Martha Swope News

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of Alan Weeks, who took over for Andre De Shields in Broadway's AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' as part of a lengthy career on the New York stage.

BroadwayWorld.com continues our exclusive content series, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which delves into the library's unparalleled archives, and resources. Below, check out a piece by Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Ph. D., Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Curator of Exhibitions at the Shelby Cullom Davis Museum for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on head shots!

Almost as long as there has been photography, performers have used portraits to represent themselves for casting and promotion. In the new exhibition Head Shots: Performer Portraits from Daguerreotype to Digital, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center in Lincoln Center showcases its vast collection of head shots to illustrate the photos' role in the casting and marketing process, as well as how these pictures evolved alongside modern technology. Head Shots is currently on display in The Library for the Performing Arts' Vincent Astor Gallery, Shelby Cullom Davis Museum through August 8, 2015. 

The Public Theater announced a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE tonight, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history.

The Public Theater announced a special 40th anniversary tribute to A CHORUS LINE on Thursday, April 16 in honor of the first performance of this legendary musical that premiered in The Public's Newman Theater 40 years ago and went on to make musical theater history.

This week it was announced that NBC would be following up its successful broadcasts of THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE! and PETER PAN LIVE! with an all-star new production of popular 1970s R&B musical THE WIZ and today we celebrate some of the most tantalizing aspects of the entertainment event. Given the fact that THE WIZ is based on one of the most cherished and timeless stories ever written, L. Frank Baum's THE WIZARD OF OZ, the potential for this new live presentation of THE WIZ to become a widely-viewed take on one of the most well-known tales of all time, poised to introduce a classic to a whole new generation, is doubly stacked.

Today we are turning back the clock to this very same week in 1987 when Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's INTO THE WOODS hit Broadway.

BroadwayWorld.com continues our exclusive content series, in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, which delves into the library's unparalleled archives, and resources. Below, check out a piece by Stephen Bowie (Digital Curatorial Assistant for The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts) on the Circle in the Square photo archives:

BroadwayWorld: When did you start working at Roundabout? Tiffany Nixon: I started working for Roundabout in December of 2008. They had just received funding to start the archives; I came on after they had gone through an initial assessment.

Veteran actor Jim Dale has a long history with Roundabout Theatre Company. Starting with one of Roundabout's earliest successes, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Jim Dale has performed in five Roundabout productions over the last 30 years. In his brand new solo show, Just Jim Daleunder the direction of Tony winner Richard Maltby, Jr. (Fosse, Ain't Misbehavin'), Dale shares his passion for the stage as he recounts a lifetime of irresistible showbiz tales. We look back at some of his great roles at Roundabout below.

Roundabout mourns the loss of our dear friend, Eli Wallach, who passed away on June 24th at the age of 98. Eli was known to many for his huge breadth of film work, taking on character roles of all kinds over the course of his 60-year career. He was deservedly awarded an honorary Oscar for those performances in 2010. But Eli's first love was the theatre, and he returned to it over and over again in the midst of his success on screen. He was an early favorite of playwright Tennessee Williams, appearing in the original productions of both The Rose Tattoo and Camino Real. Eli was frequently paired on stage with his wife, Anne Jackson. They would play together in everything from Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros to Jean Ahouilh's Waltz of the Toreadors, becoming a leading couple of the American theatre. We were lucky to have Eli join the Roundabout in 1992 with his performance in Arthur Miller's The Price at the Criterion Center on Broadway.

Internationally adored musical ANNIE is set to hit the silver screen in an all-new movie musical adaptation later this year, but one of the show's creators has utilized the BroadwayWorld message board to share some thoughts on the two distinctly different iterations of the stage sequel to the original musical via a fascinating new post.

A collection of rarely seen and absorbing photos depicting the original Broadway and first revival production of multi-Tony Award-winning modern musical masterpiece SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET are now available to view courtesy of the New York Public Library For The Performing Arts.

A fascinating and vivid collection of photos of the original production of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's reverse chronology musical MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG are now available to view courtesy of the New York Public Library For The Performing Arts.

Extensive window displays as well as a storewide presentation of Broadway memorabilia run through June 30th at thePaul Stuart flagship located at Madison Avenue at 45th Street. The exhibit features photography by Martha Swope(the celebrated chronicler of Broadway and only photographer to ever be presented a Tony Award), illustrations byKen Fallin (whose great caricatures of Broadway theatre regularly grace the pages of The Wall Street Journal), and both design sketches and a carefully curated selection of the costumes designed by 5 time Tony winner (and Chairman of the American Theatre Wing) William Ivey Long. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from of the displays below!

An in-store reception was hosted by Paul Stuart and The Wall Street Journal with special guest hosts two-time Grammy Award winner and a two-time Tony Award winner and 2006 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee, Patti Lupone and director and Tony Award-winning lyricist (for Hairspray) Scott Wittman. Entertainment throughout the evening was provided by the legendary Broadway orchestrator (and one of 12 people to have won all four major show business awards referred to as EGOT: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) Jonathan Tunick and his 'Broadway Moonlighters'. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from inside the special event below!

Patti LuPone-with all the sensitivity and fight she's famous for-steps back into the role that led to her Olivier Award (and being cast as the original Fantine in Les Miz) on Monday, May 19 in The Cradle Will Rock

For nearly four decades (1957-1994), Martha Swope was America's pre-eminent photographer of theater and dance, her discerning eye chronicling hundreds of classical ballets, modern dance, and Broadway performances and performers. But she also went behind-the-scenes, documenting what audiences never get to experience-the creative collaborations that make the magic on stage possible: rehearsals.

NYC-ARTS provides arts lovers in the tri-state area with an all-access pass to the New York City area's myriad cultural offerings: from music and dance concerts, to the theater, museums and galleries-from the classic to the contemporary. New York Emmy winners Philippe de Montebello and Paula Zahn co-host.