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Rise and shine, BroadwayWorld! It is August 14, 2025 and it's time to catch up on all of the theatrical happenings you may have missed in the last 24 hours: New - Bww For You, Personalized Story Picks, Click Here Good morning, Broadway fans! We've got a packed edition of Wake Up with BroadwayWorld to help you catch up on all the latest from the stage. This morning, Gavin Lee shares his experience embracing his villainous side as Scar in The Lion King, and fresh production images celebrate the dazzling return of Mamma Mia! to Broadway. Looking ahead, Erika Henningsen & Ramin Karimloo will headline a concert production of Jane Eyre in 2026. Get an exclusive inside look at Broadway reunions, video...

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Manhattan Concert Productions will continue its acclaimed Broadway Series with Jane Eyre, coming to David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center on February 15, 2026. The concert will be led by Erika Henningsen as the title character and Ramin Karimloo as Rochester. Jane Eyre is a musical drama with music and lyrics by composer-lyricist Paul Gordon and a book by John Caird, based on the 1847 novel by Charlotte Brontë. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2000. The musical debuted on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on November 9, 2000, with an official opening on December 10, 2000 and closed on June 10, 2001 after 36 previews and 209 performances. Marla Schaffel, who played the title character, won a Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award (in a tie with Christine Ebersole) for her performance. The production was directed by John...

Roundabout Theatre Company 's revival of Pirates! The Penzance Musical closes today at the Todd Haimes Theatre following 21 previews and 109 regular performances. This jazz-infused, New Orleans-style Broadway production had music by Arthur Sullivan, libretto by W.S. Gilbert, adaptation by Rupert Holmes, orchestrations by Joseph Joubert and Daryl Waters, music direction by Joseph Joubert, choreography by Warren Caryle and direction by Scott Ellis. The Broadway cast of Pirates! The Penzance Musical is led by Ramin Karimloo (Pirate King), Jinkx Monsoon (Ruth), David Hyde Pierce (Gilbert/Major General Stanley), Nicholas Barasch (Frederic), Preston Truman Boyd (Sullivan/Police Sergeant) and Samantha Williams (Mabel Stanley). The cast also includes Kelly Belarmino, Maria Briggs, Cicily Daniels, Ninako Donville, Alex Dorf, Rick Faugno, Niani Feelings, Tommy Gedrich, Alex Gibson, Afra Hines, Dan...

Watch a new video clip of Ramin Karimloo singing "I Am A Pirate King" in Roundabout Theatre Company's Pirates! the Penzance Musical on Broadway. The Tony-nominated musical is now running with a limited engagement through July 27, 2025 at the Todd Haimes Theatre. The cast is currently recording a Broadway Cast Recording, which will be released on CD and streaming and digital formats this summer. <div style="display:block; height:50px;...

The air in Bound is thick with unspoken history, saturated with the kind of tension that can only accumulate over years of silent suffering. The film opens not with a sudden violent act but with the suffocating quiet of a domestic crisis that has long been the norm.

We are introduced to Bella, a young woman living in a state of arrested development in a bleak corner of rural New York. Her home is a psychological prison, its boundaries defined by the volatile presence of her abusive stepfather, Gordy.

He is a man perpetually at war with his own demons, and his instability dictates the emotional weather of the entire household. Witnessing this is Bella’s mother, Yeva, a figure so withdrawn into her own illness and inaction that she is almost a ghost in her own life.

The catalyst for a violent break in this stasis is a small,...

Jinkx Monsoon, David Hyde Pierce and Ramin Karimloo strum their washboards on stage at the 2025 Tony Awards on Sunday (June 8) at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

The stars of Pirates! The Penzance Musical hit the stage for a performance of “Sail the Ocean Blue” and “Washboards” during the annual Broadway awards show.

In addition, Pirates! was also nominated for Best Revival of a Musical but lost out to Sunset Boulevard.

Keep reading to find out more…

Also hitting the stage for the performance from the Pirates! cast include Preston Truman Boyd, Samantha Williams and Nicholas Barasch, among others.

Here’s a synopsis of the musical revival: Gilbert & Sullivan’s pirate ship docks in New Orleans in this jazzy-bluesy vision of the crowd-pleasing classic, in an outrageously clever romp sizzling with Caribbean rhythms and French Quarter flair. With a tongue-twisting Major General (Pierce), a rabble-rousing Pirate King (Karimloo), romance,...

Broadway and classical powerhouses have joined forces for a new recording of “El Tango de Roxanne,” the reimagining of the Police hit, first featured in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. Broadway stars Nicole Scherzinger and Ramin Karimloo, along with pianist and producer Chloe Flower, recently teamed up for the the track, recorded at London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios. Watch video and hear the song below! The trio is accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jeff Atmajian, with a featured solo by acclaimed violinist Luanne Homzy. The arrangement for piano and orchestra was crafted by Flower, Sally Herbert, and Craig Armstrong; orchestrated by Herbert; and produced by Flower alongside Grammy-winning producer Nick Patrick. Scherzinger is currently earning critical acclaim for her Broadway debut as Norma Desmond...

To kick off Aapi Heritage Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, Korean-American piano virtuoso and “popsical” (pop-classical) composer Chloe Flower has released her third studio album, I Love Me More. The album’s focus track is a new take on the iconic “El Tango de Roxanne” from Moulin Rouge! featuring Broadway's Nicole Scherzinger and Ramin Karimloo. Ahead of the album's release, BroadwayWorld spoke to the musician about her unique style and working with the Broadway powerhouses on the new recording. Watch the music video for the song and check out the full album below. I Love Me More marks a new chapter in Chloe’s...

The acclaimed indie drama Bound, starring Broadway star Ramin Karimloo, will come to select theaters and major streaming and cable platforms on May 16. Since its world premiere at Dances With Films, Bound has swept the festival circuit with 11 wins and 34 nominations. The directorial debut from Broadway actor Isaac Hirotsu Woofter (War Horse), the crime drama is a raw and visceral story inspired by true events that features the first live flying squirrel. The movie follows a young artist who, in an attempt to escape her drug-dealing stepfather, flees to NYC with only her pet flying squirrel. After successfully reinventing herself with the help of some "found family," she returns home to confront her dark past, in order to truly be free. Watch the trailer below. Bound will...

Broadway’s 2024-25 season got off to a rather fine start, from the wildly popular and hysterically funny Oh, Mary! to the fabulous splash of Death Becomes Her and the wonderful left-field sleeper Maybe Happy Ending, and wrapped up with some equally excellent season closers like Just In Time and Dead Outlaw.

This compendium of Deadline’s Broadway reviews takes a look at all of them. Use it as a guide for your theater-going, or a sneak peek at what this year’s Tony Awards might have in store on Sunday, June 8.

Real Women Have Curves: The Musical

Opening Night: April 27

Venue: Broadway’s James Earl Jones Theatre

Direction & Choreography By: Sergio Trujillo

Book: Lisa Loomer with Nell Benjamin, based on the play by Josefina López and the HBO screenplay by Josefina López and George Lavoo

Music & Lyrics By: Joy Huerta and Benjamin Velez

Cast: Tatianna Córdoba, Justina Machado,...

Broadway had what appears to be its best non-holiday (Christmas and New Year) week ever last week, with major hits like Good Night, and Good Luck, Glengarry Glen Ross, Othello and longrunners The Lion King, Wicked and Aladdin helping push the total box office figure to $50,874,940 for the week ending April 20.

The figure, for 40 shows, is a huge 47% greater than this week last year. Total attendance of 357,319 was 19% more year-over-year.

Contributing to the big tally were special nine-performance weeks from The Lion King, Wicked and Aladdin.

Even more significantly, the gargantuan total was reached with major contributions from a raft of newly arrived star-packed sell-out productions such as Good Night, and Good Luck with George Clooney, Glengarry Glen Ross with Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr, and Othello...

Nominations for the 2025 Drama League Awards were announced Tuesday by current Broadway stars Sarah Hyland (The Great Gatsby) and Orville Peck (Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club). Winners will be announced May 19 at a ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.

The Drama League Awards honor both Broadway and off-Broadway productions and stand out for their catch-all acting category, the Distinguished Performance Award. An actor can only win it once in their career. After they have won, they can never be nominated again. This year, 51 performers are nominated. There is no crossover between members who vote on the Drama League Awards and the Tonys, but the nominations can nevertheless be revealing as to which performances and productions break through, or not, with this group’s expanded categories.

One of the most shocking results of the nominations is the complete omission of The Hills of California. The Jez Butterworth play is one of...

Good Night, and Good Luck, the play about Edward R. Murrow written by George Clooney and Grant Heslov adapted from their 2005 film, grossed $3,784,200 last week at Broadway’s 1,537-seat Winter Garden Theatre, breaking its own previous $3.3 million record as the highest grossing non-musical play in Broadway history.

With ticket prices also on the upswing – average cost last week for a seat to see Clooney in his Broadway debut was $303.40, with premium seats hitting $825 – the play, which stars the ER actor as Murrow and was directed by David Cromer, is taking in more money than any play in the Winter Garden’s hundred-plus years.

The previous record-setter was the 2022 musical revival of The Music Man starring Hugh Jackman, which set the Winter Garden’s house record in March of that year with a $3.5 million regular eight-performance weekly gross (that revival still holds the house record for a special nine-performance week with...

