Russell Crowe in "Rocky Horror". Image via YouTube.

Russell Crowe is one of hollywood’s great actors and has a reputation for being the quintessential man’s man. He’s been an Oscar-winner, a soulful gladiator , a gruff ship’s captain, and even a less-than-friendly hotel guest. But can you imagine him as a swivel-hipped undead rocker? How about a singing scientist in fishnet stockings? Well, you don’t have to imagine any longer.

Here he is appearing in a 1980′s Australian production of that all-time great omni-sexual, Halloweenie, monster mash musical, The Rocky Horror Show. Let’s see what it might tell us about his upcoming turn as Javert in the film version of Les Miserables…

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"Chinglish". Photo by Michael McCabe.

Buckle up!  The Fall rush of openings kicked off last night with the New York premiere of David Henry Hwang’s comedy of miscommunication Chinglish (check the New York Times review here). Angling to capitalize on holiday travelers, the next few weeks are packed solid with new Broadway shows taking their bow.

They’re gonna start coming fast and furious until the New Year’s lull, so get out your day planner and let’s take a closer look at what’s on the way:

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Thomas Schumacher Goes "Behind the Curtain". Image via American Theatre Wing.

If you blog about it, they will come. Or at least that’s how I feel today.

In the last week, I wrote about how much I love to see behind the curtain of a show in the making and I also talked about how Disney Theatricals President Thomas Schumacher is a savvy theater person. Well, what should pop into my in-box but an announcement from the American Theatre Wing (the Tony people) touting a new episode of their Working in the Theatre program that promises to go “behind the curtain” and hosted by Schumacher! Do you feel the tingles, too?!

The downloadable show is a hands-on look at the often unsung artists and technicians who make Broadway truly work: a Puppet Master, Make Up Supervisor, Wig Designer, Musician and Dresser. Schumacher is a congenial and witty host, asking the questions you want to ask. And if you recall the old “people sitting on folding chairs”, public access style of the series in past years (hosted by Isabelle Stevenson, bless her), this show signals an attempt to modernize the format. All in all, it turns out to be a must-see for real theater geeks.

(Full disclosure, I have a soft spot for the series.  I was on the panel once; watch that episode only if you’ve got time to kill and a good bottle of wine.)

Every fourth Wednesday of the 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, we’ve got the secret to getting your hands on cheap tickets to sold-out shows…

Hugh Jackman. Photo by Joan Marcus.

It seems that Hugh Jackman likes ‘em young.

The producers of Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway have announced a lottery system for last minute tickets to the show, but you’ll need to be a student to enter the drawing. Three hours before showtime, people with valid student ID can put their name into the hat at the Broadhurst Theater box office. Two hours before the show, an unspecified number of “winners” will get a pass for single tickets at $31 each (recipients must be present, subject to availability, etc.). The pass can then be exchanged for tickets no sooner than 30 minutes before curtain (ID must be shown again so don’t think about doing a trade). Got all that?

While it may seem like a lot of hoops to jump through just to ogle the boy from Oz, the policy is actually quite normal and is a great way to make a last ditch play for hard to get seats. Generally, “day of” Broadway tickets are available through one of three possible scenarios:

• Lottery: Like the policy above. Names go in a “hat” and everyone has an equal chance of getting seats. Luck be a lady tonight.

• Rush: A select number of discounted seats are made available when the box office opens each day. First come, first served so you’ll need to prepare to wait outside, deal with weather, and guess how early you want to show up to get near the front of the line (the more popular and younger-skewing the show, the earlier the line forms). Patience is a virtue.

• Standing Room: Doled out in a similar fashion to a rush policy, but seats are standing room (yeah, you figured out that part) and often distributed closer to curtain time when they know if they’ve sold out regular seats or not. No sell out, no standing room. And bring your comfy shoes because, if it’s a long show, you’re going to feel it.

Let’s take a look at the current Broadway top five grossers and see what their websites are saying, legalese and all (be sure to check with the box office just to be sure; policies do change):

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Photo by Carol Rosegg.

The delightfully profane musical parody Silence: The Musical returns to Off-Broadway tonight to begin an open-ended commercial run. The acclaimed little show that could moves to a new home at the 9th Space Theatre at PS 122 and features a fresh Hannibal Lecter with serious comedy and stage chops, David Garrison (Married With Children).

