Gower Champion News

Have you ever wondered what was the most dramatic night in Broadway history? Well, boy, do I have a story for you! The year: 1980. The show: 42nd Street. I sat down with the show’s lead, the iconic and peerless Lee Roy Reams to get the true story straight from someone who was actually there that momentous evening.

Join the iconic Tony Award winners Chita Rivera and Nathan Lane on Monday, April 24 and be a fly on the wall as Chita puts you in the room with Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse, Hal Prince, Gower Champion, John Kander, Fred Ebb and so many others. We have all the details on the special appearance!

​​​​​​​Samantha Womack will star as Dorothy Brock, alongside Michael Praed as Julian Marsh, Faye Tozer as Maggie Jones, Les Dennis as Bert Barry and Nicole-Lily Baisden as Peggy Sawyer in the UK tour of 42nd STREET.

A 3rd performance  of Bernadette Peters in Concert will be presented June 9-11, 2023 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Riverside Theatre, led by Producing Artistic Director/CEO Allen D. Cornell,  Managing Director/COO Jon R. Moses, and Director of Special Initiatives/CFO Patti Rooney, celebrates its 50th Anniversary season by presenting the musical spectacular, 42nd Street.

​​​​​​​Olivier Award-winning actress Ruthie Henshall will star as Dorothy Brock, alongside Olivier-nominee Adam Garcia as Julian Marsh, stage and TV personality Les Dennis as Bert Barry and Nicole-Lily Baisden as Peggy Sawyer in 42nd STREET at Curve, Leicester and Sadler's Wells.

When the show opened on Broadway in 1991, it made history as the first major musical with an almost exclusively-female creative team. In the current production presented by Center Theatre Group,  whether caused by the lack of women on the creative team or not, the show is certainly missing a lot of its heart and is in need of a lot of polishing.

What did our critic think of HELLO DOLLY at Theater Latte Da?

On January 23, we celebrate the 90th birthday of a theatrical icon and one of Broadway's greatest triple-threat talents... the one and only Chita Rivera!

Bernadette Peters is stepping in to headline the Manhattan Theatre Club Winter Benefit this evening at the Ziegfeld Ballroom. Peters replaces the previously announced Kelli O'Hara. Due to a positive COVID diagnosis, O'Hara is unable to perform at the MTC benefit this evening.

After two postponements, the revival of the 2016 Châtelet production of 42nd Street is finally on till January 15th, with a brand-new cast but the same creative team as the original. Stephen Mear had already directed and choreographed the piece for the Parisian public six years ago. In the meantime opened a London revival of the first Broadway version with the original staging and choreography of the late Gower Champion, brilliantly enhanced by Randy Skinner, which took the work to another level of spectacular, so grand was the scale of the production value and money spent! That particular once-in-a lifetime and never-to-be-seen-again production was luckily preserved on video for posterity, but it doesn't take away from the qualities of this more intimate Châtelet version.

Cotuit Center for the Arts will hold auditions for Hello, Dolly! being presented as their 2023 Summer Musical Theater Extravaganza!

Critics are weighing in on SOME LIKE IT HOT, the brand-new Broadway musical comedy featuring a book by Matthew López & Amber Ruffin, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, which opened on Broadway Sunday, December 11th at the Shubert Theatre.

The Curve and Sadler's Wells production of the musical 42nd STREET will open at Curve, Leicester on Wednesday 17th May 2023, followed by a season at Sadler's Wells, London from Wednesday 7th June 2023 before embarking on a UK tour visiting Canterbury, Leeds, Bristol, Plymouth, Cardiff, Glasgow, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Manchester, Southampton, Newcastle, Woking and Belfast.

Pasadena Playhouse Producing Artistic Director Danny Feldman announced the latest news for the theater’s upcoming six-month-long celebration of the works and impact of Stephen Sondheim January 26 through June 11, 2023. 

Broadway World Cabaret is looking at the work of some artists who are, most definitely, THE CLASSICS.

The Ridgefield Playhouse is celebrating its Fall Fundraising Gala with one of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers - Bernadette Peters!

It's so nice to have you back!

Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents Bernadette Peters on Thursday, September 29 at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage, film, and television, on recordings and in concert. Bernadette has been awarded three Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award, a Golden Globe, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Top stories include Kinky Boots' opening night celebration, plus original cast members of 42nd Street celebrate the musical's 42nd anniversary, and more!