Bobby Lopez News

AVENUE Q became an overnight sensation on Broadway in July 2003 following a sold-out engagement and was extended four times after being presented Off-Broadway by Vineyard Theatre and The New Group. Since it roared into the spotlight - with its singular cast of people and puppets including Princeton, Kate Monster, Rod, Nicky, Trekkie, Christmas Eve, Gary Coleman and Lucy T. Slut - opening on Broadway on July 31, 2003, AVENUE Q has given over 6,000 performances, running seven years on Broadway before transferring to New World Stages in 2009, where it continues to play to large and happy houses.

While he is not the first actor with a direct connection to the Mormon Church, Chase Ramsey will be the first to take on the Elder Cunningham role in BOOK OF MORMON Musical with firsthand experience as a Mormon missionary.

The new classical series Only at Merkin with Terrance McKnight, featuring, among others, the world-renowned pianists Andre Watts and Ursula Oppens; the world premiere of a piano quintet by acclaimed new music composer Laura Kaminsky; and presentations by Academy and Grammy Awards winner Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Frozen); Emmy, Tony, Grammy and Academy Awards winner Bobby Lopez (Frozen); Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal); and 10-time Tony winner Maury Yeston (Titanic, Nine) are among the numerous highlights of the Kaufman Music Center's diverse 2018-19 season at Merkin Hall.

What do you do with a BA in English - 15 years later? You might not be able to go back to college, but you can always go back to AVENUE Q, the winner of the 2004 Tony Awards' "Triple Crown" for Best Musical, Best Score and Best Book.

North Carolina Theatre, the region's premiere nonprofit professional theatre, is proud to announce casting for its final production of the 2017-18 season, Disney's NEWSIES, playing July 24-29 at Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh.

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: the Stars in the Alley concert is held today, Log Cabin starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson begins previews tonight, and more!

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: The Boys in the Band officially opens on Broadway tonight, and more!

Forbes has reported that the lawsuit against Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, claiming that the song 'Let It Go' from Frozen was copied, has been removed.

On Monday, May 14, 2018, Third Street Music School Settlement (Third Street), the nation's longest running community school, will honor Grammy Award-winning Singer and Songwriter Rosanne Cash, Tony and Oscar Award-winner Joel Grey, and long-time Board Member and Award-winning Architect Byron Bell at its Annual Spring Gala. Graham Parker, President of Universal Studios Classical Music Labels, will serve as master of ceremonies and Lydia Fenet, Senior Vice President of Christie's Auction House will host the live auction. Members of the cast of SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical also will perform. Held at Capitale (130 Bowery) in New York City, the gala will bring together hundreds of luminaries from the arts, culture, education, media, business, finance and philanthropy worlds to pay tribute to the honorees for their contributions to and leadership in arts and music education. Funds raised through attendance, live and silent auction participation will help support Third Street scholarships and financial aid services. With its roots in the settlement movement, Third Street today serves more than 5,000 New Yorkers of all ages and backgrounds by providing high quality, accessible music and dance instruction in more than 25 instruments and voice. More than 75% of Third Street students receive financial aid or scholarships through the school's Partners program, which sends teaching artists into community centers and public schools throughout New York City. Alumni include well-known artists Bobby Lopez, Jessie Montgomery, Irving Caesar, among others. This year's honorees join a roster of previous honorees that includes The Roots, Sting, Yoko Ono, Harold Prince, Philip Glass, and Audra McDonald. Rosanne Cash will be presented with Third Street's Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts and Joel Grey will receive Third Street's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. 'Third Street is founded on the principles of artistry, diversity, and community. We believe music connects us and that it is crucial to support programs that enable accessibility to the arts for people of all backgrounds,' said Third Street Music School's Anna-Maria Kellen Executive Director, Valerie G. Lewis. 'We are proud to celebrate our 123rd Anniversary with music visionaries, Joel Grey and Rosanne Cash, along with a long-time supporter of Third Street, Byron Bell. They have been incredible advocates for the arts, fostering artistic creativity in their communities and beyond,' she said. Gala Co-chairs are Jeannie Park and Larry Hackett, Kara Saxon and Amit Malhotra, and Kate and James Vanek. Anniversary Co-chairs include Beau Everett and Stephanie Goodman, Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Tatiana Serafin and Mick Kalishman, Felipe Toews and Yuu Fujita. Honorary Co-chairs include Barbara E. Field, Philip Glass and Harold Prince. Event sponsors include Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, Baldor Specialty Foods, Ernst & Young LLP, Putney, Twombly, Hall & Hirson LLP, Industry City, JD Carlisle Development Corporation, Steinway & Sons, and Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. For more information visit thirdstreetmusicschool.org/gala or contact Katharine Nemeth at 212-777-3240 ext. 26 or gala@thirdstreetmusicschool.org. Tickets start at $500 per person and $5,000 per table. About Third Street Founded in 1894, Third Street Music School Settlement is the nation's longest-running community music school. Celebrating 123 years of service, Third Street works to enrich lives and communities by providing access to high quality music and dance instruction to students of all ages and backgrounds, regardless of artistic ability or socio-economic circumstances. As a pioneer of community arts education in the United States, Third Street today serves more than 5,000 students in our primary location on East 11th Street, and through partnerships with nearly 25 public schools and community centers throughout New York City. Third Street alumni include violist Masumi Per Rostad of the acclaimed Pacifica String Quartet; Ray Chew, musician and music director of Dancing with the Stars and American Idol; Irving Caesar, composer of the 1920's hit 'Tea for Two'; Bobby Lopez, co-creator of the hit Broadway musical Avenue Q and Academy Award-winning writer of 'Let It Go' from Disney's Frozen and 'Remember Me' from Disney's Coco; Ingrid Michaelson, pop singer/songwriter with hits on the Top 40 charts; and Jessie Montgomery, recipient of the Sphinx Award. Visit http://www.thirdstreetmusicschool.org/ for more information, and follow Third Street on Instagram @3rdstreetnyc and twitter @Third_Street.

