Never-Before Heard Recording By Freddie Mercury "Time"

Freddie Mercury

After four decades, a previously unreleased version of the song "Time," recorded by Freddie Mercury for the concept album of the stage musical of the same name, has been released by songwriter & producer Dave Clark.

According to USA Today, Clark had asked the Queen frontman to record the track for a concept album for the sci-fi rock musical.

Due to the success of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's pre-production albums for Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, the practice of asking popular recording artists to cover songs from an upcoming stage musical became a popular marketing tool for new shows.

The concept album for Time featured big name artists of the day including Mercury, Julian Lennon, Murray Head, Dionne Warwick, Leo Sayer, and Ashford & Simpson.

I actually saw the musical in London's West End in 1987.

As I recall the story was about a rock star (originally UK pop star Cliff Richard, later replaced by David Cassidy) and his band mates being transported across the universe where they had to defend planet Earth from destruction before a galactic tribunal featuring a projected floating head (a recorded Laurence Olivier).

Relying greatly on massive sets and special effects, the show ran for two years.

Mercury's recording of "Time" featured bombastic orchestrations and what sounds like a choir of backup singers. But before the session with Mercury was done, Clark asked the rock star to record a bare-bones, piano accompaniment version of the song.

Clark tells USA Today that hearing Mercury sing the stripped-down version in London's Abbey Road  studios gave him "goosebumps."

"It (became) a mega-production, which I was happy with and Freddie loved," says Clark. "But I didn't think about what we had originally done until a decade or so later, when I thought, 'I've never felt that sort of goosebumps feeling that I got on that original run-through at Abbey Road with just Freddie and piano.'"

After finding the original recording in the spring of 2018, Clark asked the original session pianist, Mike Moran, to record an updated piano accompaniment to pair with the song.

The music video above was created using video footage shot at London’s Dominion Theatre in 1986.

The acoustic version is a compelling showcase for Mercury's iconic vocals. And lyrics like "Time waits for no one" seem to resonate even more when considering Mercury's early passing in 1991.

In this 1986 interview, Clark and Mercury discuss the evolution of the recording:

Director Rob Marshall Breaks Down How Live Action & Animation Came Together in 'Mary Poppins Returns'

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emily Blunt in 'Mary Poppins Returns'

Director Rob Marshall discusses how a scene, which combines live action and hand-drawn animation in the new Mary Poppins Returns, came to be.

Fascinating all the thinking that went into layering the 2-D animation, even down to how the clothing was painted to be a part of the scene.

From The New York Times' Anatomy of a Scene series:

The Banks children go on adventure that takes them inside of a ceramic bowl and into an animated countryside, in this fanciful scene from the new Disney sequel “Mary Poppins Returns.” The film’s director Rob Marshall narrates a closer look at the sequence, which features Emily Blunt as the titular nanny and Lin-Manuel Miranda as the lamplighter friend of the family, Jack. Here, Marshall discusses how animators were brought out of retirement to work on the 2-D animation.

First Look At Disney's Live-Action Remake Of "The Lion King"

(screen capture)

Disney has released the first trailer for the much-anticipated remake of The Lion King, and it's pretty amazing.

Hit the play button below to return to Pride Rock, Simba’s birthplace, as the Elton John classic, “Circle of Life,” rings across the African plains.

Directed by Jon Favreau, the cast of the new film includes Beyoncé as Nala, Donald Glover as Simba, James Earl Jones (that voice!), reprising his role as Mufasa, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Scar, Alfre Woodard as Sarabi, John Oliver as Zazu, and Seth Rogen and Billy Eichner as Pumbaa and Timon.

You may recall Favreau directed the 2016 live-action remake of The Jungle Book, which won an Oscar for its visual effects and garnered almost $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

The Oscar winning soundtrack of the 1994 film, by Tim Rice and Elton John, sold over 10 million copies, scoring an Academy Award for “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.”

According to reports, Beyoncé is collaborating with John on updated versions of the classic songs for the upcoming remake.

The new film arrives in theaters July 19, 2019.

Casting Announced For Upcoming Live Televised Production Of RENT

Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical), Brandon Victor Dixon (who killed in in this year's Jesus Christ Superstar Live!), and RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Valentina have been announced for Fox's 2019 live production of the Broadway hit musical, Rent.

Dixon will play 'Tom Collins,' Hudgens will take on 'Maureen,' and Valentina will portray the cross-dressing 'Angel.'

Valentina becomes the first drag queen to be cast in a primetime live musical production. She was a fan favorite in Season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race, winning Miss Congeniality.

Rent will also feature Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud) as 'Joanne,' Jordan Fisher (Hamilton) as 'Mark,' Brennin Hunt (Nashville) as 'Roger,' Mario (Empire) as 'Benjamin,' and recording artist Tinashe (Dancing With the Stars) as 'Mimi.'

Tony Award nominee Keala Settle, of "This Is Me" fame in the movie The Greatest Showman, will also be featured in the production singing the solo from "Seasons of Love."

Original Broadway director Michael Greif will again helm the Pulitzer Prize-winning Jonathan Larson musical.

The 1996 rock musical, loosely inspired by Puccini's La Bohème, was an instant smash hit and was responsible for launching the careers of original cast members Idina Menzel, Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp, Taye Diggs, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Jesse L. Martin.

The televised production is set to air January 27, 2019.

(h/t TheOUTfront)

Teaser: Aaron Tveit Sings "Come What May" From Upcoming "Moulin Rouge! The Musical"

Aaron Tveit

Even as the 2018 Tony Award nominations were announced this week, music theater fans are looking ahead to Moulin Rouge! The Musical, based on the 2001 movie musical by Baz Luhrmann, which will begin its journey to the Great White Way this summer.

At Boston's Emerson Colonial Theatre, audiences will get 'first look' at the new show for only 36 performances - June 27 through August 5.

Via press release:

Set in the Montmartre Quarter of Paris, France at the turn of the century, a world of indulgent beauty and unparalleled extravagance, of bohemians and aristocrats, of boulevardiers and mademoiselles, Moulin Rouge! The Musical tells the fictional story of an ambitious, lovesick writer, Christian (Aaron Tveit), and a dazzling, entrancing chanteuse, Satine (Karen Olivo).

Their lives collide at the Moulin Rouge with its many characters including the host of the Moulin Rouge, Harold Zidler (Danny Burstein); the brilliant and starving artist Toulouse-Lautrec (Sahr Ngaujah); the greatest tango dancer - and gigolo - in all of Paris, Santiago (Ricky Rojas); the tempting Nini (Robyn Hurder); and The Duke of Monroth (Tam Mutu), the wealthy and entitled patron of the club who thinks he can buy anything he wants, including love.

As in the film, Moulin Rouge! The Musical celebrates some of the greatest popular music of the last 50 years. The stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the movie and also includes recent hits released since the movie premiered 15 years ago.

Check out leading man Aaron Tveit singing "Come What May" from the upcoming musical below.

When Worlds Collide - "The Oz Project"

What if "Dorothy" from THE WIZARD OF OZ and her counterpart "Dorothy" from THE WIZ  went on the same journey together?

Awesome stuff from some of those Broadway folks - directed by Sean Barrett.

Who doesn't love both? Very  creative. Bravo.

Here's the video description:

The Oz Project is a love letter to THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE WIZ created by some of their diehard fans at heart. This 10-minute music video follows the parallel journeys of the Dorothy character in each adaptation as they both get whisked away in the same tornado, land in their respective versions of Oz, and follow their own yellow brick road. Their stories are interwoven as the two classic versions are combined through their well-loved scores, and sung by some of the greatest voices on Broadway.

The cast includes: Kate Rockwell, Brynn Williams, Joshua Henry, Rob McClure, Nancy Opel, Liz Larsen, Mykal Kilgore, James T. Lane, Ryan VanDenBoom, Grasan Kingsberry, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ben Jacoby, Jennie Harney, Natalie Joy Johnson, Ashlee Dupre, Patrice Covington, Alan Wiggins, Julia Knitel, Marty Thomas, Louis Jones, Gabrielle Reed.

New Musical IDAHO! Premieres At Las Vegas' Smith Center

Nate Hackmann (center) leads the cast of IDAHO!
(click pics to enlarge - all photos by Erik Kabik)

For those readers in Las Vegas this weekend, I heartily encourage you to run to The Smith Center where Idaho! The Comedy Musical is killing audiences with tons of laughs and titular tunes.

The new musical, lyrics and book by Buddy Sheffield with co-composer credit to Keith Thompson, is a mashed up/parody version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical canon with an emphasis on sending up their classic tuner, Oklahoma!. Think applying a healthy dose of double entendre Mel Brooks' The Producers humor, plus hysterical irreverence like that currently trodding the Broadway boards in hits like Book of Mormon and Something Rotten! and you get an idea of what's in store.

Sheffield and Thompson's score is clever and tuneful with plenty of musical inside jokes for the most learned of musical theater fans. Along the way you also get nods to Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof and many, many more.

The project got it's initial exposure at the New York Musical Theater Festival back in 2008 when it was honored with "Best of Fest." I mention that to note that this is how long it takes to develop a real, honest-to-goodness Broadway musical. Eight years later the show is finally getting a major production here in Las Vegas.

The fruit of that extended developmental period of time is on full display here. The book is tight, the lyrics smart, and the creative team seems open to honest reassessment. Sources report that between the first preview and opening night the second act was tightened by 5 minutes. This is a team that demonstrates a strong sense of clarity in what they want to deliver to an audience.

The official synopsis goes thusly:

Idaho! The Comedy Musical brings a hilarious new love story to life as Cassie Purdy, a mail-order bride from Ohio, arrives to Idaho to marry the notorious Jed Strunk, a real toad gagger who’s got the personality of a festered wart and enough money to buy every last spud in town. Upon her arrival, Cassie encounters the handsome Whip Masters, falling in love to Strunk’s dismay and setting in motion a whirlwind of events that end in three couples either discovering or re-discovering the loves of their lives.

The handsome "Whip Masters" is played to perfection by handsome, gorgeous voiced Nate Hackmann (recently seen in the Broadway revival of Les Miserables) who is worth the price of admission all on his own. A big, huge, golden voice, and comedy chops to match, Hackmann let's us know up front that, “Heck, it’s a helluva day!” because, after all, “I’m the leading man.”

Jessica Fontana (Broadway's Cinderella)is the object of his affection, and for good reason. Fontana plays "Cassie" with much sass and a winning soprano.

Also featured in the cast are Matt Loehr (Book of Mormon, The Producers) as "Slim Johnson" (careful of the double entendre there) and Alex Ellis (Catch Me If You Can, On A Clear Day) as "Ida Dunham" (another pun there). Think Oklahoma!'s "Will Parker" and "Ado Annie" but with a lot more good, clean sexual punning going on.

Carmen Ruby Floyd, Jen Perry and Jay Rogers all join in to farm the fun and frivolity.

Director Matt Lenz has a firm grasp of the very specific kind of humor he working with here, and he delivers keeping the pace turned up high and the humor constantly center stage.

Choreographer Michelle Lynch continually finds terpsichorean creativity throughout including heaping helpings of humor with her "Twister Ballet" and the "Everything's Up To Date In Kansas City" stand-in "Boise’s Jist as Noisy as Kin Be" led by Loehr.

The audience was clearly happy to take this hay ride as the laughs were constant throughout. This is spud-busting, tater-tickling, home-grown humor here, and the audience was definitely down for the fun.

Myron Martin, president and CEO of The Smith Center who spearheaded the development of the Center as a haven for touring Broadway shows to call home here in Las Vegas, is now taking the Center to the next level hoping to actually create musicals that Las Vegas can send to Broadway.

Idaho! makes for a worthy first effort. Stay tuned to see if the tuner tumbles all the way to the Great White Way.

But in the meantime, head down to the Center's Reynolds Hall and enjoy Idaho!'s fully baked fun with all the fixings.

Idaho! The Comedy Musical performs now through Sunday, July 17. For ticket info, call 702-749-2000 or click over to at The Smith Center.

Fox Drops First Look At "Rocky Horror Picture Show" Remake

First Look: Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit & Vanessa Hudgens in "Grease Live!"

Julianne Hough and Aaron Tveit in Grease Live!

FOX has shared the first peek of Danny (Aaron Tveit), Sandy (Julianne Hough), and Rizzo (Vanessa Hudgens) from their upcoming live version of Grease.

I think this looks great! Clearly, the producers are paying respectful homage to the enormously successful 1978 film starring Olivia Newton-John, John Travolta and Stockard Channing. I like that.

Btw - I hear there may be a cameo from a certain "Pink Lady" in the upcoming television presentation. Wanna guess who?

Grease LIVE! will air on January 31 on FOX.

Julianne Hough, Aaron Tveit and Vanessa Hudgens

Julianne Hough as "Good Sandy" in Grease Live!

Teaser: The Wiz LIVE!

First teaser for NBC's The Wiz Live!, starring Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Shanice Williams, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Common and more,

Nice to see the network swing into some diversity here with it's third holiday musical presentation after The Sound of Music and Peter Pan.

Loving the costume design.

Thursday, December 3 at 8/7c on NBC.

Tony Award Winner Jason Robert Brown Shares Original Demo For "Songs For A New World"

In a post on his personal blog, Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown shares the original demo of the opening of his Songs for a New World, which premiered in NYC 20 years ago.

Hard to believe the piece is already 20. I remember when it first arrived and theater audiences first discovered Brown's terrific writing. Since then, the show - essentially a revue - has become a favorite for colleges and regional theaters.

