Betty Comden News

Upcoming MTI Shows - 7/03 for Toronto

From Jerry Herman's Parade to Martin Charnin's No Frills Revue to nights with Betty Comden, Adolph Green and The Revuers, the original song and sketch revue has been a favorite of downtown audiences for nearly a century.  With The Greenwich Village Follies, a new show that takes its name from a legendary production from the 1920s, composer/lyricist Doug Silver and bookwriter/lyricist Andrew Frank not only capture the smart, freestyle irreverence that made downtown revues so popular, but they use the format to offer an eighty-minute lesson on the history of America's first haven for artists, free-thinkers and non-conformists.

While Shakespeare's canon includes many couples whose relationships are of questionable health - Kate and Petruchio, Beatrice and Benedick, Mr. and Mrs. Scottish - few are as discomfortingly mismatched as the lead pair of All's Well That Ends Well.

Five dates. Five restaurants. One chance at love, Five Course Love is a hilarious musical roller coaster ride that is equal parts comedy and music sprinkled with generous portions of that elusive search for love.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 6/26 for Toronto

Upcoming MTI Shows - 6/19 for Toronto

The award-winning York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) will honor Tony and Grammy Award winner Barbara Cook with the 20th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 21st, 2011.

What! You've never heard of Judith Tuvim, the Jewish girl from Brooklyn with the IQ of 172, who took Broadway and Hollywood by storm in the 1950's. Perhaps that's because you've always known her as the actress, Judy Holliday, whose meteoric rise and fall is the subject of a new play by Bob Sloan.

Reprise Theatre Company presents Ray Romano Live for one performance only on Tuesday, June 7 at 8:00 pm, at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA. Ticket sales from Ray Romano Live support Reprise's mission to produce musical theatre of the highest artistic quality and to make this art form accessible to new audiences through education and outreach programs.

Theatre World Awards for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut performances during the 2010-2011 theatrical season will be presented by former Theatre World Award winners, including: Tammy Blanchard (Gypsy, 2003), Gabriel Byrne (A Moon for the Misbegotten, 2000), Zoe Caldwell (Slapstick Tragedy, 1966), Billy Crudup (Arcadia, 1995), Blythe Danner (The Miser, 1969), Edie Falco (Side Man, 1998), Tovah Feldshuh (Yentl, 1976), Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, 2007), Rosemary Harris (The Climate of Eden, 1953), Kevin Kilner (The Glass Menagerie, 1995), and Andrea McArdle (Annie, 1977). There will also be performances by former Theatre World Award winners, including: Karen Akers (Nine, 1982), Ernestine Jackson (Raisin, 1974), and John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys, 2006).

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & MC COY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT are thrilled to announce their 2011- 2012 season of shows! For the first time ever, the company will offer its subscribers and audiences four weeks of performances this season (an additional week has been added to each run!) - with six must-see theatrical events: From hilarious Broadway comedies such as The 39 Steps and Noises Off; to unforgettable musical theatre events such as Miss Saigon and Cathy Rigby returning as Peter Pan - throw in some doo-wop ‘50s classics with the multi-award-winning Life Could Be A Dream and a spectacular evening with Debby Boone reminiscing about her mother-in-law Rosemary Clooney, and you have a season filled with spectacle and excitement. You won't want to miss any of what promises to be our best season ever! So extraordinary, three weeks were just not enough!

Theatre World Awards for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut performances during the 2010-2011 theatrical season will be presented by former Theatre World Award winners, including: Tammy Blanchard (Gypsy, 2003), Gabriel Byrne (A Moon for the Misbegotten, 2000), Zoe Caldwell (Slapstick Tragedy, 1966), Billy Crudup (Arcadia, 1995), Blythe Danner (The Miser, 1969), Edie Falco (Side Man, 1998), Tovah Feldshuh (Yentl, 1976), Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening, 2007), Rosemary Harris (The Climate of Eden, 1953), Kevin Kilner (The Glass Menagerie, 1995), and Andrea McArdle (Annie, 1977). There will also be performances by former Theatre World Award winners, including: Karen Akers (Nine, 1982), Ernestine Jackson (Raisin, 1974), and John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys, 2006).

SOUTH PACIFIC star Kelli O'Hara will release her second solo album under the Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight label. The album, entitled Always, features 13 tracks consisting of a collection of Broadway favorites from MY FAIR LADY and SOUTH PACIFIC, as well as songs by Irving Berlin and Ricky Ian Gordon among others. The album is set to be release May 31, 2011.

Last night, May 25, 59E59 Theaters welcomed the Rubicon Theatre in California to Americas Off Broadway with their critically acclaimed production of THE BEST IS YET TO COME: THE MUSIC OF Cy Coleman, devised and directed by David Zippel. THE BEST IS YET TO COME: THE MUSIC OF Cy Coleman began previews on Tuesday, May 18 for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 3. Broadway Beat was exclusively invited to film show highlights! Below, they bring you a look at the special presentation and also take you down the opening night red carpet!

Today marks the last episode review of the second season of Fox's hit musical dramedy series GLEE and I'm sure that many will agree with me that last night's show was as good a Season Two send-off as could have possibly been expected from Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Ian Brennan and company given what has gone on this year so far. Besides the sights and sounds of the dramatic NYC wrap-up, the Broadway babies amongst the gleeks were treated to the extended returns of fan favorite Jonathan Groff and new cast member Cheyenne Jackson, in addition to a characteristically fabulous cameo by Broadway legend Patti LuPone - and the grand return of international singing sensation - as well as a participant in this column; in addition to Mr. Groff, yesterday (and, coming up: Mr. Jackson) - the big-voiced-diva known as Charice. While original songs dominated the episode, we were also treated to a mash-up of Madonna's 'I Love New York' and the Leonard Bernstein/Betty Comden/Adolph Green ON THE TOWN anthem 'New York, New York' (and a sample of the Kander & Ebb version elsewhere in the episode, 'for good' measure), in addition to one of the musical highlights of not only this episode, but all of Season Two - a song which was incidentally premiered in this very column on BroadwayWorld last week: Lea Michele and Chris Colfer putting their own spin on the WICKED curtain song 'For Good' on the very stage of the Gershwin Theater where the Broadway smash plays eight times a week - and has since 2004 - right where fellow GLEE guest stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel first sang it. While the musical quotient on GLEE is always appreciably entertaining - with few exceptions - this season has been significantly more expansive and varied in its storytelling style, so the question of the season undoubtedly is: was it all wrapped up satisfactorily? Well, we'll just have to stack it all up side-by-side-by-side-by-side and see, now, won't we? But, one thing is crystal clear: GLEE in NYC was all it was cracked up - and built up - to be. The big pay-off. Finally. Or, make that more to the point: finale.

Their partnership was one of Broadway and Hollywood's longest runs. Together, Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote words that gave life to On the Town, Wonderful Town, Bells are Ringing and Singin' in the Rain. Phyllis Newman, Tony Award-winner and Green's wife of more than four decades, summons the essence of their genius - irreverence, humanity, sophisticated wit and joy - in the Lyrics & Lyricists™ season closer Carried Away: Being Comden and Green on May 21, 22 and 23. Joining her are vocalists Sarah Uriarte Berry, Josh Grisetti, Marcus Lovett, Mary Testa and Zakiya Young, with special guest vocalist Leslie Uggams.

92nd Street Y has announced the 2011 line-up for Lyrics & LyricistsTM, its celebrated American Songbook series. Deborah Grace Winer will return for her third season as artistic director of the series. Guest artistic directors of the season's individual concerts will be John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, David Loud, Ted Chapin, and Amanda Green; Winer will create one of the season's shows as well.