Audra McDonald, Cheyenne Jackson and Sutton Foster Set for Seth Rudetsky's 2015 Series at Parker Playhouse
By: BWW News Desk Oct. 28, 2014
Audra McDonald became a three-time Tony Award winner by the age of 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class and Ragtime, placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She won her fourth in 2004 for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun, a role she reprised for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway's The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for the most Tony Awards won by an actor. This past June, she made history by winning her sixth Tony Award for her role as Billie Holliday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. She also maintains her ties to classical repertoire with an active concert and recording career, performing song cycles and operas as well as concerts throughout the U.S. Her many television appearances include four seasons as Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, as well as Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Having Our Say, Mister Sterling, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, the television remake of the musical Annie, HBO's Wit with Emma Thompson and more recently as a cast member of The Good Wife. In December 2013, she won critical acclaim for her performance as the Mother Abbess in NBC's live telecast of The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood. Her film roles include Cradle Will Rock, Object of My Affection, It Runs in the Family, Best Thief in the World and Seven Servants.
Cheyenne Jackson has starred on 30 Rock opposite Tina Fey and on Glee where he played the voice coach for the group Vocal Adrenaline. Other television credits include Family Practice, Life on Mars, Ugly Betty, It Takes a Village, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Local Talent, Mockingbird Lane and The Onion News Empire. He can currently be seen in the Ira Sachs' film Love is Strange opposite Marissa Tomei, John Lithgow and Alfred Molina. He also appeared in Behind the Candelabra, directed by Steven Soderberg and starring Michael Douglass and Matt Damon. He has appeared in a number of other films, including his portrayal of Mark Bingham in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated United 93, The Green opposite Julia Ormond and Ileana Douglas, Price Check with Parker Posey, Lola Versus, Mutual Friends and Lucky Stiff. On Broadway, he most recently starred in Encore's production of The Most Happy Fella at City Center, Finian's Rainbow, Damn Yankees, Xanadu, Thoroughly Modern Millie and All Shook Up. Off-Broadway he was seen in the original cast of Altar Boyz. In concert, he has sold-out Carnegie Hall twice. The Power of Two in 2010 with Michael Feinstein followed by his solo debut concert with the NY Pops Music of the Mad Men Era in 2011. The Power of Two was hailed by the New York Times as "passionate," "impeccably harmonized," and "groundbreaking." Music of the Mad Men Era was lauded by the NY Daily News, which said, "Cheyenne Jackson has got it all and he showed it all: the voice, the moves, the quirky self-effacing humor. He gleamed like Don Draper's Brylcreemed hair."
Sutton Foster starred on Broadway in The Will Rogers Follies, Grease, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Annie and LES MISERABLES before her big break and Tony Award-winning performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. Since then, she has originated roles in the Broadway productions of Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein and Shrek the Musical. She most recently starred as Reno Sweeney in The Roundabout's revival of Anything Goes, a role that earned her the 2011 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Astaire and Broadway.com's Audience Favorite awards. She returned to Broadway this spring in a revival of the Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley musical Violet at New York's Roundabout Theatre at the American Airlines Theatre. She was first seen on television on Star Search at age 15 and has appeared in Johnny and the Sprites and Flight of the Conchords. Most recently, she was the star of the ABC Family TV ballet 'dramedy' Bunheads, created by Gilmore Girls writer/producer Amy Sherman-Palladino. It was recently announced that she will star in the pilot new TV series Younger by Sex and the City creator Darren Starr. In December 2013, she appeared at the 36th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, where she performed a medley of hit Broadway songs made famous by honoree Shirley MacLaine, including "Something Better Than This," "Steam Heat" and "She's No Longer A Gypsy."
Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius XM satellite radio. As a musician, he has played piano for over a dozen Broadway shows including Ragtime, LES MISERABLES, and Phantom of the Opera. He was also the artistic producer and music director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts, which included Dreamgirls with Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and Hair with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy nomination). As a comic he was awarded "Funniest Gay Male in NY" at Stand-Up NY and is a three-time Emmy nominee as a writer for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. As an actor, he made his Broadway debut in The Ritz directed by Joe Mantello and has appeared on television on Law and Order C.I. and All My Children. As an author, he wrote the books The Q Guide to Broadway and Broadway Nights, and he just released his new novel My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan published by Random House. The book has also been released as an audio book on audible.com, featuring Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson, SNL's Ana Gasteyer and Smash's Megan Hilty among others. Rudetsky also writes a weekly column on Playbill.com. He recently added "television mogul" to his long list of accomplishments with SethTV, his new, web-based entertainment network. This past summer he co-produced the critically acclaimed play Unbroken Circle by James Wesley, and he co-wrote and starred in the new Off-Broadway 'disaster movie musical' hit Disaster!, which recently ran at St. Luke's Theatre in New York.
Presented outside of South Florida as the Broadway @ concert series, the concerts featuring Rudetsky as pianist and host was inaugurated in 2011 by Producing Artistic Director Mark Cortale @ The Art House in Provincetown. In its fourth season this past summer, the series presented Broadway superstars like Kristin Chenoweth, Megan Hilty, Alice Ripley, Cheyenne Jackson and Gavin Creel. The Broadway @ series also premiered in 2013 in New Orleans, in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) with Megan Mullally and in London's West End with Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theater. In This season the series travels to New Orleans @ The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), San Francisco @ The Nourse Theatre, San Antonio @ The Woodlawn Theatre, The Poconos @ The Pocono Community Theatre and Detroit @ The Berman Center for the Performing Arts. Additional artists participating throughout this season include Chita Rivera, Megan Mullally, Ana Gasteyer, Joanna Gleason and Christine Ebersole. Info at markcortalepresents.com.
Ticketmaster is the only official ticketing service of the Broward Center, Parker Playhouse and affiliated venues. Buy tickets online at BrowardCenter.org, ParkerPlayhouse.com or Ticketmaster.com; by phone at 800.745.3000 or TTD/TTY at 800.359.2525; in person at Ticketmaster outlets or the Broward Center's AutoNation Box Office. Know who you are buying from when you purchase tickets. We CANNOT PROVIDE REFUNDS OR CUSTOMER SERVICE for tickets purchased from unauthorized sites, brokers or secondary ticket sellers. Tickets are also available for purchase at the Parker Playhouse box office Tuesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The Parker Playhouse, located in Holiday Park at 707 N.E. Eighth Street in Fort Lauderdale, is an affiliated venue of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, which provides programming and management of the facility. All dates, times, programs, artists and ticket prices are subject to change without notice.
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