Judy Garland News

Tune in tomorrow, Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 12:35 PM (ET) to join in the celebration with 'Mr. Showbusiness' on Jimmy Ferraro's THEATRE CHAT AND THIS 'N THAT, broadcasting live on WWJB -- regionally and nationally on the world wide web: http://www.wwjb.com/pages/4395150.php. This week's guests are actor Gavin MacLeod and Elinor F. Rowe.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

Hollywood, CA -- The Hollywood Museum, the official museum of Hollywood located in the Historic Max Factor Building, rings in the holidays with 'Lights, Camera, 'Holly'- wood,' a unique tribute to the holidays - Hollywood Style. The holiday trees and extensive tinsel town decor are created by Dr. Christmas (Bob Pranga and Debi Staron), known as the celebrity holiday and special event designers to the stars. The exhibit will be on display through January 5, 2014.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater continues its 2013/14 Season with a celebrated production of Peter Quilter's End of the Rainbow, a new play with music. The recipient of rave reviews in London, Broadway and L.A. including four Olivier Award nominations and three Tony Award nominations, End of the Rainbow stars 12-time Jeff Award-winning Chicago actress Hollis Resnik as Judy Garland. Resnik will be the first American-born actress to play the role. Joining her are Thomas J. Cox (Anthony), Nicholas Harazin (Mickey) and Rep Associate Artist Jonathan Gillard Daly (Various). Directed by Rep Artistic Director Mark Clements, End of the Rainbow was featured in Time Magazine's "Top Ten" List and called "electrifying" by The New York Times.

Happy Birthday, Tammy Blanchard! Blanchard was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012 for her performance in HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING and is best known for her portrayal of the young Judy Garland in "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows" (Emmy Award, Golden Globe and AFI nominations). Her Broadway credits include Gypsy (Tony nomination, Theatre World Award). She was most recently seen in the film Moneyball. Blanchard's other film credits include The Good Shepherd, Bella, Cadillac Records and Rabbit Hole, and she recently completed The Music Never Stopped, Certainty, Union Square and Burning Blue. Her television credits include "A Gifted Man", "We Were the Mulvaneys," "Sybil," "Living Proof," "Amish Grace," "The Good Wife," "Law & Order: SVU", "Guiding Light", and the original Lifetime TV movie, "Of Two Minds."

About Face Theatre's 'We Three Lizas' has the right mix of holiday heart and camp

Profiles in History, run by Joe Maddalena, is proud to announce exclusive items from the TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman's Chinese Theatre) at their upcoming Hollywood Auction on December 21st.

Theatrica Ltd and the Landor Theatre are delighted to announce the UK Premiere of Broadway musical Meet Me In St. Louis which will play at the Landor Theatre from tonight 11 December (press night Monday 16 December at 7.30pm).

On Monday, it was announced that the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis lost $438 thousand - their first deficit in their nineteen years.

Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) presents the 2013 holiday show Meet Me in St. Louis: A Live Radio Play, set in a similar fashion as last year's Bucks County holiday show It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, both adapted by Joe Landry. Check out a first look at the show below!

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed comedy/variety show hailed as 'rambunctious, uproarious and unpredictable' by The Wall Street Journal, 'delicious and delightfully droll' by The New York Post, and 'hilarious and sardonic' by The Village Voice - has moved to 54 BELOW for a six month run after four sell-out seasons in New York's West Village. The next show will be on Wednesday, December 18 at 9:30 PM. Justin Sayre and The Meeting*, known for a signature blend of outrageous comedy, politics, culture and everything in between, were named one of the Top 10 nightclub shows of 2011 by Time Out New York, received the 2012 Bistro Award for 'Comedy Artistry' and a 2011 MAC Award nomination for Best Male Comedy Performance.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Producing Artistic Director Andre Bishop) has announced that actors Santino Fontana and Tony Shalhoub will both be featured as the legendary writer/director Moss Hart at different stages of his life in its upcoming production of ACT ONE, a play written and directed by James Lapine from the autobiography by Moss Hart. The production, which will also feature a third actor who will play Mr. Hart as a young boy, is scheduled to begin previews Thursday, March 20 and open onThursday, April 17 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Technical wizardry and solid singing highlighted this new production of WIZARD OF OZ, now playing at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Saint Paul.

The Players Ring in Portsmouth will play host to LEGENDS: THE MUSIC OF JUDY GARLAND written and performed by Kelly Caufield. The show is co-written and directed by Brian P. Allen with musical direction and arrangements by Victoria Stubbs. Michael Lynch is the Production Stage Manager.

Profiles in History run by Joe Maddalena is proud to announce The Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector Part lll. The third installment of this highly coveted collection is set to be auctioned worldwide on December 19th. The Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector Parts l and ll were blockbuster sales with a distressed letter from Vincent van Gogh selling for $336,000 and an internationally sought after Marilyn Monroe letter addressed to Lee Strasberg in which she wrote about the phycological toll Hollywood has taken on her. The letter written in pencil was estimated to sell between $30,000-50,000 and sold for $156,000.

This year the holiday show at Bucks County Playhouse is MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: A RADIO PLAY. They are keeping with the tradition of performing a holiday themed radio play where the audience plays the part of a live studio audience of the radio show. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: A RADIO PLAY is based on the 1944 movie-musical of the same name that starred Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien. We had a chance to speak with one of the actors in the show at Bucks County Playhouse, Garth Kravits, about the musical, growing up in a theatre family and the importance of the arts to the community.

The echoes of Kurt Weill's dark footsteps on the Santa Monica Pier will soon be heard on the historic seaside structure. Tony Award-winning actor/director Paul Sand is creating a limited-run show at what will be called the West End Theatre, transforming an enclosed observation deck at the end of the Santa Monica Pier into what will be a cabaret-style performing space. Inaugurating the theatre will be 'Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel' - a performance of a collection of the famed German composer's songs - that will open Today, Dec. 6. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast onstage below!

On Tuesday December 3 sublime singer Spider Saloff appeared at Rockwell Table and Stage for an evening of Cool Yule accompanied by electric jazz pianist Richard Eames. I say sublime, as there are a rare few like Saloff who can really sing, wrapping their heart around the lyrics of a song and then delivering it as if they had never told the story before. It takes an actress to sing well, and Saloff has everything it takes. Like Garland, she's one of the best.

Profiles in History, run by Joe Maddalena, is proud to announce the highlights from the upcoming Hollywood auction this December 21st, details are below.