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All In: Comedy About Love, the Simon Rich play with a revolving Broadway cast, broke the Hudson Theatre house record last week, with more than a little help from Jimmy Fallon.

Fallon’s brief stint in the production – his one-week performance ended February 2 – saw the weekly grosses jump by a huge 46% over the previous week, landing at $2,080,707, easily topping the Hudson’s previous house record of $170,865 set by the 2022 Sarah Jessica Parker-Matthew Broderick production of Plaza Suite.

The late-night talk host’s appearance also seems to have driven up ticket prices for the show: The average ticket price was $268.69, twice the price of nearly every other show on Broadway, including big musicals like Gypsy starring Audra McDonald and Disney’s The Lion King.

Costarring during Fallon’s week were Aidy Bryant, Nick Kroll, and Lin-Manuel Miranda

The $2,080,707 gross was the second biggest on Broadway last week, behind the massively popular Wicked.

A full Broadway box office report is forthcoming…...

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” the upcoming Broadway play based on the hit Netflix sci-fi drama, has added 24 performers to its company.

Among the new cast members are Ta’Rea Campbell (“The Hills of California”) as Patty’s mom, Juan Carlos (making his Broadway debut) replacing previously announced star Nicholas Eldridge as Bob Newby, Robert T. Cunningham (Broadway debut) as Charles Sinclair, Ayana Cymone (Broadway debut) as Sue Anderson, Ian Dolley (“The Holdovers”) as Walter Henderson, Dora Dolphin (Broadway debut) as Karen Childress, Logan Gould (“The Corps”) as Lonny Byers, Shea Grant (Broadway debut) as Claudia Yount, Ted Koch (“To Kill a Mockingbird”) as Chief Hopper, Jamie Martin Mann (Broadway debut) as Ted Wheeler and Eric Wiegand (“Plaza Suite”) as Alan Munson.

Also joining the show are ensemble actors Janie Brookshire (“The Philanthropist”), Kelsey Anne Brown (Broadway debut), Malcolm Callender (Broadway debut), Antoinette Comer (“Mamma Mia!”), Tom D’Agustino (“Dear Edward”), Victor...

Exclusive: Bartlett Sher, nine-time Tony Award directing nominee and winner for 2008’s South Pacific, will direct the recently announced Dolly Parton musical Hello, I’m Dolly, set for Broadway in 2026.

“How lucky I am to have the great Bartlett Sher direct my Hello, I’m Dolly musical,” Parton said in a statement. “When you decide to put your whole life up on stage, you hope and pray to find the right director with the right creativity and sensitivity to present all the blood, sweat, tears, light, love, and laughter that I’ve experienced over seven decades of living. My heart tells me that Bartlett is the man and the director for the job.”

Said Sher, “Dolly is one of the great songwriters in the American canon, and being entrusted with the opportunity to help her translate that glorious talent into the American musical theater is not only an honor, but absolutely a thrill.

Amazon MGM Studios has handed an official pilot order to Band, a drama created and executive produced by Daniel Barnz who will direct the pilot and serve as showrunner on the potential series. The project had had a blinking green light for weeks while assembling its cast. The actors have now been set, including John Benjamin Hickey and Miguel Angel Garcia who star alongside Lynley Eilers, Alex Fitzalan, Henry Hunter Hall and Chanté Adams.

L-r: Chante Adams, Henry Hunter Hall, Lynley Eilers, Alex Fitzalan

Band is a diverse ensemble of passionate teens who navigate the chaos of adolescence while finding unity and belonging in their school’s marching band. Star player Axel (Garcia), his fiercely loyal best friend Sasha (Eilers), sexy newcomer Simon (Fitzalan), heartthrob drummer Evan (Hall), friends, and lovers march under the watchful eye of their fearless leader Cole (Hickey) and his right-hand Zadie (Adams). As the adults...

The Olivier Awards will be available to stream on Britbox this year, alongside its regular UK broadcast on ITV1. The Olivier Awards will take place on Sunday, April 14, and will be available to American and Canadian audiences on SVOD service Britbox on the same day. Australian audiences will have access to the stream from Monday, April 15.

Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham is set to return as host to the Royal Albert Hall this year, and will be joined by a starry lineup of presenters including Edward Enninful, Brian Cox, and Cara Delevingne.

The past year saw a record-breaking number of new plays on British stages, and the nominees reflect a significant crossover between the screen and the stage. Hollywood stars nominated this year include first-time Olivier nominee Sarah Jessica Parker for Plaza Suite, James Norton for A Little Life, and Nicole Scherzinger for Sunset Boulevard.

Sunday’s ceremony will see performances...

With Robert Downey Jr. tasting the Oscar glory for his immaculate performance in Oppenheimer, it’s time for his ex-partner Sarah Jessica Parker to shine at the Olivier Awards. Known for starring in HBO’s Sex and the City, the actor, who was previously tied to the Iron Man Star, starred opposite her husband of 26 years, Matthew Broderick, in Neil Simon’s 1968 play, Plaza Suite.

Following her brilliance in the play, the Hocus Pocus Star is now one of the frontrunners for the Best Actress accolade in the UK’s most prestigious Theatre Awards Ceremony.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick | Plaza Suite Sarah Jessica Parker Earns Herself Best Actress Nod at the Olivier Awards

After earning rave reviews from Theatre critics, with many citing her performance as a revelation, Sarah Jessica Parker has now garnered a nod for Best Actress in the Olivier Awards for Plaza Suite. The 3-act...

We are still approximately six weeks away from learning the nominees for the 77th Tony Awards, but across the pond the finalists for the 2024 Olivier Awards were just announced. A radical new remounting of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Nicole Scherzinger is the most nominated show of the year with 11 citations. Another musical revival is nipping at its heels: the immersive “Guys and Dolls” scored 10, as did new play “Dear England,” which centers on England’s national men’s football team and stars Joseph Fiennes as Gareth Southgate. Scroll down to see a complete list of 2024 Olivier Awards nominations.

American audiences will be familiar with many of the plays, musicals and performers nominated this year. The Best New Musical category includes Tony Award-winning shows “Next to Normal” and “A Strange Loop,” while Best Musical Revival boasts productions of “Groundhog Day” and “Hadestown.” Caissie Levy,...

Sarah Snook, Sarah Jessica Parker, Andrew Scott and David Tennant were among the nominees for the 2024 Olivier Awards, which celebrate achievements in London theater.

Parker was nominated for best actress for her role in Plaza Suite, opposite her husband, Matthew Broderick, while Snook was nominated in the same category for her one-woman take on The Picture of Dorian Gray. Tennant was nominated for best actor for his role in Macbeth, in the same category as Andrew Scott, in a one-man version of Vanya.

Sunset Boulevard, which starred Nicole Scherzinger, who is also nominated, and is set to come to Broadway next year, received 11 nominations, while Dear England, a play by James Graham about an English football manager, received nine nominations. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel to the television series, which has also hinted at its Broadway ambitions, is up for best new entertainment or comedy play.

The Olivier...

Sarah Jessica Parker took a bow at the premiere performance of Plaza Suite at The Savoy Theatre in London.

The actress appeared in a floral long-sleeved dress with a floral hat with flowers on top of her hat.

In her role, she acted opposite her real-life husband, Matthew Broderick, in a revival of the Neil Simon comedy.

Parker is known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and The City. Prior to the series, she acted on Broadway in the 90s in the role of Princess Winifred in Once Upon a Mattress.

Plaza Suite is a classic Broadway show that takes place in the iconic Plaza Hotel with a married couple trying to help each other in their relationship by going back to a location where they fell madly in love with each other.

The revival originated on Broadway last year to mixed reviews.

The post Sarah...

Sarah Jessica Parker is set to executive produce “Front Row,” a gripping documentary feature following a group of talented Ukrainian ballet dancers.

Directed by Miriam Guttmann, the award-winning filmmaker of “Seeds of Deceit,” the documentary is produced by Scenery (“Human Playground”), a joint venture with Banijay Benelux. Parker and Alison Benson are exec producing via Pretty Matches Productions, alongside The Ruderman Family Foundation.

“Front Row” is represented globally by Banijay Rights and will be introduced to buyers at Mipcom, the international TV conference kicking off Oct. 16. The documentary is expected to be completed in 2024.

In “Front Row,” Guttmann charts the journey of a group of Ukrainian dancers in exile as they form a new ballet company, ‘United Ukrainian Ballet’. While performing Alexei Ratmanskiy’s version of ‘Giselle’ in Washington D.C., Alexis, one of the leading ballet dancers, befriends Oleksandr, a front-line soldier, who lost both his legs in a...

Sarah Jessica Parker has announced plans to make her debut on London’s West End stage next year, alongside her husband Matthew Broderick.

The couple will play three different couples staying in one hotel room – Suite 719 of the Plaza hotel in New York – in the new adaptation of Neil Simon’s play ‘Plaza Suite’. The couple have previously starred in the same production on Broadway. The London show will debut at the Savoy Theatre in January 2024.

Parker is shortly to return in the the second season of And Just Like That…, the sequel to Sex and the City, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Unlike Parker, Broderick has appeared on London’s West End stage before, most recently in 2019’s Starry Messenger.

Matthew Broderick and Laura Benanti will star in an Off Broadway production of A.R. Gurney’s Love Letters for a (very) limited run: The production at the Irish Repertory Theatre will run from May 30 to June 4 for eight performances.

The Gurney play will be the second of two parts of Irish Rep’s The Letters Series, which will kick off with Jerome Kilty & George Bernard Shaw’s Dear Liar starring Melissa Errico and David Staller. That play will start its eight-performance run on April 25 and conclude April 30.

Both productions will be performed on the Irish Rep’s 148-seat Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage.

Melissa Errico, David Staller (Courtesy Production)

Love Letters will be directed by Irish Rep producing director Ciarán O’Reilly, and Dear Liar will be directed by the company’s artistic director Charlotte Moore.

Adapted from the correspondence between George Bernard Shaw and actress Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Dear Liar will feature Staller as Shaw and the Tony Award-nominated Errico (Amour)as Campbell.

Broderick last appeared on the New York stage in the hit 2020 Broadway revival of Plaza Suite, co-starring wife Sarah Jessica Parker. Benanti, a Tony winner for Gypsy, was last on Broadway in 2018’s My Fair Lady.

A Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama, Love Letters is comprised of letters exchanged between two friends over a lifetime, from childhood through marriages and the ups and downs of adulthood.

Theater owner and producer Ambassador Theatre Group has agreed to an exclusive three-year partnership with J.J. Abrams’ newly formed theater division, Bad Robot Live.

As part of the partnership, Atg, which has theaters on the West End and Broadway, will have opportunities to help bring to stage and partner on theater productions from Bad Robot Live, a division of Abram’s Bad Robot Productions, as well as give Bad Robot Live the opportunity to work on those projects with Atg’s producing arm. Elizabeth Rothman, formerly of the non-profit theater Manhattan Theatre Club, will head Bad Robot Live.

The first joint project will be Liz Kingsman’s solo show, One Woman Show, which recently played The Ambassadors Theatre in London and received a 2023 Olivier Award Nomination for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play. Atg Productions, Bad Robot Live and co-producer Wessex Grove will bring the show to the U.

Ambassador Theatre Group has announced an exclusive three-year partnership with the newly formed Bad Robot Live, the theatre division of J.J. Abrams’s Bad Robot Productions. As creative collaborators and co-producers, Atg will help bring to the stage Abrams’s “unique producorial vision.”

The joint development arrangement will provide Atg, a prominent player on both Broadway and London’s West End, with partnership opportunities on Bad Robot Live’s current and future theatre projects, and give Bad Robot Live the opportunity to collaborate on those projects with Atg Productions, one of the world’s leading producers of theatrical events including recent productions of Cabaret, Cyrano, Plaza Suite, David Byrne’s American Utopia, (and the previewing Broadway versions of A Doll’s House and Parade).

The first joint project under the new Atg and Bad Robot Live agreement is Liz Kingsman’s critically acclaimed solo show, One Woman Show, which recently enjoyed...

Update, June 8 Beanie Feldstein will be out of Funny Girl at least through the end of this week. In a tweet late last night, her “Fanny Brice” standby Julie Benko, wrote, “Hi all! I’m confirmed to be on for Fanny through the end of this week (Sunday 6/11). See you at the August Wilson, gorgeous… and feel better Beanie!”

Earlier this week, Feldstein posted an Instagram video announcing that she’d tested positive for Covid and would be quarantined, missing an undetermined number of performances.

Hi all! I’m confirmed to be on for Fanny through the end of this week (Sunday 6/11). See you at the August Wilson, gorgeous… and feel better Beanie! https://t.co/nGBZum9S4S

— Julie Benko (@JujujulieBee) June 8, 2022

Previous, June 7 No word yet on when Broadway’s Funny Girl star Beanie Feldstein will return to the show after testing positive for Covid.

Feldstein announced on...

Broadway took a pre-Tony Awards early-summer dip at the box office last week, slipping 11 from the previous week to gross a total 29,555,352 for 31 productions. Attendance was off about 10 to 230,894.

While most of the shows reported drops, the overall figure also reflects four fewer productions than the previous week’s roster, with Birthday Candles, Mrs. Doubtfire and The Skin of Our Teeth having closed and Mr. Saturday Night, starring Billy Crystal, on a planned hiatus for the week.

Overall, attendance was at about 81 of capacity. Shows that filled more than 90 of their seats were Aladdin, Hadestown, Hamilton, Mj, Chicago, Moulin Rouge!, Plaza Suite, Six, Take Me Out, The Book of Mormon, The Lion King, The Music Man and Wicked. A Strange Loop came close at 89.

Productions dropping below the 70 capacity mark were Beetlejuice, Come From Away, Company, Girl From The North Country, The Minutes and Paradise Square, among others, with...

Click here to read the full article.

Funny Girl star Beanie Feldstein has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss a string of the Broadway show’s performances, the actress shared on Monday.

In a brief Instagram video message, Feldstein shared her diagnosis and announced her absence. “I just found out that I tested positive for Covid so, unfortunately, I’m going to be out of the show for a little while to keep everybody safe,” Feldstein said.

It’s unclear how many performances the actress, who confirmed she is vaccinated and boosted, will miss. But the Funny Girl lead said she “cannot wait to get back on stage very soon.” In the meantime, standby Julie Benko will step into the leading role of Fanny Brice.

“I’m very grateful to not be feeling too bad,” she added. “I’m just really bummed to not be seeing everyone at the theater.

And just like that, there are two sides to every story.

After Kim Cattrall addressed her exit from the “Sex and the City” franchise in a recent Variety cover story, former co-star and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker spoke out about Cattrall’s claims.

“It’s very hard to talk about the situation with Kim because I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant, because it’s not the way I like to conduct conversations that are as complicated as this,” Parker said on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast.

While Parker credited Cattrall for being a “huge contributor to the success” of “Satc,” she was not asked to return for the revival series “And Just Like That” because of Cattrall’s past comments.

“We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn...

Update, with revised figures for Birthday Candles, Mrs. Doubtfire Broadway box office held steady last week, the first week of the new 2022-23 season, with the 35 productions grossing a total of 33,347,304, with attendance at 257,210. Both figures for the week ending May 29 indicate a less-than-1 change from the previous week.

Overall, the productions played to about 83 of capacity, pretty much in keeping with recent trends. Average ticket price was 129.94.

Three shows played their final performances: Birthday Candles starring Debra Messing took in 328,372, a boost of 57,735 over the previous week, with attendance at 81 of capacity during the last week of its limited engagement. Mrs. Doubtfire, which resumed performances in April following a winterlong Covid-prompted hiatus, closed out its shortened engagement with a 725,700, a 215,725 jump, and attendance at 95 of capacity.

The Skin of Our Teeth, Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of the Thornton Wilder classic, played all eight of its scheduled performance after...

Broadway’s 2021-22 season – 10 weeks shorter than usual, plagued by Covid and the cancelations it caused, not to mention the tourists who didn’t show up – took a beating at the box office, with season-end numbers no less stark for being expected: The industry took in a total of 845,354,915 at the box office, down about 54 from the the historic high of 1.829 billion set by the 2018-19 Broadway season (the last full season prior to the 2020 pandemic shutdown).

Figures compiled by the Broadway League released today indicate that total attendance for the season was 6,729,143, also down 54 from the 2019 record high of 14,768,254. Despite the year-to-year downturn, the percentage of available seats that were filled during the 2021-22 season was a solid 82.

Some major caveats in a year-to-year analysis: The start of the season that came to a close on May 22 was delayed by 10 weeks due to the Covid shutdown, meaning the season...

Last week’s Tony Award nominations translated into box office sales for at least some of the contenders, with A Strange Loop seeing the biggest boost. The musical, which topped the Tony list with 11 nominations, saw a 213,871 increase in its weekly grosses, taking in 690,668 for the week ending May 15.

Overall, the 35 Broadway productions grossed 30,349,653, a slight 3 dip from the previous week’s 31,199,660, a decline largely attributable to the 1,054,792 drop in box office at Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which canceled four of its usual eight performances due to Covid cases among the cast. Moulin, with Broadway favorite Derek Klena now leading the cast, took in 537,705 for four performances, filling 91 of available seats.

Also losing ground was Lincoln Center Theater’s The Skin of Our Teeth, which canceled three performances due to Covid, dropping 58,736 from the previous week to 115,745 for its five performances.

Total attendance for the 35 productions was 246,003, down about 1 from...

Out of all the nominees spread across the 26 categories at the 2022 Tony Awards, a number of them stand out as particularly noteworthy. Check out the complete list of nominees here.

SEEJennifer Hudson may Egot at the Tonys: ‘Strange Loop’ producer already has an Oscar, Emmy, and 2 Grammys

1. The following productions nominated this year were originally scheduled to open in the 2019-20 Broadway season before performances shut down due to Covid-19: “American Buffalo,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Company,” “Diana,” “Flying Over Sunset,” “Hangmen,” “How I Learned to Drive,” “The Lehman Trilogy,” “The Minutes,” “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Plaza Suite,” “Six,” and “Take Me Out.” While “Girl From the North County” did actually open just the week before Broadway shutdown, it was too late for that show to be eligible for the 74th Tony Awards as not enough voters were even able to see it then.

2. The following shows that only received one Tony nomination are: “Diana,...

With nearly all 36 productions settling into full schedules last week, the Broadway box office tally climbed a modest 7 from the previous week, totaling 31,199,660, with attendance of 249,219 showing a 3 bump.

The attendance figure represents about 76 of available seats, indicating that the recently crowded line-up could be spreading the audience pool a bit thin. Only eight productions approached sell-out status during the week ending May 8 – the week, notably, before Tony Award nominations were announced – including the usual roster of hits: The Music Man, The Lion King, Six, Plaza Suite, Moulin Rouge!, Macbeth, Hadestown and Funny Girl. Hamilton, Aladdin, Mj and The Book of Mormon did well, filling at least 90 of their seats.

A wide swath of the productions, even some of the best-reviewed shows of the spring, were playing to more than a few empty seats: In the 60-70 of capacity ranges were A Strange Loop, American Buffalo, Beetlejuice, Birthday Candles, Come From Away,...

Some of the biggest names in film, television and the Broadway stage won’t be making the coveted pilgrimage to Radio City Music Hall this June when the 75th annual Tony Awards are handed out, as such high-profile performers as Daniel Craig, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Katrina Lenk, Beanie Feldstein, Jane Lynch and Patrick J. Adams were not among the nominations announced Monday morning.

And at least as surprising as the snubs was the strong showing of Paradise Square, a musical that received fairly mixed reviews and has been struggling at the box office since opening April 3. The musical, a comeback for producer Garth H. Drabinsky, scored 10 nominations (tying with Mj and second only to A Strange Loop). Among Paradise Square‘s are Best Musical, Joaquina Kalukango’s nom for Best Lead Actress/Musical, and A.J. Shively’s nom for Featured Actor/Musical.

Among the biggest surprises and take-aways...

With 34 productions eligible for this year’s Tony Awards, there were plenty of names missing when nominations were announced on Monday morning. Among the most surprising 2022 Tony Awards nominations snubs was Katrina Lenk, who plays Bobbie in Marianne Elliott’s reimagining of the late Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” The production merited nine nominations, including Best Musical Revival, Best Director, Best Featured Actor (Matt Doyle), and Best Featured Actress. Lenk previously won a Tony Award for her performance in Best Musical-winner “The Band’s Visit.”

See the complete list of 2022 Tony Awards nominees

Original musical “Flying Over Sunset” also underperformed. Even though the shuttered production scored four nominations, including Best Actress (Carmen Cusack) and Best Score, it missed out on the top category of Best Musical and Best Book for librettist James Lapine.

The star-studded revival of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” also missed out on a number of key nominations. Director Sam Gold...

With the announcement of the Tony Awards nominations on May 9, we now know the shows and performers in contention for the 75th annual ceremony. The 29 members of the Tony nominating committee recognized 29 of the 34 eligible productions across 25 competitive categories.

See the complete list of 2022 Tony Awards nominees

The Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “A Strange Loop” with score and book by Michael R. Jackson leads with 11 nominations, including Best Musical and for three of its cast members. Two other new musicals — “Mj The Musical” and “Paradise Square” — are right behind with 10 bids apiece. Both took slots in the top category of Best Musical and performed exceedingly well in the design categories. From the four eligible musical revivals, the late Stephen Sondheim‘s “Company” leads with nine nominations.

All 13 eligible musicals and musical revivals earned at least one nomination. Smash success “Six: The Musical” reaped eight bids, but as our users predicted, none...

Updated with full list of nominees: Tony Awards nominations were announced Monday morning, and Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson’s autobiographical musical starring Jaquel Spivey, took the most nominations with 11, while Mj, the Michael Jackson musical, and Paradise Square each earned 10. Company took nine, The Lehman Trilogy and Six garnered eight, and both for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and Girl From the North Country took seven.

With six nominations were The Music Man and The Skin of Our Teeth, with Clyde’s, Hangmen and Mr. Saturday Night taking five.

At four nominations were American Buffalo, Flying Over Sunset, Take Me Out, and Trouble in Mind. With three nominations were Caroline, or Change, Dana H., How I Learned to Drive, Macbeth, Potus and Skeleton Crew. Taking single noms were Diana, The Musical, Funny Girl, Lackawanna Blues, The Minutes, Mrs. Doubtfire and Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite.

Two musical revivals will dominate the 2022 Tony Awards nominations, according to our official odds in 17 of the 25 categories. “Company” and “The Music Man” will each earn at least seven bids apiece when the nominations are announced on Monday, May 9. Original musical “A Strange Loop” will likely earn at least six nominations. “The Lehman Trilogy” will likely lead the new plays with at least four bids, and revivals “Take Me Out” and “Trouble In Mind” will also earn four or more bids each, too.

These official odds are derived from 2022 Tony predictions by our Experts who write about theatre year-round, our in-house team of Editors, and all Users who make up the largest (and often savviest) bloc of predictors.

Below, we break down the predicted nominees by show, ranked by the number of nominations. Make or edit your own predictions before the nominations are unveiled on Monday morning.

Musicals

Company

Best...

The Tony Awards Administration Committee met for the third and final time during the 2021-2022 Broadway season to discuss eligibility of 15 productions for the upcoming 75th Annual Tony Awards, airing June 12, 2022. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. Scroll down for the 2022 Tony Awards eligibility rulings (round 3).

The 75th Annual Tony Awards, hosted by Ariana DeBose, will broadcast live coast to coast for the first time ever on Sunday, June 12 starting at 7:00 – 8:00 Pm Et/4:00 – 5:00 Pm Pt with exclusive content streaming only on Paramount+. Following that is the live CBS (also Paramount+) presentation of the American Theatre Wing’s 75th Annual Tony Awards from 8:00-11:00 Pm Et/5:00 – 8:00 Pm Pt. Tony nominations will be announced on Monday, May 9.

See Tony Awards eligibility rulings (round 1): ‘Six’ wives, ‘Lehman Trilogy’ men are all leads

The productions discussed on Thursday were: “Plaza Suite,...

Broadway’s Plaza Suite, the Neil Simon revival starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, announced a third extension today, citing ticket demand. The comedy will now run at the Hudson Theatre through Sunday, July 10.

Directed by John Benjamin Hickey, Plaza Suite was previously extended to make up for performances canceled after both stars tested positive for Covid. The engagement originally was planned through June prior to the extensions.

Plaza Suite also stars Danny Bolero as The Waiter, Molly Ranson as Jean McCormick/Mimsey Hubley, and Eric Wiegand as The Bellhop/Borden Eisler. The production marks the first time Broderick and Parker have shared a Broadway stage since the 1995 revival of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Plaza Suite began previews on Broadway on Friday, February 25 and opened Monday, March 28. following a sold-out pre-Broadway engagement at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre.

Broadway box office was down 15 last week, with even some of the biggest hit shows reporting slips for the week ending May 1. In all, the 36 shows grossed 29,072,410.

Likely reflecting a slimming down of spring break and Easter tourist business, attendance was off by 10 last week from the previous week, coming in at 241,500. That number suggests that only 75 of available seats were filled, a significantly lower figure than the 85+ numbers reported earlier this spring.

Also impacting receipts was the large number of opening nights, with press comps and other freebies eating into the figures at The Skin of Our Teeth, A Strange Loop, Potus, Mr. Saturday Night and Macbeth. The Tony Award eligibility cut-off date is May 4.

The average ticket price for the roster was down as well, to 120 from the previous week’s 128.

Some productions, of course, took steeper drops than others: Beetlejuice was down by more than 492,698 from the previous week,...

Broadway box office held steady last week as the production roster reached its full, 35-show season maximum: Though some productions remained in previews, everything that’s going to open before the end of the season was up and running, with no Covid cancelations or postponements.

In all, the 35 productions grossed a total 34,204,820, with attendance at 267,796 for the week ending April 24. Both of those figures were just about dead-even with the previous week’s tallies, with one additional show on the roster – Paradise Square returned after some Covid cancelations – and a slate of opening nights causing small dips due to press and opening night comps.

With an overall average ticket price of 128, the 35 productions combined filled about 84 of available seats, just a tad short of the previous week’s percentage (87).

The following productions had opening nights last week:

How I Learned To Drive, filling about 90 of seats, took in 265,830; for colored...

Show business thrives on risk — even existential risk. Take this Broadway moment when new shows are opening at a pace that shocks even grizzled veterans – 15 in April alone. Of course, some will quickly be shuttering due to Broadway’s two dire enemies: critics and Covid. Ticket buyers must navigate a complex landscape.

It seems appropriate that Barbra Streisand may now re-appear as a star of the maelstrom. The revival of Funny Girl on April 24 will help her celebrate her 80th birthday — 60 years since her coronation on the hit show.

Given their layers of narcissistic impenetrability, superstars resist honest analysis, and that applies to the great Streisand as well. She is arguably the most famous, the wealthiest and the most trouble-prone. I’ve been a witness to “Barbra-trouble” over the years, but her high-temper detonations have only added to my admiration for her.

As the Streisand presence still looms large on Broadway,...

Six had its best week ever, Mrs. Doubtfire was back and several new shows joined the Broadway roster last week as box office climbed a total of 23 to 34,729,295. Compared to the previous week, Broadway total attendance was up about 16 to 261,835 for the 34 productions.

The attendance figure indicates that about 87 of all available seats were filled during the week ending April 17, comparable to the week before.

Among the notable numbers: The musical Six, which resumed previews post-Covid shutdown last September, grossed 1,357,276, topping its own high-mark of 1,347,922 for the week ending December 19, 2021. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child also had its highest grossing week since resuming performances last fall, taking in 1,964,665.

Mrs. Doubtfire, which went on hiatus at the height of the Omicron surge in January, returned to the Stephen Sondheim Theatre with six performances, taking in 528,807 and playing to a 97 capacity. Average ticket price was about 90.

Among the newcomers to the...

Several Broadway shows impacted by the uptick in New York City Covid cases last week were still feeling the effects this week: Plaza Suite has announced that it will resume performances tomorrow with Matthew Broderick back but co-star Sarah Jessica Parker still out, and Paradise Square has canceled performances for the entire week.

Producers of Plaza Suite said today that performances of the hit comedy will resume Thursday, April 14, at the Hudson Theatre with Broderick performing opposite Erin Dilly playing the roles usually portrayed by Broderick’s co-star and wife Parker.

Parker is expected to return to the production starting with the matinee on Saturday, April 16.

Last week, Plaza Suite canceled performances after both Broderick and Parker tested positive for Covid. Broderick had already been out for two days – replaced by an understudy – when Parker announced on April 7 that she too had tested positive.

Broadway’s total box office tally held steady last week, with new shows and strong ongoing performers making up for the money lost when some productions canceled performances due to Covid outbreaks.

In all, the 31 productions reporting grosses took in a combined 28,329,869 for the week ending April 10, down a small 2 from the previous week. Attendance was 225,256, a tiny 1 drop. Average ticket price for all shows was 125.77.

On the roster’s minus side, Plaza Suite, played only three performances for the week – stars Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker tested Covid-positive; the play is canceled at least through tonight – and took in 547,536, a drop of 836,026 from the previous week’s full-schedule take of 1,383,563. Paradise Square, also playing three performances, grossed 80,612, a 215,738 fall; and Macbeth starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga canceled all performances for the week.

A Strange Loop delayed its first preview from last week until tonight.

On the plus side, the musical Beetlejuice returned to Broadway last week, with two performances filling seats (including a highly comped Friday evening return performance) and adding 395,704 to the roster. The popular musical, back on Broadway for the first time since pre-Covid days, carried a healthy 123.50 average ticket price.

Also joining the roster was Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, playing two previews at the Golden, grossing 88,845 with a 69.63 ticket average.

Some other notable figures: The musical Six had its best week of 2022 at 1,343,506; Funny Girl filled seats and took in 1,262,828; Mr. Saturday Night, starring Billy Crystal, grossed 884,707 and played to 88 of capacity at the Nederlander; and The Music Man continued its juggernaut run with a 3,324,371 take.

Productions still finding audiences included The Skin of Our Teeth at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre, filling just 54 of available seats; and for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf at the Booth (67 capacity).

The Little Prince, which opened this week to generally dismissive reviews, filled 71 of its seats for eight previews last week, including press comp performances. The show’s blend of dance & aerial acrobatics was going for an average ticket price of 32, and grossed 311,133 for the week.

Season to date, Broadway has grossed 652,514,219, with total attendance of 5,205,232 at about 82 of capacity.

The 31 productions reporting figures on Broadway last week were Aladdin; American Buffalo; Beetlejuice; Birthday Candles; The Book of Mormon; Chicago; Come From Away; Company; Dear Evan Hansen; for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf; Funny Girl; Hadestown; Hamilton; Hangmen; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; How I Learned To Drive; The Lion King; The Little Prince; Mj; The Minutes; Moulin Rouge!; Mr. Saturday Night; The Music Man; Paradise Square; The Phantom of the Opera; Plaza Suite; Six; The Skin of Our Teeth; Take Me Out; Tina; and Wicked.

All figures courtesy of the Broadway League.

Anderson Cooper missed his CNN program tonight after saying on social media that he has tested positive for Covid.

“Just tested positive for Covid,” Cooper posted on Instagram. “Thankfully the kids are negative. Hope to get back to work soon.”

The veteran host has two sons: toddler Wyatt and 2-month-old Sebastian.

