Today we have a super-special triple-focus Flash Friday dedicated not only to two of the top-tier talents in the entertainment history ever - Judy Garland and Michael Crawford - but, also, to the ever-lasting entity through which they are now, forever, inextricably linked - THE WIZARD OF OZ. Of course, Judy Garland famously starred in the original 1939 film adaptation of the L. Frank Baum children's classic, but, just this past year, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice and Jeremy Sams adapted the classic film for the stage to much success and added a number of significant new songs to the Harold Arlen/E.Y. Harburg score. Be sure to catch my exclusive InDepth InterView with Michael Crawford that went live earlier this evening to read all about the new stage spectacular, as well as his affection for Judy Garland in the original film and some of his own favorite Christmas and holiday songs. Additionally, next Tuesday GLEE will be paying tribute to Judy Garland in the form of a mid-1960s-style TV Christmas special homage, so now is certainly as good a time as any to look back at the unparalleled performance of Garland in THE WIZARD OF OZ - for which she won a juvenile Academy Award - as well as her 1963 Christmas special which featured guest performances by Mel Torme, Liza Minnelli and more! So, make this a truly Mikey & Judy holiday season - as opposed to Mickey & Judy one - with this spotlight on Michael Crawford and Judy Garland and both their OZ-ian and Christmas connections - and a GLEE-ful surprise or two, too. After all, 'tis the season!
Jeremy Sams News
Last night, I spoke to two-time Tony-winner Katie Finneran all about her new Fox sitcom I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER, co-starring Jaime Pressly, which premiered yesterday at 9:30 PM. Additionally, Finneran and I discuss her recent role in the terrific live performance film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY, co-starring Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone, and we also take a look back at her two Tony-winning Broadway roles from earlier this decade - the lauded Jeremy Sams revival of the comedy NOISES OFF, as well as Rob Ashford's revival of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David/Neil Simon PROMISES, PROMISES. Also, Finneran describes the feeling of reaching a career peak such as she has achieved this year - a new Tony Award, the COMPANY film and headlining a sitcom of her own - and also relates how her role as a new mom has influenced her participation on the battle-of-the-generations comedy. All of that - plus, reminiscences of working on DAMAGES, OZ, roles she would like to play in the future (Dolly, Mame and The Baker's Wife included) and much, much more!
The Enchanted Island, a world premiere work that combines Baroque music with a new, English-language libretto featuring characters from Shakespeare's The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream, will premiere at the Metropolitan Opera on December 31, 2011.
Cineplex Entertainment (TSX:CGX), via our Front Row Centre Events announces the very popular series The Met: Live in HD is returning to participating Cineplex theatres.
National CineMedia (NCM), the operator of the largest digital in-theater network for cinema advertising, entertainment and events in North America, today announced an agreement with the Metropolitan Opera (the 'Met') to bring the Emmy and Peabody award-winning The Met: Live in HD series to U.S. movie theaters for the 2011-12 Met season.
The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to movie theaters around the world, returns for a sixth season Saturday, October 15 with the Met premiere production of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, featuring Anna Netrebko in the title role.
Gary Naylor wouldn't put it up there with bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens, but it's one of his favourite musicals.
Voting in the 2011 BWW:UK Awards has been open for over a week now - and The Wizard of Oz and Much Ado About Nothing are leading the pack for the big prizes! Betty Blue Eyes is pushing the Palladium's spectacular hard in the musicals categories, though, and the National's much-acclaimed Frankenstein may yet overtake the Josie Rourke-directed Shakespeare revival.
The Metropolitan Opera Guild has announced its Lectures and Community Programs for the 2011-12 Season: an extensive - 20 events in October alone! - and wide-ranging calendar of individual events and courses of study designed to deepen the love and appreciation of opera by fans and performers alike, at every level of engagement and expertise.
The Metropolitan Opera's 2011-12 season will feature the world's leading singers, conductors, and stage directors in seven new productions, including a world premiere, a Met premiere, and the first complete performances of a new Der Ring des Nibelungen cycle conducted by Music Director James Levine and directed by Robert Lepage.
The Metropolitan Opera's sixth season of free open dress rehearsals begins on September 22 with the company premiere of Donizetti's Anna Bolena, starring Anna Netrebko in the title role.
Sydney Theatre Company and Asteron present the Malthouse Melbourne and Victorian Opera production of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera
Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE WIZARD OF OZ, with new songs written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, is now playing at The London Palladium. Joining Danielle Hope (BBC TV's Over the Rainbow winner) in the cast are Michael Crawford (Professor Marvel/The Wizard of Oz), Edward Baker-Duly (Hickory/Tin Man), David Ganly (Zeke/Cowardly Lion), Paul Keating (Hunk/Scarecrow), Emily Tierney (Glinda), and Hannah Waddingham (Miss Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West) will be joined by: Sophie Evans (Alternate Dorothy), Stephen Scott (Uncle Henry/Ensemble, first cover Professor Marvel/The Wizard of Oz), and Helen Walsh (Aunt Em/Munchkin Barrister/Ensemble).
Cineplex Entertainment (TSX:CGX), via our Front Row Centre Events announces the very popular series The Met: Live in HD is returning to participating Cineplex theatres.
Renee Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the elegant Countess in Richard Strauss's Capriccio, on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, August 14 at 12 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).
Audiences are following the yellow brick road over the rainbow to see Danielle Hope, winner of BBC TV's Over the Rainbow, play Dorothy at The London Palladium, the capital's home of the family musical. On Saturday, 16th July, Hope appeared on BBC1?s Tonight's the Night at 7.10pm, where she helped one young fan realise her ambition of singing ‘Over The Rainbow', as they performed together on the show. Click below to check out their performance!
It is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the twenty-first century, if only because the most successful composer of all-time - and the man behind not one, but both of the longest-running musicals in Broadway history - Andrew Lloyd Webber, has taken perhaps the most beloved American film of all, THE WIZARD OF OZ, to the London stage and has outfitted it with a number of new songs and musical sequences from his own hand and brazenly titledit ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S THE WIZARD OF OZ. Rumors of a Broadway opening ring out as the show sells out every night in London. And the show itself? Well, it certainly lives up to the title - and then some! But, what about the cast album? Re-teaming with his Oscar-winning collaborator on JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA, Sir Tim Rice - who wrote THE LION KING and AIDA with Elton John in the interim, among many other musicals - and securing the most celebrated star of the stage in the modern age and the original Phantom in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA himself, Michael Crawford, as the Wizard, Lloyd Webber proceeded to procure a Dorothy through the nouveau means of a 2010 reality TV casting competition, OVER THE RAINBOW: THE SEARCH FOR DOROTHY, and he certainly found a more than acceptable heir to the mantle left by Judy Garland in the 1939 film version in newcomer Danielle Hope. So, now, here we are, with the lushly produced West End cast album starring Hope, Crawford and Hannah Waddingham as the Witch glistening in its jewel case before us, so should we be joyously jumping over the rainbow or singing the red shoes blues?
According to the star's official website, Michael Crawford has just extended in the hit London production of THE WIZARD OF OZ through February 5, 2012. Audiences have been following the yellow brick road over the rainbow to see Crawford and Danielle Hope, winner of BBC TV's Over the Rainbow, at The London Palladium where the show began previews in early February and opened in March to great reviews.
Sydney Theatre Company and Asteron present the Malthouse Melbourne and Victorian Opera production of Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill's The Threepenny Opera
Renee Fleming sings one of her signature roles, the elegant Countess in Richard Strauss's Capriccio, on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, August 14 at 12 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings).
Videos
