Molly Ranson. Photo by Thom Kaine.

Citizens of the Carrie Nation, the time has come to take action!

Set your alarms for Monday, October 3 at 10am; that’s when general public tickets go on sale for the MCC reimagining of Carrie, everyone’s favorite pig’s blood cocktail of teen angst, telekinesis and toe-tapping tunes. Officially set to open March 1, 2012, the thoroughly re-worked version of the infamous Broadway flop (adapted from the Stephen King novel) will feature new songs and a cast headed by the powerhouse Marin Mazzie (Ragtime) and Molly Ranson (Jerusalem).

Individual tickets are $89 but there’s a special deal that looks better to me. For only $10 more, MCC is offering a two-play subscription that includes tickets to Carrie and Wild Animals You Should Know, a new play featuring the equally smashing Alice Ripley (Next to Normal) and Patrick Breen (Next Fall). Toss in the fact that a summary of the play (teenage boys, erotic games, Dad on scouting trip) makes it sound like a particularly memorable dream I had in high school, I think the double header is the way to go.

But before Carrie tickets kick off October in spooktacular style, let’s take a quick look back at what we discovered in September:

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Every month, the “VIP Access” column will serve up advice on how to make your theater-going experiences cheaper, easier and more fulfilling with inside scoop from the experts. This month, I hope you’re hungry for a new musical…

"Outlaws - The Ballad of Billy the Kid". Image via nymf.org.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is back in full swing for another three week marathon of new shows and new voices. Navigating the calendar of 250 performances (full productions, concerts and developmental readings) can be daunting; how do you know whether you’re buying tickets to the next big hit (like festival alumni  [title of show] and Altar Boys) or a two-hour nap?  You don’t. So embrace the unknown and dive into the offerings like its a buffet at some enticing but geographically mysterious ethnic restaurant.

In that spirit, I took a look at the 25 fully-produced shows on the NYMF website and, after checking out who is involved and listening to the music samples, I selected five musicals I think might hit the spot and provide a range of experiences. (One note: I’ve seen readings of Kiki Baby, a twisted piece about a 4-year old singing sensation starring the gorgeously talented Jenn Colella, so I removed it from contention. I already know how that one tastes and the fun here is making “blind” guesses.) So, in alphabetical order, I’d pile up my plate with…

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"Follies". Photo by Joan Marcus.

“It’s a hit. It’s a hit. It’s a palpable hit.”

OK, I know that’s from the wrong Stephen Sondheim show but it seemed appropriate, so sue me. (And that’s from Guys and Dolls…someone stop me.) Producers of the acclaimed revival of Follies announced that last week’s gross of $1,122,778 is the best tally ever for a Sondheim-scored show on Broadway. While one might quibble about the exclusion of West Side Story and other score collaborations in order to make the claim, it is nonetheless an impressive take for a show that has a long history of breaking hearts but not box-office records.

It also got me wondering about the comparative success of other shows in the Sondheim canon. Given that dollar figures are hard to compare given inflation and ticket prices (and my status as a Theater and not a Math major), let’s take a look at which of his shows (again, among musicals with his score and lyrics) have had the longest and shortest runs. Quick guesses? Drumroll please…

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Jeremy Jordan sings "Newsies" on "The View". Image via YouTube.

Those hardscrabble (yet  pin-up worthy) paperboys are fighting the powers that be and showing off their tumbling skills once more as the stage adaptation of Newsies officially opened last night at New Jersey’s Paper Mill playhouse. While the original movie may have flopped, the property has developed a slow-burn cult following and Disney has brought in big guns like Alan Menken, Harvey Fierstein and Jeff Calhoun (read our behind-the-scenes interview with Jeff here) to see if they can fan those flames into a hit show.

Can’t make it out to Jersey? The cast recently showed up on “The View” to perform an athletic “Seize the Day” with choreography by friend of the blog, Christopher Gattelli and we’ve got the video after the jump. (And for you old school types, let’s look back at a clip from the film and be reminded of a time when Oscar-winner Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) was known more for being a teen heartthrob than a method actor with some anger management issues.)

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Samantha Soule and Troy Deutsch in "Lake Water". Photo by Hunter Canning.

I’m all for sequins, sass and theater buffs (you like him, you really like him), but Broadway’s beauty is more than skin deep. This week’s news proves that, in addition to entertaining the hell out of audience members, the stage community is dedicated to moving, inspiring and engaging with important issues.

• Heroes aren’t just on stage at Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Producers announced a monthly initiative to select “Everyday Heroes” and honor them with a VIP trip to see the show, a public acknowledgment and a donation to their favorite charity. First up, Diane Pagan, a nurse practitioner in the Bronx who rises above in her care of homebound patients. You can nominate your own hero at the show’s Facebook page.

