Page to Stage discussion

Little House on the Prairie
Book by Rachel Sheinken, music by Rachel Portman, lyrics by Donna DiNovelli and direction by Francesca Zambello.
The musical will premiere Aug. 15 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.
A Broadway bow is planned for the 2008-2009 season, with a subsequent national tour.

Rebecca
Based on the classic Daphne Du Maurier novel.
Book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, music by Sylvester Levay, direction by Francesca Zambello.
Rebecca made its world premiere in 2006 in Vienna, where it continues to play to sold-out houses. The musical is also currently playing in Tokyo and is scheduled to open in Berlin and Helsinki.
Global Broadway is aiming for a Broadway bow in spring 2010.

Maybe this has already been mentioned by Tale of Two Cities is opening on Broadway next month with James Barbour.

Yep! I think we're going to see in in November!

Ooo, I am jealous! I am going to NYC this weekend, but obviously it is not open yet. Going to go see Morgan Freeman and Frances McDormand in a Clifford Odets play instead...

Interesting... http://www.playbill.com/news/article/...

Charly - Wow. That's pulling out an oldie. The only thing I can remember from that musical is the tune from "I'm going to wash that man right out of my hair" (or something to that effect). Although is there really a calling for a war musical right now? Even a WWII one?

Haven't read the book yet. LOVE Michener though. Hawaii is still my favorite but Alaska wasn't bad. They should do a musical on that one. Ha!

Yeah, there is a current revival of South Pacific starring Kelli O'Hara (ten points to anyone other than Meghan who can guess her significance to me). It won the Tony for Best Revival. I'd like to see it, actually, but my husband hates that show so we won't be catching it next week.

I'll be sure to report back on A Tale of Two Cities, though. I'm seeing it Friday.

OH! And have you heard who's going to be playing Adelaide in the new revival of Guys & Dolls? Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham! I cannot picture her as Adelaide AT ALL.

Oh and Sarah that's funny. I can totally picture her as Adelaide.

Charly - I actually have that book. I want to read all his books someday. I guess I'll mark that one down as my next one. Thanks!

They could do a musical about Texas too. That would be fun. I just think men running around in fur coats and tossing fish while singing show tunes would be fun though (a brief synopsis of Alaska).

Centennial. I also have Space. I saw a documentary on Michener and how he came to write South Pacific. I don't remember much other than I need to read the book. But to be honest, I'm not a really big fan of the musical. I found it rather boring until the second act.

The only musical about Texas, Meghan, I can think of, at this moment, is Lone Star which is a musica version of Shakespeare's Merry Wives set in 19th century Texas, or so...

The Count of Monte Cristo is about to go into workshops. The exciting thing about it is that it's composed by Frank Wildhorn.

The Count of Monte Cristo is actually already going to have its premiere in Europe already in March 2009. It will premiere in St. Gallen in Switzerland in the German language, and a German musical star Thomas Borchert (who is divine) will be playing the lead role. And there will be a sort of a pre-cast recording out in English, with Borchert, Brandi Burkhardt and several big names of European musical theatre such as Pia Douwes, Jesper Tydén and Alexander Goebel. It was originally supposed to be released on 7th November, but now the release has been postponed to December. Hopefully it will come out then.

I have some doubts about that musical because plot isn't Wildhorn's strong point and the novel has quite a complex plot and I don't really see how it will work with the character cuts that have been made. But his music is usually good, and I would listen to Thomas Borchert sing a phone book.

Wildhorn also has another new musical out in Europe. "Rudolf - the Last Kiss" premiered in Budapest a couple of years ago and is now going to premiere in Vienna in February 2009. It's the story of Rudolf, the tragic Crown Prince of Austria, and based of Frederic Morton's "A Nervous Splendor". Drew Sarich will be playing Rudolf.

Ooo, the Wildhorn musical sounds great! I love Morton's book, which is well-written and well-researched, overall. If the success of Kunze and Levay's Elisabeth is anything to go by, Rudolf should do very well indeed.

I like Levay's music, so I am interested to hear Rebecca score

And another version of Pride and Prejudice. I like some of B J Taylor's music, but here is a new one

http://www.prideandprejudicebroadway....

Shrek is open on Broadway, or at least it's in previews. The previews opened the week after I got back. And it was Dreamworks, wasn't it? Not Disney? I didn't know it was a book.

I've heard the musical is awful.

It did originate as a play. In theatrespeak "book" often refers to "script." Do you think that's what they were referencing?

Lorraine Hansbury wrote the play; and it was first African American women to win the New York Critics Award. The title, as I recall, is from a Langston Hughes' poem. So Trinity Rep is doing the musical version? I've only seen one play at Trinity Rep; they have a good reputation.

