Ghostlight Records will release Beautiful Dreamer, the debut solo album from rising Broadway and vocal star DONNA VIVINO, in stores and via online outlets December 10, 2013. Beautiful Dreamer weaves 13 diverse songs into a thematically-cohesive collection from Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley. Jerry Vivino - the veteran New York musician and longtime member of the Conan O'Brien house band - leads the disc's all-star jazz quartet and serves as producer. Taking a break from performing on Broadway in the smash hit Wicked, Donna will star Off Broadway inStars of David - a new song cycle celebrating Jewish identity, based on the bestselling book, with original music by the theater's top songwriters - fromNovember 13 to December 15. To pre-order Beautiful Dreamer, please visit www.sh-k-boom.com/donnavivino-beautifuldreamer.html.
The York Theatre Company will honor legendary Broadway and film composer Alan Menken with the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre at the 22nd Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala to be held Monday, December 9, 2013 at The Hudson Theatre (145 West 44thStreet).
Primary Stages has announced that their annual Gala will take place Monday, November 11, 2013 at The Edison Ballroom (240 W. 47th Street). The event will honor Tony Award-winning playwright Christopher Durang and President of the General Counsel at Dramatists Play Service, Stephen Sultan. The Gala Chairs are Catherine Adler and HBO. The Tony nominated star of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Kristine Nielsen, will offer a tribute to Mr. Durang. Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright John Patrick Shanley will offer a tribute to Mr. Sultan. The evening will feature performances by Rachel DeBenedet (Catch Me If You Can, Addams Family), Alan Paul (Grease, Oliver!, Manhattan Transfer), Michele Ragusa (Urinetown, Ragtime, A Class Act, Adrift in Macao), and Alton F. White (The Color Purple, The Lion King, Ragtime).
The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) brings one of Hollywood's most-loved musicals to life with a graceful stage adaptation of Singin' in the Rain, running tonight, Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 in UC's Corbett Auditorium.
Some people, especially some cabaret reviewers and cabaret fans, might think it's lazy or a copout or both for a performer to keep recycling previous shows. But when the Café Carlyle comes a'callin' you: A) May not have enough time to create a totally new show or B) Want to pitch the big game with your best stuff or C) All of the above. Since I only started reviewing cabaret in late 2010, I missed the Laurie Beechman Theatre debut of Jennifer Sheehan's 2009 show You Made Me Love You: Celebrating 100 Years of the Great American Songbook, and missed it again when she brought it to the Metropolitan Room in 2010. So I, for one, am not complaining that she dusted off the critically praised set again (with the new slug 'Timeless Classics and New Treasures' from said Songbook show) for her debut last Saturday night at the prestigious Café Carlyle. Sheehan may have been booked for the room's new 10:45 late night series and not the prime time slot, but at least the Carlyle is giving opportunities to exciting young cabaret performers like Sheehan (and Marissa Mulder, who will make her debut at the room on November 7). With You Made Me Love You, Sheehan made everything old new again-at least for me.
The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) brings one of Hollywood's most-loved musicals to life with a graceful stage adaptation of Singin' in the Rain, running Oct. 31 through Nov. 3 in UC's Corbett Auditorium.
With host Sean Hartley and Music Director Matt Gallagher. So far Tony-nominated composer-lyricist Amanda Green has been represented on Broadway three times with High Fidelity and two of last season's shows, the exuberant Bring it On: The Musical and the pioneering Hands on a Hardbody.
Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, will present WONDERFUL TOWN, the inaugural performance of their 2013-2014 season at the Moss Theatre at New Roads School in Santa Monica. The one-night-only concert will take place on Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 7:00 pm.
According to an Equity casting notice, On the Town might be heading back to Broadway. Casting will soon take place for a developmental lab on December 8-19, with an anticipated Broadway revival in early 2014. The project will feature direction by John Rando, who also helmed a 2008 Encores production, and choreography by Josh Bergasse.
Pittsburgh CLO has just announced the 2014 Summer Season, featuring the big, blonde sensation, Legally Blonde the Musical and the National Tour of Evita, fresh off its hit Broadway engagement. This Season will also include beloved musical theater treasure Singin' in the Rain, outrageous comedy masterpiece Spamalot, seven-time Tony Award-winner CATS and the explosive cult film phenomenon turned Broadway powerhouse Footloose, being produced by Pittsburgh CLO for the first time.
Cincinnati Landmark Productions knows how to put on great summer shows! We've been serving up hilarious comedies, beloved musicals, belly laughs, dazzling dances, stirring songs and onstage fireworks for over 30 years! For the Summer of 2014, we've put together a hot four-show package at the cool Covedale Center for the Performing Arts.
Broadway Close Up takes you behind the scenes of musicals old and new with eye-opening interviews and inspiring performances by some of Broadway's greatest talents. The 2013 performances kick off with the annual Bound for Broadway show hosted by Liz Callaway and continues with Tony-nominated lyricist Amanda Green, an evening with the fascinating women from the musicals of Cy Coleman, and an enchanting exploration of duets, trios, quartets and ensemble numbers by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Irving Berlin among others.
Today we are talking to uniquely compelling composer and lyricist known for her urbane wit and contemporary sensibility, having contributed music and lyrics to the recent Broadway musicals HIGH FIDELITY, BRING IT ON! and HANDS ON A HARD BODY as well as penning many other original musicals and unique standalone songs over the course of her career, Amanda Green. Discussing her famous musical theatre lineage - her father was legendary theatrical icon Adolph Green and her mother is famous actress Phyllis Newman - and sharing stories from her youth, Green sheds some light on her familial profession of choice and details the finer points of her own songwriting process, particularly insofar as it pertains to her two recent major musicals seen in New York. On that note, Green offers the 411 on the creative process in composing both the rap/pop-infused, high-school-set BRING IT ON! alongside collaborators Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda as well as her work with Phish's Trey Anastasio on the down-home country sounds of HANDS ON A HARD BODY. Additionally, Green previews what we can expect from her upcoming Birdland concert, AMANDA GREEN & FRIENDS, and illuminates some of her sparkling previous work which may make its way into the live show. Plus, looks back on her experiences with the screen-to-stage adaptation of HIGH FIDELITY, imparts hilarious anecdotes about writing for Playboy Magazine, reveals her involvement in the currently on-hold DEBBIE DOES DALLAS movie musical, reflects on her first musical revue and album, PUT A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR MOUTH!, as well as drops hints on her next musical project and much, much more!
Best Musical, a completely improvised show, will be coming to the UP Comedy Club in Chicago for a limited run. Porchlight has also announced Porchlight Revisits, which are one night showings of some of their favorite shows, this year includes GOLDEN BOY and FADE OUT - FADE IN, both for one night only.
A lineup of top entertainers including, Julie Andrews, Lucie Arnaz, Tony Bennett, Tim Conway, Tina Fey, Rashida Jones, Vicki Lawrence, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Rosemary Watson and others will salute Carol Burnett at the 16th Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, October 20, 2013 at 8:00 p.m. The evening will pay tribute the humor and accomplishments of Carol Burnett, and will be taped by WETA Washington, D.C. as Carol Burnett: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize. The program will air on PBS stations nationwide November 24, 2013 (check local listings). Artists are subject to change.
The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre's Executive Producer & CEO, Bill Kiska, has announced the theater's upcoming Mainstage Season. As Frederick's only year-round producing theater, Way Off Broadway is preparing to reach a milestone when its 2014 Season opens in January. Way Off Broadway will be celebrating twenty years of entertainment at its theater located in the Willowtree Plaza on the west side of the City of Frederick.
Singin' In The Rain will open tonight, August 21 in the State Theatre. Currently enjoying a sell out season in London, the Australian production will be directed by Gary Young, choreographed by Kelley Abbey and feature John Foreman as musical director.
Joseph Wise, a performer who portrayed the original part of a Porter - of the famed Four Porters, that is - in the 1978 Broadway premiere production of ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY has released a new dance remix of a favorite track from the glorious Cy Coleman/Betty Comdon/Adolph Green score he once sang on the Great White Way.
