A Glimpse Into A (Two Performance) Day In The Life of Zachary James
from Playbill.com, PHOTO EXCLUSIVE…
By Matthew Blank
24 Aug 2010
Zachary James, The Addams Family’s butler Lurch, armed with a digital camera, offers a glimpse into a (two performance) day in the life of a Broadway performer, from morning wake-up to final curtain.
Placing the cursor over a picture will pause it, and reveal the caption.
Thank you, Playbill.com, and Mr. James, for these great pics!
Drama Desk Coverage by Jimmy Merrill
Our special correspondent, Broadway journalist Jimmy Merrill, covers the 2010 Drama Desk Awards for NBC. Some great interviews! Look for Anne Hathaway, Viola Davis and Liev Schreiber. (Courtesy, NBC)
Jonas Brothers Visit The Addams Family
Nick and Kevin Jonas, along with little brother Frankie, visited another famous family this week – The Addams Family!
For more pics, visit broadway.com.
Nathan Lane on Vacation from The Addams Family
Nathan Lane will be on vacation from The Addams Family Musical next week, August 24 thru 29. We’d love to hear from anyone who’s seeing the show with Merwin Foard in as Gomez. 
Please leave your comments here.
Cast Change For “The Addams Family” Musical?
Saw this on Playbill.com under “Casting and Jobs” and found it very interesting. Anyone with inside info care to comment?
| Job Details | |
| Title | The Addams Family – role of Pugsley – Open Auditions |
| Category | Performer |
| Description | Broadway / Production Contract; $1605/week minimum Ongoing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre Producer: Stuart Oken Directors: Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Music Director: Mary-Mitchell Campbell Casting: Telsey + Company/Justin HuffSeeking the following role only:Pugsley: Caucasian Male, 12 years old. Plump, adorable and funny. Enjoys being tortured by his sister Wednesday, he is unlike other boys his age. His singing voice needs to be big and unchanged.
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Nathan Lane on the set of Modern Family
Eric Stonestreet tweeted this picture of him and Jesse Tyler Ferguson on the set of Modern Family with guest star Nathan Lane.
A Peek Into Jackie Hoffman’s Dressing Room
To Grandma’s House We Go: Jackie Hoffman Shows Off Her Addams Family Dressing Room
By Broadway.com Staff , July 28, 2010
Photo by Jenny Anderson for Broadway.com
Broadway.com is no stranger to The Addams Family star Jackie Hoffman’s dressing room, as it often functions as the filming location for Hoffman’s popular Addams Family video blog. Hoffman welcomed us into her space at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre for an even more in-depth look at what makes Grandma feel at home. “Tchotchkes keep me going,” she says of her room, which includes everything from photos of her own family to gifts from Broadway pals. Take a look!
“That’s my husband, to make me think it’ll be comforting when I have no work. ‘Oh, I have a life and that’s apparently what’s supposed to really matter.’”
“Mary Testa, another Broadway great, gave this to me. Her friend was Nancy Grace’s assistant and it says [in a dead on Nancy Grace impression], ‘Dearest Jackie, keep the faith, friend. You bring joy to so many. PS: O.J. did it!’”
“This is my father. He goes with me to every show so he can see me on the Broadway. He died before I got into Hairspray and did the Broadway thing, so at least he goes to the dressing room. It’s his Mad Men photo at his office…always with the pipe. It lasted perfectly until recently there was another fucking photo stuck to it and I had to [makes ripping noise].”
“This is the CD Jackie Hoffman Live at Joe’s Pub to remind me I have something outside of [The Addams Family].”
“My aunt Judy gave me this. It looks like a Beatrix Potter mouse, but I’ve called it a bear, and it says ‘A gift for someone special.’ She’s literally the funniest woman ever. Even with all the professional and non-professional funny people I know, she’s the funniest by far.”
Nathan Lane To Perform At The White House
Monday, July 19th – The President and First Lady will continue the White House music series celebrating the arts and demonstrating the importance of arts education by featuring Broadway music and its prestigious performers.
The Tony-winning performers are actor-singers Nathan Lane (two Tonys), Audra McDonald (four Tonys), Idina Menzel, Tonya Pinkins and Karen Olivo (one each, for “Wicked,” “Jelly’s Last Jam” and “West Side Story,” respectively), and pianist Marvin Hamlisch, a Tony winner for his score to “A Chorus Line.” Working behind the scenes is Jerry Mitchell, Tony-winning choreographer (for the 2004 revival of “La Cage aux Folles”), who will guide 20 Washington, D.C., dance students in a segment from “Hairspray,” another show he choreographed.
Also performing are Brian d’Arcy James (”Shrek: The Musical”), Chad Kimball (”Memphis”) and Assata Alston, a 12-year-old from Queens, N.Y., who recently debuted at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
The White House announced Friday that Elaine Stritch and “Hairspray” veterans Danielle Arci and Constantine Rousouli have been added to the show; Stritch is a Tony winner (for her one-woman show, “Elaine Stritch at Liberty”), bringing the ensemble’s collective career Tony haul to 12).
Presumably, critics who slammed the president and first lady last year for wasting taxpayer money when they flew to New York for dinner and a Broadway show (August Wilson’s drama “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone”) won’t complain about Broadway coming to them. Obama-watchers can catch the president’s show-opening remarks live on Monday at 4 p.m. Pacific on the Internet at www.whitehouse.gov, but the public will have to wait until October for the performances, which will be taped for broadcast Oct. 20 as an installment in the PBS series, “In Performance at the White House.”
