Tom Viertel News

Tony winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last 5 Years, 13, Songs for a New World) returns to 54 Below after last year's sold-out engagement to perform tunes both new and old, hilarious and poignant, caustic and inspiring from his diverse & prolific catalogue. The event features his band, The Caucasian Rhythm Kings, and cast members from Honeymoon In Vegas (premiering this fall at Paper Mill Playhouse), The Bridges of Madison County (opening on Broadway in February) and the winners of the online JRB Karaoke Competition. Check out photos from the concert below!

ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW YORK CITY 3, A Concert For The Actors Fund featuring world premiere songs by Jeff Bowen, David Kirshenbaum, Miller & Tysen, Katie Thompson, and more, will perform live at 54 Below on November 19 at 9pm.

THE UNTOLD STORIES OF BROADWAY: Tales from the World's Most Famous Theaters, Volume 1 (Dress Circle Publishing. 350 pages, $19.99) by author and musical theater historian Jennifer Ashley Tepper is the first book to recount the backstage drama of Broadway's greatest shows at eight iconic theaters. Using firsthand accounts from some of the biggest names in Broadway history, the book provides a look behind the curtains of the Al Hirschfield, August Wilson, Lyceum, Mark Hellinger, Marquis, Neil Simon, Richard Rodgers, and Winter Garden Theaters. The book just had a launch party at Sardi's and BroadwayWorld was there for the special celebration. Check out photo coverage below!

Tom Viertel has been appointed Executive Director of the Commercial Theater Institute, effective immediately. The announcement was made today by Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, and Victoria Bailey, Executive Director of Theatre Development Fund.

The stars came out on Sunday, November 10 when LEE ROY REAMS took the stage at 54 Below. Among those in attendance, Tony Danza, Bebe Neuwirth, Sandy Duncan, Len Cariou, Lewis J. Stadlin, Anita Gillette, Penny Fuller, Harvey Evans, Thomas Meehan, Martin Charnin, Shelly Burch, Jeff Harnar, K.T. Sullivan and more.

Broadway legend Jennifer Holliday is set to return to the stage for five cabaret performances on December 26 - 29, at 54 Below. Tickets are $50-$75 and can be purchased at: http://54below.com/artist/jennifer-holliday/

The acclaimed actor/ Tony-nominated playwright and drag legend returns to 54 Below with a brand new show, chock full of outrageous personal stories, original characters and classic songs; all perfumed with his own unique form of glamour. Charles Busch continues to delight and re-define his craft as a master humorist, illusionist and camp icon. The author of dozens of hit plays (Tale of the Allergists Wife, Red Scare on Sunset, Flipping My Wig, Times Square Angel, Our Leading Lady, The Third Story, Die! Mommie! Die!, Psycho Beach Party, The Divine Sister & Vampire Lesbians of Sodom to name but a few), Busch returns to 54 Below, joined by Musical Director Tom Judson. Check out photos of Busch in action below!

Audiences can prepare to swoon as the Tony-winning star of South Pacific headlines 54 Below for a week-long engagement, now through November 16. In this brand new show, the Brazilian opera star presents a program of cherished classics from the American Songbook, as well as Brazilian and jazz favorites. Paulo is one of the most versatile and extraordinary singers to be heard today. Check out photos of Szot in action below!

Bebe Neuwirth's 'Stories… in NYC: Live At 54 BELOW' will be released digitally on November 15th and on CD onNovember 19th, 2013. The CD is now available for pre-order athttp://amzn.com/B00G9AO1HI. The track listing and cover art were unveiled today by Broadway Records.

WBGO Jazz Series is presenting two major jazz shows at 54 Below (254 West 54th Street, NYC) tonight, October 22nd, and Tuesday, October 29th.

Last night, Wednesday, October 16, the stars came out to see Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason in her acclaimed run at 54 Below. Among her friends and colleagues in the audience were Tony Award winner Donna Murphy, Gleason's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels co-star Sherie Rene Scott, Gleason's Into the Woods co-star Chip Zien, Buyer and Cellar playwright Jonathan Tollins, husband and Nick & Nora co-star Chris Sarandon, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife star Michelle Lee, and Gleason's Into the Woods composer Stephen Sondheim.

WBGO Jazz Series is presenting two major jazz shows at 54 Below (254 West 54th Street, NYC) on Tuesday, October 22nd, and Tuesday, October 29th.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN NEW YORK CITY 3, A Concert For The Actors Fund featuring world premiere songs by Jeff Bowen, David Kirshenbaum, Miller & Tysen, Katie Thompson, and more, will perform live at 54 Below on November 19 at 9pm.

Last night, Thursday, September 26, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, launched its first of six performances celebrating the extraordinary 30-year collaboration of Tony Award-winning songwriting team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, My Favorite Year, Seussical, Lucky Stiff, the upcoming Rocky, and more). In 'Nice Fighting You: A 30th Anniversary Celebration,' September 26 - 28, Ahrens and Flaherty offer six very special concerts featuring their best known songs, rare gems and even some never-before-heard material, performed by a rotating cast of Broadway stars. Last night's opening night concert featured Tony nominee Stephanie J. Block (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Anything Goes), Tony nominee Liz Callaway (Baby, Anastasia), Tony Award winner LaChanze (Dessa Rose, Once on This Island), Kecia Lewis (Dessa Rose, Once on This Island), Sean McCourt (Wicked, A Man of No Importance), Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate) Tony Award nominee Mary Testa (42nd Street, Lucky Stiff), and musical direction by Tony Award Winner Ted Sperling (South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza, and The Other Josh Cohen). The evening features musical arrangements by Neil Douglas Reilly.

The laughs will keep emanating from the Royal George Theatre for an additional 12 weeks as OLD JEWS TELLING JOKES announces a new block of tickets on sale for performances through Sunday, February 16, 2014. The hit off-Broadway comedy, now playing on the Main Stage of the Royal George Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted Street, features a quintet of Chicago favorites: Dara Cameron, Alex Goodrich, Tim Kazurinsky, Renee Matthews and Gene Weygandt.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold 'Hal' Prince has been postponed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts. Now according to the New York Times, the musical is having trouble raising the funds to open on Broadway.