Edward Kleban News

Today, Broadway celebrates the 40th anniversary of the opening of one of the most iconic musicals of all time. Below, take a look back at the performance, and watch as the original cast of A CHORUS LINE joins the HAMILTON cast on stage!

Today in 1975, A Chrous Line opened at the Shubert THeatre, where it ran for 6137 performances. A Chorus Line is a musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch. With nineteen main characters, it is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition for a musical. The show provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. The original Broadway production received 12 Tony Award nominations and winning nine of them, in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The Tony winner took questions from fans but answered using only quotes from LES MISERABLES, the show's next door neighbor on 46th Street.

With the world marking the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare in 2016, Stratford Festival Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has planned a number of exciting projects in honour of the occasion.

The latest edition of Scott Siegel's acclaimed series shows the growing number of Broadway musicals without new scores.

Broadcast Music, Inc.® (BMI®), the global leader in music rights management, has announced that the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop is now accepting applications for its first year composer/lyricist class. The August 1, 2015, deadline is quickly approaching and applicants are asked to send in the requested materials as soon as possible. The Workshop begins mid-September 2015, and runs through June 2016. A recipient of the Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre Award, the Lehman Engel Musical Workshop consists of approximately 250 composers, lyricists and book writers who are actively writing new works for the musical theatre.

Almost as long as there has been photography, performers have used portraits to represent themselves for casting and promotion. In the new exhibition Head Shots: Performer Portraits from Daguerreotype to Digital, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center in Lincoln Center showcases its vast collection of head shots to illustrate the photos' role in the casting and marketing process, as well as how these pictures evolved alongside modern technology. Head Shots is currently on display in The Library for the Performing Arts' Vincent Astor Gallery, Shelby Cullom Davis Museum through August 8, 2015. 

Barry Kleinbort, director, composer, lyricist, and librettist shared his vast theatre knowledge with the 970am radio audience this past Sunday. Barry paid a visit to his longtime friend Jamie deRoy at Backstage with Peter LeDonne. This informative hour is available on Podcast at http://am970theanswer.com. Mr. Kleinbort is one of the select of creative people who are called upon to write special material for many cabaret and theatre performers.

HT Musical Theatre, an award-winning Teen Theatre based out of High Tech High School in Hudson County, NJ, will embark on celebrating their 15th anniversary with the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of 'A CHORUS LINE'. Students have been preparing for their performances this weekend, May 14-17, in NJ, then will embark at another run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August of 2015 at THE SPACE Theatre in Edinburgh.

We're reaching for the moon, putting all our eggs in one basket, dancing cheek to cheek and pouring our hearts into a song, because it's time to face the music and dance! All Dancing! All Singing! is the first Lyrics & Lyricists dance revue, celebrating Irving Berlin's contributions to Hollywood musicals. Artistic director/choreographer Randy Skinner directs a cast of hand-picked young vocalists/dancers -- Darien Crago, Danny Gardner, Drew Humphrey, Kristie Kerwin, Con O'Shea-Creal and Kristen Beth Williams -- who are joined by veterans Sandy Duncan and Don Correia as special guests. Performances are May 2, 3 and 4.

HT Musical Theatre, an award-winning Teen Theatre based out of High Tech High School in Hudson County, NJ, will embark on celebrating their 15th anniversary with the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of 'A CHORUS LINE'. Students have been preparing for their May 14-17 performances in NJ, then will embark at another run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August of 2015 at THE SPACE Theatre in Edinburgh. 

As part of Tennessee Shakespeare Company's first year-round season, the development of three exciting new musicals launches on the University of Memphis Mainstage this summer with Showplace Memphis: Musical Works in Progress.

The Public Theater, 40 years to the night that A CHORUS LINE made its debut on this stage, celebrated the musical's milestone with a tribute from the cast of Hamilton last night, April 16. Click below to watch footage of the full homage, featuring the original cast of A CHORUS LINE, and check out photos here!

We're reaching for the moon, putting all our eggs in one basket, dancing cheek to cheek and pouring our hearts into a song, because it's time to face the music and dance! All Dancing! All Singing! is the first Lyrics & Lyricists dance revue, celebrating Irving Berlin's contributions to Hollywood musicals. Artistic director/choreographer Randy Skinner directs a cast of hand-picked young vocalists/dancers -- Darien Crago, Danny Gardner, Drew Humphrey, Kristie Kerwin, Con O'Shea-Creal and Kristen Beth Williams -- who are joined by veterans Sandy Duncan and Don Correia as special guests. Performances are May 2, 3 and 4.

The Public Theater just presented a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE last night, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history. To commemorate this landmark event, the cast of the critically-acclaimed musical HAMILTON, currently playing on the same Newman stage, presented original cast members of A CHORUS LINE with a plaque that will hang in the Ford Foundation Lobby of The Public. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from inside the special event below!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is giving A CHORUS LINE some new life on its 40th anniversary.

The Public Theater announced a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE tonight, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history.

The Public Theater announced a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE on Thursday, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history.

Broadway Training Center of Westchester, one of the region's premier performing arts schools, will present the iconic musical 'A Chorus Line' this weekend, March 27-29 at the Irvington Town Hall Theater in Irvington, N.Y. The show will feature BTC's senior ensemble consisting of high school students from throughout Westchester County and the Bronx.

Playhouse Theatre Group, Inc. announces the seven plays and musicals that will comprise the 2015-16 Main Stage Season at Playhouse on Park. The award winning theatre continues its mission to ensure every performance in the Main Stage Season educates, entertains, and most importantly, challenges our audiences. Paramount to this mission is our diverse programming, which challenges our patrons to consider theatre in all forms.