Lillias White News

This July and August 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

Today in 1987, the FIRST Broadway revival of Dreamgirls opened at the Ambassador Theatre, where it ran for 177 performances. Dreamgirls features music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. Based upon the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called 'The Dreams', who become music superstars. The musical opened on December 20, 1981 at the Imperial Theatre, and was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and won six. It was later adapted into a motion picture from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures in 2006. The 1987 cast featured Lillias White as 'Effie.'

Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Founder & Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced casting and creative teams for the first two productions of their 30th Anniversary Season.

There may not have been 76 trombones, but Florence Henderson and Constantine Maroulis did excellent impersonations of librarian Marian Paroo and Harold Hill of 'The Music Man' fame, as they lead a 28 piece marching Broadway band into the Skirball Cultural Center in the new Guerin Pavilion/Herscher Hall to begin an evening of co-hosting for the Actors Fund's 18th Annual Tony Awards® Party. Check out the photos below!

Even the legendary Broadway gods and goddesses have come face to face with failure. On May 31, June 1, and 2, Lyrics & Lyricists pays tribute to musical theater's most thoroughly panned musical bullion as artistic director and Tony Award-winning lyricist and director David Zippel closes the season with Panning for Gold: Great Songs from Flop Shows.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club presents Otis Sallid's Big Otis Jump Up Blues Revue, for one night only tonight, May 29th at 9:30pm. The show features the music of Big Joe Turner, Julia Lee, Duke Ellington, Joe Liggins, La Vern Baker and Nellie Lutcher. It is steeped in the tradition of speakeasy shows that became popular during the rise of the Harlem Renaissance, performed in after-hours joints all across the Midwest and East Coast.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: ANTHEM opens off-Broadway tonight, the NYPL hosts a discussion in honor of the O'Neill Center's 50th anniversary, and the creator of SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE Otis Sallid boogies down at 54 Below!

Coming up next week at, 54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com or call (646) 476-3551.

Project1VOICE will present FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF by Ntozake Shange in partnership with the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA) on Monday, June 16, 2014 at the Harlem Hospital Pavilion at 506 Lenox Ave./Malcolm X Boulevard in New York City. The fourth annual 1VOICE/1PLAY/1DAY event celebrates what it means to be female in the 21st century, with a focus on empowering women and girls.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club presents Otis Sallid's Big Otis Jump Up Blues Revue, for one night only on Thursday, May 29th at 9:30pm. The show features the music of Big Joe Turner, Julia Lee, Duke Ellington, Joe Liggins, La Vern Baker and Nellie Lutcher. It is steeped in the tradition of speakeasy shows that became popular during the rise of the Harlem Renaissance, performed in after-hours joints all across the Midwest and East Coast.

Running through May 3 at 54 Below is The Lillias White Effect, starring Tony Award & Emmy Award winner Lillias White (The Life, Dreamgirls, Fela, 'Hercules') in her 54 Below solo concert debut. In this brand new concert, audiences can expect to hear the music of Jerry Herman, Frank Loesser, Stephen Sondheim, Cy Coleman and more.

Even the legendary Broadway gods and goddesses have come face to face with failure. On May 31, June 1, and 2, Lyrics & Lyricists pays tribute to musical theater's most thoroughly panned musical bullion as artistic director and Tony Award-winning lyricist and director David Zippel closes the season with Panning for Gold: Great Songs from Flop Shows. Vocalists Brent Barrett, Christiane Noll, Lorna Luft, Jessica Lea Patty, Lillias White and Tony Yazbeck sing numbers like "All the Things You Are," "They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore," "As Time Goes By" and "He Touched Me" that - despite their origins in such failures as Very Warm for May, How Now Dow Jones, Everybody's Welcome and Drat The Cat!, respectively - have become American Songbook standards.

The Tony winner talks about her Brooklyn upbringing, her Broadway triumphs and her brand-new cabaret show.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, welcomed two-time Tony Award winner Lillias White, Ben Platt, Naturi Naughton, Katie Thompson, two-time Tony Award nominee Robin de Jesus and more for 'Who We Are: The Songs of Lyons & Pakchar' last night, April 14. Contemporary musical theatre composers Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar showcased original music from their Pop/R&B catalogue. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos from the sold-out concert below!

The cast and creative team of the hit Off-Broadway musical Murder for Two are teaming up with some of New York's brightest up and coming composers and BroadwayWorld.com on select Monday nights for their spring concert series, Murderous Musical Mondays. Featured on Monday, April 21, 2014 will be the Pace New Musicals Writers' Room (curated by Ryan Scott Oliver), immediately following the 7pm performance of Murder for Two at New World Stages (Stage 5 - 340 West 50th Street). Meet the new composers below!

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Two-Time Tony Award Winner Lillias White, Ben Platt, Naturi Naughton, Katie Thompson, and Two-TIme Tony Award Nominee Robin de Jesu?s & more in Who We Are: The Songs of Lyons & Pakchar tonight, Monday, April 14 at 9:30PM.