Did anybody else's plunge at the news that Disney Theatricals is on the threshold of creating a touring live stage version of "High School Musical: the Musical"? It's launching in Chicago, probably around June, its director informs me.

Now I know the thing's a cash cow _ both the Disney Channel movie and the concert version _ but did we really NEED this as a live show? C'mon guys! Doesn't assembling "Tarzan," "The Little Mermaid" "Mary Poppins" et al keep the Mouse's legit arm busy?

Apparently not. And I shouldn't be surprised.

The one bright spot of all this is that the director is Jeff Calhoun, the quite inventive director/choreographer who is smart enough to drop everything and anything (or at least to create a few extra windows) whenever Deaf West Theatre comes knocking. He's helming the company's current offering "Sleeping Beauty Wakes" opening April 7 at the Kirk Douglas in Culver City, and will be reuniting with Deaf West for yet another new musical, an adaptation of Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre sometime in 08.

Spent a while on the phone with Calhoun (who directed Deaf West's last two musicals, "Big River" and "Oliver!). He described himself as "an incredibly fortunate" guy right now. Given the heat (blech!) of "HSM," well might he say that.

His "Musical the Musical" assignment also includes _ get this! _ staging the ICE SHOW!

"It's sort of surreal," says the New York based director. "I'm working with ice skaters one week, deaf actors the next and teen agers on stages all over world."

Posted by Evan Henerson at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Count us lucky, indeed.

Seems that Ian McKellen's return to the Royal Shakespeare Company _ playing the title role in Shakespeare's "King Lear" will tour internationally. The three U.S. stops include the Brooklyn Academy of Music (AKA BAM, typical), the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis (cold and typical)...

And UCLA's Royce Hall, where it will play Oct. 19-28.

The production will be in repertory with Chekhov's "The Seagull," and both productions will be directed by former RSC head Trevor Nunn. Romola Garai (of "I Capture the Castle," "Vanity Fair" etc.) plays Cordelia in "Lear" and Nina in "Seagull."

Now there will be those among you _ admittedly probably not those reading this meager blog _ who know Sir Ian primarily for playing Gandalf in the "LOTR" trilogy, or for "The Da Vinci Code."

When the man does Shakespeare, attention really must be paid. He crafted an entire evening of the Bard (titled, "Ian McKellen Acting Shakespeare") and has played every major role in the canon. The man could write the book. The man HAS written the book.

He's been on L.A. stages a few times before, but not recently. Last I remember was Ibsen's "An Enemey of the People" at the Ahmanson Theatre way back in...1998 maybe? He also toured as "Richard III" a few years before that.

If this tour does materialize (and the RSC's website, www.rsc.org.uk seems to indicate it will) that will be a majorly hot ticket (X2) and a major event. Not to mention _ in the case of "Lear" _ probably a majorly depressing evening.

And not one that I will miss under any circumstance.

Posted by Evan Henerson at 12:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back when I was writing about the film adaptation "The History Boys," I was jazzed to discover that its star, Richard Griffiths, one of England's finest who took nearly every award imaginable for playing fallen classics teacher Hector, would be returning to the boards in London's West End. He would be playing Martin Dysart, the troubled psychologist who peers into the darkness of the human soul _ his own included _ when counseling a boy who blinded six horses with a metal spike.

The play _ in case this is sounding familiar _ is Peter Shaffer's "Equus." Dysart's a great role. Anthony Hopkins has played it, as has Richard Burton (in the film as well), Douglas Campbell and Anthony Perkins. Locally, East West Players produced it about a year ago with Mr Sulu George Takei in the role.

Anyway, Griffiths is sort of a national treasure in England. He's also a cool interview, a very off the cuff, say anything kind of guy. In a different year, maybe he gets a supporting Oscar nomination for "The History Boys."

So when he goes back on stage, that's news, right? Not this time. Because playing young Alan Strang, the horse blinder, is none other than Daniel Radcliffe who the world better knows as screendom's Harry Potter. What's more, Strang spends a portion of the play nude.

Now the play's about to open in London with talks of a Broadway transfer, and all anybody can think to talk/write about is the transformation/reinvention of Daniel Radcliffe. Poor accomplished Mr. Griffiths (who people like to point out plays Uncle Vernon Durdsley in the Potter vehicles) is relegated to the "also starring" depths. This despite "Equus" being DYSART'S PLAY!!

Griffiths didn't address potential hoopla over a kit-less Harry when he mentioned the "Equus" gig. He did say that the run would last as long as Radcliffe did, and that once DR was pulled for the next "Potter" film, that would probably signal at least the temporary end of "Equus." Griffiths added that he hoped to be pulled for further "Potter" duty as well.

I expressed the hope that he (Griffiths) might be persuaded to re-up with "The History Boys" if and when it ever tours the U.S. To which Griffiths replied that, while such a prospect was unlikely, he was "eminently corruptible."

Now that's what I like to hear.

Posted by Evan Henerson at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So the Ahmanson's 2007-08 season's been announced. We're looking at musicals, musicals and more musicals -- at least one of which we've seen before. That would be "The Drowsy Chaperone" which had its American, pre Broadway premiere at the Ahmanson back in the fall of 05.

I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The lineup reads thusly:

"Avenue Q" -- Featuring dirty, funny puppets, it's an affectionate contemporary send-up of a certain Jim Henson populated children's TV show. "Q" deservedly took the 2004 Tony award for best musical away from "Wicked." (Sept. 6 to Oct. 14)

"The Color Purple" -- Oprah Winfrey produced musical adaptation of the Alice Walker novel. We've got one former member of Destiny's Child (Michelle Williams) one former "American Idol" hopeful (LaToya London) and one Tony nominee (Felicia Fields) among the touring cast. (Dec. 27 to March 10, 2008)

"Sweeney Todd" -- Director John Doyle's version of the Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler gorefest wherein the actors also play the musical instruments. (March 11-April 6)

"My Fair Lady," -- from Cameron Mackintosh and the Royal National Theatre. Christopher Cazenove and Lisa O'Hare star as 'Iggins and Eliza.

"A Chorus Line" -- AKA, the more things change, the more they go back to the 70s. The Broadway revival tours yet again. (May 21-July 6, 2008)

"The Drowsy Chaperone" -- Bob Martin's love note/send-up of cornball 1920s musicals, which may or may not work without Martin as the pivotal Man in Chair narrator. (July 8-July 20) .

Considering the Ahmanson closes its current season with the Four Seasons story, "Jersey Boys," yeah, you get the idea. Too many notes, perhaps?

Look, each and every one of the aforementioned shows should come to L.A. The fact that they're part of the Ahmanson subscription as opposed to, say Broadway L.A., means they'll actually hang around for awhile. I'm jazzed about "Sweeney." "My Fair Lady" should be a seriously pretty picture (and a nostalgia trip), and "Chapperone" is the show I took a certain psychologist to the night I asked her to marry me (She said yes). So more happy memories there.

I saw "Q" in Vegas and laughed myself senseless. Caught "Chorus Line" pre-Broadway in San Francisco and shrugged, and have listened to "The Color Purple" soundtrack. Two of the composers live in the SFV.

Still, when I got a look at that press release, part of me said, "Yeah, but..."

There are no premieres in this lineup. Not one. L.A.'s not even the first tour stop for anything.

Considering that this venue has given audiences "Curtains," "The Drowsy Chaperone" the revival of "Into the Woods" BEFORE anybody else got to see them, this seems a shame. Last year, CTG promised us a new Motown musical titled "Ain't no Mountain High Enough" which, before it could get built, encountered copywright problems and was bumped for "Jersey Boys."

All musicals all the time can also get a little...how should I say...uninspired? How cool was it this season to have "Doubt," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" with their original stars and a tour of a recast Roundabout "Twelve Angry Men" bracketing "Light in the Piazza," "Edward Scissorhands" and "Jersey Boys"!

CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie noted that the Ahmanson _ being the cavern it is _ is a beast of a house to program. Straight plays don't often tour, and new musicals are expensive. Unless you're sending it to Broadway and can get some additional funding, if it's got tunes, it ain't gonna play the 1,600 to 2,000 Ahmanson. A tie-in with the newly announced citywide Festival of new American Musicals, skeded for the summer of 2008? No, sir. "Chorus Line" will be here.

Still, I wish more of the straight stuff we're touring. And that more new stuff was in the works from L.A.

Posted by Evan Henerson at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)