Hugh Jackman is a throwback.

He’s one of the few modern day stars that could had made it 40, 50, even 60 years ago.

The guy can do it all: sing, dance, act, and sell tickets (either movie or Broadway tickets). His acting made him a household name but his voice is by far his greatest aptitude. He’s best known for playing a gruff superhero (Wolverine) but won a Tony Award for portraying singer-songwriter Peter Allen (The Boy from Oz). Best of all, his immense talents come wrapped in a countenance and physique perfectly designed for a leading man of the stage and screen.

In the 21st century, when performers use computers to sing on tune, and special effects to mask their inability to emote, Jackman is an anachronism. He’s an updated version of the Hollywood stars of old. In other words, he actually has talent.

Over the summer, Jackman delighted audience with his performance in the family-friendly, box office hit, Reel Steel. Currently, the 43-year-old Australian superstar is selling Hugh Jackman Broadway tickets to his 10-week run at the Broadhurst Theatre on the Great White Way.

Called “Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway,” the star culls materials from classic musicals like Oklahoma, Guys and Dolls, Carousel, and The Boy From Oz. The show also includes a rousing tribute to the musical The Music Man replete with a rap.

The three-time host of the Tony Awards also laces up the dancing shoes. In fact, there are several numbers showcasing the actor’s hoofing skills. As you would expect, Jackman is a fantastic dancer.

Jackman is backed by an 18-piece orchestra and six dancing show girls. The production includes very few special effects. That was a wise move. Jackman doesn’t need theatre magic to dazzle the audience. All he needs is a microphone and a simple tune.

Be prepared for one or two corny jokes. Jackman has a few groaners sprinkled throughout his program but the actor is so suave and charming that he pulls them off. I love bad jokes so this wouldn’t bother me one iota.

Jackman’s powerhouse of a show is currently one of the hottest tickets in town. It’s right up there with The Book of Mormon tickets and War Horse tickets. It’s breaking box office records at the Broadhurst and is sold out every weekend of its two-and-half-month run.

When you go, make sure you scan the theatre. Many of the reviews I’ve read about Jackman’s “Back on Broadway” mention tons of celebrities in the audience.

Right now, theatre fans can see the award-winning play, War Horse, at the West End’s New London Theatre and on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Come Christmas Day, fans of Michael Morpurgo’s popular children’s novel will be able to buy War Horse tickets to a film adaptation directed by Steven Spielberg.

War Horse is an epic drama about a young man, Albert, searching for his beloved horse, Joey. The young man’s father sold the horse to the British Calvary at the start of World War I.

If you can, see the play before you see the movie. Part of the charm of the play is the way the Handspring Puppet Company brings the horses to life. It’s absolutely awe-inspiring. Suffice to say, that kind of magic will not be present in the film, which will undoubtedly use computer generated horses.

And movie audiences definitely won’t experience the same wave of emotion theatre audiences feel when a tank—the cavalry killer—makes its first appearance.

War Horse the play is an epic. It deals with two things that are extremely hard to pull off in a theatre, war and horses. Its staging takes imagination and the execution of that staging calls for real talent.

Hollywood, on the other hand, has been making movies about war and horses for nearly 100 years. It’s not a big deal.

Therefore, War Horse the film will have to rely on the same dramatic elements that the play, written by Nick Stafford, conveys so effectively and eloquently. Those elements are war is hell and humanity has an unwavering passion for horses.

War Horse is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris. The horses are choreographed by Toby Sedgwick. The Broadway cast includes Seth Numrich, Matt Doyle, and Stephen Plunkett. The play runs about 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Land of Punt thought it would be interesting to look at other plays that deal with either war or horses (or animals in general). Those are two topics that challenge the imagination of every stage director.

Plays About War
For Services Rendered
Premiered 1932
Written by Somerset Maugham

For Services Rendered is widely regarded as a decent work of dramaturgy. Despite its high quality, the play flopped when it debuted on London’s West End in 1932. It has a definite anti-war message and at the time the sentiment wasn’t very popular. The play deals with the fallout of the Great War on an English family.

