Sean Hayes and Jordan Roth at Broadway Talks

2010 Tony nominee Sean Hayes joined Jujamcyn Theaters President Jordan Roth at the 92YTribeca on Monday, May 24, for the third installment of the new Broadway Talks series.

Featuring one-on-one discussions between Roth and various Broadway stars, the series will conclude with The Addams Family star Nathan Lane (Sunday, June 27 at 7:30pm).

Hayes is Tony-nominated for his performance in the musical revival of Promises, Promises, and will also be hosting this year's Tony Awards ceremony. He may be best known for his portrayal of Jack McFarland on Will & Grace, a role for which he received an Emmy Award (and six nominations), four Screen Actors Guild Awards, two TV Guide Awards, an American Comedy Award and seven Golden Globe nominations.

Judge considers Broadway Triangle lawsuit

A Manhattan judge has scheduled a hearing next month to determine whether the city’s plan to develop public housing in a rundown patch of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, would essentially foster segregation.

In a 22-page decision issued on Thursday, the judge, Emily Jane Goodman of State Supreme Court, indicated that there might be some merit in claims that the city’s plan to construct public housing in what is known as the Broadway Triangle could have a discriminatory effect.

A coalition of community groups in Williamsburg said the city and its allies charged forward with the plan without a competitive bidding process and without including a largely nonwhite group that would be affected by the project. The city awarded development bids to two nonprofit groups, the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, which represents part of the fast-growing Hasidic community, and the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council.

Although units in the housing projects would be awarded in a lottery, the Broadway Triangle Community Coalition, which filed a lawsuit to stop the project, said the project was zoned to allow primarily white and Hasidic residents to obtain units.

For example, residents of the predominantly white Community Board 1 area would be given first choice on half of the units, according to Justice Goodman’s decision. (The entire development would be within the Community Board 1 boundaries, but part of the Broadway Triangle lies in the mostly nonwhite Community Board 2 area, the judge wrote.)

The zoning calls for buildings that are six or seven stories high, a move opponents said was intended to accommodate Hasidics, who cannot use elevators on the Sabbath for religious reasons. The plans also call for large apartments, which opponents said would also accommodate Hasidics, who typically have large families.

Giannoulias still in denial about Broadway Bank

False Giannoulias Claim: "There was never any risky lending or any reckless lending practices."-Alexi Giannoulias, NBC 5 Chicago, May 18, 2010.

What the State of Illinois Said: "Upon due consideration of the evidence presented to me, and pursuant to my statutory duties and powers as Director of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Banking, I find that Broadway Bank, Chicago, Illinois (the "Bank") is conducting its business in an unsafe and unsound manner." (Jorge Solis, Director, Illinois Division of Banking)

What the Experts Said: "The real question is why it wasn't closed a long time ago," says Washington, D.C.-area banking consultant Bert Ely. "It was a badly run bank." (Chicago Tribune Editorial, April 26, 2010, "Who killed Broadway Bank?")

What the FDIC Said: "The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $394.3 million."

What Demetris Giannoulias Said: Demetris Giannoulias said the bank learned of Giorango's bookmaking and prostitution promotion convictions from a spring 2004 Tribune report detailing those cases. "But we're a relationship bank," he said. "So somebody comes in and in all his dealings with the bank seem to be on the level, everything makes sense, nothing seems illicit or untoward. Just because somebody gets a bad article written about them there's no reason to say, 'Hey, listen, I'm going to kick you out the door because you don't win a popularity contest.' We didn't think he was doing anything illegal." (Chicago Tribune, "Giannoulias family bank made $20 million in loans to felons," April 2, 2010)

What the Chicago Tribune said: "Giannoulias' claim smacks of desperation. Anyone truly looking for culprits would start with the people who ran Broadway. Most banks have been able to weather the recession. This one failed mostly because of its own mistakes."

