and Best Play (Tony Kushner).

Set in New York City in the 1980s, Kushner’s story has multiple storylines centered around relationships, sexual orientation, and transcendence: “A gay man is abandoned by his lover when he contracts the AIDS virus, and a closeted Mormon lawyer’s marriage to his pill-popping wife stalls. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, Ethel Rosenberg, a former drag queen who works as a nurse, and an angel.”

“The Sky is Not the Limit”

To see this production at the Neil Simon Theatre, not only do you need to wait for general ticket sales but you also have to plan accordingly. On the Angels in America website, a schedule is available for Part I and Part II performances:

Tickets are sold as a package so each patron sees both parts. You can make your reservation on http://www.angelsbroadway.com/ on October 30th. Don’t miss his special engagement production!

The next installment of Fox’s live television musicals is in the works for December 17th when A Christmas Story:Live hits the small screen. It was recently announced that Matthew Broderick will be playing the role of adult Ralphie. Broderick has many years of experience performing in live theatre as well as in films like Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and the film version of the musical The Producers. Hopefully this production will be a memorable one for all the families across America who will be sitting down in front of their screens to witness the old fashioned tradition of live, musical television.

The Plot

If you’ve ever watched the TBS network on Christmas Eve, you’ve seen this movie. I always miss watching the entire film at once since I always turn on the TV in the middle while I clean for Christmas guests…But it’s a sincere Christmas favorite about a little boy named Ralphie growing up in a normal American family who dreams about getting a Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. The most memorable moments in the film include the “triple dog dare” that leads to a tongue stuck to an icy post, Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and the scantily clad leg lamp Ralphie’s father takes from the box marked “fra-gi-le.”

The musical production of the memorable film was spearheaded by an incredible team including the musical writing team Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. These two men wrote the music for the current Broadway show Dear Evan Hansen. The book was written by Joseph Robinette who has done a lot of children’s book adaptations like Charlotte’s Web. The show premiered on Broadway in 2012 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre and received multiple Tony nominations.

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out

The executive producer of the live musical, Marc Platt, is working to help adapt the musical to television with the help of the musical’s creative team and the Fox network. Platt had recently worked with Fox on the adaptation of Grease Live!. In a recent article with Variety, Fox’s president commented: “A Christmas Story’ is one of the most beloved holiday films of all time – audiences have made a yearly ritual of re-watching it – and we are so thrilled to have Marc leading the charge in bringing the musical version of that film to television. (…) The extraordinarily gifted Pasek and Paul were instrumental in transposing the movie to the stage, and we believe the transition to live television event will be just as entertaining for viewers.”

What do you think about this musical as a live television broadcast? Tell us on Twitter @AllTicketsInc!

Named for the Martina McBride song, the new musical This One’s for the Girls is premiering Off-Broadway on October 7th at St. Luke’s Theatre. The musical is a performance of songs that empower American women and celebrate their heritage. The show’s writer, Dorothy Marcic, is using a similar theme as the writing the Off-Broadway musical called Sistas which played at St. Luke’s as well as theatres in Detroit and Nashville.

I Will Survive

Though there isn’t much information about this production besides casting, showtimes, and some select songs, there is much more about Dorothy Marcic’s other labor of love: Sistas The Musical. This musical continues to play at Luke’s on Saturdays and Sundays at 4:30pm and is about five women in a family who all come together to clean out the attic of a family member who has died. As they clean out the attic, they find old photo albums, record albums, and costumes. The women sing the songs that remind them most of their deceased matriarch and celebrate the heritage of black women in America. Many of the songs in that show are similar to those of “The One’s for the Girls” including “Respect” and “I Will Survive” .

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

It has been announced that this production of This One’s for the Girls will play Friday evenings at 8pm and Saturday afternoons at 2pm starting on October 7th. It will be directed by Tamara Kangas Erickson (Director of Chanhassan Dinner Theatre in Minnesota) and music directed by Zachary Ryan (Sistas Music Director). Cast will include Traci Bair (Cirque Dreams), Aneesa Folds (Ragtime National Tour), Jana Robbins (Crimes of the Heart), and Haley Swindal (Jekyll & Hyde 1997 Revival).

The 1988 Drama Desk Award winner for Most Outstanding Play and Tony Award winner for Best New Play is heading back to Broadway with a very cinematic start. M. Butterfly whose lead role once was played by John Lithgow, will be spearheaded by Oscar nominee Clive Owen. The production will be starting previews on October 7th at the Cort Theatre and has released some very dramatic preview trailers. Written by David Henry Hwang, the revival will be directed by Julie Taymor who is most known for her direction of The Lion King in 1997.

Plot

This stage play is based on the love affair between French diplomat Bernard Boursicot and a Chinese opera singer named Shi Pei Pu. The subject matter of this story is controversial because it blurs boundaries of gender as well as postmodernism. The characters in Hwang’s portrayal take on the affair for twenty years and the French diplomat never realizes the object of his affection is actually a man.

The marketing team for this revival have done a great job of creating suspense for interested audiences. The play trailer is cinematically beautiful and eerie…almost mocking the mood of a Hitchcock film. The production photos of Clive Owen look very similar to photos of a young Jimmy Stewart in Rear Window or Vertigo. The words in the trailer say: “I’ve sat night after night watching our story play through my head. One where she returns at last to my arms. For I have known and been loved by…the perfect woman.”

Big Shoes To Fill

With the lifetime successes of John Lithgow as well as the original director of M. Butterfly, John Dexter, both Owen and Taymor will be in for a lot of work to make this revival better or equal to the original. Is this a production you’d like to judge with your own eyes? Visit the M. Butterfly Show page on allticketsinc.com for great group rates once this show opens for previews!

Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 is currently running on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre. Based on a tiny sliver of the novel War and Peace, this musical was spearheaded by the talent that is Diane Paulus over at the American Repertory Theater. However, no matter how much talent has been exhibited in this production, it didn’t see much spotlight at the Tony Award ceremony on June 11th. The creative team is clearly pushing hard to keep ticket sales up, but it seems that their efforts are causing more controversy than ticket conversion…

What Happened

On July 26th, Playbill leaked the news that Mandy Patinkin would be stepping in for the role of Pierre in Great Comet. The role was originated by Josh Groban but has been played by Hamilton alum, Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan since Groban’s departure. Along with Patinkin, singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson has been a part of the cast since July 3rd. Her performance time is set to end on August 15th which is when Patinkin was announced to be added to the show for three weeks. However, amidst all this exciting news…something was overlooked.

Comet producer, Howard Kagan, made a statement this week about Onaodowan possibly returning to play Pierre again in September, though this contradicted the first announcement. Kagan originally stated that Onaodowan would play his final performance August 13th. Then more news came… Patinkin was performing for these dates because of a scheduling conflict with the television show Homeland. So Onaodowan needed to agree to new final dates in order to make room for Patinkin’s availability. This caused some uproar on social media especially along the lines of race. Social Media users called producers out for making a black actor step aside for a white actor. Because of this uproar, Patinkin withdrew from the original plan to join the cast.

