Joe DiPietro News

Every once in a while it's nice to go to a theatre, relax, hear some pleasant music, enjoy stories of love and life, and smile. That's the situation at Actor's Summit with their present offering, I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE.

Sometimes we just don't need those big flashy musicals. Sometimes it's just nice to have a simple little show that you can sit back and let wash over you. Such is the case with the current show out at Seattle Musical Theatre, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change". The perfect little date night show and a production that just oozes with charm.

TheatreWorks presents its 60th World Premiere, the GrooveLily musical WHEELHOUSE. The pop-rock trio GrooveLily, creators of the popular TheatreWorks/Off-Broadway hit Striking 12, stars in this irresistible autobiographical musical about traveling tunesmiths in desperate need of a tune-up as they rocket across the country in a worn-out Winnebago.

The Kennedy Center presents Memphis in the Opera House from June 12 to July 1, 2012.

Nominations for The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 27, 2012 at Feinstein's at Loews Regency by Drama Desk Award winners Brian d'Arcy James and Donna Murphy, with Death Takes a Holiday, Follies and Nice Work If You Can Get It leading the pack. Yesterday, May 8, all of the nominees were celebrated at a special reception and BroadwayWorld was there to capture it all.

The producers of the critically acclaimed and Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT are pleased to announce the launch of a US national tour in the fall of 2013. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT is the new musical comedy directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes) featuring music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro (Memphis). The production is currently playing on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street).

Esta semana las producciones de Tela-Katola 'Tick, Tick... ¡BOOM!' y 'Te quiero, Eres perfecto... ¡Ya te cambiaré!' comienzan temporada en la Sala 2 del Teatro Nuevo Alcalá, y BroadwayWorld Spain te invita al estreno de las dos con un divertido concurso en twitter. ¡Entra y entérate de cómo participar!

Awards season is in full swing and to celebrate all of the 2011-2012 nominees, we've dug deep into our archives to bring you vintage photos of all of the talent during special moments in their careers. Check out the 2011-2012 Tony-nominated men below!

Mary Kay Yezerski-Bondoc, of the MEMPHIS wig department, recently did an eight-step video about how to properly take curlers out of a wig and style it. Additionally, this video gives a glimpse at the astounding number of wigs used in the show.

This Tuesday marked the second most exciting day of any given year for Broadway babies - the Tony Award nominations. The actual awards ceremony on CBS - Broadway's night of nights - is still a few weeks off, but now is certainly an ideal time to size up the competition(s) and see who will most likely walk away with Tony gold come June 10 - and this year's ceremony, more than most before, could very well be as surprising as this season was; or Tuesday's nominations themselves were, for that matter. While the 2011-2012 Broadway season certainly fell far short of the heady promise many ascribed to its prospects way back last Summer, we certainly saw the fulfillment of some big dreams for some notable names if not an all-in-all banner year for Broadway when collectively considered. The highly-praised Off-Broadway critical darling LYSISTRATA JONES landed with a thud early in the season, as did the re-jiggered, gender-bending revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and its star Harry Connick, Jr., and, even the lauded and relatively successful revival of Stephen Sondheim's peerless masterpiece FOLLIES failed to make any money and closed. GODSPELL did not fare much better, though it is still running. The two highly-anticipated revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic early successes JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA were met with indifferent reviews - with the latter receiving some nasty press for its stars, neither of whom received Tony nominations - but receptive audiences so far. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS could take Best Revival, after all - but will NICE WORK's Kelli O'Hara edge out four-time Tony recipient Audra McDonald? New plays did not fare much better than the measly crop of musicals, but OTHER DESERT CITIES and VENUS IN FUR seemed to hit their target demographics squarely, but CLYBOURNE PARK looks to be the frontrunner for Best Play despite all that. We shall see. Mike Nichols may take home another Best Director for his sensitive, if workmanlike revival of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, as conceivably could Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield. John Lithgow is offering up some fierce competition in THE COLUMNIST, though. The acting races are tight, for sure, in both plays and musicals, with more newcomers and first-time nominees than any season this century.

Broadway: Born Yesterday, Inherit the Wind, Caine Mutiny Court Martial, Democracy, Twentieth Century, Henry IV, The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Last Night of Ballyhoo (Tony® nomination, Outer Critics Circle Award). Off-Broadway: The Marriage of Bette and Boo. London: Deathtrap. Regional theater: A Delicate Balance, Proof, How I Learned to Drive, Angels in America, Betrayal, The Dining Room. Features: Going the Distance, Imaginary Heroes, Hearts in Atlantis, Company Man. TV: "The West Wing," "Shot in the Heart," "Law and Order" (all).

Two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick, Robyn Hurder and the cast of the Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT performed 'Sweet & Lowdown' on CBS 'The Late Show with David Letterman' last night, May 3rd. Check out the full performance below!

Dundalk Community Theatre brings to stage the new musical comedy, set in the 1950's and based on the music of Elvis Presley: ALL SHOOK UP, from tonight, May 4 to May 13.

Broadway: Grease (Marty), Chicago (Mona), Wedding Singer (Donatella), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang(Violet). Off-Broadway/NYMF: Play It Cool (Lena), Tour De Fierce (starring as Broadway Doll). National Tours: A Chorus Line (Cassie, 1st Nat'l), Spamalot (Lady of the Lake u/s), Starlight Express (Pearl). Regional: Chicago (Roxie). Gratitude must go out to Kathleen, Jay Binder, Professional Artists, BBS, and my beloved friends. So much love to the amazing Hurder and Alves family, and to the love of my life, Clyde.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award-winner for Best Musical, opens at the Ohio Theatre on May 29 for a limited engagement.

Two-time Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick, Robyn Hurder and the cast of the Tony-nominated Best Musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT will perform "Sweet & Lowdown" on CBS "The Late Show with David Letterman" tonight, Thursday, May 3rd between 11:35 p.m. and 12:35 a.m. Check local listings.

Today, we're excited to present our special annual Tony Nominees Photo Booth Portraits shot by Walter McBride. How many future Tony winners can you spot below?

Stay tuned for exclusive BWW interviews leading up to the big night and in the meantime, check out behind the scenes photos from today's event!

While it may look through its world through "rose colored glasses", MEMPHIS celebrates a time when race music was beginning to catch on with a white, mostly teenaged audience. It's a crackling, amusing, and fast-paced show (book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, music and lyrics by David Bryan) that takes you on a musical journey through the eyes of young Huey, a wannabe DJ, who gets his wish, and may get his girl, if they can survive the glare of the fifties, when mixing of the races was against the law. Does this all sound heavy? Well it's not, not by a long shot. Instead, it's a bouncy and bluesy production that's easy to take and listen to. It's currently playing the Fox Theatre (through May 13, 2012), and there's a reason this show is so successful, it's just edgy enough to appeal to the jaded, and it lightens the tone of this historical racist behavior just enough to succeed with the masses.

Broadway: Wonderful Town, Kiss Me Kate, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown, The Lion King, Jelly's Last Jam, Oh Kay! Off-Broadway: ResurGents: The Reappearance of Hope, Real Black Men Don't Sit Crosslegged On The Floor, City Center's St. Louise Woman. Regionals: Ruined, Radio Golf, Gem of the Ocean, Fences, Master Harold and the Boys, Blues for an Alabama Sky and Cinderella . TV: "2-2," "Criminal Intent," "Late Night With Conan O'Brien." Film: Brother To Brother, Family On Board, Steve McQueen's Shame.