Bruce Vilanch News

The Tony winner brings her 3 decade old show to the Birdland Theater Valentine's weekend.. and what a guest cast she has! Stephen Mosher chats with the iconic New Yorker about what to expedt

Broadway came out to celebrate in LA last weekend as the Grammy Awards brought some of New York City's biggest talents to the west coast. Producer Jordan Roth and Rick Miramontez hosted their First Annual Musical Theater Grammy Award Party at Tramp Stamp Granny's- a bar owned by Broadway veteran Darren Criss.

Casting has been announced for the upcoming New York City premiere of Leaving the Blues, a new play by Jewelle Gomez, directed by Mark Finley. Rosalind Brown (original Broadway productions of Footloose and One Mo' Time) will play the lead role of Alberta Hunter, the great American jazz singer and songwriter. The cast also features Michael Michele Lynch, Joy Suddath, Cooper Sutton, Benjamin Mapp, Ameerah Briggs, Tsebiyah Mishael Derry and Erik Ransom.

Each year, in the decade since the Lythgoe Family first introduced Panto to American audiences, stars of TV, film and Broadway come together at the holidays-many returning year after year-to perform alongside local talent in cities across the U.S. This year's offerings include the beloved tales of Snow White, Aladdin and Peter Pan, featuring Richard Karn, Garrett Clayton, Neil Patrick Harris and many others. Past productions have featured the star power of Ariana Grande, Jordan Fisher, Morgan Fairchild, Lucy Lawless, John O'Hurley, Tamyra Gray and Alex Newell, among others.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Michael Stotts- Managing Director), recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award, begins the new year with the world premiere Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and written with Richard Curtis. Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber begins performances Thursday, January 30, 2020, and will continue through Sunday, March 1, 2020 at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ). JPMorgan Chase & Co. is the major sponsor of Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Paper Mill Playhouse's 2019-2020 season is proudly sponsored by Investors Bank. Opening Night is Sunday evening, February 9, 2020 at 7:00pm.

On Sunday, Nov 24th, an eclectic group gathered to pay homage with laughter to the memory of The Prince or Pandemonium, The Master of Mayhem, The Crying Comedian, The King of Camp and Confetti, Star of Screen (large and small), Broadway & Vegas Stage ... RIP TAYLOR

Back to the Backlot, a live musical comedy variety show, will bring back many of West Hollywood's famed Backlot Theatre's original showcase stars to commemorate the end of an era of one of the country's most famous venues for live entertainment. The event will mark the beginning of the preservation project known as Robertson Lane, which will re-build the venue formally known as The Factory and the famous Studio One Nightclub. The historic building opened in 1929 as the home of Mitchell Cameras, an early and important movie camera maker for the large movie studios. It was then the Studio One nightclub/Backlot Theatre from the late 1970s through the 1990s.

We asked, and you delivered! We recently asked BroadwayWorld readers to name the funniest on-stage mishaps they've either seen on stage or experienced while performing. Now we've gathered some of the standout answers for you to enjoy, with mishaps from shows including Be More Chill, Spongebob Squarepants, Aladdin, and more. Get ready to laugh with all of these responses!

The Blank Theatre and Marc Huestis Presents have announced a special multimedia event to celebrate the release of the audiobook of Marc Huestis's memoir Impresario of Castro Street, narrated by actor/activist and Blank Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Henning, on Saturday October 26, at 2pm. Hosted by Bruce Vilanch and featuring Teri Hatcher in a tribute to the late Carol Lynley, the event will take place at The Blank's 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard, in Hollywood. The audiobook dropped on October 1 and is now available on Audible.com at https://tinyurl.com/yxhkyggb.

BroadwayWorld is sad to report that Rip Taylor, known for his appearances on both stage and screen died on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 84 in Beverly Hills CA.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party returns to the West Coast for two nights only, Wednesday and Friday, October 9 and 11 at 7:30pm. The 'extreme open mic' will take place at Feinstein's at Vitello's, located at 4349 Tujunga Avenue in Studio City.

After the success of last year's holiday spectacular Peter Pan and Tinkerbell a?" A Pirate's Christmas, the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and Lythgoe Family Give Kids Panto will reunite this holiday season to present Aladdin and His Winter Wish Dec.12-22 in TPAC's Polk Theater.

Writer/actress/cabaret performer Shelly Goldstein is  very popular worldwide and is in a constant state of motion. In our interview she talks about her work and how she cannot live without it. Not a moment passes without a sprinkling of her extraordinary humor. First, tell our readers about your background. How did you get interested in comedy and then musical cabaret?

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone is now on stage, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento. Check out video of the cast in action!

The Drowsy Chaperone is now on stage at Broadway at Music Circus! What did the critics think? Read all the reviews!

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone is now on stage, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento. Check out photos of the cast in action!

Donelle Dadigan, Founder and President of The Hollywood Museum in partnership with Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O'Farrell (CD13), proudly unveiled the 2019 salute to the LGBT community's contributions to the entertainment industry last night to launched Los Angeles' Gay Pride weekend festivities.

When it opened on Broadway in 2006, The Drowsy Chaperone boasted an all-star cast and garnered five Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. You can expect that same quality in Broadway at Music Circus' third production of the summer, with Lynne Wintersteller returning to Sacramento in the title role. Lynne was last seen here in 2017 as Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly! and as Mother Superior in Sister Act, where she solidified her place as Music Circus royalty and left audiences anticipating her return. We are now lucky enough to witness that event and Lynne was generous enough to speak with Broadway World Sacramento about her newest role and what we can expect from her in the future.

The third show in the 2019 season is the Broadway At Music Circus premiere of the award-winning musical comedy The Drowsy Chaperone, starring writeractorcomedian Bruce Vilanch and featuring a cast of Broadway veterans. The show runs Tuesday, July 9 through Sunday, July 14 at the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento.

Lily Tomlin, upon accepting her award, remarked 'My partner Jane and I are honored and want to thank you for this award. It is amazing to see this whole outpouring for the LGBT community. Jane, couldnt be here tonight, but asked that I share her remarks 'We love the thought of being called Trail-Blazers. It makes us feel current and something out of Marvel Comics.'  Neither of us has a good sense of direction, so we thought being called trail-blazers implies that we somehow new where we were going. So thank you for thinking of us as trail-blazers, rather than as museum pieces.  Of course, there were times, Im afraid, we got lost on that trail and were more bewildered than blazing.  We are still blazing, but we have had to cool down a bit. After all, we need to take care not to add to global warming.'