Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre is approaching its 100th anniversary, and Feinstein’s/54 Below cabaret is planning to mark the milestone with “an evening of songs and stories, performed by the legends themselves who were lucky enough to grace the Broadhurst stage.”
Newly added to the starry lineup: Alice Ripley, who won the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Next to Normal, plus Jim Brochu (Zero Hour) and Christiane Noll (Jekyll & Hyde).
The celebration is scheduled for two performances, 7 and 9:30 on August 16. The Broadhurst opened on September 27, 1917, with the Broadway premiere of George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance.
Previously announced guests for the centenary celebration include Wayne Cilento, Judy Kaye, Lewis J. Stadlen, Walter Bobbie, Anita Gillette, and others, including a special appearance by Carole Demas, who originated the role of Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease, which played at the Broadhurst June to November 1972 before moving to another Broadway house for most of its run.
The Broadhurst on West 44th Street in Manhattan has hosted the original productions of Cabaret, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Fiorello!, its current tenant Anastasia, and dozens more shows, with the stars crossing its stage over the years including Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, Chita Rivera, Ingrid Bergman, Tom Hanks, and Nathan Lane.
Here are the guests announced so far for the August 16 events:
Appearing at the 7 PM show: Ripley, Demas, Jerry Adler (Oh What a Lovely War), Wayne Cilento (Dancin’), Sarah Charles Lewis (Tuck Everlasting), Howard McGillin (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Don Scardino (Godspell, Lennon), Kevin David Thomas (Les Misérables), Eli Bolin (Story Pirates), Josh Franklin (Grease), Marcy Harriell (Lennon), Ilene Kristen (Grease), Sarah John Miller (Mozart in the Jungle), and Rebecca Spigelman (Hairspray), with more to be announced.
Appearing at the 9:30 PM show: Walter Bobbie (Guys and Dolls) video appearance, Anita Gillette (Cabaret, Kelly), Judy Kaye (Mamma Mia!), Lewis J. Stadlen (The Front Page, The Odd Couple), Jodi Stevens (Urban Cowboy), Jim Brochu (Zero Hour), Nathan Gardner (Big Fish), Brian Michael Henry (Million Dollar Quartet), Rob Maitner (Urinetown), Paris Alexander Nesbitt (The Book of Mormon), and Eli Bolin (Story Pirates). As special guests, representing the legendary musical Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don’t You Ever Forget It, which closed in previews at the Broadhurst in 1973, Kathryn Allison, Charlie Franklin (The Secret Garden), Anastacia McCleskey (Waitress), Bonnie Milligan (Kinky Boots), Kevin Michael Murphy (The Book of Mormon), Jason Veasey (The Lion King), and Natalie Walker (Puffs the Play).
Other major productions at the Broadhurst through the years: Fosse, Amadeus, Men in White, Victoria Regina, Flahooley, Auntie Mame, 110 in the Shade, Beggar on Horseback, The Sunshine Boys, Broadway Bound, and Play It Again, Sam.
Other stars who have trod the Broadhurst’s boards: Helen Hayes, Barbara Cook, Lotte Lenya, Carmen Miranda, George C. Scott, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, Savion Glover, Dustin Hoffman, William Shatner, Jerry Seinfeld, Daniel Radcliffe, Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, Bruce Willis, and Woody Allen.
Tickets cost $25, $35, and $60, plus a $25 food/beverage minimum.
Alice Ripley has been a special guest performer on two of Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are available for Broadway on the Rhine River cruise August 13-20, 2017, featuring Seth Rudetsky, Andréa Burns, Faith Prince, Terrence Mann, Charlotte d’Amboise, and Santino Fontana.
Playbill Travel is also booking Broadway on the Danube River with Michael Feinstein for November 3-13, 2017, also featuring Julia Murney, Christopher Fitzgerald, Marc Kudisch, Christopher Sieber, Brandon Uranowitz, and Rudetsky, as well as other exciting talent to be announced.
Tickets are also now on sale for Playbill’s Broadway on the High Seas July 2018 cruise to Iceland, accompanied by Judy Kuhn, Christine Ebersole, Rob McClure, Jarrod Spector, Carmen Cusack, and Sierra Boggess. Visit PlaybillTravel.com for booking and information.
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