TAP!, Part Two! continues Dancers Over 40's examination of the art form that America loves. For those watching TV in the mid 50's, 60's and 70's, choreographer June Taylor was the lady with the precision dance team seen on the Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason shows on a weekly basis.
TAP!, Part Two! continues Dancers Over 40's examination of the art form that America loves. For those watching TV in the mid 50's, 60's and 70's, choreographer June Taylor was the lady with the precision dance team seen on the Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason shows on a weekly basis.
Another event, another packed house! DO40 presented its fourth annual Legacy Awards at their Holiday Dinner, this year again at the over-the-top LIPS restaurant in NYC. Honorees Norma Doggett-Bezwick, Larry Fuller, Carol Lawrence, George Marcy and Lee Roy Reams felt the warmth waft up to the dais. Check out photos from the awards inside!
At this year's dinner and holiday party, Dancers Over 40 honors the some of our outstanding - and long-time -- members: Advisory Board Member Carol Lawrence (West Side Story, Subways are for Sleeping, New Faces of 1952), Board Member Lee Roy Reams (Sweet Charity, Applause, 42nd Street, La Cage aux Folles, The Producers), Advisory Board Member Larry Fuller (Evita, Sweeney Todd, On the Twentieth Century, Merrily we Roll Along - choreographer), former Board Member George Marcy (West Side Story, Damn Yankees, Carnival, Man of La Mancha) and Norma Doggett-Bezwick (performed in Jack Cole's first Broadway musical, Magdalena, the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and Bells are Ringing, on Broadway). Every one of our members know them, the theater and dance community here and around the country seek them out. Each has a very passionate following. And their fans are legion.
Beloved character players from Broadway and Hollywood - Tony Award-winning actors Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath from Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus three Jets and one Shark from the 1961 film version of West Side Story, dancers David Bean, Harvey Evans, Bert Michaels and Eddie Verso- visit THEATER TALK.
Beloved character players from Broadway and Hollywood - Tony Award-winning actors Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath from Nice Work If You Can Get It, plus three Jets and one Shark from the 1961 film version of West Side Story, dancers David Bean, Harvey Evans, Bert Michaels and Eddie Verso- visit THEATER TALK.
The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel welcomes back the acclaimed husband-and-wife team John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey to the legendary Café Carlyle. Dubbed as good as it gets in any entertainment medium' by Stephen Holden of the New York Times, Mr. Pizzarelli and Ms. Molaskey will play a month-long engagement through November 24th. Check out photos of the duo in action below!
The Broadway at Birdland concert series presents Tony Award Nominated actress and singer Anita Gillette is presenting two evenings of music and memories while taking what's being described as 'an intimate, touching and hilarious look behind the scenes from Broadway to Hollywood' in her new autobiographical one-woman show "After All." The first event took place last night, September 24 & and the second will happen on Monday, October 1 at 7pm at Birdland (315 West 44 Street, NYC).
Check out photos from the concert below!
Kritzerland has just announced a second edition for the critically acclaimed newly remixed cast album for FOLLIES- The 1971 Original Broadway Cast Recording. For only the second time in Kritzerland history, Kritzerland is doing a second edition of one of our limited edition CDs (the first was for Promises, Promises). The reaction to this newly mixed version of Follies has been overwhelming, and the original first edition of 1500 copies was gone by the time word had spread and reviews had appeared. Stephen Sondheim called the new mix "a miracle" and that's been pretty much the reaction from everyone, including original co-director and producer Harold Prince, cast members John McMartin (the original Ben) and Harvey Evans (the original Young Buddy), Ted Chapin (the author of Everything Was Possible, the book about the creation of Follies), and logo creator David Edward Byrd. At the request of Mr. Sondheim, we are issuing this one-time only second edition so that it will be available for those who either hadn't heard about it or were too slow ordering.
On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.
TAP!, Dancers Over 40's final event of their 2011 - 2012 season brings the world of tap center stage for a discussion and performance by DO40 members and guests. This May's event is hosted by Mercedes Ellington, (Sophisticated Ladies, No, No, Nanette!) and begins with a discussion of the history of tap by DO40 members Mercedes and Lee Roy Reams (42nd Street).
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, on April 24 the robe was presented to NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT 'gypsy' Cameron Adams.
The word ‘colorful' doesn't begin to explain the mixture of talent that gathered last night at Birdland, New York's most iconic music room. Simply Barbra, Steven Brinberg's hilarious homage to Streisand, celebrated the diva's 70th birthday in style with special guests Marilyn Maye, Corey Mach and Karl Warden.
Broadway lovers and teddy bear collectors came together on March 18 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 West 42nd Street) for one last time to bid on - and bid adieu to - museum-quality bears representing legendary theatrical characters and autographed by the stars who made those characters famous.
The cumulative fundraising total for the 15 editions of THE BROADWAY BEARS auctions is a remarkable $2,048,427. The previous fund-raising record was $170,000 set in 2002.
The 15th and grand finale edition of THE BROADWAY BEARS, the annual auction of handmade, one-of-a-kind, theatrically costumed teddy bears, raised a record-setting $198,300 on Sunday, benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Broadway lovers and teddy bear collectors came together yesterday, March 18 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill (237 West 42nd Street) for one last time to bid on - and bid adieu to - museum-quality bears representing legendary theatrical characters and autographed by the stars who made those characters famous.
The cumulative fundraising total for the 15 editions of THE BROADWAY BEARS auctions is a remarkable $2,048,427. The previous fund-raising record was $170,000 set in 2002.
The 15th and grand finale edition of THE BROADWAY BEARS, the annual auction of handmade, one-of-a-kind, theatrically costumed teddy bears, raised a record-setting $198,300 on Sunday, benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
The 15th and grand finale edition of THE BROADWAY BEARS, the annual auction of handmade, one-of-a-kind, theatrically costumed teddy bears, raised a record-setting $198,300 on Sunday, benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. BroadwayWorld on hand and brings you an exclusive look inside at the farewell event.
The one-night-only event continues to grow in popularity and success in supporting the work of Broadway Cares and the Center. Last year's record-breaking $281,200 topped the previous year's total of more than $186,700.