“The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores”
Broadway has always been a place for pigeon-holed actors and actresses to reinvent themselves and show the world their not just a one trick pony… or a one trick ‘Jesse’ if we’re talking about John Stamos, who returned to television’s “ER” after staring in numerous Broadway musicals after “Full House”
But, John is only one of many talented performers to use Broadway to re-launch their career… here are a few more: Tom Wopat (The Dukes of Hazard), Kelsey Grammar (Frasier), Lou Diamond Phillips (Young Guns), Allison Janney (The West Wing), Christina Applegate (Married with Children), and John Larroquette (Night Court).
That said, it no big surprise that Kristie Ally’s name is being thrown around as a possible lead in the likely Broadway production of “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores”. Honestly folks, this is big news for a couple reasons:
1st, “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores” is written by Lance Bass (N’Sync) and is produced by Jamie Kennedy (Scream and MTV’s The Jamie Kennedy Experiment). This team completely falls in line with Broadway’s mission to be younger and hipper, so the likelihood of this show making it to Broadway is VERY high.
2nd, the storyline of this show is exactly what Tony voters like to see and honor: off-color Musical Comedies. In the last decade Tony Awards have gone to off-color comedies like The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Urinetown, Hairspray, Spamalot, and The Drowsy Chaperone. If “The Fabulous Lies of Hollywood Whores” goes to Broadway it will receive Tony Award nomination (if not the award itself)… and whoever ends up getting the lead, Kristie Ally, or not… will, at the very minimum, be nominated as well. Bank on that.
Nick Jonas & “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”
Speaking of boy bands and a younger/hipper Broadway, Nick Jonas, who appeared in numerous Broadway plays prior to the Jonas Brothers explosion, has agreed to be Broadways spokesperson for next February’s “Broadway Kids Night”. This is a program, which gives free admission to 6 through 18 years olds (accompanied by a paying adult) is designed to foster interest in theatre, as well has fill seats during a traditionally slow month… however, in recent years, “Kids Night” attendance has been falling and Broadway producers hope Nick Jonas’ involvement in the program with give it the boost their hoping for!
Also important to note, during this time Nick will also be taking over the lead in “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” from Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). However… there is a 3 week gap between when Radcliffe needs to leave the show and when Jonas can take over… so… who will be filling in?
None other than Darren Criss (Glee). Now, what makes the choice of Criss hilarious is that he got his big break playing Harry Potter in the original Michigan State Theatre production of “A Very Potter Musical” and “The Very Potter Sequel”, musical-comedy versions of JK Rowling’s books, which Criss co-wrote. Videos of these performances went viral on YouTube back in 2009 and are hilarious! I highly recommend seeing them!
“Chinglish”
“Straight Plays” or what you might call “Non-Musical Plays” are rarely given much respect. They almost never have long runs or national tours, and are almost never talked about in random conversations about theatre outside NYC… but they do exist! And they can be quite good. Back in 1999 I saw Martin McDonagh’s “The Lonesome West” the afternoon of the Tony Awards, for which it was nominated for four (I believe) including ‘Best Play’… it ended up losing in every category, but it is still one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.
Right now, there seems to be a lot of buzz surrounding David Henry Hwang’s new play ‘Chinglish’. For those who don’t know David Henry Hwang, he is quite good. His most notable work is “M Butterfly”… and due to the buzz around “Chinglish”… dare I say “Pulitzer”? I know… I’m being very premature, but it could happen.
I would love to see “Chinglish”, but I doubt it will be touring to Suriname anytime soon… so if you’ve see it… or have a script… and just happen to stumble across my blog, please send me an email! I would love to hear about it.
Ethan Cohen + Off-Broadway = ?
I just thought it was worth noting. Apparently Ethan Cohen’s new play “Happy Hour”, a collection of similarly themed one-acts, will premier at the Signature Theatre Company’s Peter Norton Space next month. Again, I would be interested in hear from folks who had the chance to see it.
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