Tag Archives: James Monroe Iglehart

Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer to Star in Upcoming Broadway revival of Monty Python Musical “Spamalot”

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Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer has (Spam)alot to look forward to.

The 466-year-old half-Puerto Rican musical theater actress/singer will star in Broadway’s upcoming revival of the Monty Python musical Spamalot.

Leslie Rodriguez KritzerRodriguez Kritzer will reprise her role of Lady of the Lake from the popular Kennedy Center production.

She’ll be joined by James Monroe Iglehart, Michael Urie, Jimmy Smagula and Nik Walker, who will also reprise their Kennedy Center production roles.

Ethan Slater and Christopher Fitzgerald are joining the cast as newcomers.

Performances of the Monty Python musical comedy begin Tuesday, October 31, at the St. James Theatre ahead of an official opening night of Thursday, November 16.

Also returning from the Washington D.C. production is Josh Rhodes as director and choreographer.

With a book & lyrics by Python’s Eric Idle and music by John Du Prez and Idle, the original 2005 Broadway production was nominated for 14 Tony Awards and won three including Best Musical.

The creative team for the revival, also announced today in addition to the casting, includes scenic and projection design by Paul Tate dePoo III, costume design by Jen Caprio, lighting design by Cory Pattak, sound design by Kai Harada & Haley Parcher, wig design by Tom Watson and music direction by John Bell.

The role of Sir Lancelot has yet to be cast.

The musical is based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and features such songs as “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” “The Song That Goes Like This,” “Find Your Grail” and more.

Rodriguez Kritzer most recently starred on Broadway in the Beetlejuice musical.

Rosie Perez to Take Part in “Stars in the House” Telethon to Benefit Victims of the War in Ukraine

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Rosie Perez is helping raise money for the people of the Ukraine…

The 57-year-old Puerto Rican Oscar-nominated actress is among an all-star roster of film, television and theater performers who’ve signed up for a 10-hour telethon to raise money for the victims of the war in Ukraine.

Rosie PerezEntitled “Stars in the House,”the special will air on Saturday, March 26 from noon-10:00 pm Eastern.

In addition to Perez, the other celebrities scheduled to appear on the telethon include Steve Martin, Annette Bening, Billy Porter, Audra McDonald, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Chenoweth, David Hyde Pierce, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin, as well as Tituss Burgess, Kelli O’Hara, Donna Murphy, Annaleigh Ashford, Jessie Mueller, Josh Groban, Judith Light, John Stamos, Lindsay Mendez, Laura Benanti, Norman Lear, Betty Buckley, Mandy Patinkin, Rachel Bloom, Patrick Wilson, Shoshana Bean, James Monroe Iglehart, Brittney Johnson, Santino Fontana, Judy Kuhn and Norbert Leo Butz.

The event also hopes to feature Ukrainians, including Oleg Karpenko, a Ukrainian theater and film actor who co-starred with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Servant of the People.

The special can be viewed and listened to on the series’ site, the Stars in the House YouTube channel, as well as SiriusXM Stars109.

Donations made during the event will benefit the International Rescue Committee and its humanitarian efforts for those affected by the war in Ukraine.

Stars in the House is a live-streamed concert series created by SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and producer James Wesley that has raised over $1 million for the Actors Fund’s COVID-19 relief program and other nonprofits.

It’s just one way the theater community has tried to help Ukrainians: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS awarded $300,000 in emergency grants to ameliorate the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and a portion of ticket sales for “The Minutes” will go to Save the Children’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Freestyle Love Supreme” Returning to Broadway in October

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Lin-Manuel Miranda is bringing the (freestyle) Love to Great White Way…

Freestyle Love Supreme, the improvisational rap musical revue co-created by the 41-year-old Puerto Rican actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and playwright, is returning to Broadway’s Booth Theatre for a strictly limited three-month engagement in October, producers announced today.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

“If live theater is coming back, so is FLS,” said Miranda, who co-created the show with Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale. “Our most important collaborator is the audience, and we can’t wait to get back in the Booth.”

The limited engagement begins Thursday, October 7, and runs through Sunday, January 2, 2022.

“We are thrilled to be back on Broadway and part of this theatrical community we love so much,” said Kail, who directs. “The immediacy of our show, with its content driven by audience suggestion, makes it one of the rare shows that can speak to whatever is happening in the moment.”

The production’s core performers will include Andrew Bancroft AKA Jelly Donut, Tarik Davis AKA Tardis Hardaway, Aneesa Folds AKA Young Nees, Arthur Lewis AKA Arthur the Geniuses, Kaila Mullady AKA Kaiser Rözé, Chris Sullivan AKA Shockwave and Anthony Veneziale AKA Two-Touch.

As with the original 2019-2020 Broadway production, the revival will include spontaneous, unannounced special guests which “may include” Miranda, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, James Monroe Iglehart, Wayne Brady, Ashley Pérez Flanagan, Bill Sherman, Utkarsh Ambudkar and others.

