Michael Orland News

The Pasadena Playhouseand Lythgoe Family Productions, announced today that Curt Hansen (Broadway's Next to Normal and Hairspray) joins the cast as "Snow White's Prince" in A SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS. The production also features the previously announced Ariana Grande (Nickelodeon's "Victorious") as "Snow White," an on-screen appearance by Neil Patrick Harris as "The Magic Mirror" and Charlene Tilton ("Dallas") as "The Wicked Queen."

On Sun, Sept 16, 2012, Tony Award-nominated star of stage and screen Valarie Pettiford performed a rare, One Night Only, concert at The Renberg Theatre in Los Angeles.

Today, September 18, 2012, Pettiford will release her second solo album, "Velvet Sky", a collection of original lullabies. She brings a tenderness and wealth of emotion to the thirteen tracks on this new album, all of which were written especially for her by two legendary writing teams - Ron Abel (music)/Chuck Steffan (lyrics) and Michael Orland (music)/Jamie Wooten (lyrics). The songs range from playful numbers that are meant to inspire play between parents and their children, as well as softer tracks to lull babies (of all ages) to sleep.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center presents Valarie Pettiford (Tony-nominated star of Fosse, the feature film Jumping the Broom, ABC Family's Bunheads, HBO's Treme), who is releasing her second solo album, Velvet Sky, a collection of original lullabies this fall.To celebrate the release of her new album, Pettiford is performing a rare, one-night-only concert tonight, September 16, at the Center's beautiful Renberg Theatre. Her last solo concert in Los Angeles was in 2010.

On Saturday September 8, Kritzerland live performance concerts turned two years old and Bruce Kimmel celebrated the event with a potpourri of The Songs That Got Away at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, Kritzerland's newest monthly home base. Assisting Kimmel were regulars Dennis Kyle, Juliana Hansen, Jane Noseworthy, Lisa Livesay, joined this time by Kevin Symons, 13 year-old Jenna Rosen and sisters Sami and Sarah Staitman. There was not one guest star, not two, not three... but five, yes five and all exceptional talents: Back to the Future's favorite mom and TV's favorite Caroline in the City Lea Thompson, showboy Jason Graae and representing Ruthless, LA's 1993 runaway musical hit: Joan Ryan, Rita McKenzie and Lindsay Ridgeway.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Charles Dillingham, Interim Executive Director) and Lythgoe Family Productions, announced today casting and the creative team for A SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS, featuring Ariana Grande (Nickelodeon's "Victorious") as "Snow White," an on-screen appearance by Neil Patrick Harris as "The Magic Mirror" and Charlene Tilton ("Dallas") as "The Wicked Queen." This inaugural "Panto at The Playhouse" production of A SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS will be directed by Bonnie Lythgoe ("So You Think You Can Dance") with choreography by Spencer Liff (Emmy nominee "So You Think You Can Dance") and musical direction by Michael Orland ("American Idol"). Performances will begin December 13 through December 23, with a gala press opening night on Wednesday, December 12, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. at The Pasadena Playhouse.

On Sunday August 26, singer/actress Ilene Graff brought her heavenly show First You Dream to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal to a packed house of ardent fans and celebrated LA friends.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center presents Valarie Pettiford (Tony-nominated star of Fosse, the feature film Jumping the Broom, ABC Family's Bunheads, HBO's Treme), who is releasing her second solo album, Velvet Sky, a collection of original lullabies this fall.To celebrate the release of her new album, Pettiford is performing a rare, one-night-only concert on Sunday, September 16, at the Center's beautiful Renberg Theatre. Her last solo concert in Los Angeles was in 2010.

STATE OF THE ARTS (SOTA), the critically acclaimed weekly performing arts radio series which previously, since its May 31, 2010 premiere, aired live on Mondays from 4:00 - 4:50 pm PST on the LATalkRadio.com Network, is moving its weekly broadcast to Thursdays beginning today, July 19, 2012, it was previously announced by State of the Arts co-producer/co-hosts and theatre professionals MICHAEL STERLING & Paul Stroili.

STATE OF THE ARTS (SOTA), the critically acclaimed weekly performing arts radio series which previously, since its May 31, 2010 premiere, aired live on Mondays from 4:00 - 4:50 pm PST on the LATalkRadio.com Network, is moving its weekly broadcast to Thursdays beginning Thursday, July 19, 2012, it was announced today by State of the Arts co-producer/co-hosts and theatre professionals MICHAEL STERLING & PAUL STROILI. Guests on July 19 will include TV, Broadway star and Tony Award nominee CHRISTOPHER SIEBER (Shrek The Musical, and co-star with George Hamilton in the U.S. National Tour of La Cage Aux Folles; and Film and Television star ESAI MORALES (La Bamba, NYPD Blue, Caprica - Syfy TV's prequel to the series Battlestar Galactica).

On Tuesday, September 18, 2012, Pettiford will release her second solo album, "Velvet Sky", a collection of original lullabies. She brings a tenderness and wealth of emotion to the thirteen tracks on this new album, all of which were written especially for her by two legendary writing teams - Ron Abel (music)/Chuck Steffan (lyrics) and Michael Orland (music)/Jamie Wooten (lyrics). The songs range from playful numbers that are meant to inspire play between parents and their children, as well as softer tracks to lull babies (of all ages) to sleep.

Scott Alan's newest CD, which was recorded live in April at Birdland, has been released today, June 26 on a two-disc recording, which is simply titled 'Live.' The album can be purchased via iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon, Dress Circle and everywhere digital music is available.

Actor Valarie Pettiford, star of the hit sitcom Half & Half and last year's box office success Jumping the Broom, will star in the new film Battlefield America, which opens theatrically today, June 1, 2012, She will also take on a recurring guest starring role on HBO's Treme this fall. With the release of her second full-length album, a collection of original lullabies called "Velvet Sky" in September, Pettiford is turning the page and entering new chapter of her career.

On Monday, May 28, YouTube sensation, chanteuse and high-end vocal coach Miranda Sings made her tenth sold-out concert appearance as part of the Broadway at Birdland series. Seth Rudetsky acted as musical director/pianist, jazz violinist Aaron Weinstein got some brush-up suggestions from 'violimnist' Miranda, and Adam Pascal, currently starring on Broadway in Memphis, subjected himself to the diva's sensitive and pitch-perfect critiques. As always, the show was filled with improvisation, a few hit songs, magic tricks, and dramatic readings of the lady's own hate mail. The wacked-out superstar (in reality, California native Colleen Ballinger) continues to perform her one-woman show in sold-out nightclubs and theaters in New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Dublin, and Sydney.

Cover art has been released for Scott Alan's newest CD, which was recorded live in April at Birdland. The two-disc recording, which is simply titled 'Live,' will be released physically and digitally June 26 via iTunes, CDbaby, Amazon, Dress Circle and everywhere digital music is available.

The Broadway Theatre Project (BTP) based in Tampa, FL has announced that American Idol's Musical Director Michael Orland, together with Idol's Vocal Coach Peisha McPhee, will bring their acclaimed workshop 'Find Your Unique Voice' to BTP this summer.

Broadway Theatre Project (BTP), which has spent the past two decades helping thousands of young, aspiring actors, singers and dancers to realize their potential in the performing arts, gets a taste of another vehicle with a similar purpose, FOX's American Idol, when the television series' Associate Musical Director, Michael Orland, and Vocal Coach, Peisha McPhee, visit the Tampa-based summer musical theatre intensive this summer.

Jim Caruso's Cast Party is the extreme open mic that has been running at Birdland in New York City every single Monday night for the past nine years. Recently, host Caruso and musical director Billy Stritch have taken the Party on the road, celebrating musical talent in Chicago, Las Vegas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Orlando, Austin, Delray Beach, and even on the high seas! Last week, the dynamic duo made a return to Los Angeles, where some highly entertaining locals sang and cavorted for a jam-packed house of friends and fans at The Coterie in the Renaissance Hotel.

Michael Orland, composer, is set to be the 2012 guest artist at Ben Vereen's Broadway Theatre Project this summer.

NBC's "Smash" actors Christian Borle, Brian d'Arcy James and Jaime Cepero; "Smash" executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron; A Chorus Line's Baayork Lee, Bonnie and Clyde's Jeff Calhoun and Annie creators Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin were some of the celebrities who traveled to Atlanta to applaud the 3,000+ students and teachers representing 65 schools in 19 states staging musical theater productions in their communities at the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, January 13 - 15, 2012 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. Presented by New York's iTheatrics and Atlanta's Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI), Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the world's largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary, middle and high school students.