On Tuesday night, March 12, the lights of all the theaters on Broadway will be dimmed for one minute at 6:45 p.m. to honor the memory of actor and dancer Hinton Battle, who died on Jan. 30 at the age of 67.
Battle won three Tony Awards for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for his performances in “Miss Saigon” (1991), “The Tap Dance Kid” (1984), and “Sophisticated Ladies” (1981). Amazingly, Battle only received three Tony Award nominations – which means that he won a Tony Award each time that he received a nomination. (No other performer has won three Tony Awards in that category.) Battle also originated the role of the Scarecrow in “The Wiz” in 1975.
“If I haven’t said in absolutely specific terms, let me say it: I loved him,” André De Shields, who appeared in the original Broadway cast of “The Wiz” with Battle, told The Guardian in an interview in which de Shields described how Battle, while still a teenager, rose from being in the chorus to playing the Scarecrow during the show’s pre-Broadway tour.
I regret that I never got to see Battle perform on Broadway or on tour. His final Broadway performance was as a replacement for Billy Flynn in “Chicago” years ago. The closest I came to experiencing his work was “Evil Dead: The Musical,” a campy 2006 Off-Broadway musical which Battle co-directed and choreographed.
Curiously, the Broadway League (the trade organization which represents Broadway theater owners and producers) originally announced on Friday of last week that the lights of only nine theaters (one to represent each commercial and nonprofit landlord on Broadway) would be dimmed. However, the following day, likely in response to an uproar over the dimming being selective in nature, the organization announced that the lights of all 41 Broadway theaters would be dimmed.
“The plan that only one Broadway theatre per owner would dim their lights in memory of Hinton Battle was an absurd concept and insult to his memory and achievements,” Howard Sherman, writer and former executive director of the American Theatre Wing, wrote on social media.
Len Cariou leads ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’
Len Cariou, who originated the role of Sweeney Todd, is appearing this month in an Off-Off-Broadway revival of “Tuesdays with Morrie” (a stage adaptation of Mitch Albom’s 1997 memoir about visiting his dying professor), which is being presented by Sea Dog Theater at St. George’s Episcopal Church in the East Village. “As we navigated the years of the pandemic, it quickly became clear how disproportionately it affected the elderly among us. During this time I picked up ‘Tuesdays with Morrie.’ By the end of it, I was in tears. I was surprised by how timeless the story was and how relevant it remained,” Chris Domig, the company’s artistic director, said in a statement.
Jinkx Monsoon to play Audrey in ‘Little Shop’
Drag performer Jinkx Monsoon, a winning contestant on the reality series “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” who joined the Broadway cast of “Chicago” last year as Matron Mama Morton, will now step into the role of Audrey in the hit Off-Broadway revival of “Little Shop of Horrors” beginning April 2. “As a drag queen who grew up watching the iconic Ellen Greene performance, I’m thrilled and honored to get to bring Audrey to life in a whole new way that also pays homage to her memorable origins,” the non-binary artist said in a statement. Monsoon will be joined by Corbin Bleu (“High School Musical”) as Seymour and James Carpinello (“Rock of Ages”) as Orin. Evan Rachel Wood and Darren Criss will complete their runs as Audrey and Seymour respectively on March 31.
