Stage to PageWhat Productions Should Be Streamed on BroadwayHD?BroadwayHD, an on-demand service that streams recorded theatre productions as Netflix and Hulu have been doing for broadcast media, has launched… And, we asked our readers what productions they would like to see streamed directly from Broadway to their TV.
Christian Borle and Brian d'Arcy James co-star as theatrical adversaries in Something Rotten!, the buzzed-about show that opened last season and was nominated for a Best Musical Tony Award. The plot centers on two brothers, desperate to write a hit play of their own in Shakespeare's shadow, who end up creating the world's first musical. The comedy, which is packed with musical theatre references and show-stopping moments, is helmed by Tony Award-winning Aladdin and The Book of Mormon director-choreographer Casey Nicholaw.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is the longest-running musical in Broadway history. Based on the classic novel "Le Fantôme de L'Opéra" by Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a masked figure who lurks beneath the catacombs of the Paris Opera House. For those who have yet to see it — and those who want to see the modern classic again and again — Phantom would be the perfect addition for the BroadwayHD streaming platform.
@playbill ..oh! I forgot the most important.
@HedwigOnBway with JCM of course. And perhaps some London LoveNeverDies with RK..
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Newsies, the Tony Award-winning Disney musical about a group of high-flying newsboys who take on powerful newspaper giants in 1899 New York City, proved to be the little show that could. Before it opened on Broadway, the musical — which features a Tony Award-winning score by Alan Menken and Jack Feldman and a Tony-nominated book by Harvey Fierstein — made its world premiere at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, where it was met with a massive fan base who crossed their fingers for a Broadway transfer. Following its bow on Broadway, the production took home 2012 Tony Awards for Best Choreography (Christopher Gattelli) and Best Original Score (Menken and Feldman). Though the musical closed on Broadway, it continues to tour.
@playbill@BroadwayHD I would be radiating happiness if Fun Home was on there. I've seen it, but just once isn't nearly enough
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The critically acclaimed musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir Fun Home, which parallels her own coming of age as a lesbian and the suicide of her closeted gay father, is directed by Sam Gold and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. With the show, the writers (Tony Award winners Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron) were charting new territory in a medium that has been strongly shaped by gay male culture on stage and off. Lesbian musicals are nearly unheard of. Since the show is staged in the round, to be able to watch it again on a streaming platform would help theatregoers understand the story from a new perspective.
Alice Ripley won the Tony Award in 2009 for her performance as the bipolar mother Diana in Next to Normal, the brainchild of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2010 (although it lost the Best Musical Tony that year to Billy Elliot). Jennifer Damiano and Aaron Tveit played Ripley's children, Natalie and Gabe, respectively, in the musical that took audience members into the Goodman household — a place where they had to figure out what was real and what was only part of Diana's mind.
The hit Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical Wickedcelebrated its 5,000th performance Oct. 28 at 7 PM at the Gershwin Theatre. The musical is now the 11th longest-running show in Broadway history, having surpassed the record-breaking original runs of classics including Fiddler on the Roof; Hello, Dolly!; Miss Saigon; My Fair Lady; 42nd Street; and Cabaret. It's expected to overtake the original run of Rent (5,123 performances) in about four months. Read our latest Diva Talk column, in which we talk to 11 former Elphabas!
