Etta Devine News

Grand Entertainment Group, a newly founded independent multi-platform content and distribution company based in Los Angeles, is excited to announce the Los Angeles premiere and DVD release of the independent horror-comedy THE SELLING.

Today, Valarie Pettiford releases her second solo album, "Velvet Sky", a collection of original lullabies.

The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards aired live coast to coast on Sunday, September 23 (8:00 - 11:00 p.m. ET) on ABC and originated from the Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles. The telecast was produced by Don Mischer Productions and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. This was Kimmel's first time hosting the Primetime Emmy telecast. And the winners are...

Today, September 18, 2012, Pettiford will release her second solo album, "Velvet Sky", a collection of original lullabies. She brings a tenderness and wealth of emotion to the thirteen tracks on this new album, all of which were written especially for her by two legendary writing teams - Ron Abel (music)/Chuck Steffan (lyrics) and Michael Orland (music)/Jamie Wooten (lyrics). The songs range from playful numbers that are meant to inspire play between parents and their children, as well as softer tracks to lull babies (of all ages) to sleep.

The Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of ELMINA'S KITCHEN, written by award-winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, directed by Gregg T. Daniel. This gut-wrenching drama is set in the notorious "Murder Mile" section of London's East End. ELMINA'S KITCHEN examines the bitter clash of values between three generations of black men and its effect on their family and community. The play runs tonight, August 11 through September 9. Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 4pm. The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, Calif.

The Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of ELMINA'S KITCHEN, written by award-winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, directed by Gregg T. Daniel. This gut-wrenching drama is set in the notorious "Murder Mile" section of London's East End. ELMINA'S KITCHEN examines the bitter clash of values between three generations of black men and its effect on their family and community. The play runs August 11 through September 9. Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 4pm. The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

The Lower Depth Theatre Ensemble presents the West Coast premiere of ELMINA'S KITCHEN, written by award-winning playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah, directed by Gregg T. Daniel. This gut-wrenching drama is set in the notorious "Murder Mile" section of London's East End. ELMINA'S KITCHEN examines the bitter clash of values between three generations of black men and its effect on their family and community. The play runs August 11 through September 9. Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 4pm. The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles, Calif.

On Tuesday, September 18, 2012, Pettiford will release her second solo album, "Velvet Sky", a collection of original lullabies. She brings a tenderness and wealth of emotion to the thirteen tracks on this new album, all of which were written especially for her by two legendary writing teams - Ron Abel (music)/Chuck Steffan (lyrics) and Michael Orland (music)/Jamie Wooten (lyrics). The songs range from playful numbers that are meant to inspire play between parents and their children, as well as softer tracks to lull babies (of all ages) to sleep.

Today we are talking to an iconic Tony Award-winning star who made her name as a teenager singing on TV variety shows - THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW and SING ALONG WITH MITCH included - and then went on to a multimedia career in film and theatre, conquering Broadway with her Tony-winning turn in the Jule Styne/Arthur Laurents musical HALLELUJAH, BABY! in 1967 and returning to the stage in the subsequent decades in a host of Broadway productions, such as BLUES IN THE NIGHT, JERRY'S GIRLS, ANYTHING GOES, August Wilson's KING HEDLEY II and her celebrated Muzzy in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - a role she reprises in the new Muny production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical beginning this week - the one and only Leslie Uggams. Taking a thorough look back at her career thus far, Uggams opens up about her many successes and how she has endured for fifty years in show business and shares recollections of many of her most noted co-stars and collaborators, all the way up to the recent 2012 Encores! PIPE DREAM. Additionally, Uggams comments on her film and TV appearances over the years, speaking about her work in INHERIT THE WIND, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, ROOTS and beyond. Plus, she shares her candid opinions on GLEE, SMASH, Broadway then versus now, future plans for her Lena Horne solo show and thoughts on other roles she would enjoy pursuing - and much, much more!

Yesterday in the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown - a look at the finest moments in theatre history as shown on the Tony Awards telecasts over the last sixty years - we focused on the 1982 Best Musical winner, NINE. While Tommy Tune's Fellini-inspired fever dream won the big prize, Michael Bennett's innovative and visionary R&B pop opera DREAMGIRLS won many of the night's most significant awards and has certainly firmly established itself as a firmament of the history of the modern musical in the intervening years. Among the prizes won by the DREAMGIRLS cast and creative team: Best Actress for Jennifer Holliday, as well as wins in the Featured Actor In A Musical category, Best Book for Tom Eyen and wins in the technical categories for the unprecedented, hi-tech design.

Writer-actress-producer Denise Nicholas, author of the award-winning novel Freshwater Road, and star of Room 222 and In the Heat of the Night, will receive the Integrity Award from the Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival, announced Adilah Barnes, co-founder of the non-profit organization which provides venues for multicultural and multidiscipline solo artists.

Antaeus, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, presents the U.S. premiere of Noël Coward's rarely produced anti-war drama, Peace In Our Time. Casey Stangl directs the fully double-cast production of a new adaptation, with music, by Barry Creyton. Gala openings took place on October 20, 21, 22 and 23, with performances continuing through December 11 at The Antaeus Company‘s interim North Hollywood home at Deaf West Theatre. BroadwayWorld brings you photo coverage from the event below.

Antaeus, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, presents the U.S. premiere of Noël Coward's rarely produced anti-war drama, Peace In Our Time. Casey Stangl directs the fully double-cast production of a new adaptation, with music, by Barry Creyton.

Antaeus, L.A.'s multiple award-winning classical theater company, presents the U.S. premiere of Noël Coward's rarely produced anti-war drama, Peace In Our Time. Casey Stangl directs the fully double-cast production of a new adaptation, with music, by Barry Creyton.

The Creative Arts portion of the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were distributed in a ceremony held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on Sept. 10. An edited version of the show will air on ReelzChannel on Sept. 17, the night before the Primetime Emmys air on FOX.

As we inch closer and closer to the Broadway's biggest night on Sunday, today we have the choreographic centerpiece of our extensive Tony Award countdown with a focus on the genius of Michael Bennett. While we have already featured his shows COMPANY, FOLLIES, A CHORUS LINE and DREAMGIRLS - and even took a look at the recent smash hit revival of PROMISES, PROMISES starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth - today's triple dose of clips (with a few surprises) is undoubtedly as close as one can get to theatrical crack cocaine: "Turkey Lurkey Time" from the original Broadway production of PROMISES, PROMISES, "Fifty Percent" from BALLROOM performed by Dorothy Loudon and - one of the most elaborate numbers in Tony Awards history - "Always Mademoiselle" from COCO starring Katharine Hepburn. So, see some of the reasons why these are the best of the best of Bennett and, therefore, the best of the best of Broadway right here!

Before the presentation of the first of the final 7 of our Tony Awards clips beginning tomorrow, today we have one of the true standouts of Tony Awards lore, and one of those clips to show the theatrically uninitiated who ask you, "What are the Tony Awards anyway?" Well, honey, this is the Tony Awards. Furthermore, this is the Tony Awards at their very best - and most moving and most theatrical - DREAMGIRLS. Here is the Michael Bennett-directed original cast in a medley specifically devised by Bennett for the Tony Awards telecast - just as he had done for the sequences from A CHORUS LINE featured on the 1976 Tony Awards, choreographing the camera shots and cuts to, and on, the quick - and the original Broadway cast led by that year's Tony-winners Jennifer Holliday and Sheryl Lee Ralph alongside Loretta Devine and Obba Babatunde. There had never been a score or a show quite like DREAMGIRLS on Broadway before and there has not been one yet since - unless the blatant homages in last year's Best Musical MEMPHIS somehow count as soul and originality. This is soul. This is originality. This is genius. And, this is the Tony Awards at their utmost best.