Marilyn Monroe News

A celebrated list of industry elite will gather to honor one of Hollywood's greatest cheerleaders - Dale Olson. The Actors Fund and The Hollywood Museum (formerly The Max Factor Museum), will host a memorial for one of the entertainment industry's greatest publicists and industry insiders, who passed in early August. A lobby exhibit will be designed to highlight the remarkable career of the man who many have referred to as the guardian of the Golden Era of Hollywood.

BLOOD BROTHERS makes a welcome return to Birmingham Hippodrome this autumn from Monday 22 October - Saturday 3 November 2012.

Winning the prestigious Woodward/Newman Award for best play, while being developed at Rogue Machine for their 2012 season, brought with it a fully funded production mounted at the Bloomington Play Project in Indiana. It turned out to be one of their most successful projects to date. A Holland New Voices Award came shortly afterwards, and now playwright Henry Murray is ready for its close-up at Rogue Machine, known for staging new works. This will be a West Coast Premiere in one of the country's most vibrant cities for new plays, Los Angeles, opening September 15, 2012.

Despite being completely busy preparing for the concert staging of A TOUCH OF VENUS, Paul Hope, Artistic Director and Founder of Bayou City Concert Musicals, took a break from his busy schedule to talk to me about his innovative and charitable organization. Since it's inception, Bayou City Concert Musicals has been providing Houston audiences with well-produced and lauded performances of often-neglected musicals. Continuing to grow an ever-increasing loyal audience and fan following, I asked Paul Hope to tell me more about Bayou City Concert Musicals and the shows they choose to produce.

Apparently, it is Elvis Week in Nashville (at least according to the fine folks at Loveless Cafe), so before we head out to the theater for a full weekend of show openings and the like, a trip to West Nashville for a slice of the Loveless' Elvis pie is in order (for the uninitiated, that's peanut butter, banana, bacon and homemade whipped cream-the four basic food groups, according to The King.), so before we slip into a diabetic coma, here's installment #7 of Music City Confidential, all the news that's fit to print from onstage, offstage, backstage and beyond…

Dale Olson, One of the entertainment industry's greatest Publicists passed away this morning, August 9, 2012, at the Burbank Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center after a long battle with cancer. He was 78.

The West End production of Blood Brothers, which has been running at the Phoenix Theatre for almost 24 years will close on October 27. The show will have played over 10,000 upon its closing night.

An uncanny incarnation! A perfect replica! Such have been the reviews worldwide for Sunny Thompson in her remarkable performance as Marilyn Monroe in Greg Thompson's Marilyn Forever Blonde, which played the El Portal Mainstage last weekend to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death. The play has gone cross country, even to London, to great acclaim and awards. Thompson has been unanimously praised for her razor sharp recreation. Not only does she look, walk, talk and sing - a better singer than MM - like Marilyn, but she somehow manages to inhabit her thoroughly and channel her emotional fragility to the letter.

Looking for a good time? For $12? Try a Cuban sandwich. I AM A CUBAN SANDWICH, starring Richard DiPietra plays Chenango River Theatre tonight, Aug. 6, 2012, for one night only.

PBS presents a special encore of the award-winning 2006 documentary American Masters Marilyn Monroe: Still Life tonight, August 5 from 8-9 p.m, nationwide on PBS and in the New York metro area on THIRTEEN to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death (8/5/62). Get preview of the documentary, including stories behind images of Monroe in the nude, Monroe's blowing white halter dress in The Seven Year Itch subway grate scene, and Monroe's relationship with Arthur Miller, in the videos below!

Following two successful Off-Off Broadway runs this past year (2011), SIREN'S HEART - Norma Jean & Marilyn in Purgatory ~ Norma Jean Sings Songs Marilyn Never Sang, will begin performances today, August 5th at 2pm at Actors Temple Theatre. The producer, ASCOLS, LLC, have set the opening for 7pm, August 5th (that same night), 50 years to the day, that Marilyn Monroe died.

Les Michaels Sundays In Summer at the Arthur Newman Theater in Palm Desert will present the multitalented impressionist Bethany Owen direct from the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.

PBS presents a special encore of the award-winning 2006 documentary American Masters Marilyn Monroe: Still Life this Sunday, August 5 from 8-9 p.m, nationwide on PBS and in the New York metro area on THIRTEEN to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Monroe's death (8/5/62). Get preview of the documentary, including stories behind images of Monroe in the nude, Monroe's blowing white halter dress in The Seven Year Itch subway grate scene, and Monroe's relationship with Arthur Miller, in the videos below!

Cinema at the Square returns to PlayhouseSquare for its fifteenth year of bringing classic films back to the BIG screen in Cleveland August 2-19.

Celebrated actor and playwright, Andrew Rothkin, joins the cast as John F. Kennedy and independent film actor, Joseph Conway, will appear as Tyrone Power. Returning from the original cast are Gloria Jung, Eric Kuzmuth, Martha Ghio, Michael Curcio, Bob Cencioni, Danny McDermott and Holly Elizabeth O'Brien as Norma Jeane.

In conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of Marilyn Monroe's untimely death in August of 1962, the Forum Theatre at the El Portal Theatre Complex will be renamed THE MONROE/FORUM THEATRE. The ribbon cutting and renaming of the theatre is scheduled for 6 pm Saturday, August 4th in the lobbies of the El Portal. The theatre is also honoring this famous movie icon with the internationally acclaimed stage production of Marilyn: Forever Blonde starring Sunny Thompson at the El Portal Mainstage, tonight, August 2 - August 5, 2012.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY will continue its Summer 2012 season with the return of jazz vocalist REBECCA KILGORE in her new show "The Jazzy Side of Judy Garland."