HIGHLIGHTS OF A STAR-FILLED 08-09 BROADWAY SEASON

2008-2009 Broadway Season Officially Ends

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF AN HISTORIC STAR-FILLED YEAR,

PACKED WITH PLAYS,  INCLUDES: 

 

The Seagull • A Man For All Seasons •  To Be Or Not To Be • All My Sons • White Christmas 

 Shrek •  Pal Joey •  Soul of Shaolin•  The American Plan  • Hedda Gabler •  33 Variations 

God Of Carnage •  Impressionism •  Exit The King • Mary Stuart •  The Norman Conquests 

The Philanthropist • Accent on Youth •  Waiting for Godot 

 

as well as the stars:

Joan Allen •  Matthew Broderick •  Stockard Channing  •  Jeff Daniels •  Hope Davis

Jane Fonda  •  Sutton Foster •  James Gandolfini •  John Glover •  John Goodman

Colin Hanks •  Marcia Gay Harden • Katie Holmes  •  Jeremy Irons  •  Bill Irwin

Brian d’Arcy James •  Nathan Lane •   Frank Langella • John Lithgow •  Samantha Mathis

Jan Maxwell •  Janet McTeer •  Mary Loiuse Parker •   David Hyde Pierce

Lily Rabe  • David Rasche •  Matthew Risch  •   Mercedes Ruehl  •  Geoffrey Rush

Susan Sarandon •  Peter Sarsgaard •  Christopher Sieber  • Kristin Scott Thomas

Harriet Walter • Steven Weber •  Dianne Wiest •  Patrick Wilson

 

Visit the link below for a 2.5 minute glance back at the stars and shows this season

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ1ZH2TZNT8

 

 

Here are some highlights from the season. 

 

This was one of the busiest, starriest and eclectic Broadway seasons in years, featuring productions and performances that will make it one to remember.   Starting in October with The Seagull starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard, through last night’s Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Waiting for Godot starring Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman and John Glover, 43 productions have opened on Broadway, including 10 new musicals, nine new plays, four musical revivals, 16 play revivals and five “special events.” 

 

Fall kicked off with the Royal Court’s acclaimed production of Chekhov’s The Seagull directed Ian Rickson, examining the romantic entanglements and regrets of a group of artists gathered on a Russian estate. 

 

Roundabout Theatre Company began autumn exploring politics, religion and power with Frank Langella in A Man for All Seasons directed by Doug Hughes, and wrapped up 2008 with Stockard Channing , Martha Plimpton  and Matthew Risch in Pal Joey, directed by Joe Mantello.  Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler starring Mary Louise Parker rang in the new year at Roundabout, in an adaptation by Christopher Shinn.

 

 

Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, asked audiences to reexamine the costs of war when it returned to Broadway this fall, directed by Simon McBurney and starring John Lithgow, Patrick Wilson, Dianne Wiest and Katie Holmes. 

 

Snow fell early on Broadway when Irving Berlin’s White Christmas, a new stage adaptation of the classic film, opened in November starring Stephen Bogardus, Kerry O’Malley, Jeffry Denman and Meredith Patterson, featuring direction by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie and choreography by Randy Skinner.

 

The Great White Way saw green in December when Shrek The Musical landed at the Broadway Theatre starring Brian d’Arcy James as the loveable ogre and Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. Also starring Daniel Breaker, Christopher Sieber and John Tartaglia, the new musical is directed by Jason Moore and written by David Lindsay Abaire (book & lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (musical) with choreography by Josh Prince.   Flying monks were spotted a few blocks south when Soul of Shaolin played a limited run at the Minskoff.

 

Manhattan Theatre Club opened their season with To Be Or Not to Be, directed by Casey Nicholaw and began the new year in the Catskill Mountains of the 1960s with Richard Greenberg’s The American Plan starring Mercedes Ruehl and Lily Rabe.  They wrapped up their season with Samuel Raphaelson’s on-and-off stage love story, Accent on Youth starring David Hyde Pierce and directed by Daniel Sullivan.

 

This spring, Jane Fonda returned to Broadway after 46 years to confront an obsession with Beethoven and to settle with her on stage daughter played by Samantha Mathis in Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations, alongside Colin Hanks and Zach Grenier.  Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden tried to make nice (and failed) in Yasmina Reza’s comedy God of Carnage directed by Matthew Warchus.  Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen returned to Broadway after long absences to star in Michael Jacobs’ examination of art and love in Impressionism, directed by Tony Award-winner Jack O’Brien.

 

Fictitious monarchs Geoffrey Rush, Susan Sarandon, and Lauren Ambrose – and unappreciated servant Andrea Martin – added their regal presence to the Rialto in Eugene Ionesco’s Exit the King under the direction of Broadway newcomer Neil Armfield.  Historic British royalty was welcomed when Harriet Walter and Janet McTeer took to the stage in the Donmar Warehouse production of Mary Stuart, directed by Phyllida Lloyd.  And The Norman Conquests, Alan Ayckbourn’s trilogy, showcased a somewhat more middle class group of Brits, helmed by the busy Matthew Warchus.

 

Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist , directed by David Grindley and starring Matthew Broderick and Steven Weber, looked at the empty, insular lives of college intellectuals.  Appropriately closing the season is Samuel Beckett’s historic Waiting for Godot starring Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman and John Glover, and directed by Anthony Page.  It tells of two seemingly homeless men waiting for someone or something to explain life’s meaning – which, of course, never shows up.  Vladimir and Estragon might be relieved to know that as of yesterday, this year’s season has arrived at its end.

 

Please visit the link below for a 2.5 minute long glance back at the stars and shows this season  www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ1ZH2TZNT8

 

 

#  #  #  # 

 

Advertisement

2008-2009 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

2008-2009 OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

 

Nominations for the 59th annual Outer Critics Circle Awards, celebrating excellence in Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre, were announced this morning.

 

 

 

33 VARIATIONS has been nominated for five Outer Critics Circle Awards including: Outstanding New Broadway Play (Moisés Kaufman), Outstanding Director of a Play (Moisés Kaufman), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Zach Grenier), Outstanding Set Design (Derek McLane) and Outstanding Lighting Design (David Lander).

 

 

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS has been nominated for one Outer Critic’s Circle Award including: Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Patrick Page).

 

 

BODY AWARENESS has received a John Gassner Award nomination for playwright Annie Baker.

 

 

THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN has received three nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway), Outstanding Director of a Play (Garry Hynes), and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (David Pearse).

 

 

EXIT THE KING by Eugene Ionesco has been nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards, including: Outstanding Actor in a Play (Geoffrey Rush), and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play (Andrea Martin). The production is directed by Neil Armfield.

 

 

FARRAGUT NORTH has received two nominations: Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play and the John Gassner Award (Beau Willimon).

 

 

GOD OF CARNAGE by Yasmina Reza has been nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards, including: Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Actress in a play (Marcia Gay Harden). The production is directed by Matthew Warchus.

 

 

HUMOR ABUSE, which just concluded its extended run at MTC, has received a nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance (Lorenzo Pisoni).

 

 

MARY STUART has been nominated for three Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding Actress in a Play (Janet McTeer, Harriet Walter) and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (John Benjamin Hickey).

 

 

THE NORMAN CONQUESTS has been nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding Revival of a Play and Outstanding Director of a Play (Matthew Warchus).  The production has won an award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance for the cast (Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter, Amanda Root).

 

 

PAL JOEY has been nominated for two Outer Critics Circle Awards including: Outstanding Revival of a Musical and Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical (Martha Plimpton).

 

 

RUINED, currently at Manhattan Theatre Club, has received five Outer Critics Circle Award nominations: Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Outstanding Lead Actress (Saidah Arrika Ekulona), Outstanding Featured Actor (Russell G. Jones), Outstanding Featured Actress (Condola Rashad), and Outstanding Lighting Design (Peter Kaczorowski).

 

 

SHREK THE MUSICAL has been nominated for 10 Outer Critics Circle Awards, including: Outstanding New Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score (David Lindsay-Abaire & Jeanine Tesori), Outstanding Director of a Musical (Jason Moore), Outstanding Choreographer (Josh Prince), Outstanding Set Design (Tim Hatley), Outstanding Costume Design (Tim Hatley), Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Brian d’Arcy James), Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Sutton Foster), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Daniel Breaker), Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical (Christopher Sieber).

 

 

WAITING FOR GODOT has been nominated for five Outer Critics Circle Awards including: Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Actor in a Play (Bill Irwin & Nathan Lane) Outstanding Director of a Play (Anthony Page) and Outstanding Set Design

(Santo Loquasto).

 

 

WHAT’S THAT SMELL? THE MUSIC OF JACOB STERLING has received two nominations, for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical and Outstanding Actor in a Musical (David Pittu).

 

 

ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY productions have been honored with eight nominations: including three for THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN, two for FARRUGUT NORTH, two for WHAT’S THAT SMELL? THE MUSIC OF JACOB STERLING and one for BODY AWARENESS

 

 

MANHATAN THEATRE CLUB productions have been honored with six Outer Critics Circle nominations: RUINED, received five nominations, the most nominations for an Off-Broadway show; and one nomination for HUMOR ABUSE. 

 

 

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY productions have been honored with eight nominations including five for WAITING FOR GODOT, two for PAL JOEY, and one for A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS.

 

 

TO READ THE COMPLETE LIST OF NOMINEES, VISIT:  http://tinyurl.com/crfaja

ROUNDABOUT’S PAL JOEY CONCLUDES LIMITED ENGAGEMENT 3/1

Final Week!

 

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

 

 

STOCKARD CHANNING    MATTHEW RISCH

MARTHA PLIMPTON

 

in

Pal Joey

 

Music by RICHARD RODGERS       Lyrics by LORENZ HART

New Book by RICHARD GREENBERG

Based on the original book by JOHN O’HARA

 

Music Direction by PAUL GEMIGNANI

Choreography by GRACIELA DANIELE

Directed by JOE MANTELLO

 concludes its limited engagement Sunday, March 1^st, 2009

 

 

“Stockard Channing is sensational. Her interpretation of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” is ravishing!”

 – John Lahr, The New Yorker

 

“A handsome revival of the Rodgers and Hart jazzy classic! This sophisticated showcase of old-fashioned glamour and wit is well worth a visit to Studio 54. Martha Plimpton makes a sizzling musical-theater debut!”

 -David Cote, NY1

 

“One of the best musicals of the 20th century!” – Wall Street Journal

 

on Broadway at Studio 54

 

Roundabout Theatre Company‘s (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) limited engagement of Pal Joey will play its final performance on Sunday, March 1^st at 2:00 PM. This revival of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart’s classic musical stars Stockard Channing (Vera Simpson), Matthew Risch (Joey Evans) and Martha Plimpton (Gladys Bumps) and is directed by Joe Mantello at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54^th St). 

 

Pal Joey will have played 37 preview performances and 84 regular performances.  Previews began on November 14^th, 2008 and opened officially on December 18^th, 2008.  This limited engagement was extended two weeks.

 

The cast also includes Robert Clohessy (Mike), Jenny Fellner (Linda English), Daniel Marcus (Ludlow Lowell), Steven Skybell  (Ernest), Timothy J. Alex, Brian Barry, Kurt Froman, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Lisa Gajda, Anthony Holds, Nadine Isenegger, Mark Morettini, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Abbey O’Brien, Hayley Podschun, Krista Saab and Eric Sciotto. 

 

PAL JOEY features a new book by Tony® Award winner Richard Greenberg , based on the original book by John O’Hara, with music direction by Tony® Award winner Paul Gemignani, choreography by Graciela Daniele and directed by two-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello at Studio 54 on Broadway.

 

Set in Chicago in the late 1930s, PAL JOEY is the story of Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub.   Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend Linda English, to charm a rich, married older woman, Vera Simpson, in the hope that she’ll set him up in business. 

 

TICKET INFORMATION & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Tickets are available by phone at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Studio 54 Box Office (254 West 54^th Street).  Tickets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays range from $36.50 to $121.50.  Tickets on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays range from $36.50 to $126.50. 

 

Pal Joey will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM.

 

www.roundabouttheatre.org

### 

 

PAL JOEY’S MARTHA PLIMPTON IN NEW YORK TIMES

A Night Out With | Martha Plimpton

Old Hand, New Hands

By MERVYN ROTHSTEIN

A HALF-HOUR after finishing her night’s work in “Pal Joey,” Martha Plimpton walked into the Grill at the Players, a private club across from Gramercy Park.

With her were four “Pal Joey” colleagues – Lisa Gajda, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Abbey O’Brien and Krista Saab – the female dancers from the Roundabout Theater Company revival of the 1940 Rodgers and Hart musical, in which Ms. Plimpton is starring at Studio 54.

Ms. Plimpton planned a session of poker – a game some of the dancers had never played, but which she was eager to teach. “We’ve gone out quite a few times,” she said of the group. “We call each other the Tribe. They’re my protectors and guides.”

Ms. Plimpton, 38, has received two Tony nominations – as best featured actress in “The Coast of Utopia” in 2007 and “Top Girls” last year. This season the critics have been more than kind to her portrayal of Gladys Bumps, a singing and dancing floozy with a grudge. She has also been taking some days off and flying to the West Coast to film a comedy pilot for Showtime – “The End of Steve,” with Matthew Perry of “Friends” as an egomaniacal television talk show host and

The Players, founded in 1888 by Edwin Booth and Mark Twain, among others, has long catered to what it calls “members of the dramatic profession.” The Grill’s wall is crowded with portraits of the likes of Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart. Ms. Plimpton pointed to a picture of the actor John Carradine. “That’s my grandfather up there,” she said. “That’s pretty cool, huh?” (Her parents are the actor Keith Carradine and the actress Shelley Plimpton.)

  Click here to read the full article.

 

PAL JOEY’S STOCKARD CHANNING IN GOTHAM MAGAZINE

Roundabout Theatre Company’s Broadway production of PAL JOEY is currently playing on Broadway at Studio 54  

Gotham Magazine

January 2009

 

Slaves of New York
They’re actors. They’re stars. They’re enchanted by New York and they’re simply enchanting. And they’re Gotham’s picks for the Great White Way’s brightest stars of 2009.

 

 

 

 

STOCKARD CHANNING: “PAL”-ING AROUND WITH THE BEST

 

YOU CAN USE Stockard Channing as a generational Rorschach test: Audiences “of a certain age” will forever associate her first and foremost with Rizzo, from the 1978 film Grease, the movie that was a blockbuster hit before there was such a thing as a blockbuster hit.

 

Younger viewers know her best as first lady Abigail Bartlet, a role she played opposite Martin Sheen on The West Wing. And today, at 64, after parts in more than 80 films and TV shows, Channing is serenading a new audience-this time as Vera in the Broadway musical Pal Joey. And the fiery Chapin School and Harvard grad still relishes the hard work and grueling hours that Broadway demands.

 

“Theater is where I came from,” says Channing, who made her Broadway debut in 1971 in Two Gentlemen of Verona. “It’s the foundation of everything I do, and so I was happy to come back to musicals and happy to come back to New York.”

 

 

 

Click here to read the full article:

http://www.gotham-magazine.com/GOT_JN09_092_SLA.html

ROUNDABOUT’S PAL JOEY EXTENDS TO MARCH 1 ON BROADWAY

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

Announces

TWO WEEK EXTENSION!

Through March 1^st, 2009

STOCKARD CHANNING    MATTHEW RISCH

MARTHA PLIMPTON

star in a new Broadway production of

PAL JOEY

Music by RICHARD RODGERS       Lyrics by LORENZ HART

New Book by RICHARD GREENBERG

Based on the original book by JOHN O’HARA

Music Direction by PAUL GEMIGNANI

Choreography by GRACIELA DANIELE

Directed by JOE MANTELLO

“One of the best musicals of the 20th century!” – Wall Street Journal

“Rodgers and Hart’s songs are glorious!” – USA Today

“Pal Joey is a sophisticated showcase of old-fashioned glamour and wit.” – NY1 

On Broadway at Studio 54

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), is pleased to announce a two-week extension of PAL JOEY starring Stockard Channing (Vera Simpson), Matthew Risch (Joey Evans) and Martha Plimpton (Gladys Bumps), now through March 1^st, 2009.

PAL JOEY features a new book by Tony® Award winner Richard Greenberg, based on the original book by John O’Hara, with music direction by Tony® Award winner Paul Gemignani, choreography by Graciela Daniele and directed by two-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello at Studio 54 on Broadway.

PAL JOEY began previews on Friday, November 14^th, 2008 and opened officially on Thursday, December 18^th, 2008 at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54^th Street).  The limited engagement has been extended two weeks through March 1^st, 2009.

The cast of Pal Joey features Robert Clohessy (Mike), Jenny Fellner (Linda English), Daniel Marcus (Ludlow Lowell), Steven Skybell  (Ernest), Timothy J. Alex, Brian Barry, Kurt Froman, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Lisa Gajda, Anthony Holds, Nadine Isenegger, Mark Morettini, Kathryn Mowat Murphy, Abbey O’Brien, Hayley Podschun, Krista Saab and Eric Sciotto. 

The design team includes two-time Tony® Award winner Scott Pask (Sets), five-time Tony® Award winner William Ivey Long (Costumes), Tony® Award nominee Paul Gallo (Lights), Tony Meola (Sound), Don Sebesky (Orchestrator), Eric Stern (Dance Arranger) and Paul Huntley (Hair and Wig Design).

PAL JOEY premiered on Broadway on December 25, 1940, in a production directed and produced by George Abbott, starring Gene Kelly and Vivienne Segal. This production marks the first Broadway revival of PAL JOEY in over 30 years. 

Set in Chicago in the late 1930s, PAL JOEY is the story of Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub.   Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend Linda English, to charm a rich, married older woman, Vera Simpson, in the hope that she’ll set him up in business. 

The Rodgers & Hart score for PAL JOEY includes such classic songs as “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “I Could Write a Book,” “You Mustn’t Kick It Around,” and “Zip,” among others.   This new production of PAL JOEY also features “I’m Talking to My Pal,” a song that had been dropped from the score during its out-of-town tryout.

TICKET INFORMATION & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Tickets are available by phone at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Studio 54 Box Office (254 West 54^th Street).  Tickets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays range from $36.50 to $121.50.  Tickets on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays range from $36.50 to $126.50. 

Pal Joey plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM.

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY is one of the country’s leading not-for-profit theatres.  The company contributes invaluably to New York’s cultural life by staging the highest quality revivals of classic plays and musicals as well as new plays by established writers. Roundabout consistently partners great artists with great works to bring a fresh and exciting interpretation that makes each production relevant and important to today’s audiences.

Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42^nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics.  Roundabout’s Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions.  Together these three distinctive venues serve to enhance the work on each of its stages.

Lead support provided by Roundabout’s Musical Theatre Production Fund partners:  Perry and Marty Granoff, The Kaplen Foundation, Peter and Leni May, John and Gilda McGarry, Tom and Diane Tuft.   Major support provided by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company.  Roundabout productions are made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts; and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.  American Express is the 2008-2009 season sponsor of the Roundabout Theatre Company.   The Westin New York is the official hotel of Roundabout Theatre Company.   