The Editorial Part

In my opinion, people were surprised that Great Comet didn’t do better at the Tony’s. It offers a lot of new and beautiful elements that make us rethink the definition of “musical theatre.” The production was cast with actors of many backgrounds and even made way for some familiar names. The producers want to see this production continue to sell tickets and Mandy Patinkin is a hugely well-known musical theatre legend. His presence in the show would inspire a new set of theatre lovers to go see it, even though they may not be into its contemporary style.

I want to give the producers the benefit of the doubt and say that schedules got messy and they had to make some quick decisions. I believe that Onaodowan’s feelings and professional contract were bruised because ticket sales became the most important thing. Kudos to Patinkin for backing out respectfully instead of getting involved. Hopefully Great Comet will recover.

What is your opinion on Oaks’ situation? How should it have been handled? Tell us on Twitter @AllTicketsInc!

A revival of Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel is headed to Broadway next spring! Not only will audiences get to hear the memorable music from the show, but it will be performed by some of Broadway’s finest performers…including a MET opera star transitioning to musical theatre.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

It was announced in April of this year that Jack O’Brien (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) would be directing the revival. Stars include Tony nominee Joshua Henry (Aaron Burr, Hamilton Tour) as Billy Bigelow, Tony winner Jessie Mueller (Carole King, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) as Julie Jordan, and the Metroplitan Opera’s Renee Fleming as Nettie Fowler. This role is set to mark Fleming’s retirement from her opera career and the start of a new part of her performing life.

The Plot is Bustin’ Out All Over

Carousel is the story of Julie Jordan, a young woman who goes to the fair with her friend for an escape from everyday life. She meets an older man named Billy Bigelow who works at the fair and immediately falls in love with him. This show is the story of their unhealthy relationship and the way love ties people together under any circumstance.

The show has yet to book a definite Broadway house though it is set to open on March 23rd of 2018. The show has received a lot of criticism overtime for Julie Jordan’s weak disposition as the female heroine. It will be interesting to see Jack O’Brien’s take on this musical classic and the ways in which he will make the issues of the musical more appropriate. Besides bringing new issues to light and evening the score between Julie and Billy, we will be able to hear Renee Fleming sing all of the most memorable songs in the production.

Whether you were watching the awards in the mezzanine or sitting at home with a bunch of theatre fans, the 2017 Tony Award live broadcast was a magical experience. One of my favorite moments of the night was seeing Kevin Spacey tap dance. If you missed those musical numbers or didn’t get a chance to see who won which category, let All Tickets’ Buzz Stream fill you in!

The Winners!

Of all of the productions nominated this year, Dear Evan Hansen took home 6 awards. It won Best Book, Best Orchestrations, Best Original Score, Best Performance of a Featured Actress, Best Performance by a Leading Actor, AND it won for Best Musical. Besides all of its wins, Ben Platt’s (Best Leading Actor in a Musical) performance of Waving Through a Window was one of the most incredible elements. Platt, who had been on vocal rest the weekend prior, performed marvelously. View the video below to see his Tony performance if you didn’t get to see it on June 11th!

In the world of the play, I really enjoyed the way that the creatives behind the Tony Awards chose to have the playwrights give their own explanations of their works. Between musical theatre performances, celebrity presenters, and Kevin Spacey silliness, the audience got a little bit of storytelling throughout the program. August Wilson’s Jitney won for best revival, J.T. Rogers’ Oslo won Best Play, and Indecent won for Best Direction as well as lighting design. Kevin Klein, Michael Aronov, Cynthia Nixon, and Laurie Metcalf were the performers who took home awards for Best Leading and Featuring actors and actresses for the season.

Hello, Dolly!

Hello Dolly! was a much anticipated element of this year’s awards for me. People were either rolling their eyes at Bette Midler’s long acceptance speech or yelling Yaass Kween! at their screens. However, a revival such as this requires a real leading lady with overwhelming presence…which the public clearly received. The win for Best Revival as well as Best Leading Actress in a Musical show that Bette and her team overshadowed the other shows in their category (Though the Miss Saigon performance was also very incredible). One thing we didn’t get to see was Bette Midler performing on the night of her win. Although David Hyde Pierce’s performance was wonderful and we got to see a song originally deleted from the history of Hello Dolly!, I would have liked to see Bette Midler sing.

I believe that many would argue the productions of The Wiz and Hairspray by NBC were more successful than that of Grease Live! or The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the Fox network. I threw my fair amount of shade at the production of Rocky I watched last October! But whether we watch NBC or Fox, we still get the popular celeb names who aren’t necessarily the right casting choice for live musical theatre… Fox just announced its plan to broadcast Rent Live! Though we don’t know of the release timeline yet, it sounds like a great choice for generating nationwide theatre nerd watchers!

The Need to Express to Communicate

NBC has worked hard to brand itself toward family friendly musicals. We know NBC as the number one source for family traditions like The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It only makes sense for them to continue on the path of wholesome family musicals to cuddle up around the television to. However, Fox’s choice to show less “family-friendly” material proves that they have a different audience with which to communicate. They want to reach slightly older musical theatre fans and are hoping to achieve a high volume of watchers. Though shade-throwers like myself would say NBC’s production value is better, Fox’s Grease Live! beat most of NBC’s productions in volume of viewers.

“…And I’m Just a Little Weak on My Feet”

NBC announced that its next live musical will be Jesus Christ Superstar and it won’t premiere until Easter of 2018! In the meantime, Fox has plans laid out for live productions of A Christmas Story and Rent. Perhaps Fox is headed in the right direction and audiences will be thrilled with the outcome! I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that we get a great depiction that the musical theatre classic deserves.

The Tony Awards are set for June 11th at 8pm on CBS and audiences will be watching to see all of the performances! Some highlights will be songs from Great Comet, Dear Evan Hansen waving through a window, and Bette Midler will be gracing the stage in Hello Dolly! hoping for a Best Revival win.

Another Opening, Another Show

After last year’s incredible and inevitable sweep by Hamilton, this year’s awards may not be as crazy. However, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Great Comet, and Groundhog Day have caused a stir in audiences. Come From Away and Dear Evan Hansen are the two shows to really tackle from social and historical controversies this year…so my money’s on one of those shows to bring home the award for Best Musical this year.

The Competition Is On

When it comes to Broadway plays, there have been some incredible performers in New York City this year. There are some big names nominated for awards including Cate Blanchett, Danny DeVito, Jennifer Ehle, Sally Field, Laura Linney, Laurie Metcalf, Nathan Lane, Richard Thomas, and Cynthia Nixon. Whomever wins the awards for Best Actor or Best Actress in a play will be in the company of many other talented nominees.

