Broadway Rocks!

Kaye Tuckerman as Donna in Mamma Mia! (Photo: Joan Marcus)

He’s young. He’s hip. But will conductor Joseph Young don the spandex jumpsuit to conduct a bit of music from “Mamma Mia” featured in this weekend’s “Broadway Rocks!” concerts performed by The Phoenix Symphony?

I think not — but it is fun to imagine all the fashion options knowing they’ll also be playing selections from “Rent,” “Dreamgirls,””Jersey Boys,” “Hairspray” and “Wicked.” Pointy hat, anyone?

The Phoenix Symphony performs “Broadway Rocks!” at Symphony Hall Feb. 24-26 — with a Sunday matinee for those of you who like to take the kiddos to such things but still believe in proper bedtimes.

Jackie Burns as Elpheba in Wicked (Photo: Joan Marcus)

The concerts are perfectly timed for who plan to see “Wicked” at ASU Gammage — which features favorites from “Defying Gravity” to “For Good.” Practice your “toss, toss” hair flipping now so you’re ready for the big night.

“Broadway Rocks” also includes selections from “The Wiz,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “The Lion King,” “Hair,” “Phantom of the Opera” and “Chess.” Even music from “Jekyll and Hyde,” which I’ve always found especially moving.

It features performance by The Phoenix Symphony Chorus as well as three vocalists — Christiane Noll, Virginia Woodruff and Doug LaBrecque. Lovely choices, but I’ll still be missing D. Scott Withers, whose campy “Edna” stylings in the Phoenix Theatre and Arkansas Repertory Theatre productions of “Hairspray” were delicious.

Van Hughes (Johny), Scott J. Campbell (Tunny) and Nicci Claspell (The Extraordinary Girl) in American Idiot (Photo: Doug Hamilton)

Two touring productions of Broadway shows with a rock and roll vibe are headed our way as well. The Theater League production of “Rock of Ages” comes to two Valley venues April 10-15, and the national tour of “American Idiot” comes to ASU Gammage April 24-29.

Come fall, The Phoenix Symphony will present a concert called “Wicked Divas.” It’s being performed Sept. 28-30 as part of their 2012-13 season “Pops Series” — and feature vocalists Ali Mauzey and Nicole Parker, who’ve both performed in “Wicked.” The concert will include music from “Gypsy,” “Ragtime,” “Titanic,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Carmen” and “Wicked.”

Maybe I’ll pass them my short list of favorite Broadway men — say Mandy Patinkin and Andrew Rannells — in case they want to give equal time to a few of the guys. Or they could just make my daughter Lizabeth’s day by bringing out her favorite trio of J. Pierrepont Finches — Daniel Radcliffe, Darren Criss and Nick Jonas.

— Lynn

Note: The 2nd annual “Symphony Stroll,” presented by Phoenix Symphony Allegro, takes place Sat., Feb. 25 from 4-7pm. Click here for details.

Coming up: Art awakenings

Update: The Carolyn Eynon Singers perform “Broadway Showstoppers from Berlin, Bernstein and Sondheim,” with special guest and narrator David Barker, Feb. 24 & 25 at Kerr Cultural Center in Scottsdale.

The Woman in Black

Reviewers who’ve been referring to “The Woman in Black” as Daniel Radcliffe’s first chance to prove himself since performing the role of “Harry Potter” need to step outside of a movie theater now and then. He’s given two outstanding performances on Broadway — in a play called “Equus” and a musical called “How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying.”

Radcliffe is far past finessing his acting chops, as evidenced by how fast you’ll find yourself forgetting during “The Woman in Black” that you’re watching a man you once associated with wizards and wands — although a brief scene featuring a train winding though the countryside might trigger a short-lived flashback.

“The Woman in Black” is a beautiful film. It’s technically proficient in terms of cinematography (Tim Maurice-Jones), editing (Jon Harris) and music (Marco Beltrami) — and the storytelling is grand. It’s well written, acted and directed — and features outdoor images of breathtaking beauty filmed in England. It’s directed by James Watkins, and Jane Goldman wrote the screenplay — which is adapted from the 1983 novel by Susan Hill.

It’s also more frightening than you might imagine given its PG-13 rating. There’s more then one graphic scene involving suicide, and a central plotline involving children dying horrible deaths. Everything you expect in a scary flick is there, in relative moderation but with great effect. Strange noises. Flickering lights. Dolls with eyes that seem to follow you around the room.

The elements figure prominently in “The Woman in Black.” There’s a lot of rain, mist and mud — but also images of lovely greenery mixed with ominous-looking crosses and gravesites. You almost feel at times like you’re part of the dark, dank world occupied by Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) since the death of his wife Stella (Sophie Stuckey) during childbirth.

