Brian Stokes Mitchell News

Fourteen episodes in, with eight more to come after the seven week hiatus that just began, GLEE's Season Three has been filled with shocks and surprises, but none so shocking and surprising as last night's potentially fatal collision involving the one and only Quinn Fabray, Dianna Agron. In the show's final moments, the danger of auto texting was made painfully plain to see as Quinn's car was demolished by an oncoming truck as she typed the episode's title into her phone, "On My Way," - on her way to the wedding of Rachel (Lea Michele) and Finn (Cory Monteith), that is. 'Chapel Of Love' playing on the radio gave the scene an extra added note of morbid irony and twisted the dramatic knife in a way few enterprises dare to do, as well - a NIP/TUCK twist (as Ryan Murphy would have it). So, is this really the last we shall see of Quinn on GLEE? We will have to wait until April to see, but some pictures have already surfaced of Quinn wheelchair racing with Artie (Kevin McHale) onset, so perhaps she survives after all. Besides Quinn's catastrophe, one of the most complex and controversial secondary characters on the show, closeted gay football player and Kurt's former McKinley High bully par excellence, Max Karofsky, succumbed to a heartbreakingly presented suicide attempt, but survived to fight another day. Will Quinn be as lucky? What will become of her daughter, Beth - sired with Puck (Mark Salling) back in Season One - who is being raised by Rachel's birth mother, Shelby (Idina Menzel)? Does this mean we will be seeing more of Ms. Menzel in the back 8 of the season? Will Puck and Shelby rekindle their romance in the wake of Quinn's crash and subsequent rehabilitation or, maybe, death? Only time will tell, it seems. In an episode packing an incredible punch, GLEE'S "On My Way" delivered the drama, the social commentary, the laughs, tears, joy and, of course, the music as stylishly and successfully as any of its finest episodes ever have, even if some of the questionable of-the-moment contemporary song selections at the central Regionals competition failed to fully ignite as other songs may very well have done. Indeed, last night's GLEE was all any gleek could ask for from the Winter Finale of their favorite show, and, if we are forced to wait a few weeks for the next episode, best to go out on a big, bad cliffhanger that makes a splash.

Opera Columbus presents Denyce Graves at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Friday, March 25, at 8 pm. Tickets are $38-$98 at the Ohio Theatre Ticket Office (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com. To purchase by phone, please call (614) 469-0939 or (800) 745-3000.

Porchlight Music Theatre will present the Chicago premiere of John Bucchino and Harvey Fierstein's A Catered Affair, directed by Nick Bowling with music direction by Doug Peck, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 19, 2012 - Sunday, February 19, 2012.

Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell stopped by 'Meet The Press' for an interview with David Gregory while in Washington for the "Discover Ellington Festival." He discusses Duke Ellington, the artist who the festival honors, and the influence that jazz had on him.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, an upcoming restaurant and club, 54 Below, hopes to become a new staple for performers and patrons alike. The 160-seat space is set to kick off featuring Patti LuPone for two weeks in June, and has also confirmed that Brian d'Arcy James, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rebecca Luker and Megan Hilty have scheduled performances.

Porchlight Music Theatre, American Musicals. Chicago Style, presents the Chicago premiere of John Bucchino and Harvey Fierstein's A Catered Affair, directed by Nick Bowling with music direction by Doug Peck, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.

Last night on GLEE, viewers finally got a chance to meet Rachel's two dads, Hiram (guest star Jeff Goldblum) and Leroy (guest star Brian Stokes Mitchell) when they hosted a dinner party and performed for their guests. Also, in the episode, Rory (guest star Damian McGinty) and Artie (Kevin McHale) competed for Sugar's (guest star Vanessa Lengies) love and Mercedes (Amber Riley) sang a love song. Miss the episode? Catch up with all the performances below!

Returning to the Royal Room for the sixth time since 2002, KT Sullivan recently appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC with Brian Stokes Mitchell in Broadway Today, at the Humanities Festival in Chicago with Dave Frishberg and at Carnegie's Zankel Hall with Michael Feinstein. She is an annual headliner at the Oak Room of New York's Algonquin Hotel and has headlined at Carnegie Hall, Town Hall, Lincoln Center, and The Caramoor Festival. She has performed internationally at The Spoleto Festival, The Nouvelle Eve in Paris, The Chichester Festival in England and the Adelaide Festival in Australia.

In an absolutely uncannily coincidental occurrence last night, the Valentine's Day episode of GLEE included among its song-stack the all-time most memorable Whitney Houston ballad of all time, originally sung by Dolly Parton in 1974 but made famous by Houston on the soundtrack of the 1992 film THE BODYGUARD, in which she also starred, "I Will Always Love You". While this episode was filmed weeks ago - long before Houston's sudden passing, of course - the fact that this was the moment GLEE finally tackled one of the biggest songs ever - a single that originally stayed atop the chart for more than 3 months - comes as a definite shock and surprise; and, also, somehow, a fitting tribute. The tasteful "We Will Always Love You" card at the end of the program dedicated the episode to Houston's memory, in a last minute addition to the long-wrapped show by the powers-that-be. It hit just the right chord - as did the effervescently enjoyable if slight episode. Amber Riley wrought the high emotion out of the Houston barn-burner in a manner that surely would do the gospel singer of Whitney's own roots more than merely proud and the overall show was a sure success as far as knockout musical numbers go. As for the rest of the "Heart" Valentine's show, we were treated to a number of well-played guest appearances, such as Rachel's two dads, essayed all-too-deliciously by Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell, in addition to THE GLEE PROJECT winner Samuel Larsen's much ballyhooed debut on the show. Former TGP finalist and Season Three GLEE featured player Damian McGinty also got more focus than usual, as did Amber Riley, who emerged as the star of this particular episode. Courtesy of a lively and raucous "Love Shack", Darren Criss made his welcome return after a few episodes out. The rest of the songs added to the overall candy-coated allure of the sweet and sugary confection of a show. No, "Heart" was not an episode that will linger forever in the memory like some in GLEE's past, but the music made the night - and, in the case of "I Will Always Love You", made it really pack a punch when we needed it. It most closely resembled the wedding episode from last season, I thought - which is certainly a compliment. Plus, "Heart" featured the return of Karofsky - in gorilla suit, no less - and many dramatic twists for the gleeks we have all come to know and love. And, just how adorable is Sugar Motta?!

Now in its third season, GLEE is a musical comedy about a group of eager and ambitious students who strive to outshine their singing competition to win Nationals while navigating the cruel halls of McKinley High. Since its debut, GLEE has become a bona fide cultural phenomenon, received prestigious honors including the Golden Globe and Peabody Award and singlehandedly made glee clubs cool again.

Tonight on GLEE, viewers will finally get a chance to meet Rachel's two dads, Hiram (guest star Jeff Goldblum) and Leroy (guest star Brian Stokes Mitchell) when they host a dinner party and perform for their guests. Also, in the episode, Rory (guest star Damian McGinty) and Artie (Kevin McHale) compete for Sugar's (guest star Vanessa Lengies) love and Mercedes (Amber Riley) sings a love song. Check out a sneak peek of Goldblum and Stokes MItchell in action below!

From Nick Jonas and Michael Urie to the Ladies of THE VIEW to Adam Pascal, Raul Esparza, Barbra Streisand to Alan Menken, Bernadette Peters to Susan Boyle, Colin Quinn to GLEE and Everything in Between - It's the BroadwayWorld.com 2012 Valentine's Day Special - It's the Biggest Ever!

Tonight on GLEE, viewers will finally get a chance to meet Rachel's two dads, Hiram (guest star Jeff Goldblum) and Leroy (guest star Brian Stokes Mitchell) when they host a dinner party and perform for their guests. Also, in the episode, Rory (guest star Damian McGinty) and Artie (Kevin McHale) compete for Sugar's (guest star Vanessa Lengies) love and Mercedes (Amber Riley) sings a love song. Check out photos and audio from the episode below!

The longest-running show in Broadway history, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, offered its 10,000th performance yesterday at 2 PM as a special benefit for The Actors Fund.

Samuel Larsen, winner of the first season of Oxygen Channel's THE GLEE PROJECT, will appear in his first episode of the Fox musical drama on February 14th in an episode entitled 'Heart'. Check out him performing the Gym Class Heros' 'Stereo Hearts'!

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End (and everywhere in between) with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more! For last week's biggest events: visit THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: January 28-February 3.

On next Tuesday's episode of GLEE, entitled 'Heart', in honor of Valentine's Day, Will challenges the New Directions to find and perform the world's greatest love songs. Meanwhile, Rachel's two dads Hiram (Jeff Goldblum) and LeRoy Berry (Brian Stokes Mitchell) pay a visit to McKinley High. The episode airs Tuesday, February 14th at 8:00 pm on the Fox network.