Julie Andrews News

No doubt you will see tiaras, beautiful ball gowns, slippers made of glass, pumpkins, a Prince, and a clock striking midnight in the current touring production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella. Yes, the modern production keeps all those familiar things from the fairytale and the original 1957 musical starring Julie Andrews intact. However, this production - like the most recent Broadway revival on which it is based - features a new book by Douglas Carter Beane (2013 adaptation).  He gives the audience new characters and a more sympathetic stepsister.  He also provides the Prince with a story/personality and grants Cinderella the power to decide her own destiny.  Put succinctly, there are many socio-political undertones within the story and the characters that inhabit it.

Well, my little piggies and wolves, the next CDs I'm eliminating from my apartment are all the recordings of all the versions of Into The Woods. I'm talking London cast, movie version, Broadway revival and ouch, the one that's gonna leave a gaping hole in my heart, that beautiful Original Broadway Cast Recording starring Joanna Gleason, Chip Zien, Tom Aldredge, Robert Westenberg and above them all as the Witch (receiving the deal-breaking top billing the producers previously refused Patti LuPone when they offered her the role) Bernadette Peters.

Riverside Theatre, led by Producing Artistic Director/CEO Allen D. Cornell and Managing Director/COO Jon R. Moses, present one of Broadway's great musicals and the Lerner and Loewe classic, My Fair Lady. Sponsored by Bill & Laura Frick and Riverside Theatre's Patron Producers Group, My Fair Lady performs on the Stark Stage from March 12-31, 2019

A LOVELY LINEAGE, based on an original concept by Michael Sterling, captures the historic Broadway and Hollywood lineage of Kristin Towers-Rowles starting with her grandmother, the legendary Kathryn Grayson who was an MGM darling and a Hollywood pioneer having starred in some of the most beloved movie musicals of the 1950s including Kiss Me, Kate and Show Boat. Her famous lineage does not stop there - Kristin's grandfather was the dashing and talented Broadway leading man Johnnie Johnston; her mother, Patricia Towers, was a Las Vegas headliner; and her father is the prolific character actor Robert Towers.

92Y announces award-winner Gavin Creel for the annual Kathryn W. Stein Memorial Concert, on Monday, June 17 at 2 pm. Creel will pay homage to the American musical songbook and recreate memorable songs from his distinguished Broadway career, including his Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning role in Hello, Dolly!, performing with Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters, Waitress, Thoroughly Modern Millie (Tony nomination), La Cage Aux Folles, Hair (Tony nomination), The Book of Mormon and She Loves Me. Creel also garnered an Olivier Award for his performance in The Book of Mormon in London.

On Monday, March 4 at 6:30pm the medieval court of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table will come to life on the stage of the Vivian Beaumont Theater when Lin-Manuel Miranda stars as King Arthur in Lerner & Loewe's CAMELOT, directed by Bartlett Sher, for a one-night-only concert event to benefit Lincoln Center Theater.  He will be joined by Solea Pfeiffer as Guenevere, Jordan Donica as Sir Lancelot, Dakin Matthews as Merlyn, Ruthie Ann Miles as Nimue, Ethan Slater as Mordred, Julie White as Morgan Le Fey, and Jenn Colella, Jason Danieley, and Bonnie Milligan as three of the Knights of the Round Table.   Andy & Betsy Kenny Lack, Brooke & Daniel Neidich, and Caryn Zucker are the Benefit Co-Chairs.  Proceeds from the evening will support Lincoln Center Theater's productions and education programs.

Theatre Tulsa is continuing its Broadway Series of popular musicals with the classic "My Fair Lady."

Theatre Tulsa is continuing its Broadway Series of popular musicals with the classic "My Fair Lady."

Hace mas de un mes que llego a nuestros cines EL REGRESO DEMARY POPPINS, que retoma las aventuras de nuestra niñera voladora favorita mientras trata de salvar la casa de los Banks en Londres. Pero, ¿Cual de las dos Mary Poppins salva a los niños Banks con mas solvencia? Comparemos tan objetivamente como sea posible (y con algun que otro SPOILER) ambas cintas en lo que he denominado BATTLE OF THE POPPINS.

The Lyceum Theatre will open its exciting new 8 show season on June 6, 2019 with the Lyceum premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, followed by All Shook Up, 9 to 5 The Musical, Murder For Two, Fully Committed, Crimes of the Heart, Swingtime Canteen, and the sixth annual production of the Lyceum's unique adaptation of the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, closing on December 22, 2019.

Flying in the face of the dreadful 21st Century practice of making extreme cuts and revisions to classic musicals by deceased authors in the belief that they would offend contemporary sensibilities if presented as originally written, director Bartlett Sher has spent a good part of the last two decades mounting elegant and thoughtful revivals that smooth over potential trouble spots by, believe it or not, doing what directors are assigned to do... interpret and direct.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces Seeing Red by Joey Mazzarino and Aron Accurso, starring Kerry Butler and Directed by Jenn Thompson and presented by Laura Kriete-Bain as part of the 2019 TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series on February 4, 2019 at 7pm at the Actors Temple, 339 West 47th Street, NYC. The reading is free but reservations are required: please email name and number of tickets requested to TRUVoicesSeries@gmail.com, or use the bright red ticketing box at https://truonline.org/events/seeing-red/.

It's tons of fun and enchanting, despite some weaknesses with the show's new book.

New Dramatists, Tony Honor recipient and the nation's premier playwright development laboratory, will honor three-time Tony Award winner, Nathan Lane, with its 2019 Distinguished Achievement Award at its 70th Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute on Tuesday, May 14th at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Schimmel Center at Pace University presents MARY POPPINS SING-ALONG

He won a 2017 Tony Award for his portrayal of Cornelius Hackl in "Hello, Dolly!" opposite Bette Midler on Broadway. Now Broadway actor and singer Gavin Creel will be performing with Seth Rudetsky at 8 p.m. Friday, March 8, at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.

Schimmel Center at Pace University presents Mary Poppins Sing-Along on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 4pm, with pre-show activities beginning at 3pm. Tickets start at $20 and can be purchased online at  http://schimmelcenter.org/event/mary-poppins-sing-along, or by phone at 212-346-1715, or by visiting the Schimmel Center Box Office at 3 Spruce Street, New York. (Hours: Tuesday - Saturday, Noon - 5pm & three hours prior to each performance, through intermission.)

Last year I posted an article on my website about the top 10 shows I was the most excited for that would be in the Twin Cities across the 2018-2019 season. Some of them premiered in 2018 like Mamma Mia at the Ordway and, of course, the traveling production of Hamilton. However, as I look back at the least, a large majority of them are in 2019 and I'm still just as excited to see these productions as I was last year when I posted about them. Below are 9 shows that I can't wait to see in 2019!

With the onset of winter, snow-covered streets, no sunshine and freezing temperatures, Kansas City can become depressing. Fortunately for Kansas City audiences, the snow-covered hills are filled with THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The hit Rogers and Hammerstein's musical opened Tuesday, January 15th at Kauffman Center for Performing Arts and runs through January 20th.

RODGERS + HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the 2013 Tony Award-winning Broadway musical from the creators of The King & I and The Sound of Music, will play Playhouse Square's Connor Palace for a limited engagement January 15 - 20, 2019 as a Huntington Featured Performance. Show times are Today - Friday at 7:30PM, Saturday at 1:30 and 7:30PM, and Sunday at 1:00 and 6:30PM. Tickets for CINDERELLA are available at the Playhouse Square Ticket Office (1519 Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland), by visiting playhousesquare.org, or by calling 216-241-6000. Group orders may be placed by calling 216-640-8600.