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Ben Crawford (singer)
Ben Crawford (born May 22, 1982) is an American singer and stage actor from Tucson, Arizona. He played the lead role of The Phantom in the Broadway production of ''The Phantom of the Opera'' for five years. He made his Broadway debut in 2007 in ''Les Misérables'' as the understudy for Jean Valjean and Javert. His first principal role on Broadway was the title role in ''Shrek the Musical''. Early life Born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, Crawford received a BFA in Music Theatre from the University of Arizona. Personal life On June 22, 2022 he announced his engagement via Instagram to former-''Phantom'' costar, Kelsey Connolly. ''The Phantom of the Opera'' Crawford made his debut performance in ''The Phantom of the Opera'' on April 16, 2018, following the tenure of Peter Joback. After a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Crawford returned to the role in October 2021 and was set to be the final Phantom when the show closed after a record 35 year run on Broadway. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Phantom Of The Opera (1986 Musical)
''The Phantom of the Opera'' is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, and a libretto by Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe. Based on the 1910 French novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux, it tells the story of a beautiful soprano, Christine Daaé, who becomes the obsession of a mysterious, masked musical genius living in the subterranean labyrinth beneath the Paris Opéra House. The musical opened in London's West End in 1986 and on Broadway in New York in 1988, in a production directed by Harold Prince and starring English classical soprano Sarah Brightman (Lloyd Webber's then-wife) as Christine Daaé, and Michael Crawford as the Phantom. It won the 1986 Olivier Award and the 1988 Tony Award for Best Musical, with Crawford winning the Olivier and Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. A film adaptation, directed by Joel Schumacher, was released in 2004. ''Phantom'' is currently the longest running show in Broadway history, and celebrated its 10,0 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inspector Javert
Javert (), no first name given in the source novel, is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel ''Les Misérables.'' He was presumably born in 1780 and died on June 7, 1832. First a prison guard, and then a police inspector, his character is defined by his legalist tendencies and lack of empathy for criminals of all forms. In the novel, he becomes obsessed with the pursuit and punishment of the protagonist Jean Valjean after his violation of parole. Character As Hugo depicts it, Javert's misguided and self-destructive pursuit of justice is more tragic than villainous. He is "a compound" of "respect for authority and hatred of rebellion," Hugo writes, "but he made them almost bad by dint of his exaggeration of them". Reflective thought is "an uncommon thing for him, and singularly painful" because thought inevitably contains "a certain amount of internal rebellion." He is without vices, but upon occasion will take a pinch of snuff. His life is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
On The Twentieth Century
''On the Twentieth Century'' is a musical with book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Cy Coleman. Based partly on the 1932 play ''Twentieth Century'' and its 1934 film adaptation, the musical is part operetta, part farce and part screwball comedy. The story involves the behind-the-scenes relationship between Lily, a temperamental actress and Oscar, a bankrupt theatre producer. On a luxury train traveling from Chicago to New York in the early 1930s, Oscar tries to cajole the glamorous Hollywood star into playing the lead in his new, but not-yet-written drama, and perhaps to rekindle their romance. The musical ran on Broadway in 1978–1979, running for 449 performances and winning five Tony Awards. It showcased Madeline Kahn in the role of Lily Garland, and when Kahn left the show, the role launched the career of Judy Kaye. Several revivals followed in London and elsewhere, and a 2015 Broadway revival featured Kristin Chenoweth and Peter Gallagher. Backgrou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Fish (musical)
''Big Fish'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by John August. It is based on Daniel Wallace (author), Daniel Wallace's 1998 novel, ''Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions'', and the 2003 film ''Big Fish'' written by John August and directed by Tim Burton. ''Big Fish'' revolves around the relationship between Edward Bloom, a travelling salesman, and his adult son Will, who looks for what is behind his father's tall stories. Background and concept The story shifts between two timelines. In the present-day real world, sixty-year-old Edward Bloom faces his mortality while his son, Will, prepares to become a father himself. In the storybook past, Edward ages from a teenager, encountering a Witch, a Giant, a Mermaid, and the love of his life, Sandra. The stories meet as Will discovers the secret his father never revealed. The musical plot differs from the 2003 film in certain aspects. The mythical town of Spectre — and Edward's quest to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
South Pacific (musical)
''South Pacific'' is a musical theatre, musical composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and Book (musical theatre), book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan. The work premiered in 1949 on Broadway theatre, Broadway and was an immediate hit, running for 1,925 performances. The plot is based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Pulitzer Prize–winning 1947 book ''Tales of the South Pacific'' and combines elements of several of those stories. Rodgers and Hammerstein believed they could write a musical based on Michener's work that would be financially successful and, at the same time, send a strong progressive message on racism. The plot centers on an American nurse stationed on a South Pacific island during World War II, who falls in love with a middle-aged expatriate French plantation owner but struggles to accept his mixed-race children. A secondary romance, between a U.S. Marine lieutenant and a young Tonkinese woman, explores his fears of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anastasia (musical)
''Anastasia'' is a musical play with music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and a book by Terrence McNally. Based on the 1997 animated film of the same name, the musical adapts the legend of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, who could have escaped the execution of her family. Years later, an amnesiac orphan named Anya hopes to find some trace of her family by siding with two con men who wish to take advantage of her likeness to the Grand Duchess. After completing a pre-Broadway run in Hartford, Connecticut, the show premiered on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre in April 2017, and since then it has spawned multiple productions worldwide. Background A reading was held in 2012, featuring Kelli Barret as Anya (Anastasia), Aaron Tveit as Dmitry, Patrick Page as Vladimir, and Angela Lansbury as the Empress Maria. A workshop was held on June 12, 2015, in New York City, and included Elena Shaddow as Anya, Ramin Karimloo as Gleb Vaganov, a new role, and Dougl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encores!
