Lee Adams News

Yorktown Stage presents the 1961 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, Bye Bye Birdie. Considered one of Broadway's finest scores, composer Charles Strouse (Annie) and lyricist Lee Adams spin the familiar tunes, Put On A Happy Face, Lot of Livin', Kids, and One Last Kiss.

Dallas Theater Center continues its exciting and conversation-provoking 2012-2013 season with the regional premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. This unique experience will transport audience members into the thrilling and aggressive world of professional wrestling, complete with a wrestling ring, while weaving a story of power and class in America. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre tonight, October 19 - Sunday, November 11.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from tonight, October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.

ANNIE, the new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, went into rehearsal today in New York City with its full company. The production begins previews October 3, 2012 and opens November 8, 2012 at the Palace Theatre (Broadway at 47th Street). Meet the full cast below!

Sometimes once is just not enough, so, today, we have a super-special encore conversation with a recent InDepth InterView participant who shares even more candid tales from her impossibly colorful, genre-spanning career on Broadway and in Hollywood - star of properties as diverse as the Broadway musicals MR. PRESIDENT, KELLY and THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG, to movies like MOONSTRUCK and SHALL WE DANCE to her numerous TV appearances on everything from MATCH GAME to QUINCY to 30 ROCK - chameleon-like comedienne and actress Anita Gillette. Discussing some of the more ribald and hilarious stories from her idiosyncratic showbiz career - such as the riotous backstage goings-on out of town at the tryout of one of Broadway biggest bombs, KELLY - as well as spine-tingling "you had to be there"-type memories of the Golden Age - like Irving Berlin stopping by the Winter Garden every Wednesday just to see her Act One showstopper in ALL AMERICAN - Gillette paints a vivid picture of an era gone by, and, also, looks ahead to exciting future endeavors - especially the upcoming Ed Burns-directed feature film, THE FITZGERALD FAMILY CHRISTMAS, opening wide later this year. Of course, Gillette returns to the NYC stage the next two Mondays - September 24 and October 1 - with her new Birdland show, AFTER ALL, so in this all-encompassing conversation we also discuss the themes, style, songs and stories we can anticipate from that intimate solo piece, as well, and she generously shares her recollections of working with some of the men who penned many of the sensational songs she will be performing and figure in to some of the tales she will tell - Charles Strouse, Marvin Hamlisch, Jule Styne, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and the aforementioned Irving Berlin included. All of that and much, much more!

Dallas Theater Center continues its exciting and conversation-provoking 2012-2013 season with the regional premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. This unique experience will transport audience members into the thrilling and aggressive world of professional wrestling, complete with a wrestling ring, while weaving a story of power and class in America. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre Friday, October 19 - Sunday, November 11.

Dallas Theater Center kicks of its 2012-2013 season with the outrageous new comedy The Second City Does Dallas written specifically for Dallas by members of The Second City and directed by Matt Hovde. The worlds of Chicago and Dallas collide on DTC's stage in a satirical take on all that makes Dallas great (and not so great). It's a fully produced sketch comedy experience in a theatrical, no-holds-barred look at Big D. The Second City Does Dallas runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre tonight, August 29 - Sunday, September 30.

Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.

Dallas Theater Center kicks of its 2012-2013 season with the outrageous new comedy The Second City Does Dallas written specifically for Dallas by members of The Second City and directed by Matt Hovde. The worlds of Chicago and Dallas collide on DTC's stage in a satirical take on all that makes Dallas great (and not so great). It's a fully produced sketch comedy experience in a theatrical, no-holds-barred look at Big D. The Second City Does Dallas runs at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre Wednesday, August 29 - Sunday, September 30.

ANNIE, the new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, went into rehearsal today in New York City with its full company. The production begins previews October 3, 2012 and opens November 8, 2012 at the Palace Theatre (Broadway at 47th Street). Meet the full cast below!

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army. Bye Bye Birdie runs today, July 13 through July 22 in the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham.

Today we are talking to a celebrated comedienne and actress known for her decades-spanning career on screens and stages large and small - from making her Broadway debut in the original Jerome Robbins production of GYPSY on Broadway in 1960 to her many musical roles throughout the 60s to her countless game show and variety show appearances following that all the way to creating an unforgettable character in MOONSTRUCK in the 1980s, as well as her subsequent oft-Neil Simon stage work; now, playing Tina Fey's sweet and daffy mom on NBC's 30 ROCK and, most recently, appearing in Nora & Celia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE and the Playwright's Horizons premiere production of THE BIG MEAL in the new millennium - the one of a kind Anita Gillette. Analyzing her nearly sixty-year career and sharing candid stories of her brushes with some of Broadway and Hollywood's brightest talents - Jule Styne to Ethel Merman to Irving Berlin to Burt Lancaster and beyond - Gillette paints a vivid portrait of the tail end of the Golden Age of Broadway and the heady game show days of TV in the 1960s and 70s to her lauded stage work with Neil Simon and many of the great comedy and musical writers in the years since. Additionally, Gillette and I discuss her current essaying of the role of Mae Peterson in the new Regal Music Theatre production of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's BYE BYE BIRDIE in Massachusetts as she looks towards opening night tomorrow and relates her joy in participating in a production that has some behind-the-scenes help by her loving granddaughter (while another attends their summer camp). Plus, Gillette's observations on sharing a soundstage with Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Elaine Stritch and Buck Henry for a recent 30 ROCK shoot, reflections on her fondest and most celebrated comedy roles, hilarious memories of appearing in some short-running flops (JIMMY, SKYSKRAPER) as well as in some big hits (GYPSY), her upcoming series of master classes titled "Life In The Business", her return to Birdland with her concert show, AFTER ALL, her role in an upcoming Ed Burns film and maybe even a role in a new Alexander Payne film - all of that, all about attending the Diamond Jubilee celebration in the United Kingdom and much, much more!

Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army.

The producers and cast of August Strindberg Rep invite you to share the Off-Broadway opening of their production of Strindberg's 'Playing With Fire' tonight, June 21 at 8:00 PM in Gene Frankel Theatre, 24 Bond Street (East Village). The performance will be followed by a reception in the theater space.

Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse! Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy (1964, also with Adams), starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966, based on the popular comic strip) which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams) won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon (1979), Dance a Little Closer (1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Rags (1986), Nick & Nora (1993), and An American Tragedy (1995, with lyrics by David Shaber).

Valenti (playing Rose Alvarez, Albert's girl Friday/girlfriend) and Fair (as his overbearing mother, Mae Peterson) pretty much dominate the action as they deliver perfectly-timed, expertly crafted performances as the two women in feckless Albert's life, ensuring that a good time will be had by all in the fast-moving, quick-paced and altogether entertaining show. Directed and choreographed by Bryan J. Wlas (who celebrated a birthday during the show's first weekend of shows) with musical direction by Nathan W. Brown, Bye Bye Birdie offers a delightfully nostalgic look back at the beginnings of rock-star idolatry and the evolving manners and social mores of the early 1960s.

Bye Bye Birdie-conjuring up memories of Elvis Presley and the fan fervor that greeted a lot of musical acts in the 1950s and '60s-takes center stage at Dickson's Renaissance Center in June as the Renaissance Players present the musical theater classic tonight, June 1 through June 17.

The 20th Anniversary season of New York City Center's Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open on January 30, 2013 with Fiorello!, the show that launched the series in 1994. The season will continue with It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, followed by On Your Toes. A Gala Encores! at 20 Celebration on November 12, 2012 will star Tony Award nominees and Encores! alumni Rauil Esparza and Kelli O'Hara.

Bye Bye Birdie-conjuring up memories of Elvis Presley and the fan fervor that greeted a lot of musical acts in the 1950s and '60s-takes center stage at Dickson's Renaissance Center in June as the Renaissance Players present the musical theater classic June 1-17.

August Strindberg's Chekhovian comedy, 'Playing With Fire' (Leka med elden, 1893), in a translation by Ulrika Brand that has been newly adapted by Obie-winner Leslie Lee, Executive Director of Negro Ensemble Company, will be presented tonight, May 18 to June 10 with an all-black cast as the inaugural production of August Strindberg Repertory Theatre, directed by Robert Greer. The play, to be staged at New School for Drama, 151 Bank Street (West Village), will be a co-production of August Strindberg Repertory Theatre and Negro Ensemble Company in association with Theater Resources Unlimited.