Roundabout Theatre Company‘s 2008-2009 season also includes Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons, starring Frank Langella, directed by Doug Hughes; David Rabe’s Streamers, directed by Scott Ellis; Lisa Loomer’s Distracted featuring Cynthia Nixon, directed by Mark Brokaw; Steven Levenson’s The Language of Trees, directed by Alex Timbers; Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, starring Mary-Louise Parker, Michael Cerveris, Paul Sparks and Peter Stormare, directed by Ian Rickson; Christopher Hampton’s The Philanthropist, starring Matthew Broderick, directed by David Grindley and Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, starring (in order of speaking) Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman, David Strathairn, directed by Anthony Page.  Roundabout’s sold out production of The 39 Steps is making its second Broadway transfer to the Helen Hayes Theatre on January 21^st, 2009.

www.roundabouttheatre.org

PAL JOEY’S MARTHA PLIMPTON FEATURED IN NEWSDAY

Newsday

January 4, 2009

 

Fast Chat: Martha Plimpton stars in ‘Pal Joey’

 

When last we saw Martha Plimpton on Broadway, she was romancing a Russian revolutionary in “The Coast of Utopia.” Now, she’s making her musical theater debut as sexy chorus girl Gladys Bumps in Rodgers & Hart’s “Pal Joey.” Gladys is a hard-bitten dame with an ax to grind, and hips that follow – she delivers “Zip,” the burlesque send-up of Gypsy Rose Lee made famous a half-century ago by Elaine Stritch. Plimpton, a native New Yorker, sat down recently with Newsday’s Robert Kahn at Studio 54.

 

After the “Utopia” trilogy, we had you pegged as a dramatic actress. Now, a musical?

 

It’s newness on a grand scale, so it’s big and dramatic and scary, but that’s what I like. Some friends thought that I could sing, people I work with, like [“Utopia” director] Jack O’Brien. Jack was talking to Joe Mantello [who directs “Joey”] and said “You should think about Martha Plimpton for this.” I don’t know why Jack thought that – he’d never heard me sing.

 

But it was something that had been percolating?

 

When I was a kid I started in musical theater, avant-garde downtown stuff with Elizabeth Swados [“Runaways”]. … A few years ago, I met Lucy [Wainwright Roche]. I sang with her at one of her gigs and she asked me to do a song on her EP, so we did a cover of “Hungry Heart.” Then we decided to put together a whole evening based on performing with friends. We did it at the Zipper Factory in August.

 

So “Pal Joey” is your official coming out.

 

People will say that, but I’m not a calculator of the things I do. I don’t plan my career. Every time I’ve tried to strategize for success it’s led to nothing. And every time I’ve simply allowed my life to take its natural course, it’s led to a kind of success that is more valuable to me than the kind you get when you “work at it.”

 

When Richard Greenberg restructured the book for “Pal Joey,” he beefed up your character, adding “Zip” to the mix. Has Elaine Stritch seen you? What did she think?

 

Yeah, she has – but I don’t really want to say what we talked about.

 

Gladys wears some pretty racy costumes. How was that for you?

 

William Ivey Long wants an actor to go out there and feel their absolute best, and I feel like the sexiest bitch on Broadway. I just feel hot. I feel beautiful. I don’t feel exposed, because underneath the garments that have been constructed, I’m wearing an elaborate system of joists and pulleys designed to strengthen my assets … and minimize my defects.

