Wilkes-Barre Native Douglas Carter Beane Writes Two Broadway Shows Opening Spring 2013

Wilkes-Barre native and two-time Tony nominee Douglas Carter Beane will be having a busy Spring, as two shows penned by Beane (a musical and a play) will be opening on Broadway within the next 3 months.

Beane wrote the new book for the Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, now in previews and opening Sunday, March 3, 20013 at the Broadway Theatre (which recently housed the Broadway debut of Sister Act, also written by Beane). Click here for tickets. 

Beane also wrote the new play The Nance starring Nathan Lane, which opens Monday, April 15, 2013 at the Lyceum Theatre (previews begin Thursday, March 21, 2013).  Click here for tickets.

Click here for a list of previous blog entries on Douglas Carter Beane.

Free Tickets Now Available For Upcoming Library Lecture Tuesday, August 7th

Free tickets for the next Library Lecture are now available at all Lackawanna County Libraries.

John Anthony Gilvey, author of "Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City," will be the next presenter at the Matthew F. Flynn Library Lecture Series Tuesday, August 7th at 7 PM at the Scranton Cultural Center. 

Actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) was Baby's father in 1987's Dirty Dancing and the voice of candlestick Lumiere in Disney's Oscar-nominated Beauty and the Beast.  He was Detective Lennie Briscoe on TV's Law & Order.  And he was a Tony Award-winning Broadway star whose roles include Billy Flynn in 1975's original Broadway production of Chicago.

But did you also know his mother was a native of Plymouth, PA and he spent part of his childhood living in Scranton?

Gilvey's multimedia presentation will include clips and photos of Orbach's work on stage, screen and television, as well as information on Orbach's roots in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Hope to see you there. 

In the meantime, check out this wonderful essay by Dr. Gilvey about Jerry Orbach's childhood in NEPA.


Click here to place a hold on the book Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City.

Click here for a previous blog entry on the book Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City. 


Click here to like the Library Lecture Series on Facebook.

John Anthony Gilvey, Author of "Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City," To Speak at Library Lecture Series Tuesday, August 7th

Author John Anthony Gilvey, author of Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City, will be the next presenter in the Matthew J. Flynn Library Lecture Series on Tuesday, August 7th at 7 PM at the Scranton Cultural Center.  Tickets will be available the beginning of July and will be FREE with your Lackawanna County Library Card.

Actor Jerry Orbach (1935-2004) was Baby's father in 1987's Dirty Dancing and the voice of candlestick Lumiere in Disney's Oscar-nominated Beauty and the Beast.  He was Detective Lennie Briscoe on TV's Law & Order.  And he was a Tony Award-winning Broadway star whose roles include Billy Flynn in 1975's original Broadway production of Chicago.

But did you also know his mother was a native of Plymouth, PA and he spent part of his childhood living in Scranton?

Gilvey's multimedia presentation will include clips and photos of Orbach's work on stage, screen and television, as well as information on Orbach's roots in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

For more information, visit the Lecture Series's Facebook page.

To place a hold on John Anthony Gilvey's book Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City, click here. 

Click here for a previous blog entry on the book Jerry Orbach: Prince of the City.

Wilkes-Barre Native Santo Loquasto Is Scenic Designer For Broadway's Relatively Speaking

Three-time Tony winner and Wilkes-Barre native Santo Loquasto is the Scenic Designer for Broadway's Relatively Speaking, which opened last night (Thursday, October 20th) at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in NYC.

Directed by John Turturro, Relatively Speaking is a series of three one-act plays written by Elaine May, Ethan Coen and Woody Allen (Loquasto was Production Designer on all of Woody Allen's movies from 1987 to 2003, and most recently worked with Allen on 2009's Whatever Works).

To purchase tickets for Relatively Speaking, click here.

Click here for a previous blog entry on Santo Loquasto.

RelativelySpeakingBroadway.com

Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City by John Anthony Gilvey (2011)

In a previous blog entry, I highlighted the local roots of the late Jerry Orbach--star of stage (the original Billy Flynn in 1975's Chicago on Broadway; the original El Gallo in The Fantasticks; 1969 Tony winner for Broadway's original production of Promises, Promises), screen (Dirty Dancing, Woody Allen's Crimes & Misdemeanors, the candlestick Lumière in Disney's Beauty & The Beast) and TV (Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street).

A recently published (and excellent) biography on Mr. Orbach also includes information on his local roots--to Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and even Plymouth, PA. The book is titled Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City: His Way from The Fantasticks to Law & Order, written by John Anthony Gilvey (with a Foreword by Jane Alexander).

Chapter 1 (Entrance, 1935-1955) features information on Orbach's parents residing in Plymouth, PA during the Great Depression, right before Orbach's birth:

p. 3 (description of Orbach's mother Emily)

"In 1932, Plymouth, a small town situated on the Susquehanna River four miles west of Wilkes-Barre in northeast Pennsylvania's Luzerne County, was not an easy place to earn a living, especially for a young woman."

p. 4

"Alexander (Emily's father), born in the village of Bartlovka, near the city of Bialstok in northeast Poland, immigrated to the United States as a young man...finally settling down in Plymouth."

p. 4

"Like Leo (Orbach's father), she (Emily) was fascinated by the stage and had already put her talents to the test as a singer on a weekly Wilkes-Barre radio program."

p. 4

"Unlike most Catholic parents of the day, Alexander and Susanne were surprisingly accepting of their daughter's Jewish boyfriend. There were two reasons for this: first, their own marriage ran counter to the bitter enmity between Polish and Lithuanian Catholics that dated back to the Middle Ages and as recently as 1889 had erupted violently on the streets of Plymouth..."

p. 5

"Weeks later, Jerome Bernard Orbach was baptized at St. Mary's Polish Catholic Church in Plymouth."

p. 7

"Months later, when he (Leo) returned, he took a position as banquet manager for the Sterling Hotel in Wilkes-Barre before landing what would be a permanent position managing lunch counters for Neisner Brothers, a national retail store chain. The nature of the job demanded that he relocates as the needs of the company demanded, so for the next seven years the family crisscrossed the country via stores in Scranton, Pennsylvania; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Waukegan, Illinois."

p. 7

"In Scranton, where the Orbachs' home sat atop one of the highest points of the city and across from a firehouse, seven-year-old Jerry immediately made friends with the firemen..."

p. 7

"Another significant experience came in May 1943, when he made his First Communion and Confirmation during Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral."

p. 8

"Back in Scranton, Emily put their furniture in storage and made preparations for the long train trek that would take her and Jerry to their new home where Leo waited...but before they could board the train, Jerry had to part with his first and only pet--a cocker spaniel that had been his constant companion during their time in Scranton. Brokenhearted, he returned the dog to the lady who had given it to him."

p. 8

"In May after an eight-hundred-route-mile, fourteen-hour train trip from springtime Scranton, they arrived in still-snowy Chicago..."

On p. 139 in Chapter 9 (Trenchant Defective/Living Landmark, 1944-2004), Wilkes-Barre, PA was a bonding topic for Jerry and fellow actor Ted Sod, when they appeared together on the TV drama Law & Order.

"Actor Ted Sod fondly remembers... :
'When I appeared on Law & Order...Jerry immediately made me feel as if I were welcome. He introduced himself and we spoke for a bit about my hometown, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he had relatives.'"

Jerry Orbach, Prince of the City is available to borrow from the Lackawanna County Library System. To place a hold, click here.

Click here to read the previous blog entry on Jerry Orbach.

It's Official! Lysistrata Jones, Written By Wilkes-Barre Native Douglas Carter Beane, Will Play Broadway This Fall

According to The New York Times, Wilkes-Barre native Douglas Carter Beane's latest musical Lysistrata Jones will transfer to Broadway and begin previews on Nov. 12, with an opening night set for Dec. 14 at the Walter Kerr Theater.

Beane, whose previous Broadway theater writing credits include Xanadu, The Little Dog Laughed, and Sister Act (each of which earned him Tony nominations), wrote the book of the new musical Lysistrata Jones, a modern day take on the classic Aristophanes play. The update, which played Off-Broadway at the Gym at Judson in New York City, tells the story of Lysistrata Jones, a spunky transfer student at the University of Athens, whose basketball team hasn't won a game in 30 years. In the name of team spirit, Jones dares the squad's fed-up girlfriends to stop "giving it up" to their boyfriends until they win a game so their legendary losing streak can come to an end.

The composer/lyricist of the show is Lewis Flinn (The Divine Sister), and it will be directed and choreographed by Tony nominee Dan Knechtges (Xanadu, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee).

Tickets will be available soon.

Click here to read the announcement from The New York Times.

www.lysistratajones.com

Venus In Fur, Directed By Scranton Native Walter Bobbie, To Transfer To Broadway This Fall

Walter Bobbie, Scranton native and Tony-winning director of the long-running Broadway revival of Chicago, will be directing David Ives's play Venus in Fur on Broadway at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in New York City. Previews will begin Thursday, October 13th, 2011 with an Opening Night Tuesday, November 8th. Venus in Fur is part of the 2011-2012 Manhattan Theater Club series. The limited run will conclude Sunday, December 18th, 2011.

Venus In Fur originally premiered Off-Broadway in January 2010; originally scheduled to run a month, the play was extended multiple times and closed March 25th, 2010. The original lead -- 2011 Tony nominee Nina Arianda (Born Yesterday) -- will be reprising her role of Vanda that she originated Off-Broadway. Actor Hugh Dancy will be playing playwright Thomas (originally played Off-Broadway by Wes Bentley).

From Broadway.com:

"As David Ives’ new play begins, we meet a modern-day playwright/director who has written an adaptation of Venus in Fur, the 1870 novel by Leopold Sacher-Masoch that became infamous when the author’s last name inspired the term “sado-masochism” to describe the interplay of sex and power in the book. An actress arrives to audition, her bag filled with S&M gear and period costumes. Soon the playwright is drawn into reading his own script with this mysterious young woman, with breaks to argue about the meaning of the story and the motivation of the characters."

In addition to Venus In Fur and Chicago, Walter Bobbie's other Broadway directing credits include White Christmas, High Fidelity, Footloose, and the 2005 revival of Sweet Charity (which includes a reference to Scranton in one of the lyrics).

Click here for a previous blog entry on Walter Bobbie.

www.mtc-nyc.org/index.php?q=node/171

W-B Native Douglas Carter Beane's Hit Off-Broadway Play Lysistrata Jones May Transfer to Broadway

Three-time Tony nominee and Wilkes-Barre native Douglas Carter Beane may soon have another show on Broadway.

Beane, whose previous theater writing credits include Xanadu, The Little Dog Laughed, and Sister Act, recently wrote the book of the new musical Lysistrata Jones, a modern day take on the classic Aristophanes play. The update, currently playing Off-Broadway at the Gym at Judson in New York City, tells the story of Lysistrata Jones, a spunky transfer student at the University of Athens, whose basketball team hasn't won a game in 30 years. In the name of team spirit, Jones dares the squad's fed-up girlfriends to stop "giving it up" to their boyfriends until they win a game so their legendary losing streak can come to an end.

Lysistrata Jones has recently been extended Off-Broadway and is now set to close on June 24th (for tickets, click here). However, according to Playbill.com, the show is looking at a possible Broadway transfer and "is currently looking for a suitable Broadway theatre to house the production; possibilities include the Broadhurst or the Walter Kerr."

Let's keep our fingers crossed for one of our own.

For a previous blog entry on Douglas Carter Beane, click here.

Wilkes-Barre Native Douglas Carter Beane Recieves Tony Writing Nod for Broadway's Sister Act

We would like to wish a big congratulations and good luck to Wilkes-Barre native Douglas Carter Beane, who received a Tony nomination (his 3rd) this past Monday for Best Book of a Musical (shared with authors Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner) for the new Broadway musical Sister Act. Beane contributed additional text to the original book of the show, which originally debuted on London's West End in 2009.

Beane was previously nominated twice for Tony awards -- 2007's Best Play for The Little Dog Laughed and 2008's Best Book of a Musical for Xanadu.

The Tony Awards will air live on CBS on Sunday, June 12th at 8 PM.

For a complete list of this year's Tony nominees, click here.

For a previous blog entry on Douglas Carter Beane, click here.

www.tonys.org
www.SisterActBroadway.com

Wilkes-Barre Native Douglas Carter Beane Contributes Writing to Broadway's Sister Act

Douglas Carter Beane, two-time Tony nominated playwright (Xanadu, The Little Dog Laughed) and native of Wilkes-Barre, PA, is listed in the credits of the new Broadway hit musical Sister Act (based on the 1992 hit film starring Whoopi Goldberg) as "Additional Text By." The musical recently transferred from London's West End and officially opened at the Broadway Theatre in NYC on April 20th, 2011.

For a previous blog entry on Douglas Carter Beane, click here.

www.sisteractthemusical.com

"Star-Studded Cast Revives 'That Championship Season'" From CBS News (March 20, 2011)

Check out this video that was posted yesterday on CBSNews.com yesterday morning. It features a group interview of the the five stars of the Broadway revival of Jason Miller's That Championship Season. It also features Jason Patric, Miller's son and co-star in the revival) being interviewed strolling down the streets of Scranton, even visiting his father's bust on Courthouse Square.

Kiefer Sutherland on TCS: "I Would've Done This Play in Poughkeepsie or Scranton"

The cast of the upcoming revival of That Championship Season recently met the press at Sardi's in New York City to promote the play.

In a video posted by Broadway.com (which could not be embedded in the blog), at the 1:30 mark, Kiefer Sutherland states:

"As excited as I am to be doing something finally in New York on Broadway, I would've done this play in Poughkeepsie or Scranton, where it was originally done. The play is what's important, and it is a true American classic."

To view the video, click on the image above or click here.

www.broadway.com/shows/championship-season/video/153378/on-the-scene-meeting-the-stars-of-that-championship-season/

Also, on a side note, Alicia (aka kittybelle on Twitter) reminded me that "The greatest thing about that line is that we know Kiefer's actually been to Scranton and hung out for a little while."

And this also reminded me that Keifer Sutherland's band (it may have been Billy Boy On Poison) actually played in-store at Gallery of Sound in Edwardsville, PA (across the river from Wilkes-Barre, PA) several years ago.

