Betty Comden News

Legendary jazz guitarist (and 92Y audience favorite) Bucky Pizzarelli performed and recorded with iconic singers from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughan and countless others.

92nd Street Y has announced the 2011 line-up for Lyrics & LyricistsTM, its celebrated American Songbook series. Deborah Grace Winer will return for her third season as artistic director of the series. Guest artistic directors of the season's individual concerts will be John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, David Loud, Ted Chapin, and Amanda Green; Winer will create one of the season's shows as well.

92nd Street Y has announced the 2011 line-up for Lyrics & LyricistsTM, its celebrated American Songbook series. Deborah Grace Winer will return for her third season as artistic director of the series. Guest artistic directors of the season's individual concerts will be John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, David Loud, Ted Chapin, and Amanda Green; Winer will create one of the season's shows as well.

Peter Pan features Music by Mark Charlap and Jule Styne Lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, Betty Comden and Adolph Green Based on the play by James M. Barrie at Playhouse on the Square

According to the NY Times, Cherry Lane Theatre's Angelina Fiordellisi, will resign as Artistic Director sometime between March and June of 2011. Additionally, Fiordellisi plans to sell the building, which has been a Greenwich Village staple since 1924, due to ongoing financial struggles.

NEW YORK FESTIVAL OF SONG (NYFOS) Steven Blier, Artistic Director Michael Barrett, Associate Artistic Director announces two new recordings on BRIDGE Records: Bastianello / Lucrezia

On Monday, January 24th at 6pm producer/director Rick McKay, the award-winning filmmaker responsible for the "Broadway: The Golden Age" films, will interview Tony Award-winning actress Elizabeth Ashley at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue).

Despite being a lesser-known composer to the average joe than, say, Bacharach or Mancini, Cy Coleman irrefutably built a solid, prolific career in popular music, which later led to an even more successful string of hits on the Broadway stage. In what is essentially a biographical history lesson set to his music, BROADWAY UP CLOSE & PERSONAL: A TRIBUTE TO CY COLEMAN--now performing through December 12 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center's Samueli Theater--combines an entertaining cabaret showcase with a truly engrossing symposium teaching Coleman 101. The show is hosted by Michael Kerker and Tony Winner David Zippel and features Broadway stars Jenifer Lewis, Jason Graae, and Tami Tappan Damiano.

The League of Professional Theatre Women presents its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award, which honors women exhibiting exemplary service to the theatre, to two-time Tony Award®-winning actress/singer/dancer Chita Rivera. The award will be presented by her daughter, singer/dancer/choreographer Lisa Mordente, at the League's December 2010 Awards Luncheon.

Legendary jazz guitarist (and 92Y audience favorite) Bucky Pizzarelli performed and recorded with iconic singers from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughan and countless others.

Last night (Oct. 4), at the League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW)'s Edith Meiser Oral History, Co-Presidents Naomi Grabel and Rachel Reiner announced two outstanding women whose work is being recognized at the League's December 2010 Awards Luncheon.

The University of Alaska Anchorage will present SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Friday, November 19 through Sunday, December 5, 2010.

The award-winning York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) hosted its 19th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 22, 2010, honoring Tony Award-winning librettist Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray, Elf). The evening was directed by Tony-winning director/lyricist/librettist Richard Maltby and the award was presented by Alice Hammerstein Mathias, daughter of Oscar Hammerstein II.

Bells Are Ringing, the opening Encores! production of the 2010-11 season, features music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The show ran November 18-21 at New York City Center. Bells Are Ringing is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Rob Berman and stars Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the show's after party and brings you photo coverage below!

Bells Are Ringing, the opening Encores! production of the 2010-11 season, features music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The show ran November 18-21 at New York City Center. Bells Are Ringing is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Rob Berman and stars Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase.

The award winning York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director) will honor Tony Award winning librettist Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray, Elf) with the 19th Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre on Monday, November 22, 2010.

Creating new opportunities for beautiful blondes with enchanting soprano voices is a topic generally not included in discussions of non-traditional casting in the theatre, but when it was announced that Kelli O'Hara would be starring in the Encores! concert production of Bells Are Ringing instead of one of Broadway's many talented comedic actresses who might regard this weekend's performances as a public audition for the planned upcoming revival of Funny Girl, it was not, to say the least, an expected choice.

The Tony-winner, currently in Bells Are Ringing at City Center, talks about Comden and Green and the importance of real orchestras.

Bells Are Ringing, the opening Encores! production of the 2010-11 season, features music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The show will run November 18-21 at New York City Center. Bells Are Ringing is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Rob Berman and stars Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase. Broadway Beat brings you a peek at the production below!

Encores! presents Bells Are Ringing through November 20 at New York City Center. Bells Are Ringing is directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall with music direction by Rob Berman, has music by Jule Styne and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and stars Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase.