Broadway Boys: Mr. August 2011: Julian Ovenden

Mr. Broadway August 2011

Julian Ovenden

WHY HE'S MR. BROADWAY: Right now, he is the leading man of a hit off-Broadway musical, written by some of the biggest names in musical theatre and co-starring a "who's who" of contemporary American musical theatre performers.  And of all things, he is a singing and dancing man version of Death!  Yes, he is the title character in Death Takes a Holiday, a show with uptown ambitions.  But I'm not cheating, here, either.  He last appeared on Broadway in Butley, holding his own against none other than Nathan Lane.  British audiences have lone enjoyed his talents in shows like Grand Hotel: The Musical and Merrily We Roll Along.  And if you missed him onstage in the states, you may know him from TV or movies like Cashmere Mafia, The Royal, Foyle's War and the Kelsey Grammer musical version of A Christmas Carol.  Good looks, a star-making performance (that you have only a month or so to catch for sure) and a clear passion for the stage are all the best reasons why Julian Ovenden is Mr. Broadway for August 2011.

INFO:

• Currently appearing in: Death Takes a Holiday at the Roundabout Theatre Company's Laura Pels Theatre.
• Age: He was born on May 6, 1976, which makes him 35.
• Other credits: Broadway: Butley; Television: Cashmere Mafia, Foyle 's War, The Royal, A Christmas Carol: The Musical; West End: Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel: The Musical, Marguerite, Annie Get Your Gun; Concerts: Stephen Sondheim at 80 Concert (London), Rodgers and Hammerstein Celebration (London).
• Where to find him on the Internet: http://www.julianovenden.com/; www.roundabouttheater.com/deathtakesaholiday.

IN PICTURES: 

ABOVE: That smile, those eyes:

The Head Shots and Publicity Photos

ABOVE: Television work in shows like

Cashmere Mafia, Foyle's War, The Royal,

and Agatha Christie's Poirot

STAGE: The Baron in Grand Hotel: The Musical

ON BROADWAY: Butley

with Nathan Lane

WEST END: Marguerite with

Ruthie Henshall

Annie Get Your Gun

Julian Takes Manhattan

OFF-BROADWAY: Death Takes a Holiday

with Jill Paice and Mara Davi

FAMILY MAN: After his wedding to Kate Royal

ON VIDEO:

The Marguerite Promotional Video (Ovenden with Ruthie Henshall)

Singing "Agony" at London's Sondheim at 80 Celebration (with Daniel Evans)

Broadway.com's Show Clips: Death Takes a Holiday

FOLLIES TICKETS CONTEST!

TRIVIA QUESTION #3

Ron Raines is a three time Emmy Award nominee for appearing in which television program?

A.  The Bold and the Beautiful
B.  As the World Turns
C.  Guiding Light
D.  The Young and the Restless

CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE CONTEST RULES AND TRIVIA QUESTION #1.

Question #2 is with yesterday's blog, and questions 4 and 5 will appear on Thursday and Friday's blogs.

Rate the blog below and leave your comments here, or via email at jkstheatrescene@yahoo.com, or Tweet me!

Jeff
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More on the Proms

My favourite moment from the proms has been uploaded onto YouTube. It's wonderful, even if you don't like musicals, the word-play and performance of this song should raise a smile :)

BBC Proms-Sondheim's 80th Birthday

I was hugely excited about this prom. The BBC Proms run every year in the Royal Albert Hall, and tend to be concerts of classical music and opera. There is occasionally a touch of musical theatre, but it would seem that that the Proms only feature a certain type of music.

Yet this year, David Charles Abell (who is the Musical Director of Love Never Dies, and apparently also conducted the tenth anniversary concert of Les Miserables) joined forces with the BBC and Stephen Sondheim (who claims to have little involvement in the concert) to celebrate Sondheim's 80th birthday.

Like the The Night of 1000 Voices, the programme featured segments for Sondheim's best-known works, including the best opening number ever-'Instruction & Inovcation to the Audience' from his 1974 work The Frogs. Performed with good humour by Simon Russell Beale and Daniel Evans .

Follies was the first musical represented. It is the story of a group of old people having a reunion, which brings back memories of their younger years. I don't really enjoy it on record (*hides from Sondheim obsessives*). That being said 'Too Many Mornings' performed by Julian Ovenden (*swoons*) and Maria Friedman was beautiful, even if the age gap between the two was a little jarring. Caroline O'Connor (who featured in Moulin Rouge!) belted out 'Broadway Baby' in one of the most Kander & Ebb-esque/Fosse-esque performances of a Sondheim song, which is not surpising considering she has spent the past few years playing Velma Kelly in Chicago.

We were then transported to the 2005 revival of Sunday in the Park with George, with Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell reprising their roles as Georges/George and Dot/Marie, performing the title song and 'Move On', which is a beautiful song. Russell (who will be playing The Baker's Wife in the revival of Into the Woods this summer) was perfectly in character.

Ovenden and Evans then performed 'Agony' from Into the Woods, in the show this is sung by Cinderella's Prince and Rapunzel's Prince as they discuss how hard it is to get hold of their respective princesses. Personally, my favourite version is the Reprise from Act 2, which ends with the line 'Oh well, back to my wife'. Friedman than sang a revised version of 'Children Will Listen', a far more out-of-show lyric. It was a moving performance, and it really suprises me that Friedman (who has performed in several Sondheim shows) has not yet played The Witch in Into the Woods.

It was then on to the most talked about section of the evening, the A Little Night Music part. Which featured Dame Judi Dench singing 'Send in the Clowns'. Dench played Desiree Armfeldt, who sings the song in the show, at the National in the 1990s. Whilst I love Catherine Zeta-Jones' performance on the most-recent Broadway cast album, this song is especially poignant when performed by a woman of Dench's age. She made me well-up from the very beginning-whilst she doesn't have a flawless voice, her acting carried the song perfectly. Yet, I particuarly enjoyed the soloist performance of 'A Weekend in the Country', featuring O'Connor as Petra, Russell as Anne Egerman (who manages to make her voice sound really young), Russell Beale as Fredrik Egerman, Maria Friedman as Countess Charlotte, Julian Ovenden as Carl-Magnus (again playing opposite Friedman) and Daniel Evans as Henrik Egerman. I adored it-it was a brilliant closer on Act One.

Act Two opens with a Sweeney Todd segment, featuring opera singer Bryn Terfel. Who was terrifying in 'Soliloquy'. Maria Friedman joined him as Mrs Lovett for 'A Little Priest' which was hilarious, and showed off Sondheim's clever humour.

Ovenden then knocked the ball out of the park with 'Being Alive' from Company. Although I still believe that Raul Esparza owns this song, Ovenden's much more operatic version was powerful, and carried wonderfully over the full BBC Orchestra.

Then came my favourite moment of the concert 'Everybody Ought to have a Maid', performed by Russell Beale, Evans, Ovenden and Terfel. The song is already amusing through its word play, but with these four men (one being a classical actor, and another being an opera singer) singing it, complete with dance moves, it was a highlight of the evening.

The show came to a close with 'Our Time', which is one of my favourite songs from Merrily We Roll Along, performed by students from the Children in Need Performing Arts Fund. It wasn't the *best* performance, but then, if I wear in my early twenties and performing at the Albert Hall in front of Stephen Sondheim, I'd be scared stiff.

Finally, came a choral 'Sunday' from Sunday in the Park... and finally a roof-raising rendition of 'Side by Side' from Company.

There will be numbers of people complaining that certain songs were left out (such as 'I'm Losing My Mind from Follies) yet I believe it was a wonderful tribute to Sondheim, for whom this was his first ever time at the Albert Hall. He is a true musical theatre legend and deserved this wonderful tribute.