I’m a Playbill junky – I love that little booklet they give you when you go to shows. I wait until I get home and then I read it from cover to cover. So a few weeks ago, I went to see Ragtime, the musical that was on Broadway, I got my Playbill and as is my routine, I waited until later that night to read it. It was quite a nice surprise to see Constantine in it not once, but two times.
This first article is a popular feature – the Celebrity Choice restaurant picks. Is it any surprise what appeared as his favorite dish?
And here is the second one:
NY Times photo by Joan Marcus
When Rock of Ages opened back in April, 09, it received a very good review from the New York Times critic Charles Isherwood. In today’s edition of the Times, Mr. Isherwood has written again about the show and it is quite a nice review. The article is the story of his taking in a “double feature” day of theater where he first saw South Pacific and then that evening went to Rock of Ages. Here is how he begins:
From Rodgers and Hammerstein to Bon Jovi and Whitesnake in a single day: the surrealism of it tickled. And while Broadway traditionalists might use the occasion to illustrate and deplore the precipitous decline of the musical, you’ll get no such argument from me. Granted, “Rock of Ages” is, um, no “South Pacific.” But if the colonization of Broadway by pop songbooks of varying vintages and qualities has hardly been a phenomenon wholly worthy of celebration, there are pleasures to be had, and “Rock of Ages” is definitely one of them.
Amongst his comments about ROA, he says this about Constantine:
Constantine Maroulis, the “American Idol” competitor with lungs of steel, has proved himself to be a winning, sweet-spirited and completely natural actor in the lead role of Drew, negotiating the bridge between sincerity and spoof with breezy amiability.
“Lungs of steel” – wow – good way to describe that powerhouse voice.
Read the entire article online at the New York Times website. Be sure to go to p. 2 to read the complete review of Rock of Ages.
Constantine was one of the men spotlighted by Playbill this month in their monthly column, The Leading Men. Written by Tom Nondorf, the Sept. 2, 2009 article is in interview format.
In his introductory paragraph titled CONSTANT SCENE, the writer describes him as:
He lives the proverbial rock-star life onstage most every night at the Brooks Atkinson where his powerful but perfectly pitched vocals deserve their own dressing room.
I like what he says about his vocals!
The entire article can be read online at Playbill.com.
Yes, a lot of time has passed since the Tony Awards. But it was a fantastic event to attend and well worth looking back at. If you are attending the show and are not a celebrity, you probably won’t get to see the Red Carpet. The Red Carpet takes place on 50th Street and the line to get into Radio City Music Hall is on 51st Street. So it was nice for me to be able to see these pictures taken by professionals of Constantine and his lovely mom.
The opening number of the show was amazing to watch. It did seem a like something was missing when Rock of Ages came on with no Constantine. He remained in his seat while members of the cast and the 80′s rock band Poison sang “Nothing But a Good Time.” It was only when the Tribe from Hair came out singing that one of their cast ran down into the audience and brought him onstage for the big finale. Outside of seeing the back of his head in the audience, this was the first time I saw him that evening!
It was quite a finish to a spectacular opening number and this picture shows it more clearly:
When the time arrived for Tony nominated Rock of Ages to perform, I was ready. It was quite thrilling to hear Constantine’s strong voice ringing out so clearly in Radio City Music Hall, especially on that long note he holds out towards the end of “Don’t Stop Believing.” It was quite a proud moment as a fan to see him and the cast perform as well as they did that evening.
The introduction to “I Wanna Rock” with Mitchell Jarvis is shown here:
Crowd surfing:
And here he goeeessss…..
One of the best moments of the evening came when the audience put on their lighters for the final song. We each had gotten one when we entered the building earlier in the night. It was amazing that thousands of people held off using them until the very moment they were supposed to turn them on. And it was quite a spectacular scene to be a part of.
Great show, great performances, terrific night all around. It would have totally perfect if Constantine had won the Tony Award. But that didn’t happen, so we’ll have to wait another year for that. All in all, a fabulous night!
In a few hours, I will be leaving New Jersey and crossing the river to go to the Tony Awards. I’m thrilled because I have wanted to go to this show for many years. I guess it took Constantine being nominated to get me to commit to going.
