Glenn Close says she’s sorry for missing ‘Sunset’ performance.
Last Sunday afternoon, shortly before the Mother’s Day matinee performance of “Sunset Boulevard,” Nancy Anderson (who understudies Glenn Close) learned while waiting for the subway that she would be going on that day as silent screen diva Norma Desmond. In an apology letter posted on Facebook, Close wrote that she had “been fighting a cough and cold all week” and her “voice just wasn’t there.” Close added that Anderson “did a magnificent job” as Norma. She has since returned to the Broadway revival.
Vogel receives back-to-back honors
Pulitzer-winning playwright Paula Vogel (“Indecent,” “How I Learned to Drive”), while being honored by the New Dramatists on Tuesday at its spring luncheon and addressing a starry crowd at the Marriott Marquis, declared that the playwright’s job is “to wrap our pain in shiny paper and serve it as candy.” Two days later, Vogel was recognized by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle at a private ceremony at Feinstein’s/54 Below for her work as both a playwright and a mentor to aspiring playwrights.
Fox to follow ‘Grease’ with ‘Christmas Story’ and ‘Rent’
On the heels of the news that NBC will present a live television production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” on Easter Sunday in 2018, Fox (which did “Grease” last year) has announced that it is working on live musical broadcasts of “A Christmas Story” (which played Broadway in 2012) and “Rent.” In similar news, ABC has revealed that on Oct. 3, it will present a special version of “the Little Mermaid” that intermixes the 1989 animated film with live musical performances.
‘The Fantasticks,’ about to close after 57 years, still being reworked
The Off-Broadway musical “The Fantasticks” is slated to close on June 4 following 57 nonconsecutive years of running in New York, but Tom Jones (who wrote the musical’s lyrics and book, directed the current revival and has occasionally played the part of the “Old Actor”) is still fiddling with the show. Jones has been rewriting and restaging “Round and Round,” a musical sequence in the second act that contrasts the jarring experiences of the young hero and heroine after they are separated. “I want the feeling of a masked ball that becomes more and more grotesque as Luisa inhabits this world for the first time,” Jones said in a statement.
City Opera to present ‘Angels in America’ adaptation
New York City Opera, now under new management and trying to make a comeback following bankruptcy, will present the New York premiere of Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös’ adaptation of the landmark AIDS drama “Angels in America” at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center beginning June 10. Tony Kushner’s play (which has two parts, “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika”) runs a combined seven hours, but the opera is only two and a half hours in length. The current London revival of “Angels in America” (with Nathan Lane and Andrew Garfield) will be screened in U.S. movie theaters in July as part of the National Theatre Live series.
Classic Stage will stage Shakespeare, Williams and ‘Carmen Jones’ next season
Classic Stage Company, which is currently presenting an Off-Broadway revival of the Sondheim musical “Pacific Overtures,” has revealed the makeup of its upcoming 50th anniversary season. Using a three-part structure dedicated to Shakespeare, American drama and musical theater, the season will include Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” (with music by Stephen Schwartz, “Wicked”) and “Twelfth Night” (to be handled by Fiasco Theater, “Into the Woods”), “Fire & Air” (a new play by Terrence McNally about the Ballets Russes, a traveling Russian ballet company), Tennessee Williams’ “Summer and Smoke” (co-produced with the Transport Group) and “Carmen Jones” (a 1943 English-language adaptation of the Bizet opera by Oscar Hammerstein II with an African-American cast).
‘Stars in the Alley’ concert set for June 2
“Come rain or come shine,” “Stars in the Alley,” the annual free outdoor concert that showcases performances and appearances from new and long-running Broadway shows, will take place on Friday, June 2 at 1 p.m. in Shubert Alley (west of Seventh Avenue, between 44th and 45th Streets). The event is meant to mark the end of the Broadway season and serve as a prelude to the Tony Awards. It is produced by the Broadway League and sponsored by United Airlines.
Spotted …
James Comey at the national tour of “Fun Home” in Washington, D.C. … Kerry Washington, Kristen Bell and Mandy Moore at “Dear Evan Hansen” … Ben Stiller and Al Roker at “Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812” … Bryan Adams, Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack at “Come From Away” … Oprah Winfrey at “Sunset Boulevard.”
