If you haven’t already been hooked to the new TV show, “Smash”, then you better jump on board.

Check out the music from this week’s episode, “Enter Mr. DiMaggio”.

“Grenade” (featuring the cast of SMASH and Will Chase):

“Redneck Woman” (featuring the cast of SMASH and Katherine McPhee):

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (featuring the cast of SMASH and Megan Hilty & Will Chase):

Since Love Never Dies hasn’t been produced in the United States (yet!) the only way you’ll get to see the sequel to The Phantom of the Opera is to check out the two night movie event of the year! And The Broadway Critic Blog is giving away four tickets (two winners – 2 tickets each)!!

Come and enjoy the fully staged pre-recorded performance of Love Never Dies captured from The Regent Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. This is a mesmerizing follow-up to the multi-award winning The Phantom of the Opera, featuring a 21-piece orchestra and an impressive cast of 36 including actors Ben Lewis as Phantom and Anna O’Byrne as Christine Daaé.

The production will enchant and bring audiences into a world of passion, obsession and romance. Based on a book by Ben Elton, the captivating love story of the Phantom and Christine Daaé continues in New York’s playground, Coney Island. After his disappearance from the Paris Opera house, the Phantom begins a new life in New York amongst the freaks and side shows. The only thing missing from his new life is his musical protégée Christine. In an effort to win back his love, the Phantom lures Christine and her family to this new sparkling unknown world.

Here’s my review of the original production of Love Never Dies in London. (Though I’ve heard they have made significant changes to the Australian production.)

Purchase tickets here:

http://www.fathomevents.com/performingarts/event/loveneverdies.aspx

How to enter to win a voucher (two tickets) to see LOVE NEVER DIES at Redwood City’s Cinemark Theatres on Tuesday, February 28th, 2012 at 7:30pm:

• Step 1: Make sure you put your email into the “Email Subscription”. (If you already subscribed, then follow step 2.)
• Step 2: Comment, tweet or Facebook us and tell us how many times you have seen a the original The Phantom of the Opera and what your favorite song from the show is.

It’s true! The Book of Mormon musical is coming to San Francisco starting November 2012. It is only playing for a limited five weeks and I’m sure will sell out in minutes (just like what happened in Denver)!!

The Book of Mormon is the first show to be announced as part of the SHNSF 2012-2013 season. The remaining four shows on the season will be announced at a later date.

The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album. Currently, the only way to guarantee tickets for this strictly limited engagement is by becoming an SHN subscriber today by calling (888) 746-1799 or visiting www.shnsf.com. Group and single tickets sale date will be announced later.

Listen to a few of the tracks from the Grammy winning album here: (parental advisory warning)

“Hello!”

“I Believe”

“Tomorrow is a Latter Day”

It’s that time of year, when shows are starting rehearsal, full casts are being released and the Spring Broadway buzz is starting! It’s exciting!

Last year I posted the 2011 Spring Broadway Posters and it started a lot of interesting commentary in the comments, on Twitter and Facebook. After 192 votes, Born Yesterday and Wonderland ended up being everyone’s favorites from last year. (Interestingly enough, both of those shows closed early last season.)

Let’s take a look at this year’s posters. I’ve included every play/musical that is on Broadway this Spring season because a lot of the shows have changed their graphics like Chicago, Sister Act, and Memphis. Others like Wicked and The Jersey Boys are too iconic to change (though Phantom has varied it up).

My favorite poster of the new musicals is Newsies. I love the font, the background newspapers and how the star, Jeremy Jordan, is singing and dancing at the same time. The infectious energy is bursting from the poster. It’s gonna be amazing. My close second is Once. I love the simplicity of the poster and how the words come from the guitar. It’s perfect for that show!

My least favorite is Leap of Faith. It seems like a “mock-up”, instead of a finished product. It doesn’t show what the show is about. It doesn’t give us any clue to what we should expect and frankly, as much as I love Raul Esparza, his name is almost bigger than the title of the show. Most people are going to be like: “Who the hell is Raul Esparza?” I’m thinking that they pushed this show to open this Spring and it’s all too soon. (Have you seen their website? It’s terrible.) Hopefully, they will have a new poster before they open this Spring.

Overall, the best play poster is Peter and the Star Catcher. The font is magical, child-like but interesting and makes me want to see the show. It seems so inventive. I absolutely love it. One of my other favorites is A Street Car Named Desire. It’s beautiful.

I don’t really care for the other play posters — big block letters isn’t catchy, or original.

Which poster grabs your attention the most?

Check out all of the 2012 Spring Broadway Posters below… and don’t forget to vote in our poll below.

Now it’s your turn to decide… what’s your favorite new Broadway poster?

Vote below.

Make sure you comment and let us know your thoughts…

These photos are already inspiring my ridiculous love for this new musical. I’m so excited that I’ll be able to hear the cast recording before I get to see it in May.

Check out Once’s official website.

If you haven’t listened to the music from the movie, then listen to a few of my favorites below:

“Falling Slowly”

“If You Want Me”

“When Your Mind’s Made Up”

—

And watch a few clips from the recent Off-Broadway production:

Buy tickets to Once

By now, you’ve heard that new Broadway revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever will be closing up shop on January 29th, 2012. Maybe you are wondering: Why is this show closing?

Here’s the top 5 reasons I think On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is closing:

5. Shortage of Tony Nominations Come May - I have a feeling that the Tony committee might be overlooking this revival come May. With other huge revivals like Evita and Jesus Christ Superstar I don’t think that On a Clear Day… stands a chance. You also have to throw in the newly refreshed and revamped Godspell and Porgy & Bess into the mix and both of those shows are still running. There might be a few nominations in the technical categories but not for Harry Connick, Jr. or anyone else, though we have heard so many positive things about Jessie Mueller’s Broadway debut. Actually, come to think of it, that’s the only positive thing that I’ve heard about this production. (Watch a video of Mueller performing below.) If the producers don’t think they are going to get any Tony buzz, then it’s a lot easier to close a show “early”.

4. Not Enough Starpower to fill the St. James Theatre  - We can all agree that Harry Connick Jr. has been very successful on Broadway. Generally, the critics have loved him and his fans have flocked to the theatre to see him perform. The question is, can he fill a 1300-seat theatre eight times a week? That’s a total of 10,400 people a week, 41,600 (roughly) a month. That’s a crazy amount of people! I think he has enough draw and appeal to fill seats, just not enough seats in this case. (Check Playbill Vault for all of the stats.)

Photos by Krissie Fullerton - Playbill.com

3. The St. James Theatre is the Wrong Theatre - The St. James Theatre was selling out when The Producers opened April 2001. Since then, it hasn’t really had a hit. Recently, Hair (the touring cast), American Idiot and Finian’s Rainbow have all struggled trying to fill seats. All three of those shows probably could have run for a longer time in a smaller theatre. (I’ve been saying all along that American Idiot should have never been produced at the St. James Theatre.) Though producers thought On a Clear Day, with a huge star, could sell seats, I think they continue to under think the power of “selling out” in a smaller theatre. (See The Book of Mormon as an example of pure genius when it comes to marketing and selling a show.) Overall, it has done fairly well, but an average of 75% attendance over the last two months just isn’t enough to keep the show afloat during the Broadway winter slump.

2. The Critics Hated It - There are some shows out there that the critics, regardless of what they say, can’t kill like The Addams Family. Other shows, the critics have an easier time swaying the public. I think On A Clear Day falls in the latter category. People knew that On a Clear Day… didn’t do very well the first time on Broadway (even though it ran for a year), so they were waiting to hear what the critics had to say. Ben Brantley of The New York Times said, “This wholesale reconception of a fluffy, muddled 1965 musical about reincarnation appears to have given everyone who appears in it — including its charismatic star, Harry Connick Jr. — a moaning case of the deep-dyed blues.” Ouch. Stage Grade gave the entire production a C- overall. The Broadway Critic Blog posted some of their thoughts back in previews, and anticipated the nasty reviews and early closing. With iffy reviews and okay word-of-mouth, the ticket sales just weren’t at the producer’s expectations.

1. Make Way for Leap of Faith -  When a show is not living up to expectations and there’s another show in the pipeline, then producers jump on the chance to push another show into the theatre. This happened with On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. Leap of Faith was eyeing Broadway for a fall 2012 opening, but when they heard that On a Clear Day… wasn’t doing as well as predicted, then they jumped on the chance to put Leap of Faith into the centrally-located St. James Theatre. They even announced it’s opening before On a Clear Day… posted its closing notice. (Tacky, if you ask me.) But let’s see if Leap of Faith can do what On a Clear Day… couldn’t.

—

Why do you think On a Clear Day You Can See Forever closed so soon?

Did anyone else see the new Rebecca Broadway poster and think of The Pirate Queen? Because, I did. I’m having a hard time thinking they aren’t the same “type” of musical.

The only music I’ve heard from Rebecca is “She’s Invincible” that plays on repeat on the website. I will say it’s catchy but the song is now playing on repeat in my head (and I’m not too thrilled about it).

We all love Stephanie Block, but she couldn’t keep The Pirate Queen from planking, so it looks like Sierra Boggess (another Broadway leading lady everyone loves) will have to keep Rebecca alive until word-of-mouth kicks in and hopefully really positive reviews. And who knows, maybe the Tony Awards will love Rebecca.

There’s probably no more similarities between the shows, but some how I’ve equated Rebecca as the new The Pirate Queen of this season. Let’s hope that it makes it past The Pirate Queen’s 32 previews and 85 performances.

What do you think?

There’s a few shows this Spring that you can not miss! Here are my top five Broadway shows that I’m most looking forward to this upcoming season:

5. Evita

Starting previews on April 10th, this is a musical revival that I’ve been waiting for an extremely long time. Out of all of the Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals, Evita is my absolute favorite. I fell in love with it a long time ago, and I’ve never seen it produced professionally. Pop star Ricky Martin and Olivier Award-winning actress Elena Roger portray Che Guevara and Eva Perón and it also stars Michael Cerveris as Peron — can’t get much better than that!

4. Leap of Faith

It has Raul Esparza in it. What else do you want? I’ve seen him in Tick, Tick Boom, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Company (twice). And luckily, Brooke Shields is not part of the project anymore!! Leap of Faith received mixed reviews during its out-of-town tryout, but it looks like they’ve revamped it for Broadway and they are ready to go. They only announced this Broadway production yesterday, when it was announced that On a Clear Day You Can See Forever is closing at the end of January.

3. Ghost

Straight from the wildly successful West End production, Cassie Levy and Richard Fleeshman are starring in this new musical. It apparently has some incredible stage illusions that I’m dying to see. Generally, I’m not too thrilled in seeing 80′s movies reimagined for the theatre but every once in awhile it works (like Hairspray). We will see though. This show’s success will come from two main things: brand recognition (just like how Addams Family ran on Broadway a lot longer than it should have) and reviews. Let’s hope they are good reviews, because if not, I could see it running through the summer months and dying off. I’m still very excited to see it.

2. Once

If you had to turn a movie into a musical, then Once is the perfect choice. Straight from its hugely successful, sold-out run at the New York Theatre Workshop, Once is going to be a huge hit on Broadway. I’m dying to see this for a number of reasons, but mainly because the music is absolutely fantastic. And from what I’ve heard from clips, the new arrangements sound gorgeous. Lucky for us, the cast recording is being recorded fairly soon and will be released this Spring. So even if you don’t get a chance to go to New York City, you’ll be able to get your hands on the CD. I have a feeling that Best Musical will either go to Once or Newsies – either way I’m happy.

1. Newsies

If you have read my review of Newsies when it premiered at Papermill Playhouse, then you’ll know that I’m absolutely crazy for it. The music, choreography, set, and performances were all sensational. I was on the edge of my seat the entire show. The audience was eating it up, clapping mid-number, and hollering like it was a concert! This stage adaptation is absolute gold! Currently, it’s being sold as a limited run, but after the reviews come out and winning a few Tony Awards (namely for Jeremy Jordan, choreography and score), this show will sell and sell and sell. This is going to be a huge hit! Make sure you get your tickets early, because it will sell out in the small Nederlander Theatre.

Honorable Mentions:

• Rebecca - It has Sierra Boggess attached, so I am interested in seeing her once again. (I loved her in Love Never Dies in London.) But, I don’t know anything about the show besides there is suppose to be a huge fire on the stage. It seems to be an epic show like The Pirate Queen, but hopefully it will be a lot better.
• Nice Work If You Can Get It - I love Kelli O’Hara and Gershwin’s music, but I’m not that excited about this one. Maybe after some word-of-mouth hits the blogosphere, I might jump on the bandwagon, but right now, I’m playing it safe and will wait.
• Jesus Christ Superstar - If I had a 6th place, this is the show that would be in that slot. I’ve heard great things about this production and it’s gotten rave reviews! I just don’t have any personal attachment to this show, yet. Maybe after seeing it, I will see what all the fuss is about.

What musical are you most excited to see this upcoming season? Be sure to take the poll below.

Nothing works, except for the real cheerleaders that are in the production. They fly to new heights, quite literally and amazingly. And because of this, Bring it On ended with huge cheers from cheerleaders (young and old) in the audience when they leapt to their feet and gave it a standing ovation.

Finally, someone put their life on the stage.

I sat there annoyed and felt cheated that some of my musical theatre idols delivered a sugar-coated passionless production of a movie musical that isn’t really based on the movie (except the subject manner). It is, after-all, only “inspired” by the original movie, written by Jessica Bendinger. Can we say, false advertising?

Maybe my expectations were high, but come on, Tom Kitt (Next to Normal) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) wrote the music and Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q) wrote the book and they have all won Tony Awards for their previous works on Broadway. This should have been the musical theatre “dream team”. Yet, the style was disjunct and the music is split between Miranda’s signature rapping (which didn’t work into this production at all, especially when the white girls are rapping at the beginning of Act 1) and Kitt’s (usually) brilliantly through-composed compositions. I left not being able to remember a single melody. The only few good songs in the show were the ones that were pre-recorded: “Legendary”, “Don’t Drop” and “Cross the Line”. And those are not even close to anything I would listen to on my iPod.

Opening Night at "Bring it On" - photo by SHNSF

Then, there’s the other pre-recorded tracks. To be honest, the whole show was mostly tracked. They left a few songs, mostly in the second act, that aren’t pre-recorded, I guess, to give the musicians in the pit something to do. There’s even pre-recorded singers on these tracks. Are we serious? With a cast of 30, you’d think you wouldn’t need to pre-record singers, but you do when it sounds like there are only 10 people singing on stage during the big group numbers.

The vocal stylizations by Taylor Louderman (Campbell), a character fashioned after Elle Woods but without any of the charisma or charm, was so bright that is was borderline screaming at points. She could obviously belt notes that most girls only dream of, but song after song sung in these high belts were absolutely obnoxious. I don’t fault her because she had nothing to work with. Even her character’s arc was uninteresting. She does her damnest to carry the show, but it’s hard when the material you are given is spiritless.

One of Campbell’s best bits in the show, is when she shows up to the dance crew in her new high school’s mascot: the leprechaun. She dances the hell out of it and gets the girls on the dance crew to be her friend because she dances so well. But the best part is that Louderman isn’t the one wearing the leprechaun costume, it’s another cast member (supposedly unbeknownst to the audience), so she doesn’t even know the dance. Totally unfortunate.

The best part of the show was the “chubby” sidekick, Ryann Redmond (Bridget). She’s the only one that kept landing her lines and bits consistently throughout the night. While, there were a few good oneliners in the show (“I got google. Bitch.” and “No cheerleading squad? What’s the point of school?”), Redmond was the only character that felt fresh and new. The rest of the characters were a colliding mess of Legally Blonde, In the Heights and Next to Normal. (Three really awkward shows to put together.) And, of course, none of it fit.

"Bring it On" cast during opening night bows - photo by SHNSF

The set design (David Korins) and lighting design (Jason Lyons) were pretty spectacular. The set used four different LCD screens that moved around the stage extremely well and created some very cool stage pictures. It was unlike anything I have seen. And the lighting was perfectly amped up for all of the big production numbers. Overall, both elements were extremely impressive.

The producers were right not to transfer this to Broadway. Besides, the huge overhead that it would cost to run nightly on Broadway and the fact that the musician’s union would probably boycott the show since everything is pre-recorded, the critics would rip it to shreds in New York City. Instead, Bring it On will bring cheer and happiness to cheerleaders all around the country. People will go, enjoy themselves, laugh at the silly jokes, and walk away entertained. But, Bring it On will never land in the same category as Wicked which is the very demographic they are trying to sell this show to.

And the show will not even be readily produced on the regional/community/high school musical theatre circuit because of the cast demands, technical difficulty and pre-recorded tracks. There’s not even life after this national tour for this show.

The creative team had the opportunity to mold pop music, cheerleading and musical theatre together all into one amazing package, but instead it was just a big tug-of-war and no one won. Instead, it just ended up being a unenthusiastic mess that the creator’s worked on to pass the time, waiting until their next stroke of genius will come. And God, I hope it’s soon, for everyone’s sake.

But interestingly enough, there has been no closing notice that has been posted.

The actors now are in limbo — is it closing? or is it staying open past December 30th? When all of this news broke last week, Jeremy Jordan (Clyde) tweeted, “There is no truth to Bonnie and Clyde closing on December 30th. We’re still fighting. It ain’t over til its over, folks. #bcforever“

The New York Times reported on December 8th that the producer, Kathleen Raitt wanted to keep the show open but ticket sales were low. “We’re already seeing a groundswell of support on Facebook and Twitter and elsewhere, and we’re trying to get the word out there that people should come see the show soon,” she said. “If we see a huge groundswell of support, maybe we’ll be able to run longer. But we’re not rolling over and playing dead.”

Now, the actors are basically “pimping” out their show on Twitter, Facebook and other social networks to get people to come see it. It’s not very different than when actors tell me to see their regional/community theatre production on Facebook. It’s almost a daily occurrence when all of your friends are connected to the theatre community. But, I’ve never seen it in the Broadway community.

I can understand why the actors want their show to stay open. It’s their job! No one wants to be laid off right after Christmas.

Tad Wilson, who is also in the show, tweets, “Want to support @BonnieClydeBway but not in the city? Buy tickets for any performance THIS WEEK in my name. I’ll pass them to people in need.” He continues, “Put your @BonnieClydeBway tickets in my name if you can’t use them. Many people can’t afford to see a show. Supporting 2 causes at once”. Is Broadway really becoming a charity case?

Other actors are getting in on the “Save Bonnie & Clyde” movement. Natalie Hill, a Broadway performer who was last seen in Wildhorn’s Wonderland last season, writes on her blog:

at this point, it is not closing but is not selling tickets past 12/30….
unless YOU help.
if they can pack the houses for the next two weeks and show that people want to see this show, the investors will keep it open.

WE can prove that critics don’t always get it right.
WE can choose what we want to see.
and WE can save hundreds of jobs for actors/stagehands/ushers/musicians.

Her point-of-view is very interesting and I want to support the movement, but I’m still not sure why I should. All of this information is very confusing to me. Why would a producer pull tickets, if they want the show to succeed?

The entire reason all of this started was because I wanted to buy 15 tickets for my students in February. After I had already paid for the tickets, Telecharge.com sent me the email stating it was closing and that they would be returning the money (minus the fees). That was $700.00 worth of tickets. It seems completely counterintuitive to the entire “movement” to return purchased tickets!

If the ticket sales are the only reason this started, then let’s look at Bonnie & Clyde’s numbers since they started previews back in November. (All stats are taken from Playbill.com’s weekly summaries.)

December 5th – 11th, 2011 – Gross: $404,289, $59.38 Average Ticket Price, 81.6% Capacity

November 28th – December 4th, 2011 - Gross: $341,908, $45.32 Average Ticket Price, 90.4% Capacity

November 21st – 27th, 2011 – Gross: $395,637, $60.17 Average Ticket Price, 78.8% Capacity

November 14th – 20th, 2011 – Gross: $346,744, $52.92 Average Ticket Price, 78.5% Capacity

November 6th – 13th, 2011 – Gross: $415,841, $56.83 Average Ticket Price, 87.7% Capacity

October 31st – November 6th, 2011 – Gross $265,147, $59.84 Average Ticket Price, 85.0% Capacity (Only 5 performances that week)

Since it started previews, Bonnie & Clyde’s numbers have stayed relatively the same — around a $400,000 in take each week. (I wonder what their weekly running costs are, as that would shed some light on the financial situation Bonnie & Clyde is in.) We will have to wait until next week to see if the “Save Bonnie & Clyde” campaign will positively affect their numbers, but overall, it’s doing much better than the other new Broadway musical this season, Lysistrata Jones, which had a $19.00 average ticket price last week. (Can we say, industry comps?)

This entire campaign/stunt/media blitz, is all very confusing to the Broadway community. Everyone is up in limbo, but no one knows why?

Was it the critics?

Or is the show just not good enough?

From what I’ve heard, (unfortunately I haven’t seen it, so I can’t comment), it sounds like a pretty great show with some script issues. There are plenty of shows on Broadway that have played for months, even recouped, that have major script issues. So why can’t Bonnie & Clyde do the same thing?

What is your take? Are you going to help “save” Bonnie & Clyde and buy a ticket? Or do you think it’s a huge media blitz to fill houses before December 30th, their “non-posted” closing date.