Nicole Rosky - Page 494

Happy Birthday Reba McEntire! Sometimes referred to as 'The Queen of Country', McEntire has sold 41 million records in the United States and more than 60 million worldwide. In the United States, she ranks as the seventh best-selling female artist in all genres and is the second best-selling female country artist of all time. On stage, McEntire has appeared as Annie Oakley in the 2001 Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun followed by the Carnegie Hall concert of South Pacific.

Today in 2008, the fourth Broadway revival of Gypsy opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 332 performances. Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including 'Small World,' 'Everything's Coming up Roses', 'Some People', 'Let Me Entertain You', and 'Rose's Turn'.

Today in 1997, Annie opened at the Martin Beck Theatre (now the Al Hirschfeld Theatre), where it ran for 239 performances. Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre). It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs 'Tomorrow' and 'It's the Hard-Knock Life' are among its most popular musical numbers.

Today in 1976, the first Broadway revival of My Fair Lady opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 377 performances. My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well born lady. The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals.

Now on tour with Danielle Hope and Steven Houghton, is one of the greatest musicals of all time- The Sound of Music. This new production of the classic stage musical coincides with the 50th Anniversary of the film version, the best loved and most successful movie musical in history. Check out new clips of the cast in action below!

Hear ye, Broadway - it's really happening!Something Rotten!, the completely original new musical comedy directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon, Aladdin), with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Wayne Kirkpatrick and Golden Globe Award nominee Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by Karey Kirkpatrick and best-selling author John O'Farrell, began performances on Broadway last night, March 23. Check out the first official curtain call below!

Earlier this month, the Lodge at Gallow Green at the McKittrick Hotel, hosted a party celebrating one of Broadway's favorite stars- Stockard Channing! Six Degrees of Stockard Channing was attended by all sorts of Broadway luminaries which, in the style of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, have some connection to Ms. Channing. Below, go inside the special event with Parade Magazine!

On Monday night, March 22nd, an all-star line-up of Broadway performers united to honor legendary composer, Stephen Sondheim. The evening celebrated the journey of Woods and Sondheim from stage to screen. Performances included music from Into the Woods as well as other Sondheim classics sung by feature film and Broadway talent including Lilla Crawford, Tituss Burgess, Lance Horne, Norm Lewis, Michael McElroy & Broadway Inspirational Voices, Abby Mueller, Andrew Nielson, Kristin Olness, Molly Pope, Christopher Sieber, Brian Sills,Catherine Walker, Trevor Vaughn, Michael-Leon Wooley, Karen Ziemba, Chip Zien and more. BroadwayWorld brings you interviews with all of the red carpet guests below!

Below, BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you episode 7, titled: 'An Actor Prepares'. What happens in the rehearsal studio stays in the rehearsal studio - unless the director says 'keep it!'

Today in 2005, All Shook Up opened at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 213 performances.All Shook Up is a jukebox musical with Elvis Presley music, with a book by Joe DiPietro. The story is based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Directed by Christopher Ashley, with choreography by Ken Roberson, the original Broadway cast included Cheyenne Jackson (Chad), Jenn Gambatese (Natalie Haller/'Ed'), and Jonathan Hadary (Jim Haller).

Today in 2000, Aida opened at the Palace Theatre, where it ran for 1852 performances. Aida is a musical with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang. Aida was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four Tony Awards in 2000, including Best Musical Score and Best Performance by a Leading Actress. Aida was also named by Time Magazine in 2000 as one of the top ten theatre productions of the year. The First National tour was nominated for nine National Broadway Theatre awards (now 'Touring Broadway Awards') and won five awards, including Best Musical, Best Direction, Best Actor, and Best Actress.

In celebration of the third annual International Day of Happiness at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the NGO Relations and Advocacy Section of DPI held an expert global panel yesterday, exploring scientifically proven data that demonstrates the inverse relationship that wealth (both national and personal) can have on happiness. Broadway Conductor and Composer Mary-Mitchell Campbell, currently serving as musical director of Finding Neverland, and Founder of Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP) served as the event's Moderator. Campbell called upon her friend Jonathan Groff, who is currently appearing onstage in Hamilton, to celebrate the special occasion on Good Day New York. Below, watch as they perform 'Happy Days are Here Again' and 'Get Happy.'

Worldwide YouTube sensation Christina Bianco, who is currently starring off-Broadway in Application Pending, just released a new video, full of some of her finest diva impressions. Below, watch as she performs a different, dramatic arrangement of the Bruno Mars song, 'Grenade,' in her solo show 'Party Of One.'

INTO THE WOODS arrived in movie theaters nationwide on Christmas Day and both the Blu-ray and DVD editions are now available for pre-order, as well as a HD digital download, set to be released on March 24. Below, BroadwayWorld is excited to share with you an exclusive clip that reveals why director Rob Marshall felt so strongly about bringing the musical to the big screen!

ALADDIN star and Tony Award winner James Iglehart is set to return to ABC's THE VIEW to serve as co-host tomorrow, March 20th.

The first Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles officially opens tonight, March 19, 2015, at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). Check out highlights of the cast in action below!

Sondheim is the winner of an Academy Award, eight Tony Awards, including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award. Described by Frank Rich of the New York Times as 'the greatest, and perhaps best-known artist working in musical theatre', his most famous scores include (as composer/lyricist) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, and Assassins. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. Lloyd Webber has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. He has also gained a number of honours, including a knighthood in 1992, followed by a peerage from the British Government for services to Music, seven Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, fourteen Ivor Novello Awards, seven Olivier Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2006. Several of his songs, notably 'The Music of the Night', 'I Don't Know How to Love Him', 'Don't Cry for Me, Argentina' and 'You Must Love Me', 'Any Dream Will Do' and 'Memory' have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.

Today in 2002, Oklahoma! opened at the Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for 388 performances. Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943. The 2002 revival featured Josefina Gabrielle as Laurey, Shuler Hensley as Jud, Patrick Wilson as Curly and Andrea Martin as Aunt Eller.

Today in 2011, Priscilla Queen of the Desert opened at the Palace Theatre, wehre it is still running (currently 415 performances). Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a musical with a book by Australian film director-writer Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, using well-known pop songs as its score. Adapted from Elliott's 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical tells the story of two drag queens and a transsexual, who contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. The original Broadway cast includes Will Swenson as Tick (Mitzi), Tony Sheldon, again, reprising his role of Bernadette, and Nick Adams as Adam (Felicia).

Today in 1998, the second Broadway revival of Caberat opened at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (then renamed the Kit Kat Klub), where it ran for 2377 performances. Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions. Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, it focuses on nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub and revolves around the 19-year-old English cabaret performer Sally Bowles and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw. Overseeing the action is the Master of Ceremonies at the Kit Kat Klub which serves as a constant metaphor for the tenuous and threatening state of late Weimar Germany throughout the show. The revival is currentlt back on Broadway, playing at Studio 54.