Rob Berman News

Last night, June 7, The American Theatre Wing brought together the best of Broadway for their Annual Spring Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. Celebrating the centennial of Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser, Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser featured performances by Harry Connick, Jr., Megan Mullally, Kelli O'Hara and more.

The American Theatre Wing will bring together the best of Broadway for their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street). Celebrating the centennial of Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser, Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser will feature performances by Harry Connick, Jr., Megan Mullally and Kelli O'Hara.

The American Theatre Wing will bring together the best of Broadway for their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street). Celebrating the centennial of Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser, Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser will feature performances by Harry Connick, Jr., Megan Mullally and Kelli O'Hara.

Christopher Fitzgerald is this year's recipient of the 2010 Drama Desk Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for FINIAN'S RAINBOW.

The American Theatre Wing will bring together the best of Broadway for their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street). Celebrating the centennial of Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser, Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser will feature performances by Harry Connick, Jr., Megan Mullally and Kelli O'Hara.

The American Theatre Wing will bring together the best of Broadway for their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street). Celebrating the centennial of Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser, Heart and Soul: The Legacy of Frank Loesser will feature performances by Harry Connick, Jr., Megan Mullally and Kelli O'Hara.

Broadway's Meredith Patterson has been asked to return to Birdland Jazz Club with her solo jazz show, 'Sweet Old Fashioned Girl,' Sunday May 16th at 6pm.

Broadway's Meredith Patterson has been asked to return to Birdland Jazz Club with her solo jazz show, 'Sweet Old Fashioned Girl,' Sunday May 16th at 6pm.

New York City Center's 2010-2011 Encores! season will open with the 1956 Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical Bells Are Ringing, November 18 - 21, 2010. The season will continue with Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's Lost in the Stars, February 3 - 6, 2011, followed by Frank Loesser's and George Abbott's Where's Charley?, March 17 - 20.

The American Theatre Wing has announced that their Annual Spring Gala, to be held on Monday, June 7, 2010 at Cipriani 42nd Street (110 East 42nd Street), will celebrate the centennial of Academy and Tony Award-winning composer Frank Loesser.

Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones, currently starring in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, led the all-star cast performing in Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration on April 26 at New York City Center. Like Lansbury and Zeta-Jones, all of the performers have either originated Sondheim characters or performed them in notable revivals. As a group, the gala's performers have appeared in more than 75 Sondheim shows. The gala, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, highlighted numbers from shows for which Sondheim has written both music and lyrics, and featured a full orchestra conducted by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. The benefit will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs. In addition, a portion of the evening's proceeds will go to Young Playwrights Inc, a charity of great importance to Sondheim.

Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones, currently starring in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, led the all-star cast performing in Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration on April 26 at New York City Center. Like Lansbury and Zeta-Jones, all of the performers have either originated Sondheim characters or performed them in notable revivals. As a group, the gala's performers have appeared in more than 75 Sondheim shows. The gala, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, highlighted numbers from shows for which Sondheim has written both music and lyrics, and featured a full orchestra conducted by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. The benefit will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs. In addition, a portion of the evening's proceeds will go to Young Playwrights Inc, a charity of great importance to Sondheim.

Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones, currently starring in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music, led the all-star cast performing in Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration on April 26 at New York City Center. Like Lansbury and Zeta-Jones, all of the performers have either originated Sondheim characters or performed them in notable revivals. As a group, the gala's performers have appeared in more than 75 Sondheim shows. The gala, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, highlighted numbers from shows for which Sondheim has written both music and lyrics, and featured a full orchestra conducted by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. The benefit will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs. In addition, a portion of the evening's proceeds will go to Young Playwrights Inc, a charity of great importance to Sondheim. BroadwayWorld brings you a sneak peek of the evening below. Stay tuned for complete coverage coming soon!

New York City Center will celebrate Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner Stephen Sondheim on the occasion of his 80th birthday on Monday, April 26 with a gala celebration featuring stars who have shone in Sondheim musicals including Michael Cerveris, Barbara Cook, Raúl Esparza, Victor Garber, Joanna Gleason, Angela Lansbury, Patti LuPone, Donna Murphy and Bernadette Peters. Directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle, the evening will highlight shows for which Mr. Sondheim has written both music and lyrics, and will feature a full orchestra conducted by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. The Benefit will help fund New York City Center's artistic and education programs. In addition, a portion of the evening's proceeds will go to Young Playwrights Inc, a charity of great importance to Mr. Sondheim.

Out of 230 contestants and 15 finalists - more participants than in any previous year - seven outstanding singer-actors rose to the top to win prizes in the 2010 Lotte Lenya Competition, held on April 17 at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Winners were selected by a team of distinguished musical theater experts: Broadway and opera stars Timothy Nolen and Lisa Vroman, and Rob Berman, Broadway and Encores! music director, who served as judges for the competition finals.

Timothy Nolen (Phantom, Cyrano), Lisa Vroman (Phantom, Les Misérables), and Rob Berman (Broadway, regional, and Encores! Music Director) have been named judges for the 2010 Lotte Lenya Competition, an annual international competition that recognizes talented young singer-actors, aged 19-32, who are dramatically and musically convincing in a wide range of repertoire.

ANYONE CAN WHISLTE is an experimental satire that takes aim at every target on the American cultural scene of the moment-conformity, psychology, race relations, greed, religion and politics. It divided the critics, thrilled the emerging counter-culture, baffled the masses, and became an instant legend-one that has grown over the years along with Sondheim's reputation. The title song and 'With So Little to Be Sure Of' have survived as cabaret classics, but the rarely heard complete score is a riot of jazzy, show-biz razzmatazz, waltzes, gospel numbers and Broadway pastiche, as full of variety and surprise as the show that gave birth to it.

Donna Murphy, Sutton Foster and Raúl Esparza will star in Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle, the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season. Anyone Can Whistle, running for five performances April 8 - 11, will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with musical direction by Rob Berman.

Donna Murphy, star of the upcoming production of ANYONE CAN WHISTLE at City Center, recently sat down with the New York Daily News to discuss her feeling on the production and her upcoming Disney film.

Donna Murphy, Sutton Foster and Raúl Esparza will star in Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle, the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season. Anyone Can Whistle, running for five performances April 8 - 11, will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with musical direction by Rob Berman.