Broadway musicals in 2014 feature a number of strong roles for women. Joan Marcus Idina Menzel (center) and the cast of “If/Then” It’s a common showbiz lament: No good roles for women. But while there’s always room for improvement in this area, Broadway’s 2014 roster of musicals is jammed with juicy female characters. They’re all dealing with hard decisions about love, career, marriage, fidelity and faith — and sometimes all at once. That doesn’t even include plays. This is all on tap in upcoming musicals — new and old — that go beyond sunny tones and simple setups. An impressive array of accomplished actresses are stepping up for stories about choices. That concept forms the very foundation of the new show, “If/Then,” starting previews March 4.
Idina Menzel, a Tony winner for “Wicked,” stars as Elizabeth, a 40-ish city planner the actress has described as “complex, flawed and surprising.” Borrowing from flowcharts and the Gwyneth Paltrow film “Sliding Doors,” the musical imagines paths Elizabeth’s life could take depending on decisions she makes. Home - Jason Robert Brown | Jason Robert Brown. ‘Bridges of Madison County’ preps for Broadway debut. The New York Times published a big feature this weekend about “The Bridges of Madison County” musical, which opens Feb. 20 on Broadway.
The article notes that a state-fair scene was added for comic relief, but the rest of story stays fairly true to the book and movie. But true to Iowa? That’s where it might get interesting. Aside from the wheat (?) On the show’s website, it’s fun to note how New Yorkers see us, our fair state, and what the ads call “one of the greatest love stories of all time.” “In creating the unabashedly romantic score, with its soaring strings and sweeping Italian operatic flourishes, (Jason Robert) Brown composed on guitar rather than on the usual piano,” according to the Times. ” ‘I am ultimately a mush ball,’ Mr. And the lyrics? So breathe easy, Iowans: Apparently, we’re sane and mushy. The Imes Bridge, was built in 1870 and moved to several locations near St. Jason Robert Brown, Back in New York, With ‘Madison County’ Continue reading the main story Video The composer Jason Robert Brown is never happier than when surrounded by musicians.
Kibitzing with the string section, directing the percussionist to feather in the high-hat more softly, poking fun at his own orchestrations, Mr. Brown, 43, was in his element on a recent Thursday at a musical theater ritual known as the sitzprobe, an evocative German term for the first time the full orchestra plays with the cast. It’s the joyous occasion before the real-world complications set in — harsh reviews, saggy box office — complications with which Mr. Brown, who won a Tony at 28 but has never had a real New York hit, is unfortunately most familiar.
And so Mr. Continue reading the main story Slide Show By all rights, 2014 should be Mr. After more than eight years in Los Angeles, he’s back in New York, with his wife and two young daughters, to take it in. The hurt may run deep, but he will be the first to admit it. Mr. Photo What brought Mr. The two sought out Ms.
'Bridges of Madison County' Musical Will Open on Broadway. Mark Kennedy/Associated PressJason Robert Brown “The Bridges of Madison County” is going to Broadway. Bartlett Sher (“South Pacific,” “The Light in the Piazza”) will direct a new musical based on the hit film and best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, the producers said on Thursday. Jason Robert Brown, a Tony winner for “Parade,” has written the music and lyrics; the show has a book by the Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman. Performances are to begin Jan. 13 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater, with an opening night planned for late February.
“Madison County” tells the story of Francesca Johnson, a small-town 1960s Iowa housewife who has a brief but intense affair with Robert Kincaid, a photographer from National Geographic. No casting for the Broadway production was included in Thursday’s announcement, which did say that Mr. The Bridges of Madison County-2014 - nytimes.com. Bridges Musical (BridgesBroadway) sur Twitter. Videos | Interviews, Reviews, and Popular Channels Exclusive! Kelli O'Hara & Steven Pasquale Sing from Madison County. Bartlett Sher roots around in America's moral character. NEW YORK — By his own admission, Bartlett Sher is not normally drawn to material like "The Bridges of Madison County," Robert James Waller's mega-bestselling 1992 novel. The weepie about a brief but life-changing 1960s romance between an Italian war bride in rural Iowa and a peripatetic National Geographic photographer was adapted into a 1995 film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.
Now, under Sher's direction, it has been realized as a Broadway musical opening Feb. 20 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. "It was not by my nature a story which I knew, or had read, or would read. The last romantic novel I think I read was 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles,'" Sher said, chuckling at the idea of Thomas Hardy's grim classic being a "romance. " "Whether I place the book as a great work of literature is a separate question from whether I see it as something which expresses a profound question within the American consciousness," he said. PHOTOS: Hollywood stars on stage. "Falling Into You" - The Bridges of Madison County by Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight. Jason Robert Brown (MrJasonRBrown)