Chita Rivera News

The 2nd annual Chita Rivera Awards (www.ChitaRiveraAwards.com) will take place on Sunday, May 20, 2018 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place off of Washington Square Park), it was announced today by Nikki Feirt Atkins, Founder and Producing Artistic Director of American Dance Machine for the 21st Century (www.ADM21.org) and Joe Lanteri, Founder and Executive Director of the New York City Dance Alliance Foundation (www.NYCDAFoundation.net). ADM21 has joined forces with the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation to present this year's Awards. Atkins, Lanteri along with Patricia Watt are the Executive Producers of the Chita Rivera Awards.

February 19, 2018 - Based on Roundabout Theatre Company's Tony Award-winning production, Sam Mendes (Skyfall, American Beauty) and Rob Marshall's (Into the Woods and Chicago, the films) CABARET will play The Playhouse on Rodney Square in Wilmington for eight performances, March 13-19. This is the first time the Broadway revival has toured the historic Wilmington theater.

Town Stages and Yael Silver present Home Enough To Me: The Songs of Rachel Dean and David Brush, a benefit for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, on Monday, March 26, 2018 at 7pm at Town Stages, 221 West Broadway, NYC, featuring: Tony award-winning Cady Huffman (The Producers),Jessica Vosk (Wicked), Max Crumm (Grease), Jamison Scott(Memphis), Nick Adams (Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, A Chorus Line), Lauren Elder (Sideshow),George Psomas (Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific), Law Terrell Dunford (Waitress), Tally Sessions (War Paint, Falsettos), Kristin Stokes (The Lightning Thief) Rebecca Spigelman, Noah Hinsdale (Fun Home). Tickets are $65 ($100 for VIP admission) and are available at https://homeenoughtome.splashthat.com/.

How did some of your favorite songs come to be? BroadwayWorld is getting the story behind the song in exclusive interviews from your favorite Broadway composers. Below, watch as Lynn Ahrens, currently represented on Broadway with Once on This Island and Anastasia, explains how she and collaborator Stephen Flaherty came to write an Act 2 anthem from Ragtime, 'Back to Before.'

In this episode: Broadway's Shannon Lewis grew up in a rural Canadian suburb and at age 19 was hand picked by Susan Stroman to make her Broadway debut, after a "Crazy for You" casting director saw her in a Toronto theme park show. The essence of this podcast is having integrity, the importance of the respect of your peers, and to have your talent and drive ready, so that when someone opens a door for you, you can walk right in. With an impeccable work ethic that takes every opportunity seriously; whether in the ensemble, as a deputy, or as a principle; as well as having Gwen Verdon as a champion, the real Shannon Lewis is coming out of hiding. @realshanlew 

How did some of your favorite songs come to be? BroadwayWorld is getting the story behind the song in exclusive interviews from your favorite Broadway composers. Below, watch as Stephen Flaherty, currently represented on Broadway with Once on This Island and Anastasia, explains how he and collaborator Lynn Ahrens came to write one of the most beloved songs from Ragtime, 'Make Them Hear You.'

Deadline has reported that Tony nominee, Andy Karl, has been cast in a new drama pilot for ABC.

Vanessa Williams, multi-faceted star of Broadway, film, music videos and television, brings her award-winning talents to Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 7, at 8 p.m.

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie are pleased to announce that Broadway legend Maurice Hines will serve as the Master of Ceremonies and international touring artist and global humanitarian Mary McBride will headline the 2018 Arena Stage Gala honoring Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday, May 10, 2018 at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., SW). As previously announced, the Gala features the presentation of the third annual Beth Newburger Schwartz Award to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and will recognize Jessica Stafford Davis as an Emerging Leader. The Gala is helmed by event chairs and Arena Stage Trustees Lavern Chatman and Maggie FitzPatrick.

International theatre and TV star John Barrowman MBE returns to perform in London in Seth Rudetsky's Broadway @ Leicester Square Theatre concert series for 3 intimate performances produced by Mark Cortale, on April 13 & 14. John Barrowman is best know in the U.S. for his role of Malcolm Merlyn (aka The Dark Archer) in the hit TV series "Arrow" based on the Green Arrow comic books, and in the UK as Captain Jack Harkness, in "Dr Who" and "Torchwood." Seth Rudetsky most recently starred in London in a charity gala of his Broadway musical "Disaster!" in 2016 at Charing Cross Theatre. Broadway @ Leicester Square Theatre began in 2013 with Patti LuPone and returned with Audra McDonald and Will Swenson last year.

Today we flashback to the musical that brought a group of theatrical titans and a story about a mother, a daughter, and roller rink to the Broadway stage. 

Since I began this podcast 2 years ago, The Kleban Prize has always been something that I love to cover, because it was the very first major event that I began my podcast experience as a theater journalist.

Bay Area Cabaret is delighted to present An Evening with Liz Callaway. Having appeared with Bay Area Cabaret in concert with her sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, and in a tribute to composer Stephen Schwartz, Liz Callaway-the Tony-nominated Broadway star of Miss Saigon, Baby, Merrily We Roll Along and Cats, and voice of the animated classic, Anastasia-makes her solo Venetian Room debut.

Tommy Tune, Broadway's tallest tapper, returns to the Feinstein's at the Nikko stage on Sunday, March 18 at 4 & 7 p.m.- dancing, singing and tale-telling. The ten-time Tony Award winner takes an autobiographical stroll, celebrating 50 plus years of big time showmanship! From his arrival in New York City as a fresh-faced kid from Texas, through his most popular roles on stage and screen, to his ascension as one of Broadway's most accomplished director-choreographers. Accompanied by Michael Biagi, his music director for nearly four decades, the evening features Tune's personal renditions of standards by Irving Berlin, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Burt Bacharach, the Gershwins, Carole King, Green Day and more. Tickets for Tommy Tune range in price from $60-$100 and are available now by calling 866.663.1063 or visiting www.ticketfly.com.

Producer Dennis Grimaldi is proud to announce that Tony and Emmy Winner Len Cariou will star in two industry-only presentations of George Eastman's new play, HARRY TOWNSEND'S LAST STAND.  Cariou will be joined by Warren Bub (TV's Gotham, Tennessee Williams' The Mutilated at The New Ohio Theatre).

There's a new school in town and it's revolutionizing the way musical theatre students receive an education. Andrew Drost and Michael Minarik are the masterminds behind the Institute for American Musical Theatre, a school that is all about getting students out onto stages working under the lights of Broadway theatres. Andrew and Michael took some time to introduce their school to us at BroadwayWorld, read below to find out just what they're cooking up.

Two of Broadway's brightest stars will join The Broward Center's popular Broadway concert series hosted by Sirius/XM radio star Seth Rudetsky this season.

Ryan Koerber who plays Bobby in National Tour of A Chorus Line gives us the inside scoop of what we can expect from this traveling revival of the iconic show!

Maestro LUKE FRAZIER and THE AMERICAN POPS ORCHESTRA - Washington, DC's innovative hometown orchestra - has teamed up with Washington, DC chapter of The National Society of Arts and Letters for their first annual vocal competition, "NextGen: Finding The Voices of Tomorrow."  The final round audition will take place on Friday, March 23 at 8:00 PM in Washington, DC at Arena Stage in The Kreeger Theater. Judges for competition will include Baayork Lee (Tony winning Broadway Legend), Jim Caruso (Birdland Jazz Club), Kelly d'Amboise (Signature Theater and APO Resident Director), and Robert Pullen (Emmy-nominated Producer and owner of Nouveau Productions). Tickets - which are $20 for adults and $10 for students - will be on sale Friday, February 2. Please visit www.TheAmericanPops.org.

After a successful run in his one-man show 'I NEVER PROMISED YOU ... ROSE GARDEN', Patrick Rinn returns to The Triad Theater as Rose Garden in the first of his Vaudeville series titled, Rose Garden's Valentine Varieties.