| BroadwayCon preview (don't miss today's Weekly Blast!) | |
| Posted by: TheBroadwayMaven (DavidBenkof@gmail.com) 08:34 am EDT 07/13/23 | |
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| From this week's Broadway Maven Weekly Blast: Panels, performances, and signings, oh my. BroadwayCon, hitting Times Square July 21-23, is the ultimate musical theater fan experience. More than three thousand attendees are expected to attend next weekend. Some highlights of the three-day event, now in its eighth year: • The guests. Frequent Sondheim collaborator John Weidman is on a panel about revivals, and both friend-of-the-Broadway-Maven-course Ann Harada and composer Robert Lopez are on an Avenue Q reunion panel. Tony-winning actors Danny Burstein (Moulin Rouge!) and James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin) will be there, too, as will Tony-winning director Susan Stroman (The Producers). While most of the hundreds of actors and other professionals who present at panels and pose for photographs and offer signatures (for a fee) are B- and C-list, every year there are a few more famous names. Last year that included Hillary Clinton, and previous years welcomed Lin-Manuel Miranda, Kristen Chenoweth, and more. A representative of BroadwayCon was coy when I asked her which big names were coming this year. • The panels. There seems to be something for everyone in the nearly 200 hours of programming. Social media, accessibility, Asian-Americans in theater, immersive theater, puppetry, educational theater, podcast musicals, and Broadway on a budget. The conference is heavy on Wicked-oriented content (including a demonstration of “greenifying” Elphaba) because of that show’s 20th anniversary. • The performances. On the first day of the event, a series of “First Look” performances will expose attendees to new and upcoming shows. Most of these shows are not famous — or not famous yet — but they do include the buzzworthy Back to the Future: the Musical and several performances that look intriguing like Titanique, Rock & Roll Man, and the Jewish-themed one-man show Just for Us. • The participants. It may be worth the price of admission just to people-watch. Costumes can be pretty elaborate (Phantom of the Opera or Simba) or more simple (I’m wearing a Merrily We Roll Along-style T-shirt with my name on it). This “cosplay” (costume play) makes it easy to find fellow Con participants around the hotel (the Marriott Marquis Times Square) and the Broadway district in general. The crowd skews young (mostly 18-35) but there are many older people as well. • The fun. There will be a “pop-up piano bar” and an “Ozdust Ballroom” Wicked-themed dance party. Game shows, singing and lip-sync contests, and cosplay karaoke round out some of the purely fun activities scheduled. • The Sondheim panel. The Broadway Maven has organized a panel on Stephen Sondheim with three of our faculty presenting: Peter Filichia will be discussing decades of attending first-run Sondheim shows; Gail Leondar-Wright will point to under-appreciated aspects of Sunday in the Park with George; and I’ll do the same for Into the Woods. Finally, talented YouTuber Howard Ho will talk about whether Sondheim was more of an innovator or a traditionalist. The panel is Friday at 1:15 pm. Tickets are available at BroadwayCon.com. |
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