Hal David News

Playwrights' Arena with Artistic Director Jon Lawrence Rivera, the only theatre dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing original works written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with their annual fund-raiser presenting HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY: an evening of songs by local composers and lyricists tonight, May 8, 2012, at the Los Angeles Theatre Center -- our home in historic downtown Los Angeles. The special performance, which benefits the programs of Playwrights' Arena, celebrates the works of Los Angeles' most adventurous resident composers and lyricists writing for the theater today and honors Theresa Chavez & Rose Portillo (Artistic Director and Associate Director of About Productions) and Velina Hasu Houston (Playwright) with the *Lee Melville Award for their outstanding contribution to the Los Angeles theater community.

On Wednesday, May 9th, as part of their "In Performance at the White House" series, the President and First Lady will host a concert in the East Room honoring songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who will be awarded the 2012 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. President Obama will present the award as he did in 2010 and 2009, when the Library of Congress honored Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, respectively. The program will include performances by Sheryl Crow, Michael Feinstein, Diana Krall, Lyle Lovett, Mike Myers, Rumer, Arturo Sandoval, Shelea and Stevie Wonder.

Gretna Theatre celebrates its 85th Anniversary season at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse with a sparkling opening performance by the one and only Tommy Tune in "Steps in Time" featuring the Manhattan Rhythm Kings for a single performance Sunday, June 3 at 7:30 pm. The nine-time Tony Award winner will perform his Broadway biography in song and dance to celebrate 50 years on the Great White Way.

Playwrights' Arena with Artistic Director Jon Lawrence Rivera, the only theatre dedicated to discovering, nurturing and producing original works written exclusively by Los Angeles playwrights, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary with their annual fund-raiser presenting HOT NIGHT IN THE CITY: an evening of songs by local composers and lyricists on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, at the Los Angeles Theatre Center -- our home in historic downtown Los Angeles. The special performance, which benefits the programs of Playwrights' Arena, celebrates the works of Los Angeles' most adventurous resident composers and lyricists writing for the theater today and honors Theresa Chavez & Rose Portillo (Artistic Director and Associate Director of About Productions) and Velina Hasu Houston (Playwright) with the *Lee Melville Award for their outstanding contribution to the Los Angeles theater community.

JULIE REIBER - the singer and actress currently playing Marion in Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway at the Palace Theater - will release her debut solo album today, April 24. Love Travels is a mix of her original tunes, musical theatre favorites by such composers as Jason Robert Brown ('Still Hurting'), Adam Guettel ('Through The Mountain') and Stephen Schwartz (the special bonus track 'Defying Gravity') - each with a special twist - and reinventions of Reiber's favorite artists including Stevie Wonder ('Knocks Me Off My Feet'), Chaka Khan ('Stay'), John Mayer ('Back To You') and Joni Mitchell ('Little Green'). She will celebrate this new recording with a concert at Rockwood Music Hall the following night, Wednesday April 25. The $20 ticket price includes a signed CD. Love Travels will also be available via iTunes, CDBaby.com, Amazon.com and JulieReiber.com

JULIE REIBER - the singer and actress currently playing Marion in Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway at the Palace Theater - will release her debut solo album on Tuesday, April 24. Love Travels is a mix of her original tunes, musical theatre favorites by such composers as Jason Robert Brown ('Still Hurting'), Adam Guettel ('Through The Mountain') and Stephen Schwartz (the special bonus track 'Defying Gravity') - each with a special twist - and reinventions of Reiber's favorite artists including Stevie Wonder ('Knocks Me Off My Feet'), Chaka Khan ('Stay'), John Mayer ('Back To You') and Joni Mitchell ('Little Green'). She will celebrate this new recording with a concert at Rockwood Music Hall the following night, Wednesday April 25. The $20 ticket price includes a signed CD. Love Travels will also be available via iTunes, CDBaby.com, Amazon.com and JulieReiber.com

Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, known for producing acclaimed, innovative and classic musicals and comedies, announces its 2012-2013 season featuring five glorious films brought to new life on stage.

"Stand By Me," the song written by Leiber & Stoller and Ben E. King will receive the Towering Song Award at the 2012 Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) Gala Event to be held at the Marriott Marquee Hotel in New York City on Thursday, June 14, 2012, Songwriters Hall of Fame Chairman, Jimmy Webb, announced today. Mike Stoller will accept the award along with Ben E. King, who will also be honored with the Towering Performance Award for his performance on the Leiber & Stoller produced recording of "Stand By Me."

Imagem Music USA, home to the Elvis Presley and Sammy Cahn catalogues as well as such talent as Ludacris, Phil Collins, Genesis, Anna Nalick, Steve Robson, Jens Gad, Temper Trap and more, has signed a worldwide, multi-year administration and co-publishing agreement with songwriter/ producer Phil Galdston.

