Mahalia Jackson News

The hit musical THE ADDAMS FAMILY, based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, celebrates its first anniversary on Broadway Friday, April 8 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street).

Gladys Knight is unable to appear as scheduled on Tuesday, May 17, as part of the SmartTalk ConnectedConversations series at the Aronoff Center in Cincinnati.

Broadway's hit musical comedy THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomes stage and screen star Brooke Shields in the role of Morticia beginning Tuesday, June 28 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street). Two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth will play her final performance in the role on Sunday, June 26. Ms. Shields will play opposite Roger Rees, who stars as Gomez.

Grandma Addams, the feisty potient-brewing matriarch of the Addams clan (played by comic actress Jackie Hoffman), turned 116 on Wednesday, March 30 and to celebrate, the producers of THE ADDAMS FAMILY treated the star to a Sweet (One) Sixteen cake and free tickets to the matinee for 116 real grandmothers age 60 or older who were born in March. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the celebration and brings you photo coverage below!

The national tour of the new Broadway musical comedy THE ADDAMS FAMILY, based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, announces the first leg of its tour route through the New Year. Launching on September 15 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans, the national tour of THE ADDAMS FAMILY will visit: New Orleans, LA 9/15 - 9/24 Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts St. Louis, MO 9/27 - 10/9 The Fabulous Fox Theatre Charlotte, NC 10/11 - 10/16 Ovens Auditorium Tampa, FL 10/18 - 10/23 David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts Miami, FL 10/25 - 10/30 Adrienne Arsht Center Orlando, FL 11/1 - 11/6 Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre West Palm Beach, FL 11/8 - 11/13 The Raymond Kravis Center for the Performing Arts Toronto, ON 11/16 - 11/27 Toronto Centre for the Arts Schenectady, NY 11/29 - 12/4 The Proctors Theatre Buffalo, NY 12/6 - 12/11 Shea's Performing Arts Center Chicago, IL 12/13 - 1/1 The Cadillac Palace Theatre The production will continue on to more than 30 cities in the U.S. and Canada in 2011 and 2012, including Houston, Boston, Hartford, Durham, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Paul, San Diego, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Pittsburgh and more. Additional cities will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, please visit www.TheAddamsFamilyMusical.com. THE ADDAMS FAMILY, entering its second year on Broadway, began performances in March 2010 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and immediately became one of Broadway's biggest hits, regularly grossing over $1 million a week. To date, it has grossed over $59 million. Prior to Broadway, the musical grossed $12,031,010 during 8 weeks at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago, becoming the most successful pre-Broadway engagement in that city's history (a city that also hosted the world premieres of such huge successes as The Producers and Spamalot). Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune described the production as "classic, full-tilt, fast paced, old-fashioned musical comedy!" and John Simon of Bloomberg News called it "uproarious! A glitzy-gloomy musical entirely worthy of the macabre drawings by Charles Addams." THE ADDAMS FAMILY features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The production is directed and designed (sets and costumes) by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch with creative consultation by Jerry Zaks and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. The production features lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Acme Sound Partners and puppetry by Basil Twist. The production also features music supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell, orchestrations by Larry Hochman, dance arrangements by August Eriksmoen, hair design by Tom Watson, make-up design by Angelina Avallone and special effects design by Greg Meeh. THE ADDAMS FAMILY features an original story. It's every parent's nightmare. Your little girl has suddenly become a young woman, and what's worse, has fallen deliriously in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. Yes, Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has a "normal" boyfriend, and for parents Gomez and Morticia, it's a shocking development that turns the Addams house upside down when they are forced to host a dinner for the young man and his parents. In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were published in The New Yorker. But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim. With a unique style that combined the twisted, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams' drawings have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures. THE ADDAMS FAMILY is produced on Broadway by Stuart Oken, Roy Furman, Michael Leavitt, Five Cent Prods., Stephen Schuler, Decca Theatricals, Scott M. Delman, Stuart Ditsky, Terry Allen Kramer, Stephanie P. McClelland, James L. Nederlander, Eva Price, Jam Theatricals/Mary Lu Roffe, Pittsburgh CLO/Gutterman-Swinsky, Vivek Tiwary/Gary Kaplan, The Weinstein Co./Clarence, LLC and Adam Zotovich/Tribe Theatricals, by special arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical. For more information on THE ADDAMS FAMILY, visit Uwww.theaddamsfamilymusical.comU. For tour booking information, please contact Meredith Blair at The Booking Group (212) 869-9280 mblair@thebookinggroup.com

What a surprise it was to see a photo of E. Faye Butler in the March 18, 2011 edition of the national publication 'The Week' in which she stars in the musical Working at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place in Chicago.

New Orleans has been selected as one of only three US cities for the upcoming tour of Corella Ballet Castilla y Leon, Spain's only classical ballet company.

Grandma Addams, the feisty potient-brewing matriarch of the Addams clan (played by comic actress Jackie Hoffman), turns 116 on Wednesday, March 30 and to celebrate, the producers of THE ADDAMS FAMILY are offering a free ticket to the matinee for 116 real grandmothers age 60 or older who were born in March.

Written by Larry Parr, directed by Gary Yates, under the musical direction of S. Renee Clark, and accompanied by William Knowles on the piano and keyboard, the production will close March 20th.

Continuing a 125-year tradition of bringing the best American music to audiences in New England and across the country, the legendary Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart present a spring season brimming with a rich variety of American popular music and favorite light classics, May 11 - June 26, at Symphony Hall in Boston, MA. A kaleidoscope of American musical styles, including jazz, bluegrass, Dixieland, country, gospel, pop, rhythm & blues, and the show-stopping songs of Broadway and Hollywood, will be featured during the 2011 Boston Pops Season, as the orchestra performs many of the most celebrated styles of our national musical legacy. The season showcases the phenomenal talents of musical theater greats Linda Eder, Julia Murney, and New York Pops conductor Steven Reineke; Boston Pops Gospel Night conductor Charles Floyd; film music master and Boston Pops Laureate Conductor John Williams; jazz trumpeter and vocalist Byron Stripling; bluegrass king Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder; Ray Charles protégé Ellis Hall; pop music all-star Kenny Loggins; New Orleans jazz ambassadors Dukes of Dixieland; and the great interpreter of the American Songbook, Michael Feinstein.

- Mahalia Jackson was referred to as 'The Queen of Gospel' by music listeners. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. Entertainer Harry Belafonte called her 'the single most powerful black woman in the United States'. She recorded about 30 albums during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen gold records. Now, the incomparable Columbia actress Valdina Hall is taking the Trustus Main Stage as the gospel sensation in the biographical gospel-musical Mahalia. The show opens February 11 at 8:00pm on the Trustus Main Stage and runs through March 5, 2011.

Today, March 1, Harry Connick Jr. celebrates the release of his new CD/DVD 'Harry Connick, Jr. - In Concert On Broadway.' The CD/DVD was filmed on July 30th & 31st, 2010 at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The performance is available in four configurations: DVD, CD, DVD/CD deluxe set, and Blu-ray and may be purchased by visiting Harry's online store.

The phenomenal Parsons Dance returns to New Orleans with a program featuring the critically-acclaimed dance/rock opera Remember Me, a collaboration with the Grammy-nominated East Village Opera Company (EVOC), on April 16 at 8pm at the Mahalia Jackson Theater.

- Mahalia Jackson was referred to as 'The Queen of Gospel' by music listeners. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world, and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. Entertainer Harry Belafonte called her 'the single most powerful black woman in the United States'. She recorded about 30 albums during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen gold records. Now, the incomparable Columbia actress Valdina Hall is taking the Trustus Main Stage as the gospel sensation in the biographical gospel-musical Mahalia. The show opens February 11 at 8:00pm on the Trustus Main Stage and runs through March 5, 2011.

Fantasia Barrino has been announced to play the staring role in an upcoming film adaptation of the 1993 book Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. The screenplay for the movie was written by Jim Evering, and Euzhan Palcy will serve as director.

The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) is thrilled to reunite two remarkable creative forces, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) and Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB), in an extraordinary world premiere event on February 4 at 8pm at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. This exclusive one-night only performance marks the second time that NOBA, TMP and PHJB have teamed up to create a shared evening of music and dance.

The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) is thrilled to reunite two remarkable creative forces, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) and Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB), in an extraordinary world premiere event on February 4 at 8pm at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. This exclusive one-night only performance marks the second time that NOBA, TMP and PHJB have teamed up to create a shared evening of music and dance.

Celebration Arts extends its production of Mahalia, a gospel musical by Tom Stolz

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce American Idol star Frenchie Davis will appear in the second show of their second season, SWEET SOUL MUSIC! SWEET SOUL MUSIC will feature the music of Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight, under the musical direction of Gerald Sternbach.

The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) is thrilled to reunite two remarkable creative forces, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) and Preservation Hall Jazz Band (PHJB), in an extraordinary world premiere event on February 4 at 8pm at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. This exclusive one-night only performance marks the second time that NOBA, TMP and PHJB have teamed up to create a shared evening of music and dance.