Maury Yeston News

Sutton_Foster_Makes_Carlyle_Debut_20010101 Beginning Tuesday, June 15 and playing a two-week engagement (through Saturday, June 26), Sutton Foster, will make her Cafe Carlyle debut in a program entitled 'Sutton Foster at The Carlyle.'

Today we are talking to Tony Award Special Honors Regional Theater Winner Preston Whiteway of the Eugene O'Neill Theater. We discuss the various plays and musicals begun there - NINE, AVENUE Q, IN THE HEIGHTS, the forthcoming TALES OF THE CITY by the Scissor Sisters, as well as the first plays by three-time Pultizer-prize winner August Wilson and much, much more! Michael Douglas will be presenting the award on Tony night as an accreditation to the legacy and accomplishment of the theater with particular, singular focus aimed at Mr. Whiteway himself. We also discuss the plays musicals on the horizon such as a new show by PASSING STRANGE's Stew and NEXT TO NORMAL's Tom Kitt.

Andrew Samonsky will replace Clarke Thorell in the role of third-class passenger Jim Farrell in the June 21 benefit concert of TITANIC, Grace Notes reported today. In this role, Samonsky will perform the new song 'Three Days' in its New York debut.

The June 21 benefit concert of Broadway's Titanic has announced final casting and a song to make its New York debut. The benefit, which supports the New York Society for Ethical Culture (NYSEC), will take place in NYSEC's 800-seat Concert Hall, located at 2 W. 64th St. at Central Park West. Tickets, priced $15-20, are available at or by telephone at 212-352-3101. The concert is part of an evening of programming that includes a preshow talkback at 6:30, the presentation of the musical at 7:30, and a VIP reception after the performance.

A new developmental production of Platinum (www.PlatinumTheMusical.com) starring Tony Award nominee Liz Larsen (The Most Happy Fella, A New Brain) and Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast, Amour) will be presented by UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc. as part of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival.

Sisters and Tony-nominated actresses Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway will present their new show Boom! at Town Hall, on Friday, June 4 at 8pm.

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the cast and creative team for the World Premiere of Robin and the 7 Hoods - A New Musical featuring a book by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes and songs by four-time Academy Award winners Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen.

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) has announced that Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, and Ari Graynor will co-star in the world premiere comedy TRUST, written by Paul Weitz, directed by Peter DuBois. Mr. Weitz returns to Second Stage Theatre, where his plays Privilege and Show People premiered in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Directed by Peter DuBois, who staged Second Stage's acclaimed production of Becky Shaw, TRUST will begin previews on Friday, July 23 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43rd street) and officially open on Thursday, August 12. The production runs through September 5.

PHANTOM will play at The Arizona Broadway Theatre from April 26th until May 30th. Evening performances will begin at 7:30pm with a 5:30pm dinner beforehand. Matinees will begin at 2:00pm.

The Boiler Room Theatre (BRT), Williamson County's resident professional theatre company, continues its 10th season with NINE - The Musical opening June 18 at the theatre, located in the historic Factory at Franklin, 230 Franklin Rd., Building Six, in Franklin, Tenn. for a run through July 10.

Sutton_Foster_Makes_Carlyle_Debut_20010101 Beginning Tuesday, June 15 and playing a two-week engagement (through Saturday, June 26), Sutton Foster, will make her Cafe Carlyle debut in a program entitled 'Sutton Foster at The Carlyle.'

The BMI-Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop announces its Spring Smoker, a semi-annual showcase for new songs from Workshop writers. The event will be held at the The Actors Temple Theatre, 339 West 47th Street, (between 8th and 9th Aves) at 5:30PM and is open to members of the entertainment industry as well as Workshop members.

Titanic composer/lyricist Maury Yeston has joined a panel that will precede the June 21 benefit concert of the Tony-winning musical. The conversation will focus on the creative process of creating the original Broadway production, the historical event itself, and the ethical issues brought to light by the sinking and the great loss of life. The talkback will begin at 6:30 PM and is included in the cost of admission to the 7:30 PM concert, which will benefit the New York Society for Ethical Culture (NYSEC). Produced by Sarah Melissa Rotker in association with Josh Wellman, the event will take place in NYSEC's 800-seat Concert Hall, located at 2 W. 64th St. at Central Park West.

Following many recent reports and quotes from Antonio Banderas himself, producer Barry Weissler has confirmed to the New York Times that his revival of ZORBA is indeed on track for an opening night 'by mid-fall 2011'.

Director David Leveaux will helm the Broadway revival of ZORBA, starring Antonio Banderas. The news was reported today by Variety. Leveaux directed Banderas in the 2003 Roundabout Theatre Company revival of NINE.

Stage and screen star Antonio Banderas has confirmed his intention to star in the Broadway revival of ZORBA, and hopes to see it open in September, 2011.

The Civic Center of Greater Des Moines welcomes Tony Award® winning actress and singer Sutton Foster in An Evening with Sutton Foster to Civic Center's Temple Theater for one night only cabaret performance on Thursday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. Seating will be limited.

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of seats will be held for AN EVENING WITH SUTTON FOSTER, which will be performed for one night only on Thursday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. at the Civic Center's Temple Theater.

For this week's FLASHBACK FRIDAY we are bringing together the subjects of my two other columns from this week - SOUND OFF: The Way We Are and InDepth InterView: Maury Yeston - with a perfect performance showcasing the supreme l'actrice/chanteuse Streisand's take on a song from Yeston's 1982 Best Musical and Best Score Tony-winner NINE: the evocative, eerie, sensual "Unusual Way".

Today, in honor of the DVD release of Rob Marshall's film version of the 1982 Tony-winning Best Musical NINE, Maury Yeston was gracious and generous enough to grant me a few hours in which I could ask him intimate questions about his life, career and the future of theatre itself. Not one to mince words, Yeston is a veritable font of knowledge and it became clear during the interview that he may be as gifted and talented in his educational and mentorship skills as he is as a two-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist. His stage musicals include two Tony-winning Best Musicals, NINE and TITANIC, as well as: IN THE BEGINNING, GRAND HOTEL, PHANTOM, and the forthcoming DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, as well as a full-length ballet of TOM SAWYER premiering later this year. From the handwritten letter sent by Katharine Hepburn to Frederico Fellini after seeing the workshop of NINE thirty years ago to this very day when NINE hits DVD, we will take a look at this magnanimous maestro's starry career in this inaugural InDepth InterView. Enjoy!