Alfred Drake News

Musicals Tonight! has announced its 2015-16 season. Scroll down for details!

National Recording Registry To “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”. Joan Baez, Sly Stone, Steve Martin Recordings Named American Treasures

'If music be the food of love, play on.' Even before the invention of the musical comedy (more on that later), William Shakespeare knew the importance of music in telling stories on stage. For our March feature, my colleague Jeff Walker and I thought that instead of marking the Ides of March with songs about murder, betrayal, and fate, we would focus on the synergy between showtunes and Shakespeare.

RAW Readings presented by Theatre Now New York are FREE. New York, New York - Theatre Now New York, in association with Sari Weisman, will open its Raw Reading Series with a FREE reading of SPEAK OF THE DEVIL by Richard F. Stockton, revised by Marsha Lee Sheiness, and directed by Robert Kalfin, Sunday, February 8, 2015 at 3:00PM at 520 8th Avenue, 3rd floor, in Manhattan. A wine and cheese reception with the artists will follow.

The Pasadena Playhouse (Artistic Director Sheldon Epps and Executive Director Elizabeth Doran) presents A CONVERSATION WITH PATRICIA MORISON, a 100th Birthday Celebration, on Sunday, March 15, 2015. This special event, honoring Broadway legend Patricia Morison (the original star of KISS ME, KATE) four days before her 100th birthday, takes place from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at The University Club of Pasadena at 175 North Oakland Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91101.

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, a play about the 'Great Agnostic' Robert Ingersoll will be presented on Sunday, February 8, 2015.

Today in 1948, opened at the Shubert Theatre. Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang. Kiss Me, Kate was a response to Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and other integrated musicals, and it proved to be his biggest hit and the only one of his shows to run for more than 1,000 performances on Broadway. It won the first Tony Award presented for Best Musical, in 1949.

What better way to commemorate the 100th birthday of one of the nation's most storied theaters - The Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut - than with a special video starring the national company of Irving Berlin's White Christmas, the first show to take the stage in the theater's centennial year?

If things around the Thanksgiving table get too darn hot, entertain your spouse, your friends, and your in-laws with this theatrically-immersive classic musical. KISS ME, KATE pops and swings! With a five-piece band playing Cole Porter's most-loved tunes, a professional cast, and colorful costumes, KISS ME, KATE is a musical reinvented for today's audiences.

Happy Birthday, Alfred Drake! He is best known for his leading roles in the original Broadway productions of Oklahoma!; Kiss Me, Kate; Kismet; and for playing Marshall Blackstone in the original production of Babes in Arms, (in which he sang the title song) and Hajj in Kismet, for which he received the Tony Award. His 1964 stage performance as Claudius in the Richard Burton Hamlet was filmed live on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. His final stage appearance in a musical was in 1973 as Honore LaChaisse in Lerner and Loewe's Gigi. Two years later he starred in a revival of The Skin of Our Teeth.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, presents the company's 20th Anniversary Season opener - Kiss Me, Kate, which opened earlier this and runs through July 12 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage (30 Union Street). Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at the cast in action!

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, presents the company's 20th Anniversary Season opener - Kiss Me, Kate, which opened last night, June 16, and runs through July 12 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage (30 Union Street). Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a look back at the opening night celebrations!

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, presents the company's 20th Anniversary Season opener - Kiss Me, Kate, to be presented today, June 11 through July 12 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage (30 Union Street).

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS today, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS tonight, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

The Ziegfeld Society will present Tony Award winning Broadway Conductor Donald Pippin in A MAESTRO'S MEMOIRS on Saturday, May 17th, a multi-media presentation of his life in the theatre.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, has announced casting for the company's 20th Anniversary Season opener - Kiss Me, Kate, to be presented June 11 through July 12 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage (30 Union Street).

Diversionary Theatre and Martinis Above Fourth | Table & Stage in beautiful Hillcrest are excited to announce a new collaboration in 2014, presenting for the first time ever performances of Diversionary's adventurous Cabaret series in San Diego's premier Dinner Theatre!