Ethel Merman News

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch recently announced that she would be leaving New York City for good, after 71 years here, to relocate to her home state of Michigan. According to the New York Post, the 88 year-old just left her home at the Carlyle, and 35 hotel employees were there to see her off when she got off the elevator.

The Show Goes On Productions (TSGO) is proud to present another theatrical concert in its ROCK TONIC Series, July 3rd, 2013 at 8:00pm EST. QUEEN OF THE BEATNIKS: THE SONGS OF JUDY HENSKE, written and performed by MEREDITH DIMENNA under the musical direction of JASON BINNICK will be at The Cutting Room, 44 E. 32nd Street, at Park Avenue. Doors and kitchen open at 7:30. Tickets are $15 and available at www.showgoesonproductions.com, 646-380-8749.

The show recreates the music from her Las Vegas show and recalls stories and the great music spanning her long illustrious career.

In a journey through an iconic time in music and movie history, Bill Fayne and Friends will perform 'The Golden Age of Movies' at the Suncoast Showroom July 20 and 21.

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's 2013 Tony Awards Clip Countdown with a special spotlight focused on one of the greatest musicals highlighted by one of the most dynamic central roles in all of musical theatre, Rose - GYPSY.

The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography returns to Stage 72 (formerly the Triad Theater (158 West 72 Street) with its new edition, Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter, on Saturday, June 15 at 9:30pm and Monday, June 17 at 7:30pm.

Today in 1959, Gypsy opened at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran for 702 performances. Gypsy is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. It follows the dreams and efforts of Rose to raise two daughters to perform onstage and casts an affectionate eye on the hardships of show business life. The musical contains many songs that became popular standards, including 'Small World,' 'Everything's Coming up Roses', 'Some People', 'Let Me Entertain You', and 'Rose's Turn'.

Dolly looks swell as ever as Goodspeed Musicals brings everyone's favorite meddlesome matchmaker to its main stage. Hello, Dolly! will run from June 28 - September 8 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. Official Press Opening will be July 17, 2013.Leading the cast in the role of Dolly Levi will be cabaret diva Klea Blackhurst. Ms. Blackhurst is best known for her award-winning tribute to Ethel Merman, Everything the Traffic Will Allow, which she has performed in venues across the U.S. and in London. She was most recently seen in Happy Huntingat The York Theatre. She also created the role of Miss Lemon in the new musical The Nutty Professor, which premiered this past summer in Nashville. The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat with the whole gang. Check out what they had to say and catch a performance preview below!

Dolly looks swell as ever as Goodspeed Musicals brings everyone's favorite meddlesome matchmaker to its main stage. Hello, Dolly! will run from June 28 - September 8 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. Official Press Opening will be July 17, 2013.Leading the cast in the role of Dolly Levi will be cabaret diva Klea Blackhurst. Ms. Blackhurst is best known for her award-winning tribute to Ethel Merman, Everything the Traffic Will Allow, which she has performed in venues across the U.S. and in London. She was most recently seen in Happy Huntingat The York Theatre. She also created the role of Miss Lemon in the new musical The Nutty Professor, which premiered this past summer in Nashville. The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and you can check out complete photo coverage from the festivities below!

Today in 1946, Annie Get Your Gun opened at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 1147 performances. Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley (1860-1926), who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler. Songs that became hits include 'There's No Business Like Show Business', 'Doin' What Comes Natur'lly', 'You Can't Get a Man with a Gun', 'They Say It's Wonderful', and 'Anything You Can Do.'

Dolly looks swell as ever as Goodspeed Musicals brings everyone's favorite meddlesome matchmaker to its main stage. Hello, Dolly! will run from June 28 - September 8 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. Official Press Opening will be July 17, 2013.

She's a singer, a ballet dancer, and though only recently out of college she's been everything from a spirit in the Temple of Wisdom to a dame at sea. Jessica Humphrey talks about opera, CATS, and the current state of arts education.

The acclaimed Todays In Summer Cabaret Series at the Arthur Newman Theater in Palm Desert will be back for it's fourth season beginning today, May 5th. 'Since it began, more than 90 different performers have brought praises from our audiences which have grown tremendously over the years', says Les Michaels of Life Is A Cabaret, who produces the shows. The theater, which is located at The Joslyn Center in Palm Desert, seats up to 180 people and is a perfect setting for these intimate cabaret style performances that you would normally see in a smaller New York style supper club.

The company of PIPPIN just celebrated their opening with the Gypsy Robe ritual with the company's recipient Stephanie Pope. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you full photo coverage below!

James Rocco is the vice president of programming and producing artistic director of the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in Saint Paul, Minn. He is also the director, host and a performer in the Ordway's latest edition of BROADWAY SONGBOOK, this time, focusing on American musical theatre master, Cole Porter. I recently sat down to learn about James, the BROADWAY SONGBOOK: Cole Porter and what's next for the theatre.

Grab your tap shoes and get ready for a lavish re-telling of this classic tale presented in the classic musical style. Inspired by the Broadway of Cole Porter and George Gershwin, this story of a girl, a gown, and a glass slipper will keep your toes tapping 'til the stroke of midnight. This original adaptation of Cinderella marks the close of NW Children's Theater's 20th Anniversary Season, and is NWCT's second world premiere this year, running April 27-May 26, 2013. Check out photos of the cast in action below!

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Broadway legend Elaine Stritch recently announced that she would be leaving New York City for good, after 71 years here, to relocate to her home state of Michigan. According to the New York Post, the 88 year-old just left her home at the Carlyle, and 35 hotel employees were there to see her off when she got off the elevator.

There are only a few more performances to catch for Gerard Alessandrini's FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: ALIVE AND KICKING! at the 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47th Street). The smash musical, which received unanimous raves from critics and audiences alike, broke all box-office records at the 47th Street Theatre and won spots on the Top Ten Lists of Time Magazine and the Associated Press, will begin its hiatus on Sunday, April 28, in order to make room for The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre's own season, as required by the show's lease agreement with the theatre.