Barbara Siegel News

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Former Drama Desk Award winners Audra MacDonald and Liev Schreiber made the announcements. Other speakers included Isa Goldberg, President of the Drama Desk; Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards; Barbara Siegel, chairperson of the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and Randie Levine-Miller, Director of Special Events for the Drama Desk, who has produced the nominations announcement ceremony at the NY Friars Club for the past 15 years.

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Former Drama Desk Award winners Audra MacDonald and Liev Schreiber made the announcements. Other speakers included Isa Goldberg, President of the Drama Desk; Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards; Barbara Siegel, chairperson of the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and Randie Levine-Miller, Director of Special Events for the Drama Desk, who has produced the nominations announcement ceremony at the NY Friars Club for the past 15 years.

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Former Drama Desk Award winners Audra MacDonald and Liev Schreiber made the announcements. Other speakers included Isa Goldberg, President of the Drama Desk; Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the Drama Desk Awards; Barbara Siegel, chairperson of the Drama Desk Nominating Committee and Randie Levine-Miller, Director of Special Events for the Drama Desk, who has produced the nominations announcement ceremony at the NY Friars Club for the past 15 years.

The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Harvey Fierstein, will be held Monday, May 23, at 9:00 PM at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center, 8th Avenue and 34th Street. This year, for the first time, a 90-minute Highlights Special of the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony will be televised nationally on OVATION, the national cable network dedicated to presenting creative arts programming to national TV audiences. The ceremony will be given two primetime broadcasts plus four other airings between June 4 and June 19, 2011.

The Nominations News Conference for the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards has been moved to Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. A continental breakfast will be available at 8:45 AM. Drama Desk and Tony winners Audra McDonald and Liev Schreiber will announce the nominations in the various categories. In addition, there will be remarks by Drama Desk President Isa Goldberg, Drama Desk Awards Executive Producer Robert R. Blume, Nominating Committee Chairperson Barbara Siegel and Randie Levine-Miller, Drama Desk Director of Special Events, who has produced this event at the Friars Club for the past 15 years. The Official Nominees Cocktail Reception will now take place on Monday, May 2, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM at Bombay Palace Restaurant, 30 West 52nd St., between 5th and 6th Aves.

Nominations for the 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be announced at a news conference on Monday, May 2, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. A continental breakfast will be available at 8:45 AM. Drama Desk and Tony winners Audra McDonald and Liev Schreiber will announce the nominations in the various categories. In addition, there will be remarks by Drama Desk President Isa Goldberg, Drama Desk Awards Executive Producer Robert R. Blume, Nominating Committee Chairperson Barbara Siegel and Randie Levine-Miller, Drama Desk Director of Special Events, who has produced this event at the Friars Club for the past 15 years.

The Fred Ebb Foundation (Mitchell Bernard, Trustee) in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presented the sixth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters to Douglas J. Cohen on November 29. The award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, was presented by David Thompson (The Scottsboro Boys). BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you photo coverage below.

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 last night, October 19. In her new show, which runs through October 30, Ms. O'Hara takes a journey beyond the ingénue by mixing songs by newer songwriters like Tom Kitt and Ricky Ian Gordon with classics by Frank Loesser ('Somebody, Somewhere') Irving Berlin ('Always'). All performances, which feature a quartet led by Music Director Dan Lipton, will be at the Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street). This program will also be performed at the Tilles Center on Long Island (November 5). BroadwayWorld was on hand for O'Hara's debut last night and brings you photo coverage below.

BROADWAY MELODY MAKERS on Friday October 15th at 8PM, was directed by Scott Coulter, with musical direction by Ross Patterson. The cast also includes Tony Award ® winners Alice Ripley (Next to Normal, Sideshow) and Michael Cerveris (Assasins), along with Nellie McKay (Threepenny Opera), Tom Wopat (Annie Get Your Gun, A Catered Affair), and Mary Testa (Xanadu, On the Town). The concert featured songs by Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, and so many others down through the decades to the likes of Jule Styne and Cy Coleman, among others.

Winners of Drama Desk Awards for the 2009/2010 New York theater season received their engraved trophies at a cocktail reception in their honor last week at Il Punto Ristorante. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage of the trophy ceremony below.

Last night, July 26, the Town Hall hosted ALL SINGIN' ALL DANCIN,' an exhilarating extravaganza of song and dance directed and choreographed by Jeffrey Denman (YANK!, WHITE CHRISTMAS). Inspired by the legendary Broadway dance of The Astaires, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, Gower Champion, Bob Fosse, and Jerome Robbins, the show consisted of original choreography created exclusively for the concert and was set to some of the greatest show music ever written including 'Slaughter on Tenth Avenue' and 'Cell Block Tango.' BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below.

'So what are you seeing next?' is a question I'm frequently asked and every year around this time when I answer, 'Broadway's Rising Stars.  It's a concert at Town Hall with recent college and theatre school graduates singing showtunes,' I often get that look of pity that presumes that sitting through stuff like this is the price I pay for getting comps to see Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch in A Little Night Music.

There's something very endearing about watching a couple of old pros like Bernie Kopell and Lou Cutell exercise their finely tuned comedic chops as a pair of elderly widowers looking for a night of excitement; especially when that excitement comes in the form of Teresa Ganzel, who displays ample comic skills herself as the shapely blonde goodtime girl with a heart of gold.  Add another actor and this trio could deliver a very enjoyable production of The Sunshine Boys.  But alas, the vehicle they ride into the Little Shubert, Viagara Falls, is an anaemic sex comedy that wastes their talents and the audience's patience.

If you had to choose just one song to represent an entire Broadway year, what would you pick?

Last night, June 14, The Town Hall celebrated the Broadway By The Year® 10th Anniversary Celebration - Broadway By The Year 1990-2010, Created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel for the Town Hall, the Broadway performers included Norm Lewis (The Little Mermaid, Sondheim on Sondheim), Karen Mason (Mama Mia!), Astaire Award-winner Spencer Liff (Cry- Baby), Michael Winther (Mama Mia!), Douglas Ladnier (Jekyll & Hyde), Ann Harada (Avenue Q), four-time Tony® Award nominee Gregg Edelmann (Tale of Two Cities), Alexander Gemignani (Les Miserables), Tony® Award winner Debbie Gravitte, Kendrick Jones (The Scottsboro Boys), three-time Tony® Award nominee Mark Kudisch (9 to 5), Tony® Award nominee Bobby Steggert (Ragtime), Julia Murney (Wicked), Max Von Essen (Xanadu national tour), Tony ® Award nominee Barbara Wash (Company) and Lari White (Ring of Fire). Broadway by the Year 1990-2010 was directed by Nightlife Award winner Scott Coulter, who also performed in the show.

It was announced yesterday that the Tony Awards overseers (members of the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League) had decided to withdraw the nomination for Best Costume Design from Santo Loquasto for his work on Ragtime on the basis that he, along with his team, created similar designs for the original 1998 production. Now, the Drama Desk has followed suit. In a letter to voters and members,William Wolf, President and Barbara Siegel, Chairperson, The Nominating Committee write that

The Town Hall's critically acclaimed Broadway by the Year's®10th Anniversary Season presented The Broadway Musicals of 1966, a year that brought us iconic shows such as, Cabaret, Mame, I Do! I Do!, Sweet Charity and The Apple Tree, last night, May 10. Overflowing with famous songs from major hit shows, the evening featured more dance numbers than any other Town Hall Broadway by the Year® concert this season. The evening was directed, choreographed and starred Jeffry Denman (who will be going to Broadway next season with this year's Off-Broadway hit musical, Yank!, which he also choreographed).

This morning, May 3, Broadway vets Cady Huffman and Brian Stokes Mitchell announced the nominees for the 2010 Drama Desk Awards. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the announcement ceremony. The 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 23, 2010 at the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. Former Drama Desk Award winner Patti LuPone will host the awards ceremony.

Tthe 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony will take place on Sunday, May 23, 2010 at the F.H. LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. Former Drama Desk Award winner Patti LuPone will host the awards ceremony.

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk.