Actress/ singer Michele Lee will appear in S.T.A.G.E. benefit's Original Cast on May 1 at the Luckman Theatre. Star of stage, screen and TV, Lee starred on Broadway with Robert Morse in How to Succeed in Businees Without Really Trying (1961-65) and then repeated the role of Rosemary on film in 1967, Bravo Giovanni in 1962, Seesaw in 1973, winning a Drama Desk Award as Best Actress and a Tony nomination as Best Actress in a Musical and in Charles Busch's comedy The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000-2002), receiving a Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Tony Award winner Elaine Stritch will perform her concert, 'Singin' Sondheim...One Song at a Time' at the Cafe Carlyle from April 20 - April 29, 2010. Stritch will additionally perform the show as part of Hartford Stage's 2010 SummerStage series from June 17 - 20, 2010, as BroadwayWorld previously reported. Stritch will be joined in Hartford by Chita Rivera and Ben Vereen, who will also be performing solo concerts in Hartford on June 22-27 and July 6-11, respectively.
The Farmington Players Present GYPSY April 30 through May 22 at the Barn Theatre. The production is directed by Jason Wilhoite, with musical direction by Rachel Rose and choreography by Allison Soranno.
FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine, and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post, will continue its star-studded Winter/Spring 2010 season with the New York city debut of Hollywood legend MITZI GAYNOR in a limited engagement from May 18 - 20.
Masterworks Broadway showcases an unparalleled collection of historical recording session and production photos culled from over 60 years of the Columbia Records and RCA Victor archives. Painstakingly researched and catalogued, these rarely seen images convey the story of the cast recording in a way no other anthology has done before.
Last week on April 8, 2010, Actor's Equity's 2nd Vice President Rebecca Kim Jordan hosted the famed Gypsy Robe Ceremony for company members of THE ADDAMS FAMILY at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. A long-standing opening night tradition on the Great White Way, the fabled Gypsy Robe is bestowed upon a veteran Broadway chorus member for each opening production. In what has now become a theatrical ritual, originating on Broadway 60 years ago, COME FLY AWAY chorus member Kristine Bendul turned over the robe to ADDAMS FAMILY cast member Jim Borstelmann. BroadwayWorld was there for the celebration.
Tony Award winner Elaine Stritch will perform her concert, 'Singin' Sondheim...One Song at a Time' at the Cafe Carlyle from April 20 - April 29, 2010. Stritch will additionally perform the show as part of Hartford Stage's 2010 SummerStage series from June 17 - 20, 2010, as BroadwayWorld previously reported. Stritch will be joined in Hartford by Chita Rivera and Ben Vereen, who will also be performing solo concerts in Hartford on June 22-27 and July 6-11, respectively.
The Cast and Creative Team are set for the Asolo Repertory Theatre production of Backwards in High Heels: the Ginger Musical, opening on the Asolo Rep mainstage on May 7,2010. Rehearsals began at New York City's Chelsea studios and will continue at Asolo Rep's studios in Sarasota, Florida, beginning April 21.
The theatrical definition of a triple threat is someone who can act, sing and dance, but Lee Roy Reams takes this definition to even greater heights by not only being a great performer, but director and choreographer as well.
'Let Me Entertain You" is not only the motto of Hillbarn Theatre, but also a song featured in the last production of Hillbarn's 69th Season, the Broadway classic Gypsy, performing May 7 - 30. Further, Hillbarn is thrilled to debut its new air conditioning system during the May months for all their "cool" customers. For information visit HillbarnTheatre.org. Gypsy is the last show of Hillbarn's 69th Season titled "Next of Kin."
This week, Tony Award winner Victoria Clark (When the Rain Stops Falling, A Light in the Piazza) and Aaron Lazar (A Little Night Music, Les Misérables) appeared on THE BROADWAY LEAGUE and SIRIUS XM RADIO's weekly radio series, SIRIUS XM Live on Broadway with host Seth Rudetsky. Each week, Broadway artists perform live followed by photos and autograph signings with fans. BroadwayWorld was there to document the show.
As previously announced, this year's Ravinia Festival includes a new production of the musical Annie Get Your Gun; a gala concert celebrating Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday and featuring highlights from Ravinia's Sondheim productions; Ravinia Music Director James Conlon's 60th birthday celebration taking the Chicago Symphony Orchestra into the Martin Theatre for two Mozart operas, featuring mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in Così fan tutte and baritone Nathan Gunn in The Marriage of Figaro; Leonard Bernstein's Vocal Suite from Candide; Broadway vocalist Kelli O'Hara and pianist Hershey Felder in intimate solo shows in the Martin Theatre; world premieres with Concert Dance, Inc. and the debut of Delfos Danza Contemporánea; the presentation of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico; and a national radio broadcast of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.
Today, the Ravinia organization revealed that George Hearn has been added to the cast of Annie Get Your Gun as Buffalo Bill Cody, joining Patti LuPone as Annie Oakley and Brian Stokes Mitchell as Frank Butler. Paul Gemignani will conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the show's three performances, Aug. 13-15. Hearn and LuPone also reunite with Michael Cerveris, Audra McDonald and the CSO for an all-Sondheim gala concert on July 31.
42nd Street Moon's final production of the season, Very Warm for May, is the company's first show in the Jerome Kern Celebration and spotlights Kern's final Broadway score. The show previews on May 5, 6 and 7, opens on Saturday May 8 and runs through May 24 at the Eureka Theatre.
This week, both in memory of the real-life Baby June, June Havoc, who passed away this week, as well as a precursory introduction to a multi-part series critiquing the entire canon of all major Sondheim cast albums available in anticipation of the late April opening of the new review SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (currently in previews at Studio 54), we are taking a listen to the various cast recordings of the major productions on Broadway/West End of GYPSY over the last fifty years. GYPSY was, of course, one of the first scores on Broadway boasting lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and whether a leading lady the likes of Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters or Patti LuPone, it is a score unlike any other before or since and a true pinnacle of not only musical theatre, but all theatre, on Broadway and beyond. Some may even say the greatest musical of all...
Alexandra Billings, my pick for Best Female Cabaret Artist of 2009, celebrated her birthday at Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's on Sunday March 28. This unpredictably outrageous comedienne/actress/singer, who can belt out a tune with the greatest of the great, never ceases to amaze me.
Prescott Fine Arts Association presents the Broadway musical fable, GYPSY, directed by veteran PFAA director, Bruce Lanning. The final performance is slated for March 27, 2010.
