Audra McDonald News

THE HOPE OF CHRISTMAS is a new collection of Christmas songs interpreted by multiplatinum-selling singer, Tony nominated actress, pianist and leading champion of the American songbook, Ann Hampton Callaway, with lyrics by two-time Emmy® Award winner William Schermerhorn, and featuring twenty-nine of the world's best jazz musicians, including Five Play, New York Voices, Hubert Laws, Claudio Roditi, Gerald Albright, The Ted Rosenthal Trio and more. The recording will be released on Friday, October 9 by the MCG Jazz record label (Marty Ashby, producer).

In preparation for the role, the actress met up with legendary guitarist Neil Young for an impromptu lesson at the recording studio of New York City's Jacob Burns Film Center.

The acclaimed Broadway @ Town Hall concert series in Provincetown, MA, produced by Mark Cortale, will welcome Audra McDonald -- the historic 6-time Tony-winner and star of Broadway's LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR AND GRILL, PORGY AND BESS, RAGTIME, MASTER CLASS and TV's PRIVATE PRACTICE -- for one show only on Monday, August 24 at 6:30 PM. She will be joined onstage by a very special guest, her husband and fellow Broadway star Will Swenson.

The Board of Directors for The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center today announced the appointment of veteran arts executive Wiley Hausam as the organization's new Artistic and Executive Director. Hausam will assume his new role at The Broad Stage, which presents the best in classical and jazz music, opera recitals, theater, dance and children's programming, on October 1. He will be charged with leading the Santa Monica cultural institution in the next phase of its journey-including the opening of its newly expanded $23 million East Wing facilities on the SMC Performing Arts campus in early 2016-while building on its successful seven year legacy.

On last night's JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE, surprise guest Josh Groban set some of the best tweets of presidential candidate Donald Trump to music.

Bucks County Playhouse producers Robyn Goodman and Alexander Fraser just announced the 2nd Annual Oscar Hammerstein Festival -- named in honor of the master lyricist who wrote some of America's most beloved and recognizable musicals at his family farm in Bucks County.

The Art House in Provincetown, MA recently announced that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker will join his inaugural Broadway @ Town Hall series featuring SiriusXM radio's Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host for one night only tonight, August 17th.

Disney's annual D23 Expo is underway this weekend with exciting announcement after announcement!

Berkeley Rep has announced the full company for its 2015-16 season opener Amelie, A New Musical, starring award-winning actress Samantha Barks.

Tony Award Nominee Kerry Butler, star of 'Xanadu,' 'Rock of Ages,' 'Hairspray' & 'Catch Me If You Can' will make her Provincetown debut this weekend, August 14 & 15 at 7:00 PM, featuring series host and SiriusXM radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano.

110 in the Shade, a richly evocative and touching musical about desperation, desire, and hope, opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks tonight, August 14 (8pm) and heats up the Don & Ann Brown Theatre through August 23.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Boston, Long Island, St. Louis and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN with Audra McDonald and Will Swenson in Boston, Bay Street's GREY GARDENS starring Betty Buckley and Rachel York, and The Muny's OKLAHOMA!, just to name a few.

Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2015 Season continues with an invigorating new look at Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, now running through August 23, featuring six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald and Tony Award-nominee Will Swenson.  Check out a first look at the cast in action below!

Mark Cortale, Producing Artistic Director of The Art House in Provincetown, MA recently announced that Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker will join his inaugural Broadway @ Town Hall series featuring SiriusXM radio's Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host for one night only on August 17th. Broderick and Parker will both sing and be part of an unforgettable evening that includes hilarious conversation and great songs. They have not appeared together on stage for nearly two decades since the Broadway revival of 'How To Succeed...' Parker actually began her career on Broadway in the title role of Annie and also starred in the Broadway musical 'Once Upon A Mattress.' Matthew Broderick is a two-time Tony Award winner for Neil Simon's 'Brighton Beach Memoirs' and for 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.' Sarah Jessica Parker won four Golden Globe Awards, three SAG Awards and two Emmy Awards as Carrie Bradshaw on the long-running HBO series 'Sex and the City'. The couple will be appearing for one night only in Provincetown on August 17th at 6:00 PM and 8:30 PM. The Broadway @ Town Hall concert series will benefit the Tyler Clementi Foundation. For Tickets visit www.ptownarthouse.com or call 800-838-3006.

There's no mistaking who's in charge in the Williamstown Theatre Festival's crackling production of A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN now running through August 23. As Eugene O'Neill's indomitable Josie Hogan, six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald stomps, kicks, shoves and brandishes a big stick as she asserts her dominance over her father Phil (Glynn Turman), her landlord and wannabe love interest James Tyrone (Will Swenson), and anyone else who gets in her way.

Ten outstanding Music Academy of the West musicians have been selected to travel to New York in January 2016 to participate in the second year of the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program, which offers opportunities to train and play with Philharmonic musicians, representing a new approach to training the next generation of world-class musicians for successful careers.

Meet one of the furry stars of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: JALA-LA-PALA -- aka SPEED-THE-PLOW -- starts in the Caribbean!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: CYMBELINE takes the stage in Central Park, OKLAHOMA! dances into The Muny and more!

Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2015 Season presents an invigorating new look at Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten, which opened on August 5, and runs through August 23, featuring six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald and Tony Award-nominee Will Swenson. Let's see what the critics had to say...