Stephen Schwartz News

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, May 26, 2013 - Sunday, May 26, 2013.

SILENCE! THE MUSICAL will play a special added holiday performance today at the Elektra Theatre in the heart of Times Square. The show, which normally plays at 5 PM on Sundays, will have two performances today at 2 & 7 PM. Winner of the 2012 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical, SILENCE! is the unauthorized parody of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, with book byHunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli. After opening initially at Theatre 80 on July 9, 2011 to unanimous rave reviews, the show immediately became a sold-out phenomenon and was selected by Time Magazine as one of the year's Top 5 Musicals.

Million Dollar Quartet announces that this Saturday, May 26, 2013 marks the official date at which it becomes the longest-running musical production in Chicago's history. With 1,949 performances and 5 smash years in Chicago, the Tony Award-winning rock 'n' roll musical has surpassed both Wicked and Pumpboys and Dinettes, setting a new record for the longest running Broadway musical in Chicago.

Beginning performances on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, Lindsay Mendez will assume the role of Elphaba in the Broadway production of WICKED. Ms. Mendez has previously worked with both the composer and director of WICKED, having appeared in the 2011 Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell, and, more recently, giving a breakout performance in the world premiere musical, Dogfight, staged by WICKED director Joe Mantello.

Glenn Carter* (Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar, Whistle down the Wind), Stephen Rahman Hughes* (Emmerdale, Dream Team, Bombay Dreams, West Side Story), David Thaxton (Passion, Les Miserables) and Matt Willis (Wicked, Flashdance, Footloose and BRIT award winning member of Busted), join the previously announced Lee Mead (Wicked, Legally Blonde, BBC Series Winner of Any Dream Will Do) to complete The West End Men. All four will be joined by special guest star Kerry Ellis* (Wicked, Oliver, We Will Rock You, Born Free Tour with Brian May) for the limited run at the Vaudeville Theatre from 25 May to 22 June.

One Chekhovian country house exits the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and a new Chekhovian country house enters.  But Richard Nelson's Nikolai and the Others, enjoying an elegant staging by director David Cromer, is a more sober-minded effort than the venue's last tenant, Christopher Durang's Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike.

High school vocalists from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri will compete on Saturday, June 1 at a regional for the Great American Songbook Vocal Academy & Competition. Sponsored by the Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative, the annual endeavor is the only U.S. competition dedicated solely to the music from Broadway, Hollywood musicals and the Tin Pan Alley era of the early to mid-twentieth century.

The Broadway cast of Pippin traded the Music Box Theater's stage today for Good Morning America's studio - check out their appearance below, featuring Matthew James Thomas singing 'Corner of the Sky,' and The Leading Player herself, Patina Miller, performing 'Magic To Do!'

According to the Associated Press, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has selected its new president -- Broadway producer Jed Bernstein, who led the Broadway League from 1995-2006. Bernstein will replace current leader Reynold Levy.

Million Dollar Quartet announces that this Saturday, May 26, 2013 marks the official date at which it becomes the longest-running musical production in Chicago's history. With 1,949 performances and 5 smash years in Chicago, the Tony Award-winning rock 'n' roll musical has surpassed both Wicked and Pumpboys and Dinettes, setting a new record for the longest running Broadway musical in Chicago.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2007 and 2010, WICKED, Broadway's biggest blockbuster, will return to Columbus' Ohio Theatre June 5-23. Tickets for the return engagement are on sale now.

On Thursday, May 23rd watch the entire Broadway cast of PIPPIN perform live on ABC's 'Good Morning America' between 8:30AM-9:00AMon ABC (check local listings). PIPPIN is now playing at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street).

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) seeks submissions for the 13th Annual TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series, and increases the opportunities for musical theater writers by creating the first-ever Musical Writers First Act Feedback Fest (FAFF). Writers, producers and theater companies are welcome to submit new musicals for both the developmental reading series which takes place Mondays in December 2013, and the daylong feedback festival on Saturday July 20, 2013, 10am to 5pm. Non members may submit to the TRU Voices New Musicals Series (completed musicals only) for a $25 fee, submit to the First Act Feedback Fest (completed shows or works-in-progress) for $20, or apply to both for $35. Deadline for both is June 10, 2013; deadline for JUST the TRU Voices Series is August 10.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2010, WICKED, Broadway's biggest blockbuster, will return to the Academy of Music beginning June 26 - August 4 as part of the Broadway Season, presented by The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Luminaries of stage and screen will come together tonight, May 20th at LaGuardia Arts High School in Manhattan to pay tribute to treasured alumnus and show biz icon Ben Vereen (Pippin, Roots, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fosse, Jelly's Last Jam, Sweet Charity, Hair, Wicked).

Off-Broadway's sellout sensation SILENCE! THE MUSICAL will celebrate its 500th performance at the 2 PM matinee today, May 18th at the Elektra Theatre in the heart of Times Square.

This weekend, WABC-7 airs a half-hour special covering highlights of the spring season on Broadway, including ANNIE, THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES, I'LL EAT YOU LAST, JERSEY BOYS, LUCKY GUY, MATILDA THE MUSICAL, MOTOWN THE MUSICAL, PIPPIN, and more. 'Broadway Backstage: Spring Preview' airs tonight, May 18 from 7:00-7:30PM.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tonys Meet & Greet on May 1, 2013, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Patina Miller, a nominee for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Musical for Pippin. Check out what she had to say below!

Happy Birthday, Judy Kuhn! Kuhn made her Broadway debut was in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She then played Cosette in the 1987 multiple award winning Broadway production of Les Miserables brought her the first Tony Award nomination. The following year, Kuhn took on a transfer from London's West End, playing one of the main roles (Florence Vassy) in the Trevor Nunn-directed Chess, with music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA) and lyrics by Tim Rice. Later in 1993, Kuhn played the role of Betty Schaefer in the U.S premier production of Sunset Boulevard at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles. Kuhn sang the title role in the 1995 Disney animated film, Pocahontas, the film included her rendition of the song Colors of the Wind, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for its composers Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. On October 23, 2007, Kuhn returned to the Broadway Production of Les Miserables after 20 years, but this time assuming the role of Fantine.

In the special interview below, husband and wife team Terrence Mann and Charlotte d'Amboise chatted about the show's journey to Broadway, Diane Paulus' new take on the musical, married life, and so much more. Click below to check it out!