Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp have announced that they will be "hitting the road" in the current touring production of Rent.  Pascal and Rapp will reprise their roles of Roger and Mark, which they created as part of the original company and...

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I am notorious for not wearing proper winter clothes.  I like to leave the house in only a sweater or sports coat when down jackets and ski caps are necessary.  I think I must be trying to fool myself into believing that it is still Fall.  However, every year there comes a time when I can no longer pull the wool over my eyes (so to speak) any more.  That time has come.  I have busted out my big overcoat and my hat with the sides that flop down over my ears.  I surender to you, oh, Winter, I surender (what is that, Bixby?).Well, it might be getting a bit chillier outside, but there is plenty of red hot gossip and news happening on the rialto.  I hope these tidbits warm you up - unle...

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It was 1996 and I had just moved to NYC.  I was young and innocent and I thought that anything was possible.  There was a show at a downtown theater called New York Theater Workshop that everyone was talking about; it was called RENT.The city was swarming around the show and then word came that it would transfer to Broadway. A young man named Jonathan Larson who had worked in a small restaurant called The Moondance Diner had written this musical and now he was going to have a B'way hit!  As a young artist it was inspirational, but it was also bittersweet.  Mr. Larson did not live to see his musical arrive on Broadway, win every major award including the Tony and the Pulitzer, become a b...

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Today, Monday, November 19, 2007, marks the tenth day of the Local One, IATSE, Broadway Stagehands Union Strike and according to the NY Times and Newsday negotiations have "broken down". ......

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Several insider sources are discussing the real possibility of shows closing due to the Local One, IATSE, Broadway Stagehands Union Strike.  Word is that if the strike lasts much longer that Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical will not re-open, at all.  That show only runs through the holidays, but insiders are saying that it won't make much sense financially to re-open if negotiations drag on.  Two other long running shows may close as a result of the strike.  RENT, which has been struggling at the box office for a bit of time, might be a victim of the strike.  The financial hardship (caused by the strike) of the show just might force the producers to permanently shu...

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This an event.  Two words.  First word - four syllables.  Someone famous is a....yes, celebrity.  Second word.  Sounds like - parades.  No, not pomade.  Yes.  Charades.  Put it together.  Yes.  Celebrity Charades.  Wow.  It might be hard to play charades, but it is harder to write as if you're playing charades.  It doesn't quite work.  Ok, the whole point here is that a bunch of really famous people are going to play charades - for a good cause.The LAByrinth Theater Company (the kewl NY theater troupe that was started by the even kewler Philip Seymour Hoffman) is hosting a benefit to raise money for the company.  They have come up with a fun way to earn some dollars - Celebri...

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A few days ago I got a comment from a reader (betsyuclas18) wanting to know more about Adam Pascal in Rent and it got me thinking...why not have a blog feature where I focus on a  particular topic that YOU (the readers) might be interested in.  Thus, READER'S REQUEST is born!  Well, Betsyucla18 let's see if we can address your interest (er, obsession) with Mr. Pascal.  Firstly, he is back in Rent.  That's right (and you may have already heard this) but Adam is back in the part of Roger, a role that brought him to the attention of the public and pushed him into the spotlight.  If you want to see him (and Anthony Rapp who is back in the role of Mark) you had better run.  Are you runnin...

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First there was Fantasia.  Now comes Lakisha.  The Color Purple is starting to look like a reunion episode of American Idol.  All we need now is for Simon Cowell to interrupt the proceedings in the middle of the Act I Finale and say "I'm just being honest..." The producers of the hit Broadway show The Color Purple (and you might remember that one of those producers is the Big O herself - Oprah!) announced some cast replacements yesterday.  Among those joining the show will be Chaka Khan, BeBe Winans, and American Idol contestant Lakisha Jones. Lakisha will join on December 19th and the rest will come on board January 9th, 2008.   I do have a bit of a beef about the American Idol thing...

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