Since 1978, West Bank Cafe has been one of the few authentic epcicenters of New York City's theatre community, and due to the pandemic, it is on the verge of permanently closing. With Broadway dark, tourism down, indoor dining closed, and no relief plan in sight, 2020 has created a plethora of financial problems for the beloved theater district institution. We don't want that to happen. Enter the theatre community. It's called community for a reason.
Pasadena Playhouse has announced the launch today of In Development: Iceboy! on PlayhouseLive. Join Megan Mullally, Nick Offerman, Adam DeVine and Laura Bell Bundy as they perform 4 new songs and give a rare early look at Iceboy!, a new musical by Mark Hollmann, Erin Quinn Purcell and Jay Reiss.
Take a quick look back on some of the highlights from lockdown and beyond that gave us all a little something to be thankful for when positivity was in short supply.
Due to overexposure to wildly overdone musicals in community theatres (looking at you, SEUSSICAL), Sally and Ashley now have the Community Theatre Formula down to a jazz-handed science.
BroadwayWorld was saddened to report that Broadway veteran Merwin Foard recently passed away at 59 years old. Born September 16, 1960 in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Foard was last seen on Broadway in Aladdin as a standby for Jafar/Sultan.
Opening night of Little Shop of Horrors was celebrated last night at the Pasadena Playhouse. The production stars George Salazar as “Seymour Krelborn;” Mj Rodriguez as “Audrey;” Kevin Chamberlin, as “Mr. Mushnik;” Matthew Wilkas as “Orin Scrivello;” and Amber Riley as “Audrey ll.”
Next up at Pasadena Playhouse, the sci-fi musical comedy LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, already in previews, will open September 25, 2019. Promising new twists and surprises, this cult hit written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken over thirty-five years ago, will be directed by Mike Donahue. I had a chance to throw out a few questions to Olivier Award-winner Amber Riley who's playing Audrey II.
Equality, inclusion and joy permeated the performances at this year's poignant and record-breaking Red Bucket Follies. The show celebrated six weeks of enthusiastic fundraising by 67 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring shows for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. See highlights from the evening below!
Feinstein's/54 Below presented a priceless evening of songs and stories with actor/author Ron Fassler telling his own personal tales of Broadway from his new book Up In The Cheap Seats, a chronicle of the time when he saw more than 200 Broadway shows as a teenager, all for as little as $2.
Ron Fassler, the celebrated author of Up In The Cheap Seats: A Historical Memoir of Broadway, will bring his acclaimed book to life at Feinstein's/54 Below on Friday, January 5th, 2018, at 7:00pm. UP IN THE CHEAP SEATS WITH RON FASSLER is a priceless evening of songs and stories with Ron Fassler telling his own personal tales of Broadway from his book Up In The Cheap Seats, a chronicle of the time when he saw more than 200 Broadway shows as a teenager, all for as little as $2.
Hosted by famously deadpan Julie Halston (You Can't Take It With You), the melange of actors presented in Monday night's comedy show at Feinstein's/54 Below drove home the fact that humor is simply not universal. Additionally, lack of continuity made it seem as if artists chose material no one reviewed.
In its series Broadway @ the Broad, which began in October 2013 with Patti Lupone, Sutton Foster was the latest star to grace the stage, featuring Seth Rudetsky as pianist and host. The event took place Sunday June 14 at 5pm and 8pm, and Foster proved a real trouper. On her recent honeymoon in Italy she contracted laryngitis and her voice has been down ever since. It took some quick maneuvering to adjust the program to her vocal capability, but with Seth Rudetsky on board as accompanist, all went well, and the packed house was overjoyed with what Foster had to offer.
Why do some actors make it and others don't? Ken Womble sets out to find the answer to this question, one that has fascinated and tormented him for years, in his new book, INSIDE ACT: How Ten Actors Made it and How You Can Too (Hansen Publishing Group, 373 pages, $24.99). To celebrate the release, BroadwayWorld will be featuring chapter previews from the new book. Today, hear from Krysta Rodriguez!
Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have had an extensive career, composing music for the stage and screen over the last thirty years. As a team, they captured us with their enchanting work on Anastasia. On Broadway, people clamored for RAGTIME and SEUSSICAL. Now fans of Ahrens & Flaherty have a beautifully produced retrospective of their work so far with Broadway Records' release of the fascinating NICE FIGHTING YOU.
The Music Center celebrated 12 teen performing artists and four teen visual artists at The Music Center's 26th Annual Spotlight Awards during a finale performance on Saturday, April 26, 2014, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Hosted by Oscar-nominated actor, musician and author, John Lithgow, the awards show culminated The Music Center's year-long free recognition and scholarship program for Southern California high school performing and visual artists. A first place and runner-up were named in each of eight categories, including ballet, non-classical dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental, jazz instrumental, two-dimensional art (works of art with height and weight, but no depth, using drawing, painting, computer generated or mixed media) and photography (black/white, color and digital). This year's top performing and visual artists were awarded more than $100,000 in cash scholarships with $5,000 for students selected as first place finalists and $4,000 for runners-up in each category; five honorable mentions in each category received $250.
Last night, Roundabout Theatre Company honored Sam Mendes with the Jason Roberts Award for Excellence in Theatre. The criterion for this award is to have made an 'indelible impact on the theatre world.' The award was named after the founder of Roundabout and is given each year in remembrance of his own impact on the theatre world.
BroadwayWorld wa sthere for the special night and you can check out photos from the star-studded red carpet arrivals below!
BWW brought you exclusive interviews with the TV stars of 2012. Below, check out what they had to say in some of our most popular interviews of the year!
Whether taking pratfalls, being slathered in fruit salad or working with a cast of tween-aged kids, Chamberlin tells BWW why he's loving every minute of being on the set of his Disney Channel program.
Tony Award-nominated actor Kevin Chamberlin ('Jessie,' Broadway's 'The Addams Family') will be starring in Disney Channel's TEEN BEACH MUSICAL, a modern 'no more complications, just good vibrations,' break into song and dance comedy in which surfer girl McKenzie and her boyfriend Brady literally go into a classic surf movie musical.
The Growing Stage's current production of the popular musical SEUSSICAL is a family affair for the Graham family, with mom Maggie Graham starring in the role of Mayzie La Bird, dad Steve Graham as The Cat in the Hat, and kids Amelia and Ethan featured as citizens of Whoville.
