Jerry Orbach News

BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Burt Bacharach's PROMISES, PROMISES will return to London for the first time since 1969 at Southwark Playhouse, beginning January 2017.

Singer Mary Elizabeth Micari (a.k.a. Reverend Mary and her M Band) begins a series of live performances culminating with the release of her new album, The Musements.

On June 1st, I saw DIRTY DANCING LIVE at Place des Arts in Montreal, Quebec. From being a fan of the movie at fourteen, I was thrilled when I heard of the live stage show. After checking tour dates constantly for years, I finally discovered I would be in Montreal the same time as the show!

Today in 1975, Chicago opened at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rogers Theatre), where it ran for 936 performances. Chicago is a musical set in Prohibition-era Chicago, with music is by John Kander with lyrics by Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse. The story is a satire on corruption in the administration of criminal justice and the concept of the 'celebrity criminal'. The original cast starred Chita Rivera as Velma Kelly, Gwen Verdon as Roxie Hart, Jerry Orbach as Billy Flynn and Barney Martin as Amos Hart.

After watching O.J. Simpson getting found not guilty, the public seemed more willing to accept the musical's cynical look at life.

Musical Theatre Guild, the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critic's Circle Margaret Harford Award for sustained excellence in the theatre, has announced an exciting quartet of shows to celebrate its twenty-first season of Broadway in Concert musicals.  The MTG 2016-2017 season includes: PROMISES, PROMISES; THE SPITFIRE GRILL; HALLELUJAH, BABY! and STATE FAIR.

Actresses Angela Lansbury, Paige O'Hara, Jo Anne Worley and more attended the Academy's 25th Anniversary Screening of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, A Marc Davis Celebration of Animation at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater on May 9, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.

Singer Mary Elizabeth Micari (a.k.a. Reverend Mary and her M Band) begins a series of live performances culminating with the release of her new album, The Musements.

The Off Broadway musical THE FANTASTICKS will turn 57 years old on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 - continuing its run as the longest running musical in the world.

The 25TH Anniversary of the animated feature film BEAUTY AND THE BEAST will be celebrated by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday, May 9th at 7:30 pm PDT at Beverly Hills' Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

like many breakout television stars, Tituss Burgess was a Broadway favorite before the rest of the country discovered him.

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Boston, Chicago, Singapore and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include ARCADIA in Boston, Victory Gardens Theater's World Premiere of HILLARY AND CLINTON, and a special feature on LES MIS in Singapore, just to name a few.

The Fred Ebb Foundation, in association with the Roundabout Theatre Company, will present the twelfth annual Fred Ebb Award for aspiring musical theatre songwriters.  Applications for the award, named in honor of the late award-winning lyricist Fred Ebb, will be accepted from June 1- 30, 2016.  The winner will be selected in November of 2016.  Eligibility criteria and Application forms can be found at the foundations website: www.fredebbfoundation.org.

It may be spring (almost) outside, but inside Nautilus Music-Theater's tiny studio space in Lowertown St. Paul, it's most definitely September. The kind of September 'where grass is green and grain is yellow,' and 'no one weeps except the willow.' A lovely hopeful youthful September that slowly fades into a wiser, darker, and nostalgic December. While Nautilus is primarily dedicated to developing new works of music-theater, with their newest full production, they are presenting a new take on the longest running musical in the world. 56 years ago, THE FANTASTICKS was just the kind of piece that Nautilus would have developed, supported, and produced - an inventive piece of music-theater storytelling that pushes the envelope of what the genre can do. While that glow of newness and inventiveness has somewhat faded over the years, Nautilus is bringing it back in a new way with age-conscious and gender-conscious casting, and by presenting the piece as it originally was - in an intimate small-scale setting that allows the simple beauty and humor of the piece to shine. With limited seating and only 12 performances, make plans soon for this rare opportunity to see this classic musical performed by some of the Twin Cities best theater artists up close and personal.

In The Wings Productions, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tanya Glassman and Executive Producer Adam Glassman, presents the song and dance extravaganza 42ND STREET, with performances from April 8-17 at the historic Snug Harbor Music Hall.

Since the dawn of the genre, stage shows have been adapted from various sources; books, other plays, poems, historical events, and, increasingly over the past two decades, movies. The best projects based on movies take what is special from the source material and use that as inspiration to form a fresh stage adaptation. However, the DIRTY DANCING National Tour, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, April 3rd, focuses so intently on recreating the minutia of the film, that it completely misses what made it so captivating in the first place; authentic, compelling characters and an intimate, passionate story.

The Musical Theater Project (TMTP) will produce "Behind the Musical: The Fantasticks" for two performances on Saturday, April 30 (7pm) at Stocker Arts Center at Lorain County Community College, and Sunday, May 1 (3pm) at Regina Auditorium at Notre Dame College.

A show worth seeingAn inspired piano overture flows smoothly into 'The Fantasticks' signature opening song; 'Try To Remember.' 'The Fantasticks' is a simple fable for all time about a boy, a girl, their two fathers, and a wall. Kansas City Repertory Theatre reinvents 'The Fantasticks,' history's most performed musical play, with an all-star cast, expanded musical accompaniment, and a lavish new setting.

Bruce Greeenwood will take on the role of Dr. Jake Houseman, Baby's father, in ABC's upcoming DIRTY DANCING remake.

Actor Shavey Brown will be making his Off Broadway debut when he joins the cast of the long running musical THE FANTASTICKS on Monday March 28 - and making theatrical history, as he will be the second African American - and the first since 1977 - to step into the role of El Gallo since the production began performing 56 years ago, say the shows producers, Al Parinello and Catherine Russell.