Kathy Najimy News

The cast of the second season of Food Network primetime series RACHEL VS. GUY CELEBRITY COOK-OFF is revealed with a roster of star-studded and diverse competitors, which battle it out in this fast-paced and fun culinary competition.

The Flea Theater welcomes Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Contact, Curtains, Steel Pier) to the cast of the limited Off-Broadway engagement of HERESY by A.R. Gurney, directed by Jim Simpson. Beginning October 19th, Ziemba replaces Kathy Najimy, who leaves to begin filming a TV project. The cast also stars Annette O'Toole (Smallville, Southern Comfort), Ariel Woodiwiss (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Reg E. Cathey (The Wire), Steve Mellor (Nixon's Nixon) and introducing Tommy Crawford and Danny Rivera, members of The Bats, The Flea's resident company of actors in their professional debut. Previews of this World Premiere began September 29 with opening night slated for Thursday, October 11.

Continuing its commitment to nurturing and producing the next generation of musical theatre artists, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has awarded its first annual Donna Perret Rosen Award for excellence in musical theatre to composer/lyricist Adam Gwon. The $10,000 award was established at the off-Broadway company's 2011 gala to honor Second Stage Theatre trustee Donna Perret Rosen in recognition of her long-standing commitment to young artists and new works. The award was chosen by Tony Award winners James Lapine, Susan Stroman, and Jack Viertel.

ABC Family scares up 13 NIGHTS OF HALLOWEEN for the 14th consecutive spine tingling year, with programming filled with chills and thrills as you countdown to Halloween.

The Flea Theater will present the limited Off-Broadway engagement of HERESY by A.R. Gurney, directed by Jim Simpson, featuring Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, King of the Hill, Veronica's Closet), Annette O'Toole (Smallville, Southern Comfort), Ariel Woodiwiss (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Reg E. Cathy (The Wire), Steve Mellor (Nixon's Nixon) and introducing Tommy Crawford and Danny Rivera, members of The Bats, The Flea's resident company of actors in their professional debut. Previews of this World Premiere begin September 29 with opening night slated for Thursday, October 11.

Hallmark Channel has moved the World Premiere of 'HOW TO FALL IN LOVE' tonight, July 21 and moved the time to @ 9pm ET/PT, 8C. The Hallmark Channel Original Movie stars Eric Mabius, Brooke D'Orsay and Kathy Najimy.

Brooke D'Orsay ('Royal Pains,' 'Drop Dead Diva') and Eric Mabius ('Ugly Betty') star in a love story about having someone to watch over you in HOW TO FALL IN LOVE, a Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere, tonight, July 14 (8p.m. ET/PT, 7C).

Tennis legend Serena Williams will guest star on this Sunday's episode of Lifetime's DROP DEAD DIVA. Get a sneak peek below!

Tennis legend Serena Williams will guest star on this Sunday's episode of Lifetime's DROP DEAD DIVA. Get a sneak peek below!

Today we are taking a look at four sparkling new Blu-ray editions of well-regarded films from the Disney vault by focusing on three titles that are also currently running on Broadway in screen-to-stage adaptations at this very moment - EVITA, NEWSIES and SISTER ACT. The current trend of adapting hit films into musicals for the stage has sporadically proven that some stage adaptations can even be more entertaining onstage, while some recent movie musicals have one-upped their stage roots in a way a few Golden Age adaptations also managed to do. Such is the case with EVITA, NEWSIES, SISTER ACT and SISTER ACT 2 (the latter two both acting as inspiration for the Broadway SISTER ACT musical) - all available for the first time on Blu-ray and each certainly justifying consideration for inclusion in your library if only because each is regarded as a modern-day classic - of sorts - in its own unique and special way. And, without these films, we would never have the current versions of the shows now running on Broadway based upon them (even in the case of a classic like EVITA, whose stage version may have come first, but, as seen and heard in the hit Elena Roger/Ricky Martin/Michael Cerveris revival, now includes the film addition, "You Must Love Me"). Whatever the medium, all of these winning entities offer an entertaining way to beat the heat and celebrate the start of summer in style - with some tunes, old and new, you are not soon to forget.

Theater Schmeater is celebrating their 20th Anniversary with a season of rarely seen plays.

Feathers, glitter, and lace are the norm for Broadway talent, but at the 2012 Tony Awards on Sunday, the stars transformed from showgirl to sophisticated on the red carpet. BroadwayWorld was there to capture each and every one in their evening finest and brings you the best of the best - and quesitonable of the questionable - below!

The 2012 Tony Awards, presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing and hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, are underway! The ceremony is being broadcast tonight, June 10, in a live three-hour ceremony from the Beacon Theatre, on the CBS television network. BroadwayWorld is, of course, at the Beacon Theatre bringing you full coverage all night! Check out photos of tonight's attendees on the red carpet below!

Feminist, writer and activist Gloria Steinem, author, filmmaker and photographer Nigel Barker, actress Kathy Najimy and filmmaker Abigail Disney are all set to take part in after-show talkbacks for the powerful docu-theater drama Trafficked which was constructed by actual interviews and was created in partnership with representatives from the United Nations, telling the story of sex slavery and child exploitation through the eyes of fifteen young women across the globe. Abigail Disney will lead a talkback after the Sunday, 6/10 at 5:30pm performance, Gloria Steinem and Kathy Najimy will both lead the talkback after the Saturday, 6/16 at 4:30pm performance, and Nigel Barker will lead the talkback after the 6/21 at 5pm performance. Tickets for the shows (priced at $18) can be purchased online at www.PlanetConnections.org.

So, when it was announced that the almost obscenely talented duo of Holly Allen and Cathy Street would be reviving their performances for a summer 2012 run, I knew that I, fueled by a nostalgic bent and wistful sentimentality of a sort, should give it another once-over, as much for the winning portrayals from Allen and Street, as for the opportunity to doff my fedora (as a man with a hat-head, I've often worn a fedora, just not to the theater-I have a hard and fast set of the rules that keep me on the fashion straight-and-narrow, as it were) to director Lauren Shouse, a woman of honor and skill who will be leaving Nashville by summer's end to pursue education of a higher sort at Northwestern University.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has just announced that Jason Robert Brown's musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS has been added to the company's upcoming 2012-2013 season. The musical, which has not been seen in New York City since its brief off-Broadway run over ten years ago, will be directed by Mr. Brown.

As part of its 2012 "Street Corner Show" series, featuring shows that are returning by popular demand, Street Theatre Company is excited to bring back the two-woman comedic tour de force that is Parallel Lives, running Tuesday nights from tonight, May 22 through July 3 at Street Theatre.

Artistic Director Sean Murray previously announced DIRTY BLONDE, a bawdy, brassy, funny, sexy and touching contemporary love story that captures the essence of Mae West and two fans who loved her, for tonight May 17 to June 17 at the The Old Town Stage in San Diego State Historic Park.

Following an acclaimed season which included the world premiere of Paul Weitz's Lonely, I'm Not and a critically lauded second staging of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winner, How I Learned To Drive, Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has just announced two of the four mainstage productions in the company's upcoming 34th season. For subscription or ticket information, please call the Second Stage Box Office at 212-246-4422 or visit the company's website, www.2ST.com. All productions are staged at Second Stage's Tony Kiser Theatre, 305 West 43rd Street (just west of Eighth Avenue).

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director and Casey Reitz, Executive Director) has been chosen as one of the 40 finalists in this year's Partners in Preservation program, which awards up to $250,000 to the cultural institutions that receive the most votes from its supporters. If selected, Second Stage Theatre will use the grant money to restore the facade of the company's future home, the 100-year old Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway. The finalists were presented by celebrity guest Katharine McPhee of NBC's hit "Smash" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Thursday, April 26. Second Stage at the Helen Hayes Theatre is the only Broadway theatre selected as a finalist.