Ed Graham News

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) Since their inception in 1996 the Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theatre have ignited the careers of many notable performers, all of whom attended high school in New Jersey. Among the early nominees and winners are Academy Award® nominee Anne Hathaway, and Tony® winner Laura Benanti.

On Fri, April 24, Chris Isaacson and Shane Scheel presented Art of Lyric - An Evening with the Effervescent Nathan Lee Graham, as part of Upright Cabaret's One Night Stand series.

The concert will feature The New York Pops conducted by Steven Reineke, Music Director-Designate. The most recent additions to the program are Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Tony Martin, who join a star-studded lineup of performers that includes Cheyenne Jackson, Brian d'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anika Noni Rose, Ashford & Simpson, and Michael Feinstein.

The Village Light Opera Group(VLOG), one of the country's premiere theatre companies specializing in both operettas and Broadway musicals, will present Cole Porter's KISS ME KATE at The Fashion Institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium on April 25-26 and May 1-3.

The concert will feature The New York Pops conducted by Steven Reineke, Music Director-Designate. The most recent additions to the program are Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Tony Martin, who join a star-studded lineup of performers that includes Cheyenne Jackson, Brian d'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anika Noni Rose, Ashford & Simpson, and Michael Feinstein.

Two important post-Broadway mountings of 21st-century musicals opened in the Chicago area this week. One, 'Mary Poppins,' has had a great deal of attention. Now you can forget about it. This review concerns itself with the other one! 'Curtains,' the exemplary 2007 Kander and Ebb post-modern musical comedy, is now receiving its first post-Broadway mounting anywhere at our very own west suburban Drury Lane Theatre Oakbrook Terrace. That?s right! This major coup for Oakbrook continues the very high standards for musicals that the theatre set last year, with no end in sight.

The Village Light Opera Group(VLOG), one of the country's premiere theatre companies specializing in both operettas and Broadway musicals, will present Cole Porter's KISS ME KATE at The Fashion Institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium on April 25-26 and May 1-3.

Glimmerglass Opera has announced that Lisa Vroman will sing the role of Lilli Vanessi/Kate, and Brad Little will sing Fred Graham/Petruchio in the company's 2008 summer production of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate. The production opens the Glimmerglass Opera Festival Season on July 5 at the Alice Busch Opera Theater in Cooperstown, New York, and runs through August 23.

Heart, humor, fun and flesh get a rise out of the women - and some men - at the grand re-opening of the renowned Massachusetts theater-in-the-round