Marilyn Monroe News

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, August 2 - 5, 2012.

Opera Company of Middlebury, which has gained a reputation for staging opera's rarely produced masterworks, brings fourteen professional singers to the area this month to present Massenet's sublime THAÏS. The piece, which includes the famous violin solo "Mediation," will be given five performances from June 8-16 at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater.

Masterworks Broadway will release the Encores! cast recording of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The album will be recorded in New York City this week, and will feature "A Little Girl From Little Rock," "Bye Bye Baby," and of course, the classic made famous by Marilyn Monroe, "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend."

A new book, "MARILYN MONROE: MY LITTLE SECRET" by Tony Jerris, explores Marilyn Monroe's relationship with her fan club president.

Caribaya Rum is holding the Golden Anniversary celebration in which they are searching for the perfect Marilyn Monroe look-alike. The winning Marilyn will be displayed in their ad campaign in the fall and will be put on thousands of New York City MTA buses. There will be a press conference tomorrow, May 19, 2012 at 12:00 p.m., surrounded by Marilyn Monroes at 421 Seventh Avenue, cor. 33rd Street, Suite 901 in Manhattan. After the announcement, they will be strutting their stuff across Seventh Avenue in front of Madison Square Garden.

The words we've all been breathlessly waiting to hear - "You're going on as Marilyn tonight," - were finally uttered by the director of the show-within-the-show, Derek (Jack Davenport), on SMASH's "Bombshell" season finale last night: Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee) nabbed the coveted role. Despite seemingly all of the bets being placed early in the season against Karen by viewers and critics alike insofar as her likelihood in donning the peroxide wig and beautymark - she seemed a Norma Jean but rarely an expected choice for Marilyn; certainly no match in the classic idea of the screen siren as far as the vivacious and curvaceous Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) was concerned. While many were quick in giving Ivy Lynn the upper hand - or upper skirt, as the case may be - it was evident from the first moment of the series that Karen, the underdog, is who we were largely meant to be rooting for above all others; the naive Iowa girl singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on a stage of glitterring stars, so close and yet so far away. Ivy surely made a fast and furious impression soon thereafter with "The National Pastime" in SMASH's pilot, but Karen had already been quite clearly established as our most central protagonist - perhaps with Julia (Debra Messing) equally as prominent. As the fourteen subsequent episodes have progressed, SMASH has revealed itself to be a true ensemble piece with the emphasis on the collective journey of all of the characters and how that has had an effect on the burgeoning Broadway musical at the show's core, but Karen and Julia still have remained the two given the most screen-time and exposure. Megan Hilty has nonetheless emerged as a force to be reckoned with and her performance in the role is the finest of all on the series, outshining all in her songs and scenes. The various highways, byways and alleyways by which we have journeyed on the road of SMASH from the beginning to last night has unquestionably been leading to the BOMBSHELL first preview performances and the reveal of who would ultimately win the part of a lifetime in the show-within-the-show - and, on that count, the SMASH season finale bared all. And, as if all of that were not enough - cameos from Broadway heavyweights Bernadette Peters and Nick Jonas, too!

Estamos de enhorabuena. Al fin podemos disfrutar de Smash en nuestro país. El canal de pago AXN White sirve de plataforma para el lanzamiento español de la serie, estrenada en la NBC el pasado 6 de febrero con una audiencia superior a los 11 millones de espectadores en su primer capítulo. Se trata de una producción de DreamWorks Television (con el mismísimo Steven Spielberg al mando) creada por Theresa Rebeck y con canciones, especialmente compuestas para la ocasión por Marc Shaiman y Scott Whitman. A día de hoy, en que se emite el último capítulo de la primera temporada en Estados Unidos, sabemos que hay renovación para una segunda. Y si esto sigue así, podemos asegurar que tendremos Smash para rato.

Megan Hilty and Rachel York star in the Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, whick openedon May 9 at New York City Center. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is directed by John Rando with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Randy Skinner and will play for seven performances, May 9 - 13, at New York City Center, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

SMASH's Megan Hilty recently visited 'Last Call With Carson Daly' and discussed her role in SMASH, her Broadway debut in WICKED, and more.

Megan Hilty and Rachel York star in the Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, opening tonight, May 9 at New York City Center. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is directed by John Rando with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Randy Skinner and will play for seven performances, May 9 - 13, at New York City Center, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues. BroadwayWord brings you a first look at the production below!

The Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opens May 9 at New York City Center and we've got a first look at video highlights from the production!

The Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, opens tonight, May 9 at New York City Center. BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge visited the press rehearsal, where he chatted with stars Megan Hilty and Rachel York, director John Rando and more of the cast. View footage from the rehearsal and learn about how the actors and creative team became part of the Encores! production, their favorite numbers and more in the video below!

Queens Theatre, a home of world-class theatre, dance and cultural programming in the borough of Queens, presents its annual Gala tonight, May 9, 2012. The event-the organization's largest fundraiser of the year-celebrates the world premiere of Heat Wave: The Jack Cole Project, a new musical tribute to legendary Hollywood choreographer Jack Cole. Tickets are on sale at queenstheatre.org or by calling 718.760.0064.

On last night's episode of SMASH, viewers finally got their first look at 'Bombshell,' the Marilyn Monroe musical at the heart of NBC's new musical drama. The show opened for a test run in Boston. In the episode entitled 'Previews', the writing team of Tom (Christian Borle) and Julia (Debra Messing) scrambled to fix the show when the first preview fell short, and Frank (Brian d'Arcy James) had to adjust to the unwelcome return of Michael Swift (Will Chase) to his life. Dev (Raza Jaffrey) seeked reconciliation with Karen (Katharine McPhee), but explosive information about Ivy (Megan Hilty) lurked just beneath the surface.

"It's always gorgeous when you sing," and so the same goes for NBC's musical drama series SMASH. This week's penultimate episode of the first season order of fifteen gave us a long-awaited real look at the actual production of the musical-within-the-show live onstage in the form of the first Boston preview in the out-of-town tryout of BOMBSHELL. Up until this point, we have only been provided with sporadic glimpses into the mind's eye of the director of the show as he stages and rehearses the various song sequences. With last night's "Previews" episode we got our third major iteration of "Let Me Be Your Star" - following the full-out song at the conclusion of the pilot episode and the subsequent ballad opening number version shown in Episode 2 - with Rebecca Duvall (guest star Uma Thurman) belting it out to mixed results. Mixed results is the kindest way to say that the volatile and kooky movie star character simply does not work in any way as Marilyn Monroe in the bio-musical about her life being created - not physically, tonally and certainly not musically. Croaking out the sumptuous and richly melodic Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman gems that have been specifically created for SMASH's BOMBSHELL - songs dutifully doled out in sparingly small doses of one or two each week - is near-sacrilege when one ponders the talent even on the very same stage; Ivy (Megan Hilty) or Karen (Katharine McPhee) could both kill the role, as wee have seen. So, who will ultimately make it to the stage that now, in the eleventh hour, the star of the show has walked? Of course, the sure-to-be action, drama and music-filled finale to Season One arrives next Monday at the same SMASH place and same SMASH channel - will the Marilyn musical be a bomb or a smash? Will the show even go on at all given the unforeseen obstacles? A lot remains to be answered, but the fever pitch fans and viewers have been yearning for has definitely entered, stage right. Next week we will see who truly sparkles, who really shines - and who ends up exploding.

The Lyric Theatre, a venue which shows both film and stage productions, has just announced its May season of films, foreign and American.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY will continue its Spring 2012 season with the debut of British West End TV and singing star, MELANIE STACE on June 3-4 and September 16-17.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: Tony nominees celebrate, Broadway sings Adele, the POPS turns 29, and so much more!