Martha Raye News

In this week's edition, we caught up with Eddie Korbich, who is starring as 'Santa' in A CHRISTMAS STORY- currently playing at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

Today we are thrilled to be talking to a nine-time Tony Award-winning performer/director/choreographer all about his illustrious career onstage and behind the scenes working on classic musicals such as THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS, NINE, GRAND HOTEL, THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and many more as well as all about his new solo piece premiering at Feinstein's At Loews Regency this weekend - the one and only Tommy Tune. Taking a look back at his near-peerless legacy as the top director of the 1980s and 1990s on Broadway, Tune imparts his candid insights about show business and reflects upon many aspects of the aforementioned hit shows - from their inception and creation to their critical and public reception and their ultimate legacy - as well as shares stories about his time as a performer, both then and now, with the star-studded tales cumulatively involving such legendary luminaries as Gene Kelly, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bennett, Hal Prince, Maury Yeston, Ken Russell, Jane Krakowski, Sutton Foster and many more. Plus, Tune gives us an enticing glimpse of his new Feintein's At The Regency showcase, TAPS, TUNES AND TALL TALES, playing November 18-26, and casts his sights on the future, near and far, and discusses the types of projects he would like to tackle next - including, first up, finding the perfect NYC location for his environmental new theatre piece, 54. All of that, tons of taps, top hats and tails and much, much more!

Comedian and Broadway veteran Phyllis Diller passed away on August 20th in her Los Angeles home. She was 95 years old. BroadwayWorld remembers Diller's long and exceptional career with the photo collection below.

According to published reports, comedian and Broadway veteran Phyllis Diller passed away this morning in her Los Angeles home. She was 95 years old.

Supported by a superb 10-piece orchestra (including six horn players), Catherine Russell's set at the Allen Room for Jazz at Lincoln Center was a tribute to songs her dad Luis recorded or performed with the great Louis Armstrong from the late 1920s through the 1930s. By the end of her show, Russell had clearly proven that she has become one of the finest interpreters of jazz and blues on the contemporary music scene.

Actress/singer/comedienne Kaye Ballard remains one of the great living legends of stage, screen and television. She did comedy and sang with bandleader Spike Jones. She was the costar of TV's The Mothers-In-Law and The Doris Day Show, and the very funny film The Ritz among many others and too many Broadway musicals and road shows to mention. This lady brings mirth and goodwill wherever she appears. Animals are close to her heart, so it is no wonder that she, Lee Roy Reams and Liliane Montevecchi are mounting Doin' It For Love, for two nights only at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre March 9 and 10 to benefit PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). In our chat she talks about PETA, her love of animals and offers choice bits about her accomplishments and costars.

The Little Theatre of Fall River, Inc., will present one of America's perennially favorite musicals, Hello Dolly!, for its final main stage subscription offering. All performances will be in the Margaret L. Jackson Arts Center at Bristol Community College on Elsbree Street in Fall River, Mass.

The Little Theatre of Fall River, Inc., will present one of America's perennially favorite musicals, Hello Dolly!, for its final main stage subscription offering. All performances will be in the Margaret L. Jackson Arts Center at Bristol Community College on Elsbree Street in Fall River, Mass.

The Little Theatre of Fall River, Inc., will present one of America's perennially favorite musicals, Hello Dolly!, for its final main stage subscription offering. All performances will be in the Margaret L. Jackson Arts Center at Bristol Community College on Elsbree Street in Fall River, Mass.

The Little Theatre of Fall River, Inc., will present one of America's perennially favorite musicals, Hello Dolly!, for its final main stage subscription offering. All performances will be in the Margaret L. Jackson Arts Center at Bristol Community College on Elsbree Street in Fall River, Mass.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM), television's foremost authority and showplace for classic film, is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year by sharing a passion for cinema with the network's devoted fans.

The 5th Avenue presents the classic American Musical Hello Dolly!, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart, from the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder. Set in New York in the 1890s, the show tells the story of the irrepressible Dolly Levi, matchmaker and social phenomenon, who is employed by grumpy small-town merchant Horace Vandergelder to find him a wife. But instead of helping Horace, the formidable widow assists his two hapless clerks Barnaby and Cornelius to find love and adventure in New York, while setting her sights on Vandergelder herself! Brimming with exuberant songs like ?Put On Your Sunday Clothes,? ?Before the Parade Passes By,? ?It Only Takes a Moment,? and of course the title song, Hello Dolly! celebrates the exuberant philosophies of seizing the moment and spreading one?s wealth around.

Moving on from a third summer of sold-out performances highlighted by such LA-based artists as Popera singing star Jamie Angelise; Nightclub, recording and television stars Craig Heath and Jeanne Page; the irresistible Broadway star and film star Marion Ramsey (from the hilarious Police Academy series 1 - 6); Disney's Danyelle Bossardet (Beauty and the Beast); and the revered musical comedy duo of BaulPointPen (Paul Peglar and Ben McLain); Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, CA ushers in October and November with seven sensational leading men.

The Tony nominated actress and singer Sharon McNight is poised to unleash a star-shower of erudite show business fun in her new one-woman show 'Gone, But Not Forgotten.' The New York premiere of 'Gone, But Not Forgotten' plays two only, Friday and Saturday April 25 and 26 (both at 10pm), at The Metropolitan Room, marking the much-anticipated return to New York of the West Coast-based McNight.

In tribute to a dear friend who passed away on February 13th, we're rebroadcasting a podcast interview with Lou DeGrado conducted in February of 2006 as he was about to receive his star on the Palm Springs Walk Of Fame.

In the latest mounting of 'Hello, Dolly!' produced by Theatre at the Center, Chicago's beloved Paula Scrofano once again sinks her teeth into the role.

Michael Sterling, Producer of Sterling's Upstairs located at the legendary Vitello's restaurant located in Studio City, has announced Tricia Ridgway, Allison Jones, 4 Friends, Stewart Rose, Three of a Kind and Mary Susan Reed as his July, 2007 roster of headliners.

Ruth Webb, legendary theatrical talent agent, passed away on December 4, 2006

Tom Dillon, longtime President of the entertainment industry charity The Actors' Fund of America and a veteran performer in all venues of show business, succumbed, Monday, March 14, 2005 of natural causes at The Actors' Fund Homes in Englewood, New Jersey. He was 86 years old and had been living at the facility for several weeks, surrounded by show business colleagues he had worked with and served.