Hamilton creator Miranda has been much in the spotlight lately, with the film adaptation of his In The Heights opening last week, his feature directorial debut tick, tick… Boom! arriving this Fall and his partly-owned The Drama Bookshop bookstore opening earlier this month in Manhattan’s theater district.

Prior to its purchase by Miranda, Kail and producers Jeffrey Seller and James L. Nederlander, the Book Shop, in a nearby location, had long been theater district institution and gathering place but was threatened with closure by rising rents and financial difficulties. Miranda, Kail and Veneziale began writing Freestyle Love Supreme more than 17 years ago in the basement of the old Book Shop, a history chronicled in the 2020 documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme.

Freestyle Love Supreme is produced on Broadway by Kail, Miranda, Jenny and Jon Steingart, and Jill Furman.

Chita Rivera Among the Stars Taking Part in Fundraising Concert for Joe Biden, “In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation”

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Chita Rivera is Biden her time before the upcoming presidential election…

The 87-year-old half-Puerto Rican Broadway star will be among the stars of the Great White Way who’ll stage a fundraising concert for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, with plans to stream the event on October 21.

Chita Rivera

The event, which starts at 8:00 pm ET, is organized by the group Broadway for Biden and is called In Our America: A Concert for the Soul of the Nation, with donations going to the Biden Victory Fund.

In addition to Rivera, the lineup of the concert includes Derrick Baskin, Laura Benanti, Victoria Clark, Glenn Close, Chuck Cooper, Darren Criss, André De Shields, Renée Elise Goldsberry, John Goodman, Jayne Houdyshell, Jennifer Hudson, James Monroe Iglehart, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Norman Lear, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rita Moreno, Karen Olivo, Ashley Park, Steven Pasquale, Carrie Preston, Kelani Queypo, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Phillipa Soo, Ephraim Sykes, BD Wong, the Broadway Dreams Foundation Choir, and the casts of Six and KPOP.

Liesl Tommy, director of the upcoming Aretha Franklin biopic Respect (with Hudson in the lead role), will direct the show. Tommy is the executive producer along with Julie Boardman, Nolan Doran, Halle Morse, and Jennifer Mudge.

The concert will stream on YouTube via news publisher NowThis, on Facebook via Broadway for Biden and NowThis, and on Broadway Unlocked.

In a statement, Tommy said, “It is a tremendous honor to direct this incredible collective of performers and artists, who are coming together to amplify the promise of Broadway and a nation that are future-looking, accessible, and deeply inclusive.”

The evening will include original material, stagings of musical numbers that have never been seen, and previews of productions bound for Broadway. Among those contributing are Chad Beguelin, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Robert O’Hara, Stacey Rose, Aurin Squire, DeLanna Studi, Paula Vogel and John Waters.

Christopher Gattelli, Lorin Latarro, Ray Mercer, and Abbey O’Brien will provide original choreography, with music direction by Jason Michael Webb. Chris Boardman and Charlie Rosen will provide orchestrations. Sean McLaughlin will serve as director of photography and Grady Bowman will be associate choreographer.

The event is in the vein of a fundraiser in 2012 for Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, called Barack on Broadway, that was produced by Margo Lion and others.

Valentina to ‘Drag Out the Vote’ at Variety Show “Divas For Democracy: United We Slay”

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Valentina’s prepared to drag out the vote…

The 29-year-old Mexican American drag performer and former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant will team up with some of her fellow queens and Broadway celebrities to get out the vote for November’s presidential election.

Valentina

Valentina and divas from the drag world and icons of the stage will come together for Divas For Democracy: United We Slay, a one-night-only variety show extravaganza promoting voter participation and key issues relating to the LGBTQIA+ community in the upcoming 2020 election.

Presented by the nonprofit voter engagement organization Drag Out the Vote and hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race star Nina West and Entertainment Tonight‘s Keltie Knight, Divas for Democracy: United We Slay features scores of talent who’ll sing and lip-synch through dazzling performances of theater classics and pop songs.

Special segments will highlight LGBTQIA+ activists in a nonpartisan effort to shine a light on community participation in the political process, including celebrity appearances by Tony winner Cyndi Lauper, Drag Race panelist Michelle Visage, Harvey Fierstein, James Monroe Iglehart, Bianca Del Rio, Shangela, Cheyenne Jackson, Mila Jam, and Oscar-winning actress Allison Janney.

In addition to Valentina, other drag superstars slated to perform during the broadcast include Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, Jujubee, Peppermint, Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Shuga Cain, Honey Davenport, and Drag Out the Vote’s national co-chairs Brita Filter, Marti Gould Cummings, and Pixie Aventura.

Broadway figures set to appear include legendary three-time Tony-winning actress Chita Rivera, as well as Tony winners Stephanie J. Block, Lea Salonga, Nikki M. James, Beth Leavel and Annaleigh Ashford. Also joining the program are stage stars Shoshana Bean, Eden Espinosa, Jenn Collela, Chilina Kennedy, Keala Settle, Tamika Lawrence, L Morgan Lee, and Our Lady J.

The presentation will be directed by Josh Rhodes and Lee Wilkins, whose joint careers include work choreographing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, First Date, It Shoulda Been You, and Bright Star on Broadway. Tony winner Stephen Oremus will serve as music supervisor.

“One in five LGBTQIA+ people is not registered to vote, and 100 million people did not vote in the 2016 election. We must fix this,” said Drag Out the Vote founder Jackie Huba in a press statement. “We are excited to bring together the worlds of Broadway and drag to inspire voters to sashay their way to the polls or their mailboxes.”

Divas for Democracy: United We Slay airs October 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET exclusively on StageIt. Tickets — available on a “donate-what-you-can” basis — go on sale Thursday at 10:00 a.m. ET at divasfordemocracy.com.

Trailer Released for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme” Documentary

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Lin-Manuel Miranda is freestylin’…

The official trailer has been released for We Are Freestyle Love Supreme, the documentary about the 40-year-old’s improv hip-hop project.

Lin-Manuel Miranda 

Before Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musicals Hamilton and In The Heights, the Mary Poppins Returns star, Christopher Jackson, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale, among others, traded off-the-cuff rhymes the way Second City actors swapped jokes in their improv hip-hop group.

Created by Miranda, Kail and Veneziale in the summer of 2005, its beginnings on sidewalks and a small performing space at New York’s Drama Book Shop, the show would make the rounds Off Broadway, ever-changing, before landing on Broadway for an acclaimed and commercial successful run last year.

The show’s long journey is chronicled in filmmaker Andrew Fried’s documentaryWe Are Freestyle Love Supreme, premiering on Hulu on Friday, June 5. Fried’s camera captures the group reuniting for a series of shows in New York City that led to the Broadway engagement.

Appearing in the doc, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, are Miranda, Veneziale, Jackson, Kail, Arthur Lewis, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Chris Sullivan, Bill Sherman, James Monroe Iglehart and Andrew Bancroft.

Eden Espinosa to Take Part in Broadway Cares’ “Broadway Does Mother’s Day” Digital Fundraising Special

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Eden Espinosais celebrating mothers everywhere…

The 42-year-old Mexican American actress and Broadway star, best known for her performances as Elphaba for the Broadway, Los Angeles, and San Francisco productions of the musical Wicked, will take part in Sunday’s Broadway Does Mother’s Day, a digital variety benefitting Broadway Cares’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund.

Eden Espinosa

Cast members from Broadway’s Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Jagged Little Pill, Company,Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Chicago, Diana, Mean Girls, Girl from the North Country, Six, andMrs. Doubtfirewill take part. 

The show is designed to replace some of the money usually raised by Broadway’s annual Easter Bonnet Competition, an event that was canceled this year due to the coronaviruspandemic.

The digital sketch show will include Broadway stars, their children and their mothers, with musical numbers, comedy and special guests planned. 

In addition to Espinosa, scheduled guests so far includeJill Abramovitz, Kate Baldwin, Jenni Barber, Laura Benanti,Betty Buckley, Carolee Carmello, Victoria Clark, Chuck Cooper, Claybourne Elder, Beanie Feldstein, Harvey Fierstein, In The Heights’ Mandy Gonzalez, Celia Rose Gooding, Molly Griggs, James Monroe Iglehart, Judy Kaye, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Raymond J. Lee, Lesli Margherita, Ellyn Marie Marsh, Alexis Michelle, Vanessa Williams, Betsy Wolfeand LaChanze.

Sketches from Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Jagged Little Pill, Company, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Chicago, Diana, Mean Girls, Girl from the North Country, Six, andMrs. Doubtfire will also be included.

“We’re delighted to see the theatercommunity come together for Broadway Does Mother’s Day and honored to be a beneficiary of what promises to be such a special show,” said Tom Viola, executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. “When crises hit, the Broadway community and theatre fans everywhere have always responded with generosity, compassion and action. We launched the COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund on behalf of and for those onstage, backstage and behind the scenes who need a helping hand during this pandemic.”

The broadcast will be streamed on Sunday, May 10 at 3:00 pm ET at BroadwayDoesMothersDay.com.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme” Headed to Hulu in June

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Lin-Manuel Miranda love supreme is headed to Hulu…

The Andrew Fried-directed documentary We Are Freestyle Love Supreme produced by the 40-year-old Hamiltoncreator and Broadway star has found a home at Hulu and will hit the streamer on June 5.

Lin-Manuel Miranda 

The documentary made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festivalearlier this year and highlights the 15-year journey of the hip-hop improvisational group founded by Miranda, Thomas Kail and Anthony Veneziale. 

The group called Freestyle Love Supreme was formed long before Miranda’s Hamiltonand In The Heightsmusicals hit Broadway. 

Fried began chronicling the group in the summer of 2005, documenting the early days of Freestyle Love Supreme beatboxing and rapping on the sidewalks. 

Fast forward 14 years later and Fried brings us to a reunion with a series of shows in New York City that led to a triumphant run on Broadway.

In addition to Miranda, Kail and Veneziale, the doc features Arthur Lewis, Christopher Jackson, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Chris Sullivan, Bill Sherman,James Monroe Iglehartand Andrew Bancroft.