Gordon Cox: Last News

Gordon Cox Theater Editor “Smash,” the TV series about the making of a fictional Broadway musical, takes an early step toward becoming a real-life Broadway musical on Sept. 22, with a pair of industry readings led by Tony nominees Robyn Hurder and Kerry Butler.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Rachel Bloom remembers the exact moment that she decided her latest stage project, “Death, Let Me Do My Show,” couldn’t be the lightweight standup show she was hoping it would be. It was when she stood in front of a white board looking at an outline of the jokes she intended to tell, reading phrases like “pregnancy tests” and “my butthole is like the hurricane.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: “There’s nothing dumber than seeing standup bits or comedy songs bullet-pointed out,” Bloom says on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, the musical “If/Then”: These aren’t the usual conversational touchpoints in a discussion about a video game. But all three of those musical theater references, and many more, were brought up by the creators of the new video game Stray Gods on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety’s theater podcast.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor News has been grim in the theater sector lately, as economic headwinds have forced organizations around the country to reduce programming, lay off staff, pause production or, in some cases, fold entirely. In a conversation with two of his colleagues in the field, one theater leader said out loud what all the headlines seem to imply: “When we think about these models and we say it was broken — it’s not only broken. It was also doomed,” said Kelvin Dinkins Jr., the executive director of American Repertory Theater, on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Jason Alexander’s latest theater project, the new comedy “The Cottage,” opened on Broadway last night — and it’s just the first of a string of theater projects that stand poised to keep the former “Seinfeld” star busy in the theater for the next year or more. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: Alexander revealed what he’s got coming up on the latest episode of “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The movie comedy “Theater Camp” is one of those dreams-come-true success stories that sometimes emerge from the Sundance Film Festival: Scrappy indie movie debuts in Park City, the audience falls in love with it, and overnight the movie is picked up for a multimillion distribution deal. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor With a resumé that includes “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Fire Island” and the upcoming comedy “How to Die Alone,” Conrad Ricamora has gotten some of his best screen work playing queer characters. And the actor, now starring on Broadway in “Here Lies Love,” wouldn’t want it any other way. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor With TV series like “Citadel,” “Hunters” and “Solos” under her belt, Tori Sampson is one of TV’s busiest young writers — and right now, that means she’s busy striking in solidarity with the Writers Guild of America. But as it turns out, she had plenty of work in the theater to keep her busy during the initial few weeks of the WGA’s walkout. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor In a Broadway awards ceremony without a script, there were bound to be unexpected twists, turns and upsets. Here are the biggest snubs, surprises and standouts from the 2023 Tony Awards. SNUB: The WGA’s request to nominated membersAfter producers of the Tonys vowed not to include material written specifically for the awards show, the Writers Guild of America agreed not to picket the ceremony. But the union made a follow-up request: They asked Tony-nominated guild members not to attend the Tonys in solidarity, and to pre-tape acceptance speeches or have a non-member accept on their behalf. However, many of those union members, after conferring with the Dramatists Guild, made the decision to attend the Tonys anyway – and to use the nationally televised opportunity to get vocal about their support for writers and the WGA. Sure enough, writers spotlit the WGA’s cause starting with the evening’s very first award, when “Kimberly Akimbo” lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire opened his speech with a shout-out to writers. Later, host Ariana DeBose opened the CBS portion of the telecast by voicing her own support of the union.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor As they say in “Into the Woods”: It takes two.  And not just in “Into the Woods.” The 2023 Tony nominations remind us several times over that sometimes an actor’s role is so closely tied to another that it’s difficult to imagine a performance without the organic give-and-take shared with a co-star.    From “Into the Woods,” there’s Sara Bareilles and Brian D’Arcy James, both contenders for Tony Awards as lead performers for their work in the tightly linked roles of the Baker and the Baker’s Wife. Among their fellow nominees, there’s Ben Platt and Micaela Diamond as an accused murderer and the steadfast wife who strives to exculpate him in “Parade,” plus Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford as the murderous barber and the baker who loves him in “Sweeney Todd.” And the two lead roles in “Topdog/Underdog” and “Some Like It Hot” are so intertwined that these co-stars find themselves competing in the same category against a castmate.  

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The 2023 Tony nominations aren’t just a portrait of theatrical excellence. They’re also a snapshot of Broadway in progress.   After the events of 2020 prompted a wave of public pledges and new initiatives aiming to expand equity and diversity across all sectors of the business, this year’s nominations give theatermakers a chance to check on the change. No nominations list can render a complete picture of an industry and no one would argue that Broadway is done with the work, but all of this year’s nominees say they’re conscious of the ways the nominations reflect a larger, industry-wide shift.  “I think this year shows we are gradually getting better,” says Bonnie Milligan, a 2023 nominee (and, for many, the frontrunner) for featured actress in a musical. The plus-sized actor finds herself in the Tony conversation for “Kimberly Akimbo” after what she describes as years of “getting typed out of so many rooms because of my size.” 

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The writers of “Kimberly Akimbo” tell a story about the musical’s creation that feels as if it could be a scene in the show itself. Like the Tony-nominated production, now up for eight awards including best musical, it’s a tale that lands right in the overlap of humor and heartache. In the summer of 2017, just before composer Jeanine Tesori and bookwriter-lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire were scheduled to spend two weeks developing the first act of “Kimberly Akimbo” at the Sundance Theatre Lab, Tesori had a cerebral hemorrhage. She was in the ICU for 11 days, the Tony-winning composer (“Fun Home”) recalled. She missed the entire first week of the show’s time at Sundance.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor When Jessica Chastain explains how she and her collaborators created the standout moments in her Tony-nominated Broadway performance in “A Doll’s House,” one wouldn’t expect to hear her mention the Sam Raimi horror movie “Evil Dead.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Thanks to her acclaimed performance in “Parade,” Micaela Diamond has found herself nominated for a Tony Award at just 23 years old. The attention could be overwhelming for any young actor, so it’s a good thing she knows someone who’s been through it before: her co-star and fellow nominee Ben Platt, who was nominated for a Tony (and won) at 23 for “Dear Evan Hansen.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The recent Broadway revival of “Topdog/Underdog” may have ended its run, but for Corey Hawkins, the actor now nominated for a Tony Award for his role in the play, the experience left him with something that he’s still carrying forward into all his future work: “Fearlessness,” he said on the latest episode of Stagecraft, Variety‘s theater podcast. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The nominations for the 2023 Tony Awards are out — and for every pleasant surprise on the list, there were a few disappointments. Here are the biggest snubs and surprises from this morning’s Tony nominations announcement, plus the one great big question that could cast a real shadow over the ceremony. SURPRISE: Big Love for “Ain’t No Mo'”Jordan E. Cooper’s “Ain’t No Mo’,” a blistering comedy about racial injustice in America, was certainly one of the buzziest plays of the season, and many critics raved when it opened in December. But the show proved unable to find a foothold at the box office and closed just a few weeks later — a brief lifespan that could have put the play in danger of getting forgotten come awards season, especially in a crowded field of contenders. But nominators remembered “Ain’t No Mo'” so well they gave it six noms (including one for play and an acting nod for writer-performer Cooper), making it one of the most-nominated plays of the season.

Gordon Cox Theater Editor With the new production of her comedy “The Thanksgiving Play,” Larissa FastHorse has become the first known Native American female playwright on Broadway. Now she can cross it off her to-do list. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: “I’ve had this goal for a long time,” FastHorse, a winner of the MacArthur Foundation’s “Genius Grant,” said on “Stagecraft,” Variety‘s theater podcast. “I told my agent probably 10 years ago that I wanted to be the first Native American female playwright on Broadway, because sadly we haven’t had one that we know of. I was very clear that I wanted to be that person.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Ask Cameron Mackintosh if “The Phantom of the Opera” will be back, and he doesn’t play coy. “Of course it will return,” he says. “All the great musicals do.” But the British mega-producer, whose credits include “Cats” and “Les Misérables,” also speaks candidly about the forces pushing “Phantom,” the longest-running show on Broadway, to end its record run on April 16 after 35 years. Even before lockdown, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, which had fallen into a boom-or-bust pattern of sales fluctuations based on seasonal tourism influxes, seemed to be reaching the end of its lifespan. “Over the years, the number of good weeks at the box office started to shrink,” Mackintosh says. “Some of the really bad weeks, we lost a lot of money, particularly in New York.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Here are two wildlife facts you won’t learn in “Life of Pi”: Orangutans are quiet, and zebras stay silent when they’re attacked. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: You’d never guess either of those things from Broadway’s “Life of Pi,” because the creators and puppeteers of the show use all manner of tools and tricks to make their animal puppets feel life-like — including having them behave in ways that aren’t life-like at all. “Orangutans are very quiet beings,” explained Olivier Award-winning puppeteer Fred Davis on the new episode of Variety’s theater podcast, Stagecraft. “But if we had a very quiet orangutan for the duration of its time onstage, it wouldn’t have the same impact or believability as we need it to.”

Gordon Cox Theater Editor Celebrated playwright Tom Stoppard has a Broadway success on his hands with “Leopoldstadt,” his (very) loosely autobiographical play now in the sixth month of a long run currently set to close in July. He’s very pleased about that — but right now there’s something else that’s got him thoroughly distressed: Writer’s block. Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below:

Gordon Cox Theater Editor The new play “Pictures From Home” is Tony Award winner Nathan Lane’s 25th Broadway show — and he’s threatening not to come back for a 26th. “This may be the last one,” Lane said on Stagecraft, Variety’s theater podcast. “This may be my swan song! Winters in New York — I don’t know how many more I can take. And eight shows a week is a big ask.” Listen to this week’s “Stagecraft” podcast below: