Tony Roberts’ Illness during Production Due to Seizure
Theatergoers attending the Sunday matinee performance of the Broadway revival of The Royal Family were shocked to see the curtain fall shortly after its opening over the weekend, as 69-year-old actor Tony Roberts fell ill during the show and was taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital. It all started during Sunday’s performance of The Royal Family when Roberts’ speech suddenly started slurring. Soon thereafter, the curtain fell and there was an announcement for a doctor in the house, and he was thereafter taken to the nearby St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he was diagnosed with a minor seizure.
Roberts is expected to return to the Broadway production, though a date hasn’t yet been set. As of now, the official opening date set for tomorrow at the Samuel J. Fiedman Theater will still happen, though no replacement has been announced for Roberts. Since his illness, understudy Anthony Newfield has taken over Roberts’ role. Tony Roberts’ daughter Nicole recently made a statement regarding her father’s status, saying, “My father is feeling great and looks forward to returning to the show. He experienced a minor seizure and regrets that it had to happen so publicly. He is taking medication now, which should prevent any future incidents.”
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Jude Law Takes ‘Hamlet’ to the Big Stage Tonight!
The Jude Law-infused Broadway version of the William Shakespeare tragedy Hamlet officially opens tonight at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre after previews from Sept. 12, and the 12-week limited engagement is sure to strike a chord with theatergoers across the country, as the play has been one of the most talked-about productions on the scene this season. Recreating his role from the recent West End play of the same, Jude Law will conquer the role of the Prince of Denmark for the Donmar Warehouse version of Hamlet.
The Broadway cast of Hamlet that features renowned actor Jude Law also includes actors from the London and Elsinore casts of the play, notably Ross Armstrong (Cornelius), Harry Attwell (Guildenstern), Ron Cook (Polonius, 1st Gravedigger), Ian Drysdale (Osric), Peter Eyre (Ghost of Hamlet’s Father, Player King), Jenny Funnell (Player Queen), Michael Hadley (Barnardo, Priest, Captain), Colin Haigh (Member of the Court), Sean Jackson (Reynaldo), Geraldine James (Gertrude), Gwilym Lee (Laertes), James Le Feuvre (Member of the Court), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ophelia), John MacMillan (Rosencrantz), Kevin R. McNally (Claudius), Henry Pettigrew (Marcellus, 3rd Player, 2nd Gravedigger), Matt Ryan (Horatio), Alan Turkington (Francisco, Fortinbras, 4th Player) and Faye Winter (Member of the Court).
Will Jude Law garner a Tony nod for his role in the stormy Hamlet? Stay tuned to find out!
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Deborah Cox Leads ‘Broadway in South Africa’ Concert Tonight
R&B vocalist Deborah Cox, formerly the lead in Broadway’s Aida, will take the reins and ride for tonight’s Broadway in South Africa: The Concert presentation, which will play for one night only at the Peter Norton Symphony Space in Manhattan. The concert is comprised of original songs that are based on stories written by students in Cape Town, South Africa who partook in the four-day Broadway in South Africa program last January. Aside from Cox, other performers of tonight’s big event include Uzo Aduba, Shoshana Bean, Sean Bradford, Lilli Cooper, Darius de Haas, Daquan Thompson, Frankie James Grande, Adam Kantor, Chelsea Krombach, Tracy McDowell, Selloane Nkhela, Tommy Scrivens, Kate Shindle and Lisa Nicole Wilkerson.
Tonight’s Broadway in South Africa: The Concert event will also include a performance of the South Africa cast of Broadway’s The Lion King, and presenters for tonight’s concert will include John MacMillan, Mark Rayment, Amra-Faye Wright and Nyasha Zimucha. The benefit concert goes to aid the Broadway in South Africa program and will fund this January’s South Africa trip. According to the official press release, the concert’s aim is to “develop cross cultural exchanges between youth in need and professional artists who seek to use their talents for change, by way of annual workshop/performance initiatives in South Africa.”
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‘Superior Donuts’ Opens with Rave Reviews
Tracy Letts’ brand new play Superior Donuts opened on Broadway last night at the Music Box, and it’s garnered nothing but positive reviews so far. The strikingly funny Superior Donuts is a direct follow-up to Letts’ last Broadway production August: Osage County, and perhaps Letts has outdone his previous work with this new endeavor. Directed by Tina Landau and featuring Michael McKean as Arthur and Jon Michael Hill as Franco, Superior Donuts is the heartwarming story of a Polish-American donut-shop owner in Chicago and a youthful black man trying to improve the store, and this is one surprising and often humorous production that stays true to Tracy Letts’ signature mysterious but funny style.
Of the casting, Letts said he chose Michael McKean as an immediate must-have for taking the lead role in the production, as, “When we were putting together ‘Donuts,’ it called for a very specific age, a very specific kind of actor, a specific skill set, some comic ability and yet a lot of heart, too. He was the first person I thought of… He’s been a total delight and a total pleasure to work with.”
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Shrek Musical Adds Popular Song to Its Score
Fans of the popular Shrek film series have probably caught themselves bopping along to the Neil Diamond hit song “I’m a Believer,” best remembered for the Monkees’ version of the track, as the song was one of the defining tunes from the 2001 Shrek film, and now theatergoers to Shrek the Musical will get to hear the happy-go-lucky track, as well, as the song has just been added to the Broadway score of the musical. Starting tomorrow, “I’m a Believer” will be added to the score of the musical, with the entire cast performing the number. Before now, Shrek the Musical has featured the instrumental version of the song playing as audience members have left the theater.
Shrek the Musical also has another exciting venture coming up, as the year anniversary of the musical is on Nov. 8. To celebrate its anniversary, the Broadway Theatre is hosting a month-long festival called “SHREKtoberfest,” which includes several events leading up to Nov. 8. Shrek features Brian d’Arcy James as Shrek, Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, Daniel Breaker as Donkey and Robb Sapp as Pinocchio.
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Johansson Won’t Join Broadway for Upcoming Production
The magnificent Scarlett Johansson has been known to conquer a wide range of roles in her vivacious acting career, but one she won’t be tackling anytime soon is the role of Fran in the upcoming revival of the Neil Simon/Burt Bacharach/Hal David musical Promises, Promises. There have been rumors flying that Johansson will soon lead the Broadway production into fruition, but her rep confirmed today that this news is all media fodder, as Johansson was never even approached to appear in the musical.
While it appears that Scarlett Johansson won’t be making her Broadway debut in Promises, Promises anytime soon, there have been other popular film stars whose names have been thrown into the mix as actors and actresses in the upcoming production. In October 2008, Sean Hayes and Anne Hathaway did a reading of Promises, Promises, and now those two names are coming up again as possible leads for the Broadway run. Hayes is reported to be the male lead for the production, but Hathaway’s involvement in the production is less certain, as the role of Fran continues to be virtually un-cast. Stay tuned for more as the details for Promises, Promises unravel - with our without Scarlett Johansson!
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Previews Begin Tonight for ‘Oleanna’
The Broadway premiere of Oleanna, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes and starring the famed Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, will begin tonight with previews, as the David Mamet production starts its run at Broadway’s Golden Theatre this evening. After a summer run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, Stiles and Pullman are bringing their battle of the sexes to the big stage in New York City this month, with the official opening night of Oleanna set for Sunday, Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m.
Described as “Mamet’s attack on political correctness,” Oleanna focuses on the relationship between a university professor (Pullman) and a female student (Stiles), crossing all sorts of boundaries while keeping the audience on its toes throughout the performance. Oleanna marks Julia Stiles’ Broadway debut, though she’s earned respect in the theatrical realm following her performance in the West End production of Oleanna in 2004, when she starred opposite Aaron Eckhart in the title role. Both Stiles and Pullman have scored some big film roles over the last several years, as Pullman’s film credits include Sleepless in Seattle, While You were Sleeping and Spaceballs, while Stiles has starred in flicks like 10 Things I Hate about You, Save the Last Dance and three Bourne films.
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Jackman, Craig Shine in Broadway Production
Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, two of Hollywood’s biggest film actors, have teamed up to star in the Broadway production A Steady Rain, gathering huge audiences for the spectacular show. Australia native Jackman and Englishman Craig put on convincing Chicago accents for their roles in A Steady Rain, which is the story of two childhood friends/policemen, and the comedic production has been a huge crowd-pleaser already, storming onto the Broadway circuit while playing a limited run (A Steady Rain is set to end Dec. 6).
While both Jackman and Craig’s performances have earned rave reviews by critics, the actors took their roles one step further last week, when an audience member’s cell phone kept interrupting the play. Not stepping out of character, the actors reprimanded the cell phone perpetrator, still not missing a beat of the show in the meantime. A Steady Rain is one of the most popular productions currently on the Broadway circuit, and it is Daniel Craig’s Broadway debut. Hugh Jackman, the other star of the show, also appeared in the 2004 Broadway production The Boy from Oz.
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Catherine Zeta-Jones to Make Broadway Debut
The lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones is the newest film actress to turn Broadway, as she’s just been announced as a leading actress in the upcoming Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. The Oscar-winning Zeta-Jones will take the role of Desiree Armfeldt in the upcoming production of A Little Night Music, starring alongside the iconic Angela Lansbury in the musical, as Lansbury plays the character Madame Armfeldt.
A Little Night Music is set at the turn of the century in a Swedish country house, and the musical will start previews later this fall on Nov. 24, opening on Dec. 13 at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York. The production first opened on Broadway in 1973 and has since garnered six Tony Awards. Of her role in the upcoming musical, Catherine Zeta-Jones said, “I’m honored that Trevor Nunn and Stephen Sondheim asked me to make my Broadway debut in this beautiful production. I look forward to starting rehearsal with this extraordinary group of people and working with the incomparable Angela Lansbury, whose work I’ve long admired.” The combination of Lansbury and Zeta-Jones is sure to be a powerful one, so don’t miss out on seeing A Little Night Music when the production begins its run on Broadway!
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T.R. Knight, Cast of ‘Parade’ Begin Run at Mark Taper Forum Tonight
The brand-new season of Grey’s Anatomy premieres tonight on primetime television, but the hospital drama is missing one of its main men - T.R. Knight (known as “George” on the show). Knight departed from Grey’s after last season’s heartbreaking finale, and now the actor is embarking upon his own premiere tonight, starting previews with the rest of the cast for the musical Parade at the Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. Knight takes the role of Leo Frank in the musical and also joins a star-studded cast for the production that includes Lara Pulver (Lucille Frank), Michael Berresse (Governor Slaton, Britt Craig Mr. Peavy), Charlotte d’Amboise (Mrs. Phagan, Sally Slaton) and Christian Hoff (Hugh Dorsey).
Led by T.R. Knight, the hit musical Parade starts previews tonight at the Mark Taper Forum, with an official opening date set for Oct. 4 and a closing date of Nov. 15. Parade is a highly emotional show following the arrest, unjustified conviction and lynching of Leo Frank in post-Civil war Georgia, and it is a romantic tale of American history and heartbreak. This Donmar Warehouse production of Parade is the first to be seen in the U.S., and it is a revised version of the Tony Award-winning production spearheaded by Alfred Uhry and Jason Robert Brown.
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