What the Chicago Sun-Times Said: "Valid questions remain about whether Broadway Bank, before and after Giannoulias worked there, took imprudently high risks with both deposits and loans. And a certain vagueness remains as to why the family withdrew tens of millions of dollars in dividends in 2007 and 2008…Either way, fairly or not, he doesn't come out of this looking good." (March 4, 2010)

What the New York Times Said: "The move into real estate coincided with a headlong push into brokered deposits. This is quintessential hot money — large amounts that jump from bank to bank, each bank offering the lure of high interest , which the banks then must fund by making ever-riskier loans."

What Crain's Chicago Business Said: "But [Alexi] did not dispute that the small Chicago community bank effectively changed its business model during his tenure, sharply ramping up its exposure to oft-risky real estate loans to nearly half of its portfolio, and relying for deposits not on local savings accounts but brokered, relatively high-interest deposits from all over the county."

Broadway Bomb Lays an Egg

Broadway shows on or near West 45th Street include Next to Normal, The Lion King, A Behanding in Spokane, God of Carnage, Red, Billy Elliot, Lend Me a Tenor and Come Fly Away.

Playbill.com learned that the Saturday night curtain of Mary Poppins went up on schedule on West 42nd Street, as did the curtain of La Cage aux Folles on West 48th Street. The Addams Family on 46th Street began about 20 minutes late. A Behanding in Spokane on West 45th Street began about 8:30 PM, with the audience invited to move down front into any empty seats. God of Carnage began around 8:30 PM. At the end of the show, the audience was held for 15 minutes and was instructed to exit through the stage door alley, into the Milford Plaza lobby toward Eighth Avenue. The same happened at Red, next door. Lend Me a Tenor, at the Music Box on 45th, also began around 8:30 Saturday. At the end of the show, the audience filed out through a back exit through the Richard Rodgers Theatre on 46th Street. The Enron company on West 44th Street learned shortly before 8 PM that there was a nearby police action, so the curtain was delayed for a few minutes. At the end of the performance, around 10:30 PM, an announcement was made to the audience that they should exit west toward Eighth Avenue and not toward Times Square. One observer told Playbill.com, "The police were not kidding around. They hustled people out." A cast member from The Lion King told Playbill.com that the show began almost an hour late on Saturday night.

Broadway Offers Choice Entertainment For All

The bright lights, the excitement, glamour, and fame, all these things come to mind when someone thinks about Broadway. Located in glamorous New York City, Broadway is the place to go to fill all your entertainment needs.

What is Broadway? Broadway is the street in New York that has come to symbolize live theater entertainment throughout the world. Today the area, known to tourists and theatergoers, stretches from West 41st Street, where the Nederlander Theater is located, up to West 53rd Street's Broadway Theater. A Broadway show, refers to a performance staged in one of the thirty-nine larger professional theatres with 500 seats or more. Broadway has a rich history of showing live plays that can be traced back all the way to the early 1800s.

Today, the majority of Broadway theatres are located in the area called Midtown, in and around Times Square. Broadway theatres are usually run by a producing organization or another theatre group. All Broadway shows are professionally produced and adhere to strict contracts for all artists involved.

Shows on Broadway generally run for a varying number of weeks, this is ussally governed by the amount of ticket sales. Musicals will tend to have longer runs than the stage plays as they generally have large casts and a higher prodution value. In addition to long runs in Broadway theatres, producers will often copy the production with a new cast and crew for the Broadway national tour. This tour will then travel to theatres across the country. Both musicals and stage plays on Broadway and in their respective tours will often rely on casting well-known performers in leading roles to draw larger audiences or bring in new audience members to the theatre. Actors from movies and television are frequently cast for the premieres of Broadway shows or are used to replace actors leaving a cast. Most of the performers, however, are still primarily "stage" actors, who spend more time on the stages of New York and will appear in television and screen roles as a secondary venue.

In addition to these shows there are the off Broadway and off-off Broadway shows. These plays and musicals are more intimate shows that are played to smaller audiences while retaining the same level of professionalism that can be found in the larger houses.

At any given time, there can be more than sixty plays and musicals showing on Broadway and at the surrounding houses, including such favorites like Tarzan, Mary Poppins, and Beauty and the Beast. Other shows include The Blue Man Group, Awake and Sing, and Faith Healer. Tickets for these shows are available online and can generally be bought at a discounted prices. In addition to purchasing tickets for the shows, airline tickets and hotel accommodations are just a click away.

