Donna Summer News

The feelgood musical Sisters Act come to Sweden! The premiere will take place on September 11 at the China Theater. It is a divine rap, funny and musical comedy, based on the 1992 Blockbuster movie, Sister Act, featuring Whoopi Goldberg. The musical was nominated in the US for five Tony Awards for 'Best Musical' and of course 'Best Music'. The captivating music is made by composer Alan Menken, a numerous Oscar winner, is known as the man behind many of Disney's greatest hits, eg 'Can you feel the love tonight' and 'Beauty and the beast'. In this swinging monastery, Menken has created a rosary of hits ranging from 70's disco in Barry White's spirit to perfectly tuned ballads. Of course, the musical also contains a huge dose of pat-friendly power gospel. The performance Sister Act proves once again that singing nuns definitely belong to the big musical scenes.

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts today announced its 2019-20 season subscription shows and added attractions. The eight-show slate begins on September 10 with Miss Saigon and ends with the Grammy Award and Tony Award-winning Best Musical The Band's Visit in July 2020.

Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Darren Criss (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, TV's The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story), Lea DeLaria (TV's Orange is the New Black), Tony Award winner Rosemary Harris (My Fair Lady), Tony nominee Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), Nicole Vanessa Ortiz (Smokey Joe's Cafe), Tony winner Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof), Ana Villafañe (On Your Feet!) and Teal Wicks (The Cher Show) have been added to the star-studded lineup of Broadway Backwards, the annual celebration of show tunes, love and the LGBTQ community.

Over an online broadcast of the annual Broadway Launch Party this evening, Playhouse Square unveiled the seven shows that will be featured in the highly-anticipated 2019-2020 KeyBank Broadway Series: SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL, THE BAND'S VISIT, MEAN GIRLS, ANASTASIA, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, MY FAIR LADY and Disney's FROZEN.

Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta has announced its 2019/2020 season line-up, featuring the return of HAMILTON and joined by ten time Tony Award and 2019 Grammy Award winner THE BAND'S VISIT, ANASTASIA, MISS SAIGON, HELLO, DOLLY!, Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL. Audience favorite, BLUE MAN GROUP, and the most popular show on Broadway, WICKED, are available as season options.

Letters to the President is a multi-composer song cycle in development with The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.  A concert presentation of the new work is set for Monday, April 8, 2019 at 7pm in the historic Great Hall at Cooper Union.

Midnight Theatricals has annouced an updated performance schedule and released a new trailer for WE ARE THE TIGERS, the original pop/rock musical and teen horror comedy written & composed by Preston Max Allen and produced by S. Asher Gelman, that will open Off-Broadway at Theater 80 (80 St. Mark's Place) tonight at 8:00PM Michael Bello directs the pitch-black comedy about a dismally low-ranking team of cheerleaders trying to survive the night while being terrorized by a serial killer. Music supervision and arrangements are by Patrick Sulken. The production began previews on Thursday, February 7, 2019, and will run through April 17. www.tigersmusical.com

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization has released the second video in its new YouTube Series, "R&H Goes Pop!". In the video, Laura Osnes and Jeremy Jordan perform "The Next Ten Minutes Ago,' a mashup of "Ten Minutes Ago" from Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella and "The Next Ten Minutes" from Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years. The song features arrangements by Benjamin Rauhala and Kurt Crowley.

Curiouser and curiouser, and groovier: a classic of children's literature hits the dance floor in Disco Alice: The Wonderland Remix, an original adaptation performed by Perseverance Theatre's Young Company, March 1-3 and 8-10 in the Phoenix Theatre (Black Box). Based on the beloved book by Lewis Carroll, this fantastical production for all ages, adapted and directed by William Conrow, features disco-era choreography by Becky Engstrom and Alisha Falberg, psychedelic scenic murals by Glo Ramirez, and whimsical costumes by Ruth Fulwiler

A key component to the show's longevity is the work of Broadway marketing agency Serino Coyne. Below, Vice President of Creative Strategy Thomas Callahan and Director of Marketing and Communications, Diana Salameh tell us all about what goes into selling a musical with such staying power.

Birdland was proud to present Broadway singer/dancer Ariana DeBose in concert on Monday, February 11. 

Bright Star Tony Award nominee Carmen Cusack returned to Feinstein's/54 Below with a brand new show last night, February 13 at 7pm and 9:30pm. Joining Carmen were her Bright Star co-star and Drama Desk nominee Paul Alexander Nolan (Escape to Margaritaville, Slave Play at NYTW), and fellow Encores! Call Me Madam cast members Ben Davis (Violet) and internet personality Randy Rainbow.

The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts' Kravis On Broadway series is making history-with an epic line-up of seven Broadway shows that include multiple Tony Award winners, Kravis Center debuts, and the one hit that continues to captivate the entire world more than any other show in Broadway history.

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

A young Classics professor puts her career-and her love life-in peril, and calls on the gods of Ancient Greece to save her. Things don't go according to plan when the gods who show up are The Gods of Comedy!

Bright Star Tony Award nominee and star of the current Call Me Madam revival at Encores!, Carmen Cusack returns to Feinstein's/54 Below with a brand new show on Wednesday, February 13 at 7pm & 9:30pm, featuring special guests! Joining Carmen will be her Bright Star co-star and Drama Desk nominee Paul Alexander Nolan (Escape to Margaritaville, Slave Play at NYTW), and fellow Encores! Call Me Madam cast members Ben Davis (Violet) and internet personality Randy Rainbow.

Tony Award nominees and winners, iconic Broadway legends and beloved stars of stage and screen will come together to celebrate the LGBTQ community at this year's Broadway Backwards.

The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Theatre, has announced the BROADWAY IN HOLLYWOOD 2019-20 Season, consisting of eight Los Angeles premieres, all direct from Broadway. This season will mark the first time Los Angeles Theatre audiences will have regular access to Broadway National Tours at both the Pantages and Dolby Theatres in Hollywood. 8 great shows, 2 iconic theatres, one blockbuster season.

Stephen DeAngelis continued his ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys, Understudies and Alternates with its next edition of AT THIS PERFORMANCE...held on Monday, February 4th at The Green Room 42.

Prolific composer/conductor Matthias Pintscher curates Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra's (LACO) SESSION, an innovative performance experience, in collaboration with Four Larks, on Thursday February 28, 8 pm, at Mack Sennett Studios in Silverlake. Designed to explore classical music's cutting-edge sounds and challenge traditional concert-going expectations, the evening features two works by Pintscher, Study II for Treatise on the Veil, a string trio inspired by painter Cy Twombly's art works, and Uriel, for cello and piano, the third part of his 'Profiles of Light' cycle. Also on the program are three-time Grammy Award-winning soprano Michelle DeYoung and LACO artists performing Ravel's Three Poemes de Stephane Mallarme; Berg's Four pieces for clarinet and piano; Grisey's surreal Stele for two percussionists and Xenakis's Rebonds A, a tour-de-force for solo percussion. SESSION includes a 'hang' with the artists, and premium tickets include parking and one drink as well. Mack Sennett Studios, where artists like Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Lady Gaga, John Legend, Donna Summer and Jay-Z have performed, is a historic facility that serves as a soundstage, event space and a hub for a variety of cultural producers.