Alan Muraoka News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Happy Friday! Grab your coffee, kick back, and read the latest news to close out your week!

Beloved Broadway (Aladdin, In Transit, Allegiance, Godspell, Rent, Wicked, Pacific Overtures, Flower Drum Song) and television star ("Glee"), Telly Leung, is coming to Los Angeles to present a brand-new show, "Sing Happy" on March 18th at Vitello's Supper Club.

After years of playing well with others - whether singing backup for friends' shows, or crooning alongside a cast of puppet characters - Jennifer Barnhart finally steps into the spotlight in her first solo cabaret, fittingly titled, 'It's About Time!' Alan Muraoka will direct two evenings of stories, silliness and song as Jennifer shares the journey that led her to two of the most famous streets in the world: Broadway and Sesame Street.

Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) presented the MOCA 2019 Lunar New Year Soiree at the famed Rice & Gold, a unique Asian Eatery in the Hotel 50 Bowery on February 20, 2019.

Tony Award-winning Broadway star Alice Ripley has joined the cast of Into The Woods: In Concert at Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts. Ripley will play the role of The Witch.

Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts has just announced the cast list for its production of 'INTO THE WOODS: IN CONCERT'. There will be three performances, March 8 at 8 p.m. and March 9 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Ticket prices range between $39 - $69, plus applicable fees, and are available online, by phone or at the box office. For more information, visit PatchogueTheatre.org, call the Patchogue Theatre Box Office at 631-207-1313, or stop by 71 East Main Street, Patchogue, NY.

Utah's Governor Gary R. Herbert held a press conference last week to announce not-to-miss musical headliners, performances that will be a part of the Spike 150 celebration of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, including events starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, Megan Hilty and Ali Ewoldt.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series was proud to present Aladdin star Telly Leung in a new concert, "Sing Happy," on Monday, November 11.

A spectacle like no other awaits millions as the 92nd annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, America's favorite tradition, kicks-off the holiday season. The MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE is the nation's biggest and most anticipated holiday celebration.

Birdland will kick-off their great week of programming with Veronica Swift and Emmet Cohen Trio, Carole Sloane "Still Autumn in New York," Ken Peplowski Big Band, and more!

TELLY LEUNG - currently starring as the title role in Disney's Aladdin on Broadway - will release a new digital single, an updated version of the holiday classic "All I Want for Christmas Is You" to benefit ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty) from Yellow Sound Label on Friday, November 30. The song is arranged by Lynne Shankel.

National Asian Artists Project and Prospect Theater Company presented a sold-out concert reading of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into the Woods at The TimesCenter in New York on October 20. Scroll down for photos of backstage, performance and the reception.

Birdland will kick-off their exciting month of programming with the following acts:

Chicago Opera Theater (COT) will kick off the 2018/2019 season with "Iolanta," a Chicago premiere of legendary composer P.I. Tchaikovsky's final opera. Internationally renowned and award-winning conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya will make her conducting debut as Chicago Opera Theater's Staley Music Director and set the tone for the season to come. Acclaimed stage director Paul Curran, known for his work at Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera Chicago and more, will shape the retelling of this joyous love-story, featuring an almost entirely Chicago-based cast including soprano Katherine Weber as Iolanta, and renowned Russian bass Mikhail Svetlov as Rene. The opening night and press performance takes place on Saturday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the historic Studebaker Theater (410 S. Michigan Ave.) Additional performances will take place Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 18 at 3 p.m.

TELLY LEUNG - currently starring as the title role in Disney's Aladdin on Broadway - will return to the "Broadway at Birdland" concert series to premiere his new show "Sing Happy" at Birldand Jazz Club

Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical if given a memorable presentation.

ABC Talent and Casting will present the 2018 ABC Discovers: New York Talent Showcase, TUESDAY, SEPT. 25 at the New World Stages – Stage 2, in New York City. Part of Disney|ABC Television's ongoing commitment to create opportunities for undiscovered talent, the showcase features selected participants performing in a one-night showcase for casting directors, talent agents, managers and other industry professionals. In addition, the selected showcase actors are awarded a one-year mentorship with executives from the ABC Casting Department. As part of the mentorship, the showcase actors will be offered on-camera workshops specifically for them to further hone their craft and auditioning skills. Talent will also have access to various ABC and ABC Studios executives.

ANNIE, this year's Hollywood Bowl Summer Musical, will be performed by an all-star cast July 27, 28 and 29. Each year, a condensed version of a full-length Broadway musical corrals name performers from theatre, television and music with crazy, busy schedules that normally wouldn't be available for a full musical schedule commitment. We have the opportunity to chat with Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, who will be playing Grace Farrell in this production.

Jason Ma has been named the recipient of the 2017 ASCAP Foundation Cole Porter Award, presented annually to an emerging composer/lyricist 'whose work shows promise.'

This Thanksgiving, a magical march returns to the streets of New York City and to homes across the U.S. as the 91st Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade kicks-off the holiday season with its signature spectacle of wonder. The streets of Manhattan will come alive at the sound of 'Let's Have A Parade!' Ready to spread holiday cheer, the annual procession is sure to delight more than 3.5 million spectators and more than 50 million viewers nationwide with its traditional merriment.