How To Host A Tony Awards Party

With the Tony Awards coming up this Sunday, here's some tips on how to host a Tony party.  Enjoy!

Here's Hoping It's A SMASH!

NBC just picked up the much talked about (well in theatre message boards at least) pilot entitled SMASH. The musical-within-a-musical is about the making of a Broadway show. It stars Debra Messing, Angelica Huston, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee and Broadway veterans Brian D' Arcy James, Megan Hilty and Christian Borle. From the clip it looks very promising (and hopefully has better character development than Glee).

DVR Alert: Broadway At The White House

I've posted this video previously (click here) of the President welcoming guests to A Broadway Celebration: In Performance at the White House. The event was held July 19, 2010 but will now be broadcast on PBS this Wednesday (10/20) at 9 pm ET. Perfomers included Montego Glover, Brian D'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Elaine Stritch and Audra McDonald to name a few. For a full list of performers and songs, please click here.

Star-Struck Moments

The NY Times has this great feature about current stage actors recalling the their encounter with their idols. It features Brian D'Arcy James (Time Stands Still), Mandy Gonzalez (Wicked), Charles Busch (The Devine Sister), Jim Brochu (Zero Hour) and Amy Aquino. To read the article please click here.

(photo from NY Times)

Next To Normal On GMA

Next To Normal is launching their national tour soon so here they are at Good Morning America performing You Don't Know/Iam The One. It's Tony winner Alice Ripley with Kyle Dean Massey and Brian D'Arcy James. Click on the photo to play the video.

And here's the original Dan from Off-Broadway, Brian D'Arcy James singing I've Been. I really loved his performance when I saw the show Off-Broadway at Second Stage. And this song just never fails to move me (sniff). Again, click on the photo to play the video.

Broadway Actor in TV Commercial: Brian D'Arcy James

Well, this is actually a voice-over by Brian D' Arcy James (Shrek, Time Stands Still) for Jameson Whiskey. Check out his great Irish accent! Video courtesy of Access Talent.

Seth's 30 Deconstructions in 30 Days

The ever entertaining and if I may say so, very informative, Seth Rudetsky launches his 30 Deconstructions in 30 Days. This is day 3 and above he deconstructs Idina Menzel and some bits of Brian D'Arcy James and Andrew Lippa. Truly Ah-mahzing! Follow his deconstructions here.

Big Bright Beautiful World

Brian d'Arcy James' vocal talent lets his inner human out of his ogre-y facade. "Who I'd Be" which concludes Act I is just beautiful. Daniel Breaker is well-cast as the ornery sidekick Donkey.
But of course I have to sing my praises to triple threat Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona. Her "Morning Person" number alone is worth the price of admission, plus the "I Think I Got you Beat" duet with Mr. James. Her comedic timing is impeccable, her voice pure, her dancing, flawless.
Christopher Sieber is fun, hamming it up as the vertically challenged Lord Farquaad. The role literally brought Mr. Sieber down on his knees.
Shrek the Musical was better than I expected. The recent spate of film-to-stage adaptations left me wary (yes I'm talking to you Mermaid) but Shrek didn't disappoint. The sets and costumes are beautiful and there are no surprises plot-wise because it stays faithful to the movie. In addition to pop culture jokes that the movie is known for, they also throw in a dash of Broadway references. The show sticks to the film's original themes of inner beauty, self-acceptance, tolerance for and taking pride in our differences, and finding commonality with others who seem to be our polar opposites. But it was the remarkable performances that I truly enjoyed.

Next To Normal Coming To Broadway

Tom Kitt's Next to Normal was one of the more moving shows I saw Off-Broadway last year. Come to think of it, it's almost a year now (see last year's review here). Today it has been announced that it will be moving to Broadway at the Booth Theatre. Previews begin March 27 with an opening night on April 15. The whole Off-Broadway cast except for Brian D'Arcy James (who is currently in Shrek) will be in it. In his place for the role of Dan will be J. Robert Spencer (Jersey Boys). I hope it does well like it did Off-Broadway at Second Stage where it had a sold out run.



(photo from 2St.com)

Ogres and Princesses

Next month, we're watching Shrek the Musical (not Sherk as the caption on the video says). Here's a little preview from yesterday's The View.

The greatest fairy tale never told

Brian D'Arcy James was on the Today Show last weekend. The cast album of Shrek the Musical will be available 03 March 2009.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Holy White Christmas Batman!

Every year, Jeffry Denman raps about his show, White Christmas and he does it as his show's character Phil Davis. Each year's theme is different but they're always hilarious. I've been following the installment for 3 years now and so far this is the best! Lani, you'll love this one.

