All Entries Tagged With: "Parade"

Parade, and Hoff, A Hit In LA

The Donmar Warehouse production of Parade is being lauded as Southern California’s Production of the year (Variety). The musical, a revival of the 1998 Jason Robert Brown/Alfred Uhry Tony Award winner, which closed after only 85 performances, is based on the true story of Leo Frank (played by T.R. Knight), who was convicted for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in Atlanta in 1913. Director-choreographer Rob Ashford’s retooled version is said to be leaner and more intimate than the original 1998 Broadway production.

Pal Joey Special Correspondent Tom Barton saw the show during previews and had this to report:

The new version of Parade is terrific. I saw the third preview and they received an extended standing ovation. Christian is the third lead, prosecuting attorney Hugh Dorsey. It’s a very strong performance. The entire cast is wonderful, especially T. R. Knight of Grey’s Anatomy as accused killer Leo Frank. The performance was sold out.

This will be a very tough ticket.

Christian Hoff fans won’t be surprised to hear that the critics agree! The “Hollywood Reporter” states … Of special note in the splendid ensemble are …Christian Hoff as the unprincipled prosecuting attorney… ; the “Santa Monica Mirror” reports…Though Knight steals the show, the ensemble cast is likewise powerful, particularly Christian Hoff as Hugh Dorsey; and “Variety” says of Hoff’s performance…The prickly, unsympathetic defendant is at the mercy of relentless D.A. Dorsey (a superb Christian Hoff), his spellbinding gestures misdirecting attention from a parade of dubious circumstantial evidence.

Besides Knight and Hoff, the fantastic cast includes Lara Pulver as Lucille Frank, Michael Berresse, Charlotte d’Amboise, Davis Gaines, P. J. Griffith, David St. Louis, Curt Hansen, Deidrie Henry, Lisa Livesay, Hayley Podschun (Pal Joey), Rose Sezniak and Phoebe Strole. The show runs through November 15 at the Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles.

CHRISTIAN HOFF WOWS THE CROWD IN SAN DIEGO!

By Howard Tucker and Stubbleyou
In the Las Vegas production of “Jersey Boys,” verbiage was appropriately changed from “So the next time you’re in Vegas…” to “So while you’re in Vegas…”

Similarly, on September 12, 2009 - now officially known as “Christian Hoff Day” in sunny San Diego, California (yes, that Christian Hoff - who knew?) - the home-grown Tony-award winning actor/singer/dancer changed the last line of the Drifters’ (and George Benson) classic On Broadway from “and I won’t quit ’til I’m a star…” to “and I didn’t quit; now I’m a star…on Broadway.”

It was a fitting punchline to his tale of how perseverance, dedication, and guts, (with maybe a bit of talent thrown in, he modestly conceded), can lead to great things. This was one of his themes as he spent the evening inspiring today’s generation of tomorrow’s stars and their families at a benefit performance at the San Diego Junior Theater, the same institution where he himself learned to tread the boards as a “yute,” (i.e., youth) as Joe Pesci might have called him in “My Cousin Vinny.”

Christian entered the packed theater from the back, coming forward down the center aisle as the crowd went wild. Looking suave, sophisticated, and debonair in a finely-tailored black suit, he exuded the confidence of knowing he already had the audience in the palm of his hand. Audience members had “Come Together” this summer evening (a song performed in the second half of the show in honor of it being Beatles Week) from several different areas of interest: Many appeared to be involved with SDJT in one way or another, past or present, faculty or staff, participant or patron. Family and friends were in attendance as well, and of course, a bicoastal contingent of Jersey Boys fans made more than its share of noise.

Christian devoted the first half of his show to Broadway and pop standards, accompanied only by his arranger and pianist Charles “the Czar” Czarnecki. Indeed, this was a show for all ages. He opened with

Medley: “I’ve Got the World on a String”, “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”, and “With a Song in My Heart”.

What a terrific way to bridge the generation gap with the 1933 Harold Arlen/Cab Calloway song “I’ve Got the World on a String” also covered in 2007 by Michael Buble. Who of us older baby boomers can forget William Holden and Jennifer Jones as the European/Chinese doctor and American journalist on “that high and windy hill” as the beautiful Four Aces “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” played in the background? And finally, the wonderful triumph of physically challenged songstress Jane Froman (Susan Hayward) entertaining the World War II blends perfectly to show us her road wasn’t always easy, but she always had “A Song in My Heart.”

The magically perfect blend of these three songs, with “Splendored” and “Song” slightly more upbeat than the originals, set the tone of the evening as our Tony winner had the crowd, young and old, “on a string” from the start.

“This Can’t Be Love/Thou Swell”

Those of us who were treated to Christian’s magnificent cabaret performance “Exiled”

Hoff Set To Co-Star in LA Production of “Parade”

According to Variety, Christian Hoff is set to join T.R. Knight in the upcoming Los Angeles revival of Parade. Also slated for the show are Broadway vets Michael Berresse and Charlotte d’Amboise, and Olivier Award nominee Lara Pulver. The production will run from September 24 to November 15 at the Mark Taper Forum.

Hoff, who was sidelined from Pal Joey with a foot injury, won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Tommy DeVito in Jersey Boys, His “character” both onstage and off won him many dedicated and loyal fans who, I’m sure, will be delighted to see him on the stage again.

Knight, who is trained for stage, is probably most recognizable as Dr. George O’Malley in Grey’s Anatomy, a role he played since the show’s debut in 2005. He made the decision earlier this year not to continue on Grey’s, and his character will apparently be written off the show.

For more information on Parade, click here.