Alan Jay Lerner News

Broadway stars headed uptown to enhance a museum exhibit with similarly themed songs from Broadway.

Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts (SBCPA), in partnership with the Santa Barbara Symphony, is proud to present My Fair Lady in Concert today, June 16 at 3:00 pm at the historic Granada Theatre. This special performance comes to Santa Barbara directly from one of the country's leading centers for the performing arts, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., with a world-class cast under the talented direction of Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The famous original score will be performed by the Santa Barbara Symphony, under the direction of James Moore.

About a third of the way into Tony Award-winner Faith Prince's new show at 54 Below last Wednesday night (the second of a five-show run over six days), it hit me that I could be watching a potential future cabaret legend in action. You know, in the Barbara Cook, Marilyn Maye, Andrea Marcovicci, Ann Hampton Callaway category. I felt Prince's new effort--'Have a Little Faith'--was one of the few shows I've seen at 54 Below--especially from a Broadway star--that was a true 'cabaret show' in the way most people define cabaret.

Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse! Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy (1964, also with Adams), starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966, based on the popular comic strip) which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams) won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon (1979), Dance a Little Closer (1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Rags (1986), Nick & Nora (1993), and An American Tragedy (1995, with lyrics by David Shaber).

Petruchio and Katherine backstage. Romeo and Juliet on a fire escape. From Kiss Me, Kate to West Side Story, Shakespeare has left his mark on the American Songbook. Tony Award-nominated director Mark Lamos (Cymbeline, Seascape) makes his Lyrics & Lyricists debut revealing the ties between Stratford-on-Avon and Shubert Alley in the 2013 season closer, Brush UpYour Shakespeare: The Bard and the Broadway Musical, tonight, June 1 and June 2 & 3.

The Laguna Playhouse is thrilled to present film great Leslie Caron (An American In Paris, Gigi, Fanny) in a comic and heartfelt valentine to the human condition, SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS, written by Richard Alfieri and directed by Michael Arabian (Waiting for Godot). Additional exciting casting news to be announced shortly! SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS will begin previews on Tuesday, November 26 and will open on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30pm and run through Sunday, December 29, 2013 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts (SBCPA), in partnership with the Santa Barbara Symphony, is proud to present My Fair Lady in Concert on Sunday, June 16 at 3:00 pm at the historic Granada Theatre. This special performance comes to Santa Barbara directly from one of the country's leading centers for the performing arts, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., with a world-class cast under the talented direction of Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The famous original score will be performed by the Santa Barbara Symphony, under the direction of James Moore.

Petruchio and Katherine backstage. Romeo and Juliet on a fire escape. From Kiss Me, Kate to West Side Story, Shakespeare has left his mark on the American Songbook. Tony Award-nominated director Mark Lamos (Cymbeline, Seascape) makes his Lyrics & Lyricists debut revealing the ties between Stratford-on-Avon and Shubert Alley in the 2013 season closer, Brush UpYour Shakespeare: The Bard and the Broadway Musical, on June 1, 2 and 3. Lamos is joined by vocalists Christine Andreas, Daniel Breaker, Britney Coleman, Max Von Essen, and Heather Jane Rolff.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, which continues tonight, on May 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll. Check out photos from the cencert below!

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, tonight, May 4 and May 5, 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, on May 4, 5 and 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll. BroadwayWorld brings you a preview of Karen Ziemba singing 'Can't help Lovin Dat Man' below!

Happy Birthday Barbra Streisand! Streisand has appeared on Broadway in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE and FUNNY GIRL, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Streisand won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress for the role in the film version of the musical. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970). Additionally, she has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, one special Tony Award, five Emmy Awards including one Daytime Emmy, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, on May 4, 5 and 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll.

Guthrie Director Joe Dowling today announced 12 mainstage productions of the theater's 2013-2014 season. The theater's 51st season includes first-time Guthrie productions of playwrights Beth Henley and Nina Raine, classics on the Wurtele Thrust Stage directed by Dowling and Marion McClinton, WorldStage Series presentations of returning companies Kneehigh Theatre and Out of Joint, as well as a summertime slate of a beloved musical and a Christopher Durang comedy that is currently a Broadway hit.

A packed audience at tonight's opening performance of Hello Dolly! was treated to the official announcement from Artistic Director Robert J. Farley of Georgia Ensemble Theatre's (GET) 2013-2014 Season. The selections are: Almost Heaven: John Denver's America written and adapted by Peter Glazer, Deathrap by Ira Levin, the world premiere of The Only Light in Reno by Topher Payne, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby adapted for the stage by Simon Levy, and Camelot by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. Georgia Ensemble Theatre is the Official Resident Professional Theatre Company at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center in historic Roswell, Georgia.

Today in 1957, Brigadoon opened at the Adelphi Theatre, where it ran for 47 performances. Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as 'Almost Like Being in Love' have become standards. The story involves two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years. Tommy, one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona, a young woman from Brigadoon. The original production opened on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 581 performances. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. A 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk.

Vocalists and a pianist are announced for Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown, the L&L series at 92YTribeca. On Monday, April 15, this one-night-only event features a conversation with Tony Award-nominated lyricist composer and librettist Michael John LaChiusa. As one of today's most innovative, prolific and honored artists, LaChiusa's credits include Giant (which recently garnered a Lucille Lortel Award nomination as "Outstanding Musical,") Queen of the Mist, See What I Wanna See and Marie Christine. Joining him as moderator is five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, who has starred in several of his works and included his songs on her CDs Way Back To Paradise and Happy Songs. The conversation - touching on LaChiusa's significant works and his songwriting process - is punctuated by songs with vocalists Natalie Cortez and Mary Testa and pianist Chris Fenwick.

Director Vince Legaretta and choreographer Kerry Lambert create a music and dance spectacle you may see once in a hundred years