Relive the Golden Age of Broadway and the magical moments from TV's past with Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews,Carol Burnett and many more as we look at the history of live TV musicals.
Bravo Media's first original scripted series GIRLFRIENDS' GUIDE TO DIVORCE, from Universal Cable Productions (UCP), returns for a sophomore season tonight, December 1st.
On Tuesday night, RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA opened a week-long run at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Running through Sunday, I was fortunate enough to attend the tour stop's opening night, as was fellow BWW Orlando editor Kimberly Moy. As we did when we discussed THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, first show of the 2014-2015 Orlando Broadway Series, we had a back-and-forth conversation about CINDERELLA. While I tend to look at things from a more historical and critical point of view, Kim is an admitted fan girl.
On Monday, November 9, 2015 Theatre Communications Group (TCG) hosted their annual benefit honoring actor Brian Dennehy and celebrating TCG's American Theatre magazine, at the Edison Ballroom.
The 2015-2016 Orlando Broadway Series kicked off in royal style last night as the wonderful RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA set up shop at downtown's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. This reimagined take on the classic musical will be in town through Sunday, November 15th, and is a gloriously entertaining spectacle that has as many colorful costumes as it does characters. With a fantastic, first-rate cast, the enjoyable family-friendly musical combines the comfortingly nostalgic Rodgers and Hammerstein score with a brand-new, empowering book. R&H's CINDERELLA is an inspiring, must-see hit for theatre fans of all ages.
For generations, RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA existed only as a beloved television movie. First with a live broadcast in 1957 starring Julie Andrews; then in 1965 with Lesley Ann Warren, a version which was regularly re-broadcast into the 90s (which I grew up watching); and finally in 1997 with Brandy in the title role and Whitney Houston as her Fairy Godmother. However, in 2013, over 55 years after its first broadcast, led by Broadway's favorite princess Laura Osnes and crowned prince Santino Fontana, R&H 's CINDERELLA took its first Broadway bow. The show earned nine Tony nominations, running for nearly two years. Now, CINDERELLA's First National Tour sets up shop in its own little corner at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, with performances beginning on Tuesday night.
BroadwayWorld has learned the sad news that playwright Jerome Kass has died. A Tony nominee for penning the book of the 1978 musical BALLROOM, Kass passed away in his Manhatta home on Thursday, Oct. 22 from prostate cancer. He was 78.
There's the definite feeling of autumn in the air that makes you want to gut a pumpkin or at least have a pumpkin spice latte, chances are you are definitely going to need a sweater in the early morning hours, and it's past the perfect time for you to pick out a Halloween costume. Luckily, theater companies are well into their new seasons and there's plenty of shows to entertain you while you take time off from berating yourself for wearing that same tricked-out Star Wars costume you wore the past fwo-and-one-half years.
Sumptuously designed, beautifully staged and wonderfully sung, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella isn't the same show you may recall from childhood hours spent in front of a television or from scores of regional theater productions since, but with a new and refreshingly timely book by Douglas Carter Beane, along with the interpolation of four 'new' songs from the R+H canon, the elaborate new production that's fresh off its first-ever Broadway run seems the ideal interpretation for the 21st century.
It is fitting, perhaps, and definitely a case of perfect timing, for actress Blair Ross: Preparing to go onstage as “Madame” – aka The Wicked Stepmother – in Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella with most of her Tennessee family on hand to share in the excitement from their vantage point in the audience. Currently in Memphis, the national touring company of the recent Broadway revival of Cinderella welcomes Ross to the cast as they look ahead to next week's eight-performance run at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center.
CINDERELLA is the only Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that was originally written for television. Its first performance was broadcast live on CBS on March 31, 1957 as a vehicle for Julie Andrews, who played the title role. It was subsequently remade for television twice. The 1965 version starred Lesley Ann Warren, and the 1997 one starred Brandy Norwood.
Rick McKay has shared another video from his trilogy, BROADWAY: THE GOLDEN AGE. In his words, 'Happy (belated) Birthday, Elliott Gould! Shown here in a sneek peek at a chapter from BROADWAY: BEYOND THE GOLDEN AGE, with Jerry Orbach, June Havoc, Vincent Sherman, Marti Stevens, Chita Rivera, Lesley Ann Warrenn - and Elliott! This snippet is from a chapter about learning, not from teachers or schools, but from standing in the wings and watching - or from the audience - or wherever you can learn if you can't get in THAT school that everyone else is going to. And Elliott certainly did learn. '
The man who spoke that iconic line on film is equally as legendary as the words themselves. Not only did Barry Bostwick play Brad Majors in the ROCKY HORROR film, but he also originated the role of Danny Zuko in GREASE on Broadway, won a Tony for THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, and was nominated two other times. Since his beginnings on stage, he has become a nearly omnipresent face on screens both large and small for over four decades. Recently, I spoke with Bostwick while he was shooting in Vancouver about ALLELUIA!, his wildly eclectic career, and what it would take to get him back on a Broadway stage.
Experience the magic of Ovations Dance Repertory Company's production of Getting To Know...Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, featuring kid performers under the artistic direction of Orlando Peña, at Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts (PTPA) today, August 22, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Experience the magic of Ovations Dance Repertory Company's production of Getting To Know...Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, featuring kid performers under the artistic direction of Orlando Peña, at Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts (PTPA) on Saturday, August 22, at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.