Auli’i Cravalho to Make Broadway Debut as a New Lead in “Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club”

Posted on July 24, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Auli’i Cravalho will be spending her nights at the Kit-Kat Club.

The 23-year-old part-Puerto Rican actress/singer, who rose to acclaim as the lead of the voice cast of Disney’s Moana, and American Idol alum Adam Lambert will step in the respective roles of Sally Bowles and Emcee in Broadway‘s Cabaret revival on September 16.

Their limited engagement runs through March 30.

Gayle Rankin and Eddie Redmayne will give their final performances as Bowles and Emcee in the Tony-nominated Kander-and-Ebb musical two nights earlier.

“I’m thrilled to join the long line of talented women who have taken on the iconic Sally Bowles,’ most recently, the woman I watched with notebook and pen in hand, the dynamite Gayle Rankin,” said Cravalho in a statement. “To join a show with so much history—and such a stellar cast and crew—means it’s quite literally an honor to get my butt kicked each week.”

Lambert added, “Growing up on the musical theater stage, it was always a childhood dream to perform on Broadway. With this production of Cabaret, it finally felt like the right time to accept an invitation to make my debut. The themes of this show have always resonated with me and given the current sociopolitical climate the world is in, feel eerily timely.”

Officially titled Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club, the show moved to Broadway in April from London’s West End, where it dominated the 2022 Olivier Awards. It went on to score nine Tony nominations including Best Revival of a Musical, later winning for Tom Scutt’s scenic design.

The current Cabaret cast also includes Bebe Neuwirth, Ato Blankson-Wood, Steven Skybell, Henry Gottfried and Natascia Diaz.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Freestyle Love Supreme” to Receive Special Tony Award

Posted on June 24, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is receiving some extra Love…

A special Tony Award will be presented in September to Freestyle Love Supreme, the Broadway show about the hip-hop improv troupe founded by the 41-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and playwright, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale,

Special Tony Awards are presented to outstanding productions, artists and organizations who do not fall into any of the competitive categories.

In a joint statement, Heather Hitchens, CEO and President of the American Theatre Wing and Charlotte St. Martin, President of The Broadway League, said that the Freestyle Love Supreme “take(s) theatre to the next level, delivering outside-of-the-box presentations that have gone beyond the stage and brought theatre into the homes of millions of people around the world.”

Freestyle Love Supreme was developed in the basement of The Drama Bookshop in 2004 and slowly worked its way to Broadway’s Booth Theatre in 2019.

Directed by Kail, the acclaimed show features a comedic improvisational musical structure, and a rotating cast.

Freestyle Love Supreme will return to Broadway for a strictly limited engagement at the Booth on Thursday, October 7 through Sunday, January 2, 2022.

The 74th Annual Tony Awards, presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, will be a two-hour, streaming-only ceremony on Sunday, September 26, available on ViacomCBS’ Paramount+ platform and followed immediately by a special two-hour CBS broadcast special called The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!

Daphne Rubin-Vega to Appear on the CW’s Upcoming “Riverdale” Off-Shoot “Katy Keene”

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Daphne Rubin-Vega has landed the mother of a role…

The 49-year-old Panamanian actress, singer and dancerwill appear in a major recurring role on the CW’s upcoming Riverdale off-shoot Katy Keene.

Rubin-Vega, the original Mimi in both the Off Broadway and Broadway landmark productions of Rentand coming off the Lin Manuel/Warner Bros. feature In The Heights, will play Luisa, the mother of a central character, Katy’s roomie Jorge/Ginger. She’s described as adoting mother, a former Rockette and now owner, with her husband Luis, of a bodega in Washington Heights. She supports her son Jorge’s ambitions to make it on Broadway, but doesn’t know about his drag alter ego, Ginger.

The Jorge/Ginger character, played by Jonny Beauchamp, is a central figure on the series and one of at least two characters expected to perform musical numbers on every episode.

In the Katy Keeneseries pilot, recently screened at the Tribeca TV Festival, Jorge is a Broadway hopeful by day and, as Ginger, a drag performer by night. When his Broadway dreams begin to fizzle – he is, he says, “too gay for Broadway” – he’s encouraged by Katy to make the audition rounds not as Jorge but as Ginger.

Katy Keeneis expected to debut during the CW’s winter/spring 2020 midseason.

Rubin-Vega was Tony-nominated in 1996 for originating on Broadway the lead female role of Mimi in Jonathan Larson’s Rent, which she’d debuted earlier that year Off Broadway to great acclaim. The actress received another Tony nomination in 2004 as featured actress in a play for Anna In The Tropics.

Her more recent credits include Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire opposite Blair Underwood, NBC’s Smash and Netflix’s Tales Of The City. Ruben-Vega was among the original Rentperformers who made an end-of-show appearance on Fox’s Rent: Live last January.

Ryan Vasquez to Star in Ross Golan’s Musical “The Wrong Man”

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Ryan Vasquez is in the Wrong…

The Latino actor/singer has been cast in the world premiere in New York this September of multi-platinum songwriter Ross Golan’s musical The Wrong Man.

Vasquez will star opposite Tony-nominee Joshua Henry and Ciara Renéein the musical.

The Wrong Man is set in Reno, Nevada, and tells the story of Duran, a man just scraping by, who is accused of a murder he says he didn’t commit.

Golan’s first stage musical was initially conceived as an acoustic solo piece, but over a decade has grown to include a full-length concept album and an animated film.

Previews begin on Wednesday, September 18, with an opening night of October 7, at the Off Broadway MCC Theater.

Golan (book, music, lyrics) has written massive hits for a massive roster of artists including Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Lady Antebellum, Michael Bublé, Selena Gomez, Keith Urban, Ariana Grande, Flo Rida, One Direction, Idina Menzel, Nelly, Demi Lovato, Jason Derulo, Meghan Trainor, Cee Lo Green, 5 Seconds of Summer, Prince Royce, Snoop Dogg, Gavin DeGraw, Colbie Caillat, Andy Grammer, James Blunt, Big Sean and Travis Barker.

Vasquez has appeared on Broadwayin Hamilton, Waitress and Wicked, and on television in The Good Fight, Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Code.

Bobby Cannavale to Star in Simon Stone’s Contemporary Rewrite of Euripides’ Tragedy “Medea”

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Bobby Cannavale is preparing for a tragedy…

The 49-year-old half-Cuban American actor will star opposite Rose Byrne in Simon Stone’s contemporary rewrite of the Euripides’ tragedy Medea at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in January.

Originally staged in 2014 by Amsterdam’s International Theater Amsterdam(formerly Toneelgroep Amsterdam), Medea will pair real-life couple Byrne and Cannavale, with additional cast to be announced.

Stone’s adaptation of the Medea story uses the true-life crime case of American Debora Green, who poisoned her cheating husband and killed two of her three children in 1995. The adaptation played London’s Barbicanin 2019, where it starred Marieke Heebink and Aus Greidanus Jr.

Cannavale was seen on Broadway last fall in The Lifespan of a Fact, co-starring Daniel Radcliffe and Cherry Jones. His many stage credits include the Tony-nominated Mauritius, The Motherf*cker With The Hat, The Hairy Ape, Glengarry Glen Ross, Hurly Burly, and others.

He’s a member of the Labyrinth Theater Company. His upcoming films include The Irishman, Superintelligence, and Motherless Brooklyn.

“I’m excited to welcome writer/director Simon Stone following his enormous success with Yerma,” said BAM artistic director David Binder, “and look forward to having the incredible actors Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale in lead roles on our stage.”

Medea will be produced in Brooklyn by International Theater Amsterdam, BAM, and David Lan, who will serve as BAM’s Theater Associate.

Lin-Manuel Miranda to Perform at This Year’s Tony Awards

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is making his triumphant return to the Tony Awards…

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican composer, playwright, actor and singer will perform on Sunday’s Tonycast, almost one year after his hit Broadway musical Hamilton swept the awards.

The casts of Bandstand, Come From Away, Dear Evan Hansen, Falsettos, Groundhog Day The Musical, Hello, Dolly!, Miss Saigon, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and War Paint will perform during 71st Annual Tony Awards, which CBS will broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall from 8:00 to 11:00 PM.

There’s still no word on what Miranda will perform.

There will be additional performances by The Radio City Rockettes and Tony Award winners Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton).

There will be additional appearances by Scott Bakula, Sara Bareilles, Orlando Bloom, Rachel Bloom, Glenn Close, Stephen Colbert, Brian d’Arcy James, Cynthia Erivo, Tina Fey, Sutton Foster, Josh Gad, Whoopi Goldberg, Jonathan Groff, Mark Hamill, Taraji P. Henson, Christopher Jackson, Allison Janney, Scarlett Johansson, Anna Kendrick, Keegan-Michael Key, Nick Kroll, John Legend, John Lithgow, Patina Miller, John Mulaney, David Oyelowo, Chazz Palminteri, Sarah Paulson, Lea Salonga, Tom Sturridge, Tommy Tune, Olivia Wilde, and 2017 Tony nominees Sally Field, Josh Groban, Bette Midler and Ben Platt.

Although Midler will appear as a presenter in one of the acting categories, she is not scheduled to participate in the Hello, Dolly! segment, which will be led by co-star Hyde Pierce. The blockbuster production’s offer to present the title song, or another of Dolly’s show-stoppers, live via remote from the Shubert Theatre was declined by the Tony producers.

The ceremony will be hosted by Tony and Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey.

The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

Miranda’s “Hamilton” to Play at LA’s Pantages Theater in 2017

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is taking his hit Broadway musical out west…

Hamilton, the 36-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, librettist, rapper, and actor’s rap-infused musical about the American Revolution and the nation’s first Treasury secretary, will have a run beginning in the late summer of 2017 at the Hollywood Pantages.

The theater is operated by the Nederlander Organization, which also owns the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway, where the show has become this season’s most coveted ticket.

In anticipation of a hit, the four-month-plus Hollywood run is scheduled from August 11 through the end of the year, concluding a season that will feature two other Nederlander-based hits: An American In Paris (March 22 – April 9, 2017), currently at the Palace Theatre and Finding Neverland (February 21 – March 12, 2017), currently at the Lunt-Fontanne.

Completing the 13-month season that begins next November are the Tony-winning revivals of Hedwig And The Angry Inch (November 1-27, 2016) and The King And I (December 13 – January 21, 2017) plus the musical adaptation of The Bodyguard (May 2 – 21, 2017), which had its premiere in London and hasn’t been seen on Broadway, and a return engagement of The Book Of Mormon (May 30 – July 9, 2017).

Information is available at hollywoodpantages.com.

Sandoval Named Artistic Advisor at the Wallis Annenberg Center

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Tom Castaneda

Here’s your chance to learn from living legend Arturo Sandoval…

The 65-year-old Cuban jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer is among the masters scheduled to teach at the Wallis Annenberg Center.

Sandoval, was the subject of the 2000 television film For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story, starring Andy García, will serve as an artistic advisor to the Center, where he’ll teach master classes open to the public and take part in other activities on the campus.

Sandoval, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, will be joined by Broadway diva Patti LuPone and Oscar– and Tony-winning actor Denzel Washington, among others.

“We are proud to welcome five extraordinary Artistic Advisors to The Wallis for the upcoming season,” Patricia Wolff, interim artistic director, said in announcing the lineup. “These are artists who define excellence in theater, dance and music. They are not just advisors in name but will participate in the season with a focus on education.”

Sandoval’s master classes, which will be open to the public, will take place on October 27.

All events will take place in the Bram Goldsmith Theater.

Visit www.thewallis.org for information.

Merediz to Star as George Lopez’s Mom in the FX Series “Saint George”

Posted on December 15, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Olga Merediz is reuniting with her one-time co-star George Lopez…

The 57-year-old Cuba-born Broadway, television and film actress, who appeared on ABC’s The George Lopez Show, has been cast in a series regular role on Lopez’s FX series Saint George, the 10-90 family sitcom from Lionsgate Television.

Merediz will play Lopez’s mother Alma, a feisty, combative and domineering woman with an acerbic wit.

Merediz, who originated the role of Abuela Claudia in the Broadway musical In the Heights and earned a Tony nomination for her inspired performance, recently appeared opposite Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling in the feature Place Beyond The Pines.

Merediz’s other film credits include Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Evita, Marvin’s Room and Music of the Heart, while her television credits include Netflix‘s big hit Orange is the New Black, Royal Pains, Blue Bloods, Pan Am and Law & Order SVU.

Moreno Cast as “Abuelita” in NBC’s “Welcome to the Family”

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Tom Castaneda

Rita Moreno will have Family duty in the near future…

The 81-year-old Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer has joined the cast of NBC‘s new sitcom Welcome to the Family.

Moreno, who’ll receive the SAG Award‘s Life Achievement statue in January, will play Abuelita, the sassy grandmother of Lisette (portrayed by Justina Machado), who looms large over the Hernandez family.

Moreno’s character, expected to first appear in November, is described as extremely religious, judgmental, tough, perpetually scowling and rude. The thought of disappointing Abuelita is so unappealing that Lisette and her family tell her elaborate lies about their lives whenever she comes to visit.

Moreno is best known for her roles in West Side Story, The Electric Company and Oz. She’s also among an elite group of performers to have won an Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy.

In addition to Moreno and Machado, the new comedy series also stars Ricardo Chavira, Joey Haro and Fabrizio Guido.

Welcome to the Family premieres Thursday, October 3 at 8:30 pm ET on NBC.

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