Elton John News

Last week, Segerstrom Center for the Arts (formerly the Orange County Performing Arts Center) announced its brand new Broadway Series for the 2012 - 2013 Season. For it's BROADWAY SERIES, the Center will host touring companies of MEMPHIS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, WAR HORSE, BILLY ELLIOT, FLASHDANCE and SISTER ACT, plus 'Curtain Call Series' shows WICKED, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, and ANYTHING GOES.

Eddie Edwards has been mimicking and impersonating celebrity actors with uncanny precision ever since the 1970s. His skill as a vocalist and makeup artist eventually landed him a spot in La Cage aux Folles, where he performed and sang for many years as Ms Midler, Barbra Streisand, and Cher. For Legendary Divas, Edwards brings five members of the cast of La Cage to Stoneham, along with six Las Vegas dancers. The show runs from Thursday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents the 15th and grand finale edition of The Broadway Bears, the annual Broadway auction of teddy bears dressed in museum-quality outfits based on original costumes and created by well-known designers.

Disney Theatrical Productions and Gexa Energy Broadway at the Hobby Center announced today that tickets for the long-awaited return engagement of Disney's THE LION KING will go on sale to the public on Saturday, March 10 at 10 a.m. Houston's return will leap onto the Hobby Center stage on Tuesday, July 10 for a limited engagement of five weeks through Sunday, August 12. THE LION KING's sold-out eight-week Houston premiere engagement in 2002 at Jones Hall was followed by a sold-out six-week return engagement in 2006 at the Hobby Center.

Josh Rivedal's comic journey, The Gospel According to Josh, is at The Media Theatre March 7 to 11. The one man show deals with his adolescence and focuses on how he survived his father's suicide.

Edward Gero and Patrick Andrews star in Red at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, produced in association with Goodman Theatre.

Q'VIVA! THE CHOSEN, the first-of-its-kind docu-journey series showcasing Latin music and dance, and featuring entertainment icon Jennifer Lopez, international music star Marc Anthony and world-renowned concert director Jamie King, will premiere Saturday, March 3 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX, and will continue with two-hour episodes for five weeks until its grand finale Saturday, April 7 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT).

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL, the Tony Winning show has soared into the Broward Center for too brief a stay. Based on the film BILLY ELLIOT, this musical is about dreams, acceptance, and winning against the struggles life may throw our way. BILLY ELLIOT is often reminiscent of A CHORUS LINE, and that is an awesome show to be reminiscent of.

Today we are completing our triptych look at the leading ladies of the new BAM production of RICHARD III, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Kevin Spacey, with a solo spotlight on a stage and screen star known for her wide range of roles in dramas, comedies, musicals, television and film - the one and only Haydn Gwynne. In addition to all about her intense preparation for her role in the searing and prescient Shakespearean historical tragedy, Gwynne also recounts her experiences working with Mendes, Spacey and the previous ladies who have participated in this RICHARD III spotlight with whom she shares the stage every night now through March 4, Gemma Jones and Maureen Anderman. Besides all about RICHARD III and its international tour begun at the Old Vic in London's West End and ending up in New York at BAM, Gwynne and I also discuss her recent stage work in Elton John and Lee Hall's Tony-winning international hit BILLY ELLIOT and working with theatre and film director Stephen Daldry on it, as well as some remembrances of her other notable stage and screen roles, old and new - prior musicals (such as CITY OF ANGELS), as well as her recent guest-starring stint on the hit BBC series SHERLOCK included, as well as a look ahead to her new feature film, HUNKY DORY, starring Minnie Driver. All of that and much, much more!

Pepperdine University Center for the Arts presents a solo concert by pianist and singer Bruce Hornsby, who has built one of the most diverse and adventurous careers in contemporary music, at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 2.

BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL, the Tony Winning show has soared into the Broward Center for too brief a stay. Based on the film BILLY ELLIOT, this musical is about dreams, acceptance, and winning against the struggles life may throw our way. BILLY ELLIOT is often reminiscent of A CHORUS LINE, and that is an awesome show to be reminiscent of.

