Alan Menken News

Voting opened on May 3, 2012 and runs through June 4, 2012 for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/21 with just 13 days to go in voting!

The Birmingham Hippodrome today announced full season information for its forthcoming 2012/13 season, which includes Cape Town Opera's PORGY AND BESS and Cameron Mackintosh's new production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE KING AND I, WONDERFUL TOWN, DIRTY DANCING, SISTER ACT and BLOOD BROTHERS.

Our focus is 'Newsies,' the crowd-pleasing musical nominated for 8 Tony Awards. Joining us at our grand piano are the show's composer Alan Menken, and librettist Harvey Fierstein (both also nominated for Tony Awards), who describe the popular show's incubation period, and perform several of the show's best songs, plus a couple of others that didn't make the cut. Menken also shares a tune from the score of the original 1992 movie of 'Newsies,' which won him that year's 'Razzie 'Award for Worst Song.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, May 20, 2012 - Sunday, May 20, 2012.

As a follow-up to their very first 'Lazy Sunday' SNL Digital Short, Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell have revealed 'Lazy Sunday 2' in which they visit Broadway's SISTER ACT. Watch the video below!

Richard Ridge continues his interviews with honorary co-chairs Christine Lahti, Rosemary Harris and Christian Borle, nominees Blair Underwood (A Streetcar Named Desire), Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park), Michael Cristofer (The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism), Mary Testa (Queen of the Mist), Alan Menken (Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award), Capathia Jenkins and Kara Lindsay, Ben Fankhauser, John Dossett, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Harvey Fierstein and Jack Feldman (Distinguished Production of a Musical - Newsies), Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, Bonnie and Clyde), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Peter and the Starcatcher), Santino Fontana (Sons of the Prophet), Jessie Mueller (On A Clear Day You Can See Forever), Leslie Odom Jr (Leap of Faith), Annaleigh Ashford (RENT), Tracie Bennett (End of the Rainbow) and more!

The Drama League announced yesterday, May 18, the winners for the 78th Annual Drama League Awards at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos of the gentlemen who gathered for the ceremony. See below for photos of Matthew Broderick, Ricky Martin, Blair Underwood, Andrew Garfield, John Lithgow, Christian Borle, Roger Rees, Steve Kazee, Harvey Fierstein, Michael Cerveris and more!

Harvey Fierstein and Alan Menken - librettist and composer of the new crowd-pleasing musical Newsies - are interviewed on a new THEATER TALK this weekend, premiering tonight, May 19 (2012) at 8:30 PM on CUNY TV*, followed by airings Sunday 5/20 (12:30 PM on CUNY TV) and Monday 5/21 (5 AM on Thirteen, and 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM on CUNY TV). THEATER TALK is co-hosted by Michael Riedel of the New York Post and producer Susan Haskins.

Voting opened on May 3, 2012 and runs through June 4, 2012 for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/18 with just 16 days to go in voting!

The Drama League announced today the winners for the 78th Annual Drama League Awards: Distinguished Play, Other Desert Cities, presented by Philip Seymour Hoffman; Distinguished Revival of a Play, Death of a Salesman, presented by Christian Borle; Distinguished Production of a Musical, Once, presented by Cynthia Nixon; Distinguished Revival of a Musical, Follies, presented by Kelli O'Hara; and Distinguished Performance, Audra McDonald, presented by John Lithgow at a star-studded luncheon ceremony hosted by Stockard Channing (Other Desert Cities) and John Larroquette (Gore Vidal's The Best Man) at the Marriott Marquis Times Square.

Enchanting audiences of all generations worldwide, Disney's Beauty and the Beast casts its spell in Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater on Navy Pier June 28 to August 26, 2012. Tickets are $18-$25 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40 percent parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Stage and screen stars Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain will take on the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin in playwright John Pielmeier's world premiere of The Exorcist at the Geffen Playhouse. Helmed by acclaimed director John Doyle, who won a Tony Award for his striking reimagining of Sweeney Todd, this stage adaptation of William Peter Blatty's famous 1971 novel transforms the unsettling battles of good versus evil, faith versus fact and ego versus ethos into a uniquely theatrical experience as sophisticated as it is suspenseful.

Alan Menken has taken to his twitter just now to announce that LEAP OF FAITH will be recording a Broadway cast album sometime soon. No details regarding a label, recording or anticipated release date have been confirmed at present.

Voting opened on May 3, 2012 and runs through June 4, 2012 for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/17 with just 17 days to go in voting!

Happy Birthday, Judy Kuhn! Kuhn made her Broadway debut was in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She then played Cosette in the 1987 multiple award winning Broadway production of Les Misérables brought her the first Tony Award nomination. The following year, Kuhn took on a transfer from London's West End, playing one of the main roles (Florence Vassy) in the Trevor Nunn-directed Chess, with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA) and lyrics by Tim Rice. Later in 1993, Kuhn played the role of Betty Schaefer in the U.S premier production of Sunset Boulevard at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles. Kuhn sang the title role in the 1995 Disney animated film, Pocahontas, the film included her rendition of the song Colors of the Wind, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for its composers Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. On October 23, 2007, Kuhn returned to the Broadway Production of Les Misérables after 20 years, but this time assuming the role of Fantine.

Voting opened on May 3, 2012 and runs through June 4, 2012 for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/16 with just 18 days to go in voting!

Surprising no one following the show's grosses, it's just been announced NEWSIES, which opened on Broadway back in March for a limited run through August 19th will now officially be an open-ended run with tickets on sale through November 18, 2012 and group sales to January of 2013. The show received 8 Tony nominations earlier this month.

Chairman of Stage Entertainment, Joop van den Ende and Producer and President of Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher announce two premiere productions of THE LITTLE MERMAID. The Holland production is currently in previews in Groningen and opens on June 16th, 2012 in Rotterdam. The Moscow production of THE LITTLE MERMAID will make its debut on October 6th, 2012.

NEWSIES is currently playing at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (208 W 41st St) for a strictly limited 101 performance run following its critically-hailed stint at Paper Mill Playhouse last fall. IN the video below, go inside the recording studio with Jeremy Jordan and the rest of the cast as they perform 'The World Will Know.'