Carol Channing News

Looking for something new to read while stuck inside, but still need your Broadway fix? We've rounded up 10 of our favorite theatre-themed history books to fill the void!

In this episode, Ben and Daniel discuss the 1982 concert 'Showstoppers: The Best of Broadway.' The evening is hosted by Tom Bosley and features Broadway favorites such as Ethel Merman, Barry Bostwick, Susan Browning, Len Cariou, Nell Carter, Diahann Carroll, Carole Demas, David Haskell, Glynis Johns, Donna McKechnie, Robert Morse, Pamela Myers, Stephen Nathan, Jerry Orbach, Anthony Perkins, Debbie Reynolds, Alexis Smith, and Ray Walston.

Looking for something new to read while stuck inside, but still need your Broadway fix? We've rounded up 10 memoirs written by Broadway actors that are sure to fill the void. With everything from Patti LuPone, to Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Groban, Julie Andrews, and many more, this list will have something for everyone.

Richard Skipper has started a #StayHome campaign!

Today's top stories: Alan Menken revealed Hercules will return to the stage! Plus, read all about today's upcoming online events!

We kick things off with one of Broadway's biggest flops, the musical In My Life, which was written and directed by Academy Award winning composer of 'You Light Up My Life', Joe Brooks. The coolest thing about this musical is that Jonathan Groff was dance captain, swing and standby for the two lead roles.

Many may think that the heartwarming and brassy American musical comedy of yore with it's hummable tunes will never be seen again. That the days of star driven shows have dried up. The era when the names of Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, or Carol Channing all but guaranteed a hit musical. Now producers are wary of putting all of their eggs in one basket, relying on a star to stick with a show until it recoups it's investment. Happily...... no, joyously...... Broadway producer Scott Rudin was able to engage superstar Bette Midler for a year in the first revival of HELLO DOLLY! ever to happen on Broadway without Carol Channing

On Monday, March 16 at their annual Broadway Beacon Awards Gala at The JW Marriott Essex House New York (160 Central Park South), leading NYC arts education nonprofit Inside Broadway (Executive Director, Michael Presser) will honor Local 802 President Adam Krauthamer with a Broadway Beacon Award to be presented by James J. Claffey, Jr., President of Local One, IATSE.

Rosa Escandón and Wallace Wilder will deliver laughs as two 1970s icons in this new piece about friendship, womanhood, and music.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party returns to the West Coast for two nights only, Wednesday and Thursday, March 18 and 19 at 7:30pm. The 'extreme open mic' will take place at Feinstein's at Vitello's, located at 4349 Tujunga Avenue in Studio City.

The Kimmel Center Cultural Campus, along with Resident Company support from Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and The Philadelphia Orchestra, celebrates Women's History Month in March 2020 with an array of programming honoring a breadth of female artistry and expression. Additionally, in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Philadelphia and Drexel University's Vision 2020's 'Women 100' National Women's Equality Initiative will host a series of events, including the Seat at the Table FREE and interactive exhibition, opening in March and running through September in the Kimmel Center's Commonwealth Plaza.

Pink Martini, a McCallum favorite, is returning for six shows, from Wednesday, March 4, through Sunday, March 8. It all started in 1994, in Thomas Lauderdale's hometown of Portland, Ore. Trained as a pianist, he was working in politics, with the intention of eventually running for office. He went to numerous political fundraisers, but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming, lackluster, loud and un-neighborly. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world, crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop, and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded the a?oelittle orchestraa?? Pink Martini in 1994 to provide beautiful and inclusive music for political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, the environment and affordable housing.

Sutton Foster, since her Tony Award-winning break through as the title role in Thoroughly Modern Millie, has been one of the select leading ladies who have held a decades-spanning monopoly on Broadway's biggest musicals. Foster holds the distinction of being one of the gawkiest, most palatably quirky actors working in the commercial theatre today. Unlike other recurring ingenues, Sierra Boggess, Laura Benanti, or Laura Osnes, Foster is just off-kilter enough to headline productions of Shrek the Musical as the ogre/ princess Fiona or revivals of Anything Goes as Reno Sweeney. Meanwhile, she is still conventionally attractive enough to be a safe, viable option to helm profitable productions of Sweet Charity, Violet, or the upcoming Broadway revival of The Music Man. The Celebrity Series of Boston hosted Foster along with a three-piece jazz combo (Michael Rafter, Leo Huppert, Matt Hinkley) and her Little Women co-star Megan McGinnis in a concert of musical theatre selections and jazz standards at the Sanders Theatre in Cambridge.

JEFF HARNAR will make his solo FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW debut with I KNOW THINGS NOW: JEFF HARNAR sings SONDHEIM. Drawing from the words and music of Stephen Sondheim, Mr. Harnar creates a self-portrait of the emotional landscape of an openly gay New Yorker.

On Monday, March 16 at their annual Broadway Beacon Awards Gala at The JW Marriot Essex House (160 Central Park South), leading NYC arts education nonprofit Inside Broadway (Executive Director, Michael Presser) will honor Tony Award-winning actor, dancer & singer Ben Vereen with a Lifetime Achievement Award (last year, stage icon Chita Rivera received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award).

Actress/singer Tiffany Bailey has many talents. She also happens to be a behavioral therapist for children with autism. I laud her for that. Last spring 2019 she released an album entitled Jazz with Pop and her cabaret show was very well received. In this interview she updates our readers as to the success of the CD and talks about her other projects for 2020.

In the case of Haysam Kadri and A Thousand Splendid Suns at Arena Stage, this production is more than just a chance to revisit the role of Rasheed. It is an opportunity to return to a play he not only finds deeply moving, but one he has experienced as both an actor, director, and now as an actor, again.

The touring production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR at the Orpheum this week is just what the Hennepin Theatre Trust calls it: spectacular. Staged originally in London in 2017, it won that year's Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. This young company is brim full of talent and energy. They bring unrelenting vitality to this production, which marks (yep, really!) the 50th anniversary of this show.

HELLO, DOLLY! has been entertaining audiences since it first hit Broadway in 1964 with Carol Channing as Dolly Gallagher Levi. As many productions and revivals ensued, the endearing qualities of this stellar show continue to sell-out. Currently on tour in North America, BWW caught up with actress Jane Brockman who plays Erestina as well as understudying Dolly.