Gordon Cox Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The nominations for the 2023 Tony Awards are out — and for every pleasant surprise on the list, there were a few disappointments. Here are the biggest snubs and surprises from this morning’s Tony nominations announcement, plus the one great big question that could cast a real shadow over the ceremony. SURPRISE: Big Love for “Ain’t No Mo'”Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo’,” a blistering comedy about racial injustice in America, was certainly one of the buzziest plays of the season, and many critics raved when it opened in December. But the show proved unable to find a foothold at the box office and closed just a few weeks later — a brief lifespan that could have put the play in danger of getting forgotten come awards season, especially in a crowded field of contenders. But nominators remembered “Ain’t No Mo'” so well they gave it six noms (including one for play and an acting nod for writer-performer Cooper), making it one of the most-nominated plays of the season.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Ask Cameron Mackintosh if “The Phantom of the Opera” will be back, and he doesn’t play coy. “Of course it will return,” he says. “All the great musicals do.” But the British mega-producer, whose credits include “Cats” and “Les Misérables,” also speaks candidly about the forces pushing “Phantom,” the longest-running show on Broadway, to end its record run on April 16 after 35 years. Even before lockdown, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which had fallen into a boom-or-bust pattern of sales fluctuations based on seasonal tourism influxes, seemed to be reaching the end of its lifespan. “Over the years, the number of good weeks at the box office started to shrink,” Mackintosh says. “Some of the really bad weeks, we lost a lot of money, particularly in New York.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Here are two wildlife facts you won’t learn in “Life of Pi”: Orangutans are quiet, and zebras stay silent when they’re attacked. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: You’d never guess either of those things from Broadway’s “Life of Pi,” because the creators and puppeteers of the show use all manner of tools and tricks to make their animal puppets feel life-like — including having them behave in ways that aren’t life-like at all. “Orangutans are very quiet beings,” explained Olivier Award-winning puppeteer Fred Davis on the new episode of Variety’s theater podcast, Stagecraft. “But if we had a very quiet orangutan for the duration of its time onstage, it wouldn’t have the same impact or believability as we need it to.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard has a Broadway success on his hands with “Leopoldstadt,” his (very) loosely autobiographical play now in the sixth month of a long run currently set to close in July. He’s very pleased about that — but right now there’s something else that’s got him thoroughly distressed: Writer’s block. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The new play “Pictures From Home” is Tony Award winner Nathan Lane’s 25th Broadway show — and he’s threatening not to come back for a 26th. “This may be the last one,” Lane said on Stagecraft, Variety’s theater podcast. “This may be my swan song! Winters in New York — I don’t know how many more I can take. And eight shows a week is a big ask.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Currently one of the stars of “Star Trek: Discovery,” Anthony Rapp has recently spent some time looking back and reliving his past. Off Broadway, he’s starring in “Without You,” his autobiographical show about his experiences in the original cast of “Rent” and the deaths of composer Jonathan Larson and his own mother. And in court, the actor — one of the first to come forward with allegations of sexual assault against Kevin Spacey — recently relived his experiences with Spacey during the proceedings for a civil suit brought by Rapp against Spacey. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The new musical “Kimberly Akimbo” has already beguiled New York critics. Now it has to win over Broadway audiences.  Based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2001 play of the same name, “Kimberly Akimbo” is the story of a teenage girl who is aging so rapidly, she appears to be a woman in her 60s. The musical, which premiered at the Atlantic Theater Company last winter, picked up awards from nearly every organization that hands them out, including the New York Drama Critics’ Circle. And it’s not surprising: Avoiding the usual Broadway spectacle, the intimate play instead sidles up to its heartbreaking conceit with sucker-punch poignance and oddball comedy.  

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Each year, Variety compiles a list of Broadway stars on the rise. This year, Variety fill fete this round-up of stage actors, directors and writers at its Business of Broadway Breakfast presented by City National Bank will take place on Oct.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The Tony-winning Broadway revival of “Take Me Out” returns this fall, and Jesse Williams is back with it. In Richard Greenberg’s 2002 play, the “Grey’s Anatomy” actor plays a biracial baseball player who comes out as gay at the height of his career. Why bring “Take Me Out” back to Broadway? We weren’t done. We had a lot more in the tank, and I felt like we were really hitting a new stride. The possibility of coming back was brought up to me before we even finished the first run, and frankly, I didn’t want to do it; I was tired and missed my children. But once I was able to recharge at home, I just kept thinking about the show. I’d find myself running lines in the shower or just doing scenes alone while I was sailing.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor How is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play like a Marvel superhero? Ask Suzan-Lori Parks, the acclaimed writer whose 2001 outing “Topdog/Underdog” was her first show to arrive on Broadway after she’d spent years turning heads downtown with smaller-scale work. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Broadway hasn’t been the same since the pandemic. Just consider “The Phantom of the Opera.” The recent closing announcement of the landmark long-runner underscored just how unpredictable the Street has become after the interruption of the 18-month shutdown and a bumpy restart. Over the summer, sales and attendance picked up promising momentum, and the 19 new productions that will open between Oct. 1 and the end of the year represent a lineup as robust and varied as any prior to lockdown. But backers of incoming shows know Broadway is still navigating the pandemic’s aftermath, including seemingly enduring shifts in production considerations, consumer lifestyles and buying habits.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor For the actor Gregg Mozgala, his Broadway debut in “Cost of Living” isn’t just a step forward for him — it’s a step forward for all of Broadway. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The composer (“Once Upon a Mattress”), young adult author (“Freaky Friday”) and philanthropist Mary Rodgers wanted to write a memoir that was candid, cutting, dishy and vanity-free — the exact opposite of the books penned by her father, the legendary Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, and her mother Dorothy Rodgers. “Mary didn’t want it to be fake like her parents’ memoirs had been,” said Jesse Green, the co-author of Mary Rodgers’ recently released memoir “Shy.” Speaking on the new episode of Stagecraft, Variety‘s theater podcast, Green explained, “She wanted it to spark with the actual sound of people enjoying thinking about their lives.”

Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterVariety will host an exclusive Q&A with the cast and creatives of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical” plus the premiere of a never-before-seen music video of “Come What May” in the Variety Streaming Room on Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor“The thing that’s right is to get the theater industry’s collective knee off of the throats and off of the bodies of Black, indigenous and POC people. And it can’t be through these diversity initiatives.

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox

By Gordon Cox