the craptacular

The summer before I started Junior High School—still too young to be left alone all day, apparently—my little brother and I hung out with family friends on days during the work-week. Those friends were heavily involved with a local theater company and that summer their son was playing Michael Darling in the company’s production of Peter Pan. As you can imagine, in the weeks leading up to opening, I spent a lot of time in the theater, watching the production grow and take shape around me.

It was a summer of firsts. My first Junior High School crush—on Jay, the boy playing John, which would linger for easily a decade—and my first backstage experience of theater. Every memory from that summer is amazingly fond, and in consequence, I’ve always had a very special place in my heart for Peter Pan. But nothing, no movie or book or stage production, has ever approximated the magic of that summer the way Peter and the Starcatcher did last week.

Now open at the Brooks Atkinson Theater, this Peter Pan origin tale based on Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson’s 2004 children’s book is ultimately less about Peter Pan himself and more about the magic of storytelling and make believe.  About the power of imagination, and theater, to bring even the most ordinary items—a rope, a ladder, your neighbor’s bony below—alive before your eyes. Yes, cynical, Manhattan adult person, right before YOUR eyes.

Starcatcher is the theatrical equivalent of the best pillow fort you ever built. Only it’s a lot funnier than you were even capable of fathoming at the age of six. And just a tiiiny bit smarter.

With humor largely aimed at adults—Ayn Rand jokes, y’all! I almost fell out of my seat!—and the perfect amount of slapstick physical comedy woven in, Starcatcher is a crowd pleaser for all ages, neither too juvenile for adults to enjoy, nor too adult for children to follow. In fact, I think I shocked the little boy in front of me with the force of my laughter at some first act fart jokes, but come ON, when are fart jokes not funny? Even to thirty-something women?

Starcatcher’s ensemble cast is universally fantastic, but I fear it’s impossible not to single-out Christian Borle’s performance. His Captain Black Stache—the most fearsome, rubber-limbed pirate that ever sailed—is exceptional. Having most recently seen Borle as Prior Walter in The Signature Theatre Company’s Angels in America, or Tom Leavitt on TV’s Smash, it’s kind of easy to forget his deft hand with physical comedy. But Black Stache will remind you how truly hilarious he is capable of being, particularly in the second act scene where Captain Hook is born. Even if you don’t realize it, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for through most of the show, and Borle’s perfect comedic timing is the ultimate payoff.

Of course I’d be totally remiss if I didn’t note that the direction, by Roger Rees and Alex Timbers, is top notch, and in its own way, kind of the star of the show. With a set that is paired back to the basics—very little modern technology here, outside the electric light—Rees and Timbers make ample use of simple props and the bodies of the cast mates themselves and trust that the audience will come along on the imaginative journey with them. They also trust that even the most remote, erudite of jokes will land, and do absolutely no pandering or hand-holding. That trust, and the unspoken pact it engenders with the audience, allows even the simplest tricks to soar.

Photo: New York Times

The Tony nominations are two weeks away, and everyone in the 12 or so blocks that make up the theater district are a twitter, trying to figure out who’s name will be called when the nominations come out May 1. To help see through it all, we’ve sifted through the reviews, social media feeds, industry rags, and stage door hearsay, and spit it back out at you in my weekly Tony Tracker (ICYMI, the first installments are up on my site). Who’s up? Who’s down? And who should probably make dinner plans Tony day. It’s all here.

Best Musical

UP: Nice Work If You Can Get It. Buzz from previews have been pretty positive, and it filled 90% of its season during its first week of performances. This looks like a an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser that’ll tour super well. A “duh” nomination, if you will.

DOWN: Ghost the Musical. The London production was completely shut out of Sunday’s Olivier Awards. Not a good sign…

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Leap of Faith; Newsies; Nice Work If You Can Get It; Once

Best Revival of a Musical

UP: Jesus Christ Superstar. In the great Battle of the God-related, Jesus Christ Superstar is winning.

DOWN: Evita. Did you read that review in The New York Times? Ouch. And did you see those Good Morning America performances? Yikes. Perhaps it wasn’t as strong a contender as I first thought…

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Evita; Follies; The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess; Jesus Christ Superstar

Best Play

UP: Peter and the Starcatcher. It’s one of the most imaginative shows I’ve seen in years, which already helps it stand out from the crowd. Plus, it got some pretty strong reviews across the board – including a glowing review from The New York Times. And although this has nothing to do with their chances at getting a nomination, can I just talk about how great that artwork is? Best logo on Broadway, hands down.

DOWN: One Man, Two Guvnors. This show was completely shut out of the Olivier Awards, too. How much will that affect its chances for a Tony nomination?

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Clybourne Park; Other Desert Cities; Peter and the Starcatcher; Venus in Fur

Best Revival of a Play

UP: Death of a Salesman. With 99.9% of its seats filled, Death of a Salesman is filling more seats than any play on Broadway (and even a bunch of musicals). That’s more than War Horse and Wicked!

DOWN: Master Class. Were you hoping that the Tyne Daly-led production of Master Class would get some Tony love? I was, too. But in a tight race like this, closed shows don’t tend to do as well. It is playing in London right now, so that might help. But in this case, if any closed show is getting the Tony love, it’s going to be MTC’s other closed revival this season: Wit.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Death of a Salesman; Gore Vidal’s The Best Man; A Streetcar Named Desire; Wit

Best Actor in a Musical

UP: Richard Fleeshman (Ghost the Musical). Pre-opening chatter around Ghost the Musical seems to be centered on one person: Richard Fleeshamn. Have you seen those abs? Damn! Plus, the boy can sing! Sure, it wasn’t enough to get him an Olivier nomination. But maybe the Tony nominating committee will feel differently.

DOWN: Matthew Broderick (Nice Work If You Can Get It). He’s won twice already, so it’s probably time to give someone else a chance, especially in a crowded category.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Danny Burstein, Follies; Raúl Esparza (Leap of Faith); Jeremy Jordan (Newsies); Steve Kazee, (Once); Norm Lewis, (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess)

Best Actor in a Play

UP: John Lithgow (The Columnist). The buzz surrounding David Auburn’s new play about journalism and journalists is that John Lithgow is giving the performance of a lifetime.

DOWN: Hugh Dancy (Venus in Fur). Back when Venus in Fur transferred to Broadway, Dancy was considered a sure thing for a nomination. But as time has gone on, a slew of other shows have opened, and this category is looking much tighter. At this rate, Nina Arianda is the show’s best chance for both a nomination and a win.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: James Corden (One Man, Two Guvnors); Philip Seymour Hoffman (Death of a Salesman); Stacy Keach (Other Desert Cities); John Larroquette (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man); John Lithgow (The Columnist)

Best Featured Actor in a Musical

UP: Michael Cerveris (Evita). Ben Brantley may have pretty much hated Evita, but he didn’t seem to have any problems with Cerveris. As he said, “Mr. Cerveris is, as usual, just about perfect…. And he’s the only one of the stars here who finds the vocal richness in Mr. Lloyd Webber’s melodies.” That’s a pretty strong endorsement.

DOWN: Ricky Martin (Evita). Last week, Martin seemed like a shoe-in for a nomination. Then the reviews came in, and he got across-the-board negative reviews. To quote New York Magazine’s Scott Brown, “where’s the attitude, the anger, the anything? He’s little more than an avid grin and an Errol Flynn pose — the rest fades instantly into the scenery. There’s no consistent sentiment of any detectable level in Martin, no visceral critique of the lady in question, beyond the mountains of Ricean info-babble he’s called upon to sing.” Eek. In a particularly weak category this year, Martin’s tepid everyman may still get him the nomination. But I’d say the win is about as likely as Martin falling in love with me.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Michael Cerveris (Evita); David Alan Grier (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess); Tom Hewitt (Jesus Christ Superstar); Ricky Martin (Evita); Michael McGrath (Nice Work If You Can Get It)

Best Featured Actor in a Play

UP: Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher). Although it’s an ensemble piece, Christian Borle is a complete standout in Peter and the Starcatcher. Plus, he’s pretty much the best thing about Smash each week. He should be a lock for a nomination.

DOWN: James Earl Jones (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man). It’s hard to bet against Dearth Vader. But his role in Gore Vidal’s The Best Man may be a little thin to get him recognition from the Tonys.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher); Andrew Garfield (Death of a Salesman);  James Earl Jones (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man); Hamish Linklater (Seminar); Michael Esper (The Lyons).

Best Actress in a Musical

UP: Jan Maxwell (Follies). As Follies prepares for its run at the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, the pre-opening buzz seems to be as it was when the show was on Broadway: around Jan Maxwell. I think the four-time Tony Award nominee will easily get her fifth nomination.

DOWN: Elena Roger (Evita). The critics beat up on Roger. Their general beef? That despite her hard work and likability, she lacks the emotional depth that the character needs. Audiences are having another problem with her: her diction. Seems that her thick Argentine accent is too thick for American audiences. When Patti Lupone has better diction than you, you know you’re in trouble.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Caissie Levy (Ghost); Jan Maxwell (Follies); Audra McDonald (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), Cristin Milioti (Once); Elena Roger (Evita)

Best Actress in a Play

UP: Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities). Channing returned to Other Desert Cities last week after a scheduled absence. No surprise, she quickly reminded us all why she’s been the talk of the town since the show opened. In what has got to be the most crowded Tony race of the year, Stockard is very much in the running.

DOWN: Cynthia Nixon (Wit). It was a steamroller of a performance… if you can remember it. The show closed on March 17.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Nina Arianda (Venus in Fur); Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities); Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow); Linda Lavin (The Lyons); Cynthia Nixon (Wit)

Best Featured Actress in a Musical

UP: Terri White (Follies). Remember the mirror number? So does everyone else.

DOWN: Lindsay Mendez (Godspell). I love Lindsay Mendez. Next to Hunter Parrish’s white boxer shorts, she’s the best thing about Godspell. But no one takes me seriously when I mention her in this category. We’ll keep her up there one more week. But unless she gets some big buzz fast, she’s pretty much out.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Judy Kaye (Nice Work If You Can Get It); Lindsay Mendez (Godspell), Jessie Mueller (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever); Elaine Paige (Follies), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Ghost the Musical)

Best Featured Actress in a Play

UP: Celia Keenan-Bolger (Peter and the Starcatcher). As the only female in an ensemble of 12, it’s easy to notice Celia Keenan-Bolger. But noticing someone is one thing; standing by them is a completely different thing. And Celia (we’re on a first name basis) completely had me in her character’s corner the whole time. Plus, how great was she is Merrily We Roll Along at Encores? Ahhh she has to be nominated, she just has to!

DOWN: Margaret Colin (The Columnist). Eleanor Waldorf is my spirit animal. That’s how much I love Margaret Colin. But in The Columnist, Colin mostly walks around in flowy dresses and quietly cries herself to sleep. She looks amazing, but this probably won’t win her a Tony.

PREDICTED NOMINEES: Linda Emond (Death of a Salesman); Celia Keenan-Bolger (Peter and the Starcatcher); Angela Lansbury (Gore Vidal’s The Best Man); Judith Light (Other Desert Cities); Lily Rabe (Seminar)

Welcome to That’s Gross!, a weekly analysis of one aspect of the Broadway Grosses. As always, the numbers below are provided by the The Broadway League.

“PS everyone be sure to check out the Broadway grosses tomorrow…. Just sayin,” tweeted Newsies star Jeremy Jordan at 9:45pm on April 15.

What Jordan was really “just sayin” is that Newsies–at the end of its fifth week of performances–had finally made more than one-million dollars in a single week, taking in $1,024,517 in ticket sales at an average ticket price of $106.08.

Jordan’s enthusiasm remains adorable, but is crossing over the million-dollar mark really the best way to measure a show’s popularity? After all, Evita did the same in its first week of performances (ending 3/18), raking in $1,167,685, to be exact. Comparing numbers to numbers, Evita should be making the headlines, no?

Well, not exactly. See, Evita is playing at the Marquis, which is a significantly bigger house than Newsies’ Nederlander, so there’s potential to make more money from the get-go. Evita’s doing well, without a doubt. But Newsies has an edge.

How do we know? Well,  let’s look at the percentage of seats filled for both shows. Evita is sitting pretty at 97.2% this week, but hot damn will you look at that – Newsies just hit 101.0%!

How can a show pass 100%, you may wonder? Standing room. Newsies sells a few standing room tickets for $30 on nights the show’s sold out. Which from the way the numbers read, was just about every night at Newsies last week.

Here’s the other interesting thing: of the four shows to cross the 100% capacity line this week, Newsies has the second-highest number on the list (behind The Book of Mormon at 102.6%) – and it’s the only new musical this season. The Lion King and Wicked both follow, at 100% even. Behind them – two new plays: Death of a Salesman (99.7%) and (surprisingly) One Man, Two Guvnors (98.8%). Rounding out the Top 10? Jersey Boys (98.8%), Evita (97.2%), Rock of Ages (96.0%), and Once (95.5%).

So Evita collects more money each week, but Newsies fills more of its house. Sounds like the King of New York is more popular than the First Lady of Argentina, wouldn’t you say?

While you’re enjoying the last waning hours of life that you won’t spend thinking, talking, or dreaming about The 2012 Tony Awards, we thought we’d give you some conversation-starters for the weekend. Or maybe conversation enders, depending on who you’re hanging out with…

• We thought it would be some big cray movie star, but Donna Murphy was cast as The Witch in this summer’s Central Park production of Into the Woods. Donna isn’t the most shocking choice, but honestly, we’re kinda relieved. Donna is tried and true, and casting Hollywood stars can be treacherous. Just ask Brooke Shields…
• It’s for sure — Benjamin Walker scored a role in the new HBO flick, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight. In fact, Baberaham Sexypants is already filming here in NYC. If you’d like to indulge your stalker tendencies/beg him for a lap dance, we might know some people who can hook you up with the location of his trailer. We’re just saying it’s a possibility.
• Men in period dress—even only questionably attractive ones—are basically soft porn for smart girls, so you can imagine how exciting it was to get our first glimpse of Aaron Tveit in costume on the set of Les Miserables. We’ll confess, we missed the xylophone vest for half a second, but then we checked out Aaronjolras’ breeches and all was forgiven. Too bad Enjolras is planning to die a virgin for France. We’re pretty sure we’d make much better mistresses than, say, Liberty.
• The trailer for So Shoot Me, a new documentary about Elaine Stritch, had us laughing and tearing up within a span of about fifteen seconds.
• I mean, fuck. You knew you were going to buy Dee Snider’s showtunes album. Now that you’ve heard his duet with Patti Lupone, you’re planning to buy it twice.
• The show goes on for Mike Daisey, who was found to have fabricated portions of his monologue The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. He’s developing a new work for the Cape Cod Theater Project. Hopefully the stuff in it will be true. And if it’s not, hopefully he’ll just be like, “This isn’t true.” And then we’ll all be good.
• You may resume your fangirling: Handsome Josh Young is feeling better and is back in Jesus Christ Superstar.
• The Public Theater wins the badass award this week for its new season, which includes a new musical about Imelda Marcos by Fatboy Slim and David Byrne, Michael John LaChiusa’s musical version of Giant (fingers crossed for Aaron Lazar!), and a play by Colman Domingo.
• The Lion King unseated The Phantom of the Opera as the highest grossing show in Broadway history. In related news, The Phantom was later caught planting booby traps in the wings at the Minskoff. He explained that he intended to blame it on Julie Taymor…

Picture it: Aaron Tveit in breeches and Jeremy Jordan in cleats.

Pick yourself up off the floor, girl, because it so happened.

Yesterday, the internet – beloved, bountiful mother – gave us snaps of Aaron Tveit on the set of Les Miserables looking like a clear-eyed angel of revolutionary doom, and Jeremy Jordan on the diamond in Central Park, playing softball with the Broadway Show League.

Different worlds entirely. But it’s probably safe to say that your reaction to both sets of photos was… similar.

So now we’re going to do the unthinkable: We’re going to ask you to pick which one you like better.

We know it’s a difficult choice, but at least we limited your options to two. We knew that if we threw in Steve Kazee in his Once costume, your computer or mobile device would simply melt into a puddle of plastic and gnarled circuits, so we held off. You know. For your safety.

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Photos: Tveit – Picture Sucker, Jordan – samicat

We’re not sure if you’ve noticed, but director Derek Wills is basically the hottest person on Smash.  Sure, he’s got a questionable attitude. And he takes advantage of his position in ways that make Human Resources professionals the world over recoil in horror weekly. But with that dashing accent and bad boy air, we’d crawl over broken glass for some time in the sack with that man, whether or not it was going to score us a leading role.

Inspired by Wills’ scorching hotness, we decided to compile a list of 5 hot directors on Broadway right now. And don’t worry, we included pics so you can keep a weather eye while you’re out and about in the theater district.

	Alex Timbers How hot is Alex Timbers? Hot enough to make several editions of the list, that’s how hot. Featured once for his talents as a writer, this time we’re giving Mr. Timbers a nod for his work as a director. And, as always, for his boyish good looks and beautiful, floppy, perfect hair which makes grown men and women swoon on sight. His obvious smarts, sharp sense of humor, and obvious penchant for physical comedy are pretty sexy, too (hello, Peter and the Starcatcher). But mostly, we just want to reach out and tuck a lock of that beautiful hair behind his ear while we stare tenderly into his eyes… Or maybe just grab hold and… well…
	Matthew Warchus The first time we saw Matthew Warchus, he was dressed entirely in black with his hair sticking up straight, and wearing a pair of enormous combat boots. In other words, it was love at first sight. He’s also English, so plus 1000 points for the accent, and the promise of authentic punk sensibility. And for being way more suitable for this list than, say, Trevor Nunn. He’s directing Ghost on Broadway this season, and next season, his Matilda promises to land on NYC like an atomic bomb of shrieking, sardonic little girls. As shrieking, sardonic little girls ourselves, We. Cannot. Wait.
	Sam Gold In case it wasn’t obvious, we love ourselves a man with good hair. Enter Seminar/Look Back in Anger director Sam Gold, whose particular brand of good hair is both flowing and curly. Slap on a pair of thick nerd-glasses and we’re complete goners. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s also immensely talented and intelligent—the Times described him has having an “uncommonly observant eye and ear”—in fact, Gold is basically a cocktail of amazingly hot things. Which makes him kind of intoxicating.
	Joe Mantello We love actors who break out of the acting box, especially when they do it with some panache and style. Few have had a cooler path than Joe Mantello, who still manages to squeeze in acting gigs around his ridiculously successful directing projects. And if you caught his portrayal of Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart, you learned the most important thing to know about Joe Mantello: Passion is sexy. Throw in brains, a tidy fortune (you’re welcome, Wicked), and a certain graying-at-the-temples worldliness, and you have a genuine dish.
	Diane Paulus Yeah, she’s female. So our scale of admiration is slightly different. But the director of Hair and Porgy & Bess has us swooning for lots of reasons. Namely, we’d more or less kill for her beautiful bone structure and intense baby blues. Even sexier than that, though, are her two Ivy League degrees and her sensitive, nuanced new take on old material. Now that’s winning like a smaht girl.

Photos: Davenport – NBC, Timbers – Roundabout Theater, Warchus – Jonathan Player for The New York Times, Gold – Walter McBride, Mantello – Time Out New York, Paulus – DianePaulus.net

Welcome to our newest column, That’s Gross!, a weekly analysis of one aspect of the Broadway Grosses. As always, the numbers below are provided by the The Broadway League. This week, we looked at…

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the slew of religious shows running on Broadway. From shows that deal with the reinterpretation of the gospel (Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar), to those that tackle faith and morality in a religious setting (The Book of Mormon, Sister Act, Leap of Faith), it seems that the man upstairs is totally hot right now.

But how is “He” doing at the box office?

Over at The Book of Mormon, super. We’re pretty sure it’s easier to get into heaven than it is to get a ticket to that show. As we discussed last week, Sister Act’s struggling a bit – though still surviving. Leap of Faith just finished its first week of previews, so it’s too soon to really judge.

And then there’s the Jesus shows: Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. On the surface, they have a ton in common. Both tackle a similar subject matter (the life, teachings, and death of Jesus Christ). Both come from the same time period (the 1970s). Both were written by big-name Broadway composers (Stephen Schwartz and Andrew Lloyd Webber, respectively). And both, seemingly, have a similar audience. If you’re looking to see a show, you might hit up Sister Act or Leap of Faith if you liked either of those movies. You’re going to go to The Book of Mormon because you’ve heard the buzz (and if you’re a millionaire). But if you’re seeing Godspell or Jesus Christ Superstar, you’re interested in Jesus.

