Neil Patrick Harris sings It’s Not Just for Gays Anymoreon Sunday night’s Tony Awards telecast.By Hap ErsteinIt was a great night for smiling proselytizers and equine puppets.Of course, I’m referring to The Book of Mormon and War Horse, which cemented their hit status by taking a victory lap at last night’s 65th annual Tony Awards telecast, grabbing nine and five … [Read more...]
Theater feature: The Broadway season in review, and Hap’s Tony predictions
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinRecession? What recession? If the economy was in the doldrums this year, Broadway sure didn’t know about it.For the commercial theater season in New York that ended May 29, Broadway shows drew $1.08 billion in ticket sales, up 5.9 percent from last season to post record-breaking grosses.Of … [Read more...]
Theater feature: ‘Mormon’ leads Tony nominations with 14 nods
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinTrey Parker and Matt Stone’s irreverent, yet surprisingly traditional musical comedy, The Book of Mormon, went into this morning’s announcement of Tony Award nominations as the prohibitive favorite to win the all-important Best Musical award. It emerged with 14 nominations, making it even more of a … [Read more...]
Broadway Postcard No. 5: ‘Mormon’ is best musical of the season
Andrew Randells and Josh Gad encounter a Ugandan, in The Book of Mormon.By Hap ErsteinTrey Parker and Matt Stone have been freaking out television’s Standards and Practices folks (a/k/a censors) for almost 15 years with their purposely profane animated series South Park, so it should come as no surprise that their first Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, … [Read more...]