Encores! is a Tony-honored concert series dedicated to performing rarely heard American musicals, usually with their original orchestrations. Presented by New York City Center since 1994, Encores! has revived shows by Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Hart, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, and Stephen Sondheim, among many others. Encores! was the brainchild of Judith Daykin, who launched the series shortly after becoming Executive Director of City Center in 1992. Besides initiating Encores!, Daykin is credited for turning City Center from a rental hall into a presenting organization. The series has spawned nineteen cast recordings and numerous Broadway transfers, including Kander and Ebb's ''Chicago'', which is now the second longest-running musical in Broadway history. Videotapes of many Encores! productions are collected at the Billy Rose Theater Collection of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The series was led by artistic director Ja ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merrily We Roll Along (musical)
''Merrily We Roll Along'' is a 1981 American musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by George Furth. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. ''Merrily'' premiered on Broadway on November 16, 1981, in a production directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator Hal Prince, with a cast almost exclusively of teenagers and young adults. The show was not the success the previous Sondheim–Prince collaborations had been: after a chaotic series of preview performances, it opened to widely negative reviews, and closed after 16 performances and 52 previews. In the years since, the show has been extensively rewritten and has enjoyed several notable productions, including an off-Broadway revival in 1994, and a London premiere in 2000 that won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The show will have its first Broadway revival in fall 2023, directed by Maria Friedman, which will be a transfer of the 2022 off-Broadway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Next To Normal
''Next to Normal'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 2008 American rock musical with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt. The story centers on a mother who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that managing her illness has on her family. The musical addresses grief, depression, suicide, drug abuse, ethics in modern psychiatry, and the underbelly of suburban life. Before its Off-Broadway debut, ''Next to Normal'' received several workshop performances and won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Score and received Drama Desk Awards nominations for Outstanding Actress ( Alice Ripley) and Outstanding Score. After its Off-Broadway run, the show played from November 2008 to January 2009 at the Arena Stage while the theater was in its temporary venue in Virginia. The musical opened on Broadway in April 2009. It was nominated for eleven Tony Awards that year and won three: Best Original Score, Best Orchestration, and Best Perfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guys And Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also borrows characters and plot elements from other Runyon stories, such as "Pick the Winner". The show premiered on Broadway in 1950, where it ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical has had several Broadway and London revivals, as well as a 1955 film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra and Vivian Blaine. ''Guys and Dolls'' was selected as the winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. However, because of writer Abe Burrows' communist sympathies as exposed by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the Trustees of Columbia University vetoed the selection, and no Pulitzer for Drama was awarded that year. In 1998, Vivian Blaine, Sam Levene, Robert Alda and Is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Footloose (musical)
''Footloose'' is a 1998 musical based on the 1984 film of the same name. The music is by Tom Snow (among others), the lyrics by Dean Pitchford (with additional lyrics by Kenny Loggins), and the book by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie. Plot Act 1 ("Footloose/On any Sunday") Ren McCormack, an ordinary city teenager, is in a dance club in Chicago, dancing off his stresses bored of his long and arduous eight-hour work day. But this is his last visit; he tells his friends that due to financial pressures brought on by his father's abandonment, he and his mother Ethel are moving to a small town in the middle of nowhere named Bomont (much to the chagrin of his friends, who gripe, "Bomont?! Where the hell is Bomont?!"), where his aunt and uncle have offered them a place to stay. Once there, Ren and Ethel attend church and get their first glimpse of the minister Shaw Moore, a conservative minister who is a big authority figure in the town. After a long sermon lambasting the evils of "rock and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frederick Barrett
Frederick William Barrett (10 January 1883 – 3 March 1931) was a British stoker. After having served as a stoker on several ships, on 6 April 1912, he was hired on board the RMS ''Titanic'' as lead stoker. On April 15, 1912, while the ship was sinking, Barrett boarded lifeboat No. 13 and took command of it, thus surviving the disaster. He later testified before commissions of inquiry into the sinking of the ship and continued to work in the navy until the 1920s. In 1923, after losing his wife Mary Anne Jones, he remained in Liverpool and worked ashore as a logger. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis in 1931. Biography Youth and career Frederick William Barrett was born on 10 January 1883 in Bootle, near Liverpool. He was the only surviving child of Henry Charles Barrett (1862-1909), a Devon workman, and Mary Barrett (née Morgan) (1864-?) of Birkenhead. On 4 October of the same year, he was baptized in St. John's Church in Bootle. Little is known about his youth, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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