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The 2023 Black List, an initiative that shines a spotlight on the best of Hollywood's unproduced screenplays, is out (see the full list here), and it includes one title that will be especially interesting to Playbill's readers: Boy Falls From Sky by Hunter Toro. The screenplay reportedly follows an "anxious playwright" writing Broadway's ill-fated Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark while dealing with all of the musical's much publicized off- (and on!) stage drama. The screenplay's inclusion in the list does not necessarily indicate that it will become a finished film, though the Black List has led to at least 440 scripts produced from past lists.

The 2011 musical, which featured a score by Bono and The Edge and a book ultimately credited to director Julie Taymor, Glen Berger, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, was famously plagued with trouble throughout its development process, from its original producer dying suddenly moments before Bono and The Edge officially signed on to the project to a historically long preview period marred by technical problems and onstage mishaps, some of which resulted in serious injuries. The project was initially planned by Tony-winning director Julie Taymor to be the splashiest spectacle Broadway had ever seen, with extravagant sets and action sequences that sent actors flying around the Lyric Theatre. And that came with a historic price tag, a reported $70 million.

The musical's many technical troubles made it the rare Broadway show to break into the national consciousness, becoming a frequent target for jokes from late-night shows. Getting to opening night ultimately involved closing the show for almost a month while extensive revisions were made, which included several deleted characters, dramatically altered plot points, and a new book writer and director. But open it did, June 14, 2011. Despite much mockery in the press, the show ran for two-and-a-half years, closing in January 2014. Unfortunately, the reportedly exorbitant weekly running costs meant that the endeavor still lost much of its initial investment, and the work hasn't been seen since.

Original book writer Glen Berger released his version of the experience with a 2013 book titled Song of Spider-Man: The Inside Story of the Most Controversial Musical in Broadway History. It's unclear if Boy Falls From Sky is officially adapted from Berger's memoir.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has won a court battle with a dancer turned songwriter who claimed to have written the theme to the musical Cats.
The composer had faced a claim from Philip Christian over the authorship of the words and melody that eventually became Memory, the main theme from the West End and Broadway 1981 hit production.

Christian, 68, had told a court that a recording of a song that he had written was heard by a member of one of Lloyd Webber’s other shows, who then recited it to the composer in the run-up to the production of Cats.
In his breach of copyright claim against Lloyd Webber and the lyricist Sir Trevor Nunn, Christian argued that he owned the rights to the “lyrics and musical score” and demanded future royalty payments.

But sitting in the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London last week, the judge, James Brightwell, dismissed the claim as “fanciful and entirely hopeless”.

Rights to the song Memory were registered to Lloyd Webber and Nunn, who shares the copyright in the words with Eliot’s family.
Christian told the court his own song was inspired by his experiences arriving in the UK from the Dominican Republic as an 11-year-old in the 1960s.

He said he was training in the performing arts when a recording was made of his song and then heard in 1980 by one of Lloyd Webber’s dancers at the renowned Pineapple Dance Studios in Covent Garden.

Singing his song in court for the judge, Christian claimed that it must have been “memorised and then recited” in front of Lloyd Webber, who went on to use it for his musical.

Christian, who represented himself in court, told the judge: “I have always had that tune in my head … Every time I hear it on the radio, I get angrier.”

But Stephanie Wickenden, the barrister representing Lloyd Webber and Nunn, countered that Christian’s copyright claim was hopeless. She said that the suggestion that the song had been memorised and recited for Lloyd Webber was meritless, while much of the lyric was based on one of Eliot’s poems from 1917.

“If there were any merit to the claim, it would’ve been brought 40 years ago,” the barrister argued.

Giving judgment, Brightwell said that Christian had failed to produce a copy of the song, noting that he found it “inherently incredible that a dancer could, in the context of the entrance hall to a dance studio, have remembered, word for word, both the lyrics of the song and the melody and been able to communicate them at a later point to Andrew Lloyd Webber”.

The judge continued that the allegations were “entirely fanciful and entirely hopeless, and this claim cannot be allowed to continue any longer”.

Broadway musicians say they are being preyed upon by violent criminals at the stage door of the beloved “The Lion King” musical and other shows.

