911 stories by "Michael Riedel"
Summer doldrums have set in along much of Broadway, but over at the Nederlander Organization, which owns nine theaters in Times Square, the midnight oil is burning.
The Nederlanders are plan…
It was my good fortune to see all of Tommy Tune's musicals while the Broadway legend was at the height of his powers.
The elegant, sensual "Nine," starring Raul Julia and 15 of the most bea…
Hbo scored one of its highest ratings ever with "Behind the Candelabra," the compelling " and creepy " movie about Liberace and his boy toy, Scott Thorson.
Now I'm hearing that the producer …
Nobody ever pegged James Gandolfini for a leading man. Least of all James Gandolfini.
The actor, who died suddenly this week at age 51, thought of himself as a supporting player. And before …
Last fall in London, when I dropped by Cameron Mackintosh's elegant Bedford Square headquarters, located in two adjoining Georgian mansions, the place was buzzing.Composer Claude-Michel SchÃ…
While everybody with a dog in the fight on Broadway was at the Tony Awards on Sunday " the "Kinky Boots" team dancing and cheering, the "Matilda" team scowling and cursing " another group of…
Why 'Matilda' got the 'Boots'
It's time to overhaul the Tony Awards.
Tonight's telecast, to be broadcast on CBS at 8, will look like, well, last year's telecast. And like the one the year before.
Neil Patrick Harris, hos…
And the winner is . . .
Those four words will set off butterflies in plenty of stomachs at the Tony Awards. A few key races have tightened up in the past week, so there should be a decent am…
I'm going to let you in on a Broadway secret. It's supposed to be a surprise for Sunday's telecast, so I'm asking you to keep it between ourselves.
A special Tony honor will be presented to…
Who's on first at the Tony Award telecast?
Everybody!
Details are starting to leak out about the show, which CBS will broadcast June 9 from Radio City Music Hall.
The opening act is always k…
Hello, Bette!
Although the Tony nominators gave her a poke in the eye, most of Broadway loves Bette Midler in "I'll Eat You Last" and is delighted she's back on the legitimate stage after an…
Hold your breath. Make a wish. Now count to three.
Come with me, and you'll be at the first preview of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"!
I have a spy who went under cover as an Oompa Loom…
Tony madness continues to sweep through Shubert Alley.
The races are tightening. The campaigns are in full swing. Rivals are quietly trying to do in one another. Everyone's tense. Everyone's…
Broadway is in the grip of Tony fever " which means everybody's behaving as if they were in that great Alexander Payne movie "Election."
This year, the role of Tracy Flick is being played by…
Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, have become fixtures on the Broadway red carpet, attending the openings of "Lucky Guy," "Motown" and "I'll Eat You Last."
What's the old pop icon doing aro…
With the Tony nominations out, and the big winners predictable " "Matilda," "Pippin," "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" " Broadway's busy putting toget…
Jon Wilner, the former Broadway advertising executive, liked to say that you can slip anything into The New York Times " if you know how to massage the system.
Producer Scott Rudin certainly…
Producer Scott Rudin certainly "massaged the system" Saturday with an ad for "The Testament of Mary" that included a little poke at Times theater reporter Patrick Healy.
What would the Tonys be without a little controversy " a little tempest in tap shoes?
And I don't mean the fact that the infantile "Bring It On" was nominated as Best Musical.
No, this littl…
Last week in this column, I wondered whether Bette Midler would win a Tony for her delicious comic turn as Hollywood superagent Sue Mengers.
But as one of my readers " Chris Galka " thoughtf…
Can the "Divine Miss M" win a "Divine Miss T?"
That is, can Bette Midler win a Tony Award (which is named after Antoinette Perry)?
Midler returns to Broadway tonight for the first time in ne…
'mamma Mia!" is on the move.
After 12 years and 5,000 performances, "Mamma Mia!" is decamping from the Winter Garden to the Broadhurst in the fall.
The move is a tacit acknowledgment that th…
'A night off, a night off, my house seats for a night off!" is the refrain heard round Shubert Alley as openings come fast and furious before the Tony deadline.
But just when you thought you…
I've been a little sniff-sniffy about "Motown, the Musical," which opens Sunday at the Lunt-Fontanne.
Its script, by Motown mogul Berry Gordy (with an assist from Dick Scanlan), isn't exactl…
