Jason Alexander News

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston is alive with the sound of Rodgers & Hammerstein this summer as its 43rd consecutive season features the first and last Broadway collaborations of this legendary composing team.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its fourth show of their season, COWBOYS & ANGELS, starring Tony Award-nominee and T.V. star VALARIE PETTIFORD (Film: "Jumping The Broom," TV: UPN's "Half & Half," "Criminal Minds," Broadway: Fosse, Chicago), KARISSA NOEL and DANIEL TATAR (Life Could Be A Dream, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), performing the music of Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks and Loretta Lynn, performing such memorable songs as "Crazy," "I Fall To Pieces," "Friends In Low Places," "If Tomorrow Never Comes," "Coal Miner's Daughter," and more - as well as their own selections, under the musical direction of Gerald Sternbach, in a one night only concert - COWBOYS AND ANGELS which will perform on Sunday, June 5, 2011 at 7:30PM at the NEW Cabaret Lounge at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada.

The hills will be alive in Thousand Oaks as Cabrillo Music Theatre proudly announces its brand-new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, and LA Stage Alliance, the leading service provider for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles, are proud to announce the 2011 TCG National Conference Honorary Committee of distinguished artists who have had impressive careers on stage, screen and with the written word.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, and LA Stage Alliance, the leading service provider for the performing arts in greater Los Angeles, are proud to announce the 2011 TCG National Conference Honorary Committee of distinguished artists who have had impressive careers on stage, screen and with the written word.

Reprise Theatre Company presents Barbara Cook in Concert. It will have one performance only on Monday, May 16 at 8:00 pm, at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. Barbara Cook in Concert is the latest in Reprise Theatre Company's tradition of presenting Broadway stars and legendary entertainers in concert, which have included Patti LuPone, Carol Burnett, Sutton Foster, Ben Vereen, Kristin Chenoweth, and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Actors Annie Korzen, Ron Orbach, DeeDee Rescher, and Carol Ita White join stars Jason Alexander and Gina Hecht in the special three-week engagement of the comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon. Directed by Glenn Casale, the production close May 15, 2011 at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood.

"Hello Herman," a new feature film from L.A.-based All In Films has wrapped principal photography in Los Angeles area.

Tom Hewitt, Lesli Margherita, Meg Gillentine and Seán Martin Hingston are the Broadway and West End stars that will lead the cast of Reprise Theatre Company's third production of the 2010-2011 season, 'Kiss Me, Kate', playing May 10 to 22 (press opening May 11, 2011) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The musical - with music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Samuel and Bella Spewack will be directed by Michael Michetti, co-artistic director of The Theatre @ Boston Court and choreographed by Lee Martino. Michael Paternostro will serve as musical director.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 16th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women In Jazz Festival will present "Corky Hale And Friends," featuring Corky Hale, the critically acclaimed and renowned Jazz Harpist, Pianist and Vocalist on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in the Terrace Theater of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; 2700 F Street, N.W.; Washington, D.C. 20566.

Reprise Theatre Company presents Ray Romano Live for one performance only on Tuesday, June 7 at 8:00 pm, at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA. Ticket sales from Ray Romano Live support Reprise's mission to produce musical theatre of the highest artistic quality and to make this art form accessible to new audiences through education and outreach programs.

From her creation of the pivotal roles of Susan in Marvin Hamlisch & Craig Carnelia's simply smashing (if underappreciated) SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS and Clara in Adam Guettel & Craig Lucas's five-time Tony-winning THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, to her effortless essaying of two of the most beloved female roles in the musical theater canon, opposite two of the biggest leading men on Broadway - THE PAJAMA GAME with Harry Connick, Jr. and SOUTH PACIFIC with Matthew Morrison (and Paulo Szot) - in addition to her work in Frank Wildhorn's JEKYLL & HYDE and DRACULA, Stephen Sondheim's FOLLIES and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, along with her stunning studio albums - all of these are just some of the reasons why Kelli O'Hara is in a very special class of performers. In this all-encompassing conversation we discuss all of the aforementioned shows, as well as working with all of her fabulous co-stars and collaborators, and we also take a look at her recording studio work with Harry Connick, Jr. and take a look ahead to her sophomore solo album, ALWAYS which will be released on June 3. Plus, we have first news on her new roles in the musical versions of THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, written by Jason Robert Brown, and FINDING NEVERLAND by Scott Frankel. We even have dish on working with Liza Minnelli and shooting SEX & THE CITY 2! This is all coming in anticipation of the tribute to Bob Hope at the NY Pops gala on May 2, which will also feature performances by Tom Wopat and Aaron Lazar - both of whom we will continue our SPOTLIGHT ON NY POPS series with later on this weekend. Don't miss them or a special presentation by theatre legend Angela Lansbury! Further information about the NY POPS event - including tickets - is available here.

