Wow, what an opening! By the way, I’m going to try to live-blog this…stay tuned as the show continues, and I continue to update this post.
Stockard Channing! Rizzo forever! She’s amazing, as always.
Shrek looks interesting, indeed. I love the Duloc “toy” dancers. I wish they’d have done a song that fully featured Sutton Foster — love her!
Angela Lansbury SO deserved the Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play — and she’s got 5 Tonys now!
Yay! I love me some Dancing Queen!
*sigh* I love West Side Story. …

The “preview event” pilot episode of the new Fox musical series, “Glee,” premieres tonight from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
“Glee” tells the story of a high school glee club, with Matthew Morrison starring as the eager music teacher. Other musical theatre stars will be appearing, including Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, “Pushing Daisies”), Victor Garber, Deb Monk, Lea Michele (Spring Awakening), John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys), Jessalyn Gilsig (”Heroes”), Jayma Mays (”Heroes”), Stephen Tobolowsky (”Heroes”), and more.
According to Fox press notes:
Cast performances of “Rehab” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” will be available for purchase on …

The nominees for the American Theatre Wing’s 63rd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards were announced this morning (May 5) by Tony Award winners Cynthia Nixon (Rabbit Hole) and Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights).
The Tony Awards are the most prestigious awards in the theatre world. Who do YOU think will win?
(The Tony nominations ceremony can be viewed at the Tony Awards website.)
The nominations took place at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center in New York.
The 2009 Tony Awards will …

The three young men who alternate in the title roll of Billy Elliot, from Billy Elliot the Musical, will be appearing on CBS’ “The Early Show,” Tuesday, May 5, sometime between the hours of 7-9 a.m. (Eastern and Central).
Kiril Kulish, David Alvarez and Trent Kowalik alternate in the roll, but will perform side by side in the one of the show’s impressive song dance numbers, “Electricity.”
Who: Kiril Kulish, David Alvarez and Trent Kowalik, the three boys from Broadway’s Billy Elliot the Musical
What: Performance of “Electricity” from Billy Elliot the Musical …

The revival of the 1960’s musical Hair recently returned to Broadway, opening March 31 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. Tonight the cast of Hair will recreate a historic and iconic moment as they perform at the Ed Sullivan Theater on “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
Why so historical? The original Broadway cast of Hair performed at the Ed Sullivan Theater 40 years ago, on March 30, 1969, with variety show host himself, Ed Sullivan.
The original cast performed a medley of the show’s opening and closing songs, “Aquarius” and “Let the …

As you may have guessed, Musical Reviewer has been on a bit of an unintentional hiatus, but it looks like we’re back! We’ll also be adding a few new review pages for the shows that have opened recently.
Stay tuned for the latest in musical news!

The latest Broadway revival of West Side Story opens tonight (March 19), at 6:30 p.m. at the Palace Theatre.
Arthur Laurents, who wrote the Tony-winning libretto, is directing this revival, which has been playing preview performances since February 23.
According to Laurents, “This show will be radically different from any other production of West Side Story ever done. The musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now they actually …

Broadway theaters will pay tribute to Natasha Richardson this evening. The lighted theater marquees will be dimmed at 8:00 p.m., and will stay dimmed for one minute. Why 8:00 p.m.? That is the traditional starting time for Broadway’s evening performances.
Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, said
The Broadway community is shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our finest young actresses, Natasha Richardson. Her theatrical lineage is legendary, but her own singular talent shined memorably on any stage she appeared. On Broadway, her brilliant …

It is with deep sadness and regret that we at Musical Reviewer must inform you that stage and screen actress Natasha Richardson has died.
Liam Neeson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, announced Richardson’s death at approximately 7:00PM New York time, Wednesday, March 18:
Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.
Richardson, 45, was critically injured during a beginner’s skiing lesson at …

UPDATE: Natasha Richardson has died.
In an update to yesterday’s Musical Reviewer post, Journalist Liz Smith has reported the following:
Word is in at 1:30 PM WEDNESDAY they have taken Natasha off of life support. This is not unexpected. Insiders felt yesterday, on learning they were flying Natasha in to Lenox Hill, that this meant her condition was hopeless and they were just finding a place to be together with her and to say good-bye. As one insider remarked:”Nobody goes to Lenox Hill who is really sick; if she’d had a chance …