Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Very sad news was released yesterday from the producers of Ragtime, the newly conceived and critically-acclaimed revival of one of the best musicals to ever grace the stage. After just 2 months, Ragtime will close. The last performance for the freshly-imagined show, which got its start last Summer in Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will be this Sunday, January 3rd. While the show is a favorite among theater-goers, its large budget, 40-piece orchestra, and large cast made Ragtime an expensive production that had been rumored to be too costly to keep afloat. No word just yet on whether or not the new production will tour. If you’re in New York City before January 3rd, do yourself a favor and see Ragtime at the Neil Simon Theatre.

  Playbill announced today the hit musical American Idiot, based on the Grammy-award winning multi-platinum Green Day album of the same name (with select songs from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown), will be making its way to Broadway. As with many covert shows making their way to the Great White Way, Playbill uncovered a casting notice for the Musical. The opening and theater are yet to be announced. American Idiot got its start at the Berkeley Preparatory Theater several months ago. The show received rave reviews from the critics and played to sold-out auditoriums, prompting three extensions of the engagement and breaking the theater’s record books for top-grossing show of all-time. According to Playbill “American Idiot follows working-class characters from the suburbs to the city to the Middle East, as they seek redemption in a world filled with frustration — an exhilarating journey borne along by Green Day’s electrifying songs. This high-octane show includes every song from the album, as well as several new songs from 21st Century Breakdown.”

Pictured: Matt Caplan and ensemble in American Idiot at Berkeley Rep. Courtesy Mellopix.

 Casting is nearly complete for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s up-coming sequel to The Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom: Love Never Dies is scheduled to open at London’s Adelphi Theater on February 20, 2010 and then on Broadway in November of 2010. Today, Playbill announced Joseph Millson and Liz Robertson will join the previously announced Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Summer Strallen as principal cast. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s follow-up to The Phantom of the Opera begins its official opening March 9, 2010. Millson will play Raoul, who is now married to Christine in the new story, set in Coney Island ten years on from where Phantom ended.For more information on The Phantom: Love Never Dies, visit the Official Site: http://loveneverdies.com.

A Steady Rain, a new play running right now on Broadway starring superstar actors Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig, was disrupted by an audience member’s ringing cellular phone on Wednesday. Rightfully annoyed, Jackman (and later Craig) stopped the performance and acknowledged the ringing phone, instructing the owner to answer the phone call while they waited. The incident was caught on tape. We’ve all been to a performance of a play or a movie and experienced the annoyance of a ringing cell phone. I am glad these actors decided enough was enough:

 With only a week before Green Day takes the stage at Orlando’s Amway Arena for their Green Day Tour, a musical based on the band’s hit album American Idiot is taking shape.Tony Award-winning orchestrator and composer Tom Kitt, whose Next to Normal is playing Broadway, has joined the creative team of the new Green Day musical American Idiot, as music supervisor. On July 28, Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California announced the creative team for the September-October world premiere of American Idiot, inspired by Green Day’s Grammy Award-winning album of the same name and directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer, who collaborated with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong on the project’s story.

Featuring the music of Green Day and the lyrics of Armstrong, American Idiot will feature the work of Olivier Award-winning choreographer Steven Hoggett, Tony nominee Christine Jones (sets), two-time Tony winner Kevin Adams (lights), Baryshnikov fellow Andrea Lauer (costumes) and Obie Award winner Brian Ronan (sound), as well as video designer Darrel Maloney. Berkeley Rep will present the show in association with Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman, the lead producers of Spring Awakening, Sept. 4-Oct. 11 at the Rep’s Roda Theatre. Two-time 2009 Kitt created string arrangements for the band’s latest album, “21st Century Breakdown.” In addition to music supervisor, he is American Idiot‘s arranger and orchestrator. (Courtesy, Playbill).

Playbill announced today that Broadway stars Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess will star as The Phantom and Christine (respectively) in both the West End and Broadway productions of the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera (The Phantom: Love Never Dies). Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to be excited in the casting of The Phantom and Christine: “I personally feel that what will now happen is that Sierra and Ramin will open in London early next year and then go to New York in the autumn of 2010. I think once the album comes out, hopefully before Christmas, a lot of singers will come out of the woodwork and we’ll find new Christines and Phantoms for the other productions.”Perhaps even more interesting, however, is a little more revealing information on the plot, which may have changed slightly as Webber has meticulously worked on the sequel. According to Playbill, “In 1907 New York, the mysterious ‘Maestro’ who runs the theatre at Coney Island announces a one-off concert by legendary Parisian soprano Christine Daaé. Her arrival in New York with husband Raoul, Victome de Chagny and son Gustave, and their subsequent meeting with the ‘Maestro,’ bring the cataclysmic events of 10 years earlier at the Paris Opera crashing back into all their lives.” The Phantom: Love Never Dies should be making its way to a Broadway debut in about a year. Exciting news, indeed.

It’s official! The Kennedy Center’s Washington DC Production of Ragtime is making its way to Broadway! Here is the story, right from the front page of Playbill:

Ragtime, the Tony Award-winning musical that fans say got a too-short Broadway run after its 1998 launch — in the same season as The Lion King — is coming back to the Great White Way. The news has been buzzed about for weeks, and on July 1 producers made it official: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ recent all-new and critically acclaimed production of Terrence McNally, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Ragtime, based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, featuring direction and choreography by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, will begin Broadway previews Oct. 23 at the Neil Simon Theatre. Opening is Nov. 15.

Casting and ticketing information will be announced soon. Members of the Kennedy Center company will likely be offered their roles again.  Ragtime will be produced on Broadway by Kevin McCollum, Roy Furman, Roger Berlind, Max Cooper, Tom Kirdahy/Devlin Elliott, Jeffrey Sine, Scott Delman, Roy Miller, LAMS Productions, Inc., Wendy Federman, Emanuel Azenberg in association with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Milgrom Dodge’s production debuted at the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on April 18 and played a popular limited engagement through May 17, 2009. The award winning production team includes scenic design by Derek McLane, original costume design by Santo Loquasto, lighting design by Donald Holder, musical direction by James Moore and original orchestrations by William David Brohn.

After a test run in Toronto, Ragtime originally opened on Broadway on Jan. 18, 1998 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. The musical won four Tony Awards including Best Book (Terrence McNally), Original Score (lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty) and Best Orchestrations (Williams David Brohn). Audra McDonald won a Tony as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Sarah.

The lavish, big-cast project was initiated and guided by producer Garth Drabinsky, whose production company Livent would collapse within several years of the Broadway bow. Frank Galati directed the original; Graciela Daniele choreographed. Both were Tony-nominated for their work.  A scaled-down London production and a national tour followed the Broadway run, and the title has since been seen in regional, stock and amateur theatre. Flaherty told the Washington Post earlier this year that the 2009 production, physically, falls somewhere between the opulent 1998 production and the “minimalist” London production.

The fantastic Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts production of Ragtime is heading to Broadway! The scaled-back production, with an amazingly large and talented cast, while definitely not as technically superior to the original production which opened at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts (in 1998), was critically-acclaimed and absolutely incredible! I had the privilege of seeing the Kennedy production in Washington, DC a little over a month ago and knew that a production of such high lavish quality would definitely be making it to the Great White Way. Here’s the story, which is currently the front-page headline from Playbill:

According to an Actors’ Equity casting notice, the Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens-Terrence McNally musical will be produced on Broadway by The Kennedy Center, Kevin McCollum, Emanuel Azenberg, Max Cooper, Maberry Theatricals, Jeffrey Sine, Scott Delman, Roy Furman and Roger Berlind.  Marcia Milgrom Dodge, who directed and choreographed the D.C. production, will repeat her duties for Broadway as will music director James Moore. Rehearsal dates, preview date and opening date are to be announced, according to the casting notice.

No casting has been announced; in fact, the casting notice reads, “Casting Director states that all roles are currently available.” Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel, Ragtime features a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Ragtime originally opened on Broadway at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts Jan. 18, 1998, playing 834 performances before closing Jan. 16, 2000. The original company featured Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald and Marin Mazzie.

“At the start of the 20th century,” Ragtime press notes state, “New York City was for many the land of opportunity. Through a poor Jewish immigrant selling wares on the street, a wealthy Victorian couple offering aid to a runaway, and a Harlem jazz pianist out for justice, that unique brand of American hope runs strong. Together, their stories celebrate the