Journey’s End
Premiered 1928
Written by R.C. Sherriff

Journey’s End was extremely popular back in the day and the original cast featured a 21-year-old Laurence Olivier. The play was made into a film in 1930. Sherriff’s play takes place over four days near the end of the Great War and revolves around a group of British Officers.

Lysistrata
Premiered 411 BC
Written by Aristophanes

In one of Aristophanes 11 surviving plays, the title character persuades women to withhold sex from the soldiers fighting the Peloponnesian War in order to get them to negotiate a peace—it’s similar to an episode of M*A*S*H. The play is more about the battle of the sexes than anything but makes our list due to its age and popularity.

Mother Courage and Her Children
Premiered 1941
Written by Bertolt Brecht and Margarete Steffin

Mother Courage and Her Children is one of the greatest anti-war plays of all time and one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. Although written as a response to Germany invading Poland in 1939, Mother Courage takes place during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). The play’s titular characters tries to profit from a war that eventually takes the lives of her three children.

My Boy Jack
Premiered 1997
Written by David Haig

My Boy Jack is about author Rudyard Kipling dealing with the death of his son who died in World War I. The play’s title is taken from a 1915 Kipling poem. The work was written by English actor David Haig. He played Rudyard on stage and in a television adaptation that also starred Kim Cattrall and Daniel Radcliffe.

Plays About Horses (Animals)
Equus
Premiered 1973
Written by Peter Shaffer

Equus is an intense drama about a psychiatrist who treats a man that has inappropriate relationships with horses. Shaffer got the idea for this play after hearing about a young man from a town near London who blinded six horses. This is a very heady play; the type that is usually described with words like “mores” and “zeitgeist.”

Three Men on a Horse
Premiered 1935
Written by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm

Three Men on a Horse is a comedy about a man who can pick the winning horse in any race as long as he never places a bet. This play has been produced several times over the years with one incarnation starring Tony Randall, Jack Klugman, Jerry Stiller, and Julie Hagerty.

The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?
Premiered 2002
Written by Edward Albee

The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? is about an architect who falls in love with a goat. The play challenges the audience’s ideas of right and wrong as well as their language skills—Albee uses a lot of word play and grammatical arguments. For instance, our word “tragedy” comes from the Greek word meaning “goat song.” The original Broadway cast starred Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruehl.

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Premiered 2011
Written by Rajv Joseph

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo opened on Broadway in 2011 with Robin Williams playing the part of the Bengal tiger. No, he wasn’t operated by puppeteers or wearing something created by Julie Taymor. He just walked around in ragged togs. The story is about a tiger that is shot during the chaos of the Iraq War and comes back as a ghost to haunt a U.S. soldier.

Green Day’s Tony nominated musical, American Idiot, launches its first national touring company Dec. 28 in Toronto at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.

The musical, which is based on the Green Day album of the same name, held nearly 450 performances (including previews) at the St. James Theatre on Broadway. The show ended its run on the Great White Way this past April.

At the time of writing this article, the cast had not been announced.

American Idiot tells the story of three friends, Johnny, Will, and Tunny, as they try to find meaning in a post 9/11 world. One stays in the suburbs to raise a family, one goes off to war, and the other moves to the city and falls in love.

The show’s score contains all the tracks from the American Idiot album (released in 2004), some songs from 21st Century Breakdown, select b-sides, and a previously unreleased song called “When It’s Time.”

The music was composed by Green Day and the lyrics written by the band’s frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. The book was penned by Armstrong and the show’s director Michael Mayer.

Mayer will also direct the American Idiot movie. The rights for the film were secured by Tom Hanks’ production company. He’ll produce the flick along with the three members of Green Day. Look for the movie to hit theaters sometime next year.

It was recently announced that Armstrong will be in the movie playing the role of St. Jimmy. The singer played the same character on Broadway.

Armstrong first played St. Jimmy for a week in the fall of 2010 and then returned to the cast during the following January and February. Also during that time, Melissa Etheridge played the character for a week.

