Jeff Bowen News

[title of show] creators/stars Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell are writing a new sitcom for ABC, according to the New York Times.

Fresh from the January 2009 inaugural working-visit to South Africa, the new not-for-profit Broadway in South Africa announces its Second Annual Benefit Concert. This star-studded evening will feature a guest performance by South African hit recording artist and producer Sipho 'Hotstix' Mabuse. Like the first, this concert will also feature world-premiere songs created by Broadway and New York composers, like Jeff Bowen, performed by Broadway stars like Shoshana Bean and Eden Espinosa. Through the support of honorary chairs and board members, like award-winning singer-songwriter-actress Deborah Cox, this benefit concert will raise awareness of and celebrate the work Broadway in South Africa does to provide artistic and educational opportunities for underprivileged youth. The concert will take place on Monday, October 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. at Peter Norton Symphony Space, located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. VIP guests will enjoy pre- and post-concert events.

Continuing a tradition that dates back to 1920, when Burns Mantle founded the annual Best Plays Theater Yearbook, the Best Plays of 2008-2009 were announced today by editor Jeffrey Eric Jenkins.

Signature Theatre, winner of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, celebrates its 20th anniversary this season from August 11, 2009 through June 20, 2010. The season begins with the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde, a comedy with music about the notorious film legend Mae West starring Tony Award®-nominee Emily Skinner.

David Elzer, Peter Schneider and Crooning Crabcakes, LLC are thrilled to present a brand new show from the writer/director of the smash-hit musical sensation, The Marvelous Wonderettes, LIFE COULD BE A DREAM, written and directed by Roger Bean with choreography by Lee Martino (Reprise On Your Toes, On The Town) and musical direction by Michael Paternostro (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Thrill Me).

David Elzer, Peter Schneider and Crooning Crabcakes, LLC are thrilled to present a brand new show from the writer/director of the smash-hit musical sensation, The Marvelous Wonderettes, LIFE COULD BE A DREAM, written and directed by Roger Bean with choreography by Lee Martino (Reprise On Your Toes, On The Town) and musical direction by Michael Paternostro (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Thrill Me).

Signature Theatre, winner of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, celebrates its 20th anniversary this season from August 11, 2009 through June 20, 2010. The season begins with the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde, a comedy with music about the notorious film legend Mae West starring Tony Award®-nominee Emily Skinner.

Hal David, Chairman/CEO of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF), today announced that Maxyne Lang will receive the Abe Olman Publisher Award to be presented at the 2009 Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards 40th Anniversary gala, slated for Thursday, June 18th, at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The American Theatre Wing's 63rd Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 7, 2009 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. The stars mixed and mingled after the big event at the official Tony Awards Gala Ball. BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to capture the festive event!

Arizona Theatre Company announces The Kite Runner The Kite Runner opens Arizona Theatre Company's 2009-2010 Season: In Tucson, September 10 - October 3; In Phoenix, October 8 - 25.

Hal David, Chairman/CEO of the Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF), today announced that Maxyne Lang will receive the Abe Olman Publisher Award to be presented at the 2009 Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards 40th Anniversary gala, slated for Thursday, June 18th, at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The 2008-2009 Tony Award nominations were announced this morning May 5th by Tony Award winning actress Cynthia Nixon and Tony Award winning actor Lin-Manuel Miranda at the New York Public Library for Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue (betw 64th & 65th Street). BroadwayWorld.com spent the following hours checking in with the nominees to get the scoop on how they heard about the happy news and to hear their reactions!

?[title of show]? has always been the most intimate of stage experiences. Not only are we taking an inspiring musical journey that happens to be pretty much true, but all previous incarnations of ?[show]? also had the advantage of having the show creators playing themselves in their roles?one character even sings ?I Am Playing Me? early in the show. The original cast became Broadway celebrities through their juggernaut promotion of [show], which includes a still-going popular series of Youtube videos. So the notion of creating the show without the original cast is, at best, tricky and, at worst, suicidal. And yet the first regional production of ?[title of show]? opened last night at Playhouse Square?s 14th Street Theater and did just that.

It might have closed on Broadway earlier this season, but this weekend [title of show] returns triumphantly to life with the first regional version of the production at Playhouse Square's 14th Street Theater in Cleveland.

The 54th Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Harvey Fierstein, today released a list of some of its celebrity presenters for the awards ceremony which will take place at the F.H. La Guardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center on Sunday, May 17, 2009, at 9 PM.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post will continue its 10th Anniversary with 'The Actors Fund Broadway Series' on Monday nights from April 27 through the Tony Awards. To help raise money for The Actors Fund, the club will feature such Broadway luminaries as James Barbour, Andrea Burns, the cast of [title of show], Julia Murney and Norm Lewis. All admission proceeds will go directly to the assistance of professionals in performing arts and entertainment in times of need, crisis or transition.

New York Musical Theater Festival kicked off its sixth season with a Gala Celebration of its first five years, called BEST OF THE FEST, on Monday, April 20th at 7 PM at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues). BroadwayWorld.com was there to catch all the 'NYMF' filled action!

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post will continue its 10th Anniversary with 'The Actors Fund Broadway Series' on Monday nights from April 27 through the Tony Awards. To help raise money for The Actors Fund, the club will feature such Broadway luminaries as James Barbour, Andrea Burns, the cast of [title of show], Julia Murney and Norm Lewis. All admission proceeds will go directly to the assistance of professionals in performing arts and entertainment in times of need, crisis or transition.

Arizona Theatre Company joyously announces a season to celebrate in 2009-2010, from the profound truths of a beloved international best-seller; to a rollercoaster ride through Manhattan from one of America's comic treasures; as well as the poetic imagination of a great American playwright; a foot-stomping visit to the jazz clubs of Harlem; or a side-splitting look at life right here in Arizona and the regional premiere of a hip new Broadway musical.

Signature Theatre's Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer today announced Signature's 20th anniversary season, saluting the two decades that have led the company to its position as one of the nation's leading forces in musical theater. The company will present a world premiere musical through its innovative American Musical Voices Project; a masterpiece by the composer for which the company is renowned, Stephen Sondheim; the Washington premiere of a recent Broadway hit; and the reinvention of a classic musical, supporting Signature's 'much-deserved reputation for excellence in revisionist musical theater' (Chicago Tribune).