Nicole Rosky - Page 1073

The word ‘colorful' doesn't begin to explain the mixture of talent that gathered last night at Birdland, New York's most iconic music room. Simply Barbra, Steven Brinberg's hilarious homage to Streisand, celebrated the diva's 70th birthday in style with special guests Marilyn Maye, Corey Mach and Karl Warden.

Center Theatre Group will soon present FOLLIES starring Victoria Clark (replacing Bernadette Peters), Jan Maxwell, Danny Burnstein, and Ron Raines. The limited engagement will play May 3 through June 9, 2012. The opening is scheduled for May 9. Check out photo sof the cast in action, as featured on CTG's Facebook page, below.

Emmy Award winning actress Jane Lynch will host this year's Backstage at the Geffen fundraiser, which recognizes leadership in the theater community while raising support for the theater's artistic and outreach initiatives, honoring Hollywood legend Carol Burnett and Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment Jim Gianopulos. Ms. Burnett will receive the Distinction in Theater Award and Mr. Gianopulos will be presented with the Distinction in Service Award by entertainment icon and longtime colleague Warren Beatty. The star-studded event will be co-chaired by Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company Robert A. Iger and his wife, journalist Willow Bay. This irreverent evening of laughter, music and stories, which is sponsored by City National Bank, will be held on Monday June 4, 2012 at the Geffen Playhouse.

According to Deadline, Justin Lin is set to helm a big screen adaptation of David Henry Hwang's Chinglish, which opened on Broadway last Fall. Lin will also produce the film with Bobbi THompson and Hwang, who will pen the script.

This morning Broadway newcomer Raven-Symoné joined Drama League nominee Megan Hilty and Justin Long as co-host to announce The 2012 Drama League Nominees for Distinguished Production of a Play, Distinguished Production of a Musical, Distinguished Revival of a Play, Distinguished Revival of a Musical, and the much coveted Distinguished Performance Award, with nominations that were broadcast worldwide via live stream on BroadwayWorld.com. Miss the announcement this morning? Watch it now below!

PS Classics will release the New Broadway Cast Recording of THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS, currently available for pre-order, on May 22. Additionally they are offering a first listen of some of the tracks on their website. Click here to check them out! The full track list is as follows:

THE LION KING tour continues to reign across North America, celebrating 10 triumphant years on the road on Friday, April 27 in Orlando. Since launching in April 2002 in Denver, CO, THE LION KING North American tour has played nearly 6,000 performances during 112 engagements in 74 cities. The record-breaking tour has been seen by more than14 million theatergoers and grossed over $928 million to date.

Broadway Rhythm and Booze, a cabaret series created as a platform to highlight the soulful talents of the Broadway community, took place yesterday, April 23, 2012 at Flute Bar in Gramercy at 40 E. 20th Street, New York, NY.

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, featuring music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by Joe DiPietro, stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara. The production is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall and it opens tonight, April 24, 2012 at Broadway's Imperial Theatre! Let's see what the critics had to say...

Something wicked this way comes to the Bickford Theatre as Tony Award-nominee and American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages) joins nearly a dozen Broadway favorites to salute the sinister side of Broadway in the benefit evening Life Upon the Wicked Stage: Broadway's Greatest Villains, Thieves and Ladies of the Evening on Saturday, June 9, 2012, 8 pm, at the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum, 6 Normandy Heights Road, in Morristown, NJ.

The company of Broadway's first-ever revival of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical GODSPELL last week welcomed a new leading man- stage and screen star Corbin Bleu (Disney's 'High School Musical,' Broadway's In the Heights)- to the starring role of Jesus. BroadwayWorld bring you photos of Bleu in action below!

Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth will celebrate her first concert tour with an exclusive afterparty at New York City Center June 2. The party, hosted by Kristin's Charity, Maddie's Corner, will take place in City Center's Grand Tier Lobby immediately following the evening's concert.

It's been a while since original THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA star Sarah Brightman has starred in a theatrical production, but she might be returning to theatre in the near future. When asked in an interview featured on her Facebook page if she would ever return to the stage, she responded: Yes, I particularity would love to entertain performing in a play again.'

Next week on SMASH,'Bombshell' moves to Boston. Ivy (Megan Hilty) faces trouble as Derek (Jack Davenport) finds himself drawn ever closer to Rebecca Duvall (special guest Uma Thurman), while Karen (Katharine McPhee) reaches a turning point- she must choose between Dev (Raza Jaffrey) and the show. Eileen (Anjelica Huston) faces off against Julia (Debra Messing) over the possible return of Michael Swift (Will Chase). Sam (Leslie Odom, Jr.) brings Tom (Christian Borle) into the biggest battle of all- family dinner. Check out a sneak peek of the episode below!

Happy Birthday Barbra Streisand! Streisand has appeared on Broadway in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE and FUNNY GIRL, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Streisand won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress for the role in the film version of the musical. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly!, directed by Gene Kelly (1969), and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970). Additionally, she has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, one special Tony Award, five Emmy Awards including one Daytime Emmy, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.

Last night on SMASH, Karen (Katharine McPhee) found herself seduced by the glamorous life of new BFF Rebecca Duvall (special guest star Uma Thurman)- but could Rebecca be trusted? What would Karen's ascent mean to her relationship with Dev (Raza Jaffrey)? And would Rebecca drive Derek (Jack Davenport) insane? Eileen (Anjelica Huston) introduced new beau Nick (guest star Thorsten Kaye) to ex-husband Jerry (guest star Michael Cristofer), while Julia (Debra Messing) paniced when her son Leo (Emory Cohen) went missing. Miss the episode? Catch up below!

Topher Grace and Olivia Thirlby co-star in Second Stage Theatre's production of Paul Weitz's world premiere comedy, LONELY, I'M NOT, directed by Trip Cullman. Preview performances began Tuesday, April 10 at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre (305 West 43rd street). The production will officially open on Monday, May 7. For tickets or more information, please visit www.2ST.com. BroadwayWorld brings you just-released production shots below!

Over the next five weeks, Paper Mill Playhouse will launch five, short video interviews with Once on This Island composer, Stephen Flaherty. Watch the third part of the interview series below.

The Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), the premier educational, advocacy and networking organization for professional music creators for visual media, has announced a major membership drive for New York tri-state area composers, lyricists, songwriters and other professionals; this includes a special membership offer for new members until June 30th.

According to the Associated Press, Brazilian actor Tiago Klimeck, who accidentally hung himself during a Passion play, has died. The 27-year-old, who was re-enacting Judas' suicide in the production, passed away from cerebral hypoxia yesterday- 17 days after the incident.