Armstrong’s appearance drastically increased the sales of American Idiot tickets. Unfortunately for producers, the show failed to maintain any momentum after Armstrong’s departure and they were forced to announce a closing date. Still, Armstrong returned to portray St. Jimmy for the final three weeks of the musical’s run.

American Idiot has been called “the most adventurous new musical to brave Broadway in the past decade” and “the first great musical of the 21st century.” High praise for a show that struggled to sell theatre tickets despite receiving a ton of publicity and being developed from an extremely popular source material.

Oddly enough, Green Day’s show ended its Broadway run about a month after the debut of The Book of Mormon. That musical eclipsed American Idiot in edginess, cool factor, creativity, and appeal to a younger audience.

American Idiot’s 2012 Itineary
>>Dec, 28 – Jan. 15 – American Idol in Toronto @ Toronto Centre for the Arts
>>Jan. 17-22 – American Idol in Detroit, MI @ Opera House
>>Jan. 24-29 – American Idiot in Boston, MA @ Boston Opera House
>>Jan. 31 – Feb. 5 – American Idiot in Raleigh, NC @ Progress Energy Center Raleigh Memorial Auditorium
>>Feb. 22-26 – American Idiot in Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
>>March 6-11 – American Idiot in Denver, CO @ The Buell Theatre
>>March 13-28 – American Idiot in Los Angeles, CA @ Ahmanson Theatre
>>April 24-29 – American Idiot in Tempe, AZ @ Gammage Auditorium
>>May 1-2 – American Idiot in San Bernardino, CA @ California Theatre Of The Performing Arts
>>May 8-20 – American Idiot in Dallas, TX @ Winspear Opera House
>>May 29 – June 3 – American Idiot in Costa Mesa, CA @ Segerstrom Center For The Arts
>>June 6-10 – American Idiot in Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre

There’s a bunch of great shows currently running in New York City this summer, but three of the best are the hilarious The Book of Mormon, the unique War Horse, and the mystifying Zarkana. In those titles you have a musical, a play, and a Cirque du Soleil show.

Below, Land of Punt takes a closer look at each one of the aforementioned productions. We have to warn you, after familiarizing yourself with these great shows you won’t want to see one over the other two, you’ll want to see all three.

The Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is the uproarious musical comedy about two young missionaries in Uganda. It was created by South Park progenitors Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q’s Robert Lopez. The production, which is currently running at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre, has been nominated for 14 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Basically, everyone who’s bought tickets to The Book of Mormon says it’s one of the funniest musicals they’re ever seen. Throw in a heap of praise from critics and TBOM is the hottest ticket on Broadway.

Is the show PG? Absolutely not—it’s as vulgar as they come—but surprisingly it’s not two and a half hours of Mormon bashing. While the show is definitely a send up of traditional musicals, it does try to create a dialogue about religion and faith. Still, if you’re bothered by the F-word and/or you’re sensitive to sexual material stay far away from The Book of Mormon. However, if you’re looking for unadulterated and adult fun then you should rush to see this musical.

War Horse
War Horse tickets are currently being sold at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. This play has been nominated for five Tony Awards and it tells the story of a boy named Albert and his best friend, a horse named Joey. When World War I breaks out the pair is torn apart after Albert’s dad sells Joey to the cavalry. Three years later, Albert runs away from his farm in Devon, England to find his equine friend.

What makes this play so special is that three puppeteers control Joey and they do so in plain view of the audience. Of course, they control the horse so beautifully that after a while you forget they’re even there. In fact, the puppets used in this production are so good that their designers, Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, will receive a special Tony Award for artistic achievement.

War Horse stars Seth Numrich and is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris. The play is based on a novel by Michael Morpurgo which was adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford. A national tour is scheduled to launch in 2012 and a War Horse movie, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set for a December release.

Zarkana
Zarkana is a Cirque du Soleil production currently selling tickets at Radio City Music Hall. It will be running at that famed venue until Oct. 8. This stunning and surreal show features Cirque’s trademarks of breathtaking acrobatics, captivating live music, and interactive multimedia elements. The production stars 71 artists from all over the world and was specially designed for Radio City’s stage.

