The hit Broadway revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” managed to build excitement around the digital release of its new cast album by having Jonathan Groff announce during the curtain call of the November 14 performance that the album would be made available for streaming beginning later that same night. To mark the occasion, a two-minute music video of the title song (which accompanies footage of the production and the recording session) was also released. The cast album (which has a generous running time of one hour and 19 minutes) joins four prior cast albums of the “Merrily” score, including of the original 1981 Broadway production (which was recorded right after it closed after just 16 performances), the 1992 Leicester Haymarket production, the 1994 Off-Broadway revival, and the 2012 City Center! Encores production. Regretfully, a one-night-only reunion concert of the original Broadway cast in 2002 did not receive a (legal) recording.
Elton John’s Tammy Faye musical heading for Broadway
The producers of “Tammy Faye,” Elton John’s new musical based on the life of televangelist Tammy Faye Messner (which has lyrics by Jake Shears and book by James Graham), have announced that that the show will come to Broadway next season. The musical received mixed reviews when it received its world premiere in London last year. It is currently unclear whether Andrew Rannells, who co-starred in the London production as Tammy Faye’s husband Jim Bakker, will continue with the show. (Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield played Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker respectively in the 2021 bio film “The Eyes of Tammy Faye.”) Meanwhile, John’s musical adaptation of “The Devil Wears Prada,” which received its world premiere last year in Chicago and also received less-than-enthusiastic feedback, is slated to play London next year, with Jerry Mitchell taking over as director and choreographer.
Steve Carrell and Michael Imperioli to make their Broadway debuts in classic dramas
Steve Carell will make his Broadway debut this spring playing the title role of Lincoln Center Theater’s new production of the Chekhov tragicomedy “Uncle Vanya,” joined by Alfred Molina, Anika Noni Rose, Alison Pill, and Jayne Houdyshell. The production will be directed by Lila Neugebauer and use a new translation by Heidi Schreck (“What the Constitution Means to Me”). One of the most frequently performed classic plays in the world, “Uncle Vanya” received a site-specific Off-Broadway production over the summer at a loft space in the Flatiron District with Bill Irwin, Marin Ireland, and David Cromer.
Speaking of Broadway debuts, Michael Imperioli (who famously played Christopher on “The Sopranos”) will join Jeremy Strong (who starred in the more recent, similarly prestigious HBO drama “Succession”) in a Broadway revival of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” which will play a limited run at Circle in the Square beginning in March. Two years ago, Ann Dowd starred in a strange, interactive one-woman adaptation of the drama at the Park Avenue Armory.
Birbiglia’s ‘The Old Man & The Pool’ released on Netflix
One of my favorite shows from last year was “The Old Man & The Pool,” Mike Birbiglia’s latest comic monologue, in which Birbiglia confronts a sense of precarious human existence and discusses how he set out to take better care of his body (via daily swimming) after being diagnosed with shortness of breath and type 2 diabetes. A filmed version of the monologue premiered on Netflix on Wednesday, which comes as no surprise given that Netflix previously produced a filmed version of “The New One,” Birbiglia’s first monologue to play Broadway.
