Jason Robards, Jr. News

BroadwayWorld is sad to report that legendary playwright Neil Simon has died at 91. 

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center celebrated the 16th annual MonteCristo Award ceremony with a presentation of the honor to award-winning stage and film director, playwright, and actor George C. Wolfe on Monday night at the Edison Ballroom. The O'Neill annually bestows its Monte Cristo Award on a prominent theater artist whose lifetime work has had an extraordinary impact on American theater. The gala event supports the Center's commitment to developing new work and new artists for the stage. 

Nothing seems to scare the valiant little troupe Threepenny Theatre Company. What has it got to lose? So what if the budget allows for no more than a perfunctory set? So what if its selection of classics (i.e., MACBETH) hardly has the appeal of a crowd-pleasing musical? Relying on a commitment to quality of writing and performance, it has pulled off a real coup: A stunning production of Eugene O'Neill's warhorse of a classic, the autobiographical LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, produced posthumously and, in 1962, given classic cinema status by Director Sidney Lumet and brilliant performers Ralph Richardson, Katharine Hepburn, Dean Stockwell, and Jason Robards, Jr. (to whom O'Neill was as essential as Tennessee Williams was to Elizabeth Taylor). This particular warhorse, however, is of the Trojan variety, and Director Matt Crewse has tamed the beast with the aid of four performances that are nothing short of brilliant.

Yesterday, May 9, The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center presented its annual Monte Cristo Award to legendary Broadway and screen actor James Earl Jones, in recognition of his monumental achievements and contributions to the American and international theater community. The award was presented to Mr. Jones at a gala dinner that included special guests and performers Tony Award-nominee Michael Berresse ([title of show], Kiss Me Kate); Chris Chalk (Fences),; Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas (Wall Street); Emmy Award-winner Charles S Dutton (The Piano Lesson, 'Roc'); Tony Award nominee Penny Fuller (Dividing the Estate, The Dinner Party); Tony Award-winner Boyd Gaines (Driving Miss Daisy, Gypsy); Oscar, Tony and Emmy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave (Driving Miss Daisy, Long Days Journey Into Night); Tony Award-winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars); Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams (On Golden Pond, King Hedley II); and Eugene O'Neill Theater Center Executive Director Preston Whiteway.

Tom Viertel, Chairman of the Board of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, has announced that Stephen Sondheim will present Harold Prince with the organization's Monte Cristo Award at a gala benefit on Monday, April 5, 2010 at Bridgewaters. The Award, given annually in recognition of a distinguished career exemplifying Eugene O'Neill's pioneering spirit and standard of excellence, has previously been presented to Kevin Spacey, Neil Simon, Jason Robards, Jr., Edward Albee, August Wilson, Zoe Caldwell, Brian Dennehy, Karl Malden, Arthur and Barbara Gelb, and Wendy Wasserstein.

She titled her autobiography 'A Hell of A Life,' and wow, did she have one!

'Barbra Streisand: The Television Specials' is now available for pre-order on Amazon

Four Barbra Streisand specials from the '60s and '70s will be put in a DVD collection that will go on sale November 22nd; they will also be aired on 'Great Performances'

Sam Robards has signed on as the sixth lead of Manhattan Theatre Club's production of Alan Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular, which will open on October 18th

Five Barba Streisand TV specials from the sixties and seventies will be released on DVD on November 15th