London’s Tina—The Tina Turner Musical to Welcome New Tina and Ike

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Andrew Gans

Beginning June 25, Karis Anderson—currently starring in the title role of London’s Tina—The Tina Turner Musical at the Aldwych Theatre—will share the part with new cast member Zoe Birkett (The Witches, Moulin Rouge! The Musical). Olivier nominee Rolan Bell (Memphis, The Play That Goes Wrong) will also join the show that day in the role of Ike Turner.

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Jinkx Monsoon is Audrey and Corbin Bleu is Seymour in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ Off-Broadway

This post was originally published on Playbill - News

Written by: Andrew Gans, Logan Culwell-Block

Production Photos

The hit revival of the Alan Menken-Howard Ashman musical also welcomes James Carpinello to the Westside April 2.

Two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon—who made her Broadway debut in Chicago in 2023 and is set to rejoin the revival in June—joins Off-Broadway’s Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag queen to play the role in a major production of the Howard Ashman-Alan Menken musical.

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This Season on Broadway: The Diegetic Songs

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Margaret Hall

The 2023–2024 season is the season of diegetic songs, with a wealth of diegetic music factoring in to some of the hottest tickets in town. But just what is a diegetic song?

Similar to the show-within-a-show trope, diegetic music is music within a show that the characters can hear: the characters know they are singing, and so does  anyone else observing them onstage.

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Amber Iman on Readying Lempicka While Advocating for Black Women on Broadway

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Diep Tran

The song “Woman Is” from the new musical Lempicka contains some evocative lyrics: “Woman is speed, green, shattered / Woman is powerful.” That anthem is sung by the title character, Tamara de Lempicka, who is describing her lover and muse, Rafaela. As the woman who plays Rafaela, it’s been a delight for Amber Iman to internalize the adoration expressed in that song. “To know that that song is being sung about me, it’s like, ‘Whoa, look at me! I’m out here being a love interest!’” she exclaims with a laugh. “It just feels like a gift.”

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Maria Friedman Is Finally Bringing Her Olivier-Winning Performances to Broadway

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Logan Culwell-Block

Maria Friedman is a beloved fixture of the West End stage, with three Olivier Awards (London’s version of the Tony Awards) and a host of world class performances to her name. Over a career spanning more than three decades, she’s played such iconic roles as Dot in Sunday in the Park With George, Mary in Merrily We Roll Along, Fosca in Passion, Sukie in The Witches of Eastwick, Mother in Ragtime, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, among many others.

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You Might Not Like Will Dagger in His Latest Role… He’s Willing to Risk That

This post was originally published on Playbill - Features

Written by: Talaura Harms

Special Features

Actor Will Dagger is becoming an indie-theatre darling. He’s compelling to watch, imbuing his characters with a quiet earnestness that floats beyond the figurative footlights of the stage. But in his latest role in Ryan Drake’s you don’t have to do anything, there’s something dangerous lying beneath his simple delivery. Something that even Dagger himself finds it difficult to face.

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