Jessica Lewis - Page 136

JERSEY BOYS, the Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical, surpassed Oklahoma! with 2,213 performances last night, March 17, making it the 27th longest-running Broadway show in history.

Michael Riedel reports in the New York Post this morning that the famous hate-fest between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis is the inspiration of a new play that could hit the New York scene big as early as 2012. BETTE AND JOAN, as the play is called, receieved a private reading last week directed by Doug Hughes and starred Christine Ebersole (Bette Davis) and Jan Maxwell (Joan Crawford).

Yesyerday, March 16, the stars came out to celebrate the 19th Annual 'A Night at Sardi's' benefit at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. BroadwayWorld brings you photo coverage below.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre, the critically-acclaimed company 'dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit,' presents Three Men on a Horse, by John Cecil Holm & George Abbott as the final production of the company's 2010/11 season. Directed by TACT Co-Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans, performances began at Theatre Row's Beckett Theatre March 14th, 2011. The show will open on March 24th. Click below to meet the company and go inside the rehearsal room...and stay tuned for more!

Broadway's WONDERLAND - A New Alice. A New Musical announces a student rush ticket policy. A limited number of $30 tickets (plus a $2 facility fee) will be available at the box office only, on the day of the performance, beginning when the box office opens for the day. Tickets subject to availability and a limit of 2 tickets can be purchased per valid college student ID. WONDERLAND - A New Alice. A New Musical begins performances this Monday, March 21 and opens April 17 at the Marquis Theatre, 1535 Broadway (46th Street & Broadway).

Sebastian Arcelus, Rebecca Luker, Rob McClure, Howard McGillin, Jill Paice and Lauren Worsham have been cast in Frank Loesser's Where's Charley?, the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2010-11. Where's Charley?, based on BranDon Thomas' Charley's Aunt, has a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The show, running March 17 - 20, will be directed by John Doyle and choreographed by Alex Sanchez with music direction by Rob Berman.

Welcome back to Inside Behind the Curtain Rises! In this exclusive BroadwayWorld special, Tony nominated director Kristin Hanggi (Rock of Ages) takes you inside the rehearsal room for her new production at Signature Theatre.

On Monday, May 2, 2011 The New York Pops' marks its 28th birthday with Celebrate Hope, a grand gala evening celebrating the legacy of late actor and comedian Bob Hope and honoring decades of support by Interpublic Group. The event begins at 7:00 PM with a concert at Carnegie Hall featuring a special lineup of concert artists - including Brooke Shields, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Ebersole, Kelli O'Hara, Maurice Hines, Cartier Williams and special guest Angela Lansbury - under the baton of Music Director Steven Reineke. The New York Pops will also be joined on stage by the singers of The Camp Broadway Kids and the West Point Glee Club. Following the concert, a black tie dinner and dance will be held at the luxurious Plaza Hotel.

ARCADIA is set in April 1809 in a stately home in Derbyshire. Thomasina, a gifted pupil, proposes a startling theory, beyond her comprehension. All around her, the adults, including her tutor Septimus, are preoccupied with secret desires, illicit passions and professional rivalries. Two hundred years later, academic adversaries Hannah and Bernard are piecing together puzzling clues, curiously recalling those events of 1809, in their quest for an increasingly elusive truth.

The Paley Center for Media is presenting the twenty-eighth annual PaleyFest: William S. Paley Television Festival (PaleyFest2011) from March 4 to 17, 2011 at the historic Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. PaleyFest2011 is an extraordinary interactive pop culture event, connecting fans with the casts and creators of their favorite series as well as the icons who have changed or are changing the face of media. Named for William S. Paley, founder of both the Paley Center and CBS, PaleyFest continues its twenty-eight year tradition of celebrating the collaborative creativity behind making great entertainment content-from the genesis of an idea to that vital connection with audiences the world over. During each PaleyFest evening, the audience views episodes or highlights of the featured work followed by a panel discussion with the cast and creative team and then has the opportunity to ask questions of those involved in its production.

THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT, the new play by Stephen Adly Guirgis starring Bobby Cannavale, Chris Rock, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Annabella Sciorra and Yul Vázquez, has announced a student rush ticket policy. Student rush tickets are $26.50 and available when the box office opens on the day of each performance. There is a limit of two tickets per person and a valid student ID is required. Tickets and locations are subject to availability.

Actress/Director Phylicia Rashad is set to make her Los Angeles directorial debut with the Ebony Repertory Theatre's production of Lorraine Hansberry's classic play A RAISIN IN THE SUN. Ebony Repertory Theatre (ERT) is proud to return this groundbreaking play to Los Angeles for its first fully-staged production in over twenty years. Preview performances begin on March 23, 2011, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center with Opening Night on Friday, March 25th. The play runs through April 17, 2011 (4718 W. Washington Blvd.) in Los Angeles.

Alfred Music Publishing is proud to announce the publication of the officially licensed songbook for the beloved Cole Porter musical Anything Goes, which returns to Broadway this spring in a Roundabout Theatre Company production with a dazzling all-star production led by Sutton Foster and Joel Grey.

BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Chita Rivera will lead a 29 Hour reading of THE DISTANT BELLS for Roundabout Theatre Company. Rivera will play Margaret Bell, the plays heroin. The story centers on her relations with her deceased husband and daughters. The reading is by invitation only and will take place on March 29.

Whatsonstage.com suggests today that The King's Speech, currently out in theaters starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter, may be getting a stage adaptation in London. According to the report: 'Speaking to the New York Times at the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, the film's writer David Seidler - who is nominated for a best original screenplay Oscar - said: 'It will be on the West End of London in the fall, and Adrian Noble is directing it.'

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that, in anticipation of its Broadway premiere, The Normal Heart will launch a first-ever Facebook Rally beginning today (Monday, March 14). If 10,000 people 'Like' the production's Facebook page (Facebook.com/TheNormalHeart) before its April 27, 2011 opening night, The Normal Heart will donate $10,000 to Freedom to Marry, the campaign to win marriage for same-sex couples nationwide. Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, which premiered Off Broadway in 1985, dealt with the topic of marriage for gay couples long before it became a hot button political issue, and this production is committed to supporting the fight for equality.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced plans to produce BLOOD AND GIFTS , a new play by J.T. Rogers, to be directed by Bartlett Sher, this fall in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater Previews begin Thursday, October 27. Opening night is Monday, November 21. The production's cast of 13 and design team will be announced at a later date.

Goodspeed Musicals will honor the tremendous creative team that introduced the world to Annie nearly 35 years ago when it debuted at the Goodspeed Opera House. The incomparable team of Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin will be celebrated at a Gala evening on Saturday, June 4, 2011 when they will each receive The Goodspeed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre in recognition of their extraordinary careers. Previous award recipients include Julie Andrews, Ira Gershwin, Jerry Herman, William Ivey Long, Michael P. Price, Gerald Schoenfeld, Stephen Schwartz, Susan Stroman, Tommy Tune and Paul Williams. Proceeds from the Gala will support Goodspeed Musicals' Education Programs through The Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre.

Veteran humorist and playwright, Justin Moran, launched 'Spiderman Smackdown', a guerilla theatre project to write, rehearse, and perform a fully realized musical based on the character Spiderman in under 30 days with a budget of $0. Moran's musical will be the first Spiderman Musical to officially open in New York City

Last night, March 13, the UK celebrated the 2011 Olivier Awards. Legally Blonde and After The Dance were the night's big winners