“The Woman in Black” seems at times a nearly non-stop homage to mystery writers of earlier times. Edgar Allen Poe. Alfred Hitchcock. Arthur Conan Doyle. Think Ravens and rocking chairs. And a cap, worn just briefly by a little boy, that mirrors those worn by detective Sherlock Holmes. The dialogue smartly elucidates both sides of the early 20th century spiritualism debate.

Radcliffe delivers a compelling performance as the tenacious yet tender man charged with finding a woman’s final will and testament inside an isolated mansion that folks in the nearest town would prefer he never enter. They’re frightened by just about everything — including the town’s lone automobile.

Its driver, Sam Daily (Ciarán Hinds), is Kipps’ sole sympathizer. Daily’s son is among the many who’ve died following sightings of “The Woman in Black.” Mrs. Daily (Janet McTeer) seems to have gone mad after the ordeal. Her twins, a pair of puppies, sup at a long dining room table — and get rocked to sleep in a cradle each night. The film also features Liz White as Jennet Humfrye and Shaun Dooley as Fisher — but the Radcliffe, Hinds, McTeer trio is what makes the film so superb.

My only problem with “The Woman in Black” is the ending — which ruins the perfectly idyllic image I’d have preferred to go home with by returning to something far more sinister. Watching someone else get haunted for ninety five minutes is one thing. Feeling like you might be next in line is quite another.

— Lynn

Note: Stephen Malatratt’s stage adaptation of “The Woman in Black” continues its long run in London. Click here to learn more and here to explore related educational materials.

Coming up: Smashed!

Images: CBS Films

How to succeed at Hogwarts

Lizabeth was thrilled to see Daniel Radcliffe perform in “How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying” on Broadway during her last trip to NYC. But long before his stage work, which also included the play “Equus,” Radcliffe was working the wizardry angle as “Harry Potter” in a series of films inspired by J.K. Rowling’s books.

When Harkins Theatres put a special package of tickets for their upcoming “Harry Potter Week” at Tempe Marketplace on sale, those puppies went in a hurry. Something tells me that “Harry Potter Week” is about to become the Valley’s version of Broadway’s “The Book of Mormon” — meaning tickets for those who wait will be hard to come by.

Thankfully, Harkins Theatres has since opened up more seats and added additional locations, something that won’t be possible on Broadway until elders Price and Cunningham agree to cloning — which isn’t likely given the rigors of performing eight live shows a week.

The “Harry Potter Week” package — which covers designated films from Mon, July 11 to Thurs, July 14 — is available (while supplies last) at Tempe Marketplace, Scottsdale 101 and Arrowhead 18 Harkins Theatres. It runs just $40 and includes tickets to all eight “Harry Potter” films.

Check the Harkins Theatres website for a list of additional benefits. Think free popcorn/drinks. “Harry Potter” swag. And early entry to the midnight premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.” Be sure and read the fine print online because the brevity of blogging prevents me from sharing every detail.

For those of you who find a full week of “Harry Potter” just too thrilling to imagine, there’s another option — a “Double Dose of Harry Potter” package that runs just $18. It includes tickets to a 9pm showing of “Deathly Hallows” part one and the midnight premiere of “Deathly Hallows” part two (in 3D!).

The “Double Dose of Deathly Hallows” deal is available (while tickets last) at Arizona Mills, Arrowhead, Chandler Fashion, Gateway Pavilions, Norterra, San Tan Village, Scottsdale 101, Superstition Springs and Tempe Marketplace. Get your tickets at the box office or online at www.harkinstheatres.com.

For those of you eager to maximize this thrilling moment in movie-going history, Harkins Theatres presents “Arizona’s Ultimate Harry Potter Line-up Party” at Tempe Marketplace from 10am to midnight on Thurs, July 14. Think costumes, trivia contests, random drawings, freebie 2011 Harkins loyalty cups for the first 100 in line and more. (Please think water and sunscreen too.)

I’m told prizes for the random drawings include “Harry Potter” swag, Harkins Theatres movie tickets (also 2011 loyalty cups), gift cards, merchandise from participating Tempe Marketplace retailers and more. If you don’t see me there in line with you, there’s a simple explanation.

I’m traveling to New York with Lizabeth later this month, and it’s entirely possible that I’ll be living in “The Book of Mormon” ticket raffle line until my name gets called. Where is Harry Potter’s wand when a girl really needs it?

— Lynn

Coming up: “Stage Mom” posts from the Big Apple!

The church of Broadway?

When the phone rang just after 7pm Sunday night, I joked with my daughter Lizabeth that people should know better than to call us during church. Neil Patrick Harris, last night’s reverend for the 2011 Tony Awards ceremony, had just delivered his sermon — known to the uninitiated as an “opening number.” Something about “it’s not just for gays anymore.” I suspect half of the pews emptied at that point, but no matter. The truly faithful just grabbed their remote controls and cranked up the volume.