Award winners Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez will be presenting sponsors at the 4th annual Brooklyn Children's Theatre's SPRING SING on Saturday, April 14, 2018. Kristen, an Oscar and Grammy winner, co-wrote Broadway's first a capella show, IN TRANSIT. Bobby, co-creator of BOOK OF MORMON and AVENUE Q, is the only person ever to double EGOT - winning at least two Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. Together they wrote music for Disney's FROZEN and Disney Pixar's COCO.

Special guests announced for three-time Tony Award winning composer Jason Robert Brown's one-off West End concert at London's Palladium, as part of BBC Radio 2's 'Friday Night is Music Night', accompanied by the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra

BroadwayEvolved is a revolutionized Broadway summer intensive with a selective, in-depth training program for aspiring actors and educators, both created and taught by elite industry professionals. Created by Broadway star Betsy Wolfe and education professional Cynthia Rose, BroadwayEvolved will take place August 6-9, 2018 in NYC.

Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern announce that Maira Barriga, Elizabeth Dugas, Leah Hofmann, Naomi Kakuk, Brittany Marcin Maschmeyer and Erin Moore will complete the cast of the world premiere of THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE.

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Today, the East Jefferson General Hospital Broadway in New Orleans at the Saenger Theatre announced its line-up of shows for its 2018 - 2019 season, presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association. HAMILTON will play its New Orleans engagement March 12 - 31, 2019, and anchor the Broadway in New Orleans season with six other shows. Along with one special option, the new season represents a wide range of Tony Award® winners and song-and-dance favorites for New Orleans audiences to enjoy.

Tony Award nominees Kerry Butler (Disaster!, Xanadu, the upcoming Mean Girls), Charl Brown (Motown), John Ellison Conlee (The Full Monty, Murder Ballad), and Stephanie D'Abruzzo (Avenue Q, I Love You Because) will head a special reading presentation of the new musical Seeing Red, by Emmy Award winner Joey Mazzarino and award-winning composer Aron Accurso on Thursday, January 25 in New York City at 11am and 3pm. Seeing Red takes a look at immigration through a fairy tale lens. In fact, it's about all the things that divide us as humans Religion, borders, race. It's the story of Little Red Riding Hood, now a grown woman who still spends her days delivering baskets full of goodies through her company Red Ex. She wishes she could change her fate but in Everafteropolis, once your story is written, it's written. When Red meets the Man From Nantucket, her life is suddenly turned upside down. He convinces her to smuggle Limerick characters (nameless people from faraway places) over Humpty Dumpty's wall and into her Fairy Tale Utopia. But human trafficking ain't easy and she's going to have to face off against the Big Bad Wolf, the citizens of Everafteropolis and the Great God Grimm himself to save the day. Seeing Red takes all of the tropes of children's theater and spins them on their head to tell a very grown-up story. It's got romance! It's got murder! It's got hand-puppets! Butler, Brown, Conlee, and D'Abruzzo will be joined by Jennifer Barnhart (Sesame Street, Avenue Q), Haven Burton (Violet, Kinky Boots, Shrek), Tyler Bunch (The Muppets, Julie's Greenroom, Bear in the Big Blue House), Paul Castree (Disaster!, 9 to 5, Young Frankenstein), Katie McCreary, Deont L. Warren (Aladdin), and Jacob ben Widmar (The Book of Mormon, White Christmas). Paul Staroba (War Paint, Gentleman's Guide ) serves as Musical Director along with C. Renee Alexander as the Stage Manager and Dailey-Monda Management as the General Manager. JOEY MAZZARINO is currently writing on the new Showtime project Kidding which stars Jim Carrey. Mazzarino has over 20 Emmy Awards in multiple categories for his work on Sesame Street (Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Original Song - Power of Yet). He directed all 13 episodes of Julie Andrews Netflix series Julie's Greenroom where he also served as a writer and producer. ARON ACCURSO Composer: The Dogs of Pripyat (Jerry Bock Award, NAMT, Goodspeed Festival, Weston New Musical Award), Co-composer/Co-book for We Have Apples (featured in the Washington Post, received a showcase produced by Theatre Now NY), Composer/Co-lyrics Strega Nona (National Tour). Training: BMI Workshop (Harrington Award), Dramatist Guild Fellow, St. Olaf College. Music Director/Incidental Music for Up Here by Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (La Jolla), and Calvin Berger (George Street). Broadway: Aladdin, Sister Act, Nice Work , The Little Mermaid, Billy Elliot.

Another Broadway favorite ties the knot! This evening, Waitress' current Jenna, Betsy Wolfe took to Twitter to share photos from her recent nuptials. Check out Betsy in all her wedded bliss below!

This Thanksgiving, we're totally thankful to be sharing the canned cranberry sauce and a lot of laughs with the writing team behind DISNEY'S FROZEN: Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez! We're pouring out 'Butter' chardonnay and Monkey Shoulder scotch while Bobby spills about being popular as a Ghostbuster and his #CroutonMoment and Kristen chats about 'The Parent Trap' and imagining an A New Brain amusement park.

Betsy Wolfe has tweeted that she will be leaving Waitress earlier than planned to headline Seattle Symphony concerts with Jeremy Jordan. Her final performance will not be January 9th, and the Seattle concerts will be January 11-14.

Caissie Levy shares some thoughts on fitting in some cabaret gigs between Frozen runs and how motherhood has changed her approach to her career.