Weekend Roundup: 7/14 - 7/20

This week at Broadway Musical:

Gwen Stewart Returns to Rent
Eight-Year-Old to Star in Broadway Show
A Blonde Farewell for Laura Bell Bundy
Passing Strange Closes on Broadway
Billy Elliot Dances to Broadway
Boots to Broadway
Is Broadway Dreaming of a White Christmas?
Broadway Hopeful Has an Ace Up its Sleeve
A Strong Year for Broadway Musicals
[title of show] Opens Tonight on Broadway
The Weinstein Co. Has Big Plans for Broadway
Ready to Rumble? West Side Story Returns to Broadway
Legendary Broadway Theater Sold for $30 Million
Little House on the Broadway
Working 9 to 5 on Broadway
Paradise Lost is Broadway Bound
Open Casting Call for Spider-Man Musical
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"Passing Strange" closes on Broadway

The Tony-award winning musical Passing Strange will close after a final performance at Broadway's Belasco Theatre on July 20.

The following day, film director Spike Lee will film the production without an audience. He previously filmed the matinee and evening performances on July 19, in order to document the production for future generations.

Passing Strange won the Tony Award this year for Best Book of a Musical. The book was written by Los Angeles singer/songwriter Stew, who incorporated elements of his own life into the story of an artist in search of his artistic and personal integrity.

Stew also wrote the lyrics and music, with Heidi Rodewald collaborating on the music.

Source: Playbill.com

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A Strong Year for Broadway Musicals

Everett Evans of the Houston Chronicle looks back on the Broadway musical class of 2008 and gives us his assessment:

South Pacific:

From its heart-lifting overture to its moving final scene, this is an unforgettable rendition of a great show. You couldn't ask for a more enchanted evening.

In the Heights:

Irresistible and infectious, this joyous celebration of family and community blends the best of old and new. The stage percolates with youthful energy, salsa flavors and the rhythms of the street. It's hip. It raps.

Gypsy:

The result is a knockout Gypsy that leaves you wondering if the show ever has been, or ever could be, performed more powerfully.

Passing Strange:

Despite getting the most enthusiastic reviews of any new musical this season, Passing Strange has struggled to find its audience, seldom playing to more than 50 percent of capacity. Could that be because it's more aggressively and purely ``rock'' than the year's other contemporary show (Heights), lacking the cuddlier qualities that make that one more accessible to traditional show goers?

A Catered Affair:

The Broadway debut of well-regarded cabaret songwriter John Bucchino is not in the contemporary vein of Heights and Passing Strange. But this low-key, atypical show is daring in its own way: a quiet, honest, slice of life about a cash-strapped Bronx family in the 1950s, thrown into conflict about whether to use the family savings to buy a lavish wedding for its only daughter.

Source: Chron.com

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