The fall season for new musicals on Broadway began with a five-star flourish with the August opening of Prince of Broadway. Lovers of vintage shows can thank heavens and their lucky stars as well for this revue, sampling many of the productions directed and/or produced by the legendary Hal Prince.
Unfortunately, its limited engagement is set to end on 22 October, and beyond this the autumn looks relatively skimpy when it comes to Broadway musical premieres.
A total of four new productions (including Prince of Broadway) are scheduled for the last half of 2017, compared with eight that hit the boards in the last half of 2016.
Hopefully, all three of the remaining openings will be gems, despite their limited number. Certainly, one of them has already been showered with buckets of praise during an Off-Broadway run a year ago. That’s The Band’s Visit, which played a limited Off-Broadway engagement last December.
Based on a 2007 Israeli movie, The Band’s Visit tells of a ceremonial Egyptian police band that has come to Israel to play at the opening of an Egyptian cultural outpost in a small Israeli town.
Through a mishap, however, the musicians wind up at the wrong town, where the citizens open their doors and hearts to these stranded strangers. It’s an exultant celebration of people from supposed antithetical backgrounds finding connections.
The book is by Itamar Moses, the score by David Yazbek, and David Cromer directs. Most of the Off-Broadway cast, headed by Tony Shalhoub and Katrina Lenk, returns for this Broadway run, with previews starting 7 October for an opening on 9 November.
The next opening will be a revival of Once On This Island, the 1990 musical which back then was, like The Band’s Visit, a transfer from Off-Broadway.
The show’s Broadway run counted 469 performances and 19 previews. The show tells of the rocky road to romance travelled by a pair of young lovers on a storm-tossed Caribbean island, helped along by a group of the island gods.
Book and lyrics are by Lynn Ahrens, with music by Ahrens’ long-time songwriting partner, Stephen Flaherty. The pair wrote the score for such shows as Ragtime, Rocky and My Favorite Year and are currently represented on Broadway with Anastasia.
The cast is headed by Lea Salonga, a Tony winner for her turn in the original Broadway production of Miss Saigon. Michael Arden, who staged the recent revival of Spring Awakening, directs, and Camille A. Brown choreographs. Lending an off-stage hand as assistant director is Nikki M. James who claimed a Tony for her featured role in The Book of Mormon.
Previews for Once On This Island start on 9 November with an opening scheduled for 3 December.
Closing out the fall musical openings will by SpongeBob SquarePants. Yes, that’s really the kiddie cartoon favourite. The show, which had an earlier run last year in Chicago, was conceived by Tina Landau, who directs. Choreography is by Christopher Gattelli.
The show features a score of original songs by a veritable school of top-flight contemporary composers and groups, including Cyndi Lauper, Steven Tyler, Sara Bareilles, John Legend, Lady Antebellum, They Might Be Giants and more. There’s even a song by the late David Bowie.
The book by Kyle Farrow tells us how SpongeBob and his undersea pals fight off a threat of total annihilation. Ethan Slater takes on the title role in a cast that also includes Gavin Lee as a fellow named Squidward. Spongebob begins previewing 6 November for a 4 December opening.
Now, if you agree that the Broadway slate looks a trifle slim, don’t despair. The denizens of Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway are on hand, as usual, to help fill in the void, at least a bit.
Among the most luminous Off-Broadway events should be the seven benefit performances from 15-19 November at New York City Center of the Lerner and Loewe classic Brigadoon.
The Encores! staged concert-style presentation will star Patrick Wilson, Kelli O’Hara, Aasif Mandvi and Robert Fairchild. Christopher Wheeldon, who guided ballet star Fairchild to Broadway glory in An American in Paris, directs and choreographs.
Other Off-Broadway entries include a return of When Pigs Fly, a gay-infused musical revue that was a hit when it originally opened Off-Broadway in 1996 and ran for two years.
Conceived by the late Howard Crabtree and Mark Waldrop, the show’s peg is the attempt by a chap named Howard to put on a show despite a variety of obstacles, all the while hearing in his mind the words of his high school counsellor years earlier, warning him he’ll be able to stage a show only “when pigs fly”.
Waldrop, who wrote the book and lyrics, directs, as he did the first time around, and Denis Jones choreographs. Famed designer Bob Mackie supplies the costumes; Crabtree created them for the initial production. The music is by Dick Gallagher. Previews start 6 October for an opening on 30 October. A limited engagement, it’s set to close in late January, 2018.
The Mad Ones is a new musical to be presented by The Prospect Theater Company. With music by Brian Lowdermilk and lyrics by Kait Kerrigan, it centres on a young woman determining choices for her future. Previews begin 7 November for a scheduled run from 16 November to 17 December.
Another new title is Desperate Measures, borrowing ideas from Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure and transporting them to old-time (1890) American West. It has a book and lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by David Friedman. Previews for this York Theatre Company offering start 19 September for a run from 1-15 October.
Yet another new title, Loveless Texas, takes its inspiration from Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost and travels to the West, but circa 1930. Book and direction for this Boomerang Theatre Company production are by Cailin Heffernan, and music and lyrics are by Henry Aronson. The show opened on 9 September and has a scheduled finale on 24 September.
Finally, Musicals Tonight!, the very bare bones but enduring series of concert-type revivals, is marking its 20th season. On its fall schedule are Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s The Apple Tree, 3-15 October, and Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne’s Bells Are Ringing, 17-29 October.
Ron Cohen
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