As BroadwayWorld announced a couple of weeks ago, Robert Cuccioli, Natascia Diaz and Drew Sarich will star in the July 30th 7:30pm benefit concert of the Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus musical CHESS for The Actor's Fund. The show has featured many star-studded casts in the past, including Elaine Paige in the original London cast, Judy Kuhn in the original Broadway cast, and Idina Menzel in the 2009 concert cast.
Last week's poll asked: what is your favorite CHESS cast recording? Your response was the 2009 concert cast, with 55% of the vote.
Virginia's Signature Theatre is heating up once again this summer with their annual Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret, a series featuring a number of red hot acts from some of our favorite DC and Broadway performers from July 11th through July 28th.
As BroadwayWorld announced earlier today, Robert Cuccioli, Natascia Diaz and Drew Sarich will star in the July 30th 7:30pm benefit concert of the Benny Andersson, Tim Rice and Bjorn Ulvaeus musical CHESS for The Actor's Fund.
Classic Stage Company has announced that Nick Gehlfuss, who appeared as Lysander in the company's recent production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, is this year's recipient of the Rosemarie Tichler Fund grant.
Tonight, Tuesday, June 26, Tony Award nominee Brian d'Arcy James launches his New York City solo concert debut with his show "Under The Influence" at 54 Below. New York knows him from Broadway's Time Stands Still, Next to Normal, Shrek, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Apple Tree, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Titanic, among others; television audiences know him from NBC's "Smash" and HBO's Game Change, but now 54 Below audiences will have a chance to see him in his brand new musical offering during its inaugural month.
Best Actress Tony nominee Linda Lavin will be joined by an array of notable playwrights, directors and actors -- Vineyard Theatre artists all -- when she hosts The Vineyard's 5th annual luncheon presentation of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award to emerging playwright Erika Sheffer (RUSSIAN TRANSPORT), today, June 21 (12 p.m. - 2 p.m.) at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.
Continuing in its ongoing efforts of supporting new musical theater works, Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre, announced today that the Tony Award®-winning theatre is commissioning two new musicals under Signature's American Musical Voices Project (AMVP): The Next Generation. Composers Joshua Rosenblum (Einstein's Dreams, Fermat's Last Tango) and Josh Schmidt (Adding Machine, A Minister's Wife) will be creating new musicals for future seasons at Signature. In December of 2011, Mr. Rosenblum and Mr. Schmidt were awarded "honoree grants" and shared selections from projects in development at a special performance held at Signature Theatre.
Best Actress Tony nominee Linda Lavin will be joined by an array of notable playwrights, directors and actors -- Vineyard Theatre artists all -- when she hosts The Vineyard's 5th annual luncheon presentation of the Paula Vogel Playwriting Award to emerging playwright Erika Sheffer (RUSSIAN TRANSPORT), on Thursday, June 21 (12 p.m. - 2 p.m.) at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South) in Manhattan.
Today in 1993, the first Broadway revival of She Loves Me opened at Criterion Center Stage Right, where it ran for 354 performances. She Loves Me is a 1963 musical with a book by Joe Masteroff, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock. The plot revolves around Budapest shop employees Georg Nowack and Amalia Balash who, despite being consistently at odds with each other at work, are unaware that each is the other's secret pen pal met through lonely-hearts ads. The Revival cast featured Boyd Gaines as Georg, Judy Kuhn as Amalia, Sally Mayes as Ilona, Howard McGillin as Kodaly, Lee Wilkof as Ladislav, Brad Kane as Arpad, and Louis Zorich as Mr. Maraczek. A revival cast recording was released by Varèse Sarabande.
Live at the Hippodrome today announced the first season of performances at London's newest live performance space - The Matcham Room at the Hippodrome Casino, Leicester Square. Booking opens today for the first season of curated performances which will return world-class live entertainment to the recently restored, legendary Hippodrome.
In addition to the previously announced new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical PASSION with Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico, directed by John Doyle, CSC's 2012/2013 Season will feature Anton Chekhov's IVANOV, with Ethan Hawke, directed Austin Pendleton, and Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, featuring a new score by acclaimed singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik and directed by Brian Kulick.
Happy Birthday, Judy Kuhn! Kuhn made her Broadway debut was in The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She then played Cosette in the 1987 multiple award winning Broadway production of Les Misérables brought her the first Tony Award nomination. The following year, Kuhn took on a transfer from London's West End, playing one of the main roles (Florence Vassy) in the Trevor Nunn-directed Chess, with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (formerly of ABBA) and lyrics by Tim Rice. Later in 1993, Kuhn played the role of Betty Schaefer in the U.S premier production of Sunset Boulevard at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles. Kuhn sang the title role in the 1995 Disney animated film, Pocahontas, the film included her rendition of the song Colors of the Wind, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for its composers Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. On October 23, 2007, Kuhn returned to the Broadway Production of Les Misérables after 20 years, but this time assuming the role of Fantine.
Signature Theatre closes out its 2011/12 season sporting funky legwarmers and wielding neon glow sticks with the Washington premiere of the musical comedy hit Xanadu. Beginning performances tonight, May 6th, Xanadu will be transforming Signature's MAX Theatre into one big disco-ball heaven - complete with satin shorts and roller skates! Nominated for four Tony Awards® (including "Best Musical"), the musical features a Book by Douglas Carter Beane, with Music and Lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar. Xanadu will play at Signature from tonight, May 6, 2012 through July 1, 2012. Tickets are now on sale.
Children's book illustrators, Broadway performers and composers come together to present selections from Over the Moon: The Broadway Lullaby Project, a two-CD set and children's book on May 21 at Barnes & Noble on 86th & Lexington Ave.
Today we are talking to a Broadway superstar beloved from the time of her breakthrough performance in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's PASSION nearly twenty years ago all the way to two tremendous revivals in the early 00s - KISS ME, KATE and MAN OF LA MANCHA - to her most recent trio of roles on Broadway, first appearing in the straight drama ENRON, then as the troubled lead character of Diana in the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL, and, most recently, as the tortured Margaret White in the long-awaited New York return of CARRIE - the one and only Marin Mazzie. Recalling many memories of working on the original productions of such seminal musicals as INTO THE WOODS, PASSION, RAGTIME, SPAMALOT and NEXT TO NORMAL with some of Broadway's best and brightest talents, Mazzie expresses her sincere appreciation for the unforgettable shows she has been associated with and opens up about her experiences as both an originator of a role, as in the cases of PASSION and RAGTIME, and also as a replacement star and the challenges that that position poses for a performer. Additionally, Mazzie shares her enthusiasm for the words and music of the Tony Award-winning RAGTIME creators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, whom she will be saluting alongside a starry assortment of notables on Monday at the NY Pops JOURNEY ON Gala at Carnegie Hall. Plus, Mazzie clues us in on all aspects of her journey with the recent New York reworking and reappraisal of CARRIE and gives us first news on recording the cast album, which is set for a Fall release, as well as news on her second duets album with husband, Jason Danieley and solo album thoughts. All of that and much, much more!
Today in 1988, Chess opened at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 68 performances. Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other; all in the context of a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes.
THE LYONS, which debuted last fall at the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Vineyard Theatre, officially opened last night, April 23, at the Cort Theatre. Previews began on April 5. THE LYONS comes to Broadway with its entire original cast: Linda Lavin and Dick Latessa along with Michael Esper, Kate Jennings Grant, Brenda Pressley and Gregory Wooddell. Mark Brokaw directs.
BroadwayWorld was on hand for opening night, and we bring you photos from the starry opening night arrivals below!
