Carol Channing News

Host JIM CARUSO and musical director/pianist BILLY STRITCH are delighted to announce their return to THE MAGIC CASTLE for TWO nights, Wednesday and Thursday, March 9 and 10.

Triple threat Lee Roy Reams will be performing a song from 42nd Street in this year's S.T.A.G.E. benefit entitled Original Cast 2 at the Luckman Theatre on Saturday April 2. He has been in the original cast of Lorelei and in more productions of Hello Dolly! and 42nd Street than he can remember. In our recent phone chat he reminisced about the shows and the people he's worked with, including late greats Ruby Keeler & Juliet Prowse and legendary Carol Channing and Jerry Herman.

The 27th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E.-has added Tony winner Tyne Daly to the lineup for this year's show entitled ORIGINAL CAST 2.

Broadway's cuddliest cast kicked off a new year with the 14th edition of THE BROADWAY BEARS auction yesterday, Sunday, March 6, 2011 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, produced by and benefitting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Sure to out-do last year's collection, 43 one-of-a-kind, autographed BROADWAY BEARS - each dressed in original, handmade costumes representing some of the theater's most legendary performers and performances - will be put up for auction.

On Monday, March 7th, Ten Chimneys Foundation will begin public ticket sales for Music in the Drawing Room featuring Broadway luminary Christine Ebersole and Edward Hibbert - for two nights only, April 29th and 30th.

ollowing its most lucrative successful January/February ever, Executive Producer Michael Sterling of Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, CA says 'We are blessed to have enjoyed the most lucrative beginning of any year since our 2006 opening. This success is largely due to the unprecedented advance sales of our annual 6-week musical theatre talent competition LA's Next Great Stage Star 2011, and a series of spectacular debuts by such outstanding Broadway/Nightclub headliners as Nita Whitaker, Jason Graae, Maxine Lapiduss, and Suzanne Petrela. Notable Southland Musical Directors such as James Lent, Nelson Kole, John Boswell, and Michael Orland (of American Idol) also contributed to our 2011 kickoff.'

Broadway's cuddliest cast kicks off a new year with the 14th edition of THE BROADWAY BEARS auction on Sunday, March 6, 2011 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 West 42 Street), produced by and benefitting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The Bickford Theatre, 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morristown, NJ, opens its 2011 "A La Carte Series" on Sunday, March 6, at 2:00 p.m. with Hooray for Hollywood: Celebrating the Golden Years at the Movies! with Broadway veteran Gay Willis.

The Ogunquit Playhouse is pleased to announce the appointment of Jayme McDaniel to the position of Associate Producer.

From March 5 through April 25, 2011, The New York Botanical Garden 9th Annual Orchid Exhibition, 'The Orchid Show: On Broadway,' will present the work of Al Hirschfeld in 'Hirschfeld's Broadway Scrapbook.' Just across the Garden's ground in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library's Rondina and LoFaro Gallery, the complementary exhibition will feature more than 30 drawings, as well as posters, programs, and sketchbooks from the Al Hirschfeld Foundation that tell the history of the Great White Way as seen by its foremost chronicler.

From March 5 through April 25, 2011, the undeniable glamour and irresistible allure of orchids take center stage at The New York Botanical Garden in a dazzling display created by Tony award-winning set designer Scott Pask, image-maker Drew Hodges, and Botanical Garden curators.

From March 5 through April 25, 2011, The New York Botanical Garden 9th Annual Orchid Exhibition, 'The Orchid Show: On Broadway,' will present the work of Al Hirschfeld in 'Hirschfeld's Broadway Scrapbook.' Just across the Garden's ground in the LuEsther T. Mertz Library's Rondina and LoFaro Gallery, the complementary exhibition will feature more than 30 drawings, as well as posters, programs, and sketchbooks from the Al Hirschfeld Foundation that tell the history of the Great White Way as seen by its foremost chronicler.

MUSICAL THEATRE TALK with TRISH CAUSEY features Broadway stars, creative teams, coaches, and cabaret performers

On Monday, March 7th, Ten Chimneys Foundation will begin public ticket sales for Music in the Drawing Room featuring Broadway luminary Christine Ebersole and Edward Hibbert - for two nights only, April 29th and 30th.

Host JIM CARUSO and musical director/pianist BILLY STRITCH are delighted to announce their return to THE MAGIC CASTLE for TWO nights, Wednesday and Thursday, March 9 and 10. As before, JIM CARUSO'S CAST PARTY will take place at The Inner Circle at the Castle (700 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood). Doors will open at 6pm for singer's signup, and the open mic-style variety show will start at 8pm.

ollowing its most lucrative successful January/February ever, Executive Producer Michael Sterling of Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's in Studio City, CA says 'We are blessed to have enjoyed the most lucrative beginning of any year since our 2006 opening. This success is largely due to the unprecedented advance sales of our annual 6-week musical theatre talent competition LA's Next Great Stage Star 2011, and a series of spectacular debuts by such outstanding Broadway/Nightclub headliners as Nita Whitaker, Jason Graae, Maxine Lapiduss, and Suzanne Petrela. Notable Southland Musical Directors such as James Lent, Nelson Kole, John Boswell, and Michael Orland (of American Idol) also contributed to our 2011 kickoff.'

Host JIM CARUSO and musical director/pianist BILLY STRITCH are delighted to announce their return to THE MAGIC CASTLE for TWO nights, Wednesday and Thursday, March 9 and 10.

Andrea McArdle and daughter Alexis Kalehoff are set to costar as a mother and daughter in TheatreWorks' BLOOD BROTHERS in Naples, Florida. Performances run March 10 through March 20.

The Great White Way seems to be buzzing lately with rumors about potential recreations of iconic characters that include that of Streisand mounting Merman's GYPSY, LuPone channeling Channing's DOLLY, and the as yet to be announced contender for Lansbury's MAME. While other's are talking the talk about these legendary characters, Rita McKenzie is walking the walk as her highly promoted 'Pre-Broadway Engagement' of ETHEL MERMAN's BROADWAY opened this weekend in Los Angeles at the historic El Portal Theatre.

On January 16, 1964 theatergoers at the St. James Theatre first experienced what was to become perhaps the most memorable scene in musical comedy, when the curtains part atop the stairs of the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant and Dolly Levi appears in her red Freddy Wittop gown to begin her descent to 'rejoin the human race.' Forty-seven years (not to mention over 5,000 performances) later and 3,000 miles away, patrons of the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles were able to revisit a little bit of theatrical history as Jerry Herman's first Dolly, Ms. Carol Channing, again entered through parting red curtains and took the stage wearing her original 1964 gown in celebration of her 90th birthday.