So now that we’ve just come off of the biggest religious weekend of the year (with both Passover and Easter hitting at the same time), we thought it would be a good idea to crunch the numbers and check in on how Broadway’s JC’s are holding up. Is the onslaught of religious shows translating into ticket sales for the man himself? In the battle of the messiahs, who’s reigning supreme?

To be fair, we didn’t just look at Easter weekend — the weekend of Jesus’s death and resurrection. We also looked at the week of Jesus’s Broadway birth. That is, the week both shows started previews. (Both Godspell and Superstar started previews on a Thursday, so they each had roughly the same number of performances in their first week, so it’s a solid comparison.) Here’s how they did:

Opening Week:

Easter Week:

Just in terms of percentage of seats sold, Jesus Christ Superstar is wiping the floor with Godspell. Superstar didn’t get the best reviews, but the show still fared better with the critics than Godspell did, which is possibly having an impact. That could be one factor. Plus, we all know how popular Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is with the tourists.

From their first week of previews to now, both shows saw drops in capacity. Godspell has gone from 79.4% to $69.3%; Superstar from 92.3% to 81.1%. That’s about a 10% drop for both shows. He may have died for our sins, but at least 10% of us across the board didn’t turn out this week to see it happen.

Does this mean the market’s turning away from faith shows? Obviously not. But it should put some pressure on Corbin Bleu to make some miracles happen.

Dude, how cool is Kacie Sheik? She starred as Jeannie in the hit revival of Hair, she’s a complete rockstar, and she’s about to star as Gypsy Rose Lee in the musical February House, which opens at the Public Theater on May 8. We caught up with her backstage at Joe’s Pub, where she was singing some tunes in a recent showcase by Drew Gasparini. We chatted about hair — the show, and her actual lovely tresses – being fake-pregnant, and what it’s like to keep company with geniuses. Enjoy!

L: OK, most important thing first. Please offer any tips for caring for curly hair.

Kacie: Something I learned years ago. Out of the shower, before you even diffuse – the diffuser is key, of course – is to use paper towels. They sop up more of the water than a towel. It’s just about weight, and water adds weight to the hair. And Bumble and Bumble — the Curly line — is awesome. There’s also like, a little gold tube that’s called Shine.

L: Congrats on February House! How do you feel playing this character, Gypsy Rose Lee, that has such an iconic history in musical theater?

K: It’s so exciting. I grew up with Gypsy, and I grew up with all the songs memorized, and I did community theater productions of it. So it’s great to dig in further. And I think my grandfather said it best. My brother Peter asked him, ‘So how do you feel about Kacie playing this famous stripper?’ And at Christmas Eve dinner, he said, ‘I think it’s an honor.’

L: The show is kind of about a meeting of the minds, with all of these great thinkers and personalities together in one room. Have you ever had an experience like that?

K: I’ve had two that I can think of off the top of my head – the We Will Rock You experience, and the Hair experience. Those were life-changing moments. On one hand, it was Brian May and Roger Taylor sitting there at your callbacks and then at music rehearsals and work sessions. And they’re Queen! And then their friends would come by, so suddenly you’d be like… singing at a party in Las Vegas with Meatloaf. And then the Hair experience, having Jim Rado and Galt MacDermot there with us was amazing.

L: Were you a huge musical theater kid when you were younger?

K: I was. I did community theater and had my mom driving me around to rehearsals and to do shows. We had been a soccer family, and then suddenly we just shifted. I was in a children’s theater company, so my first role was Lily St. Regis in Annie. I think I was twelve. And when I auditioned, I sang along to the soundtrack of Cats. I sang “Memory.”

L: One of the key things about Jeannie in Hair was that she was very pregnant. Any disconnect for the audience when they figured out that you weren’t?

K: Yes! At the dance party, there would be women touching the belly – because I was still in costume – and they’d be saying things like, “Oh, you really are pregnant!” Even at the stage door, people couldn’t really make sense of it. But the belly itself was amazing. The Act I belly was a bodysuit that had biker shorts and a leotard, and it had breasts and a belly. And the Act II belly, we used to describe as a giant knee pad. And that was so I could have the opportunity to take part in the nude scene. So I would shimmy it on, just right around my abdomen. It had a belly button. The skin tone matched my skin.

L: So, let me take you back for a minute. It’s spring, 1998. Your big brother’s song is all over the radio…

K: I remember my mom and dad going to the Bitter End [to see Duncan perform]. I was pretty young, and I was so mad, because I really wanted to go. And the other thing I remember from that time is my math class – my Algebra II class. And I remember the kids in my school being totally dumbfounded by this. They were like, “What do you mean, he’s your brother?” They just couldn’t understand it. And that song was the biggest deal. It was the song of the summer. I wish I could relive it. I’m Duncan’s biggest fan. My brother Peter and I will go to his concerts to this day and sing the worst and best harmonies to those songs.

Ah, the weekend. That means you have two full days – or four Newsies lotteries, however you’re counting – to kick back, relax, and gossip your face off about what happened on Broadway this week. And maybe even what happened last week. The whole Deborah-Cox-in-Jekyll-and-Hyde thing is still blowing your mind, we know…

• Usually we get frustrated when Broadway actors peace out on stage work in favor of more lucrative Hollywood gigs, but John Gallagher, Jr. can get the hell out of New York and never come back for all we care. Why? Because he’s starring in the new HBO series Newsroom, which released some promo footage this week. And we. Are. Obsessed. Watch it here.
• Cheyenne Jackson will release a solo album in June. As you would do, if you were the handsomest, most talented man on earth.
• Congrats to Tony and Aspen Vincent, whose insanely pretty baby, Sadie Day, was born this week!
• All of London wept this week because Ramin Karimloo played his last performance as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. You know who’s not weeping? Pittsburgh. And Albany. And Charlotte. After a bunch of tour dates in the UK, Ramin’s North American tour, in support of his album, begins July 7.
• Neil Patrick Harris will host the Tonys this year. Again. That’s… ordinary.
• Hollywood’s Amy Adams will play the Baker’s Wife in Central Park this summer. We’re scratching our heads over how this sweet young thing got cast as the Long Island housewife of Into the Woods. On the other hand, the endless online hand-wringing over the casting of this role – at the very least – is blessedly OVAH. Now there are only about nine more roles to go…
• This made actual news in the First World this week: Gavin Creel lost his iPad after accidentally handing it to a fan while he signed an autograph. To make a short story even shorter: Gavin tweeted about it. Alan Cumming joined the cause. The iPad was returned.
• If you were thinking about suing Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark anytime soon, you’d better get in line. Joshua Kobak — going by the name Richard — filed a lawsuit this week claiming that he was seriously injured after filling in for an already-seriously-injured Christopher Tierney in the show. Why juicy? Patrick Healy over at the Times dropped two bombshells in his piece about the suit. First, he reported that Natalie Mendoza, who was originally cast as Arachne and left the production after an injury, was paid off not to talk shit about the show. This immediately makes us wonder who else over at Spider-Man agreed (and didn’t agree) to similar terms. Second, he ran a seemingly innocuous “no comment/get well soon” quote from Spider-Man spokesman Rick Miramontez that actually wasn’t innocuous at all. It clearly established a) Kobak’s identity, and b) the fact that he’s is currently touring in another show — American Idiot. The latter point will likely be used in court in an attempt to show that Kobak was well enough to continue working after Spider-Man. DAMN. No episode of Smash will ever, ever be this interesting.
• Jonathan Groff will star in the Los Angeles premiere of Red alongside Alfred Molina. Here’s the (actual, unedited) IM conversation we had ten seconds later:
  Lucky: Groff in Red? What a lame gig.
  The Mick: I know. So two years ago.
  Lucky: SO two years ago.
  Yes, it’s a play. But this is, in general, how we regard all art that takes place in the city of Los Angeles.
• The producers of Porgy & Bess would like the show’s book, which was overhauled by Suzan Lori-Parks for this production, to be considered for the Best Book of a Musical Tony Award. The Tony administration committee’s response? No way, dude. Because the show didn’t specifically request that the committee take up the issue, they considered the book to be not-new, and therefore ineligible for a nomination. We loved Porgy, but the committee’s reasoning here kinda makes sense. And more importantly, we’re totally riveted by this show’s ability to generate a steady stream of both minor and major controversy more than 75 years years after it was written.