 

  Click here to read the full feature:

http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/fanfare/ny-fffast5983582jan04,0,2607536.story

 

PAL JOEY IN THE NEWS

ROUNDABOUT THEATRE COMPANY

 

Pal Joey

Featured on ABC News Radio, Associated Press TV & Broadway.com

 

“One of the best musicals of the 20th century!” – Wall Street Journal

“Rodgers and Hart’s songs are glorious!” -USA Today

“Pal Joey is a sophisticated showcase of old-fashioned glamour and wit.” -NY1

 

Pal Joey is playing on Broadway at Studio 54

 

Roundabout Theatre Company‘s Broadway production of Rodgers & Hart’s classic musical PAL JOEY has been recently featured in the news.

 

ABC News Radio talks to star Matthew Risch about stepping into the role of “Joey Evans” and Associated Press TV & Broadway.com talk to star Stockard Channing about her return to the Broadway stage in the role of “Vera Simpson”.  Click on the links below to learn more.

 

ABC NEWS RADIO

Matthew Risch talks to ABC correspondent Bill Diehl:

Pal Joey on ABC Radio

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS TV

On landing page, sort by “Showbiz” to watch the Stockard Channing video:

Pal Joey on AP TV

 

BROADWAY.COM

Stockard Channing Q&A:

Pal Joey Broadway.com Q&A

 

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents Stockard Channing (Vera Simpson), Matthew Risch (Joey Evans) and Martha Plimpton (Gladys Bumps) in this new Broadway production. PAL JOEY features a new book by Tony® Award winner Richard Greenberg , based on the original book by John O’Hara, with music direction by Tony® Award winner Paul Gemignani, choreography by Graciela Daniele and directed by two-time Tony® Award winner Joe Mantello at Studio 54 on Broadway (254 West 54^th Street).

 

PAL JOEY opened officially on Thursday, December 18^th, 2008 and will play a limited engagement through February 15^th, 2009.

 

Set in Chicago in the late 1930s, PAL JOEY is the story of Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub.   Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend Linda English, to charm a rich, married older woman, Vera Simpson, in the hope that she’ll set him up in business. 

 

The Rodgers & Hart score for PAL JOEY includes such classic songs as “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “I Could Write a Book,” “You Mustn’t Kick It Around,” and “Zip,” among others.   The new production of PAL JOEY will also feature “I’m Talking to My Pal,” a song that had been dropped from the score during its out-of-town tryout.

           

TICKET INFORMATION & PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Tickets are available by phone at (212) 719-1300, online at www.roundabouttheatre.org or at the Studio 54 Box Office (254 West 54^th Street).  Tickets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays range from $36.50 to $121.50.  Tickets on Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays range from $36.50 to $126.50. 

 

Pal Joey plays Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8:00PM with a Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee at 2:00PM.  Please check the website for holiday schedule.

 

www.roundabouttheatre.org

 

#          #          #

 

PAL JOEY REVIEWED IN USA TODAY

USA TODAY

December 22, 2008

 

‘Pal Joey’ revival bewitches in a dark, seductive way

By Elysa Gardner

 

NEW YORK – Lock up your wives and daughters: Joey Evans is back in town. And this time, he’s even more of a heel.

 

The title character of Pal Joey was introduced on Broadway by a young Gene Kelly and later brought to the screen by Frank Sinatra, at the height of his vocal powers. Those familiar with the latter performance may not recognize Joey in Roundabout Theatre Company’s new revival (* * * out of four) of the Rodgers and Hart musical, which opened Thursday at Studio 54.

 

That’s a reflection less of leading man Matthew Risch’s singing, which is competent – he’s obviously a dancer first, as Kelly was – than Richard Greenberg’s new book. In the film, Joey is basically a decent guy with some rough edges and an aversion to monogamy. All he needs is the right girl to straighten him out.

But John O’Hara’s original libretto cast him in a darker light, and Greenberg has made him shadier still. It’s established early on that Joey’s relentless womanizing has had disturbing consequences, and that his narcissism doesn’t necessarily conceal a heart of gold.

 

Greenberg also gives us fuller portraits of the women in Joey’s life: hard-bitten showgirl Gladys Bumps, society matron Vera Simpson and sensible ingénue Linda English, who may or may not save Joey’s soul.

