Jule Styne News

Reprise Theatre Company presents Ray Romano Live for one performance only on Tuesday, June 7 at 8:00 pm, at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA. Ticket sales from Ray Romano Live support Reprise's mission to produce musical theatre of the highest artistic quality and to make this art form accessible to new audiences through education and outreach programs.

Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records is proud to reveal the secret identities of THE LEAGUE OF BROADWAY SUPER FRIENDS -- a five-part harmony-singing group featuring Broadway's brightest stars and biggest talents. Their inaugural concert will present Kelli O'Hara, Lindsay Mendez, Gavin Creel, Greg Naughton and Sherie Rene Scott, joining forces and voices for good: a June 7th benefit concert at Le Poisson Rouge, to raise funds in the fight against Pancreatic Cancer. Tickets will go on-sale at 10am on Monday, May 16h. More details here: http://sh-k-boom.com/leagueofbroadwaysuperfriends/

On what would have been Cole Porters 120th Birthday, The Town Hall (123 West 43 Street), Times Square's landmark concert venue, will present Easy To Love: Andrea Marcovicci and Jeff Harnar Sing Cole Porter, on Thursday, June 9, at 8:00 P.M.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 6/05 for Toronto

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & MC COY RIGBY ENTERTAINMENT are thrilled to announce their 2011- 2012 season of shows! For the first time ever, the company will offer its subscribers and audiences four weeks of performances this season (an additional week has been added to each run!) - with six must-see theatrical events: From hilarious Broadway comedies such as The 39 Steps and Noises Off; to unforgettable musical theatre events such as Miss Saigon and Cathy Rigby returning as Peter Pan - throw in some doo-wop ‘50s classics with the multi-award-winning Life Could Be A Dream and a spectacular evening with Debby Boone reminiscing about her mother-in-law Rosemary Clooney, and you have a season filled with spectacle and excitement. You won't want to miss any of what promises to be our best season ever! So extraordinary, three weeks were just not enough!

The Razz Room announces its schedule of upcoming events. For tickets and more information, please call 800.380.3095 or visit: www.therrazzroom.com Tickets are not on sale at: http://therrazzroom.com/eventlist11.html

SOUTH PACIFIC star Kelli O'Hara will release her second solo album under the Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight label. The album, entitled Always, features 13 tracks consisting of a collection of Broadway favorites from MY FAIR LADY and SOUTH PACIFIC, as well as songs by Irving Berlin and Ricky Ian Gordon among others. The album is set to be release May 31, 2011.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 5/29 for Toronto

Jenna gives a rundown of where she's been and what's coming up in the world of cabaret (and sometimes beyond!) This week's column features Jennifer Sheehan at The Metropolitan Room, Steve Sieck at Don't Tell Mama, Alex Getlin at Feinstein's, and Jarrod Spector, also at Feinstein's!

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra announced today that it has signed Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly, who is recognized throughout North American as a leader in innovative symphonic pops programming, to a contract extension that will keep the popular maestro and Richmond, Indiana native as the ISO's pops leader through the 2016-2017 season.

The Ladies Who Lunch Theatre (Michael & Barbara Ross) take pride in introducing you to THEY CHANGED BROADWAY, a new musical revue, for three performances only, June 8, 12 & 15, at The Excelsior Dinner Theatre in Manalapan, New Jersey.

New York City Center's 19th Encores! season will open in City Center's newly restored and renovated theater on February 8, 2012 with Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, and will continue with Rodgers and Hammerstein's rarely seen Pipe Dream on March 28¸ followed by Jule Styne and Leo Robin's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on May 9. For the first time, each musical will play for seven performances.

Their partnership was one of Broadway and Hollywood's longest runs. Together, Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote words that gave life to On the Town, Wonderful Town, Bells are Ringing and Singin' in the Rain. Phyllis Newman, Tony Award-winner and Green's wife of more than four decades, summons the essence of their genius - irreverence, humanity, sophisticated wit and joy - in the Lyrics & Lyricists™ season closer Carried Away: Being Comden and Green on May 21, 22 and 23. Joining her are vocalists Sarah Uriarte Berry, Josh Grisetti, Marcus Lovett, Mary Testa and Zakiya Young, with special guest vocalist Leslie Uggams.

Today we have a triple-feature and a double-dose day, with all three of the Tony-winning leading ladies who have won the Best Actress Tony Award for their take on Rose in GYPSY - as great a role in the musical theatre as Lear in KING LEAR is in the classical canon; no question. Believe it or not, Ethel Merman - the once-thought-incomparable original Rose in GYPSY - did not take the prize for Best Actress, nor did Bernadette Peters in the Sam Mendes-directed revival from early this century, but the three divas that did certainly made an unmistakable mark on the titanic role. Cutting to the chase, the ladies of the day: Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone. Who could ask for anything more? Not even Rose herself - and that's saying something.

Upcoming MTI Shows - 5/22 for Toronto

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of the Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre, today announced the company's 2010-2011 season of four musicals and three plays, with the innovative company producing three world premieres and one regional premiere.

'Let us entertain you...' with Jule Styne and Stehpen Sondheim's musical fable of a determined mother living her life vicariously through her children. This American saga puts Madame Rose center stage as a fearless and endlessly resourceful stage mother determined to survive The Depression by pushing her daughters into the spotlight.

The penultimate episode of Season Two of GLEE on Fox last night was just about everything you could ask for from a funereally-themed Very Special Episode such as that on this show - and, in addition to the doom and gloom, we even got a scintillating 'Back To Black' from Santana and Lea Michele miraculously making 'My Man' all her own! Sure, the requisite gospel/r&b moment came courtesy of Amber Riley, as you would certainly expect it to given GLEE's lineage - particularly a GLEE with a funereal theme - yet the show managed to stay mostly out of the maudlin, morbid and mundane and remain its frothy, effervescent self - while always keeping it real and grounded in reality. Truly. Yes, indeed, GLEE's 'Funeral' episode put the 'real' in 'funereal' much more so than the 'fun' - but, there was some of that to be had, as well; for sure. Of special note, 'Funeral' also featured the continued extended return of Broadway baby and GLEE fan-favorite Jonathan Groff as Jessie St. James, and although he did not grace us with a song this week he certainly left a lasting impression - particularly coming after last week‘s triumph, which was the GLEE musical pinnacle of Season Two thanks to him and Ms. Michele. Indeed, Lea Michele - by way of Barbra Streisand and Fanny Brice - took the lead last night and stole the show. The ladies ruled the night on the 'Funeral' episode of GLEE - Lea Michele and Jane Lynch, first and foremost.

Revered as one of the greatest book musicals ever written Gypsy, based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, and with collaborators Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim is rarely performed except on Broadway due to the demands of the role of Mama Rose, which has been played first by Ethel Merman, and also to acclaim by Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters and most recently Patti Lupone. Films have starred Rosalind Russell and Bette Midler (TV), and there's another theatrical one still in the works for Barbra Streisand. The stage mother to end all stage mothers is a monster role to play. She's on stage 95% of the show and must act, sing and dance 150%; there's no faking this one. In a daring production for Equity Waiver, West Coast Ensemble (WCE) is now presenting Gypsy, half a century after it first opened in New York in 1959. Jan Sheldrick has the role of Rose and she runs with it, acting up a storm, giving it her best shot. Under Richard Israel's skilled direction, the production is somewhat flawed, but overall impressive with its very strong rendering on a smaller stage.

Their partnership was one of Broadway and Hollywood's longest runs. Together, Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote words that gave life to On the Town, Wonderful Town, Bells are Ringing and Singin' in the Rain. Phyllis Newman, Tony Award-winner and Green's wife of more than four decades, summons the essence of their genius - irreverence, humanity, sophisticated wit and joy - in the Lyrics & Lyricists™ season closer Carried Away: Being Comden and Green on May 21, 22 and 23. Joining her are vocalists Sarah Uriarte Berry, Josh Grisetti, Marcus Lovett, Mary Testa and Zakiya Young, with special guest vocalist Leslie Uggams.