Cleavon Little News

Rubicon Theatre has announced a special benefit staged reading of J FOR J, a poetic, powerful and poignant family story written by Jenny Sullivan and Barry Sullivan and directed by Jenny Sullivan.

Rian Keating will return to Don't Tell Mama with Womansongs. Join the 2023 MAC Award Winner for a night of powerful performances beginning this month.

This time, the reader question was: With Purlie Victorious returning to Broadway, what are other plays that were revived on Broadway after their musical adaptations premiered?

Rian Keating puts himself out on a line when he performs his club acts, but this deaf cabaret singing storyteller also puts himself on a line every day, living the life he wants to and helping those in need... and from the day the teenage Rian arrived in New York City, that's been his way.

Un día como hoy en 1982, el primer musical de Andrew Lloyd Webber y Tim Rice se estrenaba en Broadway.

Purlie played by Ronald Edwards is a newfangled preacher man extolling the gospel of freedom. Tanasha West partners with him in the lead as love struck Lutiebelle and the key to Purlie's plan to win back Big Bethel - the family's symbol of freedom. Crystalyn Monet joins the cast as Aunt Missy apprehensive yet committed to Purlie's ambitious plan. While, Terry Kiser embodies the realist Gitlow, 'Deputy of the Color People', Missy's husband and Purlie's brother. Brian Christopher Roberson arrived in Atlanta just in time to portray Charlie Cotchipee who openly challenges the racist ideas of the old south which drives his plantation owning, Jim Crow believing father, Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee played by Ian Scott, also a newcomer to metro Atlanta, crazy. DeEtta West, sister to Cleavon Little who won the Tony for his role as Purlie in 1970, rounds out the cast as discrete yet alert Idella Landy, Charlie's childhood nurse and a former slave.

DeEtta West is featured in the role of Idella Landy in the production of Purlie, opening at the Orange Box Theater on September 29. DeEtta accepted the role as a personal tribute to her late brother, Cleavon Little, winner of the Tony Award in 1970 for his performance as Purlie in the hit show. The show runs through October 7, 2018 (Orange Box Theater @ Mark SQuared Studios, 1804 Montreal Court, Ste B, Tucker, GA 30084)

The Public Theater and The Shakespeare Society have announced that they will join forces to form the new PUBLIC SHAKESPEARE INITIATIVE, under the leadership of long-time Shakespeare Society Artistic Director, Michael Sexton. The Public Theater and The Shakespeare Society have long shared the passionately-held belief that Shakespeare is for everyone.

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Thursday, June 1, 2017 - or, as we like to call it #TheaterThursday, 'June is busting out all over…' as a song from Carousel reminds us, and there's no better way to kick off a new month than by planning our theater outings for the weekend! Tomorrow night at Cumberland County Playhouse, the company, cast and crew unveil the 2017 model of Smoke on the Mountain, which marks the 24th year of the musical playing in Crossville. Weslie Webster directs and her cast includes Daniel W. Black and Lauren Marshall as Sanders family father and mother Burl and Vera.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts will honor Mel Brooks with the Fellowship at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday February 12th.

Known best for a recurring role as John McIntyre on M*A*S*H, Rogers passed away on December 31, 3015 from complications from pneumonia in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 82. Below, BroadwayWorld takes a look back at this accomplished performer's career. Check out the photo flashback below!

Playwright Frank D. Gilroy, whose 1964 Broadway debut, THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES was the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, a Tony and a Drama Critics' Circle Award, passed away on Saturday

Melba Moore, a four-time Grammy nominee and winner of the 1970 Tony Award for 'Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical,' for her performance as 'Lutiebelle' in Purlie will appear at the Metropolitan Room on April 13 at 9:30 with a new show featuring songs made famous by legendary singers, including Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Barbra Streisand, and Diana Ross. Joining Moore will be her special guest, actor/singer/songwriter Clifton Davis, who wrote hits for The Jackson Five. With a total of 11 top ten U.S. hits on the Billboard charts over the past 40 years, both singles and albums, Melba Moore continues into the 21st century as one of pop music's most enduring artists.

Veteran comedian and actor Mel Brooks cemented his mark on Hollywood Monday afternoon with a special ceremony outside the Chinese Theatre on the Walk of Fame.

Melba Moore will play two shows at New York's Metropolitan Room on June 20, 2014, at 7pm & 9:30pm. Price $35.00 - $115.00.

In honor of the 40th anniversary of Blazing Saddles, Mel Brooks sat down with Yahoo! Movies. Brooks considers Blazing Saddles to be his masterpiece and says that it is the funniest movie ever made, regardless of the fact that it is only number 6 on AFI's list. However, Brooks insists that Blazing Saddles would never be able to be made today.

Today, May 6, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) will commemorate the four-decade birthday of the great comedy classic Blazing Saddles, by releasing a new 40th Anniversary Blu-ray.

Funnyman Mel Brooks recently revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that his 1974 satirical Western comedy 'Blazing Saddles' is a step closer to a trip to Great White Way. He told EW: 'Blazing Saddles' is almost there. I get the feeling that if I could find the time to write three or four more songs, it could be a bold and crazy musical.'

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has added an exciting roster of screen legends and beloved titles to the 2014 TCM Classic Film Festival,