By Randy Gener
Disney’s ALADDIN, the hit Broadway musical

DISNEY’S ALADDIN

Telly Leung, a singing actor of some renown will soon portray the leading part in Disney’s ALADDIN, the hit Broadway musical. Starting Tuesday, June 13, 2017, Leung replaces follows the handsome Adam Jacobs, who left the company earlier this year to lead the North American tour of ALADDIN, currently playing Chicago’s Cadillac Palace Theatre through September 10, 2017.

If Leung’s name is new to you, then it is worth starting outright that he has a gorgeous voice and is quite becoming as a romantic leading type. He is well-respected in the culture of Broadway. Recently on Broadway, for example, Leung has starred in the musicals ALLEGIANCE and IN TRANSIT. He also appeared on Broadway in FLOWER DRUM SONG and PACIFIC OVERTURES (Roundabout Theatre Company on Times Square) and was part of the final Broadway company of the hit musical RENT. He originated Boq in the Chicago production of WICKED and played Dalton Academy Warbler Wes on Fox’s smash television series “Glee.”

Consider catching him on the PBS documentary series “Broadway or Bust,” where he can be seen coaching the next generation of Broadway talent during the annual Jimmy Awards. Or consider listening to him sing, since he can be heard on numerous original Broadway cast albums and has two solo albums on the Yellow Sound Label, Songs for You (2012) and I’ll Cover You (2016). For more information, please visit www.tellyleung.com.

Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, the show features music by Tony Award® and eight-time Oscar® winner Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and NEWSIES), lyrics by two-time Oscar winner Howard Ashman (THE LITTLE MERMAID), three-time Tony Award and three-time Oscar winner Tim Rice (EVITA and AIDA) and four-time Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin (THE WEDDING SINGER), with a book by Beguelin, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (THE BOOK OF MORMON).

TICKETS
Tickets are available for purchase through AladdinTheMusical.com, by calling Ticketmaster’s Disney on Broadway hotline at 866-870-2717, or in person at the New Amsterdam Theatre box office (214 W. 42nd Street). The New Amsterdam Theatre box office is open Monday through Friday 9:00am – 8:00pm, Saturday 10:00am – 8:00pm and Sunday 10:00am – 6:30pm.

Premium and group tickets are also available. For information about tickets for groups of 20 or more, CLICK HERE.

For more information, visit AladdinTheMusical.com. Connect with Aladdin on Facebook.com/Aladdin and Twitter.com/Aladdin.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN?

The Joseph Papp Public Theater has gone mighty political on us, and it’s got the big-name stars to prove it. Imagine Ellen Burstyn as the feisty Senator Elizabeth Warren. How about Staceyann Chin as Senator Mazie K. Hirono) and David Costabile as both Tom Price and Senator Chris Coons? Ever ambitious, Aasif Mandvi will take on Scott Pruitt and Senator Todd Young.


Smart Denis O’Hare of “True Blood” fame bites his vampire fangs on Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Lindsey Graham. New Yorker Editor David Remnick tries out his acting chops as Al Franken, and Ron Rifkin will likely ham it up as Senator Bernard Sanders.

The occasion? A one-night-only evening of verbatim testimony courtesy of New York’s Public Theater and London’s National Theatre, which just announced initial casting today for the special one-night-only public staged reading of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN? Scenes from the Senate Confirmation Hearings of President Trump’s cabinet on Thursday, May 11 at 8:00 p.m. at Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street). Edited and directed by Nicolas Kent, this timely event will shed a spotlight on the gripping verbatim Senate sessions that gave startling insight and direction into the future of the Trump Presidency. The National Theatre presented a public staged reading of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN? on Monday, April 24 at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End.

Note the use of the question mark in the title, which is derived from the Robert Redford film All the President’s Men, which obviously carries no title.
Aasif Mandvi
“Sometimes the most powerful theater is reality, distilled,” said Public Theater artistic director Oskar Eustis. “I’m immensely proud of ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN?, Nicolas Kent’s superb rendition of the Cabinet confirmation hearings which have just concluded. The theater is not always a rapid-response medium, but when it can be, it’s electrifying. This is a real-time portrait of the American government, and it is as riveting as the headlines and far, far more revelatory. It’s like reading the news lit by lightning.”

Tickets to ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN?, priced at $27, are available now online at www.TicketMaster.com, via phone at (800) 982-2787, or in person at the Town Hall Box Office (123 West 43rd Street). For more information, visit publictheater.org.

This reading follows Nicolas Kent’s three-hour, nine-part staging of THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN in December 2010. It seeks to responding to current events almost as they happen, and it will rehearse for us the fierce fight between Senate Republicans and Democrats over the key cabinet members who will lead the Trump administration’s policy on everything from Russia to civil rights, healthcare to climate change. In short, documentary theater.
David Costabile
The text was pulled from the nomination hearings of the most powerful of these cabinet appointees: Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon/Mobil, nominee for Secretary of State responsible for America’s foreign policy; Jeff Sessions, a leading campaigner for the President and now his chief law officer; Dr. Tom Price, a strident critic of Obamacare and nominee for Health Secretary; and Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic nominated as Director of the Environmental Protection Agency. Subjected to tough and relentless cross-examination, each man was questioned forensically about his ethics, beliefs and political philosophies. Each had to fend off accusations ranging from corruption to deceit or racism. What they said—and what they didn’t—gives vital insight into the future policies and direction of a Trump Presidency, and America itself.

THE CHALK GARDEN

Angela Lansbury will head an all-star cast in the staged reading of Enid Bagnold’s British drama THE CHALK GARDEN, a benefit for The Acting Company, to be held for one night only, Monday, June 19, at 7 PM, at The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, 68th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. She will portray a character names Mrs. Saint Maugham.

The plot? Here’s the press release description: “After many younger years as a London society hostess, Mrs. Saint Maugham (Lansbury) fills her days tending her garden at her country estate. When she seeks a governess for her granddaughter, Laurel (whose habit of setting small fires is getting a bit out of hand) the child connects instantly with Miss Madrigal, an enigmatic woman who has come without any references.

Who, exactly, is this Madrigal? With a talent for gardening and avoiding questions, she fascinates the equally inscrutable Laurel, who can never resist a mystery…especially if it might involve murder.”

The Acting Company’s executive director Elisa Spencer-Kaplan has promised “an unforgettable evening.” Well, it will likely be however bad or good Lansbury might think of how well she was cast in the reading. Why? Because there’s food involved. The performance will be followed by dinner with the cast at the historic Union Club, 101 East 69th Street. This portion of the evening is only available at certain ticket levels.

The benefit event comes on the heels of the Company’s national repertory tour of JULIUS CAESAR and the world premiere play X: OR, BETTY SHABAZZ VS. THE NATION by Marcus Gardley, a pairing heralded by the New York Times as “a stroke of curatorial inspiration.” The latter’s tour runs through Sunday, April 2nd, closing at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY.

Donor-level tickets are on sale now exclusively through The Acting Company by calling 212-258-3111. Donor tickets with priority seating without dinner are $500. Tickets with dinner start at $1,000.

The Kaye Playhouse box office will open April 19 for general ticket sales. Show-only tickets may be purchased exclusively through The Kaye online at www.hunter.cuny.edu/kayeplayhouse or by phone, 212-772-4448. General tickets are priced from $95 to $350.

For more information on The Acting Company, visit TheActingCompany.org or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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