#maria friedman

[jgroffdaily]

Jonathan attended the Maria Friedman benefit concert at the Hudson Theatre on 4 March. Photo from Alana Janai Walker (@alana.janai), Yasmyn Sumiyoshi (@yasmynwhodances), Jacob Khalil (@jacobkhalilmusic), including a photo with Luke Hawkins (@luketaps). Jacob included the following text in his Instagram post:

I mean, Jonathan Groff? Apart from being such an influential modern performer, he’s one of the kindest and loveliest people I’ve ever met.

#jonathan groff #maria friedman #appearance

[getthestarstrades]

🎶 Edelweiss from The Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert

Excited to see which version they use of Aaron Tveit saying Lily Kerhoas since both shows differed wildly.

#rodgers and hammerstein #audra mcdonald #julian ovenden #maria friedman #joanna ampil #patrick wilson #marisha wallace #aaron tveit #lucy st louis #daniel dae kim #the sound of music #lily kerhoas #Youtube

[frankenstein-ate-my-left-shoe]

does anyone know why the soundtrack for the 1999 joseph movie isn’t on spotify?

#it’s the superior version of the songs #joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat #donny osmond #maria friedman #andrew lloyd webber #jatatdc

[owlpuddle]

Lady in the Dark has been one of my favorite albums this year, and Maria Friedman gives a great performance on it. So when I put on the new complete Anyone Can Whistle and found her performing Faye just like her Liza, I went :D

#I forgot this album had been released I just wanted to listen to acw today #What a fun surprise #anyone can whistle #lady in the dark #maria friedman

[sondheims-hat]

November 21, 2022: Maria Friedman's production of Merrily begins at New York Theatre Workshop.

#sondheim #george furth #merrily we roll along #maria friedman

[bungandmunchpi]

Just wanted to write a little something about the shows I saw in New York before the Tony noms come out tomorrow! I never write long-form about the things I've seen any more so thought I'd indulge myself quickly.

Stereophonic, 13th April

Theatre twitter was abuzz about this when it was at Playwrights' Horizons and the transfer rumours were very exciting as we were planning our trip. We managed to nab some $40 seats in the rear mezz for previews and went with it as the first show of our week!

It's a great play, although I don't think totally deserving of the raves/five stars it's getting everywhere. It could do with some pruning in places and I think both Nancy and I thought the female characters were a little bit underwritten: I'd say the scenes where it's just the two of them discussing their careers and personal lives are the weakest of the play, although Sarah Pidgeon and Juliana Canfield are both fantastic. The rest of the cast is as well - it's stacked top to bottom, with six out of seven making their Broadway debuts which is thrilling! Will Butler's music is absolutely phenomenal, and the show really soars when the band kick into gear and are recording successfully: we were both nodding our heads and tapping along, and I can't wait for the album to come out on May 10th.

Shout-outs to basically everyone in the cast, as everyone gets their little (or large) moment, but I think Eli Gelb really anchors the thing and has a gorgeous arc, and Will Brill is incredibly funny and sad at the same time. Tom Pecinka is doing fantastic work too as the antagonist/engine of the show, and I've really enjoyed watching his Gold Derby interview where he speaks about the hostility he experiences from the audience a lot of the time, and how he processes that and stays true to the text without being tempted into making the character more likeable.

We stagedoored too and everyone was very lovely! We got to compliment Will on his British accent and meet Tom's dog Molly, who was totally over the two-show day and ready to be on her way (but very sweet with it). A great start!

Merrily We Roll Along, 14th April

This was the show I spent the most money on, and I went on my own as Nancy was off being immersed at Punchdrunk (/the McKittrick Hotel, apologies). I love Sondheim and I really love this show - I was introduced to it by Lonny Price's beautiful documentary The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, which I would really recommend even if you're not a big Sondheim/musical theatre person, as it deals with being creative and dreaming big at a young age, and how we adjust when those dreams aren't realised or turn sour. It felt very special to be seeing Merrily on Broadway, as I believe Sondheim used a lot of his own early experiences in the theatre to make it. So special in fact that just hearing the overture made me extremely emotional (although it's a different version/orchestration to the overture on the original cast recording, which is one of my favourites of all time).

It's brilliantly directed/somewhat reworked by Maria Friedman, and she's been credited with turning what was a notorious flop originally into an absolute smash off and on Broadway this season. I think she does a lot of good work but it's undeniable just how brilliant a lot of the songs in it are: when Daniel Radcliffe finished Franklin Shepherd Inc, the man sitting behind me exclaimed "what a number!" to his seatmates. The material in the second half in particular is extraordinary, and I thought all three leads were fantastic as the characters get younger and younger, with It's a Hit, Opening Doors, and Bobby and Jackie and Jack highlights. Our Time, the brutally optimistic climax of the show, had me tearing up as soon as it started, and I cried all the way through the curtain call, just because I felt so lucky to have been in that space experiencing that piece of work made by this team of cast and creatives.

Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Daniel Radcliffe are all phenomenal in it: I was expecting less from Daniel Radcliffe as I know he has the least musical theatre experience of the three, but he did a great job and brought so much humour to Charley, which I really enjoyed. Jonathan Groff's Growing Up is stunning and he just leads the show so well - he's a real star and would be very deserving of the Tony, which I have a feeling he may just land. Lindsay Mendez has been out of the show now and then so I was preparing myself not to see her and then was thrilled I got to: her voice is so solid and her arc was beautifully drawn, from Mary's acerbic comedy at the beginning of the show to her brightness as she's entering the creative world early on in her career.

In terms of emotion, this was probably the highlight of my trip, and I'm excited to see the production sweep a lot of awards in June!

An Enemy of the People, 17th April

As soon as this was announced, it started making my New York trip plans more concrete. I think Jeremy Strong is one of the best actors we have working today, and it was brilliant to see him onstage - I don't think he's done any theatre for a decade, and Circle in the Square is pretty intimate for a Broadway venue, so that was extremely exciting.

I was left a little cold by the production: I think that may be Amy Herzog's version, which gets through the nuts and bolts of Ibsen's play, but does so at quite a lick (the show runs about two hours with a five minute pause in the middle). The character work the actors are doing is beautifully detailed, so you really want to spend some more time with them all. Jeremy Strong is totally transformed from Succession, endearing and frustrating in equal measure, and he and Michael Imperioli work so well together as very different brothers. I saw Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' The Comeuppance recently at the Almeida, so it was fun to see Caleb Eberhardt and try to read him back into that play: I thought he was really fantastic and nuanced in Enemy, and would love to see him snag a Tony nom, although I think Featured Actor in a Play is insanely crowded (and I would hate to see any of the Stereophonic guys lose out).

Sam Gold's staging is nice although the space seems to be a little difficult to work in. There are some interesting details in the second half as things become less naturalistic, with characters remaining onstage to watch the action, and Jeremy Strong being Jeremy Strong has to put himself in some kind of physical peril (getting buckets of ice poured on him as the townspeople turn on Stockmann, leaving him wet through (and I presume freezing) for the rest of the show).

Overall this was good if not as impressive as I'd hoped, but it was amazing to see Jeremy Strong onstage and he again was lovely at the stagedoor, so I'd recommend that if you're interested!

Appropriate, 17th April

This was the best show we saw all trip, from the writing to the direction to the performances, and so brilliant that we didn't try very hard to get into something on the Thursday evening, as we didn't want to spoil the high we'd experienced the night before.

I love Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' writing, and the way he plays with drama as a form to create his shows. Appropriate sits in the tradition of American domestic drama, and it's harrowing and screamingly funny all in one go. Again a real thrill to see a cast this stacked, and fun to pick up another Succession cast member, with Natalie Gold so good in what could be a tricky role. Sarah Paulson leaves it all out there in the lead role, and does a fantastic job: another actor who isn't afraid to be unlikeable, and who goes deep in the cruelty she exhibits towards other characters. Corey Stoll does some great, solid work too, and Michael Esper is so SO good as Franz. The role is so disruptive and interesting and gross and funny, and he does a beautiful job. Nancy and I really bonded over the production of The Glass Menagerie he was in in London in 2017, so it was wonderful to see him onstage again and to see him bring it so hard.

The design elements of Appropriate are phenomenal too, particularly the final sequence, which I won't spoil but is one of the most extraordinary things I've seen done onstage.

That was the trip!! I had a brilliant first ever week in New York and the best time seeing my first shows on Broadway: I was very sad to leave but it's made me really excited to see great work in London over the summer, and I'm ready to start saving up again to go back!

#Broadway #New York #Stereophonic #Merrily We Roll Along #An Enemy of the People #Appropriate #David Adjmi #Will Butler #Sarah Pidgeon #Juliana Canfield #Eli Gelb #Will Brill #Tom Pecinka #Jonathan Groff #Lindsay Mendez #Daniel Radcliffe #Sondheim #Maria Friedman #Jeremy Strong #Michael Imperioli #Caleb Eberhardt #Amy Herzog #Sam Gold #Sarah Paulson #Corey Stoll #Natalie Gold #Michael Esper #Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

[for-the-love-of-javert]

Just found this little gem of a documentary about Stephen Sondheim's Sunday In The Park With George.

