Posts tagged Broadway

Chas Addams: The Man Behind the Family

The musical The Addams Family is inspired by the creations of the legendary American cartoonist Charles Addams, who lived from 1912 until 1988. In 1933, when he was just 21, his work was published in The New Yorker, and over the course of nearly six decades, he became one of the magazine’s most cherished contributors. 

Bizarre, macabre and weird are all words that have been used to describe Charles Addams’ cartoons. Yet adjectives such as charming, enchanting and tender can just as accurately be employed to depict the same body of work, as well as the man himself. His unique style and wonderfully crafted cartoons enabled his work to transcend such dichotomies for his millions of fans worldwide. 

Charles Addams is most widely known for his characters that came to be called The Addams Family, a group that evolved into multiple television shows, motion pictures and now this Broadway musical. Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandma and Lurch existed in various forms and aspects of Addams’ cartoons dating back to the 1930s but were not actually named by him until the early 1960s, when the television series was created. Surprisingly, The Addams Family characters appear in only a small number of the artist’s several thousand works. The majority of his cartoons are occupied by hundreds of other characters, but there is little doubt that those that come to life on this stage are his most beloved creations.

Over 15 books of his drawings have been published around the world, including the new collection, The Addams Family: An Evilution, the first complete history of The Addams Family, including more than 200 cartoons, many never previously published. The collection also includes Addams’ own incisive character descriptions (originally penned for the benefit of the television show producers) that remind us where these oddly lovable characters came from and, in doing so, offer a lasting tribute to one of America’s greatest humorists.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY plays Denver’s Buell Theatre June 19-July 1, 2012. Tickets: 303-893-4100

Beauty & The Beast: Facts & Figures

Facts & Figures

THE SHOW

• 35 million / Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has become an international sensation, playing to more than 35 million people
• 21 countries / The production has been mounted worldwide in 21 countries
• 13 years / The musical ran for more than 13 years on Broadway
• 8^th/ Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the 8^th longest running musical in Broadway history
• 59 people / The traveling company comprises 30 cast, 2 parents, 12 crew, 11 musicians, 2 merchandise and 2 management personnel.
• 3,300 and 30 / More than 3,300 people were auditioned to select the cast of 30
• 6 / 1 / 6 / The musical score of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast contains 6 beloved songs from the Academy Award-nominated feature film, one song cut from the film that has been restored for the musical, and 6 original songs written for the musical.

THE PRODUCTION

• 160 squares / There are 160 needle point squares that make up the bottom of the town drop.
• The tavern building needle point scrim panel is a very traditional Latvian pattern that is called a “star.” This pattern is also repeated in Gaston’s pub and the town pieces.
• There is a hidden “Mickey” in the tavern set drop … see if you can spot it!
• 81 wigs / The production uses 81 wigs
• 580 costume pieces / The Production uses 580 costume pieces, including some pieces from the original Broadway costumes.
• 67 LED lights on the magic mirror
• 36 mugs in Gaston’s tavern
• 350 feet of streamers dispatched over the audience during “Be Our Guest”
• 450 lbs / The “Star drop” – curtain with lights to create starry sky, weighs 450 lbs
• 1,700 lbs / The West Wing set piece weighs about 1,700 lbs
• 1 ton / The plate rail in Be Our Guest weighs almost 1 ton

ON THE ROAD

• 5 trucks / The physical production (sets, costumes, props) travels from city to city in 5, 18-wheel 53-foot tractor trailer trucks.
• 2 buses / The cast and crew travel on 2 buses.
• 37,664.9 miles / By the end of December 2010, the cast and crew will have logged 37,664.9 miles which is equivalent to crossing the US more than 11 times (from coast to coast)! And enough to have circled the globe one and a half times!
• 238 square inches / Amountof grilling space on the grill for the crew bus; thousands of hot dogs, burgers and steaks will be prepared on the tour.
• 14 bicycles / We travel with 14 mountain and road bikes

Disney’s BEAUTY & THE BEAST plays Denver’s Buell Theatre through March 18. For tickets or information, contact us at 303.893.4100.

Wicked: Facts & Figures

Currently in its 9^th year on Broadway, WICKED’s North American and international companies have cumulatively grossed $2.5 billion and have been seen by over 30 million people worldwide.

NORTH AMERICA

The New York Times called WICKED “Broadway’s biggest blockbuster” and, more recently, the Times referred to WICKED as “the defining musical of the decade.” 

Over 6 million people have seen WICKED on Broadway since it began performances in the fall of 2003.

The Broadway production of WICKED has broken the house record at the Gershwin Theatre twenty (20) times during the course of its run.  It regularly grosses in excess of $1.7 million each week.

For the week ending January 2, 2011, the Broadway production of WICKED grossed $2,228,235, the highest one-week box office take in Broadway history.

2011 was the record-breaking 8^th consecutive year in which WICKED is Broadway’s highest grossing show.

 WICKED has grossed a combined total of $1.8 billion for its North American companies. 

Current advance sales for the Broadway production of WICKED are approximately $22 million in the show’s ninth year on Broadway.  It is unprecedented for a show to maintain that level of advance sales so long after its initial debut.

On national tour (which has been traveling across North America for 490 weeks), nearly 10 million people have seen WICKED.  There are currently two North American touring companies. 

Since it began in March 2005, the national tour of WICKED has broken the house record in every single city in which it’s played.

The three North American companies of WICKED cumulatively gross in excess of $4.8 million per week.

WICKED has won 35 major awards, including the Grammy Award, the Olivier Award, three Tony Awards and six Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical.

In November 2006, the Grammy Award winning (Best Musical Show Album) original cast recording of WICKED was certified “Platinum” by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and it now has sales of over 2 million copies in print (“Double Platinum”). 

The novel “Wicked” by Gregory Maguire, published in 1995, has sold 5 million copies, with 4.5 million of those sold since 2003 when the musical opened. Buoyed by the musical’s success, the novel still appears on bestseller lists 16 years after its initial publication.

WICKED returns to Denver’s Buell Theatre for its fourth engagement, running April 11-May 20, 2012

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast: Looking into the heart of an all-new ‘Beauty’

By Brendan Lemon

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, now embarked on a lavish and visually re-imagined new tour presented by NETworks, is one of best-loved of all musicals. It’s easy to understand why. Its classic story — of a beautiful village girl, Belle, who is first repelled by, then attracted to a gruff yet big-hearted Beast —is indeed, as one of the show’s numbers has it, “a tale as old as time.” The songs (music by Alan Menken; lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice) are almost criminally tuneful. And the musical’s appeal crosses age barriers: truly, “Beauty” is an experience that can be enjoyed by child and adult alike.

Many of the songs – the charming “Belle,” the infectious “Something There,” and the spectacular hospitality anthem “Be Our Guest” – were written for the 1991 animated movie, which was the first – and until 2010, the only – animated film ever to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. The movie’s status not just in cinematic history but in critical lore was cemented when the New York Times’ then-theater critic Frank Rich, called Beauty and the Beast the best musical of the year – in any format.

Disney took the cue, and soon started things rolling for the live adaptation. Several new songs, as well as the book by Linda Woolverton, were written for the stage version, which opened on Broadway at the Palace Theater on April 18, 1994, and went on to become the seventh-longest running production in Broadway history.

Rob Roth, who directed the Broadway premiere and is back at the helm for the new tour, says that the “story of the show is about seeing past the exterior of a person and into his or her heart.” He says that conveying that feeling is key to any production of “Beauty.” What’s fresh about the tour, he adds, is not just the timeless moral but a new approach to the visuals.

“So few directors have the opportunity to work on a show several years later in a new form,” Roth says. “I’m lucky that way, and I’m also lucky because I never get bored with ‘Beauty.’”

Stan Meyer, the scenic designer both for the 1994 Broadway version and for the new production, says that the former staging was, essentially, the 1991 movie made live. The latter is “a departure from that.” He explains: “We did a lot of research that involved eastern-European wood carving and gilded manuscripts. The new version is an illuminated manuscript come to life.”

Audiences will delight in the eye-popping storybook shapes and colors that Meyer and the other original-version designers (Ann Hould-Ward: costumes; Natasha Katz: lighting) have re-imagined. The production’s look, adds Meyer, “is more evocative of whimsy and very, very romantic.”

DIsney’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST plays Denver, CO (Buell Theatre) March 14-18, 2012. Tickets: 303.893.4100, 800.641.1222, Groups 10+ 303.446.4892, TTY 303.893.9582