At The Stagedoor: Two-Time Oscar Winner TOM HANKS Making his Broadway Debut in Nora Ephron's "Lucky Guy"

Two-time Academy Award winning actor, Tom Hanks makes his Broadway debut in Nora Ephron's final work, "Lucky Guy." Hanks plays Mike McAlary, a gutsy New York City newspaper columnist who won a Pulitzer Prize for exposing that a Haitian immigrant had been sodomized by police in 1997. “Lucky Guy” has been nominated for six Tony Awards, including best play and best leading actor for Hanks. "Lucky Guy" plays the Broadhurst Theatre located at 235 West 44th Street. After the matinee show yesterday, Hanks greeted his fans and signed autographs outside the stagedoor.

"Downtown Abbey" Star, Dan Stevens at the Stagedoor

Dan Stevens makes his Broadway debut this season in the revival of "The Heiress", now playing at the Walter Kerr Theatre through February 10. He plays the role of Morris Townsend the charming suitor of a lonely heiress played by Oscar nominee and Golden Globe winner, Jessica Chastain. After the matinee performance on January 12, Dan Stevens graciously greeted his fans, signed autographs and posed for photos outside the stagedoor of the Walter Kerr Theatre, which is located at 219 West 48th Street in the theatre district. The actor has appeared in Arcadia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Vortex, Hay Fever,The Romans in Britain, Much Ado About Nothing(UK tour) and As You Like It (UK and U.S. tour). On television, he stars in Downtown Abbey. He also starred in Sense & Sensibility,Maxwell, Miss Marple, Dracula, The Line of Beauty, Frankenstein. He will be seen in the upcoming film called Vamps, directed by Amy Heckerling. 

At the Stagedoor: Oscar and Golden Globe Nominee, Jessica Chastain, Star of Broadway's "The Heiress"

Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee, Jessica Chastain currently performs the role of Catherine Sloper in the Broadway revival of the play, "The Heiress", the 1947 drama set in 1850 New York City. After the matinee performance yesterday, the beautiful actress took time to greet her fans, sign autographs and pose for photographs at the stagedoor of the Walter Kerr Theatre located at 219 West 48th Street in the theatre district. Jessica Chastain plays a driven CIA analyst in the movie "Zero Dark Thirty" for which she has already won the Critics Choice and the National Board of Review Awards. For the same role, she was nominated for a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and the Academy Awards. The Golden Globe Awards will be held tonight. The actress will miss today's performance of the Broadway production in order to attend the  ceremony for tonight's Golden Globe Awards, and also on January 27 for the SAG Awards. Last year, she earned an Oscar nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for "The Help". "The Heiress" plays the Walter Kerr Theatre through February 10, 2013.

At the Stagedoor: Three-time Emmy Winner, BEAU BRIDGES, Star of "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying"

Beau Bridges has returned to Broadway as J.B. Biggley in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." He first appeared on Broadway in "Where's Daddy?" in 1966. He is the son of Lloyd Bridges and brother of Jeff Bridges, his co-star in the 1989 film, "The Fabulous Baker Boys." He has a featured role in the film, "The Descendants," this year's Golden Globe Award winner for Best Motion Picture - Drama. These photos were taken at the stagedoor of the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th Street where he greeted fans and signed autographs last January 8 after a performance. 

At the Stagedoor: Glee's DARREN CRISS, Star of "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" Draws Huge Crowds Outside the Hirschfeld Theatre

Darren Criss, the breakout star from the Fox television musical series, "Glee" makes his Broadway debut alongside Beau Bridges in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The Irish-Filipino actor/singer replaced Daniel Radcliffe in the lead role of the corporate climber J. Pierpont Finch for a limited three-week engagement from January 3-22, 2012. The photos above were taken after the matinee performance yesterday at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre stagedoor where he signed autographs. Before leaving the theatre, he also took time to ask his enthusiastic fans to be silent while he spoke briefly to graciously thank them for their support. The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is located at 302 West 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.

The Talented Mr. JUDE LAW's Final Broadway Performance in HAMLET

The Donmar Warehous production of HAMLET on Broadway played its final performance yesterday at the Broadhurst Theatre. I finally saw Hamlet for the first time with the Oscar nominated actor (The Talented Mr. Ripley), JUDE LAW in the title role. I made some pictures of Mr. Law as he greeted his fans and signed autographs at the stagedoor of the Broadhurst after the performance.


Broadwayworld.com reports that HAMLET grossed over $1 million in its final week on Broadway. The production recouped its $2.5 million investment after seven weeks, making it an "official" hit play. Michael Grandage directed a cast that featured Ross Armstrong (Cornelius), Harry Attwell (Guildenstern), Ron Cook (Polonius, 1st Gravedigger), Ian Drysdale (Osric), Peter Eyre (Ghost of Hamlet's Father, Player King), Jenny Funnell (Player Queen), Michael Hadley (Barnardo, Priest, Captain), Colin Haigh (Member of the Court), Sean Jackson (Reynaldo), Geraldine James (Gertrude), Jude Law (Hamlet), Gwilym Lee (Laertes), James Le Feuvre (Member of the Court), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Ophelia), John MacMillan (Rosencrantz), Kevin R. McNally (Claudius), Henry Pettigrew (Marcellus, 3rd Player, 2nd Gravedigger,), Matt Ryan (Horatio), Alan Turkington (Francisco, Fortinbras, 4th Player) and Faye Winter (Member of the Court).

