Burt Bacharach News

Tony Award winning triple threat Donna McKechnie will always be remembered as Cassie in A Chorus Line, and of course for her solo within it 'The Music and the Mirror'. This vet of Broadway, TV and film is currently teaching a musical comedy class at HB Studio in New York and in our chat offers some choice anecdotes from her career. She will appear in Original Cast 3, this year's S.T.A.G.E. (Southland Theatrical Artists Goodwill Event) benefit for APLA (Aids Project Los Angeles) Saturday April 28 at the Saban Theatre.

After reigning since 2006 as the most critically acclaimed, award-winning supper club of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area, Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's will close its doors in Studio City, CA.

Rodgers & Hammerstein's PIPE DREAM will be recorded live at New York City Center's Encores! series this week, and released this Summer on Ghostlight Records. Produced by Rodgers & Hammerstein: AnImagem Company, this preservation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1955 Broadway musical rarity marks the first time an Encores! musical has been recorded live.

"Stand By Me," the song written by Leiber & Stoller and Ben E. King will receive the Towering Song Award at the 2012 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Gala Event to be held at the Marriott Marquee Hotel in New York City on Thursday, June 14, 2012, Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman, Jimmy Webb, announced today. Mike Stoller will accept the award along with Ben E. King, who will also be honored with the Towering Performance Award for his performance on the Leiber & Stoller produced recording of "Stand By Me."

Berkeley Playhouse will continue its 2011-12 season with LUCKY DUCK, a modern "Ugly Duckling" fairy tale hatched by the creative team behind the Broadway hits Dreamgirls and Side Show. Kimberly Dooley (Seussical, the Musical) directs this musical for all ages, with musical direction by Ben Prince. Featuring a madcap cast of fairy tale characters and a hot pop score filled with R&B, gospel, and plenty of Broadway-style showstoppers, LUCKY DUCK plays April 21 through May 13 at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.

Colleen McHugh took to the Duplex stage last night, March 22, in BEIN' GREEN. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos below!

After reigning since 2006 as the most critically acclaimed, award-winning supper club of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area, Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's will close its doors in Studio City, CA on Sunday, March 18 following its final show headlined by Reba Buhr, co-star of Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Miss Buhr is also a host for the Disney Channel's popular 365 television series. The announcement became official by producer Michael Sterling.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 11, 2012 - Sunday, March 11, 2012.

After reigning since 2006 as the most critically acclaimed, award-winning supper club of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area, Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's will close its doors in Studio City, CA on Sunday, March 18 following its final show headlined by Reba Buhr, co-star of Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Miss Buhr is also a host for the Disney Channel's popular 365 television series. The announcement became official by producer Michael Sterling.

Stage and screen star Peter Gallagher is sharing his life through songs and stories in a one-night-only performance at the Geffen Playhouse on Sunday, March 11, 2012. The Tony nominated Broadway vet will share a lifetime of show business experiences - from his early days starting out as a young actor in New York to working with legends like James Cagney, Peter O'Toole and Jack Lemmon. Joined by a live band, Gallagher brings his anecdotes to life with songs ranging from Broadway tunes, to music from his hit television show The OC, to classics by the likes of Van Morrison and Burt Bacharach. Peter Gallagher: Songs and Stories from an Actor's Life will benefit the Geffen Playhouse and The Actors Fund, for which Gallagher serves as the National Board of Advisors co-chair, and will be followed by a post-show reception.

La Jolla Playhouse just announced that The Nightingale, by the creative team behind the Tony Award-winning musical Spring Awakening: Steven Sater (book and lyrics) and Duncan Sheik (music), directed by Tony Award nominee Moises Kaufman (33 Variations), will be part of the Playhouse's 2012/2013 season. Running in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre July 10 - August 5, 2012, The Nightingale will be presented as part of the Playhouse's acclaimed Page To Stage Play Development Program.

ALWAYS… PATSY CLINE kicks off Theatre at the Center's 2012 season.

Broadway musical theater stars Rachel York, a Drama Desk and two-time IRNE Award winner, and Brent Barrett, an LA Drama Critics Award winner and Olivier Award nominee, performed their favorite love songs from stage and screen as part of the Celebrity Concert Series to kick off the 44th season of Reagle Music Theatre in Waltham.

Jim Brickman makes his Philadelphia debut at the Merriam Theater with a program entitled An Evening of Romance on February 18, 2012 at 8pm.

The entire entertainment world is reeling. We have lost one of our most iconic pop, R&B and soundtrack performers this evening - as well as a formidable movie star in her own right - Whitney Houston was just reported dead at the age of 48. Having had one of the most successful and most multimedia of careers of any multi-hyphenate star in recent memory, Houston scored multiple Grammys and racked up countless nominations over the course of her multi-decade recording career, yet her most notable contributions to the world of music reside in her outstanding soundtrack work - most of all, the songs for the film in which she made the transition into feature film leading lady, 1992's THE BODYGUARD. The biggest hit from THE BODYGUARD's blockbuster soundtrack was undoubtedly Houston's rendition of a Dolly Parton song originally recorded in 1974 and later made famous by Parton in the feature film version of the Broadway hit THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, "I Will Always Love You". In addition to Houston's sensational work on that mega-selling soundtrack - one of the Top 5 best-selling soundtracks of all time - she also provided her dramatic and vocal skills to the multi-platinum soundtracks to THE PREACHER'S WIFE and WAITING TO EXHALE, both films which she also starred in to much box office success. An Oscar-winning duet with Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" by WICKED's Stephen Schwartz from THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is yet another diadem in Houston's triple crown of accomplishments in the realms of music, film and television - having dominated all. Theatre fans may know Houston best for her incomparable portrayal of the Fairy Godmother in the incredibly successful 1997 ABC TV adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA starring Brandy and produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. In addition to Houston's contributions to THE BODYGUARD, THE PREACHER'S WIFE, WAITING TO EXHALE, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and CINDERELLA, Houston also rose to fame early in her career for her rendition of "Home" from THE WIZ on THE Merv Griffin SHOW, as well as made a mark with a Cissy Houston duet on the CHESS international smash, "I Know Him So Well" on her second hit album. The last project Houston was working on prior to her death on Saturday night was the feature film musical SPARKLE, co-starring AMERICAN IDOL winner and Broadway standout Jordin Sparks. SPARKLE reportedly completed production of principal photography and soundtrack sessions, though it is not clear when the musical remake will now be released in light of Houston's unexpected death. No matter the circumstances of her life and death, Whitney Houston most surely left a legacy that will never be forgotten by those that adored her for her vast multitude of talents and many notable accomplishments in all areas of entertainment.

Fifty years after its release, the MGM re-mastered film returns to the big screen in high definition with its original vocals and dialog intact. Experience this classic romantic tragedy and the bitter battle between the Jets and the Sharks as Leonard Bernstein's seminal score, featuring the much loved 'America', 'Somewhere' and 'Tonight', is dramatically brought to life on stage by The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by Jayce Ogren.