Laura Osnes News

From Tyne Daly to Lena Hall to Deborah Cox to Kristin Chenoweth to Jason Robert Brown to Barbra Streisand to Michael Crawford to Anna Chlumsky, Raul Esparza, Alan Menken, Bernadette Peters, Laura Osnes, Victoria Clark, GLEE and Everything in Between - It's the BroadwayWorld.com 2015 Valentine's Day Special - It's the Biggest Ever! This year's entries feature John Cameron Mitchell, Jessie Mueller, Jeremy Jordan, Kelli O'Hara, Peter Gallagher, Kate Baldwin, Alex Sharp, Judy Kuhn, James Monroe Iglehart, Joshua Henry, Rob McClure, Brynn O'Malley and MANY more!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Carousel,' 'The King And I' and 'The Merry Widow' at Lyric Opera, and the upcoming season at Porchlight. Plus 'Merman' transfers, 'Mormon' arrives, 'First Wives Club' and 'Gotta Dance' try out, the 'Pride And Prejudice' reading moves, Quest Theatre mounts two, Pasek and Paul's 'Peach,' Bailiwick's 'Wonderful Town,' the Mosh Pit in the Tribune and more honors for Jessie Mueller! Whew!

Rob Hinderliter and Dominick LaRuffa, Jr. of R&D Theatricals (All the Way, On The Town, An American In Paris) announced today that they are presenting an invitation-only reading of WONDERFUL -- A NEW PLAY on February 26. Directed by Andy Sandberg (Application Pending, The Last Smoker in America), WONDERFUL is written by playwrights Craig Ricks and John Olson.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents its annual 2015 Spring Gala "There is Nothing Like a Dame" on Monday, March 2, 2015 in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria (301 Park Avenue, NYC). The evening will be a celebration of Oscar, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner Helen Mirren, who will be presented with The Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre.

Lyric Opera of Chicago announced casting for the remaining principal roles in its new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Matthew Hydzik will portray Enoch Snow alongside Tony Award winner Jarrod Emick as Jigger Craigin, two-time Tony Award nominee Charlotte d'Amboise as Mrs. Mullin, and two-time Tony Award nominee Tony Roberts as the Starkeeper. Carousel will run April 10 to May 3 at the Civic Opera House (opening night April 11).

Nellie McKay, hailed by The New Yorker as 'funny and touching, ceaselessly clever and scarily talented,' performs on this week's episode of AMERICAN SONGBOOK AT NJPAC, premiering tonight, February 11th at 8pm on NJTV.

Two-time Tony Award nominee Laura Osnes (Cinderella, Bonnie & Clyde) will serve as a mentor at the 2015 Songbook Academy. Osnes joins founder of the program, Michael Feinstein, for this one-of-a-kind music and performance intensive for high school students.

Tony-winning composer Jason Robert Brown's much-loved stage musical The Last Five Years gets the big screen treatment in The Last Five Years- a dynamic, achingly romantic new film from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King) and starring Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick (Into the Woods, Pitch Perfect) and Tony nominee Jeremy Jordan (Newsies, 'Smash'). BroadwayWorld was on hand for the NYC premiere of the film, which was held at the show's original home, the Minetta Lane Theatre. Check out more photos from inside the special night below!

On Monday, February 9 2015, the Theater People Podcast welcomes Keala Settle, Tony nominee for HANDS ON A HARDBODY, currently starring as Madame Thenardier in the Broadway production of LES MISERABLES Keala shares stories from her three years on the road as Tracy Turnblad in the national tour of HAIRSPRAY, making her Broadway debut in PRISCILLA: QUEEN OF THE DESERT, how the HARDBODY Tony nomination changed her life, and how she won the role of Thenardier having never seen a single production of LES MIS. Keala also talks about the darker side of the business, the heartache of HANDS ON A HARDBODY being a a critical failure which resulted in a swift closure,how the HAIRSPRAY tour led to her decision to step away from acting, and her cherished time working as a stagehand while she tried to figure out if she should take another stab at performing.

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Greg Hildreth in 'Second Fiddle' tonight, February 7th at 9:30pm.

Ted Sperling will conduct the New York Philharmonic and vocalists Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana in A Broadway Romance, a one-night-only Valentine's Day concert, Saturday, February 14, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. The program will feature songs from popular musicals ranging from Bernstein's West Side Story and Gershwin's Girl Crazy to Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel and Stephen Sondheim's Company, woven together to tell a unified narrative of a romance from beginning to end, from meeting to first date to falling in love to marriage.

Workshop presentations begin today, February 5, for the Broadway-bound musical Somewhere in Time, based on the novel by renowned author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come) and the subsequent hit film starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer.

Symphony Space's 2015 gala will celebrate Broadway impresario Harold Prince with a star-studded musical tribute to the legendary 21 time Tony Award® winning producer/director at 6:30 on May 18 at Capitale.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Off-Broadway is teeming with new shows, including TEXAS IN PARIS, THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX, KILL ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT and more!

Despite being a ratings disaster, there were a number of positive things that came out of SMASH's run on NBC; Megan Hilty's star turn, endless internet memes, and Annoying Actor Friend. The internet phenomenon @Actor_Friend 'werked' its way to the forefront of the theatre community's consciousness with its biting, but honest critiques of the musical melodrama's two-year TV run.

The single, performed by Grammy Nominee and Broadway favourite, Cheyenne Jackson will be released on 16th February in support of amfAR.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

This February and March 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street. For a detailed schedule of upcoming performances at 54 Below and to purchase tickets, visit www.54Below.com.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestra's begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven- o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Jenn Colella & Nina Storey; RSO at 54 Below with Lindsay Mendez; Marin Mazzie; Greg Hildreth; and #SOBLESSED: Live.