Gower Champion News

Twenty-five years after passing on, Michael Bennett still gets entrance applause in A Chorus Line.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from tonight, October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series presents Tony Award Nominated actress and singer Anita Gillette is presenting two evenings of music and memories while taking what's being described as 'an intimate, touching and hilarious look behind the scenes from Broadway to Hollywood' in her new autobiographical one-woman show "After All." The first event took place last night, September 24 & and the second will happen on Monday, October 1 at 7pm at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC). Check out photos from the concert below!

The Broadway at Birdland concert series previously announced that Tony Award Nominated actress and singer Anita Gillette would be presenting two evenings of music and memories while taking what's being described as 'an intimate, touching and hilarious look behind the scenes from Broadway to Hollywood' in her new autobiographical one-woman show "After All." The events will take place tonight, September 24 & Monday, October 1 at 7pm at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC).

Barbara Cook returns to Carnegie Hall to celebrate her 85th birthday on Thursday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m. with a special performance in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.

Today in 1980, 42nd Street opened at the Wintergarden Theatre, where it ran for 3486 performances. 42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit. Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes and the subsequent 1933 film adaptation, it focuses on the efforts of famed dictatorial Great White Way director Julian Marsh to mount a successful stage production of a musical extravaganza at the height of the Great Depression.

Dick Van Dyke, beloved actor, singer, dancer, writer and comedian, will receive SAG-AFTRA's highest honor - the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.

Birdland (315 West 44th Street - between 8th & 9th Aves.) has announced entertainment for the month of September, 2012.

Maine State Music Theatre is in its final production of the season, 42nd Street. The show runs until August 25th; for tickets and showtimes contact the box office at (207) 725- 8769 or visit www.msmt.org. Check out the video preview below!

The Broadway at Birdland concert series has announced that Tony Award Nominated actress and singer Anita Gillette will be presenting two evenings of music and memories while taking what's being described as 'an intimate, touching and hilarious look behind the scenes from Broadway to Hollywood' in her new autobiographical one-woman show "After All." The events will take place on Monday, September 24 & Monday, October 1 at 7pm at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC).

Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) (Jed Bernstein, Producing Director) has launched The Saturday Arts Program (SAP), a training ground for passionate young performers. Classes will take place weekly from September 22nd - November 17th at the Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope Solebury High School, and the Solebury School.

Stratford's 42nd STREET is a total delight. Anyone who loves great dancing, fine singing, and creative staging should be enchanted by this production.

Today we are talking to a terrifically talented triple-threat who has made appearances on Broadway in entities as diverse as David Merrick's original Gower Champion-directed production of 42nd STREET, her debut, to roles in Susan Stroman's CRAZY FOR YOU, Hal Prince's landmark revival of SHOW BOAT and the Mark Bramble revival of 42nd STREET to THE CIVIL WAR, MAMMA MIA!, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, ELF, and, most recently, as the star of BABY, IT'S YOU! - to say nothing of her Tony Award-winning turn in THE DROWSY CHAPERONE - the thoroughly delightful and dynamic dame herself, Beth Leavel. Discussing some of her career highlights thus far - such as the night of her Tony Award win - while generously sharing her caustic wit and giving us a glimpse into the life of a modern-day leading lady, Leavel also offers us some insights into her newest role - one originally essayed by no less than Broadway icon Ethel Merman - that of Irving Berlin's heroine, Mrs. Sally Adams, in the politically-themed musical comedy CALL ME MADAM, playing at the Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, July 24-28. In addition to all about CALL ME MADAM, Leavel also imparts her affection for past co-stars and collaborators - Sutton Foster, Christine Ebersole, Andrea Martin, Millicent Martin, Dolores Grey, Burt Bacharach and more included - and looks ahead to some parts that she would potentially consider pursuing in the future (MINSKY'S perhaps?). All of that and much, much more!

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army. Bye Bye Birdie runs today, July 13 through July 22 in the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham.

Today we are talking to a celebrated comedienne and actress known for her decades-spanning career on screens and stages large and small - from making her Broadway debut in the original Jerome Robbins production of GYPSY on Broadway in 1960 to her many musical roles throughout the 60s to her countless game show and variety show appearances following that all the way to creating an unforgettable character in MOONSTRUCK in the 1980s, as well as her subsequent oft-Neil Simon stage work; now, playing Tina Fey's sweet and daffy mom on NBC's 30 ROCK and, most recently, appearing in Nora & Celia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE and the Playwright's Horizons premiere production of THE BIG MEAL in the new millennium - the one of a kind Anita Gillette. Analyzing her nearly sixty-year career and sharing candid stories of her brushes with some of Broadway and Hollywood's brightest talents - Jule Styne to Ethel Merman to Irving Berlin to Burt Lancaster and beyond - Gillette paints a vivid portrait of the tail end of the Golden Age of Broadway and the heady game show days of TV in the 1960s and 70s to her lauded stage work with Neil Simon and many of the great comedy and musical writers in the years since. Additionally, Gillette and I discuss her current essaying of the role of Mae Peterson in the new Regal Music Theatre production of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's BYE BYE BIRDIE in Massachusetts as she looks towards opening night tomorrow and relates her joy in participating in a production that has some behind-the-scenes help by her loving granddaughter (while another attends their summer camp). Plus, Gillette's observations on sharing a soundstage with Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Elaine Stritch and Buck Henry for a recent 30 ROCK shoot, reflections on her fondest and most celebrated comedy roles, hilarious memories of appearing in some short-running flops (JIMMY, SKYSKRAPER) as well as in some big hits (GYPSY), her upcoming series of master classes titled "Life In The Business", her return to Birdland with her concert show, AFTER ALL, her role in an upcoming Ed Burns film and maybe even a role in a new Alexander Payne film - all of that, all about attending the Diamond Jubilee celebration in the United Kingdom and much, much more!

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army.

Bye Bye Birdie-conjuring up memories of Elvis Presley and the fan fervor that greeted a lot of musical acts in the 1950s and '60s-takes center stage at Dickson's Renaissance Center in June as the Renaissance Players present the musical theater classic tonight, June 1 through June 17.