Here is a roundup of the reviews of the play:
Associated Press - “He rants. He rails. He seizes Shakespeare’s most famous play by its well-known soliloquies and doesn’t let go. The actor’s turbocharged performance as the anguished Danish prince is not particularly subtle, but it’s well-spoken and clear. And eminently watchable.”

New York Times - “Mr. Law, a rakish leading man of film, doesn’t disappear onstage the way some screen stars do. Though small-boned and delicately featured, he fills the theater to the saturation point. But the finer shades of feeling that a movie camera has been known to extract from his face — most notably in his Oscar-nominated performance in ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ (1999) — are rarely in evidence here.”

Variety - ” However, the cohesiveness of the production’s mostly monochromatic visual scheme is not matched by similar consistency of concept or emotional depth. It’s an accessible presentation, but rarely exciting and even less often moving.”

Post - “Imported from London’s Donmar company, this is the epitome of British-style quality: swift, well- acted, easy on the eyes and a breeze to follow. It’s not an unforgettable “Hamlet,” but it’s a chic, well-executed one — perfect gateway Shakespeare.”

Daily News - “Grandage’s ‘Hamlet’ is lean, focused and electrifying, like his last Broadway outing, the potent political drama ‘Frost/Nixon.’ There’s no artificiality or fussy frills, and the bard’s characters and their relationships seem vivid and real.” Bloomberg - ” To all Jude Law fans, the Broadway revival of ‘Hamlet’ starring him and courtesy of London’s Donmar Warehouse is genially recommended. Others it will surely disappoint. Were it a car, it would most likely be recalled as a defective model.”

Hollywood Reporter - “This is an uncommonly coherent production, free of gimmicks and transmitting the play’s themes with true clarity. Grandage has not weighed down the proceedings with any overarching “concept” but rather simply presents the work in all its thrilling emotional complexity.”

Newsday - “Indeed, if your father were murdered by his brother, who stole his kingdom and married your mother, you’d definitely want Law to avenge the crime.”

USA Today - “This earthy eloquence is especially striking in Law’s performance. His Hamlet is no brooding philosopher/prince; he’s an angry young man, a bundle of nerves forever threatening to explode. But Law also captures the more tender feelings and contradictions that make this tortured hero at once elusive and essentially human — particularly in his soliloquies, which are both muscular and exquisitely lyrical.”

Los Angeles Times - “Jude Law may not be the most emotionally piercing or philosophically profound Hamlet, but he brings an admirable balance to this most challenging of Shakespearean roles. “

Time Out - “Law starts out too overwrought, moaning and gnawing through the great soliloquies as if they were causing him intestinal distress. Yet we listen closely to him, and he holds court at the center of his scenes with an intensity, intelligence and awestruck wonder that puts most Hamlets I’ve seen to shame.”

Back Stage - “Unfortunately, it’s also a metaphor for Michael Grandage’s unbalanced staging: a brilliant star surrounded by bleak nothingness. While Law gives a muscular, intelligent performance in the most challenging role in world literature, the supporting cast and the director’s concept barely register.”

Financial Times - “His reading does not cut deep, until a fairly devastating recitation of the ‘fall of a sparrow’ speech.”

New York Observer - “He’s an energetic, kinetic, athletic Hamlet for an energetic, kinetic, amped-up Hamlet. Its energy—and our interest—flag only in its second half, when Hamlet is absent, sent off to England. Beyond that, though, what is there to say? Hamlet is Hamlet, and either you’re going to see it or you’re not.”


@ the stagedoor: CRY-BABY star JAMES SNYDER

These photos of JAMES SNYDER were captured at the stage door of the Marquis Theatre at Broadway (between 45th and 46th Streets last Saturday, the day before CRY-BABY the musical played its final performance.

From Playbill.com:

"Nobody Gets Me": Cry-Baby Closes On Broadway June 22

James Snyder made his Broadway debut creating the title role in the musical "Crybaby" based on the John Waters' film of the same name, following the world premiere engagement at La Jolla Playhouse in the fall of 2007.

Film credits include "An American in China," "Anderson's Cross," "Shuttle," "She's The Man" and "Pretty Persuasion," which premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He has also lent his voice to the animated films "Tuck Everlasting" and "Darby O'Gill."

Television credits include "Without A Trace," "Cold Case," "Gilmore Girls," "Married to the Kellys," "The Suite Life of Zach and Cody" and "Related."

Other stage credits include the Los Angeles productions of "Rock Of Ages" (also Las Vegas) and "Happy Days," "The Fantasticks" at Sacramento Music Theater, "Hamlet," "Ray Bradbury's Let's All Kill Constance," "Sneaux," "Plop" and "Oklahoma." In addition, he played Luke Skywalker in the critically acclaimed production "Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes" in Los Angeles, Paris and Scotland.

His first solo album will be released this fall and he can be heard on the studio cast recording of the musical "Bare", also being released this fall. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Southern California.

Cry-Baby, which was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for Best Musical, plays its final performance at Broadway's Marquis Theatre June 22.

Cry-Baby earned three additional 2008 Tony nominations: Best Book of a Musical for Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell, Best Original Score for David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, and Best Choreography for Rob Ashford.

Ultimately, the second Broadway musical based on a John Waters film (the Tony-winning Hairspray was the first) went home empty-handed on Tony night, June 15. Producers of the musical announced June 18 that the production would shutter less than a week later on June 22. Cry-Baby will have played a total of 45 previews and 68 regular performances.

Directed by Mark Brokaw, Cry-Baby arrived on Broadway following an out-of-town engagement at the La Jolla Playhouse this past fall. Cry-Baby began Broadway previews March 15 and officially opened April 24.