Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Our shows
American Idiot heading to Broadway!
posted by Chad Jones on Tue, Jan 5, 2010
in Backstage buzz , News , Our shows
Looks like St. Jimmy is heading for the St. James.
Yes, Green Day's American Idiot, which had its world premiere last September at Berkeley Rep, is going to Broadway.
Producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittelman, in association with Berkeley Rep, announced today that American Idiot will begin performances in March at the St. James Theatre, former home of the long-running The Producers and the soon-to-close revival of Finian's Rainbow.
As in Berkeley, Michael Mayer directs and collaborates on the book with
Billie Joe Armstrong. Steven Hoggett choreographs and Tom Kitt serves
as orchestrator, arranger, and musical supervisor. The design team
includes Christine Jones (set), Andrea Lauer (costumes), Kevin Adams
(lights), Brian Ronan (sound), and Darrel Maloney (video and
projection).
"Experiencing American Idiot on stage in Berkeley was incredible," said Green Day's guitarist and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong. " We have really enjoyed working with Michael, Steven, Tom, and the cast. The energy and chemistry of the group is contagious. Michael Mayer was able to bring life to the characters of American Idiot, and Tom Kitt's musical arrangements are breathtaking. We're s proud that the show is coming to Broadway!"
No casting has been announced, but the previews will begin March 24 with an opening night scheduled for April 20.
In the last five years, five shows have moved from Berkeley to Broadway: Sarah Jones' Bridge & Tunnel (2006), Stew's Passing Strange (2008), Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking (2009), Sarah Ruhl's In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) (2009), and now American Idiot.
Visit AmericanIdiotOnBroadway.com to sign up for updates about the show..
Here's Green Day ringing in the New Year, performing "21 Guns" on New Year's Eve with Carson Daly.
Top photo: John Gallagher, Jr. as Johnny and Tony Vincent as St. Jimmy in the Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of Green Day's American Idiot. Photo courtesy of mellopix.com.
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I like the island Manhattan
posted by Lynn Eve Komaromi on Tue, Nov 24, 2009
in Backstage buzz , Our shows
Every time I walk the streets of New York, I can hear Rita Moreno’s pronouncement from West Side Story in my head. Indeed, I’ll take Manhattan too – I love this city that never sleeps.
Last week, I headed to New York for the Broadway debut of In the Next Room or the vibrator play,a work by Sarah Ruhl which was commissioned by Berkeley Rep and had its world premiere here last February. Sarah is one of the country’s foremost playwrights, so it wasn’t surprising that a number of New York theatres came knocking on Berkeley Rep’s doors last winter to have a look at Sarah’s newest work. It was Lincoln Center Theater that won the opportunity to mount the production at the Lyceum Theatre, directed once again by our own Les Waters.
I couldn’t miss Les' Broadway debut and the opportunity to see the further development of the play. Tony Taccone and Susie Medak were there too, along with several of the Theatre’s board members and donors who have supported our new play development program. This was a chance to see the fruits of our investment in new plays and to celebrate another entry in the canon of great American theatre.
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Carrie Fisher strikes back
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Nov 13, 2009
in Our shows
As if being a hit on Broadway wasn’t enough, Wishful Drinking star Carrie Fisher is also a bestselling writer once again. The paperback edition of the book version of her autobiographical show, not coincidentally called Wishful Drinking, zoomed up the New York Times bestseller chart to No. 7.
Carrie seems to be having a grand time with New York — and vice-versa.
If you haven’t been paying attention to Wishful Drinking since it departed from Berkeley Rep last summer, you have a lot to catch up on. Herewith, a handy guide to the recent flares in the Wishful galaxy.
First of all, the show, a production of the Roundabout Theatre Company, has extended through January 17 at Studio 54. If you’re going to be in New York before then, you might want some tickets.
Carrie sat for a terrific, in-depth interview with Charlie Rose. Unfortunately, Mr. Rose and his people won’t let us share the video with you here on the blog, so you need to go to his website, enter “Carrie Fisher” into the search box, and settle in for the 24-minute, 28-second interview.
CNN’s Joy Behar, however, will let us share part of her interview with Carrie.
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NY Times review of Tiny Kushner declares "Berkeley Rep's on fire"
posted by Terence Keane on Tue, Oct 27, 2009
in At the theatre , Our shows
Don't they know not to cry "Fire!" in a crowded theatre?
For the third time this month, one of our shows garnered a great review in the New York Times. On October 5, Ben Brantley wrote a rave review for the Broadway production of Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking, which was staged by Artistic Director Tony Taccone. On October 10, Charles Isherwood published a rocking review for Green Day’s American Idiot, our world premiere directed by Michael Mayer. Then, this past Sunday, Bruce Weber penned a big review of Tiny Kushner for the new Bay Area section in West Coast editions of the Times
Here’s what he had to say about the show, and about our recent success. In a metaphor appropriate for October, he compares us to a homerun hitter on a hot streak:
“A thinking person's comedy... the West Coast premiere of Tiny Kushner took place on Wednesday at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where so much of the nation’s talked-about dramatic product seems to come from these days, and the double pedigree – playwright and theater – is attention-getting...
“Individually and even collectively, the five entries here are snacks in the Kushner canon. However, that doesn’t make them nonnourishing or the evening unsatisfying; Mr. Kushner’s fierce liberal conscience (he’s Arthur Miller’s heir, in that regard), colossally fanciful imagination and virtuosic gift for composing verbal arias are too much in evidence for that...
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Nearly everything's in Nero
posted by Terence Keane on Tue, Jun 23, 2009
in Our shows
As I watched You, Nero the other night, I was surprised to see that it unintentionally contains amusing allusions to the other shows in our season. What a perfect way to end the year:
- There's the scene near the top of the show in which Scribonius watches the gladiators fight at the Colosseum. He gets pelted with bloody limbs, which are not -- but certainly could have been -- leftover props from The Lieutenant of Inishmore.
- There's the scene in which, as he tries to write dialogue for his play, he speaks the lines at the same time that they're acted out on stage. It's almost as if he's Scheherazade in Mary Zimmerman's version of The Arabian Nights.
Which one is Scheherazade?
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Then Nero explains how it's OK that he commited the most horrific of crimes because he's an important person and his family is "different." Isn't that the same philosphical argument propounded by Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment?
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Finally, I'm pretty sure I glimpsed a gold bikini at the end of Act One, which makes me think of a certain princess named Leia. And right now we're preparing for the return of that particular Jedi... In July, Carrie Fisher reprises her solo show, Wishful Drinking, at Berkeley Rep before she and Tony take it to Broadway. She'll only be here for 15 performances, so get those tickets now.
I know that Amy Freed didn't mean to sum up our season in one script, but it was a fun game to play as I watched the show. I wasn't clever enough to draw connections to Yellowjackets, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, or In the Next Room -- but maybe you can find one? Let me know.
Photos by Kevin Berne:
Sofia Jean Gomez and Alana Arenas in The Arabian Nights
Kasey Mahaffy, Lori Larsen, and Jeff McCarthy in You, Nero
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Ad conformity!
posted by Pauline Luppert on Fri, Jun 19, 2009
in Our shows
You probably wouldn't guess it from looking at the final version here but this ad for the return of Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking went through several very different stages.
I began ambitiously with the concept. There was a version that featured various Carrie Fisher clips floating through the scene in little animated bubbles. (I gave up on that when I admitted to myself that I didn't have the time to execute it really well.)
There was a version that started with a parody of the opening sequence of the original Star Wars movie. (I gave up on that when I admitted to myself that I couldn't make it really funny without treading some delicate licensing/copyright issues.)
There was a version without my voice-over track. (I gave up on that when admitted to myself that my aesthetic aversion to voice-over tracks does not trump my boss's ad research that says: "you gotta tell viewers what to do -- `reserve your tickets today!'")
Oh, and there was a version with an animated martini glass. I had to cut that when I learned that certain cable networks regarded the martini glass as glorifying alcohol consumption... and then I got to put the glass back in for the broadcast networks.
Enjoy.
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All hail, Nero!
posted by Terence Keane on Fri, May 22, 2009
in Our shows
It's probably not wise to snicker at an emperor every night, but that's what we're doing here at Berkeley Rep. The reviews are out, and the critics have crowned a new comedic king: all hail You, Nero!
Here's what they have to say about our latest show:
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"Two hours of almost uninterrupted delight... You can't help loving that despicably cute monster Nero. Not the way Danny Scheie personifies him in a tour de force of murderously comic, canny and catty derangement... Scheie rules the stage in leopard briefs, flipping in an instant from preening prima donna to bloody tyrant, charming artiste, cutting critic or sensitive egomaniac... Nero is a romp, but one that works on many levels, leavened by some serious concerns about the politics of art." – San Francisco Chronicle
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Saturday Night
posted by Robert Sweibel on Sun, May 17, 2009
in Our shows
So busy. I meant to post Friday about the release that day of Green Day's new record, 21st Century Breakdown. Now it's Saturday night and I'm sitting on the couch in my living room. My sweetie just got back from Wicked and Saturday Night Live is on the television. And guess what? Green Day is the musical guest. They're playing songs from the new record, of course. Some of the songs from the record are finding their way into the stage version of American Idiot, set to begin preview performances here at Berkeley Rep on September 4. It's all very exciting. I'm not sure when single tickets go on sale just yet. I ought to figure that out. I'm the marketing director and that's my job! Sorry. Very busy lately. Another project popped up for last week and this coming week -- more on that next week. Oh cool -- Green Day's on. It's "Know Your Enemy," the first single from the new record. I like it a whole lot. Hope you do too. Anyway, we'll sort out single tickets to American Idiot in the coming few weeks. Can't wait? You can pick up a ticket package of three or more plays including American Idiot now. Otherwise, stay tuned.
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Cats and Fecks
posted by Pauline Luppert on Wed, May 6, 2009
in Our shows
So, the critics are gushing about The Lieutenant of Inishmore. A few of them compare playwright Martin McDonagh to Quentin Tarrantino, which I think is apt. For your own juxtaposition-pleasure please enjoy..
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Two Little Men Out of the Chair
posted by Robert Sweibel on Fri, Apr 24, 2009
in Our shows
The Lieutenant of Inishmore opened to the press on Wednesday night. So as you can imagine, we sat on pins and needles all day Thursday waiting for the reviews. The major daily papers would post them on their web sites. We'd bet they'd be good because we think the show's a riot. But you never know.
For Lieutenant, the reviews needed to be bloody good. We (the Theatre) set the audience / financial goal for this show very high. Based on past experience with the playwright, and other considerations, we took a calculated BIG risk. And that was before the economy got bled.