BroadwayWorld.com Prague Stories

Voting Opens for the 2013 BroadwayWorld Awards! Vote Now for the Best of the 2012-13 Theatre Season...

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:39:40 PST

The Tony Awards nominators had their say earlier this week and now it's your turn! We're pleased to announce that voting has now opened for the 11th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards!

Once again last year, hundreds of thousands of theatregoers and fans weighed in, breaking site traffic records and further solidifying the BroadwayWorld.com Awards place as the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results. Voting is open through May 31, 2013.

Click Here to Vote Now!

BWW Reviews: Impressive HENRY V is Energetic, Brilliant, and Alluring

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:25:05 PST

William Shakespeare's HENRY V is quite possibly his most well-known and celebrated history play. The famous climatic St. Crispin's day speech is full of nationalistic and patriotic rhetoric that resonates deep within the soul, mind and body while quickening the blood. Luckily for Houston audiences, Main Street Theater and Prague Shakespeare Company, Continental Europe's premiere professional English-language classical theatre company, is currently presenting a stellar production of William Shakespeare's HENRY V.

In the play, the young king Henry V decides to recapture French territories that were lost by kings Edward III and Richard II. Henry V's advisors acknowledge and verify the legality of his mission and his claim to the French throne. Henry V declares war against France and begins his campaign; however, the French Dauphin mocks Henry V by sending him a gift of tennis balls. Fearful of potential uprisings in England, Henry V leaves a large portion of the army behind so they may quell any problem that arises. Henry V and his small retinue of soldiers are constantly outnumbered but mightily press into France, shedding blood along the way. Facing 5 French soldiers to every 1 English soldier, the play reaches its climax at the Battle of Agincourt.

Guy Roberts' direction of HENRY V is incredibly swift and powerful. He deftly brings William Shakespeare's language to life, having each member of his cast utilize and understand the passion and drive behind every word uttered. The cast skillfully bends the fourth wall throughout the play by making eye contact with the audience and directly interacting with them. This deeply engaging device turns us into active participants in our observation of the play. Additionally, almost the entire cast shares responsibility in delivering the chorus lines, which are spoken directly to the audience. This enforces the idea that we are viewing a troupe of actors taking on roles for our enjoyment. Moreover, there is no flat line recitation, which aids the audience's ability to comprehend the resplendent, poetic language that is removed from our own daily language and what our modern playwrights use. Guy Roberts brings William Shakespeare's HENRY V to fantastic life while making the play accessible to those audience members familiar and unfamiliar with the work alike.

Staring as Henry V, Guy Roberts magnetizes the audience by bringing forth the young Henry's bold brilliance. The audience gets to see and know a king that is strong and charismatic, delightfully arrogant, and one who wants what is best for the general morale of his country. In the famed climatic speech, Guy Roberts' Henry V stands in the audience making eye contact with as many patrons and characters as possible, drawing every human in the venue into the elegiac rhetoric and igniting a passion for the English's victory within us all.

Philip Hays astoundingly plays a handful of roles and pristinely differentiates each one of them so that none overlap. He breathes life into Sir Thomas Grey, Bardolph, The Dauphin, and Michael Williams. His most memorable is his tragic Bardolph, who is made an example of after he is caught looting a French church. Being a close friend of Henry, his execution breaks the heart of those on stage and profoundly affects every member of the audience as well.

As Lord Scroop of Masham, Pistol, and Charles Delabreth, Rutherford Cravens gives extraordinary performances. His most memorable is his exuberantly virile Pistol. Pistol earns many a laugh from the audience as he crazily enjoys the bloodshed of war and prizes the battle.

Playing Duke of York, Nym, and Duke of Britaine, Jared Doreck delivers fantastic performances throughout the evening. His smirking and cross-legged Duke of Britaine earns grins from the audience; however, his alluring and gutsy Nym captivates with ease.

Jovan Jackson brings startling life to Duke of Exeter and Duke of Alencon. No mater the role, he perfectly delivers lines with such tangible passion, the audience is swept away by his words and believes them fully. He completely commits himself to both of the characters and majestically portrays them for our enjoyment.

Alternating between Montjoy and Bates, Crystal O'Brien delivers two phenomenal performances. Her Montjoy stands tall despite delivering messages that no one really wants to hear. Her Bates is brave and full of charisma.

The Earl of Cambridge, Macmorris, and Duke of Berry are all skillfully played by Mark Roberts. Using a heavy Irish accent, his standout performance is as the wonderfully comedic Macmorris.

As the boy Davy Gam, Jessica Boone, captivates the hearts of the audience. She creates a youthful and spirited air for the character. As Katherine, she is hilarious. The scenes where she is trying to learn English and the one where Henry V tries to woo her are much needed comedic relief in the show.

Seán Patrick Judge plays the Archbishop of Canterbury, Jamy, and the Duke of Orleans with skill. His comically Scottish Jamy is his standout performance, made perfect with a surprisingly thick and immaculate Scottish accent.

The rough and ready Bedford and the smarmy Grandpre are both fascinatingly played by Joe Kirkendall. Whether smeared with blood and mud or sitting cross-legged and grinning with self-satisfaction at his high manners, he infuses his character with unique life.

Celeste Roberts does great work as Mistress Quickly, Alice, and Governor Harfluer. She alternates between getting dirty fighting on the battlefield and amusingly helping Jessica Boone's Katherine learn English.

Bob Boudreaux's Earl of Westmoreland and Duke of Bourbon are adroitly played. He utilizes a different set of mannerisms for each character, making the disparate men highly distinguishable.

Bill Roberts' Duke of Clarence, Fluellen, and Rambures are all well played. He deftly brings each character to vibrant life.

Stephen Zinkgraf outstandingly plays Charles VI, King of France. He is understandably haughty, trying to stop the invasion of his lands.

Taiko Drummers Khechar Boorla and Nick Hill provide a thrilling and electrifying underscore throughout the performance. Starting with a pulsating overture and continuing throughout, the underscoring and sound effects offered by the pair emphatically enhance the performance.

Ryan McGettigan's Scenic Design is sparse. He mostly only utilizes painted bentwood chairs and a throne. However, with astounding inspiration he has decorated his hard wood floor with a map of England. He has elevated the stage floor, which allows for a miraculously arresting special effect that will wholly impress audiences. In fact, this specialized effect is so amazing, that I refuse to give it away in writing. It must been seen and experienced to believe!

Lighting Design by Carrie Cavins is poignant and affecting. She pristinely captures the emotions of each scene with her varied color washes, heightening the efficacy of the beautiful language that is delivered.

Margaret Crowley's Costume Design and Rodney Walsworth's Properties Design mirror each other and add an intriguing element to the play. Since HENRY V is a timeless classic, the approach in costuming and props is to mix and match elements from multiple time periods into the designs that do not shoehorn the production into any one specific time period. Instead, the audience is treated to a performance that appears to be done by a group of actors who grabbed whatever they could to pull the show off in a convincing way. Also, to distinguish the French from the English, Margaret Crowley has cleverly color-coded the characters. She uses red accents on display for the English and Blue accents on display for French characters.

Main Street Theater and Prague Shakespeare Company's production of HENRY V is a brilliant feat of theatrical craftsmanship and magic. The dynamic and energetic production is alluring, fascinating, and powerful. It draws the audience in and holds us close from beginning to end, ensuring that we follow every moment and are emotionally moved throughout the play.

HENRY V runs at Main Street Theater's Rice Village location at 2540 Times Boulevard through April 21, 2013. The production will travel to Prague later this fall. For more information and tickets, please visit http://www.mainstreettheater.com or call (713) 524 - 6706.

All photos by Forest Photography, courtesy of Main Street Theater.

Guy Roberts (King Henry V).

L to R: Joe Kirkendall (Duke of Bedford), Jessica Boone (Davy Gam), Mark Roberts (Macmorris), Bill Roberts (Fluellen), Jovan Jackson (Duke of Exeter), Seán Patrick Judge (Jamy) & Guy Roberts (King Henry V).

Rutherford Cravens (Pistol) & Guy Roberts (King Henry V).

Guy Roberts (King Henry V).

L to R: Jovan Jackson (Duke of Exeter), Seán Patrick Judge (Jamy), Rutherford Cravens (Pistol), Crystal O'Brien (Michaela Bates), Celeste Roberts (Court), Bill Roberts (Fluellen), Guy Roberts (King Henry V) & Joe Kirkendall (Duke of Bedford)

Guy Roberts (King Henry V) & Jessica Boone (Katherine)

Bruce Kimmel's OUTSIDE THE BOX Web TV Series to Air Exclusively on BroadwayWorld.com

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 10:56:50 PST

BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre web site on the net, is thrilled to announce the newest addition to its line-up of exclusive, engaging, star-filled TV programs. To get fans caught up, and fired up for the new show, the entire first season's episodes begin airing now, with Season 2 slated to premier November 25, followed by it's regular presentation schedule of every other Sunday. (Click Here to Watch!)

Bruce Kimmel's OUTSIDE THE BOX will join such popular BroadwayWorld TV offerings as BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge, CHEWING THE SCENERY WITH Randy Rainbow and the second season of the hit series SUBMISSIONS ONLY, which earned a spot on Entertainment Weekly's MUST LIST, and hailed as "Brilliant" by New York Magazine.

"We couldn't be more excited to begin airing Bruce Kimmel's web series" said Editor-in-Chief Robert Diamond, "I've been a fan of the series and the concept since the first episode and can't wait for our audience to join in the fun."

"We began the series on YouTube" said creator Bruce Kimmel "and now are excited to expose it to an even larger, dedicated audience of theatre fans worldwide via BroadwayWorld.com".

Season two kicks off with the first episode, starring Hal Linden, Jenna Rosen, Jane Noseworthy and Sharon McNight and will feature six brand new episodes about a very outré musical theatre group who do musicals that are, well, just wrong. Each episode features an entirely new cast, save for one recurring character, the director of the group, Stephen Findle and each episode features between one and three musical numbers. Season two's episodes feature Hal Linden (The Rothschilds, Barney Miller), Euan Morton (Tony nominee for Taboo; Sondheim on Sondheim), Adrian Zmed (Grease; Grease 2; Blood Brothers), John Sloman (Mad Men), Jenna Rosen, Jane Noseworthy, Angel Reda, Sharon McNight, Sami Staitman, Lisa Livesay, and more. Outside The Box is shot on location in New York and Los Angeles.

Written and directed by Bruce Kimmel, each episode features songs by Kimmel – the Outside The Box theme is by Grant Geissman, composer of Two-And-A-Half Men and Mike and Molly. Kimmel wrote and directed the cult comedy classic film, The First Nudie Musical, and is a long-time Grammy-nominated record producer, having produced over 180 albums, including cast albums (The King and I, Hello, Dolly, Bells Are Ringing, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, etc.), concept albums (Lost In Boston, Unsung Musicals), singers (including Petula Clark, Helen Reddy, Liz Callaway, Laurie Beechman, Judy Kuhn, Judy Kaye, Rebecca Luker, Brent Barrett, Jason Graae, Michelle Nicastro, Christiane Noll, and many others), as well as a historic series of jazz cover versions of Sondheim shows with The Trotter Trio. His label Kritzerland releases two new CDs every month.

Click Here to Watch!

Voting Open for 2012 BWW Regional Awards - Vote Now!

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 09:00:51 PST

Election season is officially behind us in politics, but now it's time to vote for our 3rd Annual BWW Regional Awards!

After a record number of nominations in 30 regions worldwide, and careful proofing by our local editors, we are VERY excited to announce that voting has begun for this year's BWW Regional Awards. It's our BIGGEST EVER!

Voting is now open and in most regions will run through Dec. 31, 2012. Winners will be announced in early January. You can only vote once, so make your vote count! As always, we'll provide open live statistics throughout the awards so make sure to check back often.

Click the link below to vote for your favorites!

Wisdom Digital Media Announces Spin-Off from BroadwayWorld.com of New Web Sites Dedicated to Movies, TV, Fashion, Books, Music, Opera & More!

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:00:29 PST

10 New Sites Launch Devoted to Arts, Culture, Fashion & Entertainment

Wisdom Digital Media, parent company of BroadwayWorld.com, the largest theatre web site on the net, today announced the official spinoff and launch of 10 new entertainment web sites including BWWMoviesWorld.com, BWWTVWorld.com, BWWFashionWorld.com, BWWBooksWorld.com, BWWMusicWorld.com, BWWArtWorld.com, BWWComedyWorld.com, BWWDanceWorld.com, BWWClassicalWorld.com and BWWOperaWorld.com.

"We launched many of these sites as subsections of BroadwayWorld.com" explained CEO Robert Diamond "because of the increasing intersection between the stage and other areas of entertainment. After witnessing explosive traffic growth across the board, we decided to tap into, and exploit each market's full potential by launching them as their own comprehensive websites. We will take what we've learned from nearly 10 years of leading theatre coverage and apply it to these other major areas of entertainment."

Each site will have a dedicated Editor-in-Chief, fully supervising content along with a team of newsdesk managers, photographers, photo editors, video crews, advertising sales teams, and more. Already, new site teams are working closely together, offering both media and sales opportunities across different outlets with distinct audiences, demographics, and targets.

"We've already begun to run both editorial exclusives and advertising programs" said Miles Silverman, VP of Sales and Marketing "that target a more general TV or Film audience focused on big stars and pop culture, as well live theatre's coveted upscale, highly affluent consumer audience. The response thus far has been extraordinarily positive as advertisers are increasingly interested in reaching multiple audiences via one reliable publisher for maximum cost efficiency."

All of BroadwayWorld.com's market-leading features including Mobile Sites, Message Boards, Twitter Watch, Photo Flashes, Video Coverage, Exclusive Interviews and more, along with the best news team in the business will be launched across the board to service each individual entertainment category. Additionally, the sites will share a registration system, so one login will work across all the web sites, allowing fans to seamlessly jump into conversations across the board.

Over the coming weeks, BWWComedyWorld.com, BWWDanceWorld.com, BWWMusicWorld.com and BWWClassicalWorld.com will offer regional subsections devoted to the top 25 markets around the world for each genre.

Wisdom Digital Media

Wisdom Digital Media Publishing launched in 2001 and its first flagship site, BroadwayWorld.com in 2003. BroadwayWorld is the largest theatre site on the Internet covering Broadway, the West End and beyond to 100 US cities, and 35 countries worldwide. With over 3.5 million monthly visitors, BroadwayWorld delivers complete up-to-the-minute Broadway, off-Broadway, and regional theatre news, in-depth interviews, extraordinary photo coverage, entertaining video features, lively message boards, ticket discounts, reviews, and more.

Contacts:

Editorial
Robert Diamond
CEO
robert@wisdomdigital.com
914-623-8689

Advertising
Miles Silverman
VP Sales & Marketing
miles@wisdomdigital.com
914-214-8177

BWW World Premiere EXCLUSIVE: Michael Crawford and Susan Boyle Duet on 'The Music of the Night'!

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:41:59 PST

A few weeks ago, we premiered Donny Osmond and Susan Boyle singing 'This is the Moment' and we're back to bring you another exclusive first listen to a second highly-anticipated duet from her upcoming album - 'The Music of the Night!' Featuring original Phantom star Michael Crawford himself alongside Boyle, it's a must-listen!

“The Music of the Night” is from Boyle’s new album, “Standing Ovation,” which will be released November 13 (click here to pre-order). Boyle has reached international stardom and sold over 18 million albums in the just three years. “Standing Ovation” showcases duets with both Michael Crawford and her lifelong idol, Donny Osmond and is filled with songs from her favorite shows.

Most recently seen on the West End stage in The Wizard of Oz, and long overdue for a Broadway return, Michael Crawford had established himself as one of London's finest leading men long before he opened as "the Phantom" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera beginning one of the most widely acclaimed and memorable performances in theatre history. Few stars are as widely connected to a single role as Crawford is to "the Phantom." His Los Angeles and Broadway performances earned an astonishing catalogue of critical recognition including the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Los Angeles Dramalogue Award and Drama Critics Award.

Since leaving "Phantom" after nearly four years in the role in London, New York and Los Angeles; Crawford has become a multi-platinum recording artist and one of the worlds's most sought after concert and stage performers, playing to sold-out venues around the globe. In addition to his recent concert work, stage credits in London and on Broadway include Billy, Flowers for Algernon, Black Comedy, Dance of the Vampires and Barnum.

(Photo - Rex Features)

Click Here to Play!

BroadwayWorld's Industry Leading App Just Updated for iPhone 5!

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:00:51 PST

We were the first Broadway app on the market back in 2009. The world has come a long way since then and our apps have too!

Just a few weeks back, Apple released their iPhone 5, with a bigger and better than ever screen and now, BroadwayWorld.com's App has been optimized to take full advantage of it. The screen now fits more news, more posts -- and even more great Broadway (and beyond) content.

If you already downloaded our new app, which was released just in time for the Tonys, you'll have received the update automatically via the App Store. New users can click the links below.

BWW's new apps were completely redesigned from the ground-up and release in June and feature all of our news, content, videos, show listings, message boards, special offers, radio channel, search features, regional news and lots more - all updated in real-time!

Get the New Apps Now!

Imagem Music Group Expands with R&H Theatricals Europe

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 07:17:26 PST

The Imagem Music Group, owner of some of the world's most popular musicals including The Sound of Music and The King and I, is expanding its US-based theatrical licensing division, R&H Theatricals, with the creation of a European branch headquartered in the London offices of Imagem UK. R&H Theatricals Europe will represent a catalogue of Broadway evergreens (South Pacific, Oklahoma!) and contemporary classics (Footloose, White Christmas) throughout the UK and across the European market.

Vivien Goodwin has been appointed Managing Director for the new division, which is scheduled to launch in January 2013; Goodwin will join Imagem UK in late September to prepare for the launch. Bert Fink of the R&H New York office will also join the London team for a year beginning this autumn, in his new business development role as SVP/Europe for Rodgers & Hammerstein.

"I couldn't be more thrilled about this exciting new chapter for R&H," says Ted Chapin, President of Rodgers & Hammerstein. "Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II always knew the importance of the British and European market, and they both loved London, where they had a Production Office for many years. Today, as part of a global company, our new London branch will give us the opportunity to reinvigorate our catalogue throughout Britain and across the Continent. This is an important move for us, which is why I am sending my longtime R&H colleague Bert Fink to London to help launch this venture."

Josef Weinberger Ltd. is currently representing the Imagem theatrical catalogues in Europe, and will work closely with Vivien Goodwin and her new staff to ensure a smooth transition. Goodwin comes to R&H Theatricals Europe from Samuel French Ltd., the prestigious theatrical licensing house and publishing firm where she worked for nearly 24 years, and served for the past 13 years as Managing Director.

John Minch, Chief Executive of Imagem UK, says: "Sean Gray and his team at Weinberger have done a great job representing these catalogues and we are very grateful to them. Bringing the business in-house now is a logical move, especially given the work we already do with musicals from the Warner-Chappell catalogue. Having Vivien Goodwin join us is a real coup; it means that we will be able to build up a musical theatre rights business alongside our classical, pop and library music publishing businesses. This is fantastic news."

UK and European customer inquiries may be directed to theatricals@rnh.com

R&H Theatricals represents the stage performance rights to over 100 musicals by more than 200 writers. These include works by Rodgers & Hammerstein (includingOklahoma!, South Pacific and The Sound of Music), Rodgers & Hart (Pal Joey, Babes in Arms), and Kern & Hammerstein (Show Boat), as well as musicals by Irving Berlin (White Christmas, Annie Get Your Gun), Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza, Floyd Collins), Kurt Weill (Lost in the Stars, Lady in the Dark), ground-breaking works from Broadway (In the Heights, The Wild Party) and Off-Broadway (Carrie, Altar Boyz), perennials such as Once Upon a Mattress and Footloose, and the longest-running revues in the history of Broadway (Smokey Joe's Café) and Off-Broadway (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change). R&H Theatricals is a division of the Imagem Music Group: www.rnh.com.

BroadwayWorld Releases Updates for iPhone, iPad & Android Apps!

Fri, 06 Jul 2012 15:57:20 PST

We were the first Broadway app on the market back in 2009. The world has come a long way since then and our apps have too!

If you already downloaded our new apps which were released just in time for the Tonys, you'll have received the updates automatically via the App Store.

Today, July 6, we've released updates to our applications for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices which now feature an improved login system (login once and forget it), multitasking improvements, speed improvements, an updated player for BWW radio, access to your BWIDB Personalized News Feed and other miscellaneous fixes and enhancements.

Get the New Apps Now!

BWW Seeks Editors in Select Areas Worldwide

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:00:51 PST

The theater-lover knows no holiday and BroadwayWorld is in full summer swing, with many exciting features, expanded coverage, new mobile apps and more on the plate. Larger now than ever before, BroadwayWorld has opened up new contributing editor positions in select locations worldwide and we invite YOU to apply to become part of our international network of published authors!

All applicants should have excellent writing skills and an interest in giving local theaters and productions some prominence on BroadwayWorld.com -- the largest theater site on the net.

As a Contributing Editor, you will have the opportunity to review the shows of your choice, conduct interviews with local and touring talent, design features of your own choosing for publishing, and work/network with your local theater press reps to bring exposure to the theatrical offerings in your area.

Your compensation as a featured writer with us not only includes exclusive press seats to all of the shows you cover (as is standard in your area and arranged between you and the theater) but also the opportunity to be published under your own byline and publishing profile on both the local and main pages of the site for maximum exposure to our 3M+ monthly visitors.

The position offers flexible hours and the convenience of working remotely from your hometown. (**Access to New York City is NOT necessary**). There are no administrative duties associated with the contributorship. You simply see the shows, meet the talent, and write on your own time and terms! (Note that some theaters require a specific publishing turnaround which you will negotiate on a case-by-case basis).

To inquire about covering your area, please send a resumé and one writing sample to Jessica Lewis at jessica@broadwayworld.com.