Video obtained by The Post shows the moment a violinist with the Disney production was suddenly shoved to the ground in the breezeway of the Minkskoff Theater after exiting an Aug. 5 matinee via the stage door, breaking her wrist in 10 places and nearly ending her decades-long career.

Another “Lion King” violinist was targeted twice in the past year by deranged crooks outside the theater between 44th and 45th streets.

One thief tried to swipe the instrument strapped to his back, according to leaders of American Federation of Musicians Local 802, which represents the Broadway maestros, and the union’s newsletter.

Two months later, the musician was attacked by a different goon, who fled after the violinist decked him.

Numerous musicians from Lion King have reported attacks after the show lets out. J.C. Rice

A fourth attack occurred on March 10 outside of the New Amsterdam Theatre, when a stranger whacked a substitute drummer for “Aladdin” in the head with a tree branch-like weapon just as he was heading inside to perform that evening.

“It seemed like a ‘knock out game’ kind of thing,” the 62-year-old musician told The Post. “He hit me as hard as he could when I wasn’t looking, and ran away.”

The drummer still managed to play despite observing “dents” in his head from the assault, but a few days later, he began slurring his speech and couldn’t walk straight.

He went to the ER and was diagnosed with a concussion. He hasn’t played on the Great White Way since.

In an abundance of riches this weekend, Waitress The Musical from Bleecker Street will pass an estimated $3.2 million in its opening weekend on 1,214 screens in the U.S and Canada. It’s no. 8 at the domestic box office.

Waitress debuted in 2016 and was one of the longest-running shows in recent Broadway history. It returned for a limited engagement to celebrate Broadway’s re-opening in the fall of 2021. The film was captured from a live onstage show during that run. It was acquired by Bleecker after a premiere at the Tribeca Festival this year.

It’s seeing a largely female-driven audience and doing well in major markets i.e. New York, LA, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. Salt Lake City is a real standout along with NYC, given the Broadway connection. “It’s encouraging because we had advance tickets up for quite some time and exhibitors started scrambling to add showtimes, and there were a lot of sell-outs and the feedback was that this thing has got some real energy,” said Kyle Davis, Bleecker’s head of distribution.

Sara Bareilles announced on Instagram that the limited release season is being extended because of the musical's popularity.

sarabareilles

OH MY GODDESS!!!! HUGE NEWS!!! Due to popular demand, WAITRESS: THE MUSICAL is being extended in theaters NATIONWIDE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL. If you missed it this past weekend, you have another chance. If you’ve already seen it, the second (or third!) time’s a charm!! Tickets for the extended run will be available soon. Can’t thank you enough our beloved fans. This is all because of you!!! WE ARE OVER THE MOON PIE! May we all be so lucky!! @waitressmusical

The pro-shot is also available for pre-order on streaming platforms.

Front-of-house workers at leading West End theatres have told Sky News audiences have "forgotten how to behave" - claiming assaults and abuse are a common occurrence.

Agreeing to talk to us anonymously, we heard accounts of drunk audience members projectile vomiting in the auditorium, used condoms being found in the stalls, and ambulances being called to treat bleeding audience members after fights.

One theatre worker - who was fearful speaking out could cost him his job - said he was concerned that top management at some venues are putting "profit over safety".

He told us how, despite a life-long love of theatre, his job has become intolerable after the COVID pandemic.

"I had a friend who is barely 5ft 2in punched in the face by a man who was 6ft 9in. She's in her 20s."

He said he was assaulted by a man who had arrived late and wouldn't accept that he had to wait for an appropriate moment in the show to take his seat.

"I'd moved myself in front of the doors and he basically slammed me against the wall and then walked in, calling me a f****** w***** for doing my job... security pulled him out and he was made to apologise... but he was allowed to watch the show. I've just been assaulted and I'm shaken but that's a common experience in the West End."

As well as hearing countless examples of how audience members are routinely drunk and disrespectful, another worker even showed Sky News one theatre group's internal incident reports.

"We have to ask people to leave probably at least once a week," they explained.

"There's a huge amount of people that come to the theatre and it's just a magical experience for them" we were told - "but there is this small minority of people that have forgotten how to behave".

Workers told us how incidents are more frequent at jukebox musicals that clearly pitch their tickets at stag and hen dos - advertising "a raucous night out".

"They bring in the crowds and the crowds spend money... there are offers at the bar and it's money after a lockdown... we've got to do bag checks, ticket checks, get them to their seats before the show starts and they all want to go to the bar. I've had bar staff being shouted at... some horrible abuse goes on."

As an example of how little audience members seem to care, one theatre worker recounted: "I brought the person into the foyer and explained that we had received complaints about them being noisy, that they'd been vaping, to which they replied 'So what?'"

Speaking to Sky News back in October, musical composer Stephen Schwartz - who has worked in theatre for over five decades on countless Broadway and West End hits from Godspell to Wicked - spoke of how mobile phones are becoming a real problem.

"What's exasperating is the cell phones, people being on their phones and you want to say to them, you know, just go out in the lobby and text on your phone and let everybody else get on and watch the show!"

Related stories:

• Audiences behaving badly: An epidemic of anti-social behaviour in theatres, concerts and gigs
• Theatre slams abusive audience behaviour as another venue urges people not to sing along during shows

Alicia Keys is bringing her sold-out musical "Hell's Kitchen" to Broadway next year.

It will transfer from the Public Theater downtown to the Shubert Theatre in the heart of the Theater District. As CBS New York's Dave Carlin reports, two communities in two states see this as a big reason to celebrate.

The show is set in the real-life Manhattan Plaza, which has been providing housing, mainly for artists, on West 43rd Street since the 1970s.

The music and lyrics are by the 15-time Grammy Award winner, and it's loosely based on her life when she lived at Manhattan Plaza with her mother, spending a lot of time at a piano.

"It really is a full-circle moment. It's part of a family history of love of the arts," Keys said.

"Alicia Keys, yes, did grow up here, and her first piano lesson was here," said retired district leader Marisa Redanty. "All these musicians, all these actors, of course, they integrated into the lives of the children and gave them an incredible, fertile ground."

"A lot of people grew up in these buildings -- Alicia, Timothée Chalamet, Christian Slater," Manhattan Plaza resident Ruby Rims said. "She's paying back."

The production includes some of Keys' breakthrough hits and new numbers as well. Newcomer Maleah Joi Moon plays the Keys-inspired lead role of "Ali." Ali is 17 years old, growing up and discovering her place in the world.

It's a major breakthrough for Moon, catapulting her to stardom just a few years after leaving her hometown of Franklin Township, New Jersey.

"I always had a dream that I would be doing something that is so fulfilling and so beautiful and remarkable and surrounded by wonderful people, but I could not have imagined that it would be this amazing," Moon said.

Residents in Franklin Township say from a young age, Moon seemed destined for greatness.

"We're just all very proud of her," said Nikkii Tatum, vice principal of the Road to Success program. "Amazing to see this phenomenal young woman just become what God intended her to be. We could see it all over her when she was in middle school."

"Hell's Kitchen" is at the Public Theater through mid-January, then moves to Broadway in late March.

The Manhattan town house where the late musical theater composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim lived for approximately 60 years has a lucky new owner. According to the Wall Street Journal, Sondheim’s estate was able to get the full $7 million asking price on the sale of his Turtle Bay Gardens home. As told by Compass listing agent Michael Franco who held the listing, the coveted dwelling garnered plenty of interest as it was well-priced and came with some serious Broadway cachet. Although the buyer has not yet been revealed, Franco told the WSJ that they are “a Sondheim fan” and that they plan to use the 5,700-square-foot town house as their primary residence.

Sondheim bought the five-story abode in 1960 and held on to the property until his death in 2021. The 19-foot-wide residence is part of a sought-after group of 20 historic homes from the 1800s, established as Turtle Bay Gardens in 1920. The homes surround a private garden. Writers E.B. White and Robert Gottlieb resided in one of the houses, while actor Katharine Hepburn was also once a neighbor of Sondheim’s.

Sondheim is said to have paid for the house with proceeds that came after writing the lyrics for hit productions West Side Story (1957) and Gypsy (1959). “I realized that with the royalties from the recent success of Gypsy, I could afford a down payment,” the composer said in the 2008 book Manhattan’s Turtle Bay: Story of a Midtown Neighborhood. “And then I rented out the top three floors of the town house to help me pay the mortgage.”

