Betty Comden News

The high-flying actress, and former award-winning gymnast, Cathy Rigby ends her decades-spanning reign as 'Peter Pan' in one final run in Boston April 23-28. She brings her relationship with the boy who won't grow up full circle by ending her national tour in the city where it all began in 1990 to rave reviews.

Michael Weber, managing artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre, has announced Porchlight's 19th season. The 2013 - 2014 season includes the Chicago premiere of the new musical farce Double Trouble, August 31 - October 6; the "Fats" Waller revue Ain't Misbehavin', February 1 - March 9, 2014, the Broadway classic How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, April 26 - June 1, 2014 and a new "Lost Musicals" series Porchlight Revisits... taking audiences to a particular time and place in Broadway musical history. All Porchlight Main Stage and Porchlight Revisits… productions take place at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. "Early Bird" discount Season Subscriptions are on sale through July 1. Single tickets for all performances go on sale July 1 at stage773.com or by calling the Stage 773 box office at 773.327.5252. All subscriptions are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by phone at 773.777.9884. Group discounts are available for groups of ten or more by calling Peggy at 773.282.7427.

Michael Weber, managing artistic director of Porchlight Music Theatre, is proud to announce Porchlight's 19th season. The 2013 - 2014 season includes the Chicago premiere of the new musical farce Double Trouble, August 31 - October 6; the "Fats" Waller revue Ain't Misbehavin', February 1 - March 9, 2014, the Broadway classic How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, April 26 - June 1, 2014 and a new "Lost Musicals" series Porchlight Revisits... taking audiences to a particular time and place in Broadway musical history. All Porchlight Main Stage and Porchlight Revisits… productions take place at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. "Early Bird" discount Season Subscriptions are on sale through July 1. Single tickets for all performances go on sale July 1 at stage773.com or by calling the Stage 773 box office at 773.327.5252. All subscriptions are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by phone at 773.777.9884. Group discounts are available for groups of ten or more by calling Peggy at 773.282.7427.

Theatre writers who were lured to that other coast by Hollywood greenbacks have been known to express their disillusionment with the film industry via the Broadway stage.  George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart based their comedy Once In A Lifetime on their maddening movie studio experiences as did Betty Comden and Adolph Green with the musical Fade Out – Fade In.

Widely proclaimed to be the greatest movie musical of all time, 'Singin' in the Rain,' with its Academy Award-nominated score, lovable characters, priceless dialogue and memorable songs, is the perfect choice for Pacific Symphony Pops' upcoming presentation of 'A Symphonic Night at the Movies.' A beautifully restored version of the 1952 American classic plays above the stage as the orchestra performs Nacio Herb Brown and lyricist Arthur Freed's music live and in synch with the film.

The greatest songwriters revered him. And his songs-from 'All the Things You Are' to 'The Way You Look Tonight'-remain a vital part of our cultural conversation. It is no accident that Jerome Kern is also known as 'The Dean.' Author and Lyrics & Lyricists series artistic director Deborah Grace Winer takes the helm as artistic director/writer/host for The Song is You: Jerome Kern Coast to Coast, on May 4, 5 and 6. Winer is joined by vocalists Karrin Allyson, Debby Boone, Jeffry Denman, bassist Jay Leonhart, Howard McGillin, Paula West and Karen Ziemba, with special guest Barbara Carroll.

Berkshire Theatre Group and Artistic Director/CEO, Kate Maguire, are excited to announce three additions to its 85th summer season: the 8th Annual Children's Theatre Production, Peter Pan, at The Colonial Theatre, Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling, at The Neil Ellenoff Stage and a special writers workshop with Hunter Bell, of the Tony nominated show, [title of show].

Today in 2001, the first Broadway revival of Bells Are Ringing opened at the Plymouth Theatre (now the Gerald Shoenfeld Theatre), where it ran for 68 performances. Bells Are Ringing is a musical with a book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and music by Jule Styne. The story revolves around Ella, who works at an answering service and the characters that she meets there. The original Broadway production, directed by Jerome Robbins and choreographed by Robbins and Bob Fosse, opened on November 29, 1956 at the Shubert Theatre, where it ran for slightly more than two years, and starred Judy Holliday as Ella and Sydney Chaplin as Jeff Moss.

