Fred Astaire News

McGovern creatively opens and closes the musical with an image that evokes all the glitter and glamor of old Hollywood: the presentation of the Academy Awards in 1941, the year that Ginger Rogers beat out such adversaries as Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Joan Fontaine and Martha Scott for the best actress Oscar for her performance of "knocked-up shopgirl" Kitty Foyle.

Source of Joy Theatricals, the producers of the Broadway smash hit THE COLOR PURPLE have announced the Las Vegas Theatre debut August 23 - August 26, 2012 as a special presentation in honor of National Women's Equality Month.

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find on stages in the Volunteer State. Today-which is Thursday, not Friday, a fact of which I am well aware-we focus our spotlight on Jessica Wockenfuss, the lovely star of Cumberland County Playhouse's Backwards in High Heels, which opens tomorrow night (which actually is a Friday-July 27) and continues through November 2.

Inspired by BroadwayWorld.com's Friday Six, welcome to Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com's latest installment of The Friday Five: five questions designed to help you learn more about the talented people you'll find on stages in the Volunteer State. Yes, I'm well aware that the calendar says today is Wednesday, but there's a method to my madness: Opening Friday night at Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville is Backwards in High Heels: The Ginger Rogers Musical which stars today's Friday Fiver-Douglas Waterbury-Tieman-in the pivotal role of Fred Astaire!

Today we are talking to Patricia Kelly, the widow of one of the most iconic and influential performers in entertainment history, Gene Kelly, all about her husband's incomparable career on Broadway and in Hollywood, in honor of his centennial. Tracing Gene Kelly's journey from his theatre roots starring in Cole Porter's LEAVE IT TO ME!, Rodgers & Hart's PAL JOEY and William Saroyan's Pulitzer Prize-winning THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE on Broadway to his unforgettable screen appearances in many of the greatest movie musicals ever made - COVER GIRL, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE PIRATE, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS and many more included - Mrs. Kelly gives us a look into the life of one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. In addition to behind-the-scenes stories involving Kelly's frequent collaborators - such as esteemed director Vincente Minnelli, songwriter and producer Arthur Freed, arranger Saul Chaplin and others - Mrs. Kelly also shares candid anecdotes involving her husband's involvement with directing Rodgers & Hammerstein's FLOWER DRUM SONG on Broadway, helming the feature film adaptation of HELLO, DOLLY! starring Barbra Streisand, as well as his appearing in two idiosyncratic movie musicals later in his life, LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT (THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT) for Jacques Demy, as well as his au revoir to movie musicals in form of the Olivia Newton-John roller disco starrer XANADU. Additionally, Mrs. Kelly fills us in on all the details about this weekend's two-night Gene Kelly retrospective celebration, which she leads and narrates, as part of GENE KELLY @ 100 and her future plans for the multimedia presentation - each evening titled AN EVENING OF GENE KELLY and CHANGING THE LOOK OF DANCE ON FILM, respective - as she begins to tour the show across the country. Plus, reflections on SINGIN' IN THE RAIN's 60th anniversary and the recent Fathom HD premiere presentation in theaters, the impact of Kelly's work behind the camera, his choreographic legacy, what a legend is like at home, memories of attending the opening night of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (starring HELLO, DOLLY! lead Michael Crawford), what the master would say about GLEE, SMASH, BUNHEADS and today's movie musical renaissance, as well as much, much more!

Start spreading the news…because Liza Minnelli is making her debut at Peter Mac's Supper club inside the French Market. The show stars critically acclaimed and renowned Tribute Artist, Peter Mac. Mac is best known for his loving and sympathetic portrayal of Minnelli's "Mama", Judy Garland. This time Mac is taking over the role the lady who Fred Astaire once dubbed as "Hollywood's Crown Princess".

Jeremy Benton has come a long way since he was dancing around in the backyard of his family's home in Springfield, Tennessee. In fact, way back when-before he even had his first dance class with Cherri Coleman at the Springfield School of Classical Dance-for all he knew he might have even created or invented what he later learned was referred to as "tap."

Start spreading the news…because Liza Minnelli is making her debut at Peter Mac's Supper club inside the French Market. The show stars critically acclaimed and renowned Tribute Artist, Peter Mac. Mac is best known for his loving and sympathetic portrayal of Minnelli's "Mama", Judy Garland. This time Mac is taking over the role the lady who Fred Astaire once dubbed as "Hollywood's Crown Princess".

From the Tony and Olivier Award-Winning Director of Les Miserables and the creators of Jane Eyre, PCPA presents the musical hit, Daddy Long Legs, with music and lyrics by Paul Gordon and Book by John Caird. It will play in the Marian Theatre August 1 - 19, then in the open air Solvang Festival Theater August 23 - September 9.

Today we are talking to a terrifically talented triple-threat who has graced the silver screen in CHICAGO, as well as in the TV productions of THE MUSIC MAN, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS and in many stunt and dance double roles in his career thus far who has since become the protegee of dance extraordinaire Kenny Ortega and broken out on his own with a string of striking and memorable sequences in entities as diverse as TV's HELLCATS and the recent feature films THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, SUCKER PUNCH, MIRROR, MIRROR and TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 - gifted dancer/choreographer/director Paul Becker. Talking about many of his most memorable past projects and filling us in on his many current and future ones - TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN PART 2, a Ben Vereen documentary, an original movie musical titled STAGE FRIGHT, a James Gray film featuring Jeremy Renner and Marion Cotillard, a Lifetime movie musical with Karen Olivo and even more - Becker brings us into his unique and idiosyncratic world and gives us a glimpse into how he achieves consistent excellence in all of his many endeavors as he attempts to define his anomalous career for us. Additionally, Becker takes a look back at acting onscreen in the Oscar-winning Best Picture CHICAGO, choreographing the ultimate vampire wedding, judging SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE? Canada, producing CANADA'S GOT TALENT, giving two hundred dancers movement for a Michael Buble music video and he also shares some hopes and wishes for what he would like to take on in his blindingly bright future in show business - directing a feature film, perhaps? What about a Broadway show when time permits? The possibilities are multitude and seemingly endless and Becker is one of the most brightly shining behind-the-scenes talents on the rise, as is clear to qualify by all of the exquisitely exciting entities he is involved with on the horizon, both near and far. Plus, Becker shares his experiences choreographing various THE MUPPETS movies, working with Ortega on the Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus concert tours, directing the first YouTube feature film, dancing with death in MASTERS OF HORROR, giving moves to monsters in THE CABIN IN THE WOODS, staging the spectacular finale of MIRROR, MIRROR showcasing Julia Roberts, choreographing the fairy tale characters of ONCE UPON A TIME, and he also offers opinions on GLEE and SMASH, reveals his early influences, favorite stars, formative films - and much, much more!

Bramwell Tovey leads the New York Philharmonic at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in a program of works by Bernstein, Gershwin, and Tchaikovsky, tonight, July 7, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. Canadian soprano Tracy Dahl will be the soloist in the coloratura aria, "Glitter and Be Gay" from Bernstein's Candide, along with songs by Gershwin, including "The Man I Love" and "Fascinatin' Rhythm," arranged by Mr. Tovey. Also on the program are Three Dance Episodes from Bernstein's On the Town, and two works by Tchaikovsky: music from Act IV of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, and the 1812 Overture.

Ginger Rogers danced her way into the hearts of millions-and into the arms of Fred Astaire-in some of filmdom's best-loved musicals. Beginning July 27, Cumberland County Playhouse gives you the chance to see Ginger's awe-inspiring story brought to life in Backwards in High Heels, a new musical set to some of the 20th century's best-known music.

USA Network has given a series order to the Jeff Eastin drama pilot GRACELAND, starring Broadway's Aaron Tveit as well as Daniel Sunjata, Vanessa Ferlito, Brandon Jay McLaren and Manny Montana. The one-hour drama comes from Fox Television Studios.

Charles Osborne, star of Modesto Performing Art's 'Anything Goes,' talks to BroadwayWorld about his role as Billy Crocker and what audiences can expect from the Cole Porter Musical.

Nick Ziobro, a 15-year old singer from Manlius, NY, is the 2012 winner of the Great American Songbook Vocal Academy and Competition, held in Carmel, Indiana. Judges included Michael Feinstein, Jim Caruso, Sylvia McNair, Sandi Patty and La Tanya Hall.

Emmy and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth launched her debut world tour in May. The 19-date North American leg of the tour kicked off May 9th in Seattle and concludes in Chenoweth's hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on June 24th. Chenoweth will make her only appearance in Tennessee at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall tonight, June 20th.

Kristin Chenoweth visits Hennepin Theatre Trust's State Theatre at 8:00 p.m. tonight, June 17, 2012. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.HennepinTheatreTrust.org or call 1.800.982.2787.

Oozing charm and brimming over with sex appeal and an overabundance of stage presence, Under the Streetlamp-the quartet (Michael Ingersoll, Michael Cunio, Shonn Wiley and Christopher Kale Jones) that somehow manages to capture the sounds of multiple generations in their polished act, one that has delighted PBS pledge drive supporters for some time now-took to the stage of the Polk Theatre for a concert of pop music standards, a tuneful blend they quite appropriately call "The American Radio Songbook."

Emmy and Tony Award winner Kristin Chenoweth launched her debut world tour in May. The 19-date North American leg of the tour kicked off May 9th in Seattle and concludes in Chenoweth's hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma on June 24th. In between, she'll be making her first appearance at PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre, tonight, June 13 for one 7:30 pm show.