Lucille Ball News

According to an Equity casting notice, Broadway veteran Andrea McArdle will take on the title role in MAME twice this spring. The show will play at Pennsylvania's Media Theatre (4/17- 5/19) and Bucks County Playhouse (5/22-6/9).

MAME, winner of five Tony Awards, opened November 8, 2012, and plays through January 13, 2013, at the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. Based on Patrick Dennis' 1955 novel, "Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade," MAME features an award-winning score by Jerry Herman with such favorites as "Bosom Buddies," "We Need a Little Christmas" and, of course, "Mame."

With CHRISTMAS IN TINSELTOWN (HCI $14.95)- the follow-up to his international sensation The Dead Celebrity Cookbook - Frank DeCaro shows how to put the kitsch into your holiday kitchen as he salutes a quirky collection of celebrities who are gone, but fondly remembered every year at Christmastime.

"I Love Lucy," and "I Dream of Jeannie" are just samples of the television classics spotlighted in the "The Best of Television Memories" exhibit coming to The Hollywood Museum, the official Museum of Hollywood today, November 7.

The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild (IATSE Local 706) will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with a special gala today, November 3 at The Hollywood Museum. MAC Cosmetics is the presenting sponsor and The Hollywood Reporter is the official media sponsor of the evening.

There have been few comedians capable of leaving an untouchable mark on pop culture and television - but if there is one who undoubtedly has, it was the indelible Lucille Ball. Sirena Irwin was the woman chosen to bring the legendary lady to life in I LOVE LUCY: LIVE ON THE STAGE, the woman chosen to don the fashionable 50s garb, to make the staple physicality and verbal comedy of Ball her own.

In an interview below, STEWART--the British singer, songwriter and guitarist who's also an author, entrepreneur, filmmaker and philanthropist--talks about the series which follows Reba as a woman whose rock-star husband cheats on her and leaves her broke.

The Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild (IATSE Local 706) will celebrate its 75th Anniversary with a special gala on Saturday, November 3 at The Hollywood Museum. MAC Cosmetics is the presenting sponsor and The Hollywood Reporter is the official media sponsor of the evening.

For anyone who loves Hollywood memorabilia, is an entertainment junkie, and loves to eat and cook - they will treasure Frank DeCaro's The Dead Celebrity Cookbook: A Resurrection of Recipes from More Than 145 Stars of Stage and Screen (HCI Books). Frank compiled favorite recipes from some of Hollywood's biggest names; including Lucille Ball, Elizabeth Taylor, Sonny Bono, Liberace, Michael Jackson, John Denver, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, Humphrey Bogart, and Peter Falk, just to name a few.

Today, we're featuring Cy Coleman with Bob Fosse and Juliet Prowse in 1981. Fosse won an unprecedented eight Tony Awards for choreography, as well as one for direction. He was nominated for an Academy Award four times, winning for his direction of Cabaret. Amongst his many Broadway credits are The Pajama Game, Damn Yankees, Sweet Charity, Pippin, Chicago, Dancin' and many more. Coleman's career as a Broadway composer began when he and Leigh collaborated on Wildcat (1960), which marked the Broadway debut of comedienne Lucille Ball. U's school songs, 'Hey, Fightin' Tigers.' When Ball became ill, she left the show, and it closed. Next for the two was Little Me, with a book by Neil Simon based on the novel of the same name by Patrick Dennis. Prowse starred in such films as including The Fiercest Heart (1961) and Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965) with Sal Mineo and Elaine Stritch.

"I Love Lucy," and "I Dream of Jeannie" are just samples of the television classics spotlighted in the "The Best of Television Memories" exhibit coming to The Hollywood Museum, the official Museum of Hollywood, on November 7.

Courtney Freed and Rebecca Johnson will star in The Coco & Ruby Variety Hour, a dazzling trip down memory lane and a peek into the hilarious and wacky lives of the these two ginger dames. Coco and Ruby mysteriously fell out of their humdrum lives in 1940's Newark, New Jersey and into modern day Hollywood to live the dream! These two characters from the hit web series, "Coco & Ruby," written by Rachel Roderman and directed by Steve Brian, will shuffle-ball-change right out of your computer screen on October 15th to bring you a LIVE show full of old-school comedy and musicianship reminiscent of Lucille Ball and Betty Hutton. The Coco & Ruby Variety Hour will include many of your favorite WWII era standards, as well as vintage takes on contemporary pop songs.

Actress/writer/comedian NANCY REDMAN will once again join forces with director Austin Pendleton for the premiere of her one-woman show 'EMERGENCY A La Carte,' in which 'a comedian dies and finds that death is her toughest audience.' Two performances in the United Solo Theatre Festival, tonight, October 15 & November 17, both at 9 PM, at Theatre Row, 410 West 42nd St.

Courtney Freed and Rebecca Johnson will star in The Coco & Ruby Variety Hour, a dazzling trip down memory lane and a peek into the hilarious and wacky lives of the these two ginger dames. Coco and Ruby mysteriously fell out of their humdrum lives in 1940's Newark, New Jersey and into modern day Hollywood to live the dream! These two characters from the hit web series, "Coco & Ruby," written by Rachel Roderman and directed by Steve Brian, will shuffle-ball-change right out of your computer screen on October 15th to bring you a LIVE show full of old-school comedy and musicianship reminiscent of Lucille Ball and Betty Hutton. The Coco & Ruby Variety Hour will include many of your favorite WWII era standards, as well as vintage takes on contemporary pop songs.

Feinstein's at Loews Regency will continue its Fall 2012 season with the return of singer and television star Linda Purl, in her new show "Midnight Caravan: Travels through the Great New York Clubs." Recapturing the glamour of New York's swank hotspots like The Copacabana and The Blue Angel, Purl invokes the smoky, after-hours world of the 1940s and 50s. With musical direction by Tedd Firth, "Midnight Caravan" includes songs such as "Easy Living," "I Thought About You," and "My Romance," to name just a few.

Today we are talking to a busy and very recognizable actress who has appeared in over 100 TV and film properties since her debut in the 1970s and just this year played arcs on both the freshly-minted 2012 Emmy-winning Best Drama HOMELAND, as well as HBO's hit nighttime vampire series TRUE BLOOD - the accomplished and arresting Linda Purl. Discussing her roles on the hit HBO and Showtime series she has appeared on this year as well as her recent multi-episode stint on NBC's THE OFFICE, Purl sheds some light on her long and rich career and also shares stories from the sets of some of her most famous forays - HAPPY DAYS, VISITING HOURS and more included. Additionally, we shed some light on her upcoming two-night-stand at Feinstein's At Loews Regency, MIDNIGHT CARAVAN… TRAVELS THROUGH THE GREAT NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS, with special guest Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she sets the stage for what we can expect from the noir-inspired cabaret piece featuring songs of the 1940s and 50s. Furthermore, Purl opens up about her theatrical roots - starring in plays and musicals like OLIVER, THE KING & I and THE MIRACLE WORKER growing up overseas, as well as observing no less than Tennessee Williams, a friend of her parents, as he oversaw a Tokyo production of IN THE BAR OF A TOKYO HOTEL and resided with the clan; and, later starring on Broadway in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER,GETTING AND SPENDING and in regional revivals, such as six seasons at Williamstown and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at LA's Rubicon. Additionally, she gives insight into many notable friends and collaborators - Edith Head, Angela Lansbury, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Laurence Olivier, Kim Hunter, Robby Benson and others. Plus, first news on the forthcoming studio album of MIDNIGHT CARAVAN - and much, much more!

Today we are talking to a busy and very recognizable actress who has appeared in over 100 TV and film properties since her debut in the 1970s and just this year played arcs on both the freshly-minted 2012 Emmy-winning Best Drama HOMELAND, as well as HBO's hit nighttime vampire series TRUE BLOOD - the accomplished and arresting Linda Purl. Discussing her roles on the hit HBO and Showtime series she has appeared on this year as well as her recent multi-episode stint on NBC's THE OFFICE, Purl sheds some light on her long and rich career and also shares stories from the sets of some of her most famous forays - HAPPY DAYS, VISITING HOURS and more included. Additionally, we shed some light on her upcoming two-night-stand at Feinstein's At Loews Regency, MIDNIGHT CARAVAN… TRAVELS THROUGH THE GREAT NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS, with special guest Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she sets the stage for what we can expect from the noir-inspired cabaret piece featuring songs of the 1940s and 50s. Furthermore, Purl opens up about her theatrical roots - starring in plays and musicals like OLIVER, THE KING & I and THE MIRACLE WORKER growing up overseas, as well as observing no less than Tennessee Williams, a friend of her parents, as he oversaw a Tokyo production of IN THE BAR OF A TOKYO HOTEL and resided with the clan; and, later starring on Broadway in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER,GETTING AND SPENDING and in regional revivals, such as six seasons at Williamstown and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at LA's Rubicon. Additionally, she gives insight into many notable friends and collaborators - Edith Head, Angela Lansbury, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Laurence Olivier, Kim Hunter, Robby Benson and others. Plus, first news on the forthcoming studio album of MIDNIGHT CARAVAN - and much, much more!