I owe the theater as church analogy to an arts advocate I interviewed last week. After sharing her passion for theater, symphony and ballet, the woman very matter of factly said something I’ll never forget — “Church does that for some people.” More than one church was represented during this year’s Tony Awards. The opening number mingled missionaries from “The Book of Mormon” and nuns from “Sister Act.”

The church of Broadway is a place of gratitude — and this year’s remarks, by both presenters and those accepting awards, were mindful of those who make a life in theater possible. Parents. Partners. Teachers. Mentors. While accepting the Tony Award for best actor in a featured role (play), John Benjamin Hickey of “The Normal Heart” warned his family in Plano, Texas that they better not be watching the Mavericks game. Futile advice, because everyone knows that football is a religion in Texas.

I’ll be watching the headlines Monday to see whether Kathleen Marshall, winner of the Tony Award for best choreography, stuck with her vow to run right home and change the names of her baby twins to “Antoinette” and “Perry.” If you don’t get the reference, by the way, your church attendance is lagging. More time in the performing arts pew is clearly called for.

The Tony Award for best direction of a musical went to Trey Parker and Casey Nicholaw for “The Book of Mormon.” While millions of Mormons may be offended by the work, Nicholaw’s acceptance speech — “I’d like to thank everyone I’ve ever met in my entire life” — offended none. Parker thanked his mom, dad and “South Park” fans — plus a few others I missed while caught up in one of many “The Book of Mormon” moments.

Remarks offered during the acceptance speech for best musical were more controversial, but ticket sales aren’t suffering. Last week you could buy tickets for shows in August, but one day after snagging nine Tony Awards, “The Book of Mormon” is sold out well into September.

When Nikki M. James accepted the award for best actress in a featured role (musical), also for “The Book of Mormon,” she thanked her mother — who was in the house to witness James’ recollection of growing up with the story of a bumblebee who flew because no one ever told the bee it was impossible. “I come from a long line of bumblebees,” shared the actress. Thankfully, she had the good sense to avoid wearing a black and yellow gown.

John Larroquette, who won a Tony Award for best actor in a featured role (musical), thanked his three children, his wife and the show’s dance captain — acknowledging the talents of fellow “How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying” actor Daniel Radcliffe as well with something along the lines of “without whom I would be sitting at home watching this in my underwear.”

Sometimes fellow faithful, even in the church of Broadway, need to call each other out. The last thing Kelsey Grammer needed was a spotlight as he uttered the words “Anything Goes.”

Still, the church of Broadway can change the way we see people. After watching Radcliffe perform with the cast during “Brotherhood of Man” we might finally see an end to folks who head to Broadway hoping to see that fellow from the “Harry Potter” films. Instead, they’ll wonder how someone so born to song and dance could have spent half a lifetime waving a magic wand. I’m a “Harry” fan, but there’s just no way to reconcile a cloak of invisibility with a loud plaid jacket.

Transformation on all sorts of levels appears to have taken place for U2’s Bono and The Edge, who wrote the songs for “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” scheduled to open on Broadway next Tuesday. “The last year,” they shared, “has been a real education in just how hard you people work.” A love song from the musical, which will be eligible for 2012 Tony Awards consideration, was performed at this year’s ceremony with beautiful simplicity against the backdrop of a delicate spider web and starlit sky.

Sometimes theater, like temple or church, changes the way we look at life. The first award shown during the Tony Awards broadcast went to Ellen Barkin of “The Normal Heart” for best actress in a featured role (play) — who says the show has taught her that “one person can change the world.” Members of the creative team spoke of the freedom to live, love and marry — and reminded the audience that “theater really matters.” They also praised Larry Kramer for the show they describe as “the ultimate love story.”

“The Normal Heart,” shared Kramer, “is our history.” He urges gay people to “learn from it and carry on the fight.” “We are a very special people, an extraordinary people,” he says. “Our day will come.” I know there are plenty of churches out there that frown on such dogma, but I’m proud to belong to the church of Broadway.

No matter the church, no one wants to listen to the same sermon time and time again. So Tony Awards watchers must have been thrilled by teasers of other shows making their way to Broadway stage. “Ghost,” a musical based on the 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg. “The Mountaintop,” a play featuring Samuel L. Jackson in the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. And “Master Class,” another play — featuring Tyne Daly.

For all the splendor of this year’s Tony Awards ceremony (and yes, Mr. Colbert, I do mean watching you mix it up in that fetching red turtleneck), there were moments of sadness as the names and faces of theater folk who’ve died during the past year were shown — including 11-year-old actor Shannon Tavarez (pictured here), who performed the role of “Young Nala” in “The Lion King” on Broadway before being diagnosed with leukemia. Tavarez inspired thousands of people to join the bone marrow registry. One day, perhaps, her Broadway legacy will include saving someone else’s life.

