Michael Jackson News

Last night, August 26, for one night only, Rex Smith brought his one-man show, 'Confessions of a Teen Idol' to 54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club. Among the friends on hand to cheer Smith on were Oscar and Tony Award winner Kevin Kline (Smith's co-star in The Pirates of Penzance), Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers (Smith's co-star in Grease!), and CNBC commentator Stephen Weiss.

Producers Kevin McCollum, Doug Morris and Berry Gordy, and Des Moines Performing Arts, have announced that MOTOWN THE MUSICAL will play at the Des Moines Civic Center, Tuesday, Dec. 2 through Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014. MOTOWN THE MUSICAL is part of the 2014-2015 Willis Broadway Series.

Scott Carter has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Marketing, Epic Records; it was announced today by Antonio 'L.A.' Reid, Chairman/CEO, Epic Records.

Steve Silver's Beach Blanket Babylon producer Jo Schuman Silver announced today that tickets for the show's Holiday Extravaganza will go on sale Monday, September 8, at 10 a.m. Beach Blanket Babylon welcomes the season with special performances beginning Wednesday, November 19, 2014 and continues through New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31st. Packed with hilarious spoofs of pop culture & political characters, the annual tradition also features a chorus line of tap dancing Christmas trees, special parodies of traditional Christmas carols and the gigantic Yuletide hat. Tickets for these special performances range in price from $25 - $160 and are available online at beachblanketbabylon.com, by phone at 415-421-4222, or at the Beach Blanket Babylon Box Office (678 Green Street, San Francisco).

Group sales preorder information is now available for the summer 2016 Broadway return engagement of Motown the Musical, which will continue at The Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) on Broadway through January 18, 2015.

So how did a crazy Teen Idol rocker end up a respected entertainer on television and Broadway? Every song has a story. Like a rock and roll Mark Twain, Rex Smith takes you on a wild and fascinating, sometimes dramatic, yet very hilarious, musical story-telling journey at 54 Below (August 26).

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

After an epic VMA performance, Beyonce kept it short and very sweet as her husband, Jay Z, and daughter, Blue Ivy, presented her with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

At the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyonce took home the prestigious Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. To mark the occassion, Queen B peformed a super-medley of some of her recent hits, but in the process, used the opportunity to hit back at the recent rumors about her marriage with Jay Z.

The 2014 MTV Video Music Awards will be broadcast live from the Los Angeles Forum tonight. The Red Carpet Preshow begins at 8:00pm ET on MTV, with the official ceremony kicking off at 9:00pm.

The unofficial end of summer is here, as MTV brings its annual Video Music Awards back to Los Angeles after taking the show on the road to Brooklyn's Barclays Center a year ago. Though every VMA ceremony has a level of unpredictability, with last year's Miley Cyrus-Robin Thicke performance still disturbingly fresh in many people's minds, the question is, can anybody top it? The rumor is that Beyoncé is going to be addressing rumors about her marriage during her Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award performance. Is this going to be a good thing, or a bad thing for Jovah?

Hodges & Hodges grooved their way down to the Orpheum Theatre to dance the night away at MOTOWN the Musical! The hit record company defined the sound of the sixties and seventies, breaking down racial barriers with a signature soul/pop sound that cut across the black/white divide at a time when segregation was still the law of the land. Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and the Temptations were just a few of the artists that made up the hit parade at Motown.

The Celebrity Benefit Concert and Pageant, the most entertaining and star-studded night of the summer art season, will be held at the Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach tonight, August 23rd. This red carpet one-night affair will offer guests an evening of music and a special performance of this summer's popular Pageant of the Masters, titled 'The Art Detective.'

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents An Evening with Chester Gregory.

MTV previously announced that rising country singer and actress Lucy Hale will host the hour-long 2014 'MTV VMA Red Carpet' pre-show LIVE alongside MTV's own Sway and Christina Garibaldi tonight, August 24 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT outside of The Forum in Inglewood, CA and leading into the VMAs live at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT.

MTV, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIAB, VIA), announced today that the 2014 'Video Music Awards,' the loudest and at times, the most controversial, annual live celebration of music, is set to make its triumphant return to the west coast when it airs LIVE from the Forum, presented by Chase, in Inglewood, CA tonight, August 24th.

In a new video from USA Today Broadway baby and pop music megastar Ariana Grande talks about the changes in her newest album. She says the new singles have a more mature sound than her previous hits. She also talks about the incredible year she has had which took her from VMA preshow to opening act. Finally, she discusses her pride in the way her brother Frankie J. Grande has handled himself on the CBS reality show 'Big Brother.'

MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, the hit musical featuring the music of the legendary Motown catalogue and a book by Berry Gordy, will play its final performance at Broadway's Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) on January 18, 2015.

PIX 11 News anchor Tamsen Fadal recently went 'Backstage on Broadway' at Motown the Musical. Stars Josh Tower, Charl Brown, Bryan Terrell Clark, Raymond Luke Jr., and Nathaniel Cullors were on hand to show her behind the scenes at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, while Music Director Joseph Joubert and Hair Department Supervisor Heather Wright revealed some of the details that take audiences back to the Motor City eight times a week. Click below to go backstage with the cast and creative team!

A great, big Broadway season is on its way, with fourteen productions already slated to open in the next few months. With weeks until the craziness begins, there is still plenty of time to catch up on what's been going on at Broadway's already occupied theaters. BroadwayWorld will be profiling the hits of the Great White Way that continue to draw crowds after months, years, and (in some cases) decades. Meet the current cast of Broadway's MOTOWN below!