Memory Strong News

How much do you really know about him? We ask the questions...

First Night: The Tony Concert, presented by Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring some of Nashville's biggest and brightest theater stars performing songs from Tony Award-winning musicals, the concert is the kick-off of the 2011 First Night Season, culminating with First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors, which will be presented at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday, September 4.

He's about to start his run as Harry at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and you may know him from his work with Showstopper! The Improvised Musical - but what do you really know about Oliver Senton?

First up is First Night: The Tony Concert, to be presented by Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring some of Nashville's biggest and brightest theater stars performing songs from Tony Award-winning musicals, the concert serves as the kick-off of the 2011 First Night Season in Nashville, culminating with First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors, which will be presented at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday, September 4.

First Night: The Tony Concert, presented by Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring some of Nashville's biggest and brightest theater stars performing songs from Tony Award-winning musicals, the concert is the kick-off of the 2011 First Night Season, culminating with First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors, which will be presented at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday, September 4.

First up is First Night: The Tony Concert, presented by Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring some of Nashville's biggest and brightest theater stars performing songs from Tony Award-winning musicals, the concert is the kick-off of the 2011 First Night Season, culminating with First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors, which will be presented at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday, September 4.

You know her best from Avenue Q and Wicked, but what do you really know about CJ?

We know him best as Princeton/Rod in Avenue Q and as the creative director of Taking Notes and Notes In New York - but how much do you really know about Paul Spicer?

First up is First Night: The Tony Concert, to be presented by Keeping Scores Concerts at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre on Monday, June 6, at 7:30 p.m. Featuring some of Nashville's biggest and brightest theater stars performing songs from Tony Award-winning musicals, the concert serves as the kick-off of the 2011 First Night Season in Nashville, culminating with First Night, The Nashville Theatre Honors, which will be presented at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre on Sunday, September 4.

Legends in their own time, ascending to the top ranks of the Hollywood and Broadway songwriting landscape, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman have accomplished and climbed to heights most of what many film fans, Broadway babies and general entertainment junkies only dream of witnessing and ascending to. Marc Shaiman's work with Trey Parker and Matt Stone on SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT prompted Stephen Sondheim - as he told me himself - to cite it as one of the best musicals of the era. And, it is - as is their Tony-winning Best Musical HAIRSPRAY, based on the film by Pope of Trash John Waters. Featuring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Queen Latifah and an all-around-amazing cast of triple-threats, the stunning Craig Zadan/Neil Meron-produced film version of HAIRSPRAY may be the greatest cinematic Shaiman and/or Wittman accomplishment so far. Then, there is CATCH ME IF YOU CAN - one of the snappiest new scores on Broadway in a strangely strong season of original scores - boasting boss Sinatra blues and sizzling Shirelles riffs and everything else that's swingin' in between. Up next for the team - onstage and off - is a stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY directed by Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, in addition to what is perhaps the most exciting prospect on their impossibly cluttered horizon: the new Steven Speilberg/Craig Zadan/Neil Meron musical/comedy/drama series SMASH which has just been picked up for the Fall season on NBC! In this exclusive, extensive and exhaustive conversation we cover it all from HAIRSPRAY to CATCH ME to CHARLIE to all about SMASH and far, far beyond!

The West End's Jennifer Tierney is the next in the BWW:UK hotseat...

Legends aren't born, or merely made - they are created; and, so very, very carefully crafted. In equal parts due to her incomparable stage work creating roles in musicals by Stephen Sondheim and Jerry Herman, to her film work encompassing John Frankenheimer and Vincente Minnelli, to name but two, as well as a smash-hit television series - MURDER SHE WROTE - and hosting duties at various Tony Awards and Academy Awards broadcasts over the last half century, have certainly cemented her place in our hearts, minds and entertainment history itself - I am speaking, of course, of the simply exquisite Ms. Angela Lansbury. In this enlightening discussion conducted yesterday we dissect many of her most treasured roles and performances, and Ms. Lansbury provides many warm and wonderful recollections of her astonishingly varied and accomplished tenure onstage and onscreen over the course of her sixty-year-plus career. ANYONE CAN WHISTLE to SWEENEY TODD; MAME to GYPSY; BEDKNOBS AND BROOM STICKS to SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE to the forthcoming MR. POPPER‘S PENGUINS co-starring Jim Carrey - plus, acting with Bette Davis in DEATH ON THE NILE - and much, much more in this special interview! This is all coming in anticipation of Ms. Lansbury's tribute to Bob Hope at the NY Pops gala on May 2, which will also feature performances by Kelli O'Hara and more - whom we continue our SPOTLIGHT ON NY POPS series with later next week. Don't miss them! Further information about the NY POPS event - including tickets - is available here.

Today we are talking to the composer of the new Broadway musical WONDERLAND, who is the only American composer to have had three of his shows running concurrently on Broadway - JEKYLL & HYDE, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and THE CIVIL WAR - and has since solidified himself as one of the most successful international musical theatre composers of the 21st century, with his globe-spanning productions of everything from THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO in Switzerland to CYRANO in Tokyo to TEARS OF HEAVEN in Korea to the forthcoming Broadway production of BONNIE & CLYDE - the warm and gracious Frank Wildhorn. