Larry Gelbart News

Today, I am sharing with you Part I of my exclusive InDepth InterView with legendary Broadway star Donna McKechnie who is perhaps best known as the genius director- choreographer Michael Bennett's muse and primary interpreter as well as the originator and inspiration for the character of Cassie in A CHORUS LINE - for which she won Best Actress In A Musical at the 1976 Tony Awards - in addition to her many roles on Broadway and the West End, as well as all over the country on tours of every kind over the years. In Part I of this comprehensive chat we discuss her earliest featured roles on Broadway, working on the groundbreaking COMPANY and her thoughts on collaborators Bennett, Sondheim and Hal Prince; as well as her thoughts on the current state of Broadway, the out-of-town experience in the Golden Age and creating Cassie in A CHORUS LINE. Plus, of course, we discuss her fantastic new show and much, much more!

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) is proud to announce that single tickets for all five mainstage productions go on-sale to the public on Monday, June 28th for the 2010-2011 season

Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' June 11 - 27 at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre on the Marietta Square. Tickets are available at 404-377-9948 or www.atlantalyrictheatre.com.

Outrageous situations lead to hilarious complications in the legendary musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum opening on the Main Stage at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival Friday, June 25. With previews June 23 and 24, Forum continues through July 11. Ticket prices range from $25 to $53.

Artistic Director Nicholas Martin has announced the casting for the next two productions of the Williamstown Theatre Festival's 2010 Season: Six Degrees of Separation by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body) playing the Main Stage July 14 - 25, and the world premiere of Samuel J. and K. by Mat Smart (The 13th of Paris, The Hopper Collection) on the Nikos Stage July 7 - 18.

What do Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner and Selma Diamond have in common? Most are Jewish, and all were denizens of the famed 'Writer's Room' where they labored to create the comedy sketches for the live 90 minute weekly variety series, 'Your Show of Shows' starring the legendary Sid Caesar. Composites of these writers make up the characters in Neil Simon's raucous comedy,LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR, set in 1953 during television's golden age.

Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' June 11 - 27 at The Earl Smith Strand Theatre on the Marietta Square. Tickets are available at 404-377-9948 or www.atlantalyrictheatre.com.

The Gallery Players marks the final show of its 43rd main stage season in Black and White and Technicolor with the first NYC revival of the six-time Tony Award winner, City of Angels. Directed by Trey Compton (Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, The Gallery Players), City of Angels will end its run May 23, 2010.

What do Lucille Kallen, Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Michael Stewart, Mel Tolkin, Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner and Selma Diamond have in common? Most are Jewish, and all were denizens of the famed 'Writer's Room' where they labored to create the comedy sketches for the live 90 minute weekly variety series, 'Your Show of Shows' starring the legendary Sid Caesar. Composites of these writers make up the characters in Neil Simon's raucous comedy,LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR, set in 1953 during television's golden age.

Williamstown Theatre Festival Presents an all-male production of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM June 30 through July 11. Directing the production will be Jessica Stone. Starring as Pseudolus is Tony Award nominee Christopher Fitzgerald. Also starring in the production are Graham Rowat, Josh Grisetti, Kevin Cahoon and Paul Castree, as well as David Costibile, Zackary Grady, Adam Lerman, Chivas Michael, Bryce Pinkham, Joe Reid, Jeremy Shamos, David Turner and John Patrick Walker.

Today, in honor of the DVD release of Rob Marshall's film version of the 1982 Tony-winning Best Musical NINE, Maury Yeston was gracious and generous enough to grant me a few hours in which I could ask him intimate questions about his life, career and the future of theatre itself. Not one to mince words, Yeston is a veritable font of knowledge and it became clear during the interview that he may be as gifted and talented in his educational and mentorship skills as he is as a two-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist. His stage musicals include two Tony-winning Best Musicals, NINE and TITANIC, as well as: IN THE BEGINNING, GRAND HOTEL, PHANTOM, and the forthcoming DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, as well as a full-length ballet of TOM SAWYER premiering later this year. From the handwritten letter sent by Katharine Hepburn to Frederico Fellini after seeing the workshop of NINE thirty years ago to this very day when NINE hits DVD, we will take a look at this magnanimous maestro's starry career in this inaugural InDepth InterView. Enjoy!

According to Masterworks Broadway's website, the original Broadway cast recording of City of Angels is being reissued on CD today, May 4. The album is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and on the Masterworks Broadway website.

That two Lehigh Valley theatres were awarded separate grants from the National Endowment for the Arts signature program, 'Shakespeare in American Communities/ Shakespeare for a New Generation' is unprecedented. Outside major metropolitan areas around the country, no other community the size of the Lehigh Valley has received two grants in one year. Forty non-profit theatre companies across the U.S. won the $25,000 awards.

The first NYC revival of the six-time Tony Award winner, City of Angels arrives at Brooklyn's own The Gallery Players this weekend! Directed by Trey Compton (Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, The Gallery Players), City of Angels runs May 1-23, 2010. Catch this discussion between Director Trey Compton and Music Director Jeffrey Campos about the first NYC revival of City of Angels.

The Gallery Players marks the final show of its 43rd main stage season in Black and White and Technicolor with the first NYC revival of the six-time Tony Award winner, City of Angels. Directed by Trey Compton (Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, The Gallery Players), City of Angels runs May 1-23, 2010.

With film noir intrigue and big band jazz, City of Angels combines an old-fashioned detective story with Hollywood glamor in a hilarious musical comedy like you've never seen before!

'She had the kind of face a man could hang a dream on, a body that made Venus De Milo look all thumbs, and only the floor kept her legs from going on forever.' With these words the fictional detective Stone sets the mood for the evening to come after.

The Gallery Players marks the final show of its 43rd main stage season in Black and White and Technicolor with the first NYC revival of the six-time Tony Award winner, City of Angels. Directed by Trey Compton (Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, The Gallery Players), City of Angels runs May 1-23, 2010.

With film noir intrigue and big band jazz, City of Angels combines an old-fashioned detective story with Hollywood glamor in a hilarious musical comedy like you've never seen before!

With film noir intrigue and big band jazz, City of Angels combines an old-fashioned detective story with Hollywood glamor in a hilarious musical comedy like you've never seen before!