Zarkana is written and directed by renowned film and theater auteur Francois Girard. The show’s score is composed by Australian musician Nick Littlemore. Debra Brown and Elena Kolyadenko did the choreography.

Zarkana tells the epic story of a magician on a quest to regain his lost love and his lost powers. During his journey into a strange and bizarre world he encounters a menagerie of incredibly interesting creatures.

After its limited engagement at Radio City Music Hall, Zarkana opens in Madrid on Nov. 9 and then in Moscow on Feb. 2, 2012.

New Yorkers are lucky. They can see any Broadway show they want any time they want.

They don’t have to wait until the national touring company comes to their town; they just have to wait until they have a free night… and/or whenever they can score Broadway tickets.

For the rest of us saps, we have to either hop on a plane to the Big Apple or wait until the musical goes on tour.

Now, I see just about every show that comes to my town (sorry Mary Poppins) and I want just about every current Broadway musical to come to my town (sorry Sister Act), but there is one show I want to come to my neck of the woods with much alacrity.

First it was Wicked, then it was Monty Python’s Spamalot, then it was Rock of Ages, and now the musical I most want to see more than all the others is The Book of Mormon.

For those of you that have been living under a rock, The Book of Mormon is the Broadway musical from the dudes that created South Park.

Those dudes are Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They wrote the book, music, and lyrics with Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez (that’s another show I want to see).

The Book of Mormon is directed by Parker and the show’s choreographer, Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone and Monty Python’s Spamalot).

The show is currently running at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and stars Josh Gad, Andrew Rannels, and Rory O’Malley. All three of those actors received Tony noms for their awesome performances.

In all, TBOM was nominated for 14 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Director, Best Score, and Best Book.

The show is about two young Mormon missionaries who travel to Uganda with the hopes of converting the locals. When they arrive in Africa all they find is trouble but that is of course when the hilarity breaks out.

“[co-composer Trey Parker and I] always said that this is the most collaborative thing we’ve ever done. I’m just so happy that it’s being recognized as a big team effort. I’m hoping that they’ve got some chicken with some sh*tty bok choy at the ceremony. I want some sh*tty awards chicken” — Matt Stone

You’ll want to keep the kids at home (and maybe even grandma). The show is packed with adult material—profanity, sexual innuendo, and violence.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. The creators of South Park have written a show about Mormon missionaries in Africa. This has to be two hours of unyielding, mindless, religion bashing.

That’s what I thought until I started reading reviews. Yes, the play tackles religion, namely Mormonism, but it doesn’t take the easy way out. Instead of immaturely attacking the establishments of faith, the musical deals with the most sensitive of all sensitive subjects with sagaciousness and sensibility. The show actually opens up theological discussions instead of lazily using religion as the butt of every joke.

I actually found two reviewers who described the musical as “sweet.” Still, the show is politically incorrect and may offend those who can’t suspend their righteousness for two and half hours.

While reviewers differ on the strength the show’s musical score (from catchy to amateurish), one thing everyone can agree on is that TBOM is side-splittingly funny. If you like South Park’s humor then The Book of Mormon will make you laugh until it hurts.

“This nomination means a lot to me and I really take it seriously. I probably won’t be wearing a dress to these awards. The biggest thing I was terrified going into the show was that we’d be up against [Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark composer and frequent South Park target] Bono. It sounded so right that Bono was going to take my Tony from me. That would have been hilarious actually.” — Trey Parker

The other intriguing aspect of TBOM is how it simultaneously lampoons and embraces the old fashion, Broadway musical format. Yet, despite using some of the traditional trappings of the Great White Way TBOM still manages to be a truly unique musical theatre experience.

As for myself, I just can’t wait to see the number “Hasa Diga Eebowai.” I would translate that but this is a family Web site. Let’s just say “Hasa Diga Eebowai” is pretty vulgar.

The 65th Annual Tony Awards will be held June 12 at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Neil Patrick Harris will host.

