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Rob Ashford
Rob Ashford (born November 19, 1959) is an American stage director and choreographer. He is a Tony Award, Olivier Award, Emmy Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award winner. Early life and education Born in Orlando, Florida and raised in Beckley, West Virginia, Ashford attended Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in the pre-law program, graduating in 1982. He became interested in theatre with his work in the theatre department, and went on to study dance at Pittsburgh's Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts, graduating in 1983. He performed in the Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh theatre scene while in college, appearing with such companies as Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. After graduation, Ashford moved to New York City, where he shared an apartment with friend and fellow choreographer Kathleen Marshall. Career Broadway and Off-Broadway As a dancer, Ashford made his Broadway debut in the 1987 Lincoln Center revival of ''Anything ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa, Florida, Tampa and the state's most populous inland city. Part of Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2.67 million in 2020. It is the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the Southern United States and the third-largest metropolitan area in Florida behind Miami metropolitan area, Miami and Tampa Bay area, Tampa Bay. Orlando is one of the most-visited cities in the world primarily due to tourism, major events, and convention traffic. It is the fourth-most visited city in the U.S. after New York City, Miami, and Los Angeles, with over 3.5 million visitors as of 2023. Orlando International Airport is the List of the busiest airports in the United Stat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Victor/Victoria (musical)
''Victor/Victoria'' is a musical with a book by Blake Edwards, music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and additional musical material (music and lyrics) by Frank Wildhorn. It is based on the 1982 film of the same name, which was a remake of the German film comedy '' Viktor und Viktoria'' shot by Reinhold Schünzel in 1933 from his own script. Mancini died before he could complete the music, and Wildhorn was brought in to finish the score. The original 1995 Broadway production created mild controversy when actress Julie Andrews, feeling that the rest of the show had been overlooked, declined her (and the show's only) Tony Award nomination. Synopsis Act 1 Carroll "Toddy" Todd is tenuously employed as the resident performer at Henri Labisse's Left Bank gay club, Chez Lui. Toddy and Les Boys entertain the small but appreciative audience (''Paris By Night''). Toddy insults a group of customers which includes his ex-boyfriend Richard. Labisse threatens to fire him. A penni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Promises, Promises (musical)
''Promises, Promises'' is a musical with music by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David and a book by Neil Simon. It is based on the 1960 film '' The Apartment'', written by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond. The story concerns a junior executive at an insurance company who seeks to climb the corporate ladder by allowing his apartment to be used by his married superiors for trysts. The musical premiered in 1968 on Broadway with choreography by Michael Bennett and direction by Robert Moore. It starred Jerry Orbach as Chuck Baxter and Jill O'Hara as Fran Kubelik. It closed after 1,281 performances. A West End production opened in 1969 featuring Tony Roberts and Betty Buckley. The cast album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and two songs from the show (the title tune and " I'll Never Fall in Love Again") became hit singles for Dionne Warwick. Productions Broadway (1968–1972) After a tryout at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evita (musical)
''Evita'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Politics of Argentina, Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and death. The musical began as a Evita (album), rock opera concept album released in 1976. Its success led to productions in London's West End theatre, West End in 1978, winning the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and on Broadway theatre, Broadway a year later, where it was the first British musical to receive the Tony Award for Best Musical. This has been followed by a string of professional tours and worldwide productions and numerous cast albums, as well as a Evita (1996 film), 1996 film adaptation. The musical was revived in London's West End in 2006, 2014, 2017, and 2025, and on Broadway in 2012. Synopsis Act I On 26 July 1952, a crowd in a Buenos Aires, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curtains (musical)
''Curtains'' is a musical mystery comedy with a book by Rupert Holmes, lyrics by Fred Ebb, and music by John Kander, with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes. Based on the original book and concept of the same name by Peter Stone, the musical is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots. Set in 1959 Boston, Massachusetts, it follows the fallout when Jessica Cranshaw, the supremely untalented star of ''Robbin' Hood of the Old West'' is murdered during her opening night curtain call. It is up to Lt. Frank Cioffi, a police detective who moonlights as a musical theatre fan, to save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself. Cioffi also dreams of being in musical theatre. The show opened on Broadway to mixed reviews, though several critics praised the libretto and the character of Lieutenant Cioffi, who critic Ben Brantley called "the best damn musical theatre character since Mama Rose in ''Gypsy'', and the best rol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wedding Singer (musical)
''The Wedding Singer'' is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy. It is based on the 1998 film of the same name. The musical revolves around Robbie, who sings at weddings, his failed relationship with his former fiancée, and his romance with a new love, Julia. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2006 and had several US tours starting in 2007. It was nominated for the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical. It subsequently has had many international productions. Synopsis Act 1 Robbie Hart, a wedding singer, lives with his Grandma Rosie in Ridgefield, New Jersey. He and his band play a great wedding gig ("It’s Your Wedding Day"). During his usual "warm-up-the-crowd routine," Robbie proudly announces that he will be married to his beloved fiancée Linda the next day. At the wedding gig, Robbie meets a waitress named Julia Sullivan, who can't wait to get married ("Someday"). Afterward, Robbie tries to write a sweet (e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Airlines Theatre