After years of development, Clyde 'n Bonnie: A Folktale is set to premiere in suburban Atlanta at Aurora Theatre on March 15, 2012. Aurora Theatre first encountered the show in 2009 at the prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival, the annual showcase of potential Broadway hits, like the TonyTM Award and Pulitzer Prize winning Next to Normal. Clyde ‘n Bonnie is the musical brainchild of Broadway stars Hunter Foster and Rick Crom, and so has attracted world-class talent throughout its development.

THE X FACTOR is expanding its audition process to reach more singers than any talent show ever before in its search to find the best new solo artists and vocal groups in America. In addition and new for Season Two, artists with pre-existing management contracts can now audition (subject to limited restrictions).

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts announces MARCH MADNESS with concerts from everything from ‘40s Big Bands to ‘50s smashes like Sha Na Na and Chubby Checker, ‘60s sensations Davy Jones and Dionne Warwick, and classic rock from The Eagles, Leon Russell and Michael Jackson!

In addition to the Tony Award for Best Musical, Billy Elliot the Musical received the award for Best Direction of a Musical (Stephen Daldry); Best Book of a Musical (Lee Hall); Best Choreography (Peter Darling); Best Orchestrations (Martin Koch); Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Ian MacNeil); Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Rick Fisher); Best Sound Design of a Musical (Paul Arditti); Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical (David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik, Kiril Kulish); Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical (Gregory Jbara).

Billy Crystal was nine for nine with his stupendous hosting - particularly thanks to his superlative musical material courtesy of Tony-winning tunesmith Marc Shaiman - yet, the 2012 Oscars were all about the awards, for once, with a heavy helping of superstars and surprises. A glamorous and generally genial broadcast, more than many in recent years this years, last night's top entertainment honors came across as a class act on the elegantly produced and impressively rendered broadcast, from beginning to end - unscripted screenwriters' Angelina impressions aside. Crytal's hilarious opening montage allowed the Oscar host extraordinaire the opportunity to enact his oh-so-idiosyncratic take on the year's top nominated films - including a kiss with George Clooney ala THE DESCENDANTS and a Justin Bieber/Sammy Davis, Jr. skit inspired by Woody Allen's MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, both of which went on to win the Best Screenplay categories - and remind us why he is tops. The portrait of the winner of Best Picture may have been painted long before last night for THE ARTIST, yet the 2012 Academy Awards show was packed with a plethora of surprises in technical and even some major categories, with Martin Scorsese's HUGO also scoring big and Meryl Streep winning her third statuette, this time for her Best Actress turn in THE IRON LADY, uncanny in her portrayal of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Additionally, THE ARTIST's Jean Judarjin took home Best Actor - over Hollywood titan George Clooney, no less - for his superb performance as a Gene Kelly-esque silent film star (save a few words at the very meta finale). The supporting categories showed some love to expected winners Octavia Spencer - for the audience hit, THE HELP - as well as veteran actor Christopher Plummer - for the indie release, BEGINNERS. Cirque Du Soleil afforded us some spectacle in the form of a 3D aerial classic film homage as only they could create and present, but Crystal's inimitable opening sequence - film sequence and crisply amusing song acting as the ideal entree into the awards season's show of shows - were the night's undeniable highlights. So, too, on the performance front did the In Memoriam sequence shine thanks to a soulful rendering of "What A Wonderful World" by Esperanza Spalding. Many of the major categories may have went the way we have all predicted, yet important categories also went to a surprisingly large smattering of the year's other fine filmatic achievements, as well, making it an entertaining and overall quite pleasing broadcast when considering the conservative slate of films nominated this season.

NETworks Presentations, LLC brings the multi-award-winning Billy Elliot the Musical to the Boston Opera House for a four week engagement July 24 - August 19. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim on Broadway including 10 Tony Awards.

New addition Marc Ribot's Really the Blues closes out an all-star February at The Iridium, leading into a March full of guitar heroes. Check out the highlights, including members of The Allman Brothers Band and New Riders of the Purple Sage, plus Andy Timmons, Stanley Jordan, and more.