Christine Ebersole News

The Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center announced an expanded season of productions, artists, local discoveries, and new film and performance series. The summer pre-season begins on June 17 with the new musical, DADDY LONG LEGS. The official season kicks off October 7- 9, with an opening weekend of performances and events featuring jazz star, Esperanza Spalding; classical cellist, Lynn Harrell; and folk singer, Judy Collins.

Charlie Williams, Mr. Memphis, was crowned as winner of the 4th The Broadway Beauty Pageant held Monday evening at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th St.). The popular event is the annual spring benefit for New York's Ali Forney Center, which houses homeless LGBT youth in New York City.

The winner for the year was Charlie Williams who rapped and danced his way to victory from this year's celebrity judges - Christine Ebersole, Charles Busch and Jackie Hoffman.

The Drama League has announced preliminary details for The 76th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for this year's special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit.

According to Variety, the fifth annual A Fine Romance benefit will be presented by the Motion Picture & Television Fund on May 1. The event will be hosted by Hugh Jackman at the Fox Lot and will feature the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Adam Shankman will direct, with musical direction by John Mauceri.

Broadway's fourth annual all-male beauty contest, The Broadway Beauty Pageant, will take place Monday, April 19th. Broadway star Tovah Feldshuh will host. The 2010 contestants are Wes Hart (Mr. West Side Story), Eddie Pendergraft (Mr. Wicked), Daniel Soto (Mr. Fela), Rickey Tripp (Mr. In The Heights) and Charlie Williams (Mr. Memphis).

Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS opened officially Off-Broadway last week, April 15 at the New World Stages. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the opening night celebration.

Elegance and gorgeous music have a new home as Bay Area Cabaret moves into its new venue - The Empire Ballroom at San Francisco's iconic Sir Francis Drake Hotel (450 Powell Street off Union Square). Fresh off its sold-out Valentine's Day performance by Tony Award winner Sutton Foster, Bay Area Cabaret continues its sixth season of seasoned Broadway, pop and jazz vocalists on Sunday, March 28th when Broadway star Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Sunset Blvd) performs a new program of showstoppers and pop originals. Next up on Friday, April 16th is The Rose songwriter Amanda McBroom, performing a tribute to her songwriting inspiration Jacques Brel. The season closes with Grey Gardens star Christine Ebersole in a recent award-winning Carlyle program with Michael Feinstein's accompanist John Oddo leading a four-piece band on Sunday, April 25th.

Ghostlight Records will release the original cast recording of Everyday Rapture, the much raved about Broadway-bound musical co-written by and starring Sherie Rene Scott. Beginning April 27th, the cast recording will be available on iTunes, on the Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom website (www.sh-k-boom.com) and at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre, where Everyday Rapture begins performances Monday evening (April 19th).

Flat Rock Playhouse has announced the complete cast for its production of Steel Magnolias, set to run from April 29th to May 23rd.

More than 20 of cabaret's brightest stars will be honored at the 25th Annual Bistro Awards which will take place on Tuesday, April 13 at Gotham Comedy Club. Legendary singer-dancer-actress Mitzi Gaynor, star of such films as South Pacific, Les Girls, Anything Goes, and a longtime headliner in Las Vegas and the nightclub circuit, making her first NY night club appearance in years in May at Feinstein's at Loews Regency, will be honored with the Bob Harrington Lifetime Achievement Award. Elaine Stritch, the uniquely sensational actress and singer and star of stage, film, and TV, will be recognized in the category of Extraordinary Cabaret Artist, noting her recent conquests of the cabaret stage.

Sisters and Tony-nominated actresses Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway will present their new show Boom! at Town Hall, on Friday, June 4 at 8pm.

The Tony® Award-winning actress will once again be gracing the stage of The Orange County Performing Arts Center's Samueli Theater to close out this year's Broadway talent-heavy Cabaret Series from April 8 thru 11. Besides her winning performance as Ms. Adelaide in the critically-acclaimed revival of Guys and Dolls, she has been balancing a rich career in film and television with a string of iconic shows on the Great White Way, which include Tony-nominated turns in A Catered Affair, Bells Are Ringing, and Jerome Robbins' Broadway. Most recently she hung up her tentacles playing the final Ursula in Disney's stage adaptation of The Little Mermaid before it closed on Broadway last year. But before she makes her triumphant cabaret return to Orange County, Ms. Prince spoke with BroadwayWorld about her upcoming show, her Tony ceremony woes, and her mission to inspire the next generation of theater actors to live out their dreams.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director) has announced this year's honorary co-chairs for The 76th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.

The Donmar Warehouse production of RED, a new American play by John Logan about the master of twentieth century abstract impressionism, Mark Rothko, opened on Broadway last night, Thursday, April 1 for a limited 15-week engagement at the Golden Theatre. Previews began on Thursday, March 11. BroadwayWorld captured the starry show arrivals.

The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director) is proud to announce the recipients of its 2010 Special Recognitions, to be presented along with its five competitive production and performance awards at The 76th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 21, 2010 (noon) in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway).

Carolyn Griffin, Producing Artistic Director of MetroStage, is pleased to announce that Paul Scott Goodman will be performing his show Son of a Stand Up Comedian, directed by Michael Baron, at MetroStage beginning April 15 through May 9, 2010.

Contestants for Broadway's fourth annual all-male beauty contest, The Broadway Beauty Pageant, have been announced today. The 2010 contestants are Wes Hart (Mr. West Side Story), Eddie Pendergraft (Mr. Wicked), Daniel Soto (Mr. Fela), Rickey Tripp (Mr. In The Heights) and Charlie Williams (Mr. Memphis).

Playwrights Horizons (Artistic Director, Tim Sanford; Managing Director, Leslie Marcus) and Vineyard Theatre (Artistic Director, Douglas Aibel; Executive Director, Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell) have announced complete casting for their co-production of the New York premiere of the new musical THE BURNT PART BOYS by Mariana Elder (book), Chris Miller (music) and Nathan Tysen (lyrics).