Read on for some recent theatre headlines you may have missed in today's news.
Jason Robert Brown, Ariana Grande, Shoshana Bean Concert to Get Album Release
Jason Robert Brown’s virtual SubCulture concert, streamed in April featuring Ariana Grande and Shoshana Bean, is getting an album release from Craft Recordings and Concord Theatricals December 18. The virtual concert was a part of the Last Five Years composer’s five-year residency with SubCulture and benefitted their staff and musicians. Along with Grande’s take on “I’m Still Hurting” and Bean’s “The Hardest Hill,” the album will include the world premiere recording of “Nothing’s Bigger Than Kong,” written for an abandoned version of the King Kong musical that eventually played Broadway in 2018. To pre-order or pre-save the album, click here.
Watch a Clip from the Modern Christmas Carol, Estella Scrooge
Estella Scrooge: A Christmas Carol with a Twist starring Betsy Wolfe as the title character, a descendant of Ebenezer Scrooge, is now available to stream. With a book by Tony-winning director John Caird (Les Misérables) and music and lyrics by Tony nominee Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre), Estella Scrooge flips the script of Dickens’ beloved holiday tale A Christmas Carol by adding a modern sensibility and additional characters and storylines from Great Expectations, Little Dorritt, Bleak House, and more. Watch a clip of the song "Not on My Watch" below. In addition to Wolfe, the cast includes Clifton Duncan as Philip Nickleby, Tony nominees Lauren Patten (Jagged Little Pill) as Dawkins, Patrick Page (Hadestown) as Mr. Merdle, Carolee Carmello (Parade) as Marla Havisham, and Danny Burstein (Moulin Rouge!) as Ebenezer Scrooge, as well as such Broadway alums as Michele Lee, Phoenix Best, Megan McGinnis, and William Youmans.
Cabin in the Sky and Grease Selected for National Film Registry
Each year, the Library of Congress selects 25 films to add to the National Film Registry based on their "cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to the nation's film heritage," and this year the list includes two movie musicals. Cabin in the Sky (1943), based on the 1940 Broadway musical of the same name by Vernon Duke and John La Touche, features an all-Black cast, including Ethel Waters, Rex Ingram, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson and Lena Horne, with appearances by Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. The beloved 1978 adaptation of the Broadway musical Grease also made the list. The movie stars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta as the cheerleader and the greaser from the 1950's set musical comedy by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey.
Dear Reader, Julie Andrews Has a Bit of Buzz for You
Shondaland moves the scandal to Regency London in the upcoming Netflix series Bridgerton. Watch the new teaser trailer, featuring Julie Andrews voicing the role of gossip Lady Whistledown, below.
