The First Photos - Broadway

For decades, the multiple award-winning storyteller, humorist, playwright, and bestselling author, Dylan Brody, has honed his unique voice, blending insightful observations with sharp wit and a touch of the absurd to earn him a devoted following and the respect of comedic legends including the late Robin Williams and George Carlin.

In this only-in-Vegas spectacular, Queen of Burlesque, Dita Von Teese, who is joined on stage by two dozen dancers and two guest performers, tips her hat to the spectacular spirit of Jubilee of yore and the historic theater at Horseshoe, while incorporating her most iconic acts. Check out the photos from the opening night now!

An upcoming tour of Momix’s ALICE is headed to Austin next week, and we’re in for a treat. Momix's productions, choreographed and directed by the brilliant Moses Pendleton, have been performed all over the world, captivating audiences with their dreamlike and fantastical storytelling through movement and imagery. 

Music Theater Works 150th production, THE PRODUCERS A Mel Brooks Musical is now playing a limited engagement through August 20 in the Center Theatre at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts In Skokie. Check out the photos here!

Birdland presented the return of pianist/singer Steve Ross on Monday, July 17. Check out photos of the evening here!

Tiny Beautiful Things‭, ‬a play that focuses on the simplicity of life and our universal choices‭, ‬is currently running in the basement space of Circle Theatre. This production runs through June 17.‬ Check out the production photos here!

Chita danced onto the stage at the Skirball Center to present the Chita Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award to her friend and collaborator, 96-year-old John Kander.

Earlier this week, The Nederlander Organization unveiled the new Lena Horne Theatre in honor of the iconic entertainer and civil rights activist. This is the first Broadway theatre in history to be named for a Black woman. BroadwayWorld was there and you can check out photos from the ceremony here!

A star-studded cast led by Becky Ann Baker (HBO's 'Girls.'), 5-Time Tony nominee Dana Ivey (off-Broadway's original 'Driving Miss Daisy'), 4-Time Oscar nominee Marsha Mason ('The Goodbye Girl') and Tony winner John Rubinstein ('Children of a Lesser God') starred in a benefit reading of 'The Torch-Bearers' for Bucks County Playhouse. Performances were held in New York at the Westside Theatre on Monday, March 11. and then two days later at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope on Wednesday, March 13. The reading was the first of three benefit readings that mark the Playhouse's 80th anniversary.

We're taking you into the BroadwayWorld archives with this flashback photo! This billboard depicted Patti LuPone, advertising her engagement at The Savoy in May 1981.

Presented by a brand new Production group, 4 Leaf Music Productions, in Association with Golden Performing Arts Center, and based on a 1934 Kaufman and Hart play of the same name, this musical tells the story of three friends, Franklin, Charley, and Mary, and the progressive decadence of their bonds and their dreams. The story is told in reverse. When it begins, in 1980, they're in their 40's: Franklin, is a rich, successful, conceited and confused noted songwriter; Charley, the lyricist in the duo, has cut off ties with his partner after a nervous breakdown and Mary is a lonely alcoholic still secretly in love with Franklin from when they first met, years and years ago. As we move forward in the play but backwards in time, we see how their friendships disintegrate, along with their aspirations and Franklin's many whirlwind marriages. Rewinding through the '70s and '60s, we end up in 1957, when the three of them meet for the first time, on a rooftop in the city, all hopeful young talents per-chance gathering to watch Sputnik go by in the pre-dawn sky. The song they sing, 'Our Time' ('We're the movers, we're the shapers/ the names in tomorrow's papers'), is undercut by some very keen irony, since we've already seen how it all turns out, at the beginning.

Today the New London Theatre was renamed in honour of the trailblazing choreographer Dame Gillian Lynne. It is the first West End theatre to be named after a woman. View photos from the renaming below!

We're taking you deep into the archives of BroadwayWorld photographer Walter McBride for exclusive flashbacks to Broadway past. Today, check out these shots of brother/sister duo Robert and Patti LuPone from 1981!