Nonesuch releases Audra McDonald's first solo album in seven years-Go Back Home-on May 21, 2013. After four seasons spent in Los Angeles playing Dr. Naomi Bennett on ABC's hit medical drama Private Practice, the acclaimed singer and actress returned to New York and Broadway last year, winning her record-tying fifth Tony Award for her role in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. With Go Back Home, the Grammy Award-winning soprano, whose voice Stephen Sondheim has hailed as "one of the glories of the American theater," makes her highly anticipated return to recording, presenting her most personal album to date.

On Sunday April 7 Kritzerland presented its monthly tribute to great composers, this time around in honor ofthe incomparable lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green, entitled Just in Time: The Songs of Betty Comden and Adolph Green.

Vocalists and a pianist are announced for Lyrics & Lyricists Downtown, the L&L series at 92YTribeca. On Monday, April 15, this one-night-only event features a conversation with Tony Award-nominated lyricist composer and librettist Michael John LaChiusa. As one of today's most innovative, prolific and honored artists, LaChiusa's credits include Giant (which recently garnered a Lucille Lortel Award nomination as "Outstanding Musical,") Queen of the Mist, See What I Wanna See and Marie Christine. Joining him as moderator is five-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, who has starred in several of his works and included his songs on her CDs Way Back To Paradise and Happy Songs. The conversation - touching on LaChiusa's significant works and his songwriting process - is punctuated by songs with vocalists Natalie Cortez and Mary Testa and pianist Chris Fenwick.

As an undergraduate theater major in the early 1970s, I heard music everywhere. It seemed to pour out of every office and workspace around the department. (And in the LP era, if you wanted more than the radio, this meant schlepping a twenty pound record player and a dozen or so albums from your home to the campus, sometimes requiring back-and-forth trips from the car. If you go to that much trouble, you want to keep the music playing.) In the hushed costume shop with its quietly industrious all female staff, Broadway ruled, with Stephen Sondheim's recent Company and Follies in heavy rotation. It was 'men only' in the scene shop where I listened to male balladeers like James Taylor and Gordon Lightfoot while unhappily working off assigned crew hours. Jazz classes (my favorites) in the dance department were conducted to the pre-disco sounds of Isaac Hayes and the Temptations. And late night cast parties were never complete without spins of Bette Midler's first two albums.

It has long been buzzed about that Broadway favorite Kristin Chenoweth will return to Broadway next in an upcoming revival of ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Unfortunately, projected opening dates have not yet been announced, but Chenoweth revealed in a recent interview with the Village Voice that they are 'literally hammering out the dates right now..'

A human ball of silver glitter hanging from a cord is lowered above what looks like a bungalow-sized muffin top.  (It's supposed to represent a turtle shell.)  Before the glitter ball makes its landing the cover is removed to reveal what looks like a tribe of humanish amphibians bouncing on trampolines and twirling on the muffin/turtle's frame.  Shortly after, a sleazy-looking clown in a tropical shirt tosses a condom to a woman in the front row and says, 'Call me!'  Yes, dear readers, Cirque du Soleil is back in town.

According to her official Facebook page, singer and actor Lorna Luft announced today that she has recently undergone surgery for breast cancer and is embarking on a regimen of adjuvant chemotherapy. She will resume concert appearances mid-August.

Today Jeanne Pratt AC, Chairman of The Production Company, announces her company's new season.

UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC) presents a developmental reading of the 1958 backstage comedy SAY, DARLING by Tony Award winner Richard Bissell (The Pajama Game), Tony Award winner Abe Burrows (Guys and Dolls) and Marian Bissell. The play with music features songs by the Tony Award-winning team of Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne (Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi).

Pamela Bob (Silence! The Musical), Billie Wildrick (Scandalous) and Stuart Zagnit (Newsies, The Wild Party) have joined the cast of UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC)'s developmental reading of the 1958 backstage comedy SAY, DARLING.

UnsungMusicalsCo. (UMC) will present a developmental reading of the 1958 backstage comedy SAY, DARLING by Tony Award winner Richard Bissell (The Pajama Game), Tony Award winner Abe Burrows (Guys and Dolls) and Marian Bissell. The play with music features songs by the Tony Award-winning team of Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Jule Styne (Bells Are Ringing, Do Re Mi).