Richard Rodgers News

42nd Street Moon kicks off its 22nd season with the rare Richard Rodgers-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents collaboration Do I Hear A Waltz?, starring Broadway's Tony nominee Emily Skinner (Side Show, The Full Monty, Billy Elliot). Based on Arthur Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which inspired the Katharine Hepburn movie Summertime, the wistful story follows a lonely American tourist as she finds romance under the enchantment of mid-1960s Venice.

Starting on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 10pm, WQXR will launch 'Michael Feinstein's American Pops,' a new series of one-hour shows that explores a chapter of twentieth-century music that is popular for seasonal concerts, but not conventionally considered part of the classical cannon.

The National Alliance For Musical Theatre (NAMT) announced today its selections for the 26th Annual Festival of New Musicals. Beautiful Poison, Cubamor, Great Wall, How To Break, Mary Marie, The Noteworthy Life of Howard Barnes, String and Stu For Silverton make up the eight new musicals that will be presented at the 26th Annual Festival of New Musicals on Thursday, October 23, 2014 and Friday, October 24, 2014 at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street).

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. It's the TOP TEN HOT TOPIX for the first half of 2014! Did your favorites make the list?

Today we are talking to a remarkably accomplished writer and director who has amassed numerous top entertainment trophies over the course of his long and distinguished career, including multiple Emmy Awards, Tony Awards and even a Grammy - the uniquely talented Martin Charnin. Sharing his thoughts on the forthcoming big screen adaptation of his hit musical property ANNIE as well as previewing what we can expect from the forthcoming 2014-2015 national tour, Charnin also reflects on the original production of the classic Depression-era musical and analyzes why it remains a continual cultural touchstone for generations new and old while also looking ahead to a potential Broadway production of the sequel, written with original composer Charles Strouse, ANNIE WARBUCKS. Also, Charnin touches upon his time as a member of the original cast of iconic musical WEST SIDE STORY and recounts working alongside legends such as Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents and more. Additionally, Charnin sheds some light on his illustrious string of collaborations with recently deceased composer Mary Rodgers Guettel, ranging from more than 50 songs written as a team to a string of special TV musicals as well as working together on the stage musicals HOT SPOT and THE MADWOMAN OF CENTRAL PARK WEST. Besides of all of that, Charnin also looks back to his heyday as a TV variety special helmer, having created award-winning tributes to a slew of Broadway's best composers and lyricists including George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Cole Porter and many more. Plus, Charnin shares his thoughts on GLEE, how show business has changed, the possible future life for TWO BY TWO and much, much more in this wide-ranging chat with a major Broadway notable.

Steven Carl McCasland, Artistic Director of Beautiful Soup Theater, goes solo at The Metropolitan Room. Wit songs and stories, Steven brings his one-man romp, Mother Wanted Me To Come Out In A Kimono, to the famed New York venue.

As BroadwayWorld just reported, Lincoln Center Theater has announced that Kelli O'Hara will play Anna Leonowens, and Ken Watanabe will play the King of Siam, in its new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The production, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin performances Thursday, March 12, 2015, and open on Thursday, April 16, 2015, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street). Broadway audiences are already very familiar with the five-time Tony nominee O'Hara, but Watanabe will make his American stage debut in the production. His Japanese theatre credits include Dialogue with Horowitz, Hamlet, Shitayamannen-cho monogatari, The Lion in Winter and The Royal Hunt of the Sun.

Lincoln Center Theater has announced that Kelli O'Hara will play Anna Leonowens, and Ken Watanabe will play the King of Siam, in its new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon. The production, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin performances Thursday, March 12, 2015, and open on Thursday, April 16, 2015, at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

The Tony Award winning musical Rodgers + Hammerstein's CINDERELLA today welcomes Tony Award nominee Nancy Opel to the cast. Opel will play Cinderella's wicked Stepmother, Madame on Broadway, following Fran Drescher's 5-month limited engagement, which concluded yesterday, June 29.

While Rent is an explosion of youthful feelings of invincibility, tick, tick… BOOM! is a more introspective work and one of the best musicals to premiere in New York in this century.

Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey collaborated together for a second Broadway musical, IF/THEN. After making a splash with NEXT TO NORMAL, anticipation for IF/THEN was high. Once stars like Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, and LaChanze were attached, theatergoers saw a hit beginning to blossom. The reviews of its opening night on Broadway were mixed, and listening to the Original Broadway Cast Album illuminates why.

The Broadway community mourns the loss of accomplished author, screenwriter and composer, Mary Rodgers Guettel, who passed away on Thursday at age 83. The marquees of Broadway theatres in New York will be dimmed in her memory Saturday, June 28th, at exactly 7:45pm for one minute.

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week or you're just in the mood for a recap, BroadwayWorld's 'this week in pictures' is here to satisfy your end-of-the-week fix! Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to The West End (and everywhere in between) with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more. Highlights this week include the opening night of TICK, TICK...BOOM!, the racy opening number from BROADWAY BARES, the Gypsy Robe ceremony of HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, and more!

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 6/27/2014.

As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, Mary Rodgers Guettel died at her home in Manhattan yesterday morning after a long illness, according to her son Alec Guettel. She was 83 years old. We remember the Broadway legend below.

Today we are saluting a versatile and unique figure in theatre history who grew up as the daughter of one of the most important composers in musical theatre and contributed recognizable and fondly remembered works of her own, as well - Mary Rodgers Guettel.

Mary Rodgers Guettel died at her home in Manhattan this morning after a long illness, according to her son Alec Guettel. She was 83 years old.

Idina Menzel, LaChanze, Jenn Colella and the company of Broadway's If/Then just celebrated a special milestone at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. The company gathered backstage and marked the musical's 100th performance with cake, and BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities. Check out photos below!

Today in 1976, the second Broadway revival of Pal Joey opened at the Circle in the SquareTheatre, where it ran for 73 performances. Pal Joey is a musical with a book by John O'Hara (from his novel of the same title) and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker. The original 1940 Broadway production was directed by George Abbott and starred Gene Kelly. There have been several revivals since, including a 2008-09 Broadway run, and a 1957 film adaptation starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak. The 1976 cast featured: Christopher Chadman (Joey), Harold Gary (Mike), Terri Treas (Kid), Janie Sell (Gladys), and Gail Benedict (Gail).

Today in 1986, Arsenic and Old Lace opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rogers Theatre) where it ran for 221 performances. Arsenic and Old Lace is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring, written in 1939. It has become best known through the film adaptation starring Cary Grant and directed by Frank Capra. The play is a farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and local police in Brooklyn, NY, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves.