Last weekend, the Saturday matinee preview performance of the new musical “Redwood” was canceled due to its star, Idina Menzel, being sick. The Saturday evening performance went forward with standby Jessica Phillips taking over for Menzel. “Redwood,” in which Menzel plays a woman seeking sanctuary in a redwood forest in Northern California, is scheduled to officially open on Thursday, Feb. 13.
Ariana DeBose will not play Evita in London
Despite much initial buzz, Ariana DeBose will not star in the new London revival of “Evita” directed by Jamie Lloyd (“Sunset Boulevard”) this summer. DeBose had previously told Deadline that they were “70% there” in terms of making the casting happen. According to Variety, scheduling issues got in the way.
‘Hell’s Kitchen’ wins Grammy Award
Although “Hell’s Kitchen” lost the Tony Award for Best Musical to “The Outsiders” last year, the Alicia Keys jukebox-bio musical managed to win the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album on Sunday over “The Outsiders,” “Suffs,” “The Notebook,” “The Wiz,” and “Merrily We Roll Along.” Best Musical Theater Album is a relatively overlooked category that rose to the forefront in 2016 when “Hamilton” won the award and the cast performed live on the broadcast from Broadway via satellite.
Broadway audience is getting older, per latest demographic study
Older audience members, many of whom have expressed concerns about returning to live performances following the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, made up a larger percentage of Broadway audiences during the 2023-24 season, according to a new demographics report by the Broadway League, as first reported by the industry publication Broadway News. The average Broadway audience member was 42.1 years old (compared to 40.4 years old during the 2022-23 season) and had an annual household income of $276,375. International theatergoers made up 21.3% of the Broadway audience, while 20.5% were from New York City and 12.8% from Long Island, Westchester, Rockland counties, and northern New Jersey.”
Gillies and Manheim to join ‘Little Shop of Horrors’
Elizabeth Gillies (Nickelodeon’s “Victorious”) and Milo Manheim (Disney Channel’s “Zombies”) will take over as Audrey and Seymour respectively in the Off-Broadway production of “Little Shop of Horrors” on Feb. 25, with Sherie Rene Scott (“The Last Five Years”) and Nicholas Christopher giving their final performances on Feb. 23. Jeremy Kushnier (“Footloose”) will also join the cast as the villainous Dr. Orin Schrivello on the same date. In 2009, Gillies appeared on Broadway in the musical “13” alongside an unknown Ariana Grande.
Original ‘Hadestown’ leads to film show in London
The London production of the Tony Award-winning musical “Hadestown” will be filmed live on Feb. 28 and March 1 with the five original leads of the Broadway production, including Reeve Carney (Orpheus), André De Shields (Hermes), Amber Gray (Persephone), Eva Noblezada (Eurydice), and Patrick Page (Hades), who are appearing in the London production under an exchange program between Actors’ Equity Association (AEA) and Equity UK. There are currently no confirmed plans or release dates for the filmed performance. Other recent Broadway productions that have been filmed in London (where labor costs are generally less expensive) rather than New York include “Anything Goes,” “The King and I,” and “An American in Paris.”
