Liza Minnelli News

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: Matthew Broderick & Sarah Jessica Parker perform together in Provincetown tonight!

Radio show co-hosts Jill Whelan (Love Boat, Airplane, Celebrity Wife Swap) and Alexander Rodriguez (Happy Hour) from Universal Broadcasting Network's newest show "On The Rocks" will hit the stage on August 24th debuting their new duet cabaret show, 'Musical Madness!' - a roller coaster of stories, audience participation, and dramedy, belted out by your co-hosts featuring music from stage, screen and pop.

Milford Arts Council, in association with Pantochino Productions Inc. announce the first show of their Nite Spot Nights series of cabaret entertainment, "The Dozen Divas" starring Dorothy Bishop.

Proving once and for all that concerts need not be serious or dull, Fraser Entertainment Group's 9th installment of A Classic Evening of Broadway bowed at Rockwell Table and Stage on Monday, August 10 to a packed audience of enthusiastic show tune fans. And it was an uber delightful show! Musical director Brad Ellis, best known for TV's Glee and Broadway's Forbidden Broadway, is outrageous fun and his witty repartee at the piano serving as introduction to each of the guest singers was a big plus to the evening's seemingly spontaneous entertainment. Yes, indeed, the ambiance was so casual in the 90-minute set that it was as if we were all sitting on Ellis's private patio sipping drinks and listening to this musical genius create something fresh, for the very first time. He took lots of risks as in his exuberant opener, Peter Allen's 'Everything Old Is New Again'...and motivated each and every singer to join right in and follow his lead. And what a bevy of super-talented performers were on hand, including Valerie Perri, Barbara Minkus, Kevin Odekirk, Damon Kirsche, Jahmaul Bakare, Elizabeth Hayden and even producer Dianne Fraser, whom Ellis referred to as the series' empresario.

The replacement star. One of the trickiest and most problematic facets of any production facing an enterprising producer and director is casting a fitting replacement, particularly for a star role. Of course, John Kander and Fred Ebb's vaudeville-based performance opportunity extravaganza CHICAGO allows for a copious amount of star turns, so the likely candidates for filling the famous shoes of the roles of Roxie, Velma, Billy Flynn and Matron Mama Morton are nearly overwhelming to consider. Furthermore, August 8 marked the momentous day in Broadway history when legendary Broadway and Hollywood superstar Liza Minnelli famously stepped in for an ailing Gwen Verdon in the original Bob Fosse production of CHICAGO on Broadway. Now, with notable pop star Brandy Norwood as the current Roxie and reality competition show standout Rumer Willis poised to take over in early September giving a slew of fresh buzz to one of Broadway's longest-running musicals of all time, the 1996 revival of CHICAGO, now is an ideal time to consider some familiar faces who have excelled in the role in the past and could continue the tradition and keep the momentum going for a production that has now played nearly 8,000 performances on the Great White Way. Time may have marched on, but these ladies certainly still have the stuff!

Returning Favorites Include Billy Stritch & Jim Caruso, Nicole Henry, Nicolas King, Aaron Weinstein & Bucky Pizzarelli, The Four Freshmen and Tommy Tune

This 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.

54 Below is Broadway's Supper Club - and the hottest venue in town - but long before that it was home to nightlife legend. 54 Below invites you to remember the glory - and the decadence - that was STUDIO 54. In the legendary club's heyday the guest  list was a who's who from the world of entertainment - Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Halston, Elizabeth Taylor, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross, Brooke Shields, John Travolta, Michael Jackson - and the music played kept them dancing all through the night. Come "Turn the Beat Around" as we "Celebrate Good Times" and salute Studio 54 from its opening night to the "Last Dance." This is one party you won't want to miss. 54 Below is even rolling out their dance floor for the occasion! Produced and directed by Scott Coulter.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: Natalie Douglas in 'Hello Dolly...The Music of Dolly Parton;' Turn the Beat Around: 54 Below Celebrates Studio 54; Alice Ripley: All Sondheim; Evan Ruggiero, The One-Legged Song and Dance Man; and The Broadway Pricess Party Featuring Laura Osnes.

BWW:UK speaks to vocalist and impressionist Jess Robinson about her 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show.

Celebration Theatre announced today its 2015-2016 season of shows, under the artistic direction of Michael Matthews & Michael A. Shepperd.  This is the Celebration's 34th season and the first in its new home at the Lex Theatre, 6760 Lexington Ave. in Los Angeles. Comments Celebration Theatre's Executive Director Michael C. Kricfalusi 'After wandering the streets of L.A. for two years, all of us at Celebration Theatre are thrilled to have found our new home and even happier to have found it at The Lex, less than 10 blocks from where we used to be!'

THE EGG PROGECT, a dark comedy written by  Mike Amato and inspired by the plays of Edward Albee, will make its world premiere in the 2015 New York International Fringe Festival.

The Boy From Oz, presented by Pride Films and Plays, will be directed by David Zak, with musical direction by Robert Ollis and choreography by Cameron Turner. The musical previews tonight, August 5 and Thursday, August 6, with a press opening slated for Friday, August 7 at 7:30. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in costume below!

MOLLY POPE - brassy belter/whiskey guzzler/benevolent lunatic - will continue her acclaimed concert series on Friday, August 14, following her recent acclaimed Off Broadway performances in Found at the Atlantic Theater Company and Horseplay, or the Fickle Mistress at La MaMa ETC / Theatre Askew. With the new show Molly Pope Likes Your Status, she sheds all pretense of humility and shamelessly entreats you to adore her for an hour while she prances about making loud noises. Unable to deny that she defines her self-worth entirely via social media notifications, the 'viscerally thrilling alto' (Time Out New York) exploits her fragile ego and vocal chops for your entertainment. Expect the unexpected juxtapositions of song and substance alongside a healthy helping of her roots in The Great American Songbook. Over-sharing? Of course. Sing-a-long? Yes. Three encores? Why not. After debuting earlier this season, the show has been extended a month and will now be performed on Friday nights, August 14, September 11 and October 9, all 9:30 PM at The Duplex in New York. Molly Pope Likes Your Status will be recorded as a live album next season.

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: The full cast of Broadway's BEAUTIFUL performs a free concert tonight at SummerStage!

While Tom Cruise blows up the box office this weekend in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, critic/reporter David Sheehan's original web series 'Sheehan & The Stars' spotlights an upclose over-the-years look at Cruise

Pasadena Pops Conductor Michael Feinstein puts down the conducting baton and picks up the microphone for one night only to sing a full concert devoted to the legacy of Frank Sinatra.

As previously reported, Liza Minnelli appeared in her first concert in more than a year this summer, on Friday, July 24 at 8 p.m. at the IP Casino Resort Spa in Biloxi, Mississippi. Now according to Star News, the living legend is set to perform with the North Carolina Symphony at Cape Fear Community College's Humanities and Fine Arts Center. The special event will take place on October 3. 

This week, we go around our Broadway World to feature stories in Chicago, Maine, New Orleans and more. Check out our top 10 stories around our Broadway World below, which include Ogunquit's NICE WORK, DAMES AT SEA at The Winter Playhouse, and LIZA in New Orleans, just to name a few.

This August and September, 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. For a detailed schedule of upcoming performances at 54 Below and to purchase tickets, visitwww.54Below.com.