I loved the entire cast recording, although due to contractual issues at the time Tony Award winner Billy Porter was not allowed to record the cast recording. Fab Ty Taylor filled in for the recording, but I've always longed to hear Billy sing this glorious opening number.

From Brown's blog:

October 12, 1995, was the first performance of Songs for a New World at the WPA Theatre on W. 23rd St. in Manhattan. Almost no one saw it, the reviews were polite but dismissive, and the theater doesn’t even exist anymore. Yet Songs for a New World lives on, in its wonderful cast album (produced by the great Jeffrey Lesser and released by the visionary Bill Rosenfield) and in the hundreds of productions the show receives all around the world every year.

You can go here to see photos of the original production and read the reviews. And below, I’ve posted (for the first time) the original demo recording of the opening sequence of the show – all twelve minutes of it! – featuring four amazing singers who did so much to shape the sound of the show. Andréa Burns and I had known each other since summer camp in the 80s, and Billy Porter sang during my shifts in the piano bar at Don’t Tell Mama when he would finish his performances in Miss Saigon; they both were able to stay with the project for its entire development. I’ve talked about Amy Ryder a lot on this blog and how much she supported me in my first years in this business and made NY feel like home. And finally, Brian d’Arcy James came in for an audition for a project at Manhattan Theatre Club that I was music-directing, and I immediately grabbed him and got his phone number because I knew I needed him to sing my music.

The voice you can’t hear on the demo is that of my director and collaborator and confidante and support system, Daisy Prince, who heard my songs in a piano bar and signed on to the next four years of her life building this crazy revue.

Twenty years is a long time, and it feels like it, actually. I saw Andréa, Brooks, Billy and Jessica just four days ago at a reading of Prince of Broadway and we are all profoundly different than we were back then, and yet we are still connected, bound by this marvelous mad adventure we had. Songs for a New World was my first professional show. And it was glorious.

Stars Of GLEE & ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Set To Join THE WIZ LIVE Cast

New casting news about the upcoming The Wiz LIVE:

Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba will play "Glinda the Good Witch" and GLEE's Amber Riley will play her sister, Addaperle.

Musicals are not a new environment for either with Aduba having starred in the short-lived 2011 Broadway revival of Godspell and Riley appeared in the 2014 Hollywood Bowl production of Hair.

Check out both singing from the musical theater canon below.

First up, Aduba singing "Lily's Eyes" from The Secret Garden with Rachel Bay Jones at Broadway Backwards, followed by Riley's GLEE performance of "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls.

(via NewNowNext)

Review: "On Your Feet!"

The new Gloria Estafan stage musical, On Your Feet! premiered in Chicago last night, and Variety likes what it sees.

While not an absolute rave, Variety says the show is what you expect and achieves that well.

Just a few lines from the positive review:

There is something comfortingly familiar and predictable about “On Your Feet!,” the Broadway-bound new bio-musical featuring the story of Gloria Estefan and her music-producer husband Emilio.

Another way to say that might be that it never goes deeper than the superficial and that its narrative follows a TV-movie template.

But the show boasts sufficient sincerity with its schmaltz, and features a fluid, structurally sound story that strings together the Estefans’ pop ballads with a ready dose of the buoyant Cuban-fusion dance numbers that sold kajillions of albums worldwide.

It’s a show sure to please the built-in audience that will find absolutely exactly the entertainment they expect, and even the less fully acquainted will find that the rhythm really is going to get you.

It’s corny, stereotypical, too on-the-nose… and it works, which is true throughout this unsubtle but ever-crafty and unquestionably entertaining show.

Directed by two time Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell, the show plays in Chicago through July 5th, and is then set for a Broadway opening night on November 5th at the Marquis Theater in NYC.

More info at the show's official website here.

Dallas "King & I" Producer Agrees To Find Asian Actor For Role Of "The King"

Dallas Summer Musicals recently got some unwanted attention when it came to light that the theater company had plans to produce the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The King & I with a Caucasian actor in the role of the "King Mongkut," a practice known as "yellowface.'

The Asian American Performers Action Coalition and others became incensed that one of the few leading roles available to actors of Asian-descent would go to a non-Asian actor.

After many letters, emails and mucho media coverage, the producer Michael Jenkins and director Glenn Casale (a good friend of mine, and a stand-up guy) have decided to begin again and find a proper actor of Asian background to play the role this summer.

Jenkins posted a statement addressing the concerns of the Asian actors community and ended with this:

Mr. Casale and I visited yesterday. We have heard your comments, and we have heard your concerns, and we are now going back to find an actor of Asian descent for the role of the King. WE HAVE HEARD YOU, and we are working to guarantee a positive result for both you and also for a quality production. We have heard you and we take your comments seriously.

Which goes to show, strong grassroots actions can have a powerful impact.

Good for everyone, I say.

Forward.

How Did Peter Pan Live Do In TV Ratings?

So, for those wondering - how did Peter Pan Live compare in terms of ratings last year's The Sound of Music Live?

The three-hour stage production averaged a 5.9 rating among households -  just over than half of what Sound Of Music did last year with a 10.9 rating.

Peter Pan Live was the NBC's second-highest rating for a non-sports Thursday in more than two years.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt offered a statement on the numbers early Friday: "We're very pleased with the Peter Pan ratings and it was a great night for NBC. We won every hour, which hasn't happened on Thursday with entertainment programming since a year ago. I'm proud to be part of a company that takes chances and creates big events, and that's exactly what we're going to continue to do. We didn’t expect to reach the same rating as The Sound of Music since that was the first live movie event of its kind in over 50 years."

Greenblatt added that plans are already in the works for next year's live musical event.

Trailer: Peter Pan Live! On NBC

Starring Alison Williams and Christopher Walken, Peter Pan Live! premieres live on NBC December 4th at 8PM.

Theatre: "Cloak and Dagger" at the Signature Theatre

My friend Ed Dixon has written a new musical currently performing at the world class Signature Theatre in  Arlington, VA.  Billed as a "zany, mile-a-minute, musical comedy whodunit" the show has received (no surprise) rave reviews.

ARLINGTON WEEKLY NEWS TV
"Cloak and Dagger is the funniest show I've seen in years!"

CULTURESEEN4U.COM
"There is plenty of fun and good music to please the most discerning theatre goer."

WHERE DC
"It's entertainment as fit for a Shirlington summer eve as a lime-rubbed gin and tonic."

MD THEATRE GUIDE
"Cloak and Dagger is the perfect way to spend a summer's evening in the theatre... highly recommended."

SHOWBIZRADIO
"Up for something with amusement, silliness, and banter propelled by a lively score and excellent voices? Then head off to Cloak and Dagger at Signature Theatre."

DCMETROTHEATERARTS
"This is the stuff that (Broadway) dreams are made of."

DC THEATRE SCENE
"Those expecting a bit of dessert at the end of their 2013-2014 subscription should have fun, and there were certainly plenty of laughs from the crowd around me."

If you're in the DC area, go see "Cloak and Dagger" at the Signature Theatre before July 6.

Trailer: New "Annie" movie with Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis

New, updated version of the 1970s musical hit in theaters December 19th.

Starring Jamie Foxx and Quvenzhané Wallis (youngest-ever recipient of an Best Actress Oscar nomination for Beasts Of The Southern Wild).

Plus Bobby Cannevale and Cameron Diaz as "Mrs. Hannigan."

Produced by Jay-Z and Will Smith.

More info at www.Annie-Movie.com

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Chris Pine sings on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Chris Pine croons a  bit on the Jimmy Kimmel Show

Handsome and hunky Chris Pine dropped by the Jimmy Kimmel show to promote his new movie "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit."

While chatting, Kimmel brought up the fact that Pine has shot the upcoming film version of the Broadway musical "Into The Woods," and that his co-star Meryl Streep had oohed and ahhed over Pine's voice.

Soooo - Kimmel persuades Mr. Pine to show off his pipes a bit. And the result is very nice. Take a look.

NBC announces PETER PAN will be next live broadcast musical

BroadwayWorld has the details:

"We're very pleased to be underway on 'Peter Pan' as our next live holiday musical for the whole family," said NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt. "We were all delighted to see how 'The Sound of Music Live!' struck such a chord in December and brought nearly 19 million people to the live telecast plus another several million viewers over the weekend. In the hopes that lightning strikes twice, we think we've landed on another great Broadway musical - which ironically also starred Mary Martin - that is a timeless classic for all audiences, young and old, who just never want to grow up."

"We're thrilled to be reteaming with NBC and Bob Greenblatt in bringing 'Peter Pan' back to its roots as a live television event," said Zadan and Meron. "We hope to create the joy that has made this musical so beloved. We would like a whole new generation to experience 'Peter Pan' and for families across the country to share the magic."

Featuring the iconic songs "I'm Flying," "I've Gotta Crow," "I Won't Grow Up," and "Never Never Land," and a book full of magic, warmth, and adventure, PETER PAN is the perfect show for the child in all of us who dreamed of soaring high and never growing up.

The broadcast is scheduled for December 4, 2014.

Casting is currently underway although no names have been attached yet.

Post your opinions here - who would you cast in the leading roles?  Good choice for the next "live" TV musical?