Fred Ebb News

Enchanted April Enhancement LLC has announced the start of rehearsals today for two private industry staged readings of ENCHANTED APRIL a romantic musical comedy with book and lyrics by Charles Leipart and music by Richard B. Evans.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, March 18, 2012 - Sunday, March 18, 2012.

According to the Tokyo Graph, actress Yonekura Ryoko will join the hit revival of John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse's Tony Award-winning musical CHICAGO this July. She is set to star as Roxy Hart, making her the first Japanese woman to star on Broadway since the 1958 production of Flower Drum Song starring Nancy Umeki. Ryoko will also be the first Japanese performer to portray a lead American character in a long-running Broadway musical.

42nd Street Moon, the company that presents intimate productions of uncommon musicals, concludes its 2011-12 season with a journey to Greece and Crete for the Kander and Ebb classic, ZORBA. Based on the book Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis, this musical is a salute to the spirit of Greece, where Zorba celebrates life, but also lost love, heartbreak and death. Three low-priced previews run May 2, 3 and 4, with the Opening on Saturday May 5 at 6 pm. The show will run through May 20.

CHITA RIVERA March 20-24 & 27-31 Two Time Tony Award winner Chita Rivera will perform songs from her legendary Broadway career with an intimate evening of music in Chita Rivera: My Broadway. Accompanied by her longtime musical trio, led by musical director Michael Croiter, Ms. Rivera will perform selections from her most celebrated musicals, including numbers from West Side Story ("America"), Sweet Charity ("Where Am I Going?" and "Big Spender"), Chicago ("All That Jazz" and "Nowadays"), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Bye, Bye, Birdie and The Rink, and featuring the music of Leonard Bernstein, John Kander & Fred Ebb, Charles Strouse, Stephen Sondheim and Cy Coleman among others.

The long-running hit musical Chicago will be performed by students at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia at the Merriam Theater on March 23, 24 and 25, 2012. In addition to evening performances on Friday March 23 and Saturday March 24 at 8pm and matinee performances on Saturday and Sunday at 2pm, there will be a preview performance on Thursday night March 22 at 8pm.

On Friday March 9 and Saturday March 10, three legendary Broadway talents 'put on a show' for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre called Doin' It For Love...and what a fabulous show it was! Under the musical direction of David Geist, the three greats - Lee Roy Reams, Kaye Ballard and Liliane Montevecchi - did a couple of tunes together to open 'There's No Business Like Show Business' and 'You're All the World to Me' and then proceeded to do their individual cabaret acts.

Stars of both stage and screen joined the celebration when the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Vineyard Theatre honored Tony Award-winner Linda Lavin at the Off-Broadway company's annual Gala on Monday, March 12 at the Hudson Theater in Manhattan. Ms. Lavin made her Vineyard Theatre debut earlier this season in the critically acclaimed production of Nicky Silver's play THE LYONS and will again star in THE LYONS when the play moves to Broadway next month starting April 5 at the Cort Theatre.

Stars of both stage and screen joined the celebration when the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Vineyard Theatre honored Tony Award-winner Linda Lavin at the Off-Broadway company's annual Gala on Monday, March 12 at the Hudson Theater (145 West 44th Street) in Manhattan. Ms. Lavin made her Vineyard Theatre debut earlier this season in the critically acclaimed production of Nicky Silver's play THE LYONS.

The story of the controversial 'Mad Monk,' Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is now the subject of the new rock musical Brother Russia, which is making its world premiere at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre. The new musical features Music by Dana Rowe and Book and Lyrics by John Dempsey - the award-winning creators behind The Fix (1998) and The Witches of Eastwick (2007). Check out performance highlighs below!

Stars of both stage and screen are set to join the celebration when the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Vineyard Theatre honors Tony Award-winner Linda Lavin at the Off-Broadway company's annual Gala on Monday, March 12 beginning at 6:00pm at the Hudson Theater. Ms. Lavin made her Vineyard Theatre debut earlier this season in the critically acclaimed production of Nicky Silver's play THE LYONS.

On Sunday, March 11, the first anniversary of the great Japanese earthquake, Theater Communications Group is organizing performance events nationwide to raise funds for the Japan Playwrights Association to help the Japanese theater community affected by the disaster. The collective event is called: SHINSAI: THEATERS FOR JAPAN.

Patti LuPone, Richard Thomas, Mary Beth Hurt, Jay O. Sanders and Henry Stram will join forces with the previously announced Michi Barral, Cindy Cheung, Joel de la Fuente, Angel Desai, Ann Harada, Jennifer Ikeda, Paul Juhn, Peter Kim, Ken Leung, Li Jun Li, Jennifer Lim, Angela Lin, Paolo Montalban, Olivia Oguma, Jon Norman Schneider, Thom Sesma, Sab Shimono, Jade Wu, Jonny Wo, James Yaegashi and Stacey Yen to raise funds that will go directly to Japanese theater artists devasted by last year's earthquake when they appear in this Sunday's March 11 benefit performances of Shinsai: Theaters for Japan, at the Great Hall at Cooper Union (Seventh Street at Third Avenue).

On March 11, 2012-the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Japan-American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) will join over 65 theaters across the country in presenting SHINSAI ("great quake" in Japanese), a benefit reading to support fellow theater artists on the other side of the world. Selections will be drawn from a menu of 10-minute plays and songs that were commissioned from major American and Japanese artists, who have donated their work for this one-night only event. Performance takes place at 7 p.m. at The Garret at the American Conservatory Theater. Tickets are $5 and can be ordered online at act-sf.org or by calling 415.749.2228. All proceeds will benefit the Japan Playwrights Association.