Marc Shaiman News

BroadwayWorld.com previously reported that NBC has officially picked up the pilot entitled SMASH for a series to begin mid-season. The show is already generating positive buzz, and even some award recognition, nominated for the first Critics' Choice Television Awards in the category 'Most Exciting New Series.'

According to Deadline.com, NBC just signed a deal with Columbia Records to release the soundtrack for the highly anticipated new series Smash. Additionally, leading lady and American Idol alum Katharine McPhee has also signed a recording contract with Columbia.

We're just hours away from the 2011 Tony Awards on CBS this Sunday night, June 12 at 8pm and, as usual, BroadwayWorld.com will be your one-stop shop for all things Tonys on Tony Day, Night and Beyond!

Have you ever been bullied? Have you ever felt like you don't belong? Do you have twenty dollars? If the answer to any of those questions is 'yes', then get your tickets now for RYAN RAFTERY'S IT GETS WORSE!

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN captures the astonishing true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a world-class con artist who passed himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, and a jet pilot-all before the age of 21. With straight-arrow FBI agent Carl Hanratty on Frank's trail, we're off on a jet-setting, cat-and-mouse chase, as a jazzy, swinging-sixties score keeps this adventure in constant motion. In the end, Agent Hanratty learns he and Frank aren't so very different after all, and Frank finds out what happens when love catches up to a man on the run. See what Abagnale had to say about the high-flying musical adaptation of his true story, currently playing at The Neil Simon Theatre, below!

Hundreds of thousands of theatregoers and fans weighed in, breaking site traffic records (including last year's record breaking tally) and further solidifying the BroadwayWorld.com Awards place as the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results. So, who what shows, performers and creative teams were the favorites of the theatregoing public? Let's find out...

ASMAC's June 15th luncheon will feature an informal discussion with Questions and Answers about orchestrating for Broadway -- with two talented individuals both up for Tony Awards this year.

The Drama Desk Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein on May 23 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center. This year, for the first time, a 90-minute Highlights Special of the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony will be televised nationally on OVATION, the national cable network dedicated to presenting creative arts programming to national TV audiences. The ceremony will be given two primetime broadcasts plus four other airings between June 4 and June 19, 2011.

Jim Caruso announces the return of TOM WOPAT to the Birdland stage on Monday, June 20 at 7pm. This concert is part of the Broadway at Birdland series, which highlights performers and composers from the Great White Way.

Cast members from CATCH ME IF YOU CAN including Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, and Kerry Butler made an appearance at Macy's yesterday where they performed 'Fifty Checks,' 'Goodbye,' and 'Fly Fly Away' respectively. Click below to check out their performances!

In NBC's highly anticipated new series SMASH, Debra Messing plays a lyricist developing a brand new Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe, but according to a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter she has also been inspired by musical theatre in real life. Messing revealed: 'My prototype growing up was Barbra Streisand. That's how I saw myself more at the time, I wanted to be Funny Girl, literally on Broadway and in the real world.'

Cast members from CATCH ME IF YOU CAN including Aaron Tveit, Norbert Leo Butz, Tom Wopat, and Kerry Butler will make an appearance at the Upper East Side Barnes and Noble for a performance and CD signing on June 28. The events will begin at 4:00pm on the event stage (86th/Lex).

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN star Aaron Tveit rcently stopped by Sirius XM Live on Broadway where he performed 'Seven Wonders' and 'Goodbye' from the show (accompanied by Marc Shaiman). Click below to check out the performances!

The New York Civil Liberties Union (The New York State affiliate of the ACLU) today announced a star-studded lineup of award-winning performers for Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, its annual benefit show scheduled for Monday, July 25 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

This week, Seth speaks to CATCH ME IF YOU CAN's Aaron Tveit, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and gets the inside scoop on their Tony-nominated show.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to New York. 'Smash,' new CD releases, 'Follies,' 'Trogg!,' 'Earthqueef,' 'Show Boat' at Lyric Opera, Alan Cumming, more....

Relive the 60's! Complete with hairspray-infused towering wigs, wacky-patterned costumes and a musical beat that radiates from the stage, Stagecrafters presents the irresistible musical comedy, Hairspray which runs May 20 through June 12 at the Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. Lafayette in downtown Royal Oak.

The producers of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN announced today that the 2011 Tony Award-nominated Best Musical will launch its first national tour in the fall of 2012 at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI.

Last night, May 23, the 2011 Drama Desk Awards Ceremony took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, War Horse and The Normal Heart were the night's big winners, with favorites Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Bobby Cannavale, Frances McDormand, Laura Benanti, John Larroquette, Brian Bedford and Edie Falco taking home the evening's top performance honors. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the evening's starry opening red carpet and brings you Part 2 of our complete photo coverage below!

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!