The Todd Haimes Theatre (previously known as the American Airlines Theatre and originally the Selwyn Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 227 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1918, it was designed by George Keister and developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn, for whom the theater was originally named. The theater is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street. It has 740 seats across two levels and is operated by Roundabout Theatre Company. The Selwyn Theatre was designed in the Italian Renaissance style, with a brick-and-terracotta facade. The auditorium, which is on 43rd Street, had been accessed from the six-story Selwyn Building on 42nd Street, which collapsed at the end of 1997. The modern theater is accessed through the ten-story New 42nd Street Building, which has an illuminated steel-and-glass facade. The fan-shaped auditorium is designed in a blue-a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Boys From Syracuse
''The Boys from Syracuse'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, based on William Shakespeare's play '' The Comedy of Errors'', as adapted by librettist George Abbott. The score includes swing and other contemporary rhythms of the 1930s. The show was the first musical based on a Shakespeare play. ''The Comedy of Errors'' was itself loosely based on a Roman play, ''The Menaechmi, or the Twin Brothers'', by Plautus. The show premiered on Broadway in 1938 and Off-Broadway in 1963, with later productions including a West End run in 1963 and in a Broadway revival in 2002. A film adaptation was released in 1940. Well-known songs from the score include " Falling in Love with Love", " This Can't Be Love" and " Sing for Your Supper". Production history Abbott directed and George Balanchine choreographed the original production, which opened on Broadway at the Alvin Theater on November 23, 1938, after tryouts in New Haven, Connecticut and Boston ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roundabout Theatre
The Roundabout Theatre Company is a non-profit theatre company based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. History The company was founded in 1965 by Gene Feist, Michael Fried and Elizabeth Owens. Originally housed at a Chelsea, Manhattan, grocery store, on 26th Street, it moved to the nearby 23rd Street Theatre in 1972, performing there until their lease expired in 1984. Following that, Roundabout leased the theatre space at 44 Union Square until that lease expired in 1990. The company then moved into the Criterion Center in Times Square, a two-auditorium complex. Roundabout used the larger Stage Right space as a small Tony Award-eligible theater while the smaller second theater became the first version of the Laura Pels Theatre. Notable productions during Roundabout's tenure at the Criterion include the 1993 revival of Eugene O'Neill's ''Anna Christie'' (featuring Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in their Broadway debuts), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thoroughly Modern Millie
''Thoroughly Modern Millie'' is a 1967 American musical romantic comedy film directed by George Roy Hill and starring Julie Andrews. The screenplay by Richard Morris, based on the 1956 British musical ''Chrysanthemum'', follows a naïve young woman who finds herself in a series of madcap adventures when she sets her sights on marrying her wealthy boss. The film also stars Mary Tyler Moore, Carol Channing, James Fox, John Gavin, and Beatrice Lillie. The soundtrack interpolates new songs by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn ("Thoroughly Modern Millie", "The Tapioca"), and Jay Thompson ("Jimmy") with standard songs from the 1910s and 1920s, including " Baby Face" and " Jazz Baby". For use of the latter, the producers had to acquire the rights from General Mills, which had used the melody with various lyrics to promote Wheaties for more than 40 years. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards. It became the eighth highest-grossing film of 196 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seussical
''Seussical'', sometimes ''Seussical the Musical'', is a musical comedy with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, and written by Ahrens and Flaherty. The musical is inspired by many of the children's stories of Dr. Seuss, with most of its plot being based on ''Horton Hears a Who!'', '' Gertrude McFuzz'', and '' Horton Hatches the Egg'' while incorporating many other stories. The musical's name is a portmanteau of "Seuss" and the word "musical".Geisel actually pronounced his middle name "Seuss" as "soice", but its common mispronunciation "soos" rhymes with the first syllable of "musical". Following its Broadway debut in 2000, the show was widely panned by critics, and closed in 2001 with huge financial losses. It has spawned two US national tours and a West End production, and has become a frequent production for schools and regional theaters. Plot ''This synopsis describes the tour version of the show, currently being licensed as "Seussical the Musical" by Music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiss Me, Kate
''Kiss Me, Kate'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and a book by Bella and Samuel Spewack. The story involves the production of a musical version of William Shakespeare's ''The Taming of the Shrew'' and the conflict on and off-stage between Fred Graham, the show's director, producer, and star, and his leading lady, his ex-wife Lilli Vanessi. A secondary romance concerns Lois Lane, the actress playing Bianca, and her gambler boyfriend, Bill, who runs afoul of some gangsters. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. ''Kiss Me, Kate'' was Porter's response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Oklahoma!'' and other integrated musicals; it was the first show he wrote in which the music and lyrics were firmly connected to the script. The musical premiered in 1948 and proved to be Porter's only show to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. In 1949, it won the first Tony Award for Best Musical. Conception P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
