John Gallagher, Jr. in Swept Away.
Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Countertenor takes on all roles in “Figaro” on Little Island
Playing the main characters in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” is challenging enough, but that won’t stop countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo from singing all the music simultaneously in a 90-minute “remix” adaptation of this groundbreaking 1786 opera beginning Aug. 30. Costanzo’s version of “The Marriage of Figaro” will be the final production of the four-month summer season at Little Island, the newly opened 6-acre park on the Hudson River, and will feature original works by artists including Twyla Tharp, Susan Sarandon and Chris Perfetti. Costanzo will be accompanied by an orchestra in the pit and members of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. “I’ve been waiting for a chance to sing every note of this piece since I first got to sing Cherubino at 17… It may be the craziest thing I’ve ever done, and I’m enjoying every second of it,” Costanzo said in a statement.
Marsalis is the orchestrator and arranger of the musical based on the biography of Louis Armstrong
In a last-minute change of plans, a new musical team led by bandleader and jazz musician Branford Marsalis has joined the new bio-musical “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical,” which begins previews Oct. 16 at Broadway’s Studio 54. Marsalis will create new musical arrangements and orchestrations for the musical, which will star Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart as Armstrong and will feature songs from across Armstrong’s career. “Louis Armstrong was a force of nature… We both grew up in New Orleans, where music is an integral part of life and permeates the soul, just as the spirit of Louis permeates all of the songs in ‘A Wonderful World,'” Marsalis said in a statement.
John Gallagher Jr. returns to Broadway in “Swept Away”
John Gallagher Jr., who appeared in the original casts of the Broadway rock musicals “Spring Awakening” and “American Idiot,” returns to Broadway in “Swept Away,” a new musical featuring folk-rock songs by the Avett Brothers that begins previews Oct. 29 at the Longacre Theatre. Gallagher previously appeared in regional productions of “Swept Away” at Berkeley Repertory and Arena Stage. Directed by Michael Mayer (“Spring Awakening”) and based on a book by playwright and screenwriter John Logan (“Gladiator,” “Red”), the musical is set off the coast of New England circa 1888 after a serious shipwreck.
Shaw’s “The Devil’s Disciple” is being reimagined with five women in the cast
Each fall, the Gingold Theatrical Group and director David Staller present an off-Broadway production of a work by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. Past plays have included “Heartbreak House,” “Caesar & Cleopatra,” “Candida” and “Arms and the Man.” This year, Staller will direct “The Devil’s Disciple,” an early Shaw play set in colonial America that was made into a 1959 film starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Staller’s new production will feature five women playing all of the male and female roles. “As we approach a pivotal election season, this play serves as a powerful reminder of the importance of individual action and standing up for our beliefs,” Staller said in a statement.
