Curtains Fun Facts
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Curtains
Curtains is the hilariously entertaining whodunit from the creative tandem behind Chicago and Cabaret. It’s Boston, 1959. At the Colonial Theatre, Robbin’ Hood of the Old West, the new Western musical adaptation of the Robin Hood story, could be a Broadway smash, were it not for the presence of its talent-free leading lady, Jessica Cranshaw – a triple threat who can’t sing, act or dance, or even remember when to say her lines. The critical response to the show has been discouraging.
When the hapless star is murdered on opening night during her curtain call, Lt .Frank Cioffi arrives on the scene to conduct an investigation. Everyone in the company is a suspect, including songwriters Aaron and Georgia, hard-bitten producer Carmen Bernstein; co-producer Sidney; flamboyant director Christopher Belling; stage manager Johnny Harmon; choreographer/leading man Bobby Pepper; innocent, inexperienced understudy Niki Harris and determined dancing fanatic Bambi Bernét.
Lt. Cioffi and Niki connect instantly. He soon sequesters the theatre, believing that the perpetrator is still in the building. The company uses the extra time to fix the show’s problems. Production numbers are rewritten and rehearsed, secrets continue to surface, the body count rises and accusations fly. Lt. Cioffi, a theater fan and amateur actor, becomes more and more involved with saving the show than solving the case. Can he salvage the production, catch the killer, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself?
Photo by Joan Marcus - Curtains Original Broadway Cast
2007 Tony® Awards
8 Nominations, 1 Win
Best Musical (Nominee)
Best Book of a Musical (Nominee)
Best Original Score (Nominee)
Best Actor in a Musical (Winner)
Best Actress in a Musical (Nominee)
Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Nominee)
Best Choreography (Nominee)
Best Direction of a Musical (Nominee)
2007 Drama Desk Awards
10 Nominations, 2 Wins
Outstanding Musical (Nominee)
Outstanding Book of a Musical (Winner)
Outstanding Actor in a Musical (Nominee)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
(Winner and additional Nominee)
Outstanding Orchestrations (Nominee)
Outstanding Lyrics (Nominee)
Outstanding Set Design (Nominee)
Outstanding Music (Nominee)
Outstanding Costume Design (Nominee)
1. David Hyde Pierce, perhaps best known as Dr. Niles Crane from “Frasier,” originated the lead role of Lt. Frank Cioffi and won a Tony® Award for his performance.
2. Curtains marks one of the last collaborations by one of the longest-running songwriting teams in Broadway history - composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb, whose work includes Cabaret, Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman. They combined to win seven Tony® Awards in their careers.
3. The film version of “Chicago,” directed by Pittsburgh CLO alumnus Rob Marshall, won the Oscar® for Best Picture in 2002.
4. Peter Stone crafted the original book and concept for the show. Stone, who won Tony® Awards for his librettos for Titanic, Woman of the Year and 1776, died in 2003, leaving the book unfinished. Rupert Holmes was then hired to rewrite the book. Holmes won three Tony® Awards in 1986 for his Broadway musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood, but might be best known for writing pop hits such as “Escape:The Piña Colada Song.”
5. Fred Ebb died in 2004, also before the musical was completed.
6. Curtains had its world premiere on July 25, 2006 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.
7. After 23 previews, the Broadway production directed by Scott Ellis and choreographed by Pittsburgh CLO alumnus Rob Ashford, opened on March 22, 2007 at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre. The cast included Pittsburgh CLO alumni Karen Ziemba and Megan Sikora.
8. Through its membership in the Independent Presenter’s Network (IPN), Pittsburgh CLO was an investor in the Broadway production of Curtains.
Wide Open Spaces
What Kind of Man?
Thinking of Him
The Woman’s Dead
Show People
Coffee Shop Nights
In the Same Boat 1
I Miss the Music
Thataway!
He Did It
It’s a Business
Kansasland
In the Same Boat 2
Thinking of Him (Reprise)
A Tough Act to Follow
In the Same Boat 3
A Tough Act to Follow (Reprise)
Broadway World