Palona Garcia-Lee News

Two illustrious alumnae who have made tremendous strides both behind the scenes and on the stage and screen will speak at the 56th commencement ceremonies of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), Chancellor Brian Cole has announced.

Yesterday, additional casting was announced for the highly anticipated film adaptation of West Side Story from director Steven Spielberg. Paloma Grace-Lee was cast as Graziella, the girlfriend of the Jets' member Riff, who will be played by Dear Evan Hansen's Mike Faist.

The new musical NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 just had a starry Broadway opening Monday night, at the Imperial Theatre. Featuring the Broadway debuts of 24 cast and creative team members, including Josh Groban as 'Pierre' and Denee Benton as 'Natasha,' the new musical is created by Dave Malloy (Ghost Quartet, Preludes) and directed by Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown, Artistic Director of The TEAM), also making their Broadway debuts. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the sacred Gypsy Robe ceremony and below, check out photos of recipient Katrina Yaukey with the company!

BroadwayWorld presents the latest installment of our latest weekly feature, 'At This Performance' highlighting the work of some of Broadway's hardest-working actors - understudies and standbys!

On Monday, Dec 15th 2014 over a 100 artists, musicians, educators, and entrepreneurs gathered in Harlem for Shaun Derik's annual Holiday Jazz and Toy Drive (Shaun Derik's GOOD Night). Shaun Derik is a nationally acclaimed youth empowerment speaker. His clients include the Ohio and Mississippi Departments of Education, National Police Activities League, Pride, FBLA and Big Brothers Big Sister of New York. Shaun Derik's GOOD parties feature live jazz musicians, Broadway performers, an in-house chef as guests come together to benefit a specific cause. This year's cause: Toys for Inner City Children. Scroll down for photos from the event!

PHANTOM Actress (and incidentally, the youngest cast member EVER with the show) Paloma Garcia Lee takes Broadway/L.A. on an exclusive tour of the backstage magic that is THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.