Stephen Schwartz News

Goodspeed Musicals just announced that Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth, who appeared as Annie Draper in Goodspeed's production of Strike Up The Band, will be the latest recipient of The Goodspeed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre at its Gala on August 11, 2012. Previous honorees include Julie Andrews, Martin Charnin, Ira Gershwin, Jerry Herman, William Ivey Long, Thomas Meehan, Michael P. Price, Gerald Schoenfeld, Stephen Schwartz, Susan Stroman, Charles Strouse, Tommy Tune and Paul Williams.

Notre Dame of Maryland University has announced it will be presenting GODSPELL in memory of Julie Kline Rybczynski. This production will have musical direction by Stephen Holmes & Tiffany Underwood Holmes, direction from Gene Farrington, and choreography by Candace Sumner. It will run through March 4.

SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, will add Sunday evenings to the new spring playing schedule beginning March 4th at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.)

Stepping Out With My Baby-The Songs of Irving Berlin will perform in Three Stages on March 17, 8 pm and March 18, 2 pm & 7 pm. Tickets are $39-$45; they are available online at www.threestages.net or from Three Stages Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Three Stages is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director) is proud to announce the newest addition to the theater's diverse Theatre School offerings, The Paper Mill Playhouse Adult Chorale.

What happens once the Ugly Duckling comes out of her shell? She takes a show business journey to become a singing swan superstar! Kansas City audiences can catch the one-night-only performance of Lucky Duck by the Coterie Theatre at 7 p.m. March 8 at the Folly Theater, 1020 Central. The musical comedy with its Kansas City cast will then take flight for its debut at the New Victory Theater in New York March 16-25.

SILENCE! The Musical, the unauthorized parody of The Silence of the Lambs, will add Sunday evenings to the new Spring playing schedule beginning this Sunday, March 4th at The 9th Space Theatre at Performance Space 122, 150 First Avenue (at 9th St.) SILENCE! The Musical has a book by Hunter Bell, music & lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan, and direction & choreography by Christopher Gattelli.

Earlier this week, Two Boots Pizza in Hell's Kitchen (9th Ave. and 44th St.) unveiled their new pizza inspired by GODSPELL. The GODSPELL pizza contains casear chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and jalapeño pesto on a white pie. The cast was there for the big event, and you can check out photos form the festivities below!

In the Wednesday, February 29th performance of GODSPELL, stage and screen star Eric McCormack made a cameo appearance in the role of Lazarus. Watch the humorous performance below!

Welcome to THE FRIDAY SIX: Q&As With Your Favorite Broadway Stars. Want to know what hooked them to a career in the theater? Their dream roles? Their Broadway crushes? Read on! In this next edition, we caught up with the one-and-only George Salazar, who is currently starring in the revival of Stephen Schwartz's GODSPELL!

400 custom costumes made of over 2,000 pieces of fabric and countless sparkles need to be maintained for 8 performances every week. It takes a small but talented army to keep these memorable outfits so stunning and new. Witness a day in the life of the WICKED wardrobe department below!

Award-winning librettist Hunter Bell and his SILENCE! The Musical stars, David Garrison and Jenn Harris, recently visited 'Theater Talk' to discuss the process of turning the classic movie thriller The Silence of the Lambs into a musical. Hosted by Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins, this episode of 'Theater Talk' aired February 24 - 27 on WNET/Thirteen and CUNY TV. Check it out below!

The 2012 Human Race Theatre Company Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Scholarships have been awarded to Erin Ulman and Zachary Jordan Steele.

Tony Award-winning actress Alice Ripley was the special surprise guest at the Broadway Artists Alliance 2011 Winter Workshop. Ripley had a Q&A with the students of Broadway Artists Alliance. She surprised the students with a performance of her new single 'Beautiful Eyes,' and a song from Next to Normal.

Caldwell Theatre Company is set to launch the revamped, updated, and contemporized musical Working, featuring the music of Tony winners, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell),Lin Manuel Miranda (In the Heights) and Grammy winner James Taylor. The original source material for this unabashedly American musical is based on the novel Working by Studs Terkel.

Today, in honor of Sunday's Oscar telecast, we are going to take a look at some of the most memorable opening numbers and musical montages from the Academy Awards over the years, with a special focus, of course, on theatrically-related presentations and performers. The 2012 night of Oscar gold marks the return of frequent host Billy Crystal, so we are sure to be in for some truly terrific movie parodies and unscripted asides to have us rolling in aisles over the course of the hotly anticipated award show's three hours - Hollywood's night of nights. From the infamous Allan Carr-produced show in 1989 to some of the best moments from Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Ellen Degeneres, Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, this collection of clips surely has something to please all the movie buffs, Broadway babies and all-around entertainment enthusiasts out there reading this who will be tuning in to the big show this weekend - from 1965 to 2011, we have it all. Plus, after all, how could we possibly miss a night this big? Whether the top winner of the night ends up being THE ARTIST, THE HELP, HUGO or THE DESCENDANTS, Billy Crystal is guaranteed to make the night run as smoothly and enjoyably as possible - and, potentially, much much more (as the following clips clearly show). As for the rest of the night's proceedings? Well, we will have to wait and see what happens!

The company of the second North American tour of WICKED welcomes Paul Kreppel as The Wizard on Wednesday, March 7 in Norfolk, VA.

Notre Dame of Maryland University will be presenting GODSPELL in memory of Julie Kline Rybczynski. This production will have musical direction by Stephen Holmes & Tiffany Underwood Holmes, direction from Gene Farrington, and choreography by Candace Sumner. It will run from Feb 24 to March 4.

This week, "Theater Talk" welcomes award-winning bookwriter and his SILENCE! The Musical stars, David Garrison and Jenn Harris. Along with hosts Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins, they focus on the process of turning the classic movie thriller The Silence of the Lambs into a musical. This episode will premiere on WNET/Thirteen Friday February 24th at 1:30 AM and repeat on CUNY TV Saturday February 25th at 8:30 PM, Sunday February 26th at 12:30 PM and Monday February 27th at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM & 7:30 PM.