Jule Styne News

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

Two legendary ladies of stage and screen are headed to Laguna Beach this September for exclusive limited engagements at The Laguna Playhouse. First to arrive is ETHEL MERMAN'S BROADWAY September 8 - 19. Then it's time for Cloris Leachman in CLORIS: A ONE WOMAN SHOW September 23 - 27.

Michael Barrett, General Director of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, is pleased to present the second annual Caramoor Fall Festival, headlined by such luminaries as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Broadway legend Patti LuPone, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and The Knights Chamber Orchestra conducted by Eric Jacobsen.

BELLS ARE RINGING, Directed by Paul Foster, with Book and Lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Music by Jule Styne and Starring Anna-Jane Casey and Gary Milner announces complete casting.

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

Kritzerland has announced their latest remixed and remastered release - a special 2 CD limited edition of the Original Cast Album of SUGAR with Music by Jule Styne Lyrics by Bob Merrill.

September at The Metropolitan Room features...

Performers include Bronte Barbe (BBC's Over the Rainbow), Lucy May Barker (Spring Awakening, Earthquakes in London), Cassidy Janson (Avenue Q, Wicked), Jeremy Legat (Wicked), Gemma Sutton (Oklahoma! National Tour and Imagine This), Michael Peavoy (Hamlet at the National Theatre, Stephen Sondheim Society Young Performer of the Year winner) and Lucy Mills (Austentatious).

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, and Ari Graynor will co-star in the world premiere comedy TRUST, written by Paul Weitz, directed by Peter DuBois. Mr. Weitz returns to Second Stage Theatre, where his plays Privilege and Show People premiered in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Directed by Peter DuBois, who staged Second Stage's acclaimed production of Becky Shaw, TRUST will begin previews on Friday, July 23 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street) and officially open on Thursday, August 12. The production runs through September 5.

Kenny Leon and True Colors Theatre Company are proud to announce a World Premiere Musical about the life of Bessie Smith written and directed by former Alliance Theatre Associate Artistic Director, David H. Bell.

PS_Classics_SONDHEIM_ON_SONDHEIM_20010101 As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PS Classics, the label dedicated to the heritage of Broadway and American popular song, recorded the original Broadway cast album of SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM on June 6th and 7th. The production, presented by Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), began performances at Studio 54 on March 19th, opened officially on April 22nd and will close on June 27th. Today, it has been announced that the album will be available beginning August 31, 2010 in both online and retail outlets. The track list has now been unveiled on Amazon.com.

As BroadwayWorld has previously reported, Crown Publishing Group will release Patti LuPone: A Memoir on September 14th, 2010.

Theyre_playing_Sour_Song_20010101 Broadway darling Sutton Foster and Seth Rudetsky are teaming up on a concert version of They're Playing Our Song to benefit The Actor's Fund on August 30 at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College in New York City. The concert will be directed and choreographed by Denis Jones and musical directed by Steve Freeman. Additional casting details are forthcoming.

Bringing together the subject of this week's InDepth InterView, Liza Minnelli, and this week's Sound Off, Stephen Sondheim, is today's Flashback Friday taking a look at some fantastically spectacular performances of Ms. Minnelli singing and words and music of Stephen Sondheim throughout the years. A song from FOLLIES given a Pet Shop Boys face-lift, a trip down MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG lane, a jazzy Mel Torme gem from DICK TRACY and a lot more than you could have ever wished for given the blazing talent and astonishing accomplishments of both legends. When Sondheim's intellectual artistry meets Liza's extroverted actorly introspection it is a combustible combination with the results more mind-blowing than you would ever even think possible even loving both! Indeed, both individuals are the very, very best of Broadway. So, see why when they meet it is pure Broadway magic.

Stephanie J. Block, Broadway star of '9 to 5: The Musical,' 'Wicked,' 'The Pirate Queen,' and 'The Boy From Oz,' will star opposite Jason Alexander, Artistic Director of Reprise Theatre Company, in 'They're Playing Our Song,' the opening production of the company's 2010-2011 season, playing September 28 to October 10 (press opening September 29) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

Yesterday evening, August 23, the Times Talk hosted a Q&A and discussion with the ANYTHING GOES team, two-time Tony Award-winning director Kathleen Marshall and Tony-winning star Sutton Foster at The Times Center. Next Spring, Roundabout Theatre Company will present a new Broadway production of ANYTHING GOES, starring Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.' Directed & choreographed by Marshall, ANYTHING GOES will begin performances March 10th, 2011 and officially open on April 7th, 2011 on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.

Producer Orin Wolf and Off the Aisle Productions have announced that It Must Be Him, a new comedy by Kenny Solms, co-creator and writer of the legendary, Emmy Award-winning 'Carol Burnett Show,' will premiere this summer at the Peter J. Sharp Theatre (416 West 42nd Street). Directed by Daniel Kutner, It Must Be Him will begin performances on Tuesday, August 24, and officially open on Wednesday, September 1. The limited engagement ends Sunday, September 26.

Last week I had a true Broadway baby's dream come true by having the thrill of interviewing not only one of the best interview subjects (check out her episode of INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO for further proof of that) but also one of the very greatest and most highly-rewarded stars in Hollywood and Broadway history, the recipient of the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, multiple Tony Awards and Hollywood Royalty like none other before or since: Miss Liza Minnelli. In this special preview of a much longer interview which will go live in a few weeks, we discuss her revealing and intimate new studio album CONFESSIONS featuring a riveting 'At Last', her impressions and opinions on Lady Gaga and Beyonce, as well as discussing her blockbuster HSN Liza Collection success, the recent Snickers commercial with Aretha Franklin, GLEE, and much, much more. Plus, some stories about her father, director of GIGI and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, Vincente Minnelli; as well as her mother, Judy Garland, by most accounts the greatest star in Hollywood history and as popular today as ever thanks to THE WIZARD OF OZ. Liza Minnelli has conquered every arena of entertainment and in the complete discussion she opens up and reveals fascinating, absorbing and electrifying new sides to her legendary, starry and incomparable career on stage and on screen.

From the first trumpet blast of its legendary overture to the last white hot spotlight, GYPSY is considered by many to be 'the best musical ever.' Lakewood Theatre Company is proud to present this classic musical as its summer production in the 2010-11 season.

Artistic Director/CEO Kate Maguire is pleased to announce that Tony® award winner Sutton Foster will be bringing her cabaret performance An Evening with Sutton Foster to Berkshire Theatre Festival on August 22 at 7pm on the historic Main Stage. Tickets for the evening are $25 and $45, with a limited number of VIP tickets at $70. VIP tickets feature prime seating locations and admission to an exclusive post-show reception featuring the artists. This evening of song and laughter, presented with her Musical Director Michael Rafter accompanying, is fueled by Ms. Foster's sparkling wit and incredible voice. Songs for the evening are drawn from her critically-acclaimed debut solo album Wish and from the stage roles that have helped make her famous, such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Drowsy Chaperone.