Latest news with #KimberlyBelflower
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Fast Company
How to watch the 2025 Tony Awards live online, on a phone, or on TV, including free options
Start spreading the news: Theater's biggest night is happening this evening (Sunday, June 8, 2025) in the Big Apple. The 78th Tony Awards will showcase this season's best theatrical moments, from revivals to new works, from 8 to 11 p.m. ET. Let's catch up on all the drama and how to stream the event live as the curtain rises at Radio City Music Hall. Who is nominated? Three musicals are tied for most Tony nominations this year. Buena Vista Social Club is inspired by real life events and tells the story of the four musicians in Havana, Cuba, who continue to play music despite a turbulent political climate. The Korean musical Maybe Happy Ending tells the futuristic story of two lonely abandoned helper bots who manage to find connection despite isolation. TikTok sound-bite sensation Death Becomes Her is based on the 1992 Robert Zemeckis movie of the same name. Meanwhile, two plays boast seven nominations each. Kimberly Belflower's play John Proctor Is the Villain takes a fresh look at Arthur Miller's classic play The Crucible and the historic Salem witch trials. Jez Butterworth's The Hills of California centers on the estranged Webb sisters who reunite to care for their aging mother and are forced to face past family secrets and traumas. Cole Escola's comedy Oh, Mary!, a farcical portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln, boasts five nominations. On the musical revival sides of things, it is a tight race between Sunset Blvd and Gypsy. Many critics believe the winner of Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical category is between Nicole Scherzinger and Audra McDonald. You can see the full list of nominees here. Who is hosting? Movie Elphaba herself Cynthia Erivo will host the festivities this year. She has her very own Tony for her work as Celie in the 2016 revival of The Color Purple. Fans are eager to see the conclusion of Wicked later this year, so maybe this will tide them over. Brian Stokes Mitchell's smooth voice will help keep things moving as he is serving as the offstage announcer. Who is presenting? Many theater greats will help present awards. These include Aaron Tveit, Adam Lambert, Allison Janney, Ariana DeBose, Danielle Brooks, Kelli O'Hara, Kristin Chenoweth, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Lea Michele, Lea Salonga, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Sara Bareilles, and Sarah Paulson to name a few. Who is performing? It's tradition (cue Fiddler on the Roof ) for nominated musicals and revivals to perform at the ceremony. This means that beyond the ones already mentioned, you can expect performances from Dead Outlaw, Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical, Floyd Collins, Gypsy, Pirates! The Penzance Musical, Sunset Blvd, Just In Time, and Real Women Have Curves. Beyond the present, Broadway loves to celebrate its past successes. It's almost as if history has its eyes on the industry. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Christopher Jackson, Jonathan Groff, Ariana DeBose, Daveed Diggs, Phillipa Soo, and many other original cast members will reunite to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Hamilton's Broadway debut at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. This special performance is not to be missed. What special Tony Award moments can audiences expect? Two new special awards have already been announced. The musicians in the band of Buena Vista Social Club will receive special awards as will the technical effects of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Harvey Fierstein will be presented the 2025 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre. His impressive resume includes work as an actor and writer on projects ranging from La Cage aux Folles to Newsies. The 2025 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award will be presented to Celia Keenan-Bolger for her offstage advocacy work. She has championed many important causes, such as hunger, same-sex-marriage rights, and arts education. She also works as an end-of-life doula, helping the late Broadway star Gavin Creel transition peacefully at the end of his life. If you just can't get enough Broadway action, tune into Pluto TV early for the pre-show 'The Tony Awards: Act One,' hosted by Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry, which begins at 6:40-8:00 p.m. ET.
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
Why Gen Z are suddenly flocking to Broadway productions like Sam Gold's Romeo + Juliet
Kimberly Belflower knew John Proctor is the Villain needed its final cathartic scene to work – and for that it needed Lorde's 2017 song 'Green Light'. Advertisement 'I literally told my agent, 'I would rather the play just not get done if it can't use that song,'' the playwright laughed. She wrote Lorde a letter, explaining what the song meant, and got her 'Green Light'. Starring Sadie Sink, the staggering play about high schoolers studying Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible as the #MeToo movement arrives in their small town in the US state of Georgia earned seven Tony nominations. It is among a group of Broadway shows that have centred on the stories of young people and attracted audiences to match. Advertisement
7 days ago
- Entertainment
‘John Proctor Is the Villain' flips script on literary classic
ABC News' Will Ganss sits down with Kimberly Belflower and Danya Taymor, the writer and director of the most Tony Award-nominated play of the 2025 Broadway season. June 3, 2025
Miami Herald
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Popular Tony-Nominated Broadway Play Receives Summer Extension
Earlier this year, playwright Kimberly Belflower took the theatrical world by storm with her brand-new Broadway play, John Proctor Is the Villain. Starring Stranger Things' Sadie Sink and an equally impressive array of younger theatrical performers, John Proctor Is the Villain has earned all-around fantastic reviews from critics, eventually securing a total of six Tony Award nominations (including Best Play, Best Direction, and Best Actress in a Play for Sink). Originally making its Broadway debut in March of this year, John Proctor Is the Villain has now extended its run by two-weeks, rounding out its tenure at the Booth Theatre on July 13 and giving dedicated theater fans some extra time to reserve their tickets for the praised production. Loosely centered around Arthur Miller's classic stage play The Crucible, John Proctor Is the Villain follows a group of contemporary high school students as they attempt to perform the play. As their production of the show gets underway, however, the students begin to grapple with the thematic subject matter of Miller's text, as well as the play's historical basis in the Salem witch trials of the late 17th century. Originally staged in Washington, D.C. in summer 2022, John Proctor Is the Villain soon managed to make the jump to Boston and, eventually, Broadway in the ensuing years, acquiring increasingly glowing reviews from theater fans across the nation. Alongside the 23-year-old Sink -- who's best known for her roles in Stranger Things, The Whale and Fear Street -- John Proctor Is the Villain also stars notable Broadway talents Gabriel Ebert (Matilda the Musical), Molly Griggs (Hello, Dolly!), and Fina Strazza (Matilda the Musical). More recently, the play earned a total of six nominations at the upcoming 78th Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Actress in a Play, Best Featured Actress (Strazza), Best Featured Actor (Ebert), Best Direction, Best Lighting Design and Best Sound Design in a Play. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