Sets Arriving For Broadway Revival of That Championship Season

When I went to see Blue Valentine in NYC today (more on that next week when I return from StayCation), I managed to snap a couple of cell phone shots (poor quality) of the sets arriving for the upcoming Broadway revival of Jason Miller's That Championship Season at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Official Website for Broadway Revival of Jason Miller's That Championship Season

www.thatchampionshipseason.com

Limited Engagement of Jason Miller's That Championship Season Opens on Broadway March 6, 2011

The upcoming limited engagement Broadway revival of Jason Miller's That Championship Season begins previews February 9, 2011; the show officially opens March 6, 2011 and will close May 29, 2011 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in NYC.

This, the first major Broadway revival of Miller's Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning play (set in Scranton, PA), features the stellar cast of Keifer Sutherland, Jim Gaffigan, Brian Cox, Chris Noth, and Miller's son Jason Patric.

To purchase tickets online, click here.

www.twitter.com/ThatChampSeason

Jason Miller's Son Jason Patric, Keifer Sutherland to Star in Broadway Revival of That Championship Season

Official casting has been announced for the Broadway revival of Scranton's Jason Miller's Pulitzer Prize/Tony Winning play That Championship Season...and it's impressive.

The revival, set in Scranton, PA and set to open in March 2011, is the first Broadway revival of That Championship Season since the original 1972 production.

According to Theatermania.com, as well as the revival's official Twitter page, the revival will star Jason Miller's son Jason Patric as Tom Daley, Keifer Sutherland (TV's 24) as James Daley, Brian Cox (Rushmore, RED) as Coach, comedian Jim Gaffigan as George Sikowski, and Chris Noth (from the TV/film series Sex and the City, written and directed by Scranton native Michael Patrick King) as Phil Romano.

www.twitter.com/ThatChampSeason

That Championship Season to Be Revived on Broadway in 2011?

UPDATED 11/2/10

It is being reported that That Championship Season, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play by Scranton's own Jason Miller, is being revived on Broadway in 2011. Tony-nominated director George Mosher (2009 revival of A View From A Bridge) is reported to have signed on as director, and Tony winner Liev Schreiber is said to have been already cast.

This would be the first Broadway revival of Jason Miller's play, which originally ran for nearly 2 year and 700 performances from 1972-1974 on Broadway and is set in Scranton, PA.

UPDATED 11/2/10 It has been confirmed that That Championship Season will indeed be revived on Broadway in March 2011. According to the revival's official Twitter, the cast will include Brian Cox, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Noth, Jason Patric, & Kiefer Sutherland.

Broadway's "Next Fall" To End Run July 4, 2010; Includes Reference to Scranton

It has been announced that the Broadway run of the play Next Fall, which features a brief reference to Scranton, will end on Sunday, July 4, 2010 after 26 previews and 132 regular performances.

Next Fall, which opened on March 11, 2010, is a new play written by actor Geoffrey Nauffts (Broadway's A Few Good Men) and produced by Elton John and David Furnish. It tells the humorous and touching story of a gay couple whose five-year relationship is put to the test when an accident changes both their lives and the lives of those around them.

At some point in the play, one of the characters describes another's appearance as "looking like a lesbian from Scranton."

To purchase tickets, click here.

www.nextfallbroadway.com

www.twitter.com/nextfall

Michael Kuchwara (1947-2010)

We would like to acknowledge the recent passing of renowned reporter and critic Michael Kuchwara, a native of Scranton who died May 22, 2010. Mr. Kuchwara reviewed more than 200 theatrical productions a year throughout his career.

Mr. Kuchwara was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on February 28, 1947 and was attracted to the theater at a very early age, when he saw his first show at the Pocono Playhouse.

The Reference Department offers its deepest sympathies to his family.

To read Mr. Kuchwara's obituary in the New York Times, click here.

Much thanks to Evelyn Gibbons for this reference.

Wilkes-Barre native Santo Loquasto Nominated for TWO 2010 Tony Awards

UPDATED 5/14/2010

Congratulations to Wilkes-Barre native Santo Loquasto for his TWO (count 'em, TWO) 2010 Tony Award nominations, one for Best Costume Design for a Musical for the revival of Ragtime on Broadway, and the other for Best Scenic Design for a Play for the revival of Fences.

For more information on Santo Loquasto, click here.

We'll be rooting for you, Santo, when the 2010 Tony Awards air Sunday, June 13th on CBS!

UPDATED 5/14/10 It has been announced that Mr. Loquasto's nomination for Best Costume Design for Ragtime has unfortunately been withdrawn. According to sources, Loquasto's designs for the revival were deemed too similar to the original Broadway production of Ragtime, which were also designed by Loquasto. For more information, click here.