Award-winning musical theater composer and lyricist Michael Friedman died on Saturday at the age of 41. Friedman, best known for his 2010 musical “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” died from complications with HIV/AIDS, according to the Public Theater in New York, where he worked as artist-in-residence. Friedman first rose to prominence in the early 2000s as…
Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning two-part play “Angels In America” is coming back to Broadway. “Angels in America: Millenium Approaches” and “Angels in America: Perestroika” will transfer from London’s National Theatre to New York’s Neil Simon Theater early in spring 2018. As The New York Times reported, seven of the eight principal cast members…
The 2017-2018 Broadway season isn’t exactly lacking Jewish representation: “Prince of Broadway” and “The Band’s Visit” will anchor the fall’s offerings, and directors like Julie Taymor, Jerry Zaks, and Rebecca Taichman will be helming shows across the Great White Way. Yet there’s always room for more: Playwrights Tom Stoppard and Mark Medoff will both have…
Patti LuPone recently discovered that she has something in common with Helena Rubinstein, the makeup mogul and Polish Jewish immigrant she is currently portraying in the Broadway musical “War Paint.” Using the genealogy website 23andMe, she found out that she is 87% Southern Italian and 12% Eastern European and North African. That means she may…
No one could shut down Bette Midler at the Tony Awards — not even the orchestra. After scooping her first ever acting honor, the feisty “Hello Dolly!” actress kept right on going even as the band tried to play some music to cue that her time on stage was up. “Shut that crap off,” Midler…
(JTA) — Tonight is the biggest night of the year for theater lovers: It’s the Tony Awards. Unfortunately, our crystal ball is at the shop for repairs — so we can’t say with certainty who the winners will be. But there’s one thing that’s for sure: The past year has been a standout one for Jewish…
In 1931, New York City honored a French war hero with a ticker-tape parade up Broadway. In 1940, that French war hero became leader of the Vichy regime, which collaborated with the Nazis. In 2017, there’s still a plaque commemorating his parade in the middle of New York City. Now, New York State Assemblyman Dov…
It’s rarely considered good form, in the theater world, for high-level creatives involved in a production — producers, directors, etc. — to respond to that production’s reviews. That’s a rule with which Jack Viertel, senior vice president of Broadway theater operator Jujamcyn Theaters and artistic director of New York City Center’s Encores! series, is admittedly…