— Lynn

Note: I mean no offense to those for whom time spent in traditional churches and other places with religious significance is a very serious and sacred matter.

Coming up: Two-spirit people, Ode to blue, Signs your child is a theater geek

Update: Click here to enjoy Sutton Foster singing for Sesame Street’s “Elmo” — and to enjoy similar YouTube offerings, including “Grover” appearing in “SpiderMonster, The Musical.”

Easter bonnets, Broadway style

As Easter Sunday drew to a close last weekend, it suddently dawned on me. For the first time since we’ve had children, there were no Easter baskets at our house.

We’ve long celebrated Easter as more of a cultural tradition than a religious observance, so bunnies and baskets are the mainstay of our celebration.

I suggested to my husband James a few years ago that it might be time to let the baskets go. All three kids were in high school and college — so they knew not to wait up for the bunny to magically appear.

But he wasn’t ready to give up the tradition. I suspect his affection for chocolate was to blame, or perhaps it was his hesitance to admit that our children weren’t really children anymore.

Oddly enough, I found myself missing those Easter baskets on Monday. Even wondering how Christmas might be different once our youngest heads to college in the fall.

But then I heard about the “Easter Bonnet Competition” — a 25-year-old tradition that “celebrates and concludes six intensive weeks of fundraising by the theatre community benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.”

I’m starting to question my decision last Saturday to actually get on that plane from the East Coast back to Arizona. Were Lizabeth and I still near NYC, I’d be hopping over to the Minskoff Theatre for Monday or Tuesday night’s “Easter Bonnet” event.

This year’s “Easter Bonnet Competition” features “more than a dozen companies of Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring productions offering skits, songs and dances, as well as bonnets created specially for the event.”

The celebration features a cast including “many of the season’s biggest Broadway performers.” Those scheduled to appear include Robin Williams, Judith Light, Dan Lauria, Christie Brinkley, John Leguizamo, Heidi Blickenstaff, Roger Rees, Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Jose Llana, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Jayne Houdyshell, Maxwell Caulfield, Ron Kunene and Tshidi Mayne.

Think “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” “Lombardi,” “Chicago,” “Ghetto Klown,” “The Addams Family,” “The Book of Mormon,” Wonderland,” “Good People,” The Importance of Being Earnest,” “Cactus Flower,” and “The Lion King.”

You get extra points if you can match the actors to their respective shows, although the only prize I might have to offer is a cracked or crushed chocolate bunny from the half-price bin up at the local drug store.

You can click here to check your answers. Or here to see highlights of last year’s competition. Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS reports that “the previous 24 competitions have raised more than $42 million.” Makes me wonder if we need to suggest a similar event for Congress.

Tuesday night’s performance will honor select actors with “top fundraising” and “best presentation” awards. Awards are being presented by Harvey Fierstein (“La Cage aux Folles”), Sutton Foster (“Anything Goes”) and Daniel Radcliffe (“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”).

For those of you who missed the memo, consider this a gentle reminder that we can all stop calling Radcliffe “Harry Potter” now. And you can drop the “Equus” wand jokes too. Better to tastefully applaud Doris Eaton Travis — an original Ziegfeld Girl who died last year at the age of 106.

Several productions, including “Billy Elliot,” are scheduled to perform and present their own fabulous takes on the Easter bonnet. I’m big on “Billy” this week because the touring production opens Tuesday night, April 26, at ASU Gammage in Tempe.

Also “The Addams Family,” “Avenue Q,” “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” “Chicago,” “Freud’s Last Session,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “The Lion King,” “Mamma Mia!,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert.”

Others taking part include the national tours of “Les Miserables,” “The Lion King,” and “Wicked” — all shows we’ve enjoyed at ASU Gammage in recent years. Those who’ve missed it on previous tours can watch for “Wicked” to return to Tempe Feb 15-March 11, 2012.

Valley families eager to see the school edition of “Les Mis” can head to Peoria for the Creative Stages Youth Theatre production running through April 30. The new 25th anniversary production of “Les Miserables” comes to ASU Gammage June 7-12, 2012.

Folks attending the 2011 “Easter Bonnet Competition” in NYC will also experience the work of “Dancers Responding to AIDS” and “R.Evolucion Latina.”

I’ll be glued to the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS website later this week in search of photos of the 2011 event and news of dollars raised in the ongoing effort to beat AIDS.

But first, I’m off to hit the clearance bins in search of hollow chocolate bunnies and fluffy marshmallow chicks. I just hope James hasn’t beat me to it.

— Lynn

Coming up: More new season announcements