Philip Quast features in this along with Maria Friedman, sadly Mr Quast is not interviewed but we still get to see him at work in rehearsals and listen to his beautiful voice.

#sunday in the park with george #documentary #stephen sondheim #philip quast #george seurat #maria friedman #videos #Youtube

[clearasacrystal-sharpasaknife]

#I bloody love Michael Ball #audra mcdonald #patrick wilson #marisha wallace #daniel dae kim #julian ovenden #maria friedman

[ulrichgebert]

So alle 20 Jahre produziert Cameron Mackintosh eine Sondheim-Revue. Und zwar immer mit Julia McKenzie, die deshalb  für diese letzte, besonders prächtige namens Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, die halt leider zur Gedenkveranstaltung wurde, nach 20 Jahren erstmals wieder auf einer Bühne steht (das heißt ihr Auftritt in The Philadelphia Story, wo wir sie gesehen haben war wahrscheinlich der letzte), sie wirkt aber recht munter. Einige von Sondheims Alten Freunden sind natürlich inzwischen tatsächlich sehr alt, besonders zu erwähnen ist die 89-jährige Petula Clark, die jetzt wirklich mal befugt ist, I’m Still Here zu singen (sie ist inzwischen 90, haben wir leider verpasst, wäre natürlich ein prima Vorwand gewesen, Finian’s Rainbow anzuschauen...), die unverzichtbare Bernadette und viele, viele Londoner Theaterlegenden, von denen wir einige auch schon auf der Bühne sehen durften (einige sogar in Sondheim-Shows). Es ist wunderbar.

#Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends #Judi Dench #Jenna Russell #Maria Friedman #Bonnie Langford #Michael Ball #Petula Clark #Siân Phillips #Haydn Gwynne #Julia McKenzie #Imelda Staunton #Damien Lewis #Bernadette Peters #Helena Bonham Carter #Janie Dee #Rob Brydon #Gary Wilmot #Matthew Bourne #Konzert #Stephen Sondheim #Cameron Mackintosh

[heartsandflowers52]

The talent in this photo though…

#Maria Friedman #Bonnie Langford #Bernadette Peters #Julia McKenzie #Helena Bonham Carter #Stephen Sondheim #Old Friends #Gala

[hbcsource]

@whatsonstage: SONDHEIM: OLD FRIENDS – FIRST LOOK! See snaps from @danny_with_a_camera from the epic event at the Sondheim Theatre, featuring an array of stars. More on the site!

#helena bonham carter #bonnie langford #bernadette peters #maria friedman #appearances #2022 #appearances: 2022 #sondheim's old friends gala 2022

[jgroffdaily]

Photos by Andy Henderson from the first day of rehearsals for “Merrily We Roll Along” on Broadway.

#jonathan groff #daniel radcliffe #lindsay mendez #maria friedman #merrily we roll along #merrily on broadway

[ladylizaelliott]

INJECT IT DIRECTLY INTO MY VEINS

#maria friedman #michael ball #sweeney todd #stephen sondheim

[frontmezzjunkies]

NYTW's Merrily We Roll Along Triumphs in Reverse, Wonderfully

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: #MerrilyWeRollAlong @NYTW79 #StephenSondheim #GeorgeFurth d: #MariaFriedman with #JonathanGroff #LindsayMendez #DanielRadcliffe #KrystalJoyBrown #KatieRoseClarke #RegRogers #MerrilyNYTW soon to be @MerrilyOnBway #offBroadway

Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez in NYTW’s Merrily We Roll Along. Photo: Joan Marcus. The Off-Broadway Theatre Review: NYTW’s Merrily We Roll Along By Ross It was one of the most coveted tickets to be found over the past few months in NYC. And I felt ever so fortunate to know that one was waiting for me, even if I had to wait until early January to be able to utilize it.…

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#Daniel Radcliffe #jonathan groff #Lindsay Mendez #Maria Friedman #Merrily We Roll Along #musical revival #off broadway #stephen sondheim

[sondheims-hat]

October 23, 2013: Maria Friedman's London production of Merrily, filmed by Digital Theatre, is streamed in movie theaters and later available for streaming online.

#sondheim #george furth #merrily we roll along #maria friedman

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

"From their lakeside perch, John & Jessica observe the arrival of October. Leaves change color and fall to the ground, the lake water cools, and birds head south. Everything goes as planned and right on schedule: And just as predictable are the sounds of pleasing music emanating from the Deluxe Cabin."

#Radio Deluxe #John Pizzarelli #Jessica Molaskey #This Is Radio Deluxe #October music #October Arrives #radio music show #Cannonball Adderly #Ella Fitzgerald #Maria Friedman #Julie London #vocal jazz #traditional jazz #jazz radio