Audra McDonald News

Walt Disney Records' 'Beauty And The Beast' Original Motion Picture Soundtrack climbs its way to the top of the charts, barely a week after the opening of its live-action remake. The soundtrack is currently charting on several digital platforms in the Philippines:

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: Bernadette Peters and more celebrate Cameron Mackintosh at Signature's Sondheim Gala in D.C., and four 'Lolas' strut their stuff this evening at the TDF HONORS KINKY BOOTS benefit!

The Minnesota Orchestra today announced plans for the 2017-18 seasons of its Live at Orchestra Hall, Holiday Concerts and Jazz in the Target Atrium series. Live at Orchestra Hall, a series of popular music, jazz, Broadway classics, movie scores, world music and other genres, is led by Principal Conductor of Live at Orchestra Hall Sarah Hicks. She conducts many of the series' concerts, including those with Rufus Wainwright and Cloud Cult, return performances with Pink Martini and Ben Folds, and screenings of four major feature films, with scores performed live. The Holiday season includes December concerts that range from a newly created Minnesota Orchestra Holiday Show, led by Hicks, directed by Peter Rothstein and featuring new work by storyteller-playwright Kevin Kling; to the return of Merry and Bright: A Big Brassy Christmas with Charles Lazarus; to the Orchestra's first-ever performance at Orchestra Hall of Bach's glorious Christmas Oratorio, led by beloved German conductor Helmuth Rilling.

The production will be conducted by MasterVoices' Artistic Director Ted Sperling and will feature previously announced stars Kelli O'Hara, Bill Irwin, Lauren Worsham, Christopher Fitzgerald - with Jonathan Freeman, Chris Sullivan, and Jeffrey Schecter just joining the lineup - alongside 130 singers of MasterVoices, with Orchestra of St. Luke's.

SRO Theatre Company's 2016-2017 season continues with the Central Ohio premiere of the Tony Award- (Best Score and Best Orchestrations) winning musical The Bridges of Madison County. The sweeping, romantic musical was written by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman ('night Mother) with music and lyrics by Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade).

Berkshire Theatre Group announces the final production of its upcoming 2017 Summer Season will be Mark Medoff's Tony, Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk Award-winning play, Children of a Lesser God, which will begin performances on Thursday, June 22 at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage. Opening night is set for Saturday, June 24 at 8pm.

The new documentary TERRENCE MCNALLY: EVERY ACT OF LIFE follows one of the world's most honored and risk-taking playwrights in an immersive exploration of how to “make the third act of life as interesting as the first two.”

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: David Byrne's JOAN OF ARC: INTO THE FIRE opens tonight Off-Broadway!

Nina Simone once said "You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times." But what do you do when a piece of art from 20 years ago, based on a piece of art from 40 years ago, about events which took place 100 years ago, reflects the times of today? The newest production of RAGTIME opens this week at the historic Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C., and is directed by Peter Flynn.

Steppenwolf's LookOut Series has announced a slate of programming for spring curated by two of Chicago's most talented and prolific theater artists: Actor/Playwright/Musician Sandra Delgado and Actor/Director Sandra Marquez, who is also a Steppenwolf ensemble member. Sandra Delgado is the playwright and star of Teatro Vista's upcoming production of La Havana Madrid, also running this spring in Steppenwolf's 1700 Theatre (April 14-May 21) as part of the theater's Visiting Company Initiative.

Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Audra McDonald, Stanley Tucci, Ian McKellen, Bill Condon (director) and Alan Menken (composer) arrived at Alice Tully Hall for the New York special screening of Disney's live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, through Columbia Pictures, together with MCA Music (Universal Music Philippines), held a special advance screening of its live-action retelling of the animated classic 'Beauty and the Beast' (1991) at IMAX Megamall Theatre in Mandaluyong Monday night.

Theatrical Outfit, Atlanta's second-oldest continually-operating professional theatre, aspires to create a compassionate, joyful and just community by starting the conversations that matter. From The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a timeless, epic musical co-production with Aurora Theatre (our third year in a row), to the conversation-starting new play Boy about gender reassignment, to the Atlanta premiere of GA native Lauren Gunderson's new, co-authored, Jane Austen-inspired holiday hit Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, to an intimate look at one of legend Billie Holiday's final solo appearances in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, to the Atlanta professional homecoming of Perfect Arrangement, local writer Topher Payne's mid-century gay-rights comedy, to a world premiere collaboration with Atlanta Opera, to T.O.'s non-traditional update on the sizzling Broadway classic 110 in the Shade, to year two of our Unexpected Play Readings, our 2017-2018 Season of Character truly offers something for everyone.

Bucks County Playhouse's Executive Producer, Robyn Goodman, Producing Director Alexander Fraser and Producers Stephen Kocis and Josh Fiedler are pleased to announce the Playhouse's 2017 subscription season.

'Floyd Collins,' now on stage at Blank Canvas Theatre, isn't your typical musical. There is no dancing, no show-stopper production numbers, no intentional humor, no subplot, no 'I wish for' numbers. It's a tale of simple folks, a story focused on a man with an obsession to spelunker (explore caves), the power of sensationalism in the press, and the role of family and faith.

Check out the top stories from Chicago you might have missed this week and more!

Descubre el videoclip oficial de LA BELLA Y LA BESTIA para España con Bely Basarte. Bely pone voz a las canciones de Bella en la nueva pelicula de accion real de LA BELLA Y LA BESTIA que llega el 17 de Marzo a nuestros cines.

The Drama League (Executive Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks) will honor two outstanding stage luminaries at this year's 83RD Annual Drama League Awards, set for Friday afternoon, May 19, 2017 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway). 

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDC Foundation), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), announces talent for the star-studded 'Mr. Abbott' Award Gala at espace in New York City on March 27.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra presents famous duets and solos of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, including "Love is Here to Stay," "Just One of Those Things" and highlights from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, April 21-23 in Red Bank, Newark and New Brunswick. Vocalist Marva Hicks and trumpeter Byron Stripling bring Armstrong and Fitzgerald's legendary partnership to life; Lee Musiker conducts.