Christopher Weekes, whose Jim Henson biopic spec screenplay Muppet Man topped 2009's Black List, has been tapped by producers Jean Doumanian (August: Osage County, All The Real Girls) and Michael Shulman and Craig Saavedra, (principals of Starry Night Entertainment - Sherman's Way, White People) to adapt Mitchell Zuckoff's acclaimed biography Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend for the big screen.

The new Broadway musical Baby It's You! tells the inspiring story of Florence Greenberg, the woman who changed the recording world forever when she discovered The Shirelles and created Scepter Records, becoming the music industry's first female powerhouse. Starring Tony Award winner Beth Leavel as Greenberg, conceived by Floyd Mutrux, directed by Floyd Mutrux and Sheldon Epps, and written by Tony nominated book writers Mutrux and Colin Escott, the team behind Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet, Baby It's You! began performances at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street) Saturday, March 26, 2011, and opens TONIGHT, April 27, 2011, at 6:30pm. Baby It's You! features a cast of 19 that includes Allan Louis, Geno Henderson, Erica Ash, Kelli Barrett, Kyra DaCosta, Crystal Starr Knighton, Barry Pearl, Christina Sajous, Brandon Uranowitz, Alison Cimmet, Erica Dorfler, Berlando Drake, Adam Heller, Jahi A. Kearse, Annette Moore, Zachary Prince, Ken Robinson and Chelsea Morgan Stock.

On the heels of his 1970 hit film The Out of Towners Neil Simon crafted The Prisoner of Second Avenue in 1971, which had a more than a healthy run on Broadway and filmed in 1975 with Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft. Towners has always been my favorite as it depicts how bright and enthusiastic small town people visit and view the living conditions of New York City as less than desirable. Anything that can go wrong does and the pair cannot wait to make a fast exit. In Avenue, it's a perspective from within as New York apartment dwellers Mel (Jason Alexander) and Edna (Gina Hecht) Edison must cope with high rent, noisy neighbors, unemployment, robbery, garbage strikes, the exorbitant cost of living and trying to keep one's sanity in the process. In this new production at the El Portal, Glenn Casale's fantastic pacing as director and a superb ensemble make The Prisoner of Second Avenue more topical than ever.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue revolves around the escalating problems of a middle-aged couple living on Second Avenue on the Upper East Side of New York City. Mel Edison (portrayed by Alexander), has just lost his job after many years and now has to cope with being unemployed at middle age. The action occurs during an intense summer heat wave and a prolonged garbage strike, which just exacerbates Edison's plight to no end as he and his wife Edna (Hecht) deal with noisy neighbors, loud sounds emanating from Manhattan streets, and even a robbery of their apartment in broad daylight.

Corky Hale, the renowned and critically acclaimed Jazz Pianist, Harpist and Vocalist, will return to the Big Apple for several performances in April 2011. Hale, who now makes her home in Los Angeles, with her husband, Grammy Award winning composer, Mike Stoller (a member of the creative team of the new Broadway musical, "The People In The Picture"), lived in New York from 1966 - 1989, during which time she also ran a restaurant called Corky's located in Manhattan from 1970 - 1974.

Producer Tom Brocato's Butterfield Road Productions has announced a special three-week engagement of the comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon, starring Jason Alexander and Gina Hecht.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & MC COY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT present the fourth production of their 2010-2011 season of shows, the blood-thirsty musical comedy LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, music by Alan Menken, book and lyrics by Howard Ashman, musical direction by David O, choreography by Dana Solimando, directed by La Mirada Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Brian Kite and starring Brett Ryback, Lesli Margherita and Bob Amaral. LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS will open on Friday, April 15 (with a press opening on Saturday, April 16) and run through Sunday, May 1 at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd in La Mirada.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its third show of their season, I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND: The Music of The Beatles, which will include James Snyder (Broadway: Cry-Baby, Pasadena Playhouse: Dangerous Beauty), Tom Lowe (London: Les Miserables, Cats) and Elizabeth Brackenbury (Vanities, Rock Of Ages), performing the music of The Beatles, and their own selections, under the musical direction of Todd Schroeder, in a one night only concert - I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND which will perform on Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 7:30PM at the NEW Cabaret Lounge at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada.