Betty Comden News

'Luck Be a Lady.' 'My Heart is So Full of You.' 'A Secretary is Not a Toy.' We know and love Frank Loesser, composer. But 'Snug as a Bug in a Rug?' 'I Get the Neck of the Chicken?' 'Bloop, Bleep?' 92Y's 48th season of Lyrics & Lyricists culminates with a look at the lesser-known side of Loesser - his Hollywood career collaborating with such composers as Hoagy Carmichael, Jule Style, Burton Lane and Jimmy McHugh - as well as a fresh look at songs from Guys and Dolls and his Broadway best, in Frank Loesser: Lyricist. L&L favorite David Loud, who most recently helmed acclaimed shows celebrating Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter, returns as artistic director and host, with a cast featuring Farah Alvin (It Shoulda Been You, Nine); Lewis Cleale (The Book of Mormon, Spamalot); Laura Darrell (Encores! The Golden Apple; The Vineyard Theater Kid Victory); Samantha Massell (Fiddler on the Roof); and James Snyder (In Transit, If/Then, Encores! Grand Hotel).

Continuing the momentum created with the current season launch of its Music Knows No Borders series, Executive Director Thor Steingraber unveils the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts' 2018-19 Season, which features four world premieres, two American premieres, several of the world's greatest orchestras, innovative jazz programs, two tributes to Hollywood legends, Broadway classics plus artists from 18 different nations who will appear on stage at The Soraya next season.  New Subscription Series tickets will go on sale May 1, 2018.

Deadline has reported that stage and film star Jake Gyllenhaal will produce and star as legendary composer Leonard Bernstein in a new biopic titled The American. 

Here's the scoop for those newer generation theatre and movie fans who do not remember 1952's blockbuster hit film Singin' in the Rain. Directors Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly, screenwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green and costars Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds all contributed to making it the smash that it was... and still is...on cable like TCM. The zany lightweight hit transferred to the stage in the early 80s and showed the craziness that may have happened when the big movie studios were transitioning from silents to talkies in the late 20s. Now in a fun-filled revival at Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, it's all brought back to vibrant theatrical life by skilled director DJ Gray and a delicious company of triple threats through June 2.

In silent movies, Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are a hot item but, behind the scenes, things aren't always as they appear on the big screen! Meanwhile, Lina's squeaky voice might be the end of her career in “talking pictures” without the help of a talented young actress to do the talking and singing for her. 

NYU Steinhardt's Department of Music and Performing Arts will present a concert version of On the Town as part of the 100th birthday global celebration of world-renowned composer Leonard Bernstein. The collaboration between NYUO1, one of the premier orchestras of New York University, and Steinhardt's Program in Vocal Performance will take place April 28 at 8 p.m. at NYU Skirball Center (free and open to the public).

Ghostlight Records has announced that PRINCE OF BROADWAY Original Broadway Cast Recording is available in physical, digital and streaming formats today, Friday, April 20. The 16-page CD booklet includes color production photography and liner notes by Hal Prince and David Thompson.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Goodspeed's THE Will Rogers FOLLIES! Telling the life story of humorist Will Rogers, the Tony-Award winning musical features a book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman.THE Will Rogers FOLLIES begins performances on April 13th and will run through June 21st.

NYU Steinhardt will host the NYU Educational Theatre Forum 2018: Performance as Activism-a three-day event featuring conversations, presentations, workshops, and performances bringing together scholars and artists exploring how performance can spark dialogue and promote social change (April 19-21).

If you enjoy the old Hollywood, the one full of glamour and beautiful people and genuinely great dancing, then SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is all of that-plus a healthy dose of humor! SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is a musical theater classic and therefore a mite intimidating to take on because expectations will be so high. But at Beef & Boards, they do not shy away from that challenge and instead meet it head on.

New York City Ballet's 2018 Spring Season opens on Tuesday, April 24 and will continue for six weeks through June 3. The centerpiece of the Spring Season will be Robbins 100, a celebration of Jerome Robbins, NYCB's co-founding choreographer, whose remarkable contributions to the worlds of ballet and Broadway musical theater have made an indelible impression on both art forms. The three-week celebration will run from May 3 to May 20, featuring 20 works created by Robbins over the course of 40years, as well as two world premiere ballets in tribute to Robbins. Robbins 100 will open on Thursday, May 3 with a Spring Gala performance featuring Robbins'

92nd Street Y's 48th season of Lyrics & Lyricists continues with a close-up and personal look at Lynn Ahrens' extraordinary body of work. Ahrens, who will serve as host at each performance, earned the “triple crown” of Broadway awards — Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle, and she received two Grammy nominations for the score of Ragtime. For the animated film Anastasia, she was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. Ahrens is currently represented on Broadway by two hit shows — the revival of Once On This Island, for which she wrote both book and lyrics, and the stage adaptation of Anastasia — in a season which also marks the 35th anniversary of her collaboration with composer Stephen Flaherty. Other work on and off Broadway for which Ahrens is celebrated includes the musicals Seussical, My Favorite Year, Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones, A Man of No Importance and more. And Lynn Ahrens' work is embedded in the national consciousness beyond the lights of Broadway from the writing for Schoolhouse Rock! that launched her career. 

Porchlight Music Theatre concludes its fifth season of Chicago's "lost" musicals in staged concert series with Porchlight Revisits Do Re Mi, starring Porchlight Music Theatre's Artistic Director Michael Weber and Nancy Voigts, music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green and book by Garson Kanin, with direction and choreography by Christopher Pazdernik and musical direction by David Fiorello.

Several of the country's leading dancers and musical artists stand on stage together with Jonkoping's Sinfonietta when the Broadway Music On the Town comes to Scandinavia and the Spira Culture House for the first time. There will be lots of dance, humor and music on a colorful exploration in The Big Apple - a city that never stops!

Ghostlight Records has announced that PRINCE OF BROADWAY Original Broadway Cast Recording is now available for digital pre-order. The album will be available in physical, digital and streaming formats on Friday, April 20.

What happens when queer identities are in the spotlight and how can this create understanding that better informs therapeutic treatment? Not for Resale, a performance presented by NYU Steinhardt's Program in Drama Therapy, examines queerness in socio-political environments and therapeutic spaces, grappling with questions of representation in both treatment and society at large.

More than a hundred years after he first appeared on stage, Peter Pan still refuses to mature. In the musical Peter Pan, opening at Spreckels Performing Arts Center on May 4, the eternal boy makes the message loud and clear, singing 'I Won't Grow Up' (and crowing 'I Gotta Crow').

The Muny announced today the leading trio that will star in the theatre's centennial season production of Singin' in the Rain, June 27 - July 3. Broadway, film and television stars Corbin Bleu and Jeffrey Schecter will portray Don Lockwood and Cosmo Brown, respectively, and former Muny Kid, Muny Teen and Indiana University student Berklea Going will star as Kathy Selden. Singin' in the Rain is directed by Marc Bruni and choreographed by Rommy Sandhu with music direction by Ben Whiteley. Singin' in the Rain is proudly sponsored by Ameren.

Goodspeed presents THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES! Telling the life story of humorist Will Rogers, the Tony-Award winning musical features a book by Peter Stone, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and music by Cy Coleman.THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES begins performances on April 13th and will run through June 21st.

Tickets for Maine State Music Theatre's 2018 season will go on sale at midnight on April 24, 2018. There is already a limited number of single tickets available. Buying early is recommended.