Ben Vereen News

The Museum of the Moving Image's popular series See It Big! will turn its focus to the movie musical with a fourteen-film celebration of the genre, from today, January 24 through February 28, 2014. Musicals are, by their very nature, filled with spectacle. They are heightened forms of storytelling, in which the narrative is amplified by song and dance, where characters express their innermost feelings in the most extravagant ways imaginable. It is a genre that celebrates excess and stylization, and the best examples of the form can only be truly enjoyed... big!

The Tony Award-winning actor-singer-dancer Ben Vereen, who has appeared in numerous shows on Broadway and in his own one-man shows around the country, will be honored, along with 17 others, at the 29th Annual Bistro Awards gala, which recognizes outstanding achievement in New York cabaret, jazz, and comedy. The celebration will take place on Tuesday, March 4 at Gotham Comedy Club, 208 W. 23rd St. (between 7th & 8th avenues).

On Friday, February 7 at 5:30pm at The Players (16 Gramercy Park, New York, NY), Elements Theatre Company of Orleans, MA will present an original work, Labyrinth: A Legacy of Language, exploring Shakespeare's influence on playwrights through the past four and a half centuries, from Sheridan to Ibsen to Stoppard. The production will be a springboard for a 7:00pm discussion in the ARTS IN CONVERSATION panel series, on How Shakespeare Humanizes Our Culture: The Transforming Power of His Work. Panelists include George Drance, SJ, Artist in Residence at Fordham University, Louis Colaianni, author of How to Speak Shakespeare and Teacher/Coach, Rob Weinert-Kendt, Associate Editor at American Theatre, and Josh Cabat, Co-founder of the New York City Student Shakespeare Festival. Danielle Dwyer, CJ, Elements Artistic Director, will moderate. Admission is FREE to both the performance and panel discussion. Reservations are recommended; call 508-240-2400.

Triple threat Broadway legend Chita Rivera will bring her iconic class and showmanship to the Valley Performing Arts Center January 25 for one performance only at 8 pm. In our chat she tells us a little bit about the new show and talks in great detail about the joys of her career.

Razor & Tie Music Publishing and Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom Records have created a joint venture to sign and nurture the talents of a new generation of theatrical composers and writers. The venture's first signing is New York City based songwriter and artist Shaina Taub, who straddles the world of theater music and contemporary pop performance. The venture is an extension into the publishing arena of the successful longstanding distribution and marketing relationship between Razor & Tie and Ghostlight/Sh-K-Boom Records.

Today in 1999, Fosse opened at the Broadhurst THeatre, where it ran for 1093 performances. Fosse is a three-act musical revue showcasing the choreography of Bob Fosse. The original Broadway production, conceived and directed by Richard Maltby, Jr. and Ann Reinking was choreographed by Reinking and Chet Walker. In 2002, Fosse, featuring Reinking and Ben Vereen, was aired as part of the Great Performances series on PBS television. A London production opened at the West End Prince of Wales Theatre on February 8, 2000 and closed January 6, 2001. The musical did not recreate the musical numbers as originally presented but instead had primarily black-and-white costumes (including the all-important hats), set against a simple setting.

The original cast recording of Murder for Two, the hit new musical comedy starring Jeff Blumenkrantz and Brett Ryback, will be released digitally today, January 14, 2014 by Ghostlight Records.

Broadway/San Diego has announced that it is launching a new local high school competition, The Ben Vereen Awards, sponsored by San Diego County Credit Union in which two talented students from the Southwest region (which includes San Diego and Tucson high schools) will be crowned Best Actor and Best Actress and go on to compete at The National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York in June 2014.

The original cast recording of MURDER FOR TWO, the hit new musical comedy starring Jeff Blumenkrantz and Brett Ryback, with book and music by Joe Kinosian and book and lyrics by Kellen Blair, will be released digitally on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 by Ghostlight Records. To celebrate, the cast and creative team of MURDER FOR TWO are throwing an album release party immediately following the 7pm performance on Monday, January 13, 2014 at New World Stages.

A concept recording of the brand new musical love story will be released digitally on February 7th and on CD on February 11th, 2014 to coincide with Valentine's Day. The CD is now available for pre-order athttp://amzn.com/B00HQ31WDI. There will be a special 54 BELOW album launch concert January 29th at 9:30 pm and January 30th at 9:30 pm where attendees will be able to buy the album 2 weeks early.

Iconic Broadway leading man and recognizable small screen and Hollywood notable Ben Vereen showed off his considerable performance skills once again with a tremendous live rendering of the national anthem yesterday at the Fiesta Bowl.

In today's edition of 'SPIDER-MAN Swings Off Broadway,' check out the show's FULL history from it's inception in 2007 to future plans for a run in Las Vegas.

The Museum of the Moving Image's popular series See It Big! will turn its focus to the movie musical with a fourteen-film celebration of the genre, from January 24 through February 28, 2014. Musicals are, by their very nature, filled with spectacle. They are heightened forms of storytelling, in which the narrative is amplified by song and dance, where characters express their innermost feelings in the most extravagant ways imaginable. It is a genre that celebrates excess and stylization, and the best examples of the form can only be truly enjoyed… big!

Today's edition of 'SPIDER-MAN Swings Off Broadway' showcases the show's highly anticipated and much-delayed opening night on the Great White Way. Spidey first 'officially' wove his web for an all-star audience on June 14, 2011 - over five months behind schedule - with an altered book, additions to the electric rock score, and a slew of new high-flying aerial feats, in hopes of puting an end to the criticism once and for all.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark, the Broadway spectacular that defied odds and expectations to conquer New York, will play its final performance at the Foxwoods Theatre on January 4, 2014. Since the announcement, there has been speculation as to whether the show, which ran for 3 years on Broadway, will make it to the infamous wall of flops at Joe Allen (326 West 46th Street).

Now according to the Las Vegas Sun, Wynn is making space for the musical at the Encore Theatre. Robin Leach writes: 'I can safely confirm Steve's "very serious interest" in moving the high-flying spectacular to open in his Encore Theater in a year, but nothing is apparently yet signed and sealed. He's prepared to financially back its revamped version, adding incredible, stunning Las Vegas elements to the extravaganza.'

Follow Lyrics & Lyricists over the rainbow to the West Coast and the glory days of MGM. On January 11, 12and 13 Tony Award® winner Kathleen Marshall makes her L&L debut as guest artistic director for Going Hollywood, a singing, dancing, Technicolor celebration of the silver screen's greatest musicals, featuring Cameron Adams, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Joshua Henry, Jeremy Jordan, Rob McClure and Rachel York.

On tonight's episode of CBS's NCIS titled 'Homesick,' after a mysterious illness strikes children from military families, Gibbs and the team investigate the cause.

Neil Patrick Harris, Nigel Lythgoe, Ashley Argota, Jordan Fisher, Ben Vereen, Kym Johnson, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Amy Acker, Charlene Tilton, among others, attended the opening night of Lythgoe Family Productions' ALADDIN AND HIS WINTER WISH on Wednesday, December 11th, at The Pasadena Playhouse. The production, directed by Bonnie Lythgoe and choreographed by Emmy nominee Spencer Liff, will play until December 29, 2013. Scroll down for photos from the opening night arrivals!

Aladdin and His Winter Wish/written by Kris Lythgoe/directed by Bonnie Lythgoe/Pasadena Playhouse/through December 29 For a few years the prolific Lythgoe family have been entertaining us at Christmastime, first at the El Portal in NoHo and now at the Pasadena Playhouse with a British style panto. A panto is an interactive entertainment that starts with a very contemporary retelling of a fairy tale such as Snow White, Cinderella, or in this case Aladdin and turns it into a fun imaginative show with music that will appeal to both children and their parents. There's usually an actor in drag (outrageous Bruce Vilanch as the Widow Twankey, Aladdin's mother), a villain (Josh Adamson as Abanazar) and audience are encouraged to root for the heroes and HISS loudly at the villains. Actors such as Adamson tease the audience with a Mel Brooks-like phrase 'It's fun to be evil!' after which kids and adults boo and boo some more and even raise up props such as swords and other toy weapons in defense of their favorite hero. It's all in amusement, of course, and this year's Aladdin and His Winter Wish is by far the best show to date with a superlative cast, great special effects, some spectacular dancing and singing and an overall jolly good script by Kris Lythgoe that flows along without the slightest snag.