So now, Phil Davis is back rapping but this time on Broadway. Watch out for the cast of White Christmas plus Broadway cameos of Mr. Denman's friends: Laura Benanti, Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen of [TOS], Marc Kudisch, Carolee Carmelo, Jeff Blumenkrantz, Julia Murney, Brian D' Arcy James and Patti Lupone.

If you're interested here are the other Phil Davis raps:

The Real Phil Davis

Lazy Tuesday

I hope you enjoy the videos and in the spirit of the season, Happy Christmas to everyone!

Broadway Goes Green

First it was the green girl Elphaba, then came the Monster in Young Frankenstein. Now Broadway is bracing itself for another green hero.......Shrek! Check out the first pics of Brian D'Arcy James as the ogre himself in Shrek the Musical courtesy of Playbill.com. Really cool make-up!

Don't Quit Your Night Job

Don't Quit Your Night Job is a comedy improve show conceptualized by Broadway's Sarah Salzberg (Spelling Bee), Steve Rosen (Spamalot), David Rossmer (Titanic, Fiddler) and Dan Lipton (Coast of Utopia). It started 2 years ago at Joe's Pub (infact, they're having their 2 year anniversary next month) and has now moved to a more uptown location at the Zipper Factory. The show is usually done monthly, late at night (around 11:30 pm) mostly after Broadway shows are done and with different performers as the cast.

In the words of the creators, it's where Broadway and improv meet......and make out. They have different sketch segments and one of them is Musical Madlibs. Remember that game? Audience members give words such as noun, pronoun etc when asked and these words replace certain words in a famous Broadway song. One of my favorite Musical Madlib is Sutton Foster singing Gimme Gimme from Thoroughly Modern Millie. Check out her video it's hilarious:



For their latest show last May 29, 2008 they announced that Julia Murney and Brian D'Arcy James were part of their cast. I was hoping they would do Musical Madlibs with Julia singing Raise The Roof from The Wild Party. I mean really now, that song just calls for that. But instead, as part of their Backstage Anecdote sketch they opted to have her do one of her famous voice overs in the video below:

** language warning!



Also on that night's show they started a new segment called I Sing Awesome. It's where they have a performer sing anything and everything......from take out menus, the phonebook and airline emergency cards. Just see what they had Brian D' Arcy James sing that night:



If you'd like to see other videos of the show, Don't Quit Your Night job has their own youtube channel. But if you're in NYC around the time of one of their shows, make sure you check it out. It's sure to be a fun night.

Next To Normal

I saw this production last Saturday in NYC amidst the rain and storm of that day. I am still choked up from this show. In fact, I haven't been moved by a production since I saw Grey Gardens last year.


Next to Normal is an off-broadway musical presented by Second Stage Theatre. It's directed by Michael Grief (director of Grey Gardens and RENT) with music by Tom Kitt (High Fidelity) and book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey. It is a musical about a family struggling to cope with Bi-polar disorder which primarily imprisons Diana, the mother, played wonderfully by Alice Ripley. Dan (the father) played heartbreakingly by Brian D'Arcy James is the emotional center. Natalie (Jennifer Damiano) and Gabe (Aaron Tveit) are the teen age children. Diana battles with the highs and lows of depression vs. the numb feeling of being on medication that sometimes works and sometimes not. Dan in turn fights to keep his family afloat and together despite the chaos. He is the constant......the "catcher" when Diana falls.


Not a very light topic and difficult to musicalize. But Tom Kitt's pop/rock music and Brian Yorkey's lyrics works so well with the topic that it evokes feelings of conflict....that of love and anger, frustration and hope, loss and acceptance. There were a lot of counterpoints (where 2 or 3 characters sing the same melody but different lyrics) in the songs.....mom and daughter singing, father and son.......each with different yearnings or sometimes intentions......further giving a juxtaposition of mixed emotions. Combined with the amazing singing and acting from the cast, the show makes the audience really care for the characters. By the second act, I found myself so involved, getting choked up and wiping tears whenever a character is in pain.


The set is a 3 tiered set which also incorporates the band (drums and strings on the 3rd tier, piano on the 2nd) and has moving panels that open and shut that further gives the feeling of being trapped. It's really an amazing set housed in a very intimate theatre making it so effective. I also particularly enjoyed the way the book was structured. That the story was layered and piece by piece it was peeled revealing more about each character. It kept me really engaged.


That night, the whole cast was perfect vocally but I believe special mention should be given to Brian D'Arcy James because whenever he started singing I would literally get goosebumps. He was just so heart breaking. I hope a CD would be made because the score is really wonderful. Try to catch it if you can.....they extended only a week and last performance is this Sunday but hopefully this show will somehow find it's way to Broadway.

Oh....Broadway celebrity sighting at the show....Matt Cavenaugh (Grey Gardens and A Catered Affair), Jenny Powers (Grease) and Michael Grief!!!

(pics from 2St.com)