Porchlight Music Theatre is proud to announce the first production in the fifth season of Chicago's lost musicals in staged concert series, Porchlight Revisits Woman of the Year, starring Meghan Murphy and Brandon Dahlquist, music by John Kander, lyrics by Fred Ebb and book by Peter Stone, with direction by Porchlight's Artistic Director Michael Weber, choreography by Florence Walker Harris and musical direction by David Fiorello.

Tony-winning Broadway star Lillias White makes her London debut in THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN', featuring New York's hottest jazz musicians and tap dancers in a red-hot 1920's Harlem rent party celebration of jazz icon Fats Waller's life and music, at The Other Palace Studio from 4 - 15 April. Press night is 6 April and BroadwayWorld has a first look at White and the company in action below!

Peter Reckell, the Emmy nominated actor best known for playing Bo Brady, a role he originated in 1981 on the NBC drama Days of Our Lives, will take on the role of the suave and charismatic El Gallo when he joins the cast of the long running musical THE FANTASTICKS in a limited engagement that begins on September 5th and runs through September 25th the show's producers, Al Parinello and Catherine Russell announced today. This isn't the first time the he's performed in the show. Mr. Reckell played the role of The Mute (and covered The Boy) 35 years ago, in the Sullivan Street Production.

Making it's regional debut in Austin TX, Paradox Players delights Austinites with ONE SLIGHT HITCH. Performed at the quaint and appropriate location of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin at Howson Hall Theater, Bethke Stage, director Matthew Burnett executes this patronizing patriarchy prancing about the stage. Begging the audience to remember what their living room looked like in the 80's -this farce, written by the funny man himself Lewis Black, delivers on comic diversity as it toggles between with laugh out loud jokes and sophisticatedly written puns about the culture and atmosphere surrounding the era of mall-rats. It's the summer of 1981 - and the conservative Colemans, who are naturally from Cincinnati, are preparing for their daughter Courtney's wedding. Conveniently located in their backyard, Delia (played by Mary Kennelly) runs around madly with a clipboard making sure all details have been accounted for and that nothing ruins this very special day! Alas, the doorbell rings and all hell breaks loose. In the Reagan era of a picture-perfect family, when the internet had not yet given us knowledge of just about everything, we watch as the day unravels into the unexpected comedy Lewis Black intended.

Atlantic Theater Company presents the first production of its 30th anniversary season, the New York revival of multiple Obie Award winner Caryl Churchill's landmark play CLOUD NINE, directed by Obie Award winner James Macdonald. CLOUD NINE began previews September 16, officially opens October 5 and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, November 1, 2015 Off Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20 Street). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

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.

Helmed by Center Stage Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah, the production of AMADEUS, the first show in Center Stage's 2014/15 Season, runs through Oct. 12.

Sunday the Cleveland Browns won. Later that day and carrying over to Monday, the city was abuzz. No, the team hadn't won the Super Bowl, the Browns had been victorious in the first game in their last eleven attempts.

Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of the season , will open on Wednesday, February 8 at New York City Center, and will feature Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Elizabeth Stanley, Betsy Wolfe and Adam Grupper. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, will be directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Merrily has been extended for a two-week run and will play for 15 performances, February 8-19, 2012, 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Betsy Wolfe (in photos) play four friends at different points in their lives, in Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of the season. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, will be directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Merrily has been extended for a two-week run and will play for 15 performances, February 8-19, 2012, at New York City Center 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of the season, is now in rehearsals in anticipation of a February 8 - February 19 run. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, is being directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Having fun in wardrobe, Lin-Manuel Miranda just tweeted this shot of him with co-stars Colin Donnell and Celia Keenan-Bolger!

Up on Amazon.com, Stephen Sondheim's second book, a follow up to his 'Finishing The Hat, is now available for pre-order. Entitled, 'Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011) with Attendant Comments, Amplifications, Dogmas, Harangues, Wafflings, Diversions and Anecdotes,' Amazon is taking pre-orders here. The book is scheduled for release on October 25, 2011. Here's a first look at the cover!