Ron Raines News

Tonight, NBC will air its sixth live musical production. Following in the footsteps of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, The Wiz, Hairspray, and Jesus Christ Superstar, the peacock network will be presenting Annie. Based on Harold Gray's comic strip titled Little Orphan Annie, this musical tells the story of a little orphan with equal measures of pluck and positivity who charms everyone's hearts, despite a next-to-nothing start in New York City in the year 1933.

San Francisco’s revered 42nd Street Moon kicks off its 2021 “Moonbeams” season with Jason Graae in Perfect Hermany, a tribute to the late, great Jerry Herman, writer of such classic musicals as Hello, Dolly!, Mame and La Cage Aux Folles. The title Perfect Hermany is an unusually apt one as Graae is the perfect interpreter of Herman’s work, having starred in a much-lauded production Herman’s The Grand Tour in LA and toured for years with Herman in Hello, Jerry!, a revue of Herman’s work. Perfect Hermany is available for streaming on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through May 2, 2021. For additional information and to purchase tickets, visit 42ndStreetMoon.org. Among his many credits, Graae has appeared on Broadway numerous times, toured extensively as The Wizard in Wicked, performed with major symphonies across the country, recorded dozens of musical theater albums and has enjoyed a long association with 42nd Street Moon. He is known for the improbable combination of his antic, go-for-broke comedic style and the impeccable musicianship of his soaring tenor. He is the type of performer who can make you bust a gut one moment, and then melt your heart the next.   BroadwayWorld caught up with Graae last week from his home base in LA soon after he had completed filming Perfect Hermany. We talked about his long association with both Herman and 42nd Street Moon, his favorite Herman songs, a couple of key roles that somehow got away from him and a few he still hopes to have a go at. Graae is always a blast to talk to. It seems the guy just is incapable of not being funny, but he is also thoughtful and kind, and sort of a walking treasure trove of theatrical lore. The following conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

This week's Theater Stories features The Minskoff Theatre! Learn about the stars to have graced the Minskoff stage, including Debbie Reynolds, Debbie Allen, Bette Midler, Glenn Close & more; the theater's longest-running show, The Lion King, and much more!

The Army declares that they do more before nine am than most people do all day. The creator and head of Spot-On Entertainment must have served in the armed forces then, because just thinking about all the work he does is enough to exhaust the rest of the mere mortals on this planet.

Broadway stars are uniting yet again to sing in separation- this time to Follies. Watch below as Ali Ewoldt (Young Sally), Shoba Narayan (Young Phyllis), Zach Piser (Young Buddy), and Nic Rouleau (Young Ben) sing 'You're Gonna Love Tomorrow.'

Today we rewind to the 2011 revival of Follies, which opened at the Marquis Theatre and played for 152 performances.

Christopher Denny helps the artists in need with an online class.

Today we flashback to 2011, when the second Broadway revival of Follies arrived at the  Marquis Theatre, where it played for 152 performances.

Today's top stories: Plaza Suite, starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, begins its pre-Broadway run in Boston, and more!

Michael Feinstein produced a memorial event at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, featuring performances by: Feinstein ('I Won't Send Roses'), Kristin Chenoweth ('If He Walked Into My Life'), Sutton Foster ('I Don't Want to Know'), Kelli O'Hara ('Before the Parade Passes By'), Leslie Uggams ('I Am What I Am'), Bernadette Peters ('Time Heals Everything'), Betty Buckley ('Hello, Dolly!'), Klea Blackhurst and Tyne Daly ('Bosom Buddies'), John Bolton ('It Takes a Woman'), Lorna Luft ('Gooch's Song'), Ron Raines ('Mame'), Jason Graae ('You I Like'), Marilyn Maye ('It's Today'), Jeremy Jordan ('It Only Takes a Moment'), Lee Roy Reams ('The Best of Times'), and Debbie Gravitte ('Wherever He Ain't'), with Alice Borden, Jane Dorian, and Harvey Fierstein, and special video tributes from Angela Lansbury and Paul McCartney. Marc Bruni directed the event with Larry Blank serving as music director, and Don Pippin (guest conductor).

As BroadwayWorld reported last month, Tony Award winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman passed away at 88 years old. Just yesterday, Broadway united to remember the legend. Michael Feinstein produced a memorial event at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, featuring performances by: Kristin Chenoweth, Harvey Fierstein, Sutton Foster, Kelli O'Hara, Bernadette Peters, Betty Buckley, Klea Blackhurst, Alice Borden, Jane Dorian, Lewis Stadlen, Lorna Luft, Ron Raines, Jason Graae, Marilyn Maye, Jeremy Jordan, Don Pippin, Lee Roy Reams, and Debbie Gravitte, with special video tributes from Angela Lansbury and Paul McCartney. Marc Bruni directed the event with Larry Blank serving as music director.

Today's top stories: Broadway gathers to remember Jerry Herman tonight, and more!

Carnegie Hall has announced its February 2020 calendar. See full details below:

As BroadwayWorld reported last month, Tony Award winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman passed away at 88 years old. Next month, Broadway will unite to remember the legend.

Today's top stories: Cameron Dallas joins Mean Girls tonight, and more!

This morning, BroadwayWorld was deeply saddened to report that legendary Tony Award winning composer and lyricist Jerry Herman has passed away. Take a look back on his life with a roundup of flashback videos, from past Tony Awards, clips from his shows, interviews, and much more!

A film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's Follies has just been greenlit for production by BBC Films and Heyday Films.

The line between Broadway-type musical theatre and opera becomes finer by the year--though I dare say that TOOTSIE is unlikely to be showing up at the Met any time soon. But the Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin-Moss Hart LADY IN THE DARK might have morphed in a slightly different, better piece of music theatre if it arrived in the 21st century rather than World War II.

There's an unfortunate guffaw in the otherwise well-calibrated British thriller of '46, 'Dead of Night,' when Mervyn Johns (Glynis' dad), sensing he's sinking into insanity, brings a shaky hand to his forehead and says, 'I've got to get to a mental specialist.'