Andrew Lippa News

Michael Reidel reports today that Bebe Neuwirth has been signed to play Morticia in Andrew Lippa, Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman's new Addams Family musical and that Nathan Lane is being sought to play hubby Gomez.  That's all very well and good but the casting coup I'd like to see is Adam “Cubby Bernstein” Riegler for the role of Pugsley.  I first caught Adam at the York Theatre's Mufti production of I And Albert where he absolutely slew the audience as a cockney juvenile delinquent, getting a roar of laughter and a big round of applause for saying one line.  (It wasn't even a funny one.)  I hear Adam has been nabbed for Shrek: The Musical, but maybe his agent can dig up some kind of loophole.  As Lucy Van Pelt says, 'This kind of thing always has a loophole.'

Due to scheduling conflicts with the previous theatre, the Northwest premiere of ZANNA, DON'T! will now be performing at Seattle Repertory Theatre's PONCHO Forum opening June 27 with a run through July 6.

It's finally here! The jam-packed end-of-season roundup of CDs from our very own Naomi Plume (so big, it had to be put into two parts)...The good, the bad, the ugly...or to quote from the ad for the upcoming musical A TALE OF A TWO CITIES... 'it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.' We're so glad that we got to use that line first! So enjoy this very special two-parter - happy reading, happy listening, happy buying (or not) and good luck to everyone at the TONY Awards on Sunday night from all of us at BroadwayWorld.com. So enjoy this very special two-parter - happy reading, happy listening, happy buying (or not) and good luck to everyone at the TONY Awards on Sunday night from all of us at BroadwayWorld.com.

The world premiere musical revue 'Tonight at Eight: Saluting Sheldon Harnick' will launch Northwestern University's Summer Music Theatre Festival 2008.

Transport Group, the winner of 2007 Drama Desk and Obie awards, will offer the Diva Master Classes, its second series of master classes taught by some of the biggest divas in Broadway musicals.

This summer, Northwestern University's American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) and the Theatre and Interpretation Center will present the Summer 2008 musical theatre programs on the Evanston campus.

Northwestern University's Summer Music Theatre Festival 2008 announces line-up.

Bartlett Sher, who has received great acclaim as well as a Tony nomination and Drama Desk Award as Best Director of A Musical for the current Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific, will direct the new musical BRUCE LEE: JOURNEY TO THE WEST, to be produced on Broadway by Elephant Eye Theatrical. Joining Sher are Tony nominees David Yazbek (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) composing the music and writing the lyrics and David Henry Hwang (M Butterfly, Yellow Face) penning the book.

Lauren Kennedy will celebrate her new CD 'Here and Now' at The Zipper Factory on May 18th at 8pm.

Actress and singer Idina Menzel has released four live tracks off of her latest album from an AOL session- 'Brave', 'Gorgeous', 'I Stand', 'My Own Worst Enemy'.

An evening featuring the songs of Andrew Lippa (2000 Drama Desk award winner for best music The Wild Party) will be presented by 3S Theatre Collective.

An evening featuring the songs of Andrew Lippa (2000 Drama Desk award winner for best music The Wild Party) is presented by 3S Theatre Collective. Guest stars: Kate Reinders (Wicked), Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast) and Julie Foldesi (Little Women) Tickets for the two night benefit concert titled, Welcome to the World, featuring Valerie Issembert, Sharone Sayegh and Louise Stewart are now on sale through THEATREMANIA.COM or by calling 212-352-3101. The show will be presented Monday May 12th at 8pm. ADDED PERFORMANCE TUESDAY MAY 13TH AT 7PM. The concert will benefit the brand new, tri-state based, non-profit Theatre Company, 3S Theatre Collective. The goals of the company: 3STC is committed to bridging the gap between the current generation and the next generation of theatre artists by fostering new talent from all aspects of the art. . . to bring spectacular entertainment to NYC and the areas surrounding Manhattan. . . [and] to not doing anything 'by the book.' [The company] intends to do everything [it] can to make a splash, turn heads and raise eyebrows.' Over the next few months, under the guidance of Kevin R. Free, 3STC will also begin an educational outreach program to further it's commitment to the artists of tomorrow. To support 3STC and it's mission, email marc@3stheatrecollective.org.

3S Theatre Collective presents an evening of songs by Andrew Lippa on May 12th at 8pm and May 13th at 7pm. The concerts will feature special guest stars Kate Reinders (Wicked), Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast) and Julie Foldesi (Little Women).

The Leading Men III concert was performed on Monday, April 21, 2008 at 7:00pm to a sold out audience, as part of the long-running concert series Broadway at Birdland. The concert was a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Stage, film and television star Kristin Chenoweth joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for its annual Corporate Night celebration on Tuesday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. Led by conductor Andrew Lippa, Chenoweth will perform songs from some of Broadway's most celebrated musicals, including 'Wicked,' 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,' and 'The Music Man,' alongside beloved standards and opera classics.

The acclaimed New York series, Monday Nights New Voices, now in its fourth season, makes its official debut in Chicago April 21st at Gentry On State.

Applications are being accepted for the 3rd Annual Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project.

West End Sound of Music star Connie Fisher swapped her nun's wimple for an adjudicator's hat at the Grand Theatre, Swansea on Saturday March 1st as a member of the adjudicating panel for the 2008 Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the Year contest. During the evening Connie also made a welcome return to the stage where she was herself the 2006 winner of the contest before going on to earn stardom as the winner of the BBC's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria talent show. After being greeted by rapturous applause from the audience in her native Wales, she treated the crowd to a rendition of Cole Porter's classic tongue twister, 'The Physician' (first sung by Gertrude Lawrence in Nymph Errant in 1933). Then she returned to the score of The Sound of Music to sing 'Edelweiss', accompanied by the Dunvant Male Choir, before completing her short programme with a virtuoso rendition of Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby's 'Everybody Wants To Do A Musical' - a song from the musical Nick and Nora she had performed on the same stage the night she became the Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the year two years ago.

Free and open to the public, the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue presents 'Our Tradition, Our Torah, Our Future' - the major Centennial concert, includes a musical journey from the inception of SWFS until the present day and into future, featuring past and present musical forces of the synagogue. The concert will be held Sunday February 10 at 7PM.

The BMI Musical Theatre Workshop is a one-of-a-kind program with the soul purpose of fostering creativity in the art of musical theatre, and to provide the footing for tomorrow's composers and lyricists whose music may one day leap from the page and onto the stage. Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist, Maury Yeston, teaches the Advanced Workshop class and shares some of the remarkable history and opportunities BMI offers.