With the insanely busy Broadway spring season nearing peak production – only one musical, Dead Outlaw, has yet to begin previews – most shows felt the heat of competition last week, with 29 of the 39 productions reporting slips in box office grosses from the previous week.

Even so, most of the productions, particularly the more recent arrivals, were enjoying the rising tide nonetheless, with Just In Time starring Jonathan Groff as Bobby Darin selling out Circle in the Square and hitting a sweet high note of $901,973 for its first seven previews. Take that, all you Dream Lover naysayers. Who is Bobby Darin, indeed. He’s Jonathan Groff, that’s who. The musical officially opens April 26.

Let’s take a look at some other recent spring arrivals.

Glengarry Glen Ross, the well-received Mamet revival starring Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk and Bill Burr, took a dip but stayed strong overall with a $1,789,575 take in its...

Pirates! The Penzance Musical, the Gilbert & Sullivan musical reimagined by Rupert Holmes in a New Orleans jazz-infused style, has been given a four-week Broadway extension “due to popular demand,” according to Roundabout Theater Company.

Pirates! begins previews on Friday, April 4, with an official opening on Thursday, April 24. The limited engagement will now close July 27 at the Todd Haimes Theatre, four weeks after the original June 22 planned close.

Choreographed by Warren Caryle and directed by Scott Ellis, the Broadway cast is led by Ramin Karimloo (Pirate King), Jinkx Monsoon (Ruth), David Hyde Pierce (Gilbert/Major General Stanley), Nicholas Barasch (Frederic), Preston Truman Boyd (Sullivan/Police Sergeant) and Samantha Williams (Mabel Stanley). The cast also includes Kelly Belarmino, Maria Briggs, Cicily Daniels, Ninako Donville, Alex Dorf, Rick Faugno, Niani Feelings, Tommy Gedrich, Alex Gibson, Afra Hines, Dan Hoy, Ryo Kamibayashi, Tatiana Lofton, Nathan Lucrezio, Shina Ann Morris, Cooper Stanton, and Bronwyn Tarboton.

Jinkx Monsoon is among the newly announced cast members for Broadway’s upcoming and reimagined Pirates of Penzance production starring the previously announced Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce.

Retitled Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Rupert Holmes’ jazzy New Orleans-style reinterpretation of the Gilbert & Sullivan classic is being staged by the Roundabout Theatre Company with previews beginning Friday, April 4, 2025, at Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre. The official opening night is set for Thursday, April 24, and the limited engagement will run through June 22.

Monsoon, who will play Ruth to Karimloo’s Pirate King and Pierce’s Gilbert/Major General Stanley, is a two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, and made her Broadway debut in 2023 as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago. In 2024, she played Audrey in the Off Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors opposite Corbin Bleu. Other credits include a Doctor Who debut as the new villain Maestro.

Scott Ellis will direct,...

Stories about misfits of any kind that come together to form the families they always missed has always been one of cinema's favorite concepts. Isaac Hirotsu Woofter, an award-winning script writer and actor comes with his own take of the concept, bringing together different types of misfits, from various aspects of the (US) society, and placing them in New York.

“Bound” review is part of the Submit Your Film Initiative

Bella is a young woman who cannot stand watching her mentally ill uncle/stepfather torturing her mother. When she realizes he has hidden her college acceptance letter, essentially preventing her dreams of going to art school, she kicks him out of the house, supposedly for the last time. However, when her mother, Yeva, takes him back once more, Bella decides to take her pocket squirrel and head to NYC with no money, no friends, no roof, and too much pride to turn back.

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced the dates for its 2024-25 season, with David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face starring Daniel Dae Kim kicking off the company’s Broadway line-up with an October 1 opening night.

The previously announced Broadway productions also include English by Sanaz Toossi, opening January 23, 2025; and The Pirates of Penzance, reimagined with a New Orleans setting and starring Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce, opening April 24, 2025.

All the company’s Broadway productions will play at the Todd Haimes Theatre.

Roundabout’s Off Broadway offerings next season will include The Counter, by Meghan Kennedy and directed by David Cromer, opening October 9; and Bess Wohl’s Liberation, directed by Whitney White, opening February 20, 2025. Both Off Broadway shows will be staged at Roundabout’s Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre.

The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted into various TV and film versions, but not all have been successful. Some adaptations deviate from the original book and focus more on the Phantom as a slasher villain. The 1989 horror version with Robert Englund is confusing and does not follow the book closely, resulting in a critical and financial failure.

The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted for television and movies for almost a century, and some productions have been far better than others. This includes several horror versions and ones based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that premiered in the 1980s. There have also been many famous faces behind the masked men, including Ramin Karimloo and even the late Julian Sands.

The Phantom of the Opera started as a book published by Gaston Leroux in 1909. The story follows a disfigured musical genius named Erik Destler, or the Phantom,...

Daniel Dae Kim will return to Broadway this fall in the Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of David Henry Hwang’s comedy Yellow Face, to be directed by Tony Award nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet).

The production marks the Broadway premiere of Hwang’s play, an Obie Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist that originated in 2007 at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum and subsequently opened that year Off Broadway at the Joseph Papp Public Theater.

The production, announced today as part of the Roundabout’s 2024-2025 season, will begin performances this September at the Roundabout’s Todd Haimes Theatre. Kim made his Broadway debut as the King of Siam in Lincoln Center’s Tony-winning 2017 production of The King and I. The Lost actor next be seen as the villainous Fire Lord Ozai in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, premiering in February.

The production of Yellow Face is...

Daniel Dae Kim will star in the Broadway premiere of David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face next season.

The play, which is inspired by real events, follows a playwright protesting the casting of white actors playing Asian roles in Miss Saigon, and then mistakenly casting a white actor as an Asian lead in his own play. Yellow Face, directed by Leigh Silverman, is scheduled to start previews at what will be the newly renamed Todd Haimes Theatre (formerly the American Airlines Theatre but renamed after the death of the Roundabout Theatre Company’s artistic director) in September 2024.

Kim is known for his work on projects such as Lost, Hawaii Five-o, Stowaway and Raya and The Last Dragon. He made his Broadway debut in 2017 as King Siam in The King and I and recently performed in My Favorite Things: The Rodgers and Hammerstein Anniversary Concert in London’s West End. Kim...

Lea Michele, the star of Funny Girl, ends her stay today in the Broadway revival. She noted the milestone with an Instagram post that touted the show’s recoupment of its $16.5 million capitalization.

“For the past year, I’ve had the honor and privilege of playing the iconic Fanny Brice in Funny Girl on the August Wilson Stage,” she wrote. “An opportunity my younger self could have only dreamed of. And did.”

The musical opened in April 2022 at the August Wilson Theatre, starring Beanie Feldstein in the title role of Fanny Brice. Although fans initially showed great enthusiasm and ticket-buying, critics and Tony Award nominators found her performance lackluster, and the production soon saw a drop-off in sales. Feldstein made an unusually public leaving of the show, and was immediately replaced by producers with Glee star Lea Michele, who had her own strong fan base and who wowed critics. Box office receipts surged.

Funny Girl has recouped its capitalization costs on Broadway, producers said Monday.

The musical, which originally opened at the August Wilson Theatre in April 2022, was capitalized for $16.5 million. The production, starring Lea Michele, is set to close on Broadway on Sept. 3. A North American tour, starring Katerina McCrimmon, will follow.

The production started with Beanie Feldstein in the leading role, but after she received mixed reviews, grosses and attendance began to fall. Feldstein was then replaced with Michele, who had already performed several of the songs on Glee and thus was a draw for audience members. However, Michele had to fight back against allegations of on-set bullying while on the television show as well as the controversy of taking over the role from Feldstein. She came into the production on Sept. 6, 2022, and was well-received in the role, and the box office began trending upward. 

Since then, Funny Girl has set...

Funny Girl, the Broadway revival with one of the strangest casting histories in recent theatrical memory, has recouped its $16.5 million capitalization, producers announced today.

The musical opened in April 2022 at the August Wilson Theatre starring Beanie Feldstein in the title role of Fanny Brice, and although her fans initially showed great enthusiasm and ticket-buying, critics and Tony Award nominators found her performance lackluster and the production soon saw a drop-off in sales. Feldstein made an unusually public leaving of the show, and was immediately replaced by producers with Glee star Lea Michele, who had her own strong fan base and who wowed critics. Box office receipts surged.

In fact, the show began setting box office records at the Wilson, including in January 2023, when the show set a weekly record with a gross of $2,062,739, a record at the venue for an eight-performance week.

Other house records were set for the week...

Lea Michele will miss upcoming performances of Funny Girl because of an unspecified “scary health issue” affecting her 2-year-old son, Ever Leo Reich.

The news was announced Wednesday by the former Glee star on her Instagram account, and show producers confirmed there as well.

“I’m so sorry but unfortunately I will be out of @FunnyGirlBwy today,” she wrote in the caption. “We are at the hospital with our son dealing with a scary health issue that I need to be here for.”

Below the picture, she added, “I’m so sorry. Please send us some love and strength.”

The producers were more specific.

“Lea Michele will be out of both the matinee and evening performance today, Wednesday, March 22,” their statement said. “Julie Benko will be your fabulous Fanny!”

Michele and husband Zandy Reich are the child’s parents.

The Funny Girl box office has been linked to Michele.

When...

As Broadway moves toward its busy spring season, star power has returned to the Great White Way and boosted box offices in the process.

After making her Broadway debut in 2012, Jessica Chastain has returned to star as Nora Helmer in A Doll’s House. The classic Henrik Ibsen play, which was adapted by Amy Herzog and directed by Jamie Lloyd, began previews at the Hudson Theatre on Feb. 13 and has played to nearly full houses so far, minting a strong $811,261 in its first full week of performances.

The musical Parade, starring Ben Platt, began previews Feb. 21 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and played to more than 100 percent capacity (including standing-room tickets), bringing in just above $587,000 in its first four preview performances. This came as the revival — which chronicles the true story of a Jewish factory worker who was wrongly accused of murdering a teenage girl and then lynched by a...

Funny Girl, Broadway’s riches-to-rags-to-riches smash hit, will close on Sunday, Sept. 3, with stars Lea Michele, Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes and Tovah Feldshuh extending their planned runs to see the show through to its final date.

The announcement was made today by Sonia Friedman, Scott Landis and David Babani.

When Funny Girl plays its final performance at the aon Sept. 3, it will have played 599 performances and 30 previews.

The closing will mark the end of one of Broadway’s more tumultuous – and successful – productions of recent years. The first Broadway revival of the Jule Styne-Bob Merrill 1963 musical that made a star of Barbra Streisand (on both the stage and in the 1968 film adaptation) opened in April 2022 starring Beanie Feldstein as Fanny Brice and Jane Lynch as her mother. Though the revival initially proved popular with audiences and Feldstein fans, lukewarm (at best) reviews and a shut-out at the Tony Awards prompted...

Lea Michele will play Fanny Brice through the end of Funny Girl’s run on Broadway.

The Broadway production will play its final performance Sept. 3. In addition to Michele, Ramin Karimloo, who plays Nick Arnstein, Tovah Feldshuh, who plays Fanny’s mother, Mrs. Brice, and Jared Grimes, who plays Eddie Ryan, will remain with the production through the closing.

A North American tour of Funny Girl will launch in September in Providence, R.I., before heading to more than 30 cities across the country.

The Broadway revival, the first since the 1964 production starring Barbra Streisand, began previews at the August Wilson Theatre on March 26, 2022 and opened April 24. Beanie Feldstein played the lead role until July 31, and Michele took over the role of Fanny Brice on Sept. 6, 2022. Standby Julie Benko filled in until Michele’s start date and continues to perform on Thursday evenings.

After Michele joined the production, and received rave reviews,...

Some recent Broadway arrivals added both star power and box office receipts to the weekly grosses reports, with both Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Parade selling out (the latter despite some loudmouthed neo-Nazi protesters), and A Doll’s House starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella coming close.

The musical revival Parade, starring Ben Platt as Leo Frank and Micaela Diamond as wife Lucille Frank, played four preview performances last week – only one of which, the first, drew the antisemitic protesters – and was at standing room only, grossing $587,006 with an average ticket price of $143.24. The Alfred Uhry-Jason Robert Brown musical, directed by Michael Arden, opens at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on March 16.

Jessica Chastain (Credit: Giampaolo Sgura)

Sweeney Todd, the revival of the acclaimed Stephen Sondheim-Hugh Wheeler musical starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford at the Lunt-Fontanne, sold out its first preview,...

Broadhurst Theatre curtain call for a jubilant Mark Jacoby (Neil Diamond now) and Will Swenson (Neil Diamond then) in A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical, book by Anthony McCarten, directed by Michael Mayer Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When I spoke with Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer in April of 2022 he had just launched his Broadway revival of Funny Girl, starring Beanie Feldstein (since replaced by Lea Michele) in the Barbra Streisand role as Fanny Brice and Ramin Karimloo taking on Nicky Arnstein, played by Omar Sharif in the film. Now he has A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical with Will Swenson starring as Diamond (then) and Mark Jacoby as Diamond (now). The book is by Anthony McCarten. McCarten also has on Broadway The Collaboration with Jeremy Pope...

Exclusive: Darren Criss, Lena Hall, Ramin Karimloo and Solea Pfeiffer will perform a one-night-only benefit concert of the 1986 Benny Andersson-Björn Ulvaeus-Tim Rice musical Chess next month at a Broadway theater to benefit The Entertainment Community Fund (formerly The Actors Fund).

The concert, which will be held at the the Broadhurst Theatre on on Monday, December 12 at 7:30 pm Et, was announced by the Entertainment Community Fund today. The benefit will be presented in association with Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman whose award-winning Broadway credits include Ain’t Too Proud, Green Day’s American Idiot and Spring Awakening.

Criss will perform the role of “Freddie Trumper”, Hall will be “Florence Vassey”, Karimloo will portray “Anatoly Sergievsky” and Pfeiffer will be “Svetlana Sergievsky”.

Ramin Karimloo and Solea Pfeiffer (Getty Images)

Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

“We’re thrilled to help bring this new iteration...

A newly recorded cast album for Broadway’s Funny Girl starring Lea Michele as Fanny Brice will be released digitally tomorrow – Friday, Nov. 18 at 12:01 a.m. Et. The surprise announcement was made by Michele herself during last night’s curtain call at the Broadway hit.

“We’re all so so so proud to announce that we’re going to be releasing our original cast album,” Michele said excitedly from the stage following the Wednesday night performance. “As the biggest Funny Girl fan my whole life, I am so proud and it’s so so so great!”

See video of her announcement below.

The news of the unexpected album release was also shared on this morning’s Today show.

Produced by David Caddick and David Lai and featuring the score by Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics), a physical CD of the new cast recording is set for release on Friday,...

Lea Michele belts Fanny Brice’s big opening number, “I’m the Greatest Star,” from the forthcoming original cast recording for the new Broadway revival of Funny Girl.

As Michele tells Rolling Stone, “I’m the Greatest Star” “sets the tone” for Funny Girl, capturing Fanny as she lays out her showbiz dreams after being told in not-exactly-subtle terms on “If a Girl Isn’t Pretty” that she doesn’t have the looks for it. “I’m the greatest star,” Michele bellows, “I am by far/But no one knows...

Exclusive: A five-part video and podcast series celebrating the life and career of Broadway composer Lucy Simon – one of the final projects the sister of Carly Simon worked on prior to her death last week – launches today on YouTube and the Broadway Podcast Network.

Celebrating Lucy Simon was announced and released today by Broadway Podcast Network Co-Founders Dori Berinstein and Alan Seales. The series will feature never-before-heard stories from The Secret Garden composer Simon herself, as well as from such collaborators as Judy Collins, Marshall Brickman, Marsha Norman, Victoria Clark, and others.

The series will also include new performances by Broadway stars Sierra Boggess, Funny Girl‘s Ramin Karimloo, The Secret Garden original stars Daisy Eagan and John Cameron Mitchell, and others. Eagan, Boggess and Karimloo performed in two New York concert versions of The Secret Garden in 2016. Songs to be performed on the new series will include the musical’s “Wick,...

Click here to read the full article.

Lucy Simon, the composer and sister of pop superstar Carly Simon who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.

Simon died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, after a long battle with breast cancer, a family spokesperson announced.

She and Carly began their careers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as The Simon Sisters, and their folk act opened for the likes of The Tarriers in Greenwich Village nightclubs. Their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Lucy Simon became the rare female composer to have a show on Broadway when The Secret Garden debuted in April 1991. Starring Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser and Daisy Eagan and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s novel, the musical ran for 709 performances on Broadway, won...

Click here to read the full article.

It’s not often that a major Broadway musical lands its ideal lead six months after beginning performances and opening to mixed reviews. Then again, it’s an anomaly that a star with the credentials of Lea Michele would agree to step in as a replacement lead. But Michele’s tenacious determination to test her skills as Fanny Brice, a role she clearly considers the part of a lifetime, puts her in uncommon territory.

To get the headline news out of the way first, Michele gives a sensational performance in Funny Girl. While her predecessor in the Broadway revival, Beanie Feldstein, was a sweetly captivating presence who leaned hard on the comedy, her light, pleasant singing voice put her out of her depth with numbers that called for supple modulation and commanding power.

Perhaps even more crucially, the hunger that defines early 20th...

Well, that’s that. After all the controversies and badly handled original castings and headlines and backstage bruisings and firings or resignations or whatever they were, Funny Girl is, as so many suspected all along, the musical that Lea Michele was born to lead. Broadway’s new Fanny Brice is, to put is simply and without exaggeration, a knock-out.

Michele has been in the role since early September, but, with some cast members out sick with Covid in recent weeks, and to give the newcomer some breathing room, critics have only in recent days been invited to the August Wilson to observe the changes. The wait was worth it.

From the moment she begins to sing the opening number “Who Are You Now?,” audiences relax in the assurance that this musical, for whatever its other merits – or lack thereof, and there is plenty of lack thereof – will be sung by...

Click here to read the full article.

Lea Michele dropped by The Tonight Show to promote the Broadway revival of Funny Girl.

The 36-year-old Glee alum sat down with host Jimmy Fallon on Friday to discuss her starring role as Fanny Brice in the critically acclaimed theater production and later delivered a mesmerizing performance of the Funny Girl number “People.”

“I’ve been wanting to come back to Broadway for so many years, I was gone for 15 years, Spring Awakening was the last show I did,” Michele said. “To be back and to be in the show that I’ve loved for so many years, but I’m such a fan of this production. Incredible cast. Incredible score.”

After months of hype, the curtain went up on Michele’s stint as the Funny Girl lead on Sept. 6. She took over from standby Julie Benko, who had performed the role since...

Update: Lea Michele confirmed today that she has tested positive for Covid-19 and will be out for a longer period than initially stated.

The former Glee star posted the news via her Instagram Story, citing “production protocols” that will see her sidelined from Broadway’s Funny Girl.

“Unfortunately, I have officially tested positive for Covid. In following production protocols, I cannot return to the theater for 10 days,” wrote Michele. “Thankfully staying home today and catching this early protected so many members of our company from being exposed. Funny Girl has been and still is tackling a tremendous wave of Covid with close to a dozen company members currently out.”

She added, “We are almost on the other side of this and our swings and understudies are doing such an incredible job to keep our show on its feet.”

Earlier: Lea Michele is canceling some of her Funny Girl performances, citing...

As you might have heard, Lea Michele made her Funny Girl debut last night, taking the stage at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre to six standing ovations, a bouquet of white roses and through plenty of curtain call tears.

Among those in attendance at the performance – which also marked the debut of Tovah Feldshuh as Mrs. Brice, the role Jane Lynch originated in this revival – were Drew Barrymore, Jonathan Groff, John Gallagher Jr., Ryan Murphy, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, Zachary Quinto, Lee Pace and fashion designer Thom Browne.

Check out the first-performance and curtain call photos and a video below, which also feature co-stars Ramin Karimloo, Jared Grimes and the Funny Girl company.

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Exclusive: Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment has acquired the UK distribution rights for Pennywise: The Story of It, which explores the hit 1990 mini-series, based on Stephen King’s iconic novel.

Co-directed by John Campopiano and Christopher Griffiths, the behind-the-scenes movie features interviews with director Tommy Lee Wallace (Halloween III) and cast members Tim Curry (Rocky Horror), Seth Green (Family Guy), and Richard Thomas (The Waltons). The movie touches on themes spanning the cultural phenomenon of coulrophobia (the fear of clowns) to Curry’s portrayal of the notorious clown monster.

The deal was signed by Spencer Pollard, CEO of Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment and Unannounced Film Company’s Laurence Gornall. Digital release is set for October 3rd and DVD & Bd on October 24th.

The film’s trailer is above. Cinedigm has U.S. rights.

Pollard said: “We are very excited to be working on this brilliant story. The story of Pennywise when released in...

Director Nick Winston’s film adaptation of his own stage musical about a marriage breakdown fails to strike a memorable chord

The road from stage to screen can be a rocky path: a musical should not, for instance, unfold as a string of music videos but establish a coherent visual language. It’s this that is lacking in Nick Winston’s reworking of his own stage production of the same title.

Tomorrow Morning follows married couple Jack (Ramin Karimloo) and Catherine (Samantha Barks) through two distinct phases of their relationship; it juxtaposes the idealistic adoration felt before their wedding day with the animosity that comes a decade later when the pair quarrel over divorce settlements and property rights. This stark contrast is intended to reflect the ebb and flow of domestic partnerships as well as the individual evolution that occurs between young adulthood and middle age. Once an aspiring novelist,...

Update, with Lynch Playbill comments: Jane Lynch will depart Broadway’s Funny Girl even earlier than expected, producers announced Tuesday. The former Glee actor will end her run as “Mrs. Brice” on Sunday, August 14, several weeks earlier than the Sept. 4 date most recently announced.

According to producers, Lynch had a long-scheduled vacation set to begin on Monday, August 15 and was set to return to the show on Tuesday, August 23, before departing for the Creative Arts Emmys on Thursday, September 1. “Rather than return for one week of performances, the producers have agreed to adjust her final performance to Sunday, August 14,” according to a statement.

Lynch is an Emmy nominee in the Best Comedy Guest Actress category for her work on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.

Lynch’s “Mrs. Brice” standby, Liz McCartney, is scheduled to play the role from Tuesday,...

Update, with Michele comment & Glee video As expected, or at least widely rumored, Lea Michele is Broadway’s new Funny Girl, taking over the coveted role of Fanny Brice from the departing Beanie Feldstein. Tovah Feldshuh will take the role of Mrs. Brice after Jane Lynch leaves the production.

Michele, best known as a star of TV’s Glee and Broadway’s Spring Awakening, and Feldshuh will join Funny Girl at the August Wilson Theatre beginning Tuesday, September 6. Ramin Karimloo will continue as Nick Arnstein, as will Tony nominee Jared Grimes as Eddie Ryan. Producers confirmed the casting today.

“A dream come true is an understatement,” Michele wrote on Instagram. “I’m so incredibly honored to join this amazing cast and production and return to the stage playing Fanny Brice on Broadway. See you September 6th.” (Watch Michele’s performance on Glee of Funny Girl’s “People” below.

