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Wicked, the hit musical positively rolling in green, had its world premiere at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre before heading to Broadway ’s Gershwin Theatre, where it has broken the house record 18 times and regularly grosses more than $1.4 million each week.

Now one of the most successful shows in Broadway history (3.6 million people have [...]

The cast of the national tour of The Drowsy Chaperone will raise money for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation Monday, Aug. 11 at Club Fugazi, the home of Beach Blanket Babylon. Photo by Joan Marcus
For one night only, and to raise money for a good cause, the cast of The Drowsy Chaperone, along with special guests [...]

The Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation’s annual gala fundraiser, Help Is on the Way 14: Blame It on the Movies, is this Sunday, Aug. 3, at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
As usual, the roster of performers is impressive. Among the locals you’ll find singing songs from movies (both great movie musicals and pop songs [...]

When her stint on season two of “American Idol” flared into controversy, Frenchie Davis became infamous. The promising young singer had been kicked off early on because of some risqué photos found on the Internet.

The singer managed to turn that infamy into hard-won fame through sheer hard work and by maintaining a focus on what [...]

Taylor Hicks gets `Grease’-y

Posted by Chad Jones on 17 May 08 - 3 Comments

News from the Rialto: “American Idol” winner (Season 5) Taylor Hicks is going to fly onto Broadway as Teen Angel in the revival of Grease (you know, the one you didn’t want but came with a reality TV show anyway).
Hicks, who will be making his Broadway debut (alert the Tony Award nominating committee), is following [...]

Sir Andrew Lloyd `Idol’

Posted by Chad Jones on 23 Apr 08 - 5 Comments

According to “American Idol,” Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is responsible for some of the most “important” musicals of all time.
Wow. That’s pretty big. Step aside, Rodgers and Hammerstein. Back of the bus, Stephen Sondheim. The man who brought us Starlight Express and Catsis assuming the position of importance.
It’s undeniable that Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice [...]

Sucked into the `Idol’ maw

Posted by Chad Jones on 17 Apr 08 - 2 Comments

I knew there’d be a theater connection eventually so I could write about it here.
A point of pride for me the last seven years or so was that I had never so much as seen an episode of “American Idol.” It was hard not to know every detail of the show, even without watching it, [...]

Clay it isn’t so!

Posted by Chad Jones on 16 Oct 07 - 0 Comments

Claymates rejoice while the rest of us ponder why Clay Aiken ever stuck his fingers in Kelly Ripa’s mouth (OK, he covered her mouth with his hand, but like she said at the time, she didn’t know where that hand had been — right on, sister).
Aiken, the “American Idol” second-place finisher behind Ruben Studdard, will [...]