Alan Jay Lerner News

Centenary Stage Company's Young Performers work tirelessly to perfect their dance moves, learn all of their lines, and get their vocal harmonies just right for the culmination of their training session and this spring is no exception. These talented young thespians between the ages of 8 and 18 to the Little Theater with their annual Spring Festival of Shows May 27 through June 5.  This year's festival features a variety of musical favorites to entertain audiences of all ages.  Hailed as a "state treasure" by Peter Filichia of the Star Ledger and bringing in youth from Morris, Warren, Hunterdon and Sussex counties, Centenary Stage Company's Young Performance Workshop is one of the few young actor training programs in the country that combines formal training with practical application.

CAMELOT by Lerner and Loewe, currently playing at the Georgetown Palace Theatre is certainly a bright, shining moment on stage.

The 5th Avenue Theatre presents an exciting new 'revisal' of the sweeping saga Lerner & Loewe's PAINT YOUR WAGON. Featuring an all-new book by Pulitzer Prize nominee John Marans, this show has taken an incredible journey over the last five years from developmental workshops to The 5th Avenue stage this season. And BroadwayWorld is happy to report that the company has just announced the full cast and creative team.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, April 24, 2016 - Sunday, April 24, 2016.

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.

Writers seeking fame and recognition are generally advised to steer clear of the task of writing books for Broadway musicals. Regarded by theatre insiders to be perhaps the most vital, yet most underappreciated element of a successful musical, the book oftentimes receives the least credit when a musical's a hit, but is the first thing blamed if it's a flop.

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's near masterpiece of a musical MY FAIR LADY took Broadway by storm 60 years ago this year and has become a 20th century classic. I am happy to report the plucky flower girl from the mean streets of London who gets molded into a proper lady is as lovely as ever as presented by Riverside Performing Arts Center. The sparkling wit, unrequited romance, musical hall turns and lush music are all performed with love and panache in director Patrick A'Hearn's production, featuring well-known DC actor Thomas Adrian Simpson as Henry Higgins and Riverside veteran Quinn Vogt-Welch in the title role.

Today in 1957, Brigadoon opened at the Adelphi Theatre, where it ran for 47 performances. Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. Songs from the musical, such as 'Almost Like Being in Love' have become standards. The story involves two American tourists who stumble upon Brigadoon, a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years. Tommy, one of the tourists, falls in love with Fiona, a young woman from Brigadoon. The original production opened on Broadway in 1947 and ran for 581 performances. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. A 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk.

Opera Australia Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini AM and leading theatre producer John Frost AM will present a brand new production of Lerner and Loewe's masterpiece My Fair Lady at the Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House in 2016, celebrating the iconic musical's 60th anniversary. My Fair Lady will be directed by world-renowned actor and director Dame Julie Andrews with choreography by Tony Award-winning Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, The King and I, South Pacific). The premiere has been secured exclusively for Sydney by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

Diamond Head Theatre presents CAMELOT, now playing thru April 16, 2016.

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.

One of my favorite things about writing for BroadwayWorld is continuing my travels around Long Island throughout the Spring and Summer. And to bring you the latest on the Long Island theatre scene is just the icing and sprinkles and cherries and... well, you get it... on the cake. And from the looks of things, I am going to be a very busy bee again this season as there are some thrilling shows on the horizon.

New Conservatory Theatre Center crowns its 2015-16 season with the West Coast premiere of a whimsical reimagining of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, the classic American musical featuring music by Burton Lane, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, and a new book by Peter Parnell, based on the original book by Lerner. This mesmerizing and enchanting new look at the classic musical is just your typical musical comedy - about hypnosis, a gay florist with commitment issues, a love triangle with a therapist, and past life as a 1940s chanteuse.

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe's superb mixture of acerbic wit and lilting romance remain's one of Broadway's greatest musicals.

Tuesday 15th March marks the 60th Anniversary of MY FAIR LADY's opening night on Broadway in 1956.  To celebrate the anniversary, producers Opera Australia and John Frost announced a release of new tickets to the Sydney season.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 13, 2016 - Sunday, March 13, 2016.

Today in 1947, Brigadoon opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre, where it ran for 581 performances. Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It tells the story of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night. Brigadoon then received a West End production opening in 1949 that ran for 685 performances, and many revivals followed. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. A 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk.

Jack F. Lee (born John Francis Lee), beloved musical director of both stage and screen, passed away peacefully on March 2, 2016 in his home at the age of 86. Mr. Lee was one of Broadway's leading conductors and musical directors who worked with composers/lyricists John Kander & Fred Ebb, Cy Coleman & Dorothy Fields, Jule Styne, Richard Rogers, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse, Alan Jay Lerner, Maury Yeston, Robert Wright & George Forrest, Sandy Wilson, Bob Merrill, Betty Comden & Adolph Green and Harvey Schmidt & Tom Jones.

Michael Weber, artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre, has announced Porchlight Music Theatre's 2016 - 2017 mainstage season which includes In The Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's first big hit and winner of four Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Score, September 9 - October 16, 2016; End of the Rainbow, the Chicago premiere of the Judy Garland bio musical play, a recent smash hit in London and New York, November 4 - December 4, 2016; The Scottsboro Boys, the long-awaited Chicago premiere of the final collaboration of Kander and Ebb concerning one of the most infamous events in American history, February 3 - March 12, 2017; Marry Me a Little, Jeff Award-winning Porchlight Artistic Associate Austin Cook stars in this rarely seen Stephen Sondheim production, April 14 - May 21, 2017.

Bay Street Theater has announced the three productions of the 2016 Mainstage Summer Season. The Mainstage season begins on May 31 and runs through August 28. Subscriptions are available by calling the Box Office at 631-725-9500 or online at www.baystreet.org.