Harry Connick News

Former SNL genius, Celebrity Autobiography mainstay and gifted comic actress Rachel Dratch is a member of the cast of the currently in rehearsal musical Minsky's, she reveals her joy of working with composer Charles Strouse and her hope of it continuing to Broadway in the future to NYMag.com's Diana Scholl.

Minsky's is the second new musical playing the Ahmanson this season, boasting a book by Bob Martin and direction and choreography by Casey Nicholaw, who both crafted the U.S. premiere of the musical The Drowsy Chaperone at the Ahmanson in 2005. Composer Charles Strouse (Bye Bye Birdie, Annie) will join lyricist Susan Birkenhead (Triumph of Love) on the musical, which begins performances January 21 through March 1, 2009.

Bidding begins at noon EST on eBay for BID 2 BEAT AIDS, a massive annual auction of rare and autographed items from stars in music, film, Broadway, sports, and television. Broadway fans can bid on tickets to the opening night of Hair and the post-show party, a backstage visit with Hairspray star Harvey Fierstein, signed Playbills, a 'For Rent' sign autographed by the cast of Rent, or even a signed can of hairspray by the cast of Hairspray; concert-goers can snag VIP seats and backstage meet-and-greets with Tony Bennett, Jewel, Bernadette Peters, Aimee Mann, Duncan Sheik, Harry Connick Jr, Estelle, Joan Rivers or Michael Feinstein; sports fans can bid on meet-and-greets with Olympic champion Michael Phelps or skateboarder Tony Hawk.

If you're following Rosie O'Donnell's blog, you'll already know that after her ROSIE LIVE! NBC special, she headed to Miami with her family, where she's enjoying the warm weather and already posting picture of manatees.

Grammy Award and Emmy Award winner and two-time Tony Award nominee Harry Connick, Jr. presents his holiday musical, The Happy Elf starting today, November 28th at Milwaukee's Todd Wehr Theater.

Producer Ralph Lampkin Jr, and LMGJAZZ Records are proud to release the CD debut of Devin Richards, 'MY OWN VOICE' Recorded live at Metropolitan Room in June 2007, 'My Own Voice' is a collection of standards mixed with new songs by Dan Furman, Devin Richards and Ritt Henn.

NBC's hotly anticipated new variety special 'ROSIE LIVE!' starring multiple Emmy? Award winning actress / comedienne Rosie O'Donnell airs tonight at 8pm.

Bidding begins at noon EST on eBay for BID 2 BEAT AIDS, a massive annual auction of rare and autographed items from stars in music, film, Broadway, sports, and television. Broadway fans can bid on tickets to the opening night of Hair and the post-show party, a backstage visit with Hairspray star Harvey Fierstein, signed Playbills, a 'For Rent' sign autographed by the cast of Rent, or even a signed can of hairspray by the cast of Hairspray; concert-goers can snag VIP seats and backstage meet-and-greets with Tony Bennett, Jewel, Bernadette Peters, Aimee Mann, Duncan Sheik, Harry Connick Jr, Estelle, Joan Rivers or Michael Feinstein; sports fans can bid on meet-and-greets with Olympic champion Michael Phelps or skateboarder Tony Hawk.

Broadway in Concert! at The Canyon, an all new Wednesday night series of intimate concerts headlined by the best of Broadway musical theatre stars and Nightclub artists will debut January 7, 2009 at The Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA, it was announced today by Canyon Club Managing Partner Lance Sterling and Producer Michael Sterling of Michael Sterling & Associates in Los Angeles.

NBC promos have added more star wattage the upcoming 'Rosie Live' special including Clay Aiken and Harry Connick, Jr. and Anti-Gravity.

Tony Desare tunes in to the Golden Era of radio on New Telarc CD 'RADIO SHOW', spanning decades of Swing, Jazz, and Pop. Featuring special guests Jame Monheit and bucky Pizzarelli. In stores and online January 20, 2009. For most of the 20th century, well before the dawn of the digital age, radio was the primary channel for popular music of every kind. More than just a means to transmit sound on a wave to remote locations, radio created an intimate entertainment experience, a fraternal atmosphere wherein the music and everyone associated with it became a friend to the listener.

Asolo Repertory Theatre's Producing Artistic Director Michael Donald Edwards announces the full cast for the theatre's upcoming production of Barnum the musical.

Friday, October 24th, THE AFTER PARTY will welcome CBS' 'The Amazing Race' and The Fantasticks' NICK SPANGLER, The Fantasticks' LEWIS CLEALE, as well as the cast of LIKE YOU LIKE IT. The show will also feature special guest pianist STEVEN SILVERSTEIN.

O.K. Gang! Get out the pink ribbons, grab a box of tissues and pull up a chair. I haven't done this much crying since the old days, when ABC used to air what we called 'disease of the week' movies! Zadan and Meron really know how to throw a cast together ... and this film is NO exception.

On October 16th, 2008 Bernadette Peters will be dropping by 'Live With Regis and Kelly' to talk about her new Lifetime movie 'Living Proof' and her ongoing efforts with 'Broadway Barks'. The show begins at 9AM EST.

Bernadette Peters will perform a special benefit concert for Chimes, a Baltimore-based not for profit organization serving more than l2,000 people with disabilities. The concert is Saturday night, November lst, 2008 at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall at 7:30 p.m.

On October 16th, 2008 Bernadette Peters will be dropping by 'Live With Regis and Kelly' to talk about her new Lifetime movie 'Living Proof' and her ongoing efforts with 'Broadway Barks'. The show begins at 9AM EST.

Tonight on 'That's Kentertainment!,' host Ken Kleiber brings you the cast of [title of show] in an encore airing celebrating their run on Broadway which concludes October 12.

A wave of cocktail culture from the West Coast is about to pour through the Metropolitan Room's doors as Terese Genecco, Russ Lorenson and Corky Hale come to town, while Baby Jane Dexter and a number of other local notables like Klea Blackhurst and Billy Stritch stand up for the Eastern seaboard.

The Casting Society of America will honor producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron with career achievement awards at the 24th Annual Artios Awards. On November 10th they will be honored with a dinner hosted by Neil Patrick Harris at the Century Plaza Hotelin Century City, CA.