With its rich history and glamorous shows, Broadway is sure to offer choice entertainment for everyone. Shows are scheduled daily and with its prime location in the city that never sleeps; theatergoers are sure to find enjoyment even when they are not on Broadway.

Those who want to get the best deals on Broadway tickets and other tickets for that matter turn to the Internet. With a variety of sources offering tickets in a quick, easy and often discounted manner, the net is the best box office going.

Popular Ways To See Broadway Shows

There are a number of Broadway plays and shows that people love to watch over and over again. But not all shows last forever on Broadway because the theaters need to make way for new shows and give others the opportunity to show their plays on Broadway. At the moment, there are a number of shows on Broadway that are very popular, and if you are going to New York anytime soon, it would be a good idea to place some of these shows on your itinerary. Websites are a great resource to find locations of theatres, show listings and much more before choosing a show. When staying in hotels in New York City there are people who can help you get the most popular show tickets. Part of the registration process is selecting the shows that you want to see on Broadway. The whole point here is to catch any of the current Broadway shows any which way you can. You can enjoy Broadway shows which have great singing, dancing and acting in one of the most incredible cities in the world.

A great gift would be tickets to a Broadway show of his or her choice. Discount ticket codes can help you lower the cost of the Broadway tickets that you want to buy. Broadway performances have an enormous popularity and hence its tickets are always in high demand. The reason why discount tickets exist is so those people who are on a tight budget have the ability to see great performances like everyone else. Basically you can get Broadway tickets at a discount through many channels: standing room only, lottery, discount codes on tickets, student and senior discounts are just some of the discount that are available for all different types of shows on Broadway. Broadway tickets can be obtained at ticket counters, ticket agencies, organizations, and brokers.

It is on Broadway where you can watch the best musicals, plays and theater acts that appeal to every audience. In New York the street "Broadway" is the street that symbolizes the theater where live shows are performed. Today the area, known as Broadway to tourists and theatergoers, stretches from West 41st Street, and all the way up to West 53rd Street's Broadway Theater.

In the meantime, Broadway has certainly given us our share of popular stars. When visiting New York it would be a shame and your trip would be incomplete without attending a Broadway show, your best bet is to choose the most popular ones so you are not disappointed. Getting a Broadway ticket for a popular show or play can be both challenging and expensive.

There's Something Very Magical About Broadway Dancers

You will find many different people who act in various roles on Broadway musicals and shows. For these people there is nothing more exhilarating than to be in one of these productions and to know that a show is in great demand. The people who can be seen the most in these various shows are the Broadway dancers.

The many different Broadway dancers are chosen for different shows based on their ability to perform in the auditions. Now as there are many dancers the casting of these people will come only if they are good for the role. As almost all of the Broadway shows are musicals it is an added bonus if the Broadway dancers have the ability of singing under their belts too.

In these various plays you will only notice the Broadway dancers as being a background element to the show. These individuals help to bring the different shows alive with their talent and vibrant moves. The fantastic costumes are also a good way of enhancing the vibrancy of the play these Broadway dancers are in.

One of the first things that you will notice about Broadway dancers is the fact that these individuals are both male and female. The dances which they are part of, helps to highlight the story the central characters are showing to us. For instance many of the “cats” in the hit Broadway musical Cats were extremely talented dancers. The limber movements of these people helped you to imagine the world of the Broadway Cats.

In musicals like Lion King barring the main characters the other cast members are all Broadway dancers who have been chosen to help bring the magic of this movie onto the stage. One of the really interesting facts about these dancers is that while we may not really see them, these people are one of the real reasons a play has so much character. Without these many people you would just have a play that is lacking in vital details and depth.

With their extraordinary ability to sing and dance these very talented individuals will let you experience the best of Broadway. For this reason the next time that you go to see a Broadway play or a musical you might want to take some time to admire the background scenery, the fantastic music and of course the fabulous Broadway dancers. These people will let you see the real story unfolding before your eyes.