It’s official: Lea Michele‘s Funny Girl dream has at long last been realized.

The Glee grad, who famously played Fanny Brice in Fox’s show within a show, will lead the Broadway revival this fall, the production announced Monday.

More from TVLineSpring Awakening Cast Reunites for Tony Awards Performance: Lea Michele, Jonathan Groff and More -- WatchGlee Returning to Streaming Via Hulu and Disney+ -- Find Out WhenSpring Awakening Reunion Concert to Be Chronicled in HBO Documentary

She succeeds current star Beanie Feldstein, who was initially set to depart the show on Sunday, Sept. 25. But over the weekend,...

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Lea Michele has been tapped to replace Beanie Feldstein in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, producers said Monday.

Michele will take over the title role of Fanny Brice from Feldstein, who departs the show July 31.

Meanwhile, Tovah Feldshuh has been cast as Jane Lynch’s replacement. Lynch will continue to play Mrs. Brice, Fanny’s mom, through Sept. 4.

Fanny Brice standby Julie Benko will perform the title role from Aug. 2-Sept. 4 and on Thursdays starting Sept. 8; Jared Grimes and Ramin Karimloo will continue in their roles as Eddie Ryan and Nick Arnstein, respectively.

The news comes a day after Feldstein announced in an Instagram post that she would be departing the show July 31, earlier than anticipated. Last month, producers said she and Lynch would be departing their roles Sept. 25 instead of at year’s end, which had originally been expected.

In her post,...

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Beanie Feldstein is leaving the Broadway revival of Funny Girl earlier than expected.

The actress announced Sunday in an Instagram post that she will be departing the show July 31. Last month, producers said she and fellow star Jane Lynch would be departing their roles Sept. 25 instead of at year’s end, as originally expected.

In her post, Feldstein said the decision came after producers “decided to take the show in a different direction,” but did not elaborate further.

“Playing Fanny Brice on Broadway has been a lifelong dream of mine, and doing so for the last few months has been a great joy and true honor,” she wrote. “Once the production decided to take the show in a different direction, I made the extremely difficult decision to step away sooner than anticipated.”

She went on to praise her fellow cast and crew and...

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Producers for Broadway’s current Funny Girl revival announced Wednesday that stars Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch will soon be exiting.

In a statement posted to social media, the show’s team shared that the two performers are set to leave the production Sept. 25. This follows Feldstein having announced June 6 that she would be missing dates after testing positive for Covid-19.

“Beanie returns tomorrow!” the show’s official Twitter account posted Wednesday. “14 weeks left to see Beanie Feldstein & Jane Lynch now through September 25th. Stay tuned for additional casting news to join Ramin Karimloo & Jared Grimes and the company of Funny Girl.”

The show, which opened April 24, was nominated for a single Tony Award at the recent 2022 ceremony, for featured actor Grimes. It stars Feldstein as actress Fanny Brice; Lynch as Fanny’s mom, Mrs. Rosie Brice; Grimes as Eddie Ryan; and Karimloo as Nick Arnstein.

Update, with Beanie Feldstein statement: Funny Girl stars Beanie Feldstein and Jane Lynch will depart the productionl on September 25, producers announced today.

In a tweet, the show addressed the return of Feldstein following a week off after testing positive from Covid, then announces the September departure.

“Beanie returns tomorrow!,” the tweet says. “14 weeks left to see Beanie Feldstein & Jane Lynch now through September 25th. Stay tuned for additional casting news to join Ramin Karimloo & Jared Grimes and the company of Funny Girl.”

Feldstein subsequently posted a message on Instagram, writing, in part, “September 25th will be my last show as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. I’ll never be able to find the words that could even begin to explain what the experience has been to me….I gave and will continue to give this show all of me. I am immensely proud to be a bagel on a plate full of onion rolls.

Ziegfeld Girls (Leslie Flesner and Afra Hines) warn Fanny Brice (Beanie Feldstein) about Nicky Arnstein (Ramin Karimloo) Photo: Matthew Murphy, 2022

Not only is Ramin Karimloo co-starring with Beanie Feldstein, Jared Grimes (Tony nominated for his Eddie Ryan), and Jane Lynch in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl, directed by Michael Mayer, with revisions by Harvey Fierstein, he has two movies coming out. Starring opposite Samantha Barks in Nick Winston’s Tomorrow Morning, screenplay by Laurence Mark Wythe and in Isaac Hirotsu Woofter’s Bound.

Ramin Karimloo with Anne-Katrin Titze: “When Michael offered me Nicky Arnstein in 2019, I had just finished singing with Barbra Streisand in London in Hyde Park.”

Ramin told me that Marlon Brando’s performance with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, Antonio Banderas in Arne Glimcher’s The Mambo Kings, and Kathy Bates in anything mean a great deal to him.