Reprinted by permission of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was Tim Burton’s second film. Before directing his first film, Burton was a Disney animator. Burton originally wanted Sammy Davis Jr. to play Beetlejuice but producer David Geen insisted on Michael Keaton. The film won an Oscar for Best Makeup in 1989. Alternative titles for the film included House […]
Presented in collaboration with NYC Media and Level Forward, watch Jagged Little Pill‘s 4-part virtual discussion series, “Wake Up: Why Social Responsibility in Theatre Matters.” In the following episodes, groups discuss the themes of sexual assault, gender expression and sexuality, transracial adoption, representation of race, and addiction in Jagged Little Pill. Ep. 1: Sexual Assault […]
Beetlejuice choreographer Connor Gallagher aims to please diehard devotees of the film – and welcome new ones into the fold. Connor Gallagher knew fans of Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s over-the-top 1988 movie, would have high expectations of the musical adaptation. But the choreographer also knew there’d be audience members who’d never seen the source material, and […]
Not just any musical wins nine Tony Awards, a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and tours in 13 countries around the world, all while playing to packed audiences on Broadway for over 14 years. But then, The Book of Mormon, a musical comedy by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and […]
For Michael and Matthew Gardiner, they were born into Irish dancing. “Both of our parents are Irish. They originally moved to Denver just to try it out but ended up staying for about 15 years, they loved it so much,” older brother Michael Gardiner said. “It was so important for them, as an Irish family […]
Excerpted from the Aladdin study guide. Adapted from an article by Albert Evans, with permission from The 5th Avenue Theatre. The Aladdin story, on which the Broadway musical is based, has its origins in One Thousand and One Nights. Although the stories were compiled by Antoine Galland, a French translator, around 1710, the tales themselves […]
Riverdance 25th Anniversary Show is celebrating its silver anniversary and it’s a double whammy — 25 years performing for 25 million fans. But that was not the original expectation. Riverdance started as a one-time, seven-minute performance. “It came from the Eurovision song contest, which is a big contest in Europe and it’s watched by about […]
This article originally ran in Disney twenty-three, a publication of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club. Early in the evolution of Aladdin, composer Alan Menken, book writer and lyricist Chad Beguelin and director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw got together to write a brand new song for the stage musical – a unique collaboration that could only happen […]
Alain Boublil (Book & Original French text) and Claude-Michel Schönberg (Book & Music) share their insights on Les Misérables. A few years after the huge success of the original Les Misérables in Paris, we met Cameron Mackintosh to discuss an English version. He told us excitedly, “You do not realise what you have written.” Neither […]
If I was to say what had happened to Les Misérables is the dream I dreamed, it would not be true – Les Mis has been a success beyond my wildest dreams. The show in 1985 that few people had booked in advance to see was coolly, if not hostilely, reviewed by the early critics. […]