March 2010 – We did a few developmental readings, one in New York City and one for Revision Theatre in Asbury Park. We learned a lot, tried out some new material and are moving forward.
February 2010 – We moved 20 blocks uptown and Broadway
Backwards 5 was presented at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center Theater on the stunning set of South
Pacific with many familiar faces, as well as some new ones to Broadway
Backwards including Michele Lee, Lea Salonga and Raul Esparza, as well as a singing and dancing ensemble of 50. This year’s event benefited Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The LGBT Center.
July
2009 - Great news! The Cuban and the Redhead has
been selected to be included in the Festival of New Musicals, “Village
Originals,” at Village Theatre near Seattle, Washington on Friday,
August 14. What’s even more exciting is that Village Theatre
is where this Broadway season’s Next to Normal was developed.
February
2009
- Broadway Backwards 4 created by Bartley/Whitman once again took
over Broadway's American Airlines Theatre and was a huge success! This
year’s production featured a broad range of stars including Whoopi
Goldberg, Alan Cumming, Maureen McGovern, Len Cariou, Gina Gershon,
Jai Rodriguez, Christopher Sieber, John Tartaglia, Ron Palillo, Florence
Henderson, Mario Cantone, and Michael Urie and Becki Newton from
TV’s “Ugly
Betty” With an incredibly gracious and funny Anne Meara subbing
in at the last minute for Rue McClanahan, along side an ensemble
of over 50 of Broadway’s best singers and dancers
October
2008 – Really exciting
news! The Cuban & the Redhead has
been selected as one of eight musicals featured in the National
Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) Festival. We are thrilled to
share the bill with a few writers we greatly admire, Douglas J. Cohen, Wendy
Wasserstein, Cy Coleman and David Zippel! NAMT is an incredible organization
that helps new musicals have a future life. Each show presents two 45-minute
industry presentations. Ours are both on Monday, October 20 @ 11AM & 5PM
at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th
Avenues). Tickets are free. Industry
professionals can reserve seats at by clicking here. Non industry
can attend on a standby basis.
You can read the NAMT
press release here.
After a great run at the Algonquin Theatre last spring (where we were extended!),
The Tales of Custard the Dragon will return in November 2008 for
a commercial run at Daryl Roth’s off Broadway theatre, DR2, produced by
Gallant Arts. For
more info, click here.
August
2008 - We recently returned from L.A., where Dance
With Me(now The
Cuban & the Redhead) was a part of the brand new Festival of
New American Musicals and enjoyed a brief sold-out run (with lines
literally down the block which was absolutely surreal to see!!). For
more info, click here.
May 2008 – Who would have thunk it? “Sailing Against the Current – the songs of Bartley & Whitman!” It was the first time we ever heard anyone actually say “Bartley & Whitman” out loud! Jim Morgan, Brian Blythe and the folks at The York Theatre Company invited us to be featured in their new
NEO Spotlight series. With the help of some amazingly talented performers (Tituss Burgess, Jenn Colella, Beth Curry, Judith Moore, Kirsten Wyatt, and Tony Yazbeck), the evening went really well – with songs from various projects, including some cut songs we never thought would see the light of day, and the premiere of a few new ones including a comic love song, “Near Sighted” sung by the incredibly multi-talented Kirsten Wyatt.
On
February 4, 2008, Broadway Backwards moved to the Great White Way
at the American Airlines Theatre. With Robert Directing and Choreographing
a cast of sixty, and an original opening number we created together (called,
what else… “Broadway Backwards”) featuring Sandy Duncan, Sy Adamowsky and
a chorus of twenty-five, and some other fun special material by you know
who, the evening was truly a special one for us.
Robert
and Danny with the incredible performers of the York Theatre’s “Sailing
Against the Current: the songs of Bartley and Whitman” – Jenn
Colella, Kirsten Wyatt, Tituss Burgess, Beth Curry, Judith Moore,
Tony Yazbeck, Percussionist Raphael Torn and Music Director Chris
Tilley.