June 11th!

All Tickets wants to know your picks for the 2017 Tony Awards. Who will take home the award for Best Revival? Will Pasek and Paul win Best Musical for Dear Evan Hansen? Which musical performance are you most excited for? Let us know @AllTicketsInc on Twitter!

Use the tonyawards.com to see all the nominees in every category.

It’s almost time for summer stock theatre and some Broadway favorites are going to be featured at New England regional theatres this season. Mark your calendars, book your hotels, and don’t forget to print your tickets! Read today’s All Tickets article for a listing of Broadway’s best on regional stages on the east coast!

The Cape Playhouse

Set on Cape Cod in Dennis, MA, this regional theatre will be bringing in some fantastic names this season. Notably, they will be producing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee as well as Gypsy. Spelling Bee, which is playing from July 11th-22nd, will feature Michael McGrath (She Loves Me) as Panch, Kay Trinidad (The Little Mermaid) as Marcy, and Farah Alvin (It Shoulda Been You) as Rona. From August 8th-19th, former Elphabas Julia Murney and Caroline Bowman will star in Gypsy. Murney will play Rose and Bowman will play Louise. This is seriously a season not to be missed!

The Ogunquit Playhouse

This theatre in Ogunquit, ME likes to take its sweet time releasing cast lists but it has already been announced that Patrick Cassidy (Annie Get Your Gun) will star as Sam in their production of Mamma Mia!. The production will open on May 17th and run for seven weeks until July 1st. After that, Sally Struthers (All in the Family) will star in Bullets Over Broadway from July 5th to July 29th. Based on the film by Woody Allen, this musical is about the making of a Broadway show with some unlawful gangsters meddling in the production costs…

If you’re looking to take a seaside vacation on the east coast this summer, consider these two locations for your musical theatre amusement! Make sure to call their box offices for recommendations on food and lodging.

Since previews opened on March 4th, Studio 54 has been home to Sweat. Previously staged at the Oregon Shakespeare Theatre as well as the off-Broadway Public Theatre, this show was recently granted the Pulitzer Prize for theatre. Lynn Nottage, the show’s conceiver, is the first woman to receive the award twice in a lifetime. The show focuses on the working class in the United States “whose anxiety helped put Donald J. Trump in the White house” (New York Times, March 26th).
The Story

The show features a diverse cast of nine ensemble members. They play steel mill workers in Reading, Pennsylvania during the George W. Bush presidency. These workers have been friends all their lives and have continued to spend their time together working in the steel factory. However, changed in the workplace cause them to pit against each other. Differences in race, creed, and gender start to pull them apart as there looms a secret, violent end that is sure to shock audiences.

New York Times critic, Ben Brantley, was hard on the piece in his opening night review saying that the play is overly expository, but he still seemed to really enjoy the show saying that it “warrants serious applause” as well as the “belated Broadway debut of Ms. Nottage, a justly acclaimed dramatist of ambitious scope and fierce focus” (New York Times, March 26th). He also commented on the reality in the characters that Nottage achieves in her writing:

A favorite movie of mine growing up was Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion. The film overwhelmingly exaggerated stereotypes of high school kids and hilariously chronicled the journey Romy and Michele took to impress their former classmates as adults. From June 8th to July 2nd, Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre will host a new musical version of the film in hopes that they can turn the cult classic into a musical hype.

The Plot

The film title pretty much encompasses the plot. Romy and Michele were best friends in high school and went on to live in LA together. They are both unmarried, don’t have boyfriends to speak of, and their jobs aren’t glamorous. When the news of their impending high school reunion reaches them, they come up with fake life stories to shock the people who belittled them.

The Team

The creative team behind this production includes director, Kristin Hanggi (Rock of Ages), book writer Robin Schiff (Original screenwriter for Romy and Michele…), choreographer Peggy Hickey (Anastasia), and songwriters Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay (Orange is the New Black). The team has already chosen the stars to play Romy and Michele, originally played by Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino in the film. Playing Romy is Courtney Wolfson, star of Broadway’s Kinky Boots and playing Michele is Rene Wall from Disney’s Frozen Live.

Amelie, the film to stage musical starring Hamilton’s Phillipa Soo, will be opening at the Walter Kerr Theatre on April 3rd. Though it’s opening is a few weeks away, the musical has already received some criticism from the LA Times. Read some review highlights of this 2017 season sensation and get a peek of what is to come!

Humble Beginnings

The film Amelie was released in 2001 and received 5 Oscar Award nominations. Audrey Tautou(The DaVinci Code) played the title character of this whimsical telling. In the movie, Amelie has a very sad childhood living in Paris. Her mother commits suicide and her father shows no affection for his daughter. As a result, Amelie grows up a lonely woman working in a corner bistro in the city. A series of events prompts the discovery of a tin box left in her apartment by a previous tenant. The box contains photos and memorabilia and Amelie sets out to find its owner. When she finds the man who had lost the tin as a boy, she sees the way her act of kindness affects him. From then on, she works to do good deeds in the world for others. Ultimately, she learns to do good things for herself as well.

Reviews

Overall, reviews for the musical are good! However, these reviews are from previews and might not reflect what will be said once the show officially opens. The LA Times article is specifically important because the musical originally opened at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre last year. They have a kind of regional claim over the show’s origins. While Phillipa Soo was performing in Hamilton, the Berkeley Rep had chosen Samantha Barks (Eponine, Les Mis film) to play the title role. The LA Times cited Soo as a better choice for the role in type and vocal timbre, though Barks had done a better acting job, objectively. Charles McNulty, the LA Times reporter who reviewed the show, had more to say:

“Soo’s Amélie is shy, beautiful, genial — and a little bland. The character’s individual contours aren’t fully drawn yet. The window Amélie keeps staring out of is meant to frame a woman who is in the process of forming herself, but we need to know a little more about this germinating entity. (…) But these quibbles likely won’t keep you from getting swept up in the fun of this larky show. The music, which is nearly continuous, provides a magic carpet of orchestral strings upon which the production floats at will. Musical director, conductor and keyboardist Kimberly Grigsby draws out a sumptuous sound from her orchestra. And every time Soo opens her mouth to sing, the stars in Paris’ night sky shine brighter.”

It’s been 25 years since we saw a production of My Fair Lady onstage. The original production which starred Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, won 6 Tony awards. The movie was great too, though Marni Nixon had to “ghost sing” for Audrey Hepburn. The newest revival will be opening for previews on March 22nd, 2018 at the Lincoln Center Theatre and Broadway journalists are already speculating about the newest Eliza. Whoever she is…she needs to be someone who can “dance all night!”

“A-E-I-O-U”

The musical, based after the play by Robert Bernard Shaw called “Pygmalion,” is about a girl named Eliza who sells flowers on the street. One night she meets a gentleman, Henry Higgins, who mocks her lowly stature and speaking voice. He tells her that he is a linguist and could perfect her language to get her a better job as a real lady. Eliza dreams about the possibilities and then shows up at Henry Higgins’ home to ask about the offer. Higgins agrees to put her up in his home, dresses her like a lady, but treats her like a test subject until the end of the play when he realizes his adoration for her.

One of the great elements of the musical is Eliza’s strength. All of the female characters have power regardless of their social stature, but Eliza goes from being treated like a test subject to a woman with a strong mind and a stubborn attitude. The music is beautiful, the story is funny, and the relationships are memorable.

The Creative Team

Directing this revival is Bartlett Sher, recipient of the 2008 Tony for Best Director from South Pacific also at Lincoln Center. Sher will be bringing back his South Pacific team with Scenic designer Michael Yeargan, costume designer Catherine Zuber, and lighting designer Donald Holder.

We can’t wait to see who the next Eliza is! Would you go out for the role if there was an open call? Let us know on Twitter!

Even before last year’s Tony Awards, American audiences knew to expect multiple wins for Hamilton. As Broadway’s current sensation, it almost feels like other Broadway shows don’t live up to it! However, looking back at theatre history we see that sold out patterns like Hamilton have occurred before. In fact, there is an entire Off-Broadway show whose plot centers around the normalization of the Hamilton phenomenon. The production called Spamilton both praises and normalizes the phenomenon while appealing to well-versed musical theatre geeks everywhere.

The Conceivers

The composer and playwright behind Spamilton is Forbidden Broadway creator, Gerard Alessandrini. Though his Off-Broadway career has been all about spoofs since 1988, Alessandrini has won a number of awards including an OBIE, a Lucille Lortel Award, a Drama League Award, and five Drama Desk Awards. Some other musical titles in his Off-Broadway series include Forbidden Broadway 2001: A Spoof Odyssey, Forbidden Broadway: A Rude Awakening , and Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back.

Not Throwing Away His Spoof

For a creator who has made his career on spoof musicals, Alessandrini is a pretty successful guy. Spamilton seems to be no exception since the New York Times gave it a pretty great review last September. One of the elements the Times Reviewer, Ben Brantley, mentions is the hype of Hamilton with the overall fame and popularity of former President Barack Obama. His attendance in its rise of fame and post as America’s first black president were staple elements of Hamilton. Alessandrini’s Spamilton has a scene where Barack and Michelle are listening to the Hamilton soundtrack before bed. Alessandrini mentions that JFK and Jackie O would listen to Camelot before bed since it was Jackie’s favorite musical during the JFK presidency and this scene was made as a mirror to that event.

(New York Times, Sept. 2016).

This production is happening at Stage 72, formerly known at The Triad. It runs for 80 minutes with no intermission and if you sit in the orchestra, you need to order at least 2 drinks. If you like Broadway spoofs and drink minimums, head to 158 West 72nd Street before the show closes on April 30th!

This month, a new Broadway show will be opening at the Gerald Shoenfeld Theatre. It is a production that has seen a lot of stage time since 2015 on the West Coast and whose subject matter is a little touchy. It is the first musical the world has seen that is based on the events of 9/11. Its name, Come From Away, refers to its setting in Newfoundland, Canada where 38 planes holding almost 7,000 people were forced to land after the U.S. government shutdown the U.S. airspace. The musical, which is walking on marketing eggshells, could be the musical of the year.

Deterring From 9/11 Terminology

I decided to write about this new production after I watched the above NY1 interview with musical ensemble member, Joel Hatch. Prior to watching the interview, I had seen multiple marketing videos of music and audience quotes, none of which really touched on the fact that 9/11 is the musical’s central event. Hatch addressed the anxiety of the NY1 journalists about seeing a production around an event that is still pretty taboo in our society. He said that this musical is largely about how the entire world was affected by 9/11.

The show stars 12 actors who take on many roles to tell real stories of people who were stranded in Newfoundland after 9/11. The actors play Newfoundland residents as well as the “come from aways” (non-native visitors) to enact relationships that came out of the 5-day stay on the island. The music of the show is celtic-folk and represents the Irish immigrants who settled in Newfoundland in the early 1900s. It has eight band members who are also a big part of the story.

The Draw

Though the marketing spends much more time dwelling on the show’s characters than the fact that it is a 9/11 musical, that is the draw to the show. Just wondering what political commentary will be made in the production, and wondering if it is a good telling could be enough to drive ticket sales. Also, its musical sound is current with the Broadway trend in folk music like that of Bright Star, Once, and The Bridges of Madison County.

Make up your mind about the show and order some group tickets from All Tickets today. If you’ve already seen the show, what did you think? Tell us on Twitter!

Last October, the New York City Center hosted Annaleigh Ashford and Jake Gyllenhaal for a concert performance of Sunday in the Park with George. The production, which received rave reviews from the New York Times, will be transferring to Broadway at the Hudson Theatre from February 23rd until April 23rd.

The Show

The original production of Sunday in the Park…, written by Stephen Sondheim, premiered in 1984. It starred Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters and received Tony Awards for best Lighting and Scenic Design. Since it was up against La Cage Aux Folles that year, it was a bit overshadowed.

The story, based on a painting by George Seurat, takes place on the island of La Grande Jatte on the River Seine just outside the gates of Paris. In 1884, George Seurat is busy painting the people around him. Through his painting he learns about the people around him. When he goes home, he meets his mistress and model, Dot (Peters’ character). George’s pre-occupation with work has gotten in the way of his romance with Dot and in finding herself pregnant and unhappy, she accepts the marriage proposal of another man.

Reviews of Gyllenhaal

It takes a lot to be compared to theatre greats like Patinkin and Peters. According the reviews of his staged reading performance last year, that concert was a very cathartic experience. This new production, which will employ full stage designs and costumes unlike the reading, should be even more successful in catharsis:

(NYT, Oct. 2016).

As a kid, one of my favorite films was the tour version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn. The original cast included Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou and the musical has been represented by many duos! The latest couple playing Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney will be performing Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theatre next year. Tony Award winners Norm Lewis and Carolee Carmello will be “trying the Priest” Off-Broadway from April 11th- August 13th.

City on Fire

The last time we saw Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd in New York City, it was in concert at Lincoln Center starring Bryn Terfel as Sweeney, Emma Thompson as Lovett, and Audra McDonald as The Beggar Woman. The production was live telecast and reinvented the usual concert musical performance ideal. The cast started out in their fancy attire in front of music stands and a full orchestra until they stripped themselves of the “polite performance behavior,” changed into costumes, chucked their scripts, and performed the musical full out. It was an incredible performance.

Before the Lincoln Center performance, we saw another reinvented production of Sweeney Todd at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2005. The production starred Patti Lupone and Michael Cerveris. Directed by John Doyle, it transferred to New York from the West End. This production was revolutionary because the actors worked at the orchestra along with their regular parts. Lupone played the tuba and the percussion instruments while Cerveris played the guitar. Since this production, other musical revivals have followed suit in asking their performers to also act as the orchestra. The most recent Roundabout revival of Cabaret adopted this idea as well.

Did You Come In For a Pie, Sir?

This newest adaptation of the show, arranged by Christopher Bond, is supposed to be an awesome experience. The press notes from the production state:

The City Center puts on incredible limited engagement productions each year at great prices. I paid $25 a couple of years ago to see The Wild Party starring Sutton Foster and Steven Pasquale. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in New York and the audience couldn’t have been more boisterous. Besides the crowd enjoyment, I couldn’t forget the cool ancillary programming alongside their season. With The Wild Party came historical lessons in dances crazes during prohibition in the lobby before the show. The ancillary programming has yet to be announced but their 2017 season was announced in May and we cannot wait…

BIG RIVER

From February 8th-12th, a special production of Big River will have all of seven performances! Based on Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the musical has an amalgam of styles of music: bluegrass, honky tonk, and gospel. Tickets for this production start at $35. Stars like Christopher Sieber(Spamalot), Lauren Worsham(Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder), and Tony Sheldon (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) will be among the cast.

The New Yorkers: A Sociological Musical Satire

Set during prohibition, this musical reconstructs the 1930 show by Cole Porter that was lost to time and lack of upkeep. It is made possible by the Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg Broadway Musical Restoration Fund who provided the loose ends of music for the reconstruction. The production is set for March 22nd-26th and will hopefully live up to its name as one of the most ambitious musical reconstructions of its time: “The musical centers on featherbrained socialite Alice Miller, whose bootlegger beau leads her on a madcap romp from Park Avenue to Sing Sing and back again”.

The Golden Apple

The Golden Apple will run from May 10th-14th and is another ambitious production. The plot is based on The Iliad and The Odyssey. Its creators, Jerome Moross (Music) and John Latouche (Book), premiered it in 1954. Instead of Ancient Rome, the plot is set for 1950s USA. It sounds like a flop of a musical to me but it seems that critics liked it at the time.

Any of these productions would be well worth the $35 ticket. Playbill will be announcing more stars for the Encore season at the City Center and we hope we’ll be seeing more familiar faces!

The full cast was announced on December 19th for the new musical telling of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The oompa-loompas can be previewed starting March 28th of next year at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on West 46th Street. The cast will include 36 ensemble members including some Broadway veterans like Emily Padgett, Kathy Fitzgerald, Ben Crawford, John Rubinstein, and Christian Borle.

From Book to Movie to Musical

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a Roald Dahl favorite around the world giving it high expectations for viewers. The 1971 film helped us “view paradise” with Gene Wilder, the Tim Burton conception from 2005 gave us a slightly darker yet closer to the book telling, and the book has been a staple in public libraries children’s sections since its conception in 1964. Telling this story to reach the magical level originally achieved by Dahl to make it a transcendent story is the challenge a production like this would have to achieve.

The story is about a young boy named Charlie Bucket who lives in poverty with his parents and four grandparents. His grandparents share the only bed in the house and Charlie must work to help his family survive. His family lives in the same town as the famous Chocolate Factory run by Willy Wonka who closed his doors to visitors many years before. Wonka announces that he will allow five special people the opportunity to tour his factory and to win a lifetime’s supply of chocolate. He hides five golden tickets in his chocolate bars to be found by five lucky winners!

The Cast

One of the interesting things about this casting announcement is that they have cast three alternating children as Charlie: Jake Ryan Flynn, Ryan Foust, and Ryan Sell. However, all of the “bad” children who are also on Wonka’s tour will be played by adults. Augustus Gloop, the first child to get the boot, will be played by F. Michael Haynie. He played Boq in Wicked as well as Dogfight off-Broadway. Other adults playing kids will be: Emma Pfaeffle as Veruca Salt (Finding Neverland), Trista Dollison as Violet Beauregard (A Bronx Tale), and Michael Wartella as Mike Teavee (Tuck Everlasting).

Christian Borle (Spamalot, Something Rotten, Legally Blonde) will lead the cast as Willy Wonka after a successful run of Falsettos on Broadway. He’ll go right from Falsettos to playing Wonka in 2017. Hopefully the reviews for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will be as positive!

We’re all disappointed to see that so many beloved celebrities have passed away last year. Incredible performers who moved us during their lifetimes are difficult to let go. Recently, Carrie Fisher passed away from the effects of a massive heart attack. Today, we remember her career on the Great White Way and the live performances in which she excelled.

Broadway Debut

What you may not know is that Carrie Fisher made her debut on Broadway in 1973 in a revival of a musical that starred Debbie Reynolds! The musical was Irene about an Irish immigrant woman named Irene who is making her way up in New York high society. The original production began in 1919 and was revived in 1973 with Fisher as an ensemble member at the Minskoff Theatre.

Post-Star Wars Theatre Success

After the release of the first Star Wars film, Fisher had some more substantial roles on Broadway. From 1977 to 1983 when the original Star Wars films were released, she was involved in a few productions. In 1980, she originated the role of Iris in a comedy called Censored Scenes from King Kong. She performed alongside Stephen Collins and Alma Cuervo.

In January of 1983, Fisher replaced Amanda Plummer in the Broadway production of Agnes of God written by John Pielmeier. The show is about a nun who gives birth to a child in a convent and then strangles it. Agnes, the nun, must see a psychiatrist whose negative past has deterred her from the church. The psychiatrist ends up learning a lot about herself in the process of examining Agnes.

In 2009, Carrie Fisher opened her one woman show Wishful Drinking at 54 Below sponsored by the Roundabout Theatre Company. It received rave reviews and let audiences in on her experiences as a celebrity including the alcoholism she dealt with years before. To see excerpts from her one woman show, check out this link from Broadway World TV.

May The Force Be With You

With all of her triumphs as a performer, Carrie Fisher was also a great person. She suffered from drug abuse while in the public eye as a young performer but has been very vocal about her experiences. Her courage in expressing her life challenges in books, her one woman show, and in interviews gave her fan base more to respect her for more than just the skimpy outfit in The Return of the Jedi.

In my house we have a Roku system that is set up with Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now, Hulu, Netflix, and pretty much every streaming station you could dream of. Congress is trying to pass a bill to require cable companies to create apps for their service. It only makes sense that the streaming services would make it to Broadway as well in the form of BroadwayHD. For a monthly, yearly, or a la carte price, you can watch the Broadway shows you’ve been dreaming of right on your computer screen!

THE BREAKDOWN

The breakdown of subscribing to this service is a little pricey. With Netflix ranging from $7.99-$11.99 depending on video quality, HBONow at $15.99 a month, Amazon Prime ranging from $99-$149 a year (with tons of added bonuses in shipping costs), and Hulu at $7.99 a month, Broadway HD is a little expensive. The price to watch individual shows is $7.99 with a monthly subscription price of $16.99 and a yearly price of $169.99. You also are not able to receive all productions in all regions yet AND the video streaming site is not available on streaming devices like my beloved Roku.

What you do get with BroadwayHD is live recorded musicals and plays! You can also watch “making of” documentaries, classic Shakespeare performances, and concerts like Sondheim’s birthday concert from 2010. To escape from the high-priced site, you can choose to join their mailing list for offers. Maybe you’ll get a great coupon that will help you decide if this service is worth its weight in gold. Go to the site on January 14th when the stream of Holiday Inn goes live.

MORE WAYS TO WATCH

According to my local movie theatre, another option for Broadway viewing off-Broadway is emerging in the new year. Disney’s Newsies: The Broadway Musical will be available for viewing at a limited number of movie theatres around the country. It will open on February 16th with two other dates as well: Feburary 18th and 22nd. Check Fandango today to see if your local theatre will be showing the production.

On March 16th, 2017, previews for Groundhog Day will begin at The August Wilson Theatre. Composed by Tim Minchin (Matilda), the musical will have audiences reliving the same day over and over again. Based on the film of the same name starring Bill Murray, an all-star cast will come together to tell the story on the Broadway stage.

“Stuck in a Loop”

The film is about a cocky meteorologist named Phil Connors who is sent to a small town to cover Groundhog Day. After a day of having a bad attitude, he awakes the next day to find that it is Groundhog Day once more. He relives the day many times changing the way it ends. Sometimes, he even attempts to commit suicide for a way out. It isn’t until he lives the day the right way in realization of his love for his news producer Rita that he breaks the curse of Groundhog Day and changes his outlook on life.

The Cast

Andy Karl of Rocky The Musical will be leading the production as Phil Connors playing opposite Barrett Doss from the revival of You Can’t Take It With You in 2014. TheatreMania listed some other ensemble members on December 13th:

Over and Over Again

Broadway producers are continuing to create musicals from successful films. We’ll have to head to New York to see how this production fares! Make sure to check All Tickets Inc. to see if we will be offering group prices for the show.

From the talented minds who brought the world Edges, Dogfight, and James and the Giant Peach comes a new musical called Dear Evan Hansen. The musical, originally set to premiere on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, has now been switched over to the Music Box Theatre with the same production dates. The show is about a teenager whose life is changed when the school bully commits suicide. The production won an Obie for its ambitious commentary on social anxiety and identity.

#YouWillBeFound

The production is being directed by Michael Greif who is a three-time Tony nominee for Rent, If/Then, and Next to Normal . Their director is used to creating art with musicals of hard-hitting material. With the incredible creative talent of Pasek and Paul, this production should be no exception.

Besides the Obie Award, the production has also received the Helen Hayes Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award. It has received many positive reviews already from its 2015 run at the Arena Stage, and its Off-Broadway run at Second Stages. The Washington Post said some great things about the production including this quote from the Dear Evan Hansen website:

“A heart-piercing trip to the place that musical theater can sometimes take us to.”

A Story of Realness

The plot of this musical is based on a real-life death in Benj Pasek’s grammar school past. Amidst the fights for transgendered individuals as well as the support for the 2016 democratic presidential candidate by the AEA, this production comes at a controversial time in our history. To see if this show makes an impact on audiences that I think it will, you should get your tickets soon for the previews starting on November 14th!

My first experience with the comedy of Mike Birbiglia was when my brother sat me down to watch his first stand up show called What I Should Have Said Was Nothing. After watching the YouTube video through buffering lenses, I was hooked. His comedy focused around his own extremely relatable awkward life experiences heightened to the perfect amount of hyperbole that I was basically on the floor gasping for air. Birbigs is really getting his true comedic recognition these days performing his latest one-man show Thank God for Jokes at the Lynn Redgrave Theater now through May 29th!

From Catsachussets to Orange is the New Black

The Shrewsbury, MA native is most recognizable from his recent casting in the Netflix original Orange is the New Black. He has been cast in small roles in many films, television shows, and recently played opposite Brie Larson in Trainwreck. The majority of the big production projects in which he is cast try to fit him to the awkward, thirty-something male roles in a way that doesn’t quite equal his real personal awkwardness as demonstrated in his stand up.

His second stand up production called My Boyfriend’s Girlfriend and his film Sleepwalk with Me were really the biggest stepping stones of his career. My Boyfriend’s Girlfriend, which I have watched at least three times, chronicles his romantic life where he humorously struggles to find love and keep it. I think I like this production so much because it reminds me of Annie Hall if Woody Allen was more loyal, Italian, and *spoiler alert* ended up with Diane Keaton in the end.

Jokes, Jokes, Jokes

On February 14, 2015, I attended Thank God for Jokes at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston, eager to hear the new “bits.” Mike Birbiglia talked about his marriage and how his wife is always late, being in ‘Catsachusetts,’ vegans and vegetarians, republicans and democrats, and most of all, point of view. The New York Times called the show: “his 85-minute monologue, an indescribably ridiculous collection of anecdotes and asides that miraculously blend into a whole.”

If you’re in New York City now or before May 29th, you’ll want to see this performance live to enjoy 85-minutes of Mike Birbiglia’s side of the story. He’ll say “batter up” to all his bad ideas and convert you to the biggest Birbigs fan just like me!

When I heard there was a new musical premiering on Broadway this year about the depression in the Blue Ridge Mountains, my first thought was: The Waltons. the Musical? Expecting to hear of the wholesome 7-child family with a sassy grandma and their dog Reckless, I was surprised to learn that the story is not that but that the book was written by Steve Martin! Written as a collaborative piece between Martin and Edie Brickell, Bright Star tells the story of “Billy Cane, a young soldier just home from World War II who meets Alice Murphy, the brilliant editor of a southern literary journal. Together they discover a powerful secret that alters their lives. Tony Award-winning director Walter Bobbie makes his Globe debut with this entertaining musical of enduring love, family ties, and the light of forgiveness that shines from a bright star.”

Steve Martin Fans Flocking?

One of the most interesting elements of this production besides the fact that it has a “winsome country and bluegrass score”, songs that “are treated with lovely, lucid orchestrations”, and “a skeletal A-frame cottage that moves as nimbly as any of the performers”, is Steve Martin’s persona in connection to the production. He is known for so many creative skills as a musician, novelist, art collector, actor, and comedian, that seeing him in this new light causes audiences to say, “Wait..like THE Steve Martin? What doesn’t that guy do?” It might be interesting to take a poll and see if his stardom in different areas of the arts brings on new Broadway audience members!

Maybe Not the Brightest Star… Yet

Critics have given this show reviews already since it opened at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego last September. Critiques were curious about the treatment of the climax and the reveals of the show’s surprising secrets in the coming Broadway production. Variety was particularly harsh last year in their critique saying: “Songs aside, characterizations are distinctly undercooked. Guileless Billy seems untouched by wartime service, too callow to craft greeting cards let alone the “sweeping tale of pain and redemption” Alice unaccountably expects of him. Meanwhile, she must be the least rebellious hellion the Blue Ridge ever saw, with a preacher dad (Stephen Lee Anderson) as fundamentalist-strict as a marshmallow. The dialogue keeps alluding to hardscrabble existence and emotional damage, but the tone at the Murphy cabin is sheer “Brady Bunch.” Like my initial wonder about the placement of The Waltons in this tale, Variety seems to have found them. Their belief that the story needs to be more rooted in pain and redemption is evident with Variety as well as The New York Times. The critiques want more connection to the characters to in turn be more connected to the time and place of the production.

Opens March 24th!

You can currently see previews for this show and it will open March 24th at the Cort Theatre. Find out if the kinks were worked out the production this winter and let us know at the All Tickets Facebook Page!

One of the funniest musical, romantic comedies is returning to the stage this month! She Loves Me has been running previews since February 19th and will officially open on Saint Patrick’s Day! The show stars Laura Benanti as Amalia, Zachary Levi as Georg, Jane Krakowski as Ilona, and Gavin Creel as Kodaly. This talented and hilarious group of characters is sure to make a production worth seeing.

The Original Knee-Slapper

She Loves Me was originally written in 1963 by Joe Masteroff (Book), Sheldon Harnick (Lyrics), and Jerry Brock (Music). Georg is a shy manager in Budapest at Maraczek’s Parfumerie who receives love letters from an admirer. Amalia gets a job at the Parfumerie and quickly becomes Georg’s least favorite person to work with. However, they both seem to have romantic pen pals sending them letters… Barbara Cook, Daniel Massey, Barbara Baxley, and Jack Cassidy were among the original cast of this show in ‘63. Like the Tom Hanks/ Meg Ryan romantic comedy, You’ve Got Mail, this storyline has influenced many other spin-offs. This particular telling of confused love is filled with vitality and plot twists!

Hilarity Even Before Opening Night

The Broadway Channel recently shared a clip from a night of interviews and performances by the cast of She Loves Me. Jane Krakowski performed bits of music from the show in her type-cast guise as a sexy thirty something, Gavin Creel showed off his charm as a ladies’ man, while Laura Benanti and Zachary Levi goofed around as themselves in front of the cameras. If these clips are an insight into the iceberg that is She Loves Me, Broadway is in for an amazing revival!

We wish the cast of She Loves Me an incredible opening night this month! Hopefully, the luck of the Irish is behind them for opening on March 17th! Follow us here at All Tickets Inc. for more info on your favorite revivals, new box office hits, and discounts on group tickets!

Tuck Everlasting was a childhood book and movie that I held very dear to my heart growing up. Jesse Tuck was my first ever literary crush, and once was portrayed on film by the young Jonathan Jackson, my crush continued with the new version of the story. The book, originally written in 1975 is still read today in elementary and middle school curriculi highlighting the ideas of love, family, and immortality in a bildungsroman for the young, privileged Winnie Foster who need not leave too far from her backyard to discover a very different world than the one she knows. This story is opening as a musical on Broadway previewing on March 31st starring Andrew Keenan Bolger and Carolee Carmello.

The Summary

Winnifred Foster is sick of being cooped up by her mother. Between piano lessons, corsets, and ridicule on what is “proper” for young ladies, she wishes to escape and be free. One day, she runs into the woods behind her house and discovers a boy drinking from a spring. He warns her not to drink the water and forcibly takes her back to his house in the woods with his mother Mae Tuck and brother Miles. The family tells her that the spring gave their family immortality and that they have lived for a whole century in their youthful states. She also learns that they are being pursued by “The Man in the Yellow Suit” who wishes to discover the secret to their long-lasting life. She stays with the family, learns from them, and helps them in their journeys to escape the people hunting them. In the end, she must choose whether to drink the water and become immortal or live out her natural life.

The Film: A Two-Star Flop

The story was portrayed for the first time on film in 2002 starring the then Gilmore Girls star, Alexis Bledel. She portrays a much older character than the one intended for the book, clearly so the audience can see a love story between Winnie and Jesse Foster. In rewatching the film as an adult, I became very surprised at the jagged quality of the plotline! As a child, I had not remembered the awkward ways at which Winnie becomes friends with everyone. Though it is a fantastical romance film, the characters lack realness in their actions and leave the audience asking many questions about the Tuck family motivations. Roger Ebert described the people in this film by gender: “…the women are plucky and the men are either sinister or inessential, unless they are cute teenage boys, of course” (rogerebert.com).

The Musical

One can only hope that this musical version will continue on with the magical quality of these characters and forget the jaggedness of the characters in the film. Bolger will be portraying Jesse Tuck and Carmello will be playing the role of Mae Tuck now that her role as the mother in Finding Neverland is over. There is another musical whose book followed closely to a flawed screen book and suffered greatly in the 2014 Tony Award ceremony.

Expectations?

Follow Tuck Everlasting on their Broadway website opening with previews March 31st at the Broadhurst Theatre located between Broadway and 8th Avenue. Opening night is set for April 26th and we’ve got our fingers crossed that this next literary-based musical hits above and beyond our expectations for this children’s book favorite!

The Playbill twitter was alive and giphy on January 13th about the NBC announcement of Hairspray as their next live musical performance! They shared a gif from the film adaptation with Amanda Bynes and Nikki Blonsky jumping up and down in front of their television set. It was the perfect picture to accompany our excitement of the announcement after the incredible success of The Wiz this past December.

High Hopes

Now the announcement is here, we all begin to wonder how the casting will go! I, for one, hope Edna Turnblad’s portrayal is more like the original 1988 film as well as the stage production with the funny, guttural voice. The character in the 2007 film, portrayed by John Travolta, didn’t have that same element. Whether or not audiences think the casting is “right,” we’ll all have different opinions. It does seem that the use of lesser known musical theatre actors has become greater as the live NBC musicals have been getting more popular. Casting actors like Carrie Underwood as Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music Live or Allison Williams in Peter Pan Live has become a necessity since producers have acquired a larger musical theatre audience with these famous names.

Fairly new to these big performances, Shanice Williams was chosen to play Dorothy for The Wiz! The young actress was a breath of fresh air, especially next to the household names she performed with. We can hope that live musicals on NBC will continue to bring us actors with wide musical theatre backgrounds like that of Uzo Aduba, Stephanie Mills, Christian Borle, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, and Laura Benanti. We wish we could make a “Fantasy Football” type of dreamcast ourselves for these NBC performances, but ratings and audience size do depend on these big names!

Any Guesses?

If you could cast Hairspray Live for next December, who would you choose? Share your dreamcast with us on the All Tickets Twitter! Which curvaceous Broadway actress do you think should be singing “Good Morning, Baltimore” this year?

Hello, my name is Nelson Smith, a 3 3/4 year old guinea pig. Over the summer, I moved to a magical place called New York City. The move was pretty wonderful and easy, aside from being listed as a “hamster” on my apartment lease, battling bed bugs and cockroaches, my momma getting shingles and being cranky, and my boss at my old construction job in NH getting mad at me for leaving and cutting my hours down from 40 per week to 30 hours over 4 weeks rendering me financially unstable… It was not so bad.

So here I am, a little guinea pig in the big city. As soon as I get there, I receive a group text from some other guinea pig guy friends: Fluffy, Muffy, Buffy, Gruffy, Huffy, Puffy, Ruffy, Tuffy, and Sam. They say they want to plan a big trip, come visit me in the Big Apple, bring all their dates and have a blast, but felt it daunting to plan such a large trip. So they contacted me since I am highly organized and detail-oriented, and own a sweet air mattress that I use my momma’s hair dryer to inflate. I tell them to send me their schedules. They are guinea pigs, so it is pretty open. And there, I begin to plan.

The first step is planning how they get here. In New Hampshire, our form of public transportation is hitching a ride with your neighbor. Miraculously, there are buses. So I use this Wanderu service I read about on the subway to help navigate their buses. Easy enough.

Then I start to look up shows, since many of us are lovers of the theatre. Opening Google, I type in “shows in New York.” Apparently, there are over 40 Broadway theatres and over 100 Off Broadway Theatres. They all have different shows, schedules, prices, discounts, etc.

After picking my jaw up off the floor, I decide instead to start with restaurants. Momma and I would go to the same 10 places or so back home, so I figured this would be an easy starting point. Google: places to eat in New York. Why is the screen all red? Oh, it is infested with red dots, each representing a different place to eat. Even when I specified “vegan friendly” restaurants, I was still astounded by the burgeoning number of results! I pick my jaw up from the floor yet again.

Now I am beginning to panic. Momma walks into the room and tells me that there are still some bed bugs and we should not have any more guests over. I will need to find hotels for Fluffy, Muffy, Buffy, Gruffy, Huffy, Puffy, Ruffy, Tuffy, Sam and their dates to stay. With dread, I search Google, see the enormous amount of results, and then proceed to sob into my little paws.

Momma sees me sobbing and asks what is wrong. I explain to her my issue. She tells me that while Google is a wonderful creation, that it is not always best for planning, organizing, and booking large group trips. She tells me about a website called All Tickets Inc. If there is anything I have learned in my sweet, short life, it’s that my momma is always right.

As I type in the website name, I am afraid of what will pop up. Then again, I have that fear practically every time I use the internet. My fingers tremble while hovering over the enter key, when suddenly I remember, I don’t really have actual fingers.

Enter! Well, this website is cleanly designed and not at all daunting! As I use the Group Discount search engine, I find that I can type in my specifications before browsing huge lists of venues, productions, and individual information! All I have to do is type in when my friends are visiting in the date range, my budget, and even the TYPE of show I would like to see! Wow! Avenue Q! Maybe I should have some of my guy friends bring their kids, it’s basically like Sesame Street, right?

Next, I select hotels. Oh yes, “pet friendly” please! And I definitely see some restaurants that will cater to our vegan diet! Boy, do I feel fancy! Next, I send my friends a link to the “attractions” page and have them vote on their favorites to determine where we should visit first. Where to first? The Bronx Zoo? Beast Speedboat Ride? St. John’s Cathedral? (Muffy is very religious!)

Next, I call All Tickets Inc at 1-800-922-0716. I tell them, there is so much to do, and so little time! But guess what. They design my itinerary FOR me. I feel so spoiled. I feel so posh. This is what it must be like to live in New York! But without cabs blaring their horns at you, all the muggings, and people urinating on your shoe.

What I liked best about All Tickets Inc:

• Easy to navigate, informative website.
• Informative articles on their Buzz Stream.
• They coordinate everything for me with great group and combo discounts; dinner and a show, a hotel and attractions, etc.
• Using All Tickets Inc. saved me a LOT of time, effort, and money.
• Joining the e-mail list helps keep me in the loop for new shows I may want to see or upcoming seasonal attractions!
• Their travel tools let me know about weather, traffic and travel conditions, and even mobile apps for NYC. Thank you for suggesting Uber and HopStop! As a small guinea pig, it is difficult to walk throughout the city. Especially with the large number of women wearing high heels. And men.

The result? My guy friends and I had a wonderful time. We saw a show, grabbed dinner, and they did not have to sleep on my “Walmart’s finest” air mattress. We stayed within our budget, and I did not get a headache from over-planning. We had plenty of time to spend together, and they cannot wait to come back and visit again. Thanks, All Tickets Inc!

December 6th marked the official opening date of School of Rock on Broadway! Based on the 2003 film starring Jack Black, this musical tells the story of a down-and-out amateur rock musician in search of a new band and some easy money to pay the bills.The rocker, Dewey Finn, under the alias of a certified teacher friend, becomes a long-term substitute at an uptight private school, and finds his head-banging band in his class. Dewey ultimately teaches the students about who they are through musical discovery.

Musical Influence

One of the most interesting elements of this production is that Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote and arranged the music. The style, much different from his Phantom of the Opera or even Jesus Christ Superstar days, focuses much more on the musical influences discussed in the film that Dewey uses as “teaching moments:” ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Rob Zombie, Stevie Nicks, Aretha Franklin, and many more. Webber focused his writing on the children, as did the book writer, who focused their story-telling angle on the kids defining themselves through the music. While Dewey’s discovery that he is a stronger man is an important element, the School of Rock creative team decided to focus on the character development of the kids.

School of Rock Kids Rocking Social Media

Besides the fact that the creative team has focused itself on the musical kid experience and the show, the marketing team has also done the same. If you follow @SORMUSICAL on Instagram, you’ll see an amalgam of celebrity photos from opening mixed among videos highlighting the kids’ experience behind the scenes, going to parties, and being introduced at functions. The marketing for this show has idealized the experience of kids being Broadway stars and added the extra value of rock ‘n roll life since they’re all always dressed like rock stars on the road. It’s sure to be a spectacularly energized show based on the excitement the kids exhibit in their social media stories!

Group Sales from All Tickets Inc.

Don’t forget that All Tickets, Inc. includes comp tickets to groups who use our services when ordering their Broadway tickets! Get the same low prices as you would from the theatre’s group sales office, plus receive free tickets from All Tickets, Inc. We also have great deals on hotels, tours, dining, museums, and much more. Contact us today and save by calling 1-800-922-0716.