Liza Minnelli News

Theatre World Award Alumni Courtney B. Vance, Anika Noni Rose, Ben Vereen, Christine Lahti, Tony Sheldon, Lea Salonga, Isabel Keating, Phillip Boykin, Jessie Mueller, Jackie Hoffman, Wesley Taylor, Patricia Elliott, Meg Bussert, Crystal A. Dickinson, with special guest Nathan Lane, have been announced as presenters and performers at the 69th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony on Monday evening, June 3, 2013 beginning at 6:45 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), home of the current Broadway revival of Pippin. Mother and daughter, Rosemary Harris and Jennifer Ehle, both Theatre World Award Alumni, are 2013 Honorary Co-Chairs.

On Saturday, June 1Tony Award-winner Tommy Tune took the stage at The Town Hall (123 West 43rd Street) to offer 'Steps in Time' - A Broadway Biography in Song & Dance, highlighting his nearly 50-year career as an actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Check out photos from the event below!

Bay Area Cabaret will conclude its 2012-2013 season by honoring the memory and legendary career of composer Marvin Hamlisch. Selections from his work (A Chorus Line, The Way We Were, They're Playing Our Song) will be performed by special guests including Broadway stars Lisa Vroman (The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd) and Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!, Sunset Boulevard), Grammy Award winner Billy Stritch, 2012 Bay Area Teen Idol winner Bobby Conte Thornton, Academy Award-winning songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and other guest artists to be announced. Having performed with Bay Area Cabaret for the grand re-opening of the Venetian Room in 2010, Mr. Hamlisch will always hold a special place in Bay Area Cabaret's history. This tribute to his legacy will take place on the late composer's 69th birthday, tonight, June 2, 2013, at 8pm in the historic Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco (950 Mason Street). Tickets ($75 - $100) are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at City Box Office (415) 392-4400.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tonys Meet & Greet on May 1, 2013, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Will Chase and Stephanie J. Block , nominees for Best Performance by an Actor/Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Check out what she had to say below!

Dallas Theater Center announced the complete cast and creative team for the world premiere of Fly, a new musical based on J.M. Barrie's novel, Peter Pan. Three-time Tony Award-winning producer Jeffrey Seller (Rent, Avenue Q, In the Heights) makes his directorial debut with this production.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Emma Stone was rumored to be in talks to make her Broadway debut in the upcoming revival of CABARET in the role of Sally Bowles. Now according to the New York Times, Stone has pulled out of the upcoming show. Stone's publicist told NYT that she 'has scheduling conflicts with a feature film that prevent her from joining the musical.'

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's 2013 Tony Awards Clip Countdown with a special spotlight focused on the Tony Awards broadcast from 39 years ago, all the way back in 1974!

Theatre World Award Alumni Courtney B. Vance, Anika Noni Rose, Ben Vereen, Christine Lahti, Tony Sheldon, Lea Salonga, Isabel Keating, Phillip Boykin, Jessie Mueller, Jackie Hoffman, Wesley Taylor, Patricia Elliott, Meg Bussert, Crystal A. Dickinson, with special guest Nathan Lane, have been announced as presenters and performers at the 69th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony on Monday evening, June 3, 2013 beginning at 6:45 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), home of the current Broadway revival of Pippin. Mother and daughter, Rosemary Harris and Jennifer Ehle, both Theatre World Award Alumni, are 2013 Honorary Co-Chairs.

The Stella Adler Studio of Acting announced today that the Eighth Annual Stella by Starlight Benefit Gala will be held June 10 at Espace in New York City. This year's honorees include acting luminaries Elaine Stritch and George Takei, Broadway idol Stephen Sondheim and real estate mogulCharles S. Cohen. The gala will feature a special live performance from Ms. Stritch's friend Bernadette Peters and red carpet appearances by Alec Baldwin, Liza Minnelli and James Gandolfini. Additional red carpet guests include gala co-hosts and Stella Adler alums Jane Levy (Evil Dead, Suburgatory) and Keith Powell (30 Rock).

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 also launched its series of late night events. Joining Tuesday nights' popular 'Backstage' with Susie Mosher is the '54 Piano Bar,' a new vocal competition - 'The Callback,' and more:

Netflix has made the fourth season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, starring Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, PORTIA DE ROSSI, David Cross, and Jessica Walter, live on their streaming service. The Emmy Award-winning comedy returned this morning with 15 new episodes, and the Twitter-verse promptly exploded.

Netflix has released four new clips from the upcoming fourth season of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, starring Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, PORTIA DE ROSSI, David Cross, and Jessica Walter. The Emmy Award-winning comedy returns with 15 new episodes May 26, only on Netflix. Check them out below!

Ryan O'Connor and Musical Mondays Los Angeles have announced the official CD release party for Terri White's new album UPON REQUEST to be presented atEleven Nightclub in West Hollywood on Monday, May 27th at 9 PM.

Jim Caruso & Billy Stritch return to Bemelmans at The Carlyle Hotel with their evening of swinging standards on Sunday, June 9, then running every Sunday in June, from 9pm - 12 midnight. The two performers, who have performed extensively on their own, gained national exposure together as the host and musical director of the wildly popular open mic, Cast Party, which celebrates talent every Monday at Birdland in NYC, and tours nationally. During their November run at Bemelmans, the duo received critical acclaim, and made news when rock legend Bono joined them in an impromptu performance. In their upcoming Carlyle run, Caruso and Stritch will be joined by bassist Steve Doyle.

Halfway through her opening night at 54 Below on Monday, Laura Benanti unveiled the evening's showstopper, a multi pop-song mix titled 'Inappropriate Medley.' No, Benanti didn't faux strip her way through the songs as if she was replaying her past role as Gypsy Rose Lee, but she frantically ripped through eight songs, including Beyonce's 'All the Single Ladies,' 'Old Man River,' Sonny & Cher's 'I Got You Babe,' Aretha Franklin's 'Respect,' and culminated the riff by boogying like Tina Turner on 'Proud Mary,' and playing a tambourine tossed over by her Musical Director/pianist Todd Almond. As the audience commenced with raucous cheering, an almost out-of-breath Benanti quipped, 'I can't wait to read the review tomorrow that says Laura Benanti is an idiot.' Well, Laura Benanti may be a lot of things, but idiot is not one of them.

Come to the Cabaret…The Absinthe Cabaret, that is. Saturday night was the inaugural event of the newly formed Absinthe Cabaret in Franklin, TN. Executive Producer, Carolan Trbovich lined up a fantastic first event, with Broadway star Eden Espinosa headlining, and theatre and stage musician Johnny Rodgers hosting. Eden is best known for her roles as Elphaba in Wicked, for playing Maureen in the final cast of RENT on Broadway, and for originating the role of Brooklyn in the musical Brooklyn. Johnny Rodgers has toured with Liza Minnelli and appeared on Broadway with her during her show, Liza's at the Palace.

Today we are talking to a five-time Tony Award-winning director/choreographer celebrated for her stupendous work on CRAZY FOR YOU, THE PRODUCERS, CONTACT, THE FROGS, THOU SHALT NOT, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS and many more - the master musicals director Susan Stroman. In discussing a vast array of topics, Stroman and I touch upon many of her past projects as well as look ahead to her current and future endeavors - that is: the forthcoming Broadway bow of the new musical BIG FISH, starring Norbert Leo Butz, as well as the world premiere of Ahrens & Flaherty's LITTLE DANCER next year. Most importantly, Stroman shines a light on her enduring artistic partnership with Mel Brooks in bringing to life the screen-to-stage musical adaptations of both THE PRODUCERS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, with BLAZING SADDLES on the way - their rich collaboration also being highlighted in this week's AMERICAN MASTERS tribute to Mel Brooks on PBS. Additionally, Stroman reflects on some of her lesser-known entities and casts a light on some of her foremost influences as well as candidly discusses her specialty work for a bevy of major stars - such as at SONDHEIM: A CELEBRATION AT CARNEGIE HALL in 1992 - and the finer points of working with Stephen Sondheim and Nathan Lane on Sondheim's most recent original Broadway musical, THE FROGS. Plus, Stroman shares first details of her upcoming collaboration with comedy master Woody Allen on the musical stage adaptation of Allen's Academy Award-winning BULLETS OVER BROADWAY and also offers the 411 on the upcoming Los Angeles and West End productions of Kander & Ebb's THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS - including the real-life role the musical has played in the pardoning of the originally accused nine just last month. Stroman also comments on her work with Hal Prince on the career revue PRINCE OF BROADWAY, opening in Japan in 2015, and also touches upon her ongoing desire to pursue a film adaptation of her multi-Tony Award-winning and genre-redefining 2000 Best Musical, CONTACT. All of that and much, much awaits in this wide-ranging conversation!

Continuing its nearly 7 year reign as the most critically acclaimed, award-winning supper club of its kind in the greater Los Angeles area dedicated to presenting the best of Broadway performers and nightclub artists in concert, Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal welcomes Broadway's Terri White tonight, May 19, direct from her critically acclaimed cabaret concert in the Barbara Cook Spotlight Series at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' in Washington, D.C.

In a city that radiates music, the time has come to provide an innovative experience that celebrates the intimate cabaret infused with the bold sound of Broadway. Enter, Absinthe, A Broadway Cabaret, opening tonight, May 18th in Jamison Hall at The Factory in Franklin, TN.

Trevor Ashley makes his West End debut impersonating the one and only Liza Minnelli. Liza (on an E) runs until Saturday 18th May at the Vaudeville Theatre and is well worth a watch for anyone looking for an evening of glitzy, humorous fun.