FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY EDITION DANCEBLAST!
It’s time for a long holiday weekend and a chance to kick back and enjoy the summer. If you’re looking for a good read, be sure to check out the Answers4dancers Blog filled with many of the featured stories of 2022.
We have a lot to celebrate. The month of June had the most auditions posted on our Auditions Calendar since before the industry shutdown. The mask mandate has been lifted for Broadway audiences. The industry is getting stronger each month and for that, we are grateful.
Stay safe and have fun everyone!
GREAT STORIES ON THE ANSWERS4DANCERS BLOG >
|
|
|
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE: A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD & TWO MORE DANCERS GO HOME
 It was a new week and the unveiling of new partnerships on SYTYCD. The night’s theme was A Trip Around the World. The episode kicked off with Carter & Anna serving up a Salsa routine for Cuba. It was choreographed by Jonathan and Oksana Platero. Next up, Waverly & Essence danced a Bollywood number for India. It was choreographed by Achinta McDaniel. Following them, Beau & Jordan served up a Viennese Waltz performance for Austria. It was choreographed by Dancing With The Stars pros Sasha Farber and Emma Slater. We learned that Jordan had been sick and could was unable to rehearse, so Season 14 Finalist, Koine Iwasaki stepped in as Beau’s partner in rehearsals. The day before the live show, Jordan had just 3 hours to learn the dance and she was spectacular wearing a stunning red gown. It was her best performance. Then Keaton & Ralyn rocked an African Jazz number choreographed by Sean Cheesman. The costumes and makeup really added to their dance. The final performance was a Broadway routine for the USA. It was performed by Thiago & Alexis and Al Blackstone choreographed it. The number even had a staircase. It was an incredible performance and technically impressive. Then, the audience voted for their favorite and the four dancers in danger were announced. They were Thiago, Jordan, Carter, and Alexis. The judges saved two dancers, and they chose Carter and Alexis. That meant Jordan and Thiago got eliminated. For the second week in a row, dancers with strong performances were sent home. This begs the question: Did the judging criteria change for Season 17? Is the only feedback from the judges, ‘you need to connect more’ and quality and technical excellence is seemingly not taken into account? It’s great to have the show back on the air, but this fan is missing Nigel and Mary at the Judges’ Table.
OLIVIER-WINNING BACK TO THE FUTURE MUSICAL TO ARRIVE ON BROADWAY FOR 2023 SEASON
 Back to the Future, the new musical based on Robert Zemeckis’ hit 1985 movie, will officially arrive on Broadway in 2023. The musical follows the story of Marty McFly, a teenager who’s accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown. The West End premiere stars Olly Dobson as Marty McFly, originally portrayed by Michael J. Fox. Tony Award winner Roger Bart plays Emmett ‘Doc’ Brown, originally portrayed by Christopher Lloyd. The staging won the 2022 Olivier Award for Best New Musical and received nominations for Best Original Score, Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design, and for Dobson as well as Hugh Coles’ performance as George McFly. Back to the Future, directed by Tony winner John Rando, features a book by Bob Gale and new music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy winner Alan Silvestri (who scored many of Zemeckis’ films), and Grammy winner Glen Ballard with additional songs from the film including The Power of Love and Johnny B. Goode.
|
|
NICOLE KIDMAN, JAVIER BARDEM & MORE JOIN RACHEL ZEGLER IN SPELLBOUND MOVIE MUSICAL
 More talent has joined West Side Story and Snow White-bound star Rachel Zegler in the animated movie musical Spellbound. Directed by Vicky Jenson and written by Lauren Hynek, Elizabeth Martin, and Linda Woolverton, Spellbound features an original score by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Academy Award winners and Being the Ricardos co-stars Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem will reunite as the parents of Princess Ellian, who will be voiced by Zegler. Kidman will be voicing the role of Ellsmere, the Queen of Lumbria. Bardem will voice Solon, the boastful yet big-hearted King. They join their daughter on her daring quest to save her family and kingdom after a mysterious spell transforms them into monsters and threatens to cover Lumbria in darkness forever. The voice cast also includes Tony winners André De Shields, Nathan Lane, and John Lithgow as well as Broadway alums Jordan Fisher and Jenifer Lewis.
CHICAGO CELEBRATED 10,000 PERFORMANCES ON BROADWAY MILESTONE
 June 25th marked the 10,000th official performance of Chicago on Broadway. The Tony Award-winning, record-breaking hit musical Chicago is now playing at New York’s Ambassador Theatre (219 W. 49th St., NYC). With a legendary book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, music by John Kander, and lyrics by Fred Ebb, Chicago is now the #1 longest-running American musical in Broadway history. Set amidst the razzle-dazzle decadence of the 1920s, Chicago is the story of Roxie Hart, a housewife and nightclub dancer who murders her on-the-side lover after he threatens to walk out on her. Desperate to avoid conviction, she dupes the public, the media, and her rival cellmate, Velma Kelly, by hiring Chicago’s slickest criminal lawyer to transform her malicious crime into a barrage of sensational headlines.
BROADWAY STARS SET FOR WORLD PREMIERE OF NEW MUSICAL THE LAST SUPPER
Many stage stars are set to appear in the world premiere production of The Last Supper, a new musical based on the 1995 film of the same name. Charlotte d’Amboise, Mark Evans, and Alex Newell lead the cast, which also features Pomme Koch, Megan Kane, Allan K. Washington, Wes Zurick, Josh Canfield, Jennifer Frankel, and Alan Wiggins. With book, music, and lyrics by Jeremy Desmon and Jeff Thomson, The Last Supper is about five liberal grad students sharing a house in a conservative college town who, in their efforts to save the world, host a collection of their neighbors for a friendly evening of dinner and discourse where things do not go well. Sheryl Kaller directs the production with choreography by Lorin Latarro. The Last Supper will premiere at South Orange Performing Arts Center on July 27 and run through August 7.
According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, Americans spend more than $1 billion on fireworks each year. Only 10% of firework displays are set off professionally, which most likely accounts for the estimated 12,900 firework-related emergency room visits across the country each year… The first 4th of July fireworks show took place in Philadelphia in 1777. Fireworks, canons, and bells all went off to honor the 13 original states. Fireworks date back as a tradition of Independence Day as early as the first anniversary in 1777…
FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR MARY POPPINS AT THE MUNY
 The Muny announced its full cast for the theatre’s production of Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins, July 5 -13. Joining the principal cast of Jeanna de Waal (Mary Poppins), Corbin Bleu (Bert), Nehal Joshi (George Banks), Darlesia Cearcy (Bird Woman), Gabe Cytron (Michael Banks), and Laila Fantroy (Jane Banks) are Erin Davie (Winifred Banks). Rounding out the company are Taylor Marie Daniel, Matthew Davies, Joel Douglas, Francine Espiritu, Duane Martin Foster, Kaitlyn Frank, Anna Gassett, Alyssa Giannetti, Brett-Marco Glauser, Lynn Humphrey, Bryan Thomas Hunt, Abigail Isom, Maggie Kuntz, Ryan Lambert, Devin Neilson, Rich Pisarkiewicz, Michael James Reed, Michael Santomassimo, Dave Schoonover, Kelly Sheehan, Wesley Slade, Nathaniel Washington and Erin Wilson. Mary Poppins is directed by John Tartaglia, choreographed by Patrick O'Neill, with music direction by Brad Haak.
BANDARAS & LLOYD WEBBER FORM NEW COMPANY TO PRODUCE SPANISH LANGUAGE THEATER
 Antonio Banderas and Andrew Lloyd Webber have teamed up to create Amigos Para Siempre, a new production company for creating Spanish-language theater, musicals, and live shows. Through Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group, the joint venture will have stage rights to Spanish language versions of Lloyd Webber’s musicals, including The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard, Starlight Express, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cinderella, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and School of Rock. Banderas directed and starred in A Chorus Line, the company’s debut Spanish language production, and directed and starred in his second Spanish language production of Company. He received a 2003 Tony nomination for his Broadway debut in Nine. The song Amigos Para Siempre is the inspiration for the company name. It was written by Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Don Black, for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
GUY RITCHIE TO DIRECT LIVE-ACTION HERCULES FILM
 The live-action Hercules film will be directed by Guy Ritchie, who helmed Disney’s live-action Aladdin in 2019. Dave Callaham, the scribe behind The Expendables, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2, and Wonder Woman 1984, will write the script with Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo serving as producers. Ritchie’s other films include Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, and The Gentlemen. Disney’s 1997 animated film featured the voices of Tate Donovan and Josh Keaton as Hercules, James Woods as Hades, Danny DeVito as Philoctetes/Phil, and Susan Egan as Megara. Tony winner Roger Bart provided Hercules’ singing voice. Tony winners Lillias White and LaChanze lent their voices as the Muses in the 1997 film.
According to the National Sausage and Hot Dog Council (NHDSC), Americans will eat 150 million hot dogs over the July 4th holiday. This is part of an estimated 7 billion that are expected to be eaten during the summer season from Memorial Day to Labor Day… Charles Thompson and the infamous John Hancock were the only two who actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The other 54 delegates signed over the next month…
|
|
|
|