Jennifer Lopez is attached to star in a feature adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” written and directed by “Dreamgirls” filmmaker Bill Condon, Variety has confirmed with a source close to the production. The music is by legends John Kander and Fred Ebb, based on the novel by Manuel Puig and the book of the musical by Terrence McNally.

The musical is set in an Argentinian prison in 1981. Lopez would play the titular role, a fantasy woman named Aurora created by Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser serving an eight-year sentence for allegedly corrupting a minor. To escape the horrors of his imprisonment, Molina imagines movies starring Aurora as a classic silver screen diva, including a role of the spider woman, who kills her prey with a kiss. Molina’s life is upended when a Marxist, Valentin Arregui Paz, is brought into his cell, and the two form an unlikely bond.

The new movie, which is independently financed, is currently searching for an unknown to play Molina. According to a casting breakdown obtained by Variety, the role “presents as an openly queer and effeminate gay man, but may be on the non-binary/trans femme spectrum.” Rehearsals would start in February with a plan to begin filming in April in New Jersey.

The two previous adaptations of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” — the 1993 musical, and a 1985 feature film adaptation of Puig’s novel from director Héctor Babenco — both won wide critical acclaim and major awards attention. William Hurt won the Oscar for best actor for playing Molina. And the musical won seven Tony Awards, including for best musical and for all three performers: Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello.

Condon has become one of the preeminent filmmakers of the movie musical: He wrote the screenplay for 2002’s “Chicago,” wrote and directed 2006’s “Dreamgirls,” directed 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and co-wrote the screenplay for 2017’s “The Greatest Showman.” He also directed both parts of “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn,” and most recently directed regular collaborator Ian McKellen in the 2019 thriller “The Good Liar.” He won an Oscar for his screenplay for his 1998 film with McKellen, “Gods and Monsters.”

Lopez — whose ninth studio album, “This Is Me… Now,” is set to debut early next year — is one of the most successful multi-hyphenates in the industry, launching her film career by playing the late Tejano star Selena in 1997’s “Selena.” Incredibly, however, this would be her first role in a full-fledged musical.

Stephen Schwartz reveals that two new songs written exclusively for the upcoming Wicked films, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, will be in the second movie, set for a Nov. 26, 2025, release.

However, he adds, "There are some expansions of stuff in the first movie. The point being, the new songs were written because of the demand of the story, not, 'Oh, let's write a new song and stick it in just because…' The storytelling required it, and therefore they were created — the intention was that they were organic and not imposed on the movie."

Them movie adaptation of Wicked will be split into two parts, directed by Jon Chu, with the first half of the film debuting Nov. 27, 2024.

"It's been very important to us to make sure that it is the show, that it is the story that the fans love and that they're coming to expect and not disappoint them," Schwartz tells The Messenger.

"And at the same time, [it was also important to] be able to expand the story to make use of what the language of film and the technology of film allows you to do," he continues. "As we talked about the story we wanted to tell, it was impossible really to get into one movie unless the movie were four hours long. And so the decision was made to make two movies. And consequently, there's new stuff that I think the fans will enjoy. But our hope and intention is that the people to whom the story and the show are important will not in any way be disappointed, but will be thrilled by what they will see and the new stuff that's been added and the way film is used."

Merrily We Roll Along, the hit Broadway revival of the Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, is extending performances through Sunday, July 7, 2024, giving ticket-buyers an additional three months to grab seats.

The musical, which began previews Sept. 19 and opened Oct. 10 at the Hudson Theatre, was initially set to end its limited engagement on Jan. 21, then received its first extension through March 24. The new closing date will give the production an opportunity to crow over any accolades received at the June 16 Tony Awards.

The musical, one of the hottest – and highest priced – tickets in town, routinely hits the very upper reaches of the Broadway weekly grosses chart, repeatedly breaking its own house records at the Hudson. Most recently Merrily grossed $2,046,288 for the week ending November 26, 2023.

Alicia Keys' musical 'Hell's Kitchen' is heading to Broadway in the spring.

The musical, which features music and lyrics by Keys and a book by Kristoffer Diaz, made its world premiere at the Public Theater on Oct. 24 and is currently running there through Jan. 14. “Hell’s Kitchen” will transfer to the Shubert Theatre on Broadway, with previews starting March 28 and opening night on April 20.

“Good things take time and for 13 years, I’ve been dreaming, developing and finding inspiration for a musical based on my experience growing up in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is inspired by my life, but it’s not a biographical story. It’s a story about family relationships and identity: Who are we? Who do we want to be? Who are we becoming?” Keys said in a statement. “The score features new songs that I’m really excited to get out into the world alongside many of my album releases that you know but you’ve never heard like this – rearranged and reinterpreted.”

The Broadway cast has yet to be announced. The Off-Broadway production at the Public Theater includes Shoshana Bean, Maleah Joi Moon, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kecia Lewis, Chris Lee and Vanessa Ferguson.

“Hell’s Kitchen” features music consulting by Tom Kitt, music supervision by Adam Blackstone, choreography by Camille A. Brown and direction by Michael Greif. The creative team also includes scenic designer Robert Brill, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Natasha Katz, sound designer Gareth Owen, projection designer Peter Nigrini, and hair and wig designer Mia Neal.

Theatregoers can expect to be leafletted by union delegates outside Australian performance venues in the new year, in a campaign to lift the pay of about 6,000 actors and dancers.

Major productions such as Beauty and the Beast and Wicked in Sydney, and Moulin Rouge and Grease in Melbourne could be targeted, along with a slew of Adelaide and Sydney festival performances and productions by the country’s flagship theatre companies.

Yearlong negotiations for a new performers collective agreement – between the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and the peak body representing commercial and independent promoters and producers, Live Performance Australia (LPA) – have broken down in recent weeks.

Unlike the recent actors’ strike in the US, under Australia’s Fair Work Act industry-wide strike action is not permitted. Only the employees of individual production and theatre companies would be able to take protected action, so it is unlikely any shows will be disrupted or cancelled during the campaign.

Instead, the MEAA’s director of equity, Michelle Rae, is calling on theatre-lovers to pressure the LPA and the producers it represents to agree to an across-the-board pay rise of $34, representing a 3% annual increase, on the $1,100.96 weekly salary an ensemble cast member of a major touring show typically earns.

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The MEAA has been negotiating performers collective agreements (PCA) with the LPA since the mid-1990s, enabling the union to collectively represent performer members across multiple employers.

A statement on the LPA website said employers in the industry had continued to increase wages over this period and many employers paid well in excess of PCA minimum rates.

The sticking point in current negotiations, which began in September 2022, is the union’s demand the pay rise is applied across the board, meaning those performers who have negotiated margins – individual agreements with their employers that pay higher than the PCA base rate – would also receive a salary increase.

“The difference between base rates and margins can vary from a few hundred dollars a week to several thousand dollars a week, depending on the performer’s experience and reputation and their ability to negotiate higher rates of pay (usually through their agent),” the LPA statement said.

“LPA does not agree that the proposed increases should be applied to margins. They should apply to the minimum rates specified in the PCA which mean all performers would receive an equitable increase in pay rates, regardless of their individual margin protections against workplace fatigue and stability of employment.”

The LPA offer stands at a 15.6% pay increase over three years and an increase to Sunday penalty rates, but only for performers on the base PCA rate.

In addition to the wage rise, the union is also asking for a limit on the number of times performers work back-to-back nine show working weeks, and improved continuity of employment and job security while touring.

Under the current contract system, if there is a layover period between a show moving from Melbourne to Sydney, for example, the cast does not get paid, yet they are prevented from taking on other performing work.

The cast members are still required to maintain their show-ready performance levels, choreography and scripts on their own, while waiting for the show to open in another city.

Rae said the contract system used in Australian live theatre is unfair and significantly punitive towards the employee, compared with most other industries.

“Unlike any other employee, a performer doesn’t have the right to resign,” she said.

“Once they’ve signed their contract, they can’t finish on that job until the contract is done. So if they got offered a better position, they can’t accept it or go for another role. They’re locked in.”