Oh, What a Night Photos - West End

Getting on the phone with Albert Poland totally swept me away and into the world we love for a glorious 45 minutes...

On February 3, 1959, after performing together on the Winter Dance Party Tour, rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. The three, together with pilot Roger Peterson who also perished, were attempting to make it to their next stop by plane rather than travel by bus during a raging snowstorm. The event later became known as 'The Day the Music Died' after singer-songwriter Don McLean so referred to it in his 1971 song 'American Pie.' And although I was too young at the time to really understand what their deaths meant to the world of early rock and roll, I certainly appreciate the music they left behind that will live on as long as others continue to spin the tunes and keep imitating these rock and roll icons onstage.

July might have just begun, but let me tell you things are in full swing here in Sonoma, CA.  Just recently at Transcendence Theatre Company we started a new show, closed the first show with a bang, actively participated in volunteering opportunities, and joined in our local 4th of July celebrations.  But I'll let some of our Transcendence resident artists go into more detail about their personal favorite activities of these past well-lived days.

Musical Theatre West presents Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!, which opened last night, February 16, and continues through March 3, 2013. Davis Gaines (LA's Phantom of the Opera, Ovation Award winner for Musical Theatre West's Man of La Mancha) makes his Los Angeles-area directorial debut with this production. As with all Musical Theatre West productions, OKLAHOMA! is locally-produced in Long Beach with professional actors from Broadway, national tours, film and television, including the best in local talent. BroadwayWorld's Lily Lim was at the opening and brings you photos from the event below!

Frankie Valli, the frontman of The Four Seasons and inspiration for the Broadway hit JERSEY BOYS, recently performed for Chicago audiences on June 2nd at the Chicago Theater. Nick Cosgrove, who currently plays Valli in the JERSEY BOYS tour, had the opportunity to meet the man behind the show for the first time following his concert. BroadwayWorld brings you the exclusive photos of the two's encounter below.

Broadway headliners are coming in droves to record the 2010 Broadway's Carols for a Cure, the annual holiday CD benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA). Featured voices include Bernadette Peters and the cast and orchestra from A Little Night Music, Kelsey Grammer, Douglas Hodge, Christine Andreas and the cast of Tony Award winning La Cage aux Folles; Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley, from Next to Normal; plus the casts from Memphis, Wicked, Elf, and In the Heights. Jackie Hoffman and the cast of The Addams Family sing 'It's Chanukah,' a Jackie Hoffman/Lon Hoyt original song written during their time together at Hairspray.

I started to play the guitar when I was 12. When I finally decided to try to be an actor for a living.... Musical theatre was something I gravitated to because it combined two of my favorite things...music and dance belts (or girls...or girls in dance belts). When I was in high school I sang in a rock band (we were totally sensitive) and I love that feeling of getting out there with a band creating a cacophony of different sounds. So, when they asked me to write a blerg (the Tina Fey pronunciation), I decided to write mine about the band.

It's the third Broadway show for Sarah Jane, and the second time this former beauty pageant winner is understudying a Kristin Chenoweth part.