 

All three are sturdily and sympathetically represented under Joe Mantello’s witty direction. Jenny Fellner’s Linda, for all her girlish sweetness, could never be mistaken for a pushover.

 

At 64, Stockard Channing is about two decades too old for Vera, but she looks terrific and invests the role with the right mix of elegance, grit and world-weariness. Her age also enhances the pathos of the older woman’s lot.

 

The real revelation, though, is Martha Plimpton’s Gladys. Having acted in a variety of acclaimed dramas, Plimpton reveals a natural flair for musical comedy; Zip, her mock-striptease number, is the closest thing this production has to a showstopper.

 

 

 

To read the full review, click here:   http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2008-12-21-pal-joey_N.htm   

PAL JOEY ON BROADWAY OPENS TO RAVE REVIEWS

Last night (December 18), Rodger’s and Hart’s “Pal Joey” opened at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Studio 54 and the early reviews are raves.  Links to the full reviews follow first paragraphs.  For more information about “Pal Joey” go to: www.roundabouttheatre.org

 

Associated Press

Bloomberg News

Variety

WOR Radio

 

Nearly 70 years after an unrepentant cad named Joey Evans first graced a Broadway stage in “Pal Joey,” he’s back, with his ambition and charm intact.  The musical, featuring a vintage Richard Rodgers-Lorenz Hart score, has been revived several times on Broadway over the decades, but none of the productions has been as thoroughly a refurbishing as the small yet effective redo that the Roundabout Theatre Company opened Thursday at Studio 54.  Playwright Richard Greenberg, author of “Take Me Out” and “Three Days of Rain,” has given John O’Hara’s original book (based on O’Hara’s New Yorker short stories) a new sheen without changing the general outline of the story: punkish song-and-dance man scores big, gets his comeuppance but soldiers on.  Greenberg’s rewrite is crisp and to the point. There is a hard-boiled briskness to his work, a film-noir sensibility in its punchy dialogue that ricochets lickety-split across the stage.

Associated Press, Michael Kuchwara

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081219/ap_en_re/theater_review_pal_joey_1

 

 

”Pal Joey,” snazzily revived by the Roundabout Theatre Company, pumps much-needed fresh blood into a Broadway grown anemic.  A spate of pre-opening drama — when the gifted understudy, Matthew Risch, was promoted to protagonist — appears to have done no harm. Stockard Channing and Martha Plimpton supply additional star power and Richard Greenberg contributes a sleek new book to the top-notch Rodgers and Hart score.  Based on John O’Hara’s raffish stories and book, this is a rare, truly grown-up musical, having enough great songs, spectacle, adult and adulterous plot to satisfy all but the kiddies, for whom there are other shows aplenty.

Bloomberg News, John Simon

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601098&sid=a2hUKFjBMzdo&refer=movie

 

The Rodgers and Hart songs in “Pal Joey” are certainly easy on the ear, but what makes the Roundabout revival of their 1940 show so compelling is Richard Greenberg’s trenchant adaptation of the original book by John O’Hara. Erasing the sanitizing stamp of musical-theater coyness, Greenberg brings a fascinating melancholy grubbiness to this cynical story of sordid emotional transactions and opportunistic behavior in late-1930s Chicago. It’s a dark show for desperate times, with enough dramatic meat on its bones to work even as a nonmusical play. And like “Cabaret” a few years back, it seems right at home in the decadent former playpen of Studio 54.

Variety, David Rooney

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_review&reviewid=VE1117939247&categoryid=33

 

You gotta go see Pal Joey at Studio 54.  You’ll come out singing the songs and dancing in the streets.  How often do we do that with musicals today?  So, enjoy.

WOR Radio, Joan Hamburg

http://broadwaybroadcast.wordpress.com/2008/12/18/pal-joey-on-the-joan-hamburg-show/

 

 

www.roundabouttheatre.org