I saw Cyrano de Bergerac about two years ago at Trinity Rep, when I was attending a conference at Brown.

I didn't enjoy The Color Purple because I thought it was devoid of emotion. We had an understudy for Celie and she was awful, but the newspaper review expressed my sentiments exactly and the reviewer saw it with the regular Celie. I love the book and the movie but the musical didn't do anything for me.

I did not get a chance to see it; I enjoy a few of the songs. If it tours and I can catch it, I'd like to see it, but that's an interesting comment, Sarah, about it being "devoid of emotion" -- especially when it's such a powerful, raw story,

Exactly! But there was comic relief in inappropriate places and the scenes were too short to really get invested in the emotional journey of the characters. If a few songs were cut and some scenes lengthened, it would have been a lot better.

I'm so happy that there's going to be a Broadway show of Rebecca! I love the show so much, and am really glad that it's coming to an English-speaking stage. I hope that they do a good job with it.

Just saw Catch Me If You Can, this show was so much fun. The music fit the story well, and there was perfect amounts of comedy! The chemistry between Norbert Leo Butz (Carl Hanratty) and Aaron Tveit (Frank Abagnale Jr) was amazing, and of course those two can SING! Tom Wopat as Frank Senior and Kerry Butler as Brenda Strong were only a couple more of the amazing talents in this show! They story flowed well, and it is the first time in a while I walked out of the theater on a "new show" and felt the way I did when I left Hairspray! This one is going to make it!

Becky, I am so jealous! I'd love to see Aaron and Norbert play off of each other. I really hope that makes it to Broadway. They are both so amazingly talented.

I haven't seen anyone mention it here, but a Spiderman musical (with music by U2) is on its way to Broadway. It's not technically a book, but it's a comic book, so I decided it belonged here.

A Spiderman musical? I've officially lost all of my respect for the producers on Broadway.

But Julie Taymor is directing it! (She is usually a very innovative director -- i.e. her mask/costume design for The Lion King) and her other innovative works, such as Goldini's King Stag (ART) and Die Zauberfloete (Metropolitan Opera) or her "colonial" Tempest. Film work like Titus...If anyone else was directing it, I'd have a similar reaction to you, Rachel, but since its Julie Taymor, MacArthur Genius winner and 1st woman to win a Tony for directing, etc, etc.--I am actually rather intrigued.

Spiderman is up in the air right now. It is called Spiderman Turn Off the Dark, it is with U2 songs. They had some big names under contract, but looks like they might have just been released. The funding isn't there for the opening they were set to have. It will be interesting to see what happens and what is pulled out. I am hoping this is not a sign of what we should expect for the rest of the season.

Spiderman is a ridiculously expensive musical. It's going to take a lot of money to produce, more than usual, so I don't think it's really a warning of what to expect the rest of the season. Rumor has it that it's up in the air, but the producers are beginning to deny that and seem to be getting it under control. I don't know when we can actually expect to see it, though.

The idea of a spiderman musical makes me laugh. It's just ridiculous.

....Even though Alan Cumming is in it.

I'm not so worried about a spiderman musical, the super hero characters could have great angst ballads! my worry is I don't think U2 has the strength in their writing to write a concise musical. They don't have the talent that say Yazbek, or even Elton John who can write rock and roll, but also capture the essence of a musical score.

Here's my review of the Catch Me If You Can World Premier: http://www.examiner.com/x-18729-Seatt...

Little House on the Prairie is coming to Sacramento this season. I don't know if we'll get a chance to see it, but I'd like to.

Charly, I enjoyed South Pacific when I saw it in NYC over the summer. The sets were excellent.

Sarah wrote: "OH! And have you heard who's going to be playing Adelaide in the new revival of Guys & Dolls? Gilmore Girls' Lauren Graham! I cannot picture her as Adelaide AT ALL."
I've seen some of the clips of her, for "research" since my high school did Guys and Dolls (I've still got the songs memorized, and will forever). And she's actually pretty good. Personally I liked our Adelaide, she was awesome, but I may be a *little* biast.

Sarah wrote: "Little House on the Prairie is coming to Sacramento this season. I don't know if we'll get a chance to see it, but I'd like to."
Yeah, if you get the chance to see it, see it! Everyone! I saw it this past Christmas season, and it was pretty good. I enjoyed it since I did so much research on Laura Ingalls Wilder in 5th grade. Melissa Gilbert was surprisingly good, singing-wise. But altogether it was a pretty good musical, simple, yet entertaining.

I don't think so. Although, I do know for any fellow Denver people, Les Miserables just ended here, Lion King is coming in Novemeber I think, West Side Story is coming in December/January, and ... Wicked (Aaaaahhhh) is coming in May!

A Streetcar Named Desire should be coming back in 2012