• I’m sure everyone involved with the well-observed new play Lake Water wishes that the subject matter of the piece was not so timely (it follows two teenagers as they deal with the aftermath of a friend’s suicide), but national news about another death this week following intense bullying proves how real the problem is. Delving into the issues with clear personal investment, actor and playwright Troy Deutsch has a great ear for Midwestern teen speech and the volatility of high school friendships, particularly when his dialogue doesn’t strain for poetry but simply finds it in the real loops and imaginative play of “idle” conversation. Samantha Soule shines as the overachieving Iris, handling hairpin turns and confused layers of emotion with clarity and honesty. The play may take on a few too many strands in its short, 75 minute running time, but I look forward to hearing more from these brave, young artists.

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  Carolyn Murphy in Benefit T-Shirt. Image via BCRF.

  Celebrate Mamma Mia’s tenth anniversary on Broadway and support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation by purchasing one of these “Rock Chic Supremo” T-Shirts. Producer Judy Craymer and acclaimed cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto (The Cancer Vixen) collaborated on the design, inspired by the kick-ass women at the center of the musical.

• The week kicked off with a star-studded (on stage and off) premiere reading of Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black’s play about the Prop 8 Trial in California. The New York Times has a great pictorial featuring all the high-wattage attendees.

• Signature Theatre Company announced an unprecedented program to support the creation of new works. Over five years, the “Residency Five” playwrights (Annie Baker, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Kenneth Lonergan, and Regina Taylor) will receive three full productions, a cash award, a stipend to attend theater and, this is incredible folks, health benefits. As so many great playwrights find themselves drifting necessarily to Hollywood for economic reasons, this program is a major effort and one that should be supported by anyone who cares about American theater.

• And don’t forget to check out the 25th annual Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction this Sunday from 10am – 7pm at 44th & Times Square. There will be big prizes, great memorabilia, huge performances — and it’s all to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Every third Wednesday, a fabulous actor/singer/dancer currently on Broadway will fill out my nosey little questionnaire and offer a glimpse of what they look like from a bit closer than the mezzanine. For September, people always talk about a Follies girl, but we’ve got a real, live Follies boy…

Photo by Kevin McDermott.

Name: John Carroll

Hometown: Long Island, New York

Current Show/Role: Follies/proud member of the ensemble

The best part of the show I’m in is: I play Elaine Paige’s “boy toy” in Follies. To think I was this unpopular gay boy from Long Island with no friends and now I’m walking arm in arm all through Act One on Broadway with the Icon Elaine Paige! When we enter together at the top of the show the audience goes wild, I pretend they are applauding for me. It’s the little things! She not only happens to be a musical theater legend, but she is the warmest, most generous person, with a razor sharp wit and great sense of humor.

The most challenging job in show business I ever had was: It’s between two jobs. The first I would say was being in a concert dance company. I was in the Parsons Dance Company for two years. I was worked like a dog, paid like a dog and treated like a dog. The upside is that I traveled the world, became 1,000 times a better dancer and made life long friends. There’s always the good with the bad. The second was dancing at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. I was about to enter my senior year at Juilliard and was poor as dirt. Not only did I need money to pay for school, but I also needed my Equity card so that I could audition for shows to have a job after graduation. While the other Juilliard students went off to prestigious summer intensive dance programs, I danced in Beauty and the Beast at the MGM theme park. I wore candy stripped tights, an ENORMOUS chefs hat and twirled a 5 foot spoon as I danced around Mrs. Potts in fire retardant costumes. All in 100+ degree heat.

If I wasn’t an actor, I would be: A presenter on QVC. They talk endlessly for hours and hours about b.s. which, according to the word on the street, is what I’ve been known to do.

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Image via YouTube.

So, how exactly do you say “personable” and “coercin’ a bull” in Swedish? Well, someone has to figure it out (and make it rhyme) if they perform Company in Sweden.

For the recent Broadway revival of West Side Story, much was made of Lin Manuel Miranda’s translation of some Sondheim lyrics into Spanish. Fair enough; the Sharks would speak Spanish. Miranda is a Tony-winning writer in his own right and one would assume Mr. Sondheim was hovering nearby with, I like to imagine, a rhyming dictionary and a watchful eye.

But it did make me wonder. Surely Sondheim’s shows have been translated into other languages for productions in non-English speaking countries. Who does it? How do they capture his genius level of word play? And will I, the terribly provincial (and giggle prone) American, be able to keep a straight face when I hear it?

