George Brent

Jay commenced the first complete recording of the original version of the musical with the original orchestrations by Philip J. Lang at Abbey Road Studios, London on October 5 1996 and completed it at Clinton Recording Studios, New York on October 19 1996. This will be the first time it is released to the public.

For those of us who love Broadway, the classic 1933 movie musical, '42nd Street' is a delightful viewing experience. This finely produced black and white film was the predecessor to the hit stage show.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best film musicals since the sound era began; see if your favorites made the list!

The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts is offering several of Broadway's biggest hits, plus amazing concerts and memorable special events for every entertainment preference, from classical music to political comedy, plus international superstars like Diana Ross to Kenny G to Chita Rivera, along with several fascinating talks and lectures throughout the month of March.

Sierra Madre Playhouse inaugurates a projected ongoing film series, Off the Screen @ SMP, in which we'll feature midweek screenings of films that are in some way related to our current live mainstage productions.

It's not often that listening to a cast album makes one think of Richard Strauss, but such is the genius of Scott Frankel and Michael Korie. The composer-lyricist team best known for the brilliant GREY GARDENS is back with WAR PAINT, the story of rival beauty moguls Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden. Here both story and emotion are thinner, but the music is gorgeous--Straussian in its elegiac beauty and bell-like notes--and worthy of its two stars, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, two of the most unique and exciting voices in musical theater. Like a golden-age Hollywood director 'managing' the two stars of a women's picture, the score has to find ways to manage its two leads, giving each an equal role. Ebersole gets an old-fashioned entrance--her Red Door spa staff sings breathlessly, 'She's coming, she's coming...,' bursting into a triumphant 'She's here!' LuPone's entrance is less heralded but equally dramatic (and separate), as she steps off a ship in New York. From then on, many of the songs are duets, in which one star sings half of a song about her own experience, and the second sings the other half, with lyrics expressing her different but parallel experience. Occasionally they sing in unison. What sounds tedious as a show (a narrative in which two separate characters have similar, not highly dramatic arcs and don't meet until the very end) enchants on the album. Without the strain of the storytelling, we can simply enjoy the gorgeous songs and their peerless purveyors.

FOX has ordered a second season of AMERICAN GRIT, the competition series hosted and executive-produced by WWE® Superstar John Cena®, in which competitors are pushed beyond their limits in the ultimate test of strength, human spirit and most importantly, teamwork.

HISTORY's bold survival series ALONE is back for a second season, premiering Today, April 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

HISTORY's bold survival series ALONE has been renewed for a third season, the network announced today.

HISTORY's bold survival series ALONE is back for a second season, premiering Thursday, April 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

The CAPA Summer Movie Series, the longest-running classic film series in America, celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2015 with an impressive assembly of classics, cult favorites, and beloved films. The 2015 series will run today, June 5-August 9 at the historic Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) and will feature 29 films over nine weeks (no films scheduled for the week of the Fourth of July).

The CAPA Summer Movie Series, the longest-running classic film series in America, celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2015 with an impressive assembly of classics, cult favorites, and beloved films. The 2015 series will run June 5-August 9 at the historic Ohio Theatre (39 E. State St.) and will feature 29 films over nine weeks (no films scheduled for the week of the Fourth of July).

While watching the Next Stage production of Gina Gionfriddo's RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN at Theatre Memphis, I was reminded of John Van Druten's screenplay for the 1943 Warner Brothers film OLD ACQUAINTANCE. It was one of those 'women pictures' which provided thespic opportunities for the likes of actresses like Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins, who, in fact, were the lead players in this particular film. In their youth, the two women had been friends, but as their paths parted in life, the Davis character, brittle and alone, became a critically acclaimed (if financially challenged) author, while the Hopkins character, finally penning a bestseller (trash that it is, it rakes in the 'big bucks'), jealously desires what Davis has. I couldn't help thinking, if Gionfriddo's RAPTURE had fallen into the hands of a director like Vincent Sherman, I could see Davis as the 'Catherine Croll' character, who, despite national recognition and an evidently fulfilling career, begins to have doubts about her life choices. (If you've ever seen the famous car scene in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE, also starring Davis, you'll hear the character of stage actress 'Margo Channing' lament what a woman gives up when she devotes herself entirely to a career: I wonder if this very scene influenced Ms. Gionfriddo in her characterizations.) The other character, 'Gwen,' would obviously have been given over to Hopkins, who would have shone as the once promising woman who jettisoned her own burgeoning promise to marry 'Don Harper,' who once had been Catherine's intended (George Brent, anyone?).

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are adding four new collections to their TCM Greatest Classic Films line, which spotlights some of Hollywood's most legendary actors and actresses in classic cinema.

Esther Williams's JUPITER'S DARLING is among the new releases from the Warner Archive Collection!

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (WBHE) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are adding four new collections to their TCM Greatest Classic Films line, which spotlights some of Hollywood's most legendary actors and actresses in classic cinema.

From a pact with the devil to an heiress with only months to live, several of December's Reel 13 offerings grapple with matters of mortality. Reel 13 is funded by the Sy Syms Foundation, the Henry Nias Foundation, and the Rubin Museum of Art.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, currently starring in 'The Master,' kicks off October's independent films on Reel 13 with his 2003 'Owning Mahowny,' also starring Minnie Driver and John Hurt.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, currently starring in 'The Master,' kicks off October's independent films on Reel 13 with his 2003 'Owning Mahowny,' also starring Minnie Driver and John Hurt.