Becky Ann Baker News

Tony Award-winning director John Doyle, who has previously staged Broadway revivals of Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD and COMPANY, directs the composer-lyricist's musical MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park which runs through March 31. Check out just-released performance highlights below!

Tony Award-winning director John Doyle, who has previously staged Broadway revivals of Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD and COMPANY directs the composer-lyricist's musical MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park which runS through March 31. Check out just-released production shots below!

Tony Award-winning director John Doyle, who has previously staged Broadway revivals of Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD and COMPANY directs the composer-lyricist's musical MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park which opens tonight. The production will run through March 31.

One of the greatest joys of our job is seeing our audiences transformed by a theatre performance. At some point in Roundabout's 46-year history, you've likely experienced a play or musical that has inspired you. Roundabout has been fortunate to produce award-winning productions on Broadway for 20 years now. You may even recall our first Broadway production of Anna Christie at the Criterion Center in 1992.

"Baby, I would catch a grenade for you," as Bruno Mars wrote in his international smash hit song "Grenade", recently nominated for a Grammy, and, so, too, would Joe DiMaggio catch a grenade for Marilyn Monroe, and, maybe - just maybe - married Broadway star Michael Swift (Will Chase) will cross the line into the danger zone and rekindle his romance with former flame (similarly, married with children) Julia (Debra Messing), half of the songwriting team responsible for the spectacular musical-within-the-show on NBC's SMASH. Yes, the third episode of the new musical drama series was a much different experience from the first two shows, with Karen (Katharine McPhee)'s journey back home to Iowa - complete with down-home karaoke baby shower and Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman" - and the introduction of Broadway star Will Chase's character and the subsequent exploration of his prior trysts with Julia, as well as detailing more of Ivy (Megan Hilty) and Derek (Jack Davenport)'s hot and heavy romance. So, too, did the dissolving marriage between the Marilyn musical's lead producer, Eileen (Anjelica Huston) and her ex (Michael Cristofer) see further shading, as did the trusting and caring coupling of Karen and Dev (Raza Jaffrey). Along with recurring guest stars Dylan Baker and Becky Ann Baker as Karen's supportive but speculative parents, "Enter Mr. DiMaggio" was a relationship-themed episode that reached its thematic, dramatic and musical apotheosis in the stunning new Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman Marilyn musical composition, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith", ending the episode on a stylish and all-too-apropos note. A hard rock rendering of the aforementioned Bruno Mars pop hit "Grenade", as well as Karen's spirited country karaoke "Redneck Woman" were the other musical entertainments in an episode that showed that SMASH does, indeed, have legs - a Rockette-worthy line of them, actually - and this story can sustain more than a handful of episodes or, even, a season or two. Sure, this episode had a different feel than the first two, more Broadway-based shows, yet the series seems to be finding a rhythm that is particularly appreciable at this very, very early stage of the game. After all, the first two episodes of an hour-long adult drama such as SMASH usually set the scene for the series as a whole, if they even succeed at accomplishing that. So far, SMASH has already gone far beyond that, and, I promise, next week will be more along the lines of the first two entries, showcasing the simple fact that this tree has many, many branches and exceptionally deep roots supporting the strong core of central and supporting performers that make up its trunk. Episode Three was a gamble that largely paid off dramatically and thematically, and, wow, that final number was a home run hit truly worthy of a show billing itself as SMASH.

A new revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth will continue the Marx Theatre season at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park.

Birdland Jazz Club presented We're Gonna Have to ask You to Leave...(a benefit concert to kick out cancer) last night, January 23rd, 2012 at 7pm. BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below!

The Broadway at Birdland concert series will present We're Gonna Have To Ask You To Leave...(a benefit concert to kick out cancer), to be presented at Birdland on tonight, January 23 at 7pm.

We're Gonna Have to ask You to Leave...(a benefit concert to kick out cancer) to be presented at Birdland Jazz Club on January 23rd, 2012 at 7pm.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series will present We're Gonna Have To Ask You To Leave...(a benefit concert to kick out cancer), to be presented at Birdland on Monday, January 23 at 7pm.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park has announced casting for the exciting new revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth. The John Doyle-helmed production, in which the actors also serve as the show's musicians, runs March 3 through March 31, 2012 in The Playhouse's Robert S. Marx Theatre.

The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park has announced casting for the exciting new revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth. The John Doyle-helmed production, in which the actors also serve as the show's musicians, runs March 3 through March 31, 2012 in the Playhouse's Robert S. Marx Theatre.

On Wednesday, November 16, 2011 over 200 people attended 'Stockings with Care's Celebrity Bartending Night' in New York City at Hudson Station Bar and Grill. Stockings with Care provides holiday gifts for children whose families either live in homeless shelters or are in jeopardy of becoming homeless.

Last night, November 14, The Williamstown Theatre Festival honored the Festival's renowned Training Programs at its Annual Benefit, 'We The Future' at the Edison Ballroom in New York City. The evening, hosted by Award-winning comedian (and Williamstown veteran) Lewis Black, featured former WTF alumni Tony Goldwyn (Promises, Promises; 1981 Non-Equity Company), Kathryn Hahn (Revolutionary Road, 1997 Non-Equity Company) and Constantine Maroulis ('American Idol,' 2002 WTF Apprentice), performing with members of the 2011 Apprentice and Non-Equity companies. BroadwayWorld was there for the star-studded event, and bringa you full photo coverage below!

Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway premiere of VENUS IN FUR, the new play by David Ives, directed by Walter Bobbie opened last night, November 8 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. BroadwayWorld.com was there for the celebratory evening and below brings you photo coverage of the night's starry theater arrivals.

New York's television and theatrical celebrities will take their place behind the bar at the semi-annual 'Stockings with Care Celebrity Bartending Night' in New York City, Wednesday November 16 at Hudson Station Bar and Grill (440 Ninth Avenue between 34th and 35th Streets) from 7pm to 11pm to raise money for the not-for-profit organization.

According to EW.com, stage and screen star Harvey Fierstein has signed on to join the third season of CBS' THE GOOD WIFE as a judge. He'll play 'a liberal, ex-hippie type who marches to a different drummer. He'll preside over a case Alicia (Julianna Margulies) is working on with a sharp eye, but rather laid-back speech.'

Yesterday evening, May 16, The New York Drama Critics' Circle presented their 2011 Drama Critics Circle Awards at Angus McIndoe Restaurant in Times Square. The 2011 recipients are Best Play: Good People, by David Lindsay-Abaire; Best Foreign Play: Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth; Best Musical: The Book of Mormon, by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez; Special Citations: The Broadway revival of The Normal Heart; Mark Rylance for La Bête and Jerusalem; and the direction, design and puppetry of War Horse.

GOOD PEOPLE's Estelle Parsons, who is currently appearing in the critically acclaimed play, will appear on the American Theatre Wing's "Working in the Theatre Panel" tonight, Friday, April 22at 7:30PM on CUNY TV, channel 75.

If Bill Clinton really was, as Toni Morrison put it, America's first black president, then perhaps it's about time we crowned David Lindsay-Abaire as America's leading female playwright.  Since first gaining major attention in 1999 with Fuddy Meers, and including major productions such as Kimberly Akimbo, Wonder of the World and the Pulitzer-winning Rabbit Hole, Lindsay-Abaire (whose surname is a hyphenated combination of his and his wife's last names) has been continually filling stages with unique and interesting women as his leading characters.