Cy Coleman News

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

Tony Award-winning actors Christian Borle (Peter and the Starcatcher, Spamalot) and Beth Leavel (The Drowsy Chaperone, Elf), Tony nominee Annaleigh Ashford (Kinky Boots, Legally Blonde), and Broadway stars Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show], The Little Mermaid) and Derek Klena (Wicked, Dogfight) are all scheduled to take part in the developmental reading. Dog and Pony will receive its World Premiere at The Old Globe next spring, running May 28 - June 29, 2014; casting for that production will be announced at a later time.

Now in its 16th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook will continue to expand its scope celebrating the best in American singing and songwriting. New this year, the opening night concert will befree, in the David Rubenstein Atrium, on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. 'Live From Lincoln Center,' the Emmy Award-winning program broadcast nationally on PBS stations, will shoot four of the first week's American Songbook concerts in The Allen Room: by James Naughton, Lawrence Brownlee, Jason Isbell, and Patina Miller. These performances will be broadcast nationally beginning in Spring 2014. In addition, American Songbook concerts taking place in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center will be live-streamed via http://watch.lincolncenter.org.

Baby Jane Dexter's new show, More Rules of the Road,debuts at Metropolitan Room for six performances only beginning Friday, November 22 and running on Fridays, a Saturday and one Thursday through December 27

Just last week, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group announced the casting and initial tour schedule for their spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera launching a major North American Tour in Providence, R.I. at the Providence Performing Arts Center. With newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design, this new version of PHANTOM, the most successful musical of all-time, will be performed by a cast and orchestra of 52, making this one of the largest productions on tour in North America. Meet the cast below!

The Hartt School presents the musical circus spectacle Barnum Thursday through Saturday, October 24 through 26, at 7:30 PM; and Sunday, October 27, at 3:00 PM. All performances take place in Lincoln Theater, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford. Admission is $20, with discounts for seniors, students, and groups of 10 or more. For tickets and information, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt call 860.768.4228, or visit the University of Hartford Box Office at Lincoln Theater.

All Star Productions presents DAYS OF HOPE, with Music and Lyrics by Howard Goodall and Book by Renata Allen.

Cincinnati Landmark Productions knows how to put on great summer shows! We've been serving up hilarious comedies, beloved musicals, belly laughs, dazzling dances, stirring songs and onstage fireworks for over 30 years! For the Summer of 2014, we've put together a hot four-show package at the cool Covedale Center for the Performing Arts.

Broadway Close Up takes you behind the scenes of musicals old and new with eye-opening interviews and inspiring performances by some of Broadway's greatest talents. The 2013 performances kick off with the annual Bound for Broadway show hosted by Liz Callaway and continues with Tony-nominated lyricist Amanda Green, an evening with the fascinating women from the musicals of Cy Coleman, and an enchanting exploration of duets, trios, quartets and ensemble numbers by Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein and Irving Berlin among others.

Over the last 20 or so years, there have been three nightclubs in New York that have been considered the venue Holy Grail for cabaret singers. Two of them--the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel and Feinstein's at the Loews Regency--have in the past year or so sadly died a corporate death, leaving the upper east side Cafe Carlyle as the Carnegie Hall of cabaret haunts. When she first came to New York from California 24 years ago, Natalie Douglas would save her pennies to see the legendary Bobby Short perform at the Carlyle and dream that she would some day star in a show from that stage. Last Thursday and Friday night, after almost a quarter century performing in every New York venue on the cabaret map and many prestigious clubs around the world, and after winning numerous MAC, Bistro and Nightlife Awards, Douglas finally soloed at the venerable venue and the audiences who saw her shows probably wondered why it took so long.

Tony Yazbeck will join the previously announced Christian Borle in Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's Little Me, the opening production of New York City Center Encores! series, running for seven performances, February 5 - 9, 2014. Joshua Bergasse will choreograph the production, along with the previously announced Director John Rando and Music Director Rob Berman.

All Star Productions has announced full casting and creatives for DAYS OF HOPE, with Music and Lyrics by Howard Goodall and Book by Renata Allen.

Performances are set for Friday and Saturday, Oct. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m. at Hartke Theatre.

BIG FISH's Ryan Andes spoke exclusively to BWW about dancing on stilts, family traditions and why he counts himself 'one of the luckiest people' he knows.

75 - year old singer Tonia Tecce has made her long-delayed New York City cabaret debut last night at The Metropolitan Room. Previously, Tecce has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Academy of Music, and sung with Peter Nero and many orchestras . Her show, A Cockeyed Optimist, Why We Believe, The Songs of Richard Rodgers, was written and directed by Michael Bush.

The season includes Hello Dolly, The Sunshine Boys, Footloose and The Will Rogers Follies.

DAYS OF HOPE is set in Spain in 1939, in the dying moments of the Spanish Civil War. The story begins with a family celebrating the marriage of the daughter, Sofia, to an English volunteer, but the wedding meal is tinged with anger at Franco and his fascists. They plan to escape that night to England with Sofia's groom, Stanley, but before the plan is executed, various visitors over the course of the evening bring different perspectives upon their condemnation of Franco, of Mussolini and Hitler for their intervention, and of Britain's non-intervention… The family ends up being torn apart, trying to decide whether to flee or stay and fight.

The Crazy Coqs October schedule begins with Steven Brinberg, who returns following his sell-out show earlier this year with Simply Barbra (October 1- 5), followed by Les Miserables actress and singer Frances Ruffelle and her show Paris Original (October 8 - 12). New York singer-pianist Billy Stritch performs his show I've Got Your Number - The Jazz of Cy Coleman (October 15- 19). As part of the London Festival of Cabaret, Karen Kohler and KT Sullivan will duet together in their show Vienna to Weimar (October 22- 26) followed by KT Sullivan with Rhyme, Women and Song (October 29 - November 2).

THE COLUMN Awards Board of Directors and Executive Director/Producer/Founder John Garcia have the esteemed honor to announce today that one of Broadway's biggest and most sought after stars, Rachel York will serve as Co-Host for the 15th Annual Column Awards Gala. The gala will be held Monday February 24, 2014 at the Patty Granville Performing Arts Complex with a cocktail reception at 7:00pm, curtain at 8:00pm. For all info and tix info go towww.thecolumnawards.org