The Happiest Girl in the World 1961

This week acclaimed filmmaker Steven Spielberg and Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter, Tony Kushner, were on hand at Manhattan's DGA Theatre for a special screening of their film remake of West Side Story. See what they had to say!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best film musicals since the sound era began; see if your favorites made the list!

Following the critically acclaimed 'Lost West End' album series, Stage Door Records present the launch of 'Lost Broadway', a new series of albums that will focus on celebrating Broadway's forgotten and obscure musicals. With each album dedicated to specific years in Broadway history, the 'Lost Broadway' series launches with 'Lost Broadway 1961', a particularly abundant year in the Broadway calendar for musicals whose residencies were short lived but deserve not to be forgotten.

Tony Award nominee Lainie Kazan and Emmy Award winner William Shatner, whose Broadway stage careers have spanned six decades, reveal personal stories of their Jewish upbringing in the new PBS special Hanukkah: A Festival of deLights. The program airs nationwide on PBS stations in the week leading up to and through the holiday (check local listings) and in the New York metropolitan area on PBS as follows: on WLIW/21 on Sunday, November 25 at 7:30 pm (check wliw.org for additional airings) and on the first and last nights of Hanukkah on Thirteen -- Sunday, December 2 at 2:30 pm and Sunday, December 9 at 8 pm.

The Harlem Repertory Theatre, under the direction of its Founding Artistic Director Keith Lee Grant, has announced that it will present JAMAICA, Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy,'s powerful story about a Jamaican woman's dream of moving to New York City, July 29th - March 24th at The Tato Laviera Theatre (240 East 123rd Street).

Lainie Kazan is an American actress and singer. She was nominated for the 1988 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for St. Elsewhere, and the 1993 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for My Favorite Year. She had previously received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the film version of My Favorite Year (1982). Her other film appearances include The Delta Force (1986), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Beaches (1988), My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2016). Kazan made her Broadway debut in The Happiest Girl in the World in 1961 followed by Bravo Giovanni (1962).

Broadway fans had plenty of reasons to celebrate this year, with dozens of shows having opened since January, hundreds of actors having made their debuts, and many more having returned to the stage for critically acclaimed performances. Not all news was good though, as we also suffered a loss of an incredible amount of talent. Below, BroadwayWorld sends a fond farewell to those who passed away in 2014.

A human ball of silver glitter hanging from a cord is lowered above what looks like a bungalow-sized muffin top.  (It's supposed to represent a turtle shell.)  Before the glitter ball makes its landing the cover is removed to reveal what looks like a tribe of humanish amphibians bouncing on trampolines and twirling on the muffin/turtle's frame.  Shortly after, a sleazy-looking clown in a tropical shirt tosses a condom to a woman in the front row and says, 'Call me!'  Yes, dear readers, Cirque du Soleil is back in town.

Actress/singer/comedienne Kaye Ballard remains one of the great living legends of stage, screen and television. She did comedy and sang with bandleader Spike Jones. She was the costar of TV's The Mothers-In-Law and The Doris Day Show, and the very funny film The Ritz among many others and too many Broadway musicals and road shows to mention. This lady brings mirth and goodwill wherever she appears. Animals are close to her heart, so it is no wonder that she, Lee Roy Reams and Liliane Montevecchi are mounting Doin' It For Love, for two nights only at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre March 9 and 10 to benefit PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). In our chat she talks about PETA, her love of animals and offers choice bits about her accomplishments and costars.

The onetime Broadway musical It Girl is about to open in her 4th play off-Broadway this year.

A NIGHT AT THE OPERETTA on July 14th featured the sounds of Broadway music one rarely gets to hear anymore - Operetta - including music by Sigmund Romberg, Rudolph Friml and Victor Herbert. A NIGHT AT THE OPERETTA featured Alexander Gemignani, Lisa Howard, William Michals, Jennifer Hope Wills, Christine Andreas, Bill Daugherty, Brian Charles Rooney, Karen Murphy, John Easterlin, Jason Graae and Milla Ilieva. The show featured the dance talents of Eric Sean Fogel, J. Austin Eyer, Billy Harrigan Tighe, and Ben Franklin. The show is under the direction of Dan Foster with musical direction by Fred Barton

Medicine Show revives the 1961 Yip Harburg/Jacques Offenbach combination of Lysistrata and Bulfinch's Mythology

Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble, one of NYC's longest-running experimental theatres, will present The Happiest Girl in the World, the 1961 Broadway musical comedy adapted from Lysistratra