Audra McDonald News

Angela Lansbury and Friends (and what incredible friends she has!), an all-star salute to Terrence McNally, has been announced for Monday, March 28, 2011 at the Longacre Theatre at 7 pm. A benefit for The Acting Company, Ms. Lansbury has gathered Audra McDonald, Alan Cumming, Tyne Daly, Edie Falco, Roger Rees and Raul Esparza who will sing, share memories and recreate scenes from dozens of McNally hits. John Glover, Marin Mazzie, Joyce DiDonato, Malcolm Gets, Emily Skinner, Alexandra Silber, Bobby Steggert, Jason Danieley and Stephen Bogardus will round out the evening.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Various happenings at Broadway In Chicago, new musicals at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 'Follies,' 'Into The Woods,' 'Porgy And Bess,' more....

Dan Sharkey, whose Broadway credits include The Music Man and Show Boat, will join the cast of The Fantasticks as Hucklebee on February 28, 2011. He replaces Gene Jones, who played his final performance on February 20.

Virginia's Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre, through its groundbreaking American Musical Voices Project (AMVP), announces the world premiere of the musical comedy And the Curtain Rises (formerly known as Wheatley's Folly). Beginning performances on Thursday, March 17, 2011, And the Curtain Rises marks the third production presented as part of Signature's AMVP, the largest commissioning program for new musicals in the country, following Michael John LaChiusa's Giant in 2009 and Ricky Ian Gordon's Sycamore Trees last year. The Washington Post has said that 'Signature's AMVP is the most ambitious embrace of new musical theater in the DC region.'

Profiles Theatre is bringing back its acclaimed Midwest Premiere of Jailbait by Deirdre O'Connor, directed by Artistic Director Joe Jahraus, for a limited engagement at its new space, The Second Stage. The production closes February 27, 2011, at The Second Stage, 3408 N. Sheffield (the former Stage Left Theatre).

Victory Gardens continues its 2010/11 Season with the Chicago premiere of Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, directed by Dexter Bullard.

Victory Gardens continues its 2010/11 Season with the Chicago premiere of Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, directed by Dexter Bullard.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) continues its 2010/11 Season with Steven Sater and Serj Tankian's world premiere rock musical Prometheus Bound, directed by Diane Paulus.

Beginning on June 4, 2011, with Placido Domingo in concert, and with such renowned artists as James Taylor, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Helen Mirren, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones and the London Symphony Orchestra to follow, the new BlackCreek Summer Music Festival will launch its inaugural season at the Rexall Centre on the grounds of York University in Toronto.

Fifty years after her legendary Carnegie Hall debut, The New York Pops and Music Director Steven Reineke pay tribute to Hollywood icon Judy Garland on Friday, March 11 at 8:00 PM, with a song-for-song re-creation of the 1961 performance referred to by so many as 'the greatest night in show business history'. Reineke has announced the newest addition to the concert's lineup of stunning artists, acclaimed entertainer - and daughter of Judy Garland - Lorna Luft.

Broadway leading lady Kelli O'Hara and opera star Nathan Gunn will perform selections from Show Boat; Carousel; Kiss Me, Kate; Very Warm for May; Love Life; One Touch of Venus; Street Scene; On the Town; Candide; and West Side Story with the New York Philharmonic, in Classic Broadway, conducted by Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, Monday, March 21, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. The pair will perform solos and duets from hit shows by American songwriters Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and Leonard Bernstein, whose music was matched with words by such celebrated lyricists as Oscar Hammerstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Stephen Sondheim. A complete listing of songs follows.

Victory Gardens continues its 2010/11 Season with the Chicago premiere of Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, directed by Dexter Bullard.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra today announced its programs for the 2011-12 concert season, conductor Jacques Lacombe's second year as the Orchestra's Music Director.

Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook, which explores the best of the golden age of musical standards through to the best in current songwriting, will bring to the stage some of today's most gifted interpreters of song.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents its annual 2011 Spring Gala honoring Emmy Award winner Alec Baldwin.

Each year, The Drama League's one-night-only gala concert boasts an incredible roster of Broadway's biggest and brightest stars, performing favorite songs from Broadway seasons past and present. This year, the show included performances highlighting Patti LuPone's unequalled stage career.

Victory Gardens continues its 2010/11 Season with the Chicago premiere of Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker, directed by Dexter Bullard.

If you were asked to name Nashville's Top Ten Favorite Musicals, what show would you name as number one? Perhaps surprisingly, when that question was posed to a group of Nashville theater folk, the number one-ranked show is Les Miserables (but perhaps it's not that surprising, since Victor Hugo's book was a huge hit in the American South upon its initial publication in this country), followed by A Chorus Line, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods claiming the remaining slots in the Top Five.

TVLine.com has broken the news that Audra McDonald will be leaving the hit, ABC drama PRIVATE PRACTICE at the end of this season so she can be closer to her NY-based family, including 10 year old daughter Zoe. She expected to make future guest appearances on the show however.

Below, BroadwayWorld brings you the series finale of Billy Green, appropriately entitled, 'The Conclusion.' Viewer discretion is advised.