At last, I can say unequivocally the answer to the last question is “no”. Watch these videos and try it for yourself…

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Matthew Oaks with audience members. Photo by Yaniv Schulman.

SLEEP NO MORE

Britain’s Punchdrunk theater collective brings their immersive, voyeuristic spin on Shakespeare’s Macbeth to a New York warehouse transformed into a sprawling, decadent hotel.

“…a voyeur’s delight, with all the creepy, shameful pleasures that entails.” New York Times

“The thrilling, mind- bending new show … unlike any Macbeth you’ve ever seen.” New York Post

“The show infects your dreams.” New York Magazine

“Something wickedly wonderful this way comes … the most thoroughly original and provocative live entertainment in years.” Entertainment Weekly

Mizer’s Two Cents: The hottest ticket of the year is equal parts adult spook house, violently expressive dance piece, puzzle box video game, wall-breaking mind trip and headfirst dive into Cinemax voyeurism (and, as a child of the 80′s, I mean that as a high compliment…remember that tingly “sneaking down to the TV while your parents are sleeping hoping to catch a glimpse of something illicit” feeling). Basically, you are given a mask and dropped into a dizzying six floor Hitchcock meets Macbeth “hotel”, able to go wherever you wish and follow whomever you wish, as performers careen, fling and strip their way through hallucinatory suggestions of the Shakespeare story. The experience is wonderfully disorienting right from the beginning — as you gleefully fumble through dark, twisting hallways just to get to the starting line — and beautifully realized, with drop dead gorgeous art direction and a cast of equally stunning, daredevil dancers. While it may not be traditional drama (you are likely to catch only portions of Macbeth’s “story” which may frustrate the most literal minded), the event is a waking dream, a half-lost wandering suddenly interrupted by memorably intense imagery.

Given the unusual quality of the show, here are a few hints to heighten your experience…

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Let me introduce a star in the making. The critics are raving about her recent Off-Broadway work, she’s just two years out of Yale’s graduate acting program, and here she’s sitting down for a brief radio interview to promote her Broadway debut in the Brecht/Weill musical Happy End.

Oh, and her name is Meryl Streep.

I was thinking about Streep after she was announced as a 2011 Kennedy Center honoree last week and I stumbled across this audio from 1977. She sounds so fresh and, well, Meryl-like that it seems she might have sprung fully formed from the head of Sarah Bernhardt. When she quotes from a Jack Nicholson interview, you almost want to break the time/space continuum and whisper to her with a conspiratorial giggle, “Honey, hang on! You’re going to work with him, very, very soon.” And when she responds to a question about her training, I think she hits on an often overlooked key to her status as the “best film actress of her generation”: her understanding of and facility with diverse theatrical styles.

Image via Google.

Critics always talk about the accents, the details, her imagination, but how many other actresses working in film today are so keenly aware of playing to the back row when necessary?  You don’t perform Shakespeare the same way you perform Chekov. The tools required are different and Streep brings this idea, which we normally associate with the stage, to film acting. She seems aware that naturalism is no more correct or honest than any other acting choice; it’s simply that: a choice. (You may not always agree with the choice, but she makes it boldly and completely.)

Unfortunately, since her time at Yale and early New York stage roles, Streep has rarely returned to the boards save benefit readings and a few short stints in productions at the Public. It often feels like she’s the greatest theater actress that never does theater. Instead, she’s taken the stage with her to movie screens.

After the jump, watch her three decades later, attacking another Brecht piece, Mother Courage and Her Children, with clarity and, yes, a masterful sense of theatrical style.

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Image via Google.

You can put away that stud finder; they’re headed to Broadway.

Recent Tony-nominee (and Sutton Foster’s Broadway Baby) Bobby Cannavale (Motherf**cker with the Hat)has been cast as the dashing gambler Nick Arnstein in the upcoming revival of Funny Girl. He will be making his musical theater debut opposite Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under) in the first major remounting of the 1964 classic that made Streisand a star and “People” a hit song. Hmmm, Bobby Cannavale.  I think that’s some people I could need.

Still wanting more? How about Hugh Jackman, Back to Broadway? The world’s only action star/song and dance man will swoop in to New York for a limited run October 25 through January 1 at the Broadhurst Theater. According to the press release, the concert event will feature “a personal selection of his favorite musical numbers that reflect on the stage and film star’s remarkable life and career, from The Boy from Oz to Hollywood.”  Following the recent news that Jackman will be joined by Russell Crowe in the film version of Les Miserables, music theater is looking awfully hunky these days.

In case you’ve forgotten about Jackman’s music theater chops, take a look at this video from early in his career including footage from his turn in Beauty and the Beast. “As you see I’ve got biceps to spare!” Indeed…

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