The entire entertainment world is reeling. We have lost one of our most iconic pop, R&B and soundtrack performers this evening - as well as a formidable movie star in her own right - Whitney Houston was just reported dead at the age of 48. Having had one of the most successful and most multimedia of careers of any multi-hyphenate star in recent memory, Houston scored multiple Grammys and racked up countless nominations over the course of her multi-decade recording career, yet her most notable contributions to the world of music reside in her outstanding soundtrack work - most of all, the songs for the film in which she made the transition into feature film leading lady, 1992's THE BODYGUARD. The biggest hit from THE BODYGUARD's blockbuster soundtrack was undoubtedly Houston's rendition of a Dolly Parton song originally recorded in 1974 and later made famous by Parton in the feature film version of the Broadway hit THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, "I Will Always Love You". In addition to Houston's sensational work on that mega-selling soundtrack - one of the Top 5 best-selling soundtracks of all time - she also provided her dramatic and vocal skills to the multi-platinum soundtracks to THE PREACHER'S WIFE and WAITING TO EXHALE, both films which she also starred in to much box office success. An Oscar-winning duet with Mariah Carey, "When You Believe" by WICKED's Stephen Schwartz from THE PRINCE OF EGYPT is yet another diadem in Houston's triple crown of accomplishments in the realms of music, film and television - having dominated all. Theatre fans may know Houston best for her incomparable portrayal of the Fairy Godmother in the incredibly successful 1997 ABC TV adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA starring Brandy and produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. In addition to Houston's contributions to THE BODYGUARD, THE PREACHER'S WIFE, WAITING TO EXHALE, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and CINDERELLA, Houston also rose to fame early in her career for her rendition of "Home" from THE WIZ on THE Merv Griffin SHOW, as well as made a mark with a Cissy Houston duet on the CHESS international smash, "I Know Him So Well" on her second hit album. The last project Houston was working on prior to her death on Saturday night was the feature film musical SPARKLE, co-starring AMERICAN IDOL winner and Broadway standout Jordin Sparks. SPARKLE reportedly completed production of principal photography and soundtrack sessions, though it is not clear when the musical remake will now be released in light of Houston's unexpected death. No matter the circumstances of her life and death, Whitney Houston most surely left a legacy that will never be forgotten by those that adored her for her vast multitude of talents and many notable accomplishments in all areas of entertainment.

Pepperdine University Center for the Arts presents Dionne Warwick, one of the world's most famous pop music vocalists and the winner of five Grammy Awards, in a concert at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre at 7 p.m. on Sunday, January 15.

A seven-years-and-counting fixture at New York's famed Café Carlyle (a spot he inherited from one of his mentors, the late Bobby Short), Steve Tyrell--a long-time behind-the-scenes music veteran-turned chart-topping jazz superstar--has returned to Orange County, California for a series of highly-entertaining shows at the Samueli Theatre as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' wonderful Cabaret Series through Sunday, January 8. Backed by a truly kick-ass jazz ensemble led by his music director Quinn Johnson behind the piano, Tyrell's rousing show truly set out to showcase a feel-good time, injecting lots of life to some very familiar tunes from the Great American Songbook.

Reprise Theatre Company will present An Evening With Joan Rivers for one performance only on Monday, January 30 at 8:00 pm, at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

Pepperdine University Center for the Arts presents Dionne Warwick, one of the world's most famous pop music vocalists and the winner of five Grammy Awards, in a concert at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre at 7 p.m. on Sunday, January 15.

Reprise Theatre Company will present An Evening With Joan Rivers for one performance only on Monday, January 30 at 8:00 pm, at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

The ASCAP Foundation honored composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz for his lifetime contributions to the Musical Theater with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award. On hand to make the presentation was Richard Rodgers' grandson and fellow musical theater composer Adam Guettel (The Light in the Piazza). The accolade was presented today during the Foundation's 16th Annual Awards Ceremony, held at the Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City. The invitation-only event, hosted by ASCAP Foundation President Paul Williams, also honored a wide variety of Scholarship and Award recipients, all of whom benefit from programs of The ASCAP Foundation.

The ASCAP Foundation honored composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz for his lifetime contributions to the Musical Theater with The ASCAP Foundation Richard Rodgers Award.

Last night, I spoke to two-time Tony-winner Katie Finneran all about her new Fox sitcom I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER, co-starring Jaime Pressly, which premiered yesterday at 9:30 PM. Additionally, Finneran and I discuss her recent role in the terrific live performance film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY, co-starring Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone, and we also take a look back at her two Tony-winning Broadway roles from earlier this decade - the lauded Jeremy Sams revival of the comedy NOISES OFF, as well as Rob Ashford's revival of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Neil Simon PROMISES, PROMISES. Also, Finneran describes the feeling of reaching a career peak such as she has achieved this year - a new Tony Award, the COMPANY film and headlining a sitcom of her own - and also relates how her role as a new mom has influenced her participation on the battle-of-the-generations comedy. All of that - plus, reminiscences of working on DAMAGES, OZ, roles she would like to play in the future (Dolly, Mame and The Baker's Wife included) and much, much more!

The Old Globe presents the World Premiere of Some Lovers, a new musical with book and lyrics by Tony and Grammy Award winner Steven Sater and music by Academy and Grammy Award-winning legend Burt Bacharach.