It’s going to be fun to see all of this happening live. Of course I’ll be routing for Constantine and Rock of Ages to win. But just knowing they have all received nominations for their work and they will be a part of the show is good also.
I’ll report back on what goes on. Hope everyone will be watching the show tonight on television. Check for red carpet information on the Tony website.
Something a little different for a Constantine fan to see is him going to a salon and getting “done up?” Would that be the term?
It seems that on Tuesday, Constantine went to the Ricardo Rojas Salon in New York City for his Pre-Tony Awards Rockstar Rejuvenation Makeover. Note: I didn’t invent that phrase, it was on the Getty photo captions!
This picture shows him receiving the Salon’s Signature Deep Conditioning treatment from Ricardo Rojas.
He also received an Intraceutical Oxygen Treatment. Here is Colleen Runne administering it.
There are a lot more pictures available on Getty Images about this salon visit.
Constantine and Amy Spanger will be representing Rock of Ages on tonight’s broadcast of the Visa Signature Tony Awards Preview Concert.
The pair will be shown singing “High Enough” from Rock of Ages which has been nominated for 5 Tony Awards.
The show is scheduled to be shown at 7:00 p.m. tonight in the NY area. Check the CBS website for more information and possible affiliate stations.
There is a video on Broadway.com that shows highlights from this evening’s Broadcast that was filmed at the Hudson Theater a little over a week ago.
This show is a terrific way to get a look at all the nominated shows and a chance to see Constantine and Amy give a very special performance of one of the finest ballads in their show.
The Broadway Softball League officially kicked off the 2009 season on Thursday, May 28th. Constantine was a part of the festivities as he sang The National Anthem.
Also a part of the opening festivities were Hunter Foster, Haydn Gwynne, Andy Karl, Greg Jbara, and Jeff Daniels among other theater favorites.
A check for $10,000 was presented to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids from the League.
Then it was time to throw out the first ball of the season.
Constantine’s Rock of Ages team went on to defeat the Blue Man Group team 15 – 4 in their season opener game later that afternoon. Congrats ROA!
The League plays on Thursday afternoons on the Hecksher Fields in Central Park which lie just inside the park at Central Park West and 63rd Street.
During the past few weeks, BroadwayWorld.com has been running a series of articles about the nominees for the TONY Awards. Today, Constantine is featured in an article titled TONYS 2009 Q and A: Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical Nominee – Constantine Maroulis.
In addition to a rundown on his professional background, there are some interesting things to read about including how he found out about the nomination, how his training helped him get to where he is now, and his gratitude towards the cast of Rock of Ages and director Kristin Hanggi.
Also read about Constantine’s thoughts on Phantom of the Opera.
The award season for Broadway is in full swing. And Constantine has been either a nominee or a guest at events celebrating that season.
Last Friday, May 15, the Drama League Awards Luncheon was held in the Grand Ballroom of the New York City Marriott Marquis Hotel. As mentioned in an earlier article on this blog, Constantine was one of the nominees for the Distinguished Performance Award. Rock of Ages was also nominated for Distinguished Performance by a Musical.
Being that he was a part of the group who was nominated, Constantine was seated on the dias for the event and gave a little speech as did all the nominees.
Reports from those who attended is that it was an inspiring event to be a part of. Lots of pictures were taken by wire services and online theater sites including this one:
On Tuesday, May 16th, The 60th annual New Dramatists Luncheon, honoring late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote, was held at the Marriott Marquis. Constantine was guest at this event.
The annual luncheon salutes an artist who has made an “outstanding artistic contribution to the American theatre.” As the recipient of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award, Foote is the first artist to be honored posthumously by New Dramatists.
Finally, yesterday, May 21st, Constantine returned to the Marriott Marquis for the formal luncheon for the Tony Nominees. So far, no pictures have surfaced of the event. However, there was a Twitter Lounge at the event to let people know what was going on. This one caught my eye as it was a good event describer:
# #TonyLunch Official Nom certificates are being presented. Even the most famous folks here seem humbled.
Constantine Maroulis News, Theater | Karen | 
January 19, 2010 7:30 pm | 
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