Today, July 4th, America's biggest Independence Day celebration kicks off our country's 236th birthday with a special salute to our Olympians and Paralympians as they prepare for the London games. Eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno will host the tribute to Team USA.
A devout theater fan knows no holiday, and thankfully, many of Broadway's most beloved shows and performers nationwide don't either. So what's a theater enthusiast to do on this Independence Day? Check out a sampling of this year's most exciting 4th of July offerings and click below to revisit some of your favorites saluting our nation in song!
This July 4th, America's national Independence Day celebration kicks off our country's 236th birthday, as A CAPITOL FOURTH on PBS welcomes a brand new host, Emmy Award-winning television personality Tom Bergeron.
CNN anchor and syndicated talk show host Anderson Cooper has decided to publicly come out that he is gay. In an email to the Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan, the long time journalist revealed the news and explained that he never intended to give the impression he was hiding anything from the public.
NBC is partnering with the acclaimed 'Smash' producing team of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (film versions of 'Chicago' and 'Hairspray') to present a live broadcast of 'The Sound of Music,' based on the original Broadway musical, it was announced today by Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.
On June 28, Tony's di Napoli Restaurant in Times Square added a new portrait to their outstanding Broadway Wall of Fame honoring the cast of the new Broadway musical, Nice Work If You Can Get It, starring Matthew Broderick, Kelli O'Hara, Michael McGrath, Judy Kaye, Estelle Parsons, Chris Sullivan and Jennifer Laura Thompson. Hosts Valerie Smaldone and Bruce Dimpflmaier presented the Dan May portrait to the show's stars in an intimate ceremony, and BroadwayWorld was there for the photo op!
For the first time ever, Broadway fans can own the entire 2012 Tony Awards Telecast, through iTunes and Amazon.com. Starting now, fans can purchase and watch this year's exciting telecast on their computer, tablet, phone and other devices.
A CAPITAL FOURTH will include a musical tribute to beloved American legend Gene Kelly, in celebration of his 100th birthday, featuring the National Symphony Orchestra performing a medley of Hollywood classics including SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and AN AMERICAN IN PARIS.
This July 4th, America's biggest Independence Day celebration kicks off our country's 236th birthday with a special salute to our Olympians and Paralympians as they prepare for the London games. Eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Anton Ohno will host the tribute to Team USA.
As part of the current three-play Royal Court at the Duke of York's Season with Posh by Laura Wade, Jumpy by April De Angelis and Constellations by Nick Payne, four of the UK's leading playwrights will direct one of their all-time favourite plays in a series of one-off afternoon readings from 29 June at the Duke of York's Theatre in a special event supported by The Ambassador Theatre Group.
Nick Payne, Polly Stenham, Roy Williams and David Eldridge will select their favourite plays and will have less than two days to bring their vision to life with a full cast to be announced for staged readings on Friday afternoons this summer.
The first installment in this series is the 2011 Twentieth Century Fox film Margaret, written and directed by Residency Five Playwright-in-Residence Kenneth Lonergan, on Tuesday, July 10th at 7:00 p.m. in The Irene Diamond Stage at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).
The producers of NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT have announced that Tony nominee Erin Dilly will take on the role of Billie Bendix from Sunday, July 15th to Sunday, July 29th only while four-time Tony nominee Kelli O'Hara brings FAR FROM HEAVEN to Williamstown Theatre Festival prior to a 2013 Playwrights Horizons run. O'Hara returns to the show full time on Tuesday, July 31st.
EWonline reports that AMERICAN IDOL winner Phillip Phillips is set to headline this year's July Fourth concert and celebration on the National Mall in Washington DC. The singer recently underwent kidney surgery but is reportedly recovering well.
Goodspeed Musicals will proudly honor the Hoffman Auto Group on Saturday, August 11, 2012 with the very first Goodspeed Musicals Arts & Business Partnership Award. Goodspeed will also honor Emmy and Tony-Award winner Kristin Chenoweth with The Goodspeed Award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre.
This July 4th, America's national Independence Day celebration kicks off our country's 236th birthday, as A CAPITOL FOURTH on PBS welcomes a brand new host, Emmy Award-winning television personality Tom Bergeron. According to the Associated Press, Matthew Broderick will join previously announced Kelli O'Hara to perform from the 2012 Tony-nominated musical NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT at the event.
Michael McGrath is the recipient of this year's Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical for NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT. Immediately following his big win, McGrath visited BroadwayWorld to talk about just how much a win like this means to him. Check it out below!
Judy Kaye is this year's recipient of the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT. Hear what she had to say on winning her second Tony, touring and more!
Overflowing with enthusiasm and energy, the true star of the 2012 Tony Awards was unquestionably three-time host and affable Broadway spokesman extraordinaire Neil Patrick Harris, doing what he does best - namely, being the host with the most. Whether web-slinging behind Angela Lansbury and Ted Chapin or leading a spectacular production number with Patti LuPone and a lawnmower, Harris proved yet again why is he is the best in the biz at this sort of thing - well, right up there along with Hugh Jackman, at least. Speaking of whom, in addition to a goosebump-inducing trailer for the forthcoming Tom Hooper-directed film adaptation of the Broadway sensation LES MISERABLES, Hugh Jackman was featured on the Tony Awards telecast and personally on hand to receive a well-earned special Tony Award for his many fundraising successes over the course of his three-show Broadway career, as was crossover superstar Bernadette Peters who took home a special Tony Award for her BC/EFA and Broadway Barks efforts. Adding to the star quotient of the night was Broadway/Hollywood super direct Mike Nichols, giving one of the classiest (despite the CBS-sanction bleep; on the same word as during Danny Burstein's FOLLIES turn, "godammit", incidentlly) and most profound acceptance speeches on the Tony Awards in recent memory - breaking the current record with, now, six Best Director statuettes, by the way. As far as musical performances go, in addition to Harris's triptych of showstoppers throughout the show - without even mentioning the many biting and sassy remarks, jokes and offhand commets; staged and otherwise - there were some seriously strong showings from almost all new musicals and revivals currently running, and even one or two terrific turns from productions already shuttered. The musical highlights of the night were Josh Young and the cast of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR in a spirited and divine take on the title song from the celebrated Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera, as well as good showings from new musical head-to-head, nail-bite-worthy competitors, ONCE and NEWSIES, plus one or two other swoon-worthy moments, too. The 2011-2012 Broadway season may not have been a record-breaker insofar as outstanding content and memorable modern classics - while NEWSIES is certainly a smash, last year's THE BOOK OF MORMON is the type of hit we only see once a decade or so, and, therefore, is a bit eclipsed; and, ONCE won Best Musical, anyway - but Harris and the team of this year's show made it an unusually entertaining and unique Tony telecast, even when compared to the finest shows on the past - particularly those from the rightly lauded Cohen era. ONCE may have dominated the wins, but the many musical numbers showed that there is a lot of room for enjoyment whether or not your personal favorite show took home the prizes. Most of all, Neil Patrick Harris proved he was once, twice, three times a Tony triumph.