Cooper did not mention whether he is symptomatic, and neither he nor CNN gave a timeframe for his return to the cable news outlet. John Berman filled in tonight on Anderson Cooper 360°, opening the 8 p.m. Et show by saying only, “I’m John Burman, in for Anderson.”

Cooper’s news amid a wave of Covid cases hitting high-profile folks in Washington, D.C., of late. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Susan Collins (R-me) and Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-ga) are among those who tested positive in recent days. Attorney General Merrick Garland was among the more than 50 people who...

Broadway musical Paradise Square has canceled another week of performances due to Covid cases within the company, with performances set to resume on Saturday, April 16.

“After previously announcing that performances would resume on Tuesday, April 12, the original new Broadway musical Paradise Square will definitely resume performances on Saturday, April 16, with performances at 2:00 and 8:00 pm at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre,” the production said in a statement today.

Paradise Square, which opened April 3, halted performances on Thursday, April 7 after positive Covid cases were experienced in the company.

Also today, the Broadway productions of Macbeth, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga, and the Pulitzer-winning A Strange Loop canceled tonight’s performances as both shows recover from recent Covid cases. The two productions are expected to resume performances on Tuesday, April 12. Both shows had previously canceled last week’s performances due to Covid cases within their casts and companies, and had expected to return today.

The ensemble of Second Stage Theatre’s revival of “Take Me Out” has waited over two years for the first pitch of this baseball drama on Broadway, but after the lengthy pandemic delay the remounting finally opened on April 4 at the Hayes Theater. Playwright Richard Greenberg’s Tony-winning play centers on fictional baseball team The Empires and chronicles the personal and professional fallout after the center-fielder Darren Lemming (Jesse Williams) reveals that he is gay. The ensemble boasts recognizable faces including Williams and Patrick J. Adams in their Broadway debuts, plus Broadway mainstays Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Brandon J. Dirden, and others under the direction of Tony-nominee Scott Ellis.

“Take Me Out” received strong notices from critics, who note how the play still feels relevant despite how much American culture has evolved in the past 20 years. In a Critic’s Pick review, Jesse Green (New York Times) calls the work “mostly delightful and provocative,...

Update, with Matthew Broderick announcement Matthew Broderick has tested positive for Covid and will miss tonight’s performance of Broadway’s Plaza Suite, producers announced. His wife and co-star Sarah Jessica Parker has tested negative and will perform this evening.

In a statement released just an hour before showtime, producers said Broderick had maintained strict adherence to Covid safety protocols but that a second test confirmed the diagnosis.

“Everyone wishes him a speedy recovery,” the statement said. The statement did not indicate when Broderick is expected to resume performances at the Hudson Theatre.

Previous: A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson’s Pulitzer-winning musical, has canceled its first Broadway preview, originally set for Wednesday, due to cases of Covid detected within the company. Previews now are expected to begin Thursday, April 7, at the Lyceum Theatre with understudies in some roles.

The show becomes the second Broadway production in as many weeks...

Broadway’s spring season kicked into higher gear last week, with the arrival of seven previewing productions (with more to come over the next few weeks). Business overall remained robust, with the 31 shows grossing a total of 28,818,836. The figure marks a 7 increase over the previous week, a jump due in no small part to the stellar performances of such recent arrivals as Funny Girl, Mr. Saturday Night, Plaza Suite and, of course, The Music Man.

Total attendance for the week ending April 3 was 224,053, a 12 increase over the previous week’s 200,731 when there were seven fewer productions on the boards. Average across-the-board Broadway ticket price 128.63.

Two shows officially opened last week: Plaza Suite, starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, to mixed-to-positive reviews, continuing its strong business with a 1,288,716 gross and full houses. Average ticket price was a healthy 178.75.

Reviews were less enthusiastic for Paradise Square, with the musical taking a...

Broadway’s mad dash to the Tony Award nominations began on April 3 with the opening of original musical “Paradise Square,” the first of 17 new productions set to bow this month. Set during the Civil War in Manhattan’s Five Points, “Paradise Square” explores the antagonisms between Irish immigrants and Black Americans during the national conflict and the potential haven for solidarities at the title bar. The musical stars an ensemble cast that boasts Tony Award-nominee Joaquina Kalukango, directed by two-time Tony nominee Moisés Kaufman. The musical runs at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

“Paradise Square” features a book cowritten by Christina Anderson, three-time Tony nominee Craig Lucas, and Larry Kirwan, and a score with music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Tysen and Masi Asare with contributions from Kirwin. Tony-nominee Allen Moyer is the musical’s scenic designer, three-time Tony nominee Toni-Leslie James the costume designer, and two-time Tony winner Donald Holder the lighting designer.

Twenty-five years after her last appearance on Broadway, Sarah Jessica Parker has returned to the stage in the first revival of Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite.” For her long-awaited bow, Parker has brought along a familiar theatre actor, her husband and two-time Tony winner Matthew Broderick. The comedy features three standalone acts centering on a different couple that each occurs in Suite 719 of the famed Plaza Hotel in New York City. This production features the direction of Tony-winning actor John Benjamin Hickey and opened at the Hudson Theatre on March 28.

In the nearly 55 years since “Plaza Suite” premiered, critics have mostly cooled on the comedy. In a positive notice, Peter Marks (Washington Post) calls the show a “merry old time,” and Parker, Broderick, and Hickey “do proud the memory of Simon.” He applauds the “unbeatable” John Lee Beatty’s “resplendently detailed set of Room 719, a luxe facsimile of a Plaza Hotel room,...

Funny Girl arrived on Broadway to a full house last week, selling out its first preview at the August Wilson Theatre.

The musical revival, starring Beanie Feldstein in the title role, hit town as Broadway continues posting big rebound box office numbers. For the week ending March 27, the 24 Broadway productions took in $26,814,466, with attendance of 200,731 at nearly 90% of capacity. Average ticket price was a healthy $134.

Topping the Broadway box office roster yet again was The Music Man, the Hugh Jackman-Sutton Foster musical revival grossing a massive $3,292,951 for the week. Hamilton followed with $2,235,879. For its single sold-out preview, Funny Girl took in $200,793.

Also joining the roster last week for a full eight previews was American Buffalo, the David Mamet revival starring Sam Rockwell, Laurence Fishburne and Darren Criss. The production at Circle in the Square grossed $683,547, with attendance at about 94% of capacity.

In addition to Funny Girl, The Music Man and Hamilton,...

Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite couldn’t seem better suited to the long-in-coming stage-taking of real-life couple Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker. What better way for two actors who got their early starts in the theater – she as a young star of Annie, he in Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Biloxi Blues – than a vintage Broadway comedy with multiple roles for its leading man and woman?

Toss in the fact that Simon’s triptych of comic scenarios offers Parker the chance to break free of the melodramatic leanings of And Just Like That and gives Broderick a comfy stretch before his upcoming Netflix drama about the opioid crisis.

A comfortable fit, no? Maybe too comfortable. More than anything else, Plaza Suite, opening tonight at the Hudson Theatre, provides one of Broadway’s most loved couples the chance to share the stage in a slick, amiable setting that asks...

All but six of the current 22 Broadway productions filled more than 90% of their available seats last week, and most of the ones that didn’t hit that mark came close, according to the first detailed box office figures released this season by the Broadway League.

In all, the 22 shows grossed a total of $26,656,904 during the week ending March 20, a 19% jump over the previous week’s $22M tally. Total paid attendance of 196,036 was a 16% increase over the previous week’s 168,999, and indicates that about 92% of total available seats were filled.

For the first time since Broadway returned from the Covid pandemic shutdown last September, the League – the trade organization representing theater owners and producers – released box office data for each of the 22 productions. The League had been releasing only combined numbers for all productions due to the impact of Covid on playing schedules and other statistics.

This week’s box office...

The Tony Awards eligibility cut-off date for the 2021-22 season will be Thursday, April 28, leaving the May opening of Potus outside of this year’s race.

The ineligibility of Selina Fillinger’s Potus – full title: Potus: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive – was not unexpected: The recently announced comedy has an opening night of May 9, more than a week beyond the traditional theater season end. But the unusual nature of this return-from-Covid season, which saw the 2021 Tony Awards bumped from spring to fall, prompted some industry speculation about an expanded eligibility window.

The Tony Awards Administration Committee made the cut-off date ruling today during its second of four eligibility meetings of the season. The meetings are convened to determine, among other things, which Tony categories potential nominees will fall into.

Potus, starring Rachel Dratch, Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White and Vanessa Williams,...

Broadway box office last week rebounded from the previous week’s slip, gaining 13% in receipts and 10% in attendance. In all, the 20 productions grossed $22,375,926.

Paid attendance for the week ending March 13 was 168,999, representing about 85% of available seats filled. The average ticket price was $132, up a few bucks from the previous week.

New to the roster was Take Me Out, the revival of the Richard Greenberg play at the Helen Hayes Theater. Directed by Scott Ellis and starring Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Jesse Williams, the production began previews March 10, with an opening night set for April 4.

Take Me Out is one of the first arrivals of what will be a very busy season for Broadway, with 15 other shows set to open through April.

Season to date, Broadway has grossed $541,893,534, with total attendance of 4,359,153 at about 81% of capacity.

Productions reporting performances on Broadway during the week ending March 13 were Aladdin...

Broadway box office took a 14% stumble last week, with total receipts for the 19 productions dropping to $19,746,606 from the previous week’s sturdier $23,004,259. Total attendance was down by the same percentage, to 153,269.

In all, about 78% of seats were filled during the week ending March 6, a drop from the previous week’s 92%. The average ticket price – $129 – held even.

The reason for the drop was not immediately clear, and figures for individual shows are not being provided by The Broadway League this season, but the two weeks (including Presidents Day holiday) prior to last week were exceptionally strong, with box office climbing to $26M and $23M, respectively, the best numbers since the arrival of the Omicron surge in January. Last week also marked the first week following the annual February two-for-one ticket promotion for many shows, but the average industry-wide ticket price wasn’t noticeably impacted.

Season to date, Broadway has grossed $519,521,959, with...

Like so many of you, I had a lengthy hiatus from Broadway due to Covid, beginning the day after a part-time usher at “Six” was diagnosed in March 2020 with the disease and Broadway began its shut down. In fact, I had just seen “Six,” a day or so before that, and even had a brief conversation with an usher there, so I was a little nervous. However, unlike so many others, I did not return in the fall. Having a project to finish in Chicago, I did not get back to Broadway until February 9, when I went to see the current revival of one of my all-time favorites, “The Music Man.”

Front and side, at the Winter Garden Theater, I had a great time. I was particularly taken with Benjamin Payjak, playing Winthrop Paroo. When Benjamin sang his verse in the “The Wells Fargo Wagon” number, it was so wonderful that I teared up,...