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 5/7 with just 27 days to go in voting!

LEAP OF FAITH's Kecia Lewis-Evans will be interviewed on WAMC radio on Tuesday May 8 at 10:35 AM on all Northeast Public Radio frequencies; it also streams live at www.wamc.org.

Dan Domenech and Tony Award-winning actress and Disney Legend Lea Salonga sang 'A Whole New World,' Disney's ALADDIN's theme, at the latter's live concert recently held at the Tuacahn Ampitheatre, an outdoor performance space nestled in a verdant valley, and surrounded by towering red rock cliffs.

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 5/5

This Tuesday marked the second most exciting day of any given year for Broadway babies - the Tony Award nominations. The actual awards ceremony on CBS - Broadway's night of nights - is still a few weeks off, but now is certainly an ideal time to size up the competition(s) and see who will most likely walk away with Tony gold come June 10 - and this year's ceremony, more than most before, could very well be as surprising as this season was; or Tuesday's nominations themselves were, for that matter. While the 2011-2012 Broadway season certainly fell far short of the heady promise many ascribed to its prospects way back last Summer, we certainly saw the fulfillment of some big dreams for some notable names if not an all-in-all banner year for Broadway when collectively considered. The highly-praised Off-Broadway critical darling LYSISTRATA JONES landed with a thud early in the season, as did the re-jiggered, gender-bending revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and its star Harry Connick, Jr., and, even the lauded and relatively successful revival of Stephen Sondheim's peerless masterpiece FOLLIES failed to make any money and closed. GODSPELL did not fare much better, though it is still running. The two highly-anticipated revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic early successes JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA were met with indifferent reviews - with the latter receiving some nasty press for its stars, neither of whom received Tony nominations - but receptive audiences so far. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS could take Best Revival, after all - but will NICE WORK's Kelli O'Hara edge out four-time Tony recipient Audra McDonald? New plays did not fare much better than the measly crop of musicals, but OTHER DESERT CITIES and VENUS IN FUR seemed to hit their target demographics squarely, but CLYBOURNE PARK looks to be the frontrunner for Best Play despite all that. We shall see. Mike Nichols may take home another Best Director for his sensitive, if workmanlike revival of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, as conceivably could Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield. John Lithgow is offering up some fierce competition in THE COLUMNIST, though. The acting races are tight, for sure, in both plays and musicals, with more newcomers and first-time nominees than any season this century.

New Repertory Theatre today announced a one-week extension of the Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken. Originally scheduled to close May 20, the production, now running in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts performs through May 27, 2012.

Watch the special behind-the-scenes look at NEWSIES on ABC's Nightline below! 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.

Newsies, the new American musical that just received eight Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, will be featured on ABC's "Nightline" tonight, May 3. Correspondent John Berman talks with the cast of Newsies and explains how the plot, set in 1899, has re-energized a new protest generation. "Nightline" airs nationally on ABC at 11:30p.m.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tony Brunch on May 2, 2012, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, co-nominees for Best Original Score for Newsies.

According to Variety, GLEE and SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK writer is in talks to write a new version of 'Little Shop of Horrors' for Warner Bros. No word yet on According to Variety, GLEE and SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is in talks to write a new version of 'Little Shop of Horrors' for Warner Bros. The 1982 musical (and 1986 film) spawned from the 1960 film of the same name. No word yet on a potential release date.a potential release date.

On May 2, all of the 2012 Tony nominees met the press at the official Tony Nominee Brunch. BroadwayWorld.com was there to capture the entire event and our very own Walter McBride brings you yet another special photo feature below - each of the nominees in the spotlight!

Stage Entertainment, in cooperation with Disney Theatrical Productions, will present the Dutch premiere of The Little Mermaid, which premiered on Broadway in 2007. After presenting Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the Netherlands is the first country to scoop the European premiere of the Disney musical. Disney's The Little Mermaid opens on Saturday May 12, premiering at Martini Plaza in Groningen and then playing larger theaters in the Netherlands. Check out the trailer video below.

Today, we're excited to present our special annual Tony Nominees Photo Booth Portraits shot by Walter McBride. How many future Tony winners can you spot below?

Stay tuned for exclusive BWW interviews leading up to the big night and in the meantime, check out behind the scenes photos from today's event!

Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the award-winning worldwide smash hit Broadway musical, is coming to Philadelphia as part of the Broadway Season, presented by The Kimmel Center and The Shubert Organization. Produced by NETworks Presentations, this elaborate theatrical production will come to life on stage at the Academy of Music for 9 performances on June 4 - 10. The engagement is now set to open on Monday, June 4 (from previously scheduled June 5 opening), with the additional performance added due to overwhelming demand. The press opening is still Tuesday, June 5 at 7:30 pm.