Richard Rodgers News

Today in 2002, Oklahoma! opened at the Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for 388 performances. Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943. The 2002 revival featured Josefina Gabrielle as Laurey, Shuler Hensley as Jud, Patrick Wilson as Curly and Andrea Martin as Aunt Eller.

Producers of The Gershwins' PORGY AND BESS have just announced plans for a national tour of the critically-acclaimed Broadway revival, set to launch in the Fall of 2013.

BASE Entertainment has just announced that DINER, a new musical based on the critically acclaimed 1982 film with a book by Academy Award winner and original DINER screenwriter Barry Levinson and music & lyrics by 9-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow, will have its pre-Broadway world premiere at San Francisco's SHN Curran Theatre (445 Geary Street). Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall, DINER will play a strictly limited four week engagement from Tuesday, October 23, 2012, through Sunday, November 18, 2012, with an opening night of Friday, November 2, 2012. Due to these confirmed San Francisco dates DINER will now bow on Broadway in the spring of 2013, instead of the fall of 2012 as previously announced. Design team and casting will be announced at a later date.

Griffin Matthews, who was seen on the short lived ABC comedy "Cashmere Mafia" has been cast in a new NBC comedy pilot 'The Untitled Hilary Winston Project.' Matthews will co-star as V.J.

David Eisner and Avery Saltzman, Co-Artistic Directors of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company (HGJTC), present Neil Simon's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play LOST IN YONKERS starring Marion Ross ('Happy Days'), at the Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, from May 12 - June 10, 2012.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 18, 2012 - Sunday, March 18, 2012.

Carolyn Griffin has announced that MetroStage will be presenting the premiere of a new musical, Josephine Tonight, with book and lyrics by Sherman Yellen, and music by Wally Harper, through Mar. 18, 2012.

Portland Ovations brings NETworks Presentations new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical SOUTH PACIFIC, to Merrill Auditorium through March 18th for its' Portland, Maine debut.

Portland Ovations brings NETworks Presentations new production of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein's Pulitzer Prize-winning musical SOUTH PACIFIC, to Merrill Auditorium on March 17th and 18th for its' Portland, Maine debut.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 3/16/2012.

Today in 1965, Do I hear a Waltz? opened at the 46th St. Thetare (Now the Richard Rodgers Theatre), where it ran for 220 performances. Do I Hear a Waltz? is a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. It was adapted from Laurents' 1952 play The Time of the Cuckoo, which was the basis for the 1955 film Summertime starring Katharine Hepburn. The Broadway cast included Elizabeth Allen, Sergio Franchi, Carol Bruce, Madeleine Sherwood, Julienne Marie, Stuart Damon, Fleury D'Antonakis, and Jack Manning. It was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Scenic Design, but lost in all three categories.

Today in 1969, 1776 opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rogers Theatre), where it ran for 1217 performances. 1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It focuses on, and partly fictionalizes, the efforts of John Adams to persuade his colleagues to vote for American independence and to sign the document. The production was nominated for five Tony Awards and won three, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical was made into a film of the same name in 1972 and was revived on Broadway in 1997.

Rebecca Faulkenberry, the star of Broadway's Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark, will be the Special Musical Guest of Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony-winning orchestrator Jonathan Tunick in his Birdland concert this coming Monday, March 19 at 7pm.

The new Broadway musical, COME FLY AWAY, conceived, choreographed, and directed by Tony® Award-winner Twyla Tharp and by special arrangement with the Frank Sinatra Family and Frank Sinatra Enterprises, will perform at the Hobby Center for one week only, April 10-15.

Recently, noted DREAMGIRLS composer Henry Krieger was generous enough to take a comprehensive look back at his many accomplishments onstage and onscreen with me, turning back the pages of time and sharing memories of DREAMGIRLS, both on Broadway and in Hollywood, THE TAP DANCE KID, SIDE SHOW, KEPT, ROMANTIC POETRY and beyond, as well as discuss many aspects of his exciting new family-friendly musical opening next week at the New Victory Theater, LUCKY DUCK. Over the course of our compelling conversation, Krieger also revealed new details about the forthcoming 2014 production of SIDE SHOW, to be directed by DREAMGIRLS film director and TWILIGHT: BREAKING DAWN helmer Bill Condon - to premiere first at the La Jolla Playhouse and then at the Kennedy Center, as it makes its way towards Broadway - as well as first news on a musical collaboration with lyricist David Yazbek based on the life of television evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker set to star Tony and Emmy-winning Broadway and GLEE standout Kristin Chenoweth. DREAMGIRLS to LUCKY DUCK and much, much more awaits!

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 3/9/2012.

Pittsburgh CLO and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, in partnership with The ASCAP Foundation and Academy and Grammy Award -winning composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, have announced that SCARY MUSICAL has been selected for further development as part of the Pittsburgh CLO/Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama New Works Program. The program encourages the exploration and refinement of new works of the American musical theater.

The 5th annual Sheridan Morely Prize was presented today, March 8th, at the Garrick Club in London's Covent Garden to Stephen Sondheim for his book LOOK, I MADE A HAT., according to WhatsOnStage.com.