It’s official; we now have not one but two major music theater hits in New York city that feature a chorus of people singing the final frontier of obscenities, the one word that still seems to make people blanch (and I don’t mean Dubois), the c-word.  (The word is prominently featured in Silence‘s “If I Could Smell Her C***” and The Book of Mormon‘s “Hasa Diga” on the immortal line “F*** you, God, in the ass, mouth and c***”.) Welcome to the Golden Age of Potty Mouthed Music Theater.

I enjoyed both shows so no puritanical judgements here. In both cases, the audience knows what they’re getting into and, particularly with Mormon, there is a sweetness to the endeavors that makes the harsh language a vital part of the journey the characters must go on. It also got me thinking about the history of obscenities in music theater, that most scrubbed of American art forms…and I need your help, oh knowledgeable readers!

Stephen Sondheim famously wrote in his recent book Finishing the Hat that he had wanted to be the first lyricist to use the f-word in a song and had ended “Officer Krupke” from West Side Story with that expletive. It was ultimately changed to “Krup You” instead (a change Sondheim insists is better) when the producers worried it might make the cast album unreleasable.  But, if it wasn’t that show, then what WAS the first Broadway musical to feature the f-bomb in a lyric?

I’ve searched and racked my brain to try to locate it and can’t be certain. Spring Awakening certainly laid the gauntlet down by placing it in a song title. Rent featured it in a few songs, but the historical record (via Google) before that is murky. I’m counting on you, fearless readers, to help make this important contribution to the Broadway history books.  Send a comment to the blog that lists the show and song title you think dropped the f-bomb first.

And to inspire you, here’s an infamously obscenity laden clip from Hair. Needless to say, it is NSFW…

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The Broadway revival of "Chicago". Photo by Jeremy Daniel.

We’re kicking off a new series today! (Cue the confetti cannon…but don’t point it at me. The hair, you know…)

I love getting the chance to see behind-the-curtain of how a show comes together. The creation of a musical, in particular, is a maddening and marvelous thing, each piece carefully balanced against the next like an enormous, four-dimensional quilt. One song out of place, no matter how wonderful, can upset the feel of the whole work. So one of the best ways to learn why a show succeeds is to look at songs that didn’t make it into the “final” production. (It’s like going on a bad date; it helps you learn what you don’t want…and sometimes at least you get a good meal out of it.)

In that spirit, let’s take a listen to our first Prime Cut, “10 Percent”, a song snipped from the long-running smash Chicago during it’s out of town tryouts. It was sung by a character called “The Agent” whose role was similarly sliced. Here, the song is performed by the delightful David Hyde Pierce at a salute to John Kander…

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This week’s theater news is all about one word, one syllable, sounds like “cars”. Yep, it’s a round-up of big name stars:

• 

  Sam Rockwell plays Charades in 2009. Image via GoslingsRum.com.

  The Labyrinth Theater Company’s annual gala benefit takes the idea of playing a game of Celebrity to the ultimate level. On November 14, Kristen Wiig, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bobby Cannavale and more will take part in Celebrity Charades 2011: Down and Derby, a horse-race themed competition of mime and madness. Tickets aren’t cheap but it’s a chance to see seriously A-list stars (Julia Roberts played one year) acting anything but serious for a good cause.

• You don’t have to dream a dream that the film adaptation of Les Miserables is chock-full of Oscar bait. The previously announced Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe (plus director Tom Hooper of The King’s Speech) will now be joined by Anne Hathaway as the doomed prostitute (and belter) Fantine. I personally see Hathaway as more of a Cosette but it’s great that they’re hiring folks who can sing.

• Not to be outdone, Relatively Speaking, an evening of humorous one-acts, opened last night with a marquee full of big names…though mainly in the “written by” column. The three short pieces come from the keyboards of Ethan Coen (four Oscars), the legendary Elaine May (two Oscar nominations) and Woody Allen (um…Woody Allen!).

• Do you want a truly mammoth star? The Victoria Minister for Tourism and Major Events announced that Melbourne, Australia will host the world premiere of King Kong, a musical adaptation of the legendary film. Aiming for a 2013 launch, the creative team includes Tony nominee Craig Lucas (Light in the Piazza) and Grammy nominee Marius de Vries (Romeo + Juliet). I do wonder, now that it’s a singing/dancing extravaganza, if they will they change the final line to “It was beauty killed the beat.”

"Peter and the Starcatcher" at NYTW. Photo by Joan Marcus.

Yesterday, producers announced a Spring 2012 Broadway transfer for the New York Theatre Workshop hit Peter and the Starcatcher, a prequel of sorts to Peter Pan, featuring imaginatively minimalist staging from directors Alex Timbers and Roger Rees. Tucked at the end of the announcement, well below mentions of the production’s stellar Off-Broadway reviews and the artistic bonafides of the collaborators, is a familiar name that usually gets top billing: Disney Theatrical Productions.

Similarly, the recent run of Newsies at Paper Mill Playhouse was a low-pressure test of a Disney property. The production has paid off in a show that, while originally aimed to create a licensable script, seems likely to make a Broadway transfer after glowing reviews and a real sense of surprise. A comparatively small-scale version of Aladdin in Seattle is also building buzz as a regional hit. In each case, the DTP team has gathered interesting artists and created conditions that appear to put the show first and a march to Broadway second.

Are the days of swing for the fences, Broadway or bust, big budget style Disney stage adaptations a thing of the past? Is this Disney on Broadway 2.0? From the outside, it’s hard to know; this could be a new developmental model born of economic changes or just a coincidence of timing and less iconic titles. Blockbusters Mary Poppins and The Lion King are still packing in big Broadway houses, in both cases big hits built on adventurous choices like the hiring of less-mainstream directors Julie Taymor and Matthew Bourne. The central figure of DTP, Thomas Schumacher, has always been a savvy theater artist and a supporter of new works and new artists. Whatever the case, it’s fun to see this large corporation embracing a scrappier, in the trenches style to create interesting theater. And more, interesting theater is never a bad thing.

In case you missed Peter and the Starcatcher‘s all-too brief run at New York Theatre Workshop (the entire creative team is continuing on for the Broadway version), here’s a video trailer from that production…

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Every third Wednesday, a fabulous actor/singer/dancer will fill out my nosey little questionnaire and offer a glimpse of what they look like from a bit closer than the mezzanine. For October, you don’t have to come to New York to see our theater buff; he’s coming to see you!

Photo by Xanthe Elbrick.

Name: Alfie Parker, Jr.

Hometown: State College, PA

Current Show/Role: Memphis First National Tour / Beale Street Ensemble

The best part of the show I’m in now is: Seeing the way people feel after they’ve seen the show.

The most challenging job in show business I ever had was: Well, who doesn’t have Disney World horror stories? But I think it would have been when I was ushering at the summer show NickToons Summer Jam at Kings Dominion and knew that I could dance just as well as the kids on stage.

If I wasn’t an actor, I would be: Ah, well, whatever God had given me the talent and gift for. But most likely something with people.

Cape, Mask or Spandex? Cape all the way! (I’ve even bought the pattern and made my own before.)

The one luxury I’m taking on the road with me is: I don’t think Luxury is a word I could even put there, but I had to bring my stuffed animal Appa (the flying bison from Avatar: The Last Airbender.)

The city I’m most looking forward to visiting on tour is: Toronto, never been there!

If I could add one city to this tour, anywhere in the world, it would be: London! Never been there either, or somewhere in Australia (I’m exotic over there! hehehehe)

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Charles Busch as Katharine Hepburn. Photo by Peter Hurley.

Charles Busch, the genius behind camp masterpieces like Psycho Beach Party and The Divine Sister (as well as one tough dame with a gorgeous set of gams), is taking on the role of lifetime ; he’ll be playing the indomitable screen legend Katharine Hepburn in a one-night-only staged reading of Matthew Lombardo‘s one “woman” show Tea at Five. If that combo (and the image to the left) aren’t enough to get you to buy tickets right now, I don’t know what will. Busch is a master of Hollywood stylization, balancing humor and heart on a pair of sexy but sensible heals, so this should be pure theatrical heaven.

All right, how about toss in the fact that this is a benefit for the incredible Ali Forney Center, the New York City shelter for homeless LGBT youth? Yeah, I thought that might do the trick.

Showtime is 7pm on Monday, November 28 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre but tickets are on sale now. So don’t be an old poop; grab a seat and catch a show that is sure to be a once in a lifetime event.