Image Entertainment is proud to share a celebration of the life and wondrous work of one of Broadway's greatest legends - the incomparable Stephen Sondheim. For the master composer and lyricist's 80th birthday, scores of the musical theater's brightest stars gathered to perform more than two dozen sensational numbers from Sondheim's unsurpassed canon. Many of these enduring songs are rarely heard and several are performed by the original Broadway cast members. David Hyde Pierce hosts this magical event with Sondheim's longtime collaborator Paul Gemignani conducting the New York Philharmonic. Directed for the stage and television by Lonny Price and filmed live March 15-16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, this is a must-have addition for every musical theatre aficionado. SONDHEIM! The Birthday Concert will be available at an SRP of $24.98 for the DVD and $29.98 for the Blu-ray; the concert will also be available via digital download. Pre-book is October 19, 2010.
Click below to see the just-released short documentary following Leslie Kritzer as the legendary Liza Minnelli as she prepares to take over for Barbara Cook in the Broadway production of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM at Studio 54!
This week, in honor of true triple-threat trouper Kristin Chenoweth, we are featuring clips from her many stage and TV performances, as well as some clips from her new Disney feature film comedy YOU AGAIN co-starring Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Victor Garber and Betty White, in addition to some of her most GLEEktastic moments portraying April Rhodes on Fox's smash hit musical comedy series GLEE. We'll also take a look at what makes her a Broadway baby at heart and why the stage will always be the place where her feet are most firmly - and fabulously - planted, as adaptable as she undoubtedly is to all media. She can certainly hold her own on screens large or small, as her Golden Globe-winning performance on PUSHING DAISIES and her Emmy-nominated work on both GLEE and THE WEST WING certainly proved. She can do it all - and do a mean "Nessum Dorma" and "Glitter and Be Gay" to boot - absolutely anywhere - and she's everywhere to be seen in this Glinda edition of FLASHBACK/FLASHFORWARD FRIDAY!
This afternoon I had the delight of talking to one of the sweetest and sexiest (and shockingly super-talented) stars of stage and screen who can currently be seen on the hit of all TV hits, GLEE, in her recurring role as April Rhodes, as well as in the new Disney comedy YOU AGAIN co-starring Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell, Victor Garber, Cloris Leachman and Betty White: the Tony Award and Emmy Award-winning actress and operatic chanteuse herself, Ms. Kristin Chenoweth! In this BWW exclusive we talk about filming the first of several new episodes of GLEE next week, working on Broadway with GLEE lead (and show love interest) Matt Morrison, what Sondheim means to her, what GLEE means to Broadway, as well as a thorough look at her new Disney film YOU AGAIN directed by Andy Fickman. This is merely a tease of what's to come in the complete InDepth InterView: Kristin Chenoweth coming next week! Stay tuned to BWW until then! In the complete interview she also comments on working with Matt Morrison, Lea Michele and Ryan Murphy on GLEE, as well as Patti LuPone, Laura Benanti, Barbara Cook and John Doyle in her premiere Sondheim performance and working with Carrie Underwood - and many others! She's a Spring breeze on a Fall day - April (Rhodes) after all! Besides, this is just the bud, you'll have to wait until next week to watch our chat grow into a full bloom!
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine, and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post, continues its Fall 2010 season with the debut engagement of Broadway star and three-time Tony Award nominee KELLI O'HARA from October 19 - 30.
The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Sutton Foster, the Broadway Playhouse, 'Rock Of Ages,' 'Glee,' 'She Loves Me,' 'Seven Brides For Seven Brothers,' Patti LuPone, more....
MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, the five-time Grammy Award nominated, platinum-selling singer and pianist, will release his new CD Fly Me To The Moon - featuring guitar legend JOE NEGRI - on September 28, 2010.
As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, producers Jeffrey Seller and Kevin McCollum, resurrected the infamous flop musical CARRIE for an Equity reading that had a notoriously short 3 night, 5 performance run on Broadway in 1988. The reading took place on November 20, 2009. The hope is to bring 'Carrie' and her supernatural powers back to the Broadway stage.
As BroadwayWorld has reported, The New York Philharmonic's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, which took place on March 15-16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall, will be broadcast on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS on Wednesday, November 24 (check local listings). WNET, Channel 13 in New York City, will air the concert at 9:30 p.m. that evening. Today, it has been revealed that the Image Entertainment will release the program DVD and Blu-Ray on November 16, 2010.
The concert includes songs and orchestral pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George. Today, it has been announced that in addition to the PBS telecast, the concert will be released on DVD in November by Image Entertainment.
Participants for the InsideMedia Series Include: Alec Baldwin, Robert Drew, Mark Burnett, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Bridget Moynihan, Will Estes, Jane Alexander, Mike Henry, Bob Newhart, Laura Linney, Baz Luhrmann, Tony Orlando, Gabourey Sidibe, Len Cariou, Barbara Cook, Albert Maysles, Kevin Conroy, Shirin Abadi, Jody Williams, D.A. Pennebaker, Vanessa Redgrave, Tammy Grimes, Tom Selleck, Donald Trump, and Frankie Valli
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the selection of the individuals who will receive the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors. Recipients to be honored at the 33rd annual national celebration of the arts are: singer and songwriter Merle Haggard; composer and lyricist Jerry Herman; dancer, choreographer and director Bill T. Jones; songwriter and musician Paul McCartney; and producer, television host and actress Oprah Winfrey.
Westport Country Playhouse announces that due to ticket demand for 'I Do! I Do!,' the charming and touching musical about marriage, three extra performances have been added, Thursday through Saturday, September 2 - 4, evenings at 8 p.m.
Westport Country Playhouse announces that due to ticket demand for 'I Do! I Do!,' the charming and touching musical about marriage, three extra performances have been added, Thursday through Saturday, September 2 - 4, evenings at 8 p.m. The tuneful journey through the ups and downs of a 50-year marriage stars Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin and Drama Desk Award nominee Lewis Cleale. The musical is written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, composers of 'The Fantasticks,' and directed by Susan H. Schulman.
PS_Classics_SONDHEIM_ON_SONDHEIM_20010101
As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PS Classics, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, recorded the original Broadway cast album of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM on June 6th and 7th. The production, presented by Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), began performances at Studio 54 on March 19th, opened officially on April 22nd and will close on June 27th. Today, it has been announced that the album will be available beginning August 31, 2010 in both online and retail outlets.
The track list has now been unveiled on Amazon.com.
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post will open its Fall 2010 season with the first joint engagement of the club's founder MICHAEL FEINSTEIN and Tony Award winning Broadway legend BARBARA COOK in their new show 'Cheek To Cheek' from September 7 - October 2.
Westport Country Playhouse announces that due to ticket demand for 'I Do! I Do!,' the charming and touching musical about marriage, three extra performances have been added, Thursday through Saturday, September 2 - 4, evenings at 8 p.m. The tuneful journey through the ups and downs of a 50-year marriage stars Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin and Drama Desk Award nominee Lewis Cleale. The musical is written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, composers of 'The Fantasticks,' and directed by Susan H. Schulman.
Today we are taking a listen to the Original Broadway Cast Recording of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM starring Barbra Cook, Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams, Leslie Kritzer, Euan Morton and Norm Lewis and also taking a critical look back at his incredible, incomparable career. While the show onstage at Studio 54 as directed by James Lapine failed to catch fire or leave a big impression on critics or audiences, PS Classics went to the trouble to record a cast album preserving most of the show as it was seen so they deserve praise if only for that. There are some obscurities here - some college ditties, cut COMPANY finales, an abandoned GYPSY number - plus brand new, candid interviews with Sondheim himself as well as a shiny new Sondheim patter song written expressly for this revue titled 'God'. Never a more applicable song title could have come from Sondheim's pen when discussing - and poking fun at - his own career as the Brains Behind Broadway. Let's see how Sondheim in general, as well as this show, stack up on (the) record!