Donna Murphy News

Urban Stages' Board of Directors and founding artistic director Frances Hill will celebrate 35 years of acclaimed Off-Broadway plays/musicals and art programming at The Central Park Boathouse on Monday, May 15 at 6:30 pm.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! First, we'd like to wish a happy opening to Burn This, which officially opens on Broadway tonight, April 16!

The Cancer Support Community (CSC) will be hosting its annual Spring Celebration the evening of Today, April 16 at The Lighthouse on Pier 61, part of the acclaimed Chelsea Piers complex on New York City's Hudson River waterfront. The event's program, in part, will honor the late Marin Mazzie's life and legacy of advocacy and inspiration with a musical tribute by Tony winners Donna Murphy, Debra Monk, and Karen Ziemba.

The Cancer Support Community (CSC) will be hosting its annual Spring Celebration the evening of Tuesday, April 16 at The Lighthouse on Pier 61, part of the acclaimed Chelsea Piers complex on New York City's Hudson River waterfront. The event's program, in part, will honor the late Marin Mazzie's life and legacy of advocacy and inspiration with a musical tribute by Tony winners Donna Murphy, Debra Monk, and Karen Ziemba.

It's clear the instant she takes the stage, we're in the presence of a legend. With a humble salutation, Betty Buckley inhabits the role of Dolly Levi in a way you might expect from the actress whose multifaceted career spans decades.

After years of playing well with others - whether singing backup for friends' shows, or crooning alongside a cast of puppet characters - Jennifer Barnhart stepped into the spotlight and slayed in her debut solo cabaret, fittingly titled, 'It's About Time!' at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, downstairs at the Westbank Cafe on 42nd Street.

Celebrity photographer Stephen Mosher's outrageous experiences come to life in story and song as he shares the adventures he and his colorful family have experienced in a raucous roller coaster ride, 'The Story Teller' playing four encore performances at Don't Tell Mama on April 19 and 22, and May 1 and 7 at 7:00 p.m.  From photographing the likes of Maggie Smith and Sarah Jessica Parker for his publication The Sweater Book to marrying the same man 8 times in the documentary film 'Married And Counting', Mosher's philosophy of devouring life takes center stage.

As I'm going through all my Gypsy CDs (yes, to ensure I have them all either on my hard drive or accessible in the cloud, before throwing them out), I'm finding myself weirdly most drawn to Tyne Daly's recording, from her Tony-winning performance in the 1989 revival. The thing is I know Tyne Daly, I mean I know her work. She's been a familiar and distinctive presence on stage and screen for as long as I can remember and I even have a few musical theater recordings featuring her singing, but hers is not a singing voice I live with on a LITERALLY daily basis like, say, Ethel Merman's, Angela Lansbury's, Bette Midler's, Bernadette Peters's or Patti LuPone's. So to me, Tyne Daly's Rose is a unique sound that I can only identify with Tyne Daly's Rose and, therefore, a character. For today, that's the Gypsy I most feel like listening to.

SCENERY launches brand new line of accessories created from retired show stages (stage decks). 

Bonnie Milligan has joined the cast of Wicked Sings Birds of Paradise at Feinstein's/54 Below! One of Off-Broadway's most beloved cult musicals, Birds of Paradise, returns to New York City, with a star-studded Broadway cast, many from the hit musical Wicked. The show will be performed on Monday, March 18th, 2019 at 7pm & 9:30pm.

As the house lights went down and the familiar strains of 'Before the Parade Passes By' wafted through San Francisco's Golden Gate theatre, a buzz of excitement and a ripple of clapping could be heard from the front of the house on up to the balcony seats. The sound of times gone by, captured by the tuneful Jerry Herman score, ushered the audience into the opulent gift of gilded age perfection, the revival of Michael Stewart's 1964 musical, Hello, Dolly.

This week's decluttering is only freeing up a tiny bit of space in my collection, but it represents an enormous place in my heart. The only version of The Wiz I have on CD is the AMAZING/IF YOU DON'T KNOW IT, YOU'RE NOT A REAL BROADWAY FAN original cast album starring Stephanie Mills. I do have the movie soundtrack in my iTunes and the soundtrack of 'The Wiz Live!' is on Apple Music, so let's dive in.

Well, my little piggies and wolves, the next CDs I'm eliminating from my apartment are all the recordings of all the versions of Into The Woods. I'm talking London cast, movie version, Broadway revival and ouch, the one that's gonna leave a gaping hole in my heart, that beautiful Original Broadway Cast Recording starring Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg and above them all as the Witch (receiving the deal-breaking top billing the producers previously refused Patti LuPone when they offered her the role) Bernadette Peters.

Utah's Governor Gary R. Herbert held a press conference last week to announce not-to-miss musical headliners, performances that will be a part of the Spike 150 celebration of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, including events starring Brian Stokes Mitchell, Megan Hilty and Ali Ewoldt.

One of Off-Broadway's most beloved cult musicals, BIRDS OF PARADISE, will return to New York City, with a star-studded Broadway cast, many from the hit musical WICKED, at Feinstein's/54 Below on Monday, March 18th, 2019 at 7pm & 9:30pm.

For one night only, Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti will appear at Long Wharf Theatre in her cabaret show, TALES FROM SOPRANO ISLE featuring songs from her career along with humorous anecdotes and experiences that she has encountered on and off the stage and screen. The presenting sponsor for the gala event is KeyBank.

As most people know with live theater, there is an underlying risk in promoting that a specific star will be there at every single performance, as advertised in a specific project. Unfortunately, that's simply not realistic nor is it always going to be the case, due to a multitude of factors beyond anyone's control. To those worried about a future date in the national tour's run in which they will have to miss Ms. Buckley in the title role for any reason (which was recently the case during several days of a week-long engagement in Costa Mesa), I have two words for you: don't worry. As bummed as I was not being able to see Ms. Buckley's long-anticipated take on Dolly Levi (and I really really wanted to see Ms. Buckley), her admirable understudy Ms. Sheridan is a terrific, wonderfully game substitute. But as much as Ms. Buckley was, perhaps, a huge draw for many to come check out yet another production of this timeless classic, what audiences will end up experiencing as a whole when they stay is just as equally important a reason to see this brand new revival. Be sure to stick around and behold the wonders of this genuinely entertaining musical classic-from its unforgettable score and visual appeal, to its laugh-inducing silliness and cheeky fun.

Steele Spring Stage Rights, the licensing company that represents The Marvelous Wonderettes, has just acquired the licensing and theatrical performance rights to the off-Broadway musical about a family and its complicated history with a book by Charlie Schulman and music and lyrics by Michael Roberts.  

Broadway stars, they're just like us! Many of your favorite Broadway stars traveled home for the holiday, welcomed family into New York and some traveled abroad for the merry day! BroadwayWorld has curated some of your favorite Broadway stars' social media posts to show you how they celebrated!

Following the success of his 2017 Netflix special, Jo Koy: Live from Seattle, Koy embarked on his "Break the Mold Tour," a nod to the DIY ethos of one of the country's most successful Asian-American comedians. The tour, which made stops in Bakersfield, California, Midland, Texas and Bellingham, Washington, has added dates including a stop in St. Louis at Stifel Theatre on Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m.