Ben Vereen News

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams, along with actors LeVar Burton, Ben Vereen, and Louis Gossett, Jr., will make several appearances today, February 4 and tomorrow, February 5 in conjunction with the February 5 PBS airing of a Pioneers of Television segment which examines three early miniseries including the legendary ROOTS.

Acclaimed jazz recording star Jane Monheit is the latest 2012 BroadwayWorld.com Cabaret Award winner to join a star-studded performing lineup featuring fellow winners Ben Vereen and Marilyn Maye, composer Jason Robert Brown, as well as cabaret stars Billy Stritch, KT Sullivan, Karen Kohler, Jim Caruso, and Colleen McHugh. All of these great entertainers and many other Award-winners will appear at the first-ever BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards show at the Metropolitan Room on Thursday, February 21 (6:30-9 pm). These entertainers and many others became award-winners after almost two months of voting and the casting of an astounding 10,000 votes over 20 categories on the Cabaret section of the BroadwayWorld.com website. The 2012 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards Show will be hosted by BroadwayWorld.com's lead Cabaret Reviewer/Columnist Stephen Hanks, while the show's Musical Director will be MAC Award-winning MD and composer Bill Zeffiro.

Ben Vereen, one of America's most versatile, talented and beloved entertainers, will take the stage with MenAlive, The Orange County Gay Men's Chorus, at "Academy Affair 2013," on Saturday, February 23, 2013.

The board of directors of the Louisa Arts Center (LAC) announced the appointment of Michael Bollinger as their new Executive Director.

The board of directors of the Louisa Arts Center (LAC) announced the appointment of Michael Bollinger as their new Executive Director.

Mama, I Want To Sing, the classic 1983 gospel musical created by Vy Higginsen, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Saturday, March 23, 2013 with a very special performance of Mama, I Want To Sing: The Next Generation at The Dempsey Theater, located in Harlem at 127 West 127th Street, between Lenox and 7th Avenues. This Gala event, taking place exactly 30 years to the day from when the original production opened in Harlem to great acclaim, benefits Gospel for Teens, a program of the Mama Foundation for the Arts' School for Gospel, Jazz, and R&B Arts.

Sirius XM Radio announced today that original cast members from ROOTS, the groundbreaking television mini-series, will participate in an upcoming installment of SiriusXM's 'Town Hall' series. LeVar Burton , Leslie Uggams, and Louis Gossett, Jr. will sit down for a Q&A session with a select group of SiriusXM listeners at the SiriusXM studios in New York City.

In celebration of Black History Month and as part of its year-round commitment to diverse programming, PBS today announced an on-air lineup commemorating the contributions of African Americans in music, dance, television and civil rights, providing an in-depth look at key figures and events that shaped black - and American - history.

Without question, Pink Floyd remains one of the most influential rock bands of all time. Their record-breaking status is legendary. Now, get ready for The Pink Floyd Experience live in concert, presenting Pink Floyd's Greatest Hits and Rarities. Complete with a dazzling new light show...full quadraphonic sound and six brilliant musicians singing all of Pink Floyd's classics including 'Wish You Were Here,' 'Time,' 'Another Brick in the Wall' and much more...live! Audiences are raving about this epic concert.

Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist Leslie Uggams, along with actors LeVar Burton, Ben Vereen, and Louis Gossett, Jr., will make several appearances on February 4 and 5 in conjunction with the February 5 PBS airing of a Pioneers of Television segment which examines three early miniseries including the legendary ROOTS. As four of the stars of ROOTS, based on Alex Haley's novel 'ROOTS: The Saga of an American Family,' Uggams, Burton, Vereen and Gossett, Jr. will discuss their involvement in this ground-breaking television series and the impact it still has 36 years later.

I'm That Parent! Ridgewood Filmmaker Caytha Jentis's film, Bad Parents, is a satirical comedy inspired by her own experiences in North Jersey about the over-zealous parents on an under 8 girls club soccer team. It takes a poke at the world of over-obsessed parents in soccer, though the theme is so Universal that any parent of a child athlete may realize 'I'm That Parent!' Bad Parents has been premiering throughout the country and is coming home to the Ridgewood Clearview Warner Quad, 190 East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ for (4) 7:30 pm showings on January 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st. An edited version children will enjoy will be shown on January 24th at 5pm. A Special Red Carpet Event will be held on Opening Night only, tonight, January 23rd, at 6:30pm in the lobby. Scheduled to appear are: Reiko Aylesworth from Bad Parents (also Hawaii 5-0, 24), Emmy Winning Actress/Producer Martha Byrne, Jaqueline Madden (of VH1) and other special guests.

Performing legends Ben Vereen and Marilyn Maye, celebrated composer Jason Robert Brown, as well as cabaret stars Billy Stritch, KT Sullivan, Karen Kohler, Jim Caruso, and Colleen McHugh are among the winners of the first-ever BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards, and who will appear in a star-studded show at the Metropolitan Room on Thursday, February 21 (6:30-9 pm). These entertainers and many others became award-winners after almost two months of voting and the casting of an astounding 10,000 votes over 20 categories on the Cabaret section of the BroadwayWorld.com website. The 2012 BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards Show will be hosted by BroadwayWorld.com's lead Cabaret Reviewer/Columnist Stephen Hanks, while the show's Musical Director will be MAC Award-winning MD and composer Bill Zeffiro.

Museum of the Moving Image has announced two special programs in Changing the Picture, an ongoing series of screenings and discussions sponsored by Time Warner, Inc. The series celebrates and explores the work of film and television artists of color who are bringing diverse voices to the screen. On Monday, January 21, at 4:00 p.m., for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday, the Museum will present "Tongues Untied, True Tales Told" featuring the legendary Ruby Dee, S. Epatha Merkerson (currently featured in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln), and Barbara Montgomery (who will screen excerpts from her new film Mitote), in a "town hall" discussion about the past, present, and future of African-American women in film and television.

I'm That Parent! Ridgewood Filmmaker Caytha Jentis's film, Bad Parents, is a satirical comedy inspired by her own experiences in North Jersey about the over-zealous parents on an under 8 girls club soccer team. It takes a poke at the world of over-obsessed parents in soccer, though the theme is so Universal that any parent of a child athlete may realize 'I'm That Parent!' Bad Parents has been premiering throughout the country and is coming home to the Ridgewood Clearview Warner Quad, 190 East Ridgewood Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ for (4) 7:30 pm showings on January 23rd, 24th, 30th and 31st. An edited version children will enjoy will be shown on January 24th at 5pm. A Special Red Carpet Event will be held on Opening Night only, January 23rd, at 6:30pm in the lobby. Scheduled to appear are: Reiko Aylesworth from Bad Parents (also Hawaii 5-0, 24), Emmy Winning Actress/Producer Martha Byrne, Jaqueline Madden (of VH1) and other special guests.

Neil Berg will brings his all new production, 101 Years of Broadway, to the McCallum Theatre for two performances, tonight, January 15 and the 16th at 8:00 pm. 101 Years of Broadway recreates the biggest moments from the finest shows of the century featuring the stars of shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Evita, Cats,Wonderful Town, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Fiddler on the Roof. Five Broadway Veterans light up the stage with songs from the hit shows in which they starred. Neil Berg presents brilliantly revived arrangements of Broadway classics as well as thrilling songs from Broadway's newest hit shows.

Today in 1999, Fosse opened at the Broadhurst THeatre, where it ran for 1093 performances. Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. The original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking was choreographed by Reinking and Chet Walker. In 2002, Fosse, featuring Reinking and Ben Vereen, was aired as part of the Great Performances series on PBS television. A London production opened at the West End Prince of Wales Theatre on February 8, 2000 and closed January 6, 2001. The musical did not recreate the musical numbers as originally presented but instead had primarily black-and-white costumes (including the all-important hats), set against a simple setting.

As BroadwayWorld reported last night, producers Barry & Fran Weissler and Howard & Janet Kagan will present the American Repertory Theater's 40th Anniversary production of Roger O. Hirson and Stephen Schwartz's Pippin, directed by Diane Paulus, on Broadway in the Spring of 2013. PIPPIN will begin preview performances on Broadway on Saturday, March 23, 2013 and officially open on Thursday, April 25, 2013 at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street).

Dazzling acrobatics, insightful direction, shrewd performances, and rich new orchestrations make this creaky 1970s pop musical a timely and timeless exploration of personal fulfillment and existential angst

It's finally official! After almost two months of voting and the casting of more than 10,000 votes, we know the winners of the 20 categories in the first-ever BroadwayWorld.com New York Cabaret Awards. The biggest of the winners are Ann Hampton Callaway, Jim Caruso and Colleen McHugh, each taking two awards. Other notable winners include: Marilyn Maye, Michael Feinstein, Betty Buckley, Ben Vereen, Jason Robert Brown, Jane Monheit, and Billy Stritch. Many of these fantastic entertainers will be performing at the BroadwayWorld.com 2012 Cabaret Awards Show, which will be held at the Metropolitan Room on February 21, 2013 from 6:30-9PM.

Director Diane Paulus' bold new staging of the beloved 1970s pop musical 'Pippin' incorporates daring circus acrobatics with the original Bob Fosse choreography in order to push the theatrical envelope when it comes to being 'extraordinary'