Frederick Loewe News

Based on the book of the same title by Jaap Polak and Ina Soep Polak, STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME, a new opera with music by Gerald Cohen and libretto by Deborah Brevoort, will have its premiere in Scarsdale and New York City, NY in late April, 2013. STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME is a love story set in two concentration camps during World War II. It is based on the true story of Jaap and Ina Polak, whom the composer has known for the last 25 years, and who just celebrated their 100th and 90th birthdays.

Rising-star musical theater writer Adam Gwon will play 54 Below for a one-night-only concert extravaganza on Monday April 8, 2013 at 9:30pm. Heading up a five-piece band, Gwon will premiere brand-new songs and share tunes from his musicals Ordinary Days, Cloudlands, The Boy Detective Fails, and String.

Today in 1947, Brigadoon opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre, where it ran for 581 performances. Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. It tells the story of a mysterious Scottish village that appears for only one day every hundred years, though to the villagers, the passing of each century seems no longer than one night. Brigadoon then received a West End production opening in 1949 that ran for 685 performances, and many revivals followed. A 1954 film version starred Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. A 1966 television version starred Robert Goulet and Peter Falk.

According to Showbiz411.com, Clive Davis announced during a reading for his book at the 92nd Street Y last night that his top pick Bartlett Sher has signed on to direct the 2014 Broadway revival of MY FAIR LADY. Sher's recent credits include South Pacific, Golden Boy, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize has announced 10 Finalists for its prestigious playwriting award, now celebrating its thirty-fifth year.

Big breaking news, first reported by the New York Times, that Tony-winner Idina Menzel will be returning to Broadway in a new musical, If/Then by NEXT TO NORMAL's Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey.

The Dramatists Guild of America held their annual awards ceremony last evening at The Lambs Club in New York. The awards ceremony was hosted by Lisa Kron and featured a performance by Kenita Miller. BroadwayWorld has photos from the event below!

The Goodman Theatre just announced its 2013/2014 season. For tickets or more information, visit: http://www.goodmantheatre.org/upcoming-season/?id=&epslanguage=en

The Weston Playhouse Theatre Company has announced Darling as the winner of its seventh annual New Musical Award. Written by Ryan Scott Oliver and Brett Ryback, Darling is described as a coming-of-age story about a teenager, Ursula Morgan, who leaves behind her upper-class family and finds herself in the seedy underground of Depression-era Boston -- a world of sex, jazz and a mysterious drug called....fairy dust.

For its 21st annual Spring Gala, the Kennedy Center will present My Fair Lady in Concert on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 8 p.m. in the Concert Hall. The famed 1956 musical features book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner with music by Frederick Loewe and will be directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The concert staging will be accompanied by the 35-piece Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra conducted by Music Director James Moore.

It was announced earlier this week that, Davis is eying LES MISERABLES star Anne Hathaway and Colin Firth to play Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins respectively. Now according to the Daily Mail, Hathaway has responded positively to the news. She told DM: 'I haven't heard for a while what's happening with My Fair Lady and I don't know whether I would do it on stage, or screen, but either would be a treat.'

Now according to USA Today, Davis is eying LES MISERABLES star Anne Hathaway and Colin Firth to play Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins respectively. Firth has also starred in a big screen musical in the past, taking on Harry in 2008's MAMMA MIA. Neither actor, however, has yet starred in a Broadway production.

One month ago, 35 gifted lyricists, composers and librettists took up residency at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, CT for the first ever Johnny Mercer Writers Colony to participate in an environment of discovery and inspiration. Working in teams and housed in specially constructed quintessential New England two story cottages each equipped with a piano, the teams worked on over 30 musicals during the course of the month. On Saturday February 16, the residency program concluded with a Salon as had been done each week featuring a sparkling sampler of new musicals that were worked on throughout the month. Scroll below for photos from the event!

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Grammy and Oscar, 'Smash' and 'Million Dollar Quartet' on TV, Lyric Opera's five R and H shows, Rachel Rockwell directs 'Brigadoon' and 'Shrek,' two college shows, and the two singing Callaway sisters!

Mirror Stage continues its popular Feed Your Mind staged reading series with the West Coast premiere of In the Book Of... by award-winning playwright John Walch at the Ethnic Cultural Theatre today, February 9 and the 10th, 2013.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Eliza Doolittle might be heading back to Broadway in the near future, as music industry legend Clive Davis has just announced plans to produce My Fair Lady in 2014. He told LAT: 'I always wanted to produce a Broadway show, and I've never done it. I'm hopeful we will prepare and finalize everything this year to bring 'My Fair Lady' next year to Broadway with a stellar cast.'

The Dramatists Guild of America has rescheduled their awards ceremony, postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, to Tuesday, February 26, 2013, at The Lambs Club in New York. The awards ceremony will be hosted by Lisa Kron and will feature a performance by Kenita Miller.