Bebe Neuwirth will show off ‘Morticia’s Nails’ on July 15
Bebe Neuwirth to Unveil The Addams Family Themed Nail Polish, With Proceeds to Benefit the Actors Fund
Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth will host the launch of Morticia’s Nails, a nail polish collection inspired by her character in The Addams Family, on July 15 at the Eventi Hotel. Neuwirth and her husband, Chris Calkins, have teamed with Essie Cosmetics to design and release the line, which will include three colors: Midnight Tango, Bone Chilling White and Blood Curdling Red. All proceeds will benefit The Actors Fund. Neuwirth will be joined by her female Addams co-stars at the event.
Morticia’s Nails will have a limited release of 5,000 pieces retailing at $30 per three-color set. Neuwirth expects the collection to raise more than $100,000 for charity.
Later on July 15, the actress will appear with Addams castmates Carolee Carmello, Jackie Hoffman, Zachary James, Wesley Taylor, Adam Riegler and Krysta Rodriguez, and composer Andrew Lippa at an album signing for the show’s cast recording at the Lincoln Square Barnes and Noble.
Cast members of “The Addams Family” to Perform at Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle has announced its events calendar for the month of July.
On Thursday, July 15 at 4:30pm, cast members of THE ADDAMS FAMILY will perform and sign copies of the original Cast Recording. Appearing at the event will be composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa, Bebe Neuwrith, Carolee Carmello, Zachary James, Adam Riegler, Wesley Taylor, Krysta Rodriguez and Jackie Hoffman.
Another Look At Merwin Foard
I’ve posted a couple of interviews/articles on Merwin Foard, understudy for Gomez and Mal Beineke in The Addams Family Musical, but I think my readers can stand one more. I find Foard truly fascinating, and anyone who can go on in the lead role of a show, without a single cast rehearsal, is a hero in my book!
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Understanding Broadway: The Standby
By Frank DiLella, Theatre Producer for NY1 News
01 Jul 2010
Merwin Foard observing the performance from the backstage monitor at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
There’s a chameleon lurking in the wings over at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. No, I’m not talking about the Basil Twist creature that lives under Pugsley Addams’ bed.
Eight times a week this chameleon, known as actor Merwin Foard, sits patiently backstage, prepared to step in for Nathan Lane’s Gomez or Terrence Mann’s Mal Beineke — just in case anything goes wrong with either performer.
Foard, a longtime musical theatre vet, has spent the last few years standing by for some of Broadway’s biggest stars, from Michael Cerveris’ Sweeney in Sweeney Todd to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s Fred in Kiss Me, Kate. Foard’s new home is now with The Addams Family.
“I arrive at the theatre an hour before curtain and go to the green room, where we have a video screen of the stage,” said Foard during a recent matinee. “Once the performance begins, I watch the monitor and check for differences in choreography and blocking. Physically, I perform the show with the performers while watching it on the screen.”
Unlike a typical understudy in a Broadway musical, who also appears as a minor role in the show or in the chorus, Foard is called a standby — a role that demands an actor to literally stand by — in case a leading performer needs to miss a show or leave mid-performance.
“It’s a tricky thing to take on,” added Foard. “You have to do it all on your own. You’re subject to watch the rehearsal…but you’re rarely physically on your feet…so it requires a lot of homework you need to do privately.”
That homework came in handy out of town last fall in Chicago, where The Addams Family had its world premiere.
“It was Thanksgiving weekend and Nathan came down with bronchitis,” said Foard. “I had no rehearsal and we were in previews. All the rehearsal time had been afforded to the actual cast, so when it was announced that Nathan was going to have to miss a show, we all went into emergency mode.”
He added, “I worked with our musical director, choreographer and director to get me as physically prepared as I could be in a rehearsal studio so that I could do the next three performances.”
As for his initial reaction when he was told he was going on for the first time as Gomez? “Shock. It was so early on in the process and you can’t fault Nathan for being ill. I got into this laser focus. You say to yourself: ‘[I] have to do it’ — because the only other option is to cancel the performance.”
It also helps to get support from the show’s leading lady, Bebe Neuwirth. “Bebe was fantastic. She was there to rehearse scenes and choreography.”
And while this chameleon, who calls himself “the Swiss army knife of Broadway,” has made a career of standing by for some of Broadway’s finest, he says he hopes to continue to shed layers, looking forward to new experiences on The Great White Way.
“Of course it’s nice to be thought of as a dependable back-up. But I’m anxious to have a role outright and not have to split focus.”
Wesley Taylor at the Duplex
music direction by
Will Van Dyke
Pit orchestra musicians rock on their day off under the musical direction of Will Van Dyke. With Greg Germann (drums), Jon Price (bass), Allison Seidner (cello), Jake Ezra Schwartz (guitar) and Erica Von Kleist (sax).
June features the music of Elton John performed by Alex Brightman (Wicked), Michael Buchanan (Cry-Baby), Celina Carvajal (Cats), Preston Sadleir (Mrs. Sharpe) and Wesley Taylor (The Addams Family).
$20 Cover at the door, plus 2 Drink Minimum
$15 with reservation or for AEA, plus 2 Drink Minimum
Mon, Jun 28 @ 9:30 PM
Reservations STRONGLY ADVISED!!!
“Three” is an Addams Family Charm
The Addams Family musical continues its money-counting, critic-confounding ways with a box office gross of $1,339,693 for the week ending June 20.
And that’s a lucky Number Three, behind only Wicked and The Lion King.
Bebe & Nathan Soar at the Tonys
Bebe and Nathan hit it out of the park at the Tony Awards. And are incredibly good sports.
