Brian d'Arcy James News

Yesterday, June 5, theatre legend Patti LuPone opened the new nightclub and restaurant, 54 Below, with a two-week engagement of a new act that will run through June 16. Before the star took the stage for the evening performance, she treated the press to a special sneak peek of the show and BroadwayWorld was there to talk to the star and capture her memorable performance!

Yesterday, June 5, theatre legend Patti Lupone opened the new nightclub and restaurant, 54 Below, with a two-week engagement of a new act that will run through June 16. LuPone will play the venue Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8pm and Fridays and Saturdays at 11pm. In honor of the grand opening, LuPone treated the press to a special sneak peek of the show and BroadwayWorld was there!

Theatre legend Patti LuPone opens the new nightclub and restaurant 54 BELOW (254 West 54th Street) with a two-week engagement from tonight, June 5 through June 16. The June entertainment line-up also includes Jackie Hoffman, Mx Justin VivIan Bond and Brian d'Arcy James, as well as late-night lounge entertainment Tuesday - Thursday, a Monday night new composers series, and an informal cocktail hour on Sunday evenings.

Yesterday, June 3, The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were held at The Town Hall, celebrating this year's big winners. The festivities were presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and previous Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge was there, and we bring you red carpet interviews with the evening's attendees below. Click below to check out Part 2!

Yesterday, June 3, The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were held at The Town Hall, celebrating this year's big winners. The festivities were presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and previous Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge was there, and we bring you red carpet interviews with the evening's attendees below. Click below to check out Part 1!

Yesterday, June 3, The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were held at The Town Hall, celebrating this year's big winners. The festivities were presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and previous Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the entire evening and brings you photo coverage of the winners below!

Yesterday, June 3, The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were held at The Town Hall, celebrating this year's big winners. The festivities were presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and previous Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld was on the red carpet for the starry arrivals and brings you Part 2 of the photo coverage below! CLICK HERE for a complete list of the evening's honorees and winners!

Yesterday, June 3, The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were held at The Town Hall, celebrating this year's big winners. The festivities were presided over by star of stage and screen Brooke Shields and Broadway favorite - and previous Drama Desk winner - Brian d'Arcy James. BroadwayWorld was on the red carpet for the starry arrivals and brings you Part 1 of the photo coverage below!

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, June 3, 2012 - Sunday, June 3, 2012.

The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will be streamed live from the red carpet (7:15-7:45PM) as well as inside the Town Hall (beginning at 8PM) at DramaDeskAwards.com. Plus, don't forget to check in here at BroadwayWorld.com for live updates on winners and more!

The Tony Awards Drinking Game has become a tradition, and this year it's going to be sloshier and more dizzying than ever before!! Choose your favorite Broadway-themed cocktail (or mocktail!) and make sure you have food in your belly; it's about to get tipsy in here. Let's all play… The 2012 TONY AWARDS DRINKING GAME!!!

This June, 54 BELOW, a new performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife opens its doors to the public. The venue, located just below legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents an exciting lineup of Broadway brightest talent.

Looking for a quick roundup of this week's events in the theatre world? Look no further - here are some of the best articles the week had to offer!

Bay Street Theatre previously announced an evening with Brian d'Arcy James from the new hit series "Smash" and Ana Gasteyer, from "Saturday Night Live" and "Suburgatory." The show entitled Ana Gasteyer and BRIAN d'ARCY JAMES: ONE NIGHT, TWO VOICES, THREE CHEERS, will be an evening of song. Tickets are $65-$75 or $100 which includes an after party with the stars. Tickets are available online now at www.baystreet.org or at the Box Office at 631-725-9500.

Season 1 of NBC's new series about the making of a musical, SMASH, ended last Monday, May 14, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, the show will cut a few characters for Season 2. Brian d'Arcy James, Will Chase, Jaime Cepero and Raza Jaffrey, who play Frank, Michael, Ellis and Dev resectively, will no longer be regulars when the show returns in 2013.

Today we are talking to one of the stars of the hit revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING - which will be closing this Sunday after a 16-month run, so catch it while you can - who has also carved out an astonishingly accomplished resume on film and TV since her stunning, Emmy-winning small screen debut in a lead role as the young Judy Garland in ME & MY SHADOWS: LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND - the beautiful and tremendously talented Tammy Blanchard. Touching on many of her most memorable big screen and small screen roles and sharing her experiences of working with many of her impressive co-stars and creative collaborators - Bernadette Peters, Jessica Lange, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, Sam Mendes, and her co-star on two films, the late Brittany Murphy - Blanchard eloquently illustrates her rise to stardom and the roles and performances she has given that she is fondest of - GYPSY to BELLA to THE GOOD SHEPHERD and beyond. Additionally, Blanchard clues us in on what we can expect from her multi-episode character arc on Showtime's hit dramedy series THE BIG C and what it was like to play such a unique and unusual character - as well as her feelings on sharing the screen (and the onscreen bedroom) with previous InDepth InterView participants John Benjamin Hickey and Brian d'Arcy James. Plus, Blanchard shares how her new role as a mom has shaped her craft and career as well as future plans post-HOW TO SUCCEED, observations on GLEE and SMASH and much, much more!

The Drama Desk Awards have just announced that award winning actress, model and author Brooke Shields will co-host the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards with TV Star, Broadway's favorite leading man and past Drama Desk Award winner, Brian d'Arcy James. The Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8PM at The Town Hall in Manhattan. This year's award show is being written by cast album producer, playwright, and two-time Drama Desk Award winner Bill Rosenfield and directed by multi-award winning director Mark Waldrop (Divine Miss Millennium Tour, When Pigs Fly, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends).

SMASH's Brian d'Arcy James (SHREK, NEXT TO NORMAL) and Jennifer Lim (CHINGLISH) recently participated in a staged reading of the Broadway play CHINGLISH at The Greene Space. This particular evening also featured a conversation with Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of the Public Theater in NYC and readings by David Henry Hwang and additional readers Francis Jue and BD Wong. In this video, James and Lim perform a hilarious excerpt from CHINGLISH.

The words we've all been breathlessly waiting to hear - "You're going on as Marilyn tonight," - were finally uttered by the director of the show-within-the-show, Derek (Jack Davenport), on SMASH's "Bombshell" season finale last night: Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee) nabbed the coveted role. Despite seemingly all of the bets being placed early in the season against Karen by viewers and critics alike insofar as her likelihood in donning the peroxide wig and beautymark - she seemed a Norma Jean but rarely an expected choice for Marilyn; certainly no match in the classic idea of the screen siren as far as the vivacious and curvaceous Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) was concerned. While many were quick in giving Ivy Lynn the upper hand - or upper skirt, as the case may be - it was evident from the first moment of the series that Karen, the underdog, is who we were largely meant to be rooting for above all others; the naive Iowa girl singing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" on a stage of glitterring stars, so close and yet so far away. Ivy surely made a fast and furious impression soon thereafter with "The National Pastime" in SMASH's pilot, but Karen had already been quite clearly established as our most central protagonist - perhaps with Julia (Debra Messing) equally as prominent. As the fourteen subsequent episodes have progressed, SMASH has revealed itself to be a true ensemble piece with the emphasis on the collective journey of all of the characters and how that has had an effect on the burgeoning Broadway musical at the show's core, but Karen and Julia still have remained the two given the most screen-time and exposure. Megan Hilty has nonetheless emerged as a force to be reckoned with and her performance in the role is the finest of all on the series, outshining all in her songs and scenes. The various highways, byways and alleyways by which we have journeyed on the road of SMASH from the beginning to last night has unquestionably been leading to the BOMBSHELL first preview performances and the reveal of who would ultimately win the part of a lifetime in the show-within-the-show - and, on that count, the SMASH season finale bared all. And, as if all of that were not enough - cameos from Broadway heavyweights Bernadette Peters and Nick Jonas, too!

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's month-long Tony Awards clip countdown - which culminates in the Tony telecast itself on Sunday, June 10 - with a handful of Tony moments featuring members of the awesomely talented cast of NBC's musical drama series SMASH - season finale airing at 10 PM tonight - years before their big TV breakthrough roles on the hit show, which has been officially renewed for a second season: Megan Hilty, Brian d'Arcy James and a Tony Award nominee this year, Christian Borle!