Wicked is so insanely popular and so incredibly successful that there are seven productions of the musical currently running in the world. You can see the show in New York (Broadway) and London (West End) as well as in the countries of Japan, Germany, and Australia. There are also two North American tours presently out on the road (a full itinerary is listed below).

These two touring companies are really like small armies traveling from one city to another only instead of engaging in hand-to-hand combat they engage in jazz hands.

It takes workers three full 14-hour days to erect Wicked’s Tony Award winning sets. That includes hanging the huge clock-dragon over the stage and setting up the rigging for the flying monkeys (yes, the show has flying monkeys).

“It’s a major undertaking,” boasts production stage manager David Hansen. “Everything fits together like a giant puzzle.”

To ensure that all the puzzle pieces come together correctly and on time, Wicked employs more than a hundred carpenters, technicians, and stage hands. Some of these workers travel with the production but most are local hires.

Wicked Credits
Music and lyrics… Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Pocahontas, and The Prince of Egypt)
Book… Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”)
Directed… Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues)
Musical Staging… Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…).
Produced… Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.
Set Design… Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd)
Costume Design… Susan Hilferty (Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, Assassins)
Lighting Design… Kenneth Posner (Tony Award winner for The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray)
Sound Design… Tony Meola (The Lion King)

Hiring local professionals is just one of the ways a traveling production like Wicked impacts the economies of the cities it visits. For example, in 2008, when Wicked played the Shea’s Performing Arts Center in Buffalo, New York for four weeks it pumped an estimated $20 million into the local economy.

Officials with the venue calculated that half of that amount was from money the cast and crew spent locally while the other half was from money theater-goers spent on hotels, restaurants, parking, and other services.

An event’s economic impact can be hard to compute. If residents buy Wicked tickets with the money they’d normally spend on a trip to the movies (more like several trips) than there’s really no impact, but if the money comes from out of town, if they stay at hotels, if they eat at restaurants, than the economic impact can be quite significant.

Keep in mind that it can be very difficult, at least statistically, to differentiate between residents trading one form of entertainment for another from out-of-towners coming in to catch a show. Of course, if you want anecdotal proof, just ask business owners around a theater if they cash-in whenever a top-tier production like Wicked pays a visit. They are sure to tell you, “cha-ching.”

So even if one uses the most conservative economic projections, Broadway touring shows still generate big bucks for every community they visit.

“The economic impact, let alone from the people buying tickets, is so substantial, but we just haven’t done a very good job of telling our story. Touring Broadway, in the last study that the [Broadway] League did, contributed over $3.5 billion across America,” explained Albert Nocciolino, a Broadway producer and presenting partner for Shea’s Performing Arts Center.

Not all markets are created equally. Wicked is likely to do better in smaller cities where an event like the arrival of a major Broadway touring company is an actual “event.” In cities like Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington D.C.—where you have to do much more than just put on a show about a green witch to attract people’s attention—visiting musicals actually have competition.

Also, one should expect cities that have already sold Wicked musical tickets to see less of an economic impact the second time the national tour comes calling—if the company is lucky enough to last that long. That’s why good venue operators wait before scheduling a production’s return. A couple of years in between visits keeps the show fresh and ticket demand high.

Economic impact definitely remains high when you have a great show like Wicked—a show that’s entertaining and appealing to more than just your hardcore theatre-goers. Wicked is so much fun, and so layered with references to The Wizard of OZ, that it’s one of the few Broadway musicals you want to see again and again.

In Buffalo’s case (Wicked is running in that city until May 22) ticket sales are down a bit from 2008, that’s when the musical first shuffled into town. Back then, 97 percent of Wicked tickets were sold to the tune of $5.7 million. Despite the drop in sales, Shea executives believe the musical’s economic impact will still be similar to what it was in 2008. That’s a testament to Wicked’s unwavering popularity.

Wicked’s 2011 Itinerary
>>April 20 – May 1 – Wicked visits Eugene, OR @ Hult Center
>>April 27 – May 22 – Wicked visits Buffalo, NY @ Sheas Performing Arts Center
>>May 4-15 – Wicked visits Boise, ID @ Morrison Center
>>May 18-29 – Wicked visits Spokane, WA @ INB Performing Arts Center
>>May 25 – June 12 – Wicked visits Omaha, NE @ Orpheum Theater
>>June 1-26 – Wicked visits Vancouver, BC @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre
>>June 15 – August 17 – Wicked visits Washington D.C. @ Opera House
>>June 29 – July 17 – Wicked visits Calgary, AB @ Southern Jubilee Auditorium
>>July 20 – August 7 – Wicked visits Edmonton, AB @ Northern Jubilee Auditorium
>>August 10-21 – Wicked visits Saskatoon, SK @ TCU Place
>>August 24 – September 11 – Wicked visits Hartford, CT @ The Bushnell
>>August 24 – September 4 – Wicked visits Winnipeg, MB @ Centennial Concert Hall
>>September 7 – October 2 – Wicked visits Pittsburgh, PA @ Bebedum Center
>>September 14 – October 9 – Wicked visits Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre
>>October 5-16 – Wicked visits Richmond, VA @ Landmark Theater
>>October 12 – October 30 – Wicked visits Peoria, IL @ Peoria Civic Center
>>October 19 – November 6 – Wicked visits Nashville, TN @ TPAC
>>November 2 – November 27 – Wicked visits Cincinnati, OH @ Aronoff Center
>>November 9 – December 4 – Wicked visits Des Moines, IA @ Civic Center
>>November 30 – January 29 – Wicked visits Los Angeles, CA @ Pantages Theatre
>>December 7 – December 31 – Wicked visits Detroit, MI @ The Opera House

Wicked’s 2012 Itinerary
>>January 4 – January 22 – Wicked visits Jacksonville, FL @ Times Union Performing Arts Center
>>January 25 – February 12 – Wicked visits Austin, TX @ Bass Concert Hall
>>February 1 – February 12 – Wicked visits El Paso, TX @ Plaza Theatre
>>February 14 – March 4 – Wicked visits Birmingham, AL @ Birmingham Jefferson Convention
>>February 15 – March 11 – Wicked visits Tempe, AZ @ Gammage Auditorium
>>March 14 – April 8 – Wicked visits Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium
>>March 28 – April 15 – Wicked visits Fort Myers, FL @ Barbara B. Mann PAH
>>April 18-29 – Wicked visits N. Charleston, SC @ N. Charleston Performing Arts Center
>>May 2-5 – Wicked visits Durham, NC @ Durham Performing Arts Center
>>May 23-26 – Wicked in Sacramento, CA @ Sacramento Community Center Theater
>>June 1-3 – Wicked visits Dayton, OH @ Schuster Performing Arts Center
>>June 19-22 – Wicked visits San Diego, CA @ San Diego Civic Theatre
>>June 27-30 – Wicked in East Lansing, MI @ Wharton Center – Cobb Great Hall

Sorry, but Land of Punt can’t help but be cynical. The only way this is happening is because the two artists are apart of the same musical, Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.

The actor playing Spider-Man on Broadway, and his band, both named Reeve Carney, have been tapped to open for U2 July 30 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada at the Magnetic Hill Music Festival.

Also opening for U2 that night is Arcade Fire.

The show is part of the Irish band’s on-going 360° Tour. The 2010 leg of that world trek were some of the top grossing music concerts of the year.

In case you’ve been living under a rock and not paying attention to the Broadway world, U2′s Bono and The Edge wrote the tunes for Spider-Man the musical.

This opening gig has to be some kind of reward, a way to sweeten the pot. Due to the ominous reputation of the $65 million production, Carney risks his life, career, and self-respect every time he walks the boards as Peter Parker/Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

Land of Punt wonders if this isn’t some sort of quid pro quo for staying with the show. Maybe Carney wanted to bolt but the opportunity for his band to open for U2 changed his mind?

Then again, U2 is letting the upstart band open for them in Moncton, a city of 175,000 residents, located in the middle of nowhere. It’s not exactly London’s O2 Arena or New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

Of course, no one has ever even heard of Reeve Carney. They are no where near the stature of the other supporting acts U2 has used over the past couple of years: Jay-Z, Arcade Fire, Muse, Interpol, Lenny Kravitz, The Fray, One Republic, and Florence and The Machine.

Despite LOP’s cynicism, Reeve is ecstatic about the opportunity and he has nothing but good things to say about U2, especially Bono and The Edge. Here’s what he told Broadway.com about the dynamic duo:

“They’re really nice guys. It’s nice to see they’ve been pretty unaffected by all their success. My brother [Carney guitarist Zane Carney] has really learned a lot from them musically.”

Incidentally, Reeve Carney (the band) appears in the musical which is set to open March 15 at the Foxwoods Theatre.

It was written in the New York Post so it has to be true.

This fall, Harry Connick, Jr. will star in the Broadway revival of On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.

OACDYCSF features music by Burton Lane and lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner. This classic Broadway musical originally opened way back on Oct. 17, 1965 (nearly two years before Harry was born). It ran for 280 performances.

Now this is where things start to get good.

Back in the day, OACDYCSF followed a young woman who discovers she was a British aristocrat in a past life.

However, this revival has been revised by a ravishing revision.

The musical is now about a gay white man who discovers that in a previous life he was a black male jazz musician.

And guess which part Harry plays?

This could be quite entertaining, especially if Connick is allowed to display his immense musical talents (i.e. playing the piano). Hopefully, the new book will have him tickling the ivories on stage. If that happens, this musical could be the hot Broadway ticket of the fall.

This new production is directed by Michael Mayer (American Idiot, Spring Awakening). The new book is penned by Peter Parnell (The Cider House Rules and QED).

In February and March, the show will run at the Vineyard Theatre on East 15th Street in Manhattan.

An earlier staging starred the great Brian d’Arcy James and Tony winner Anika Noni Rose. The latter is still attached to the production.

No details on which Broadway theatre will host OACDYCSF or a date for opening night.

The musical’s big numbers are the title song, “Come Back To Me,” and “What Did I Have That I Don’t Have.”

In 1966, OACDYCSF earned Lane and Lerner a Tony Award nomination for Best Original Score.

The world’s most expense musical of all-time, the $65 million Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark has been postponed… again!

Instead of opening on Jan. 11, your friendly neighborhood Spider-bomb will open on Feb. 7.

“We’re happy about it,” Julie Taymor told the great Roger Friedman.

JT is putting on quite a brace face as her career dangles by a web.

The cause for the delay?

According to Taymor, with the holidays and cast absences there was only “17 hours left to work until January 11th. It wasn’t enough time.”

Wasn’t enough time? Then why did you set the opening date as Jan. 11 in the first place? I’ll tell you why, because you underestimated your musical’s awfulness.

Folks, they are in full panic mode at the Foxwoods Theatre.

One of the things Taymor has installed is a “part of a new ending.”

So let me get this straight, you’ve already spent $65 million on a Broadway show and you don’t have a finale? Where was all that money spent? Stationary? T-shirts? Sunglasses for Bono?

The average Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark ticket is selling for $97.11. Despite all the setbacks, the show is still one of the hottest Broadway tickets.

Also hampering the show is Natalie Mendoza’s (Arachne) concussion—she was concussed during an aerial stunt. In other words, this musical is so bad it’s hurting people.

To recap, the “web-singer” was setback, in large part because an actor suffered a concussion during rehearsal. You can bet your bottom dollar that that never happened to Sondheim (sorry for mixing my Broadway metaphors).

“Every day we make changes, and you can see some of them now. But changes in our show often involve computers, programming. It’s not like here’s a new line, say this tonight,” slants Taymor.

Once all the flying stunts get figured out, and that should be very soon, Taymor will start working on improving the book. Improving the book? The musical’s been in development for years, what in the hell has she been doing with book? Using it to level her desk? The book should be the last thing that needs help; it doesn’t cost anything to work on and can be done anywhere you can use a laptop.

Now get this, when U2 is done touring, Bono and The Edge will drop in to see if new songs need to be composed. However, no old U2 songs will be used.

“It’s all new,” claims Taymor. “This isn’t an adaptation of a movie, like most musicals these days. This is all totally original, from scratch. “

This musical needs to be scratch.

So Bono and Edge, who are on the other side of the world, might add new songs to this fiasco? This shin-dig opens in less than two months, they better hurry up or the actors will have to use cue cards on opening night.

Apparently Taymor doesn’t understand why everyone is so obsessed with her musical’s $65 million price tag. She says no one cares when a $150 million movie flops; if her show was a $65 million dollar movie it would be considered low budget.

True, but this isn’t a movie, it’s a Broadway musical. Besides, a movie can make money selling these things called DVDs. If you can’t sell Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark tickets you’re show is over, the investment is lost.

Despite all this, Spider-Man is still one of the hot Broadway tickets. The musical, even in previews, is raking in the dough—over $1 million a week. But why do I feel like people are buying Spider-Man tickets not because they want to see a great musical, but because they want to see a $65 million train wreck.

This article is indebted to “Spider Man on Broadway Creator Julie Taymor Speaks” by Roger Friedman.

2010-12-21T12:45:04+00:00″

On Dec. 20, an actor fell twenty fell feet and into the orchestra pit after his harness broke. The show was stopped and producers came out on stage to announce that the rest of the performance had been canceled. The actor, whose name has not been released, was taken to the hospital but is apparently doing fine.

What do you get the Broadway fan on your shopping list besides Broadway tickets?

How about an Alice Ripley album?

The Broadway superstar has released a solo album (2000′s Everything’s Fine), an album and EP with her band RIPLEY, and two albums were her Side Show co-star Emily Skinner.

Coming in 2011 (so I guess you’ll have to wait until next year to gift it to the Broadway fan on your list), the Tony Award winner and Next to Normal star is set to release her second studio album, a collection of acoustic covers called Daily Practice: Volume 1.

Ripley produced the album along with Kurt Deutsch. The work is intended to be the first in a series of covers albums.

The opus features songs by Sting, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Brown, and R.E.M. A full track listing is listed below.

“I have my own songs that I’ve written, and I’ve had things to say through my songs, but these songs are covers of rock tunes that influenced me at a young age and made me want to sing, made me want to write and basically have kept me alive.”

Her song choices are interesting because most of the them are quite well known. Generally, when an artist of Ripley’s caliber does a cover album there are a couple of songs people have actually heard of and a bunch of obscure songs. The obscure songs are chosen for the sole reason of making the artist seem really hip and cool.

While I applaud Rip for being brave enough to record songs people actually enjoy listening too, I’m a little worried because some of the songs she’s covering are a bit pretentious. Then again, if you heard her acceptance speech after being awarded the 2009 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical than pretentious makes perfect sense.

“It’s a collection of songs that I play every day. I pick up my guitar every day, especially at times where I don’t know where I am or who I am. My guitar reminds me… Reminds me of why I wanted to sing and who I am and what I have to say.”

Currently, the great A.R. is in La La Land reprising her role of Diana and selling Next to Normal tickets at the Ahmanson Theatre. It’s the first stop of the Next To Normal national tour.

To refresh your memory, Ripley has also starred in Side Show, Sunset Boulevard, Les Miserables, and the Rocky Horror Show.

This article is indebted to Broadway.com.

Daily Practice: Volume 1 Track Listing
1. “Message in a Bottle” – Written by Sting
2. “It’s Too Late” – Written by Carole King & Toni Stern
3. “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” – Written by Victor Reina, Larry Mullen, Paul David Hewson, Dave Evans & Adam Clayton
4. “You Oughta Know” – Written by Alanis Morissette & Glen Ballard
5. “Essence” – Written by Lucinda Williams
6. “Thunder Road” – Written by Bruce Springsteen
7. “The Flyer” – Written by Nanci Griffith
8. “Take It Easy” – Written by Jackson Browne & Glenn Frey
9. “Everybody Hurts” – Written by William Berry, Peter Buck, Michael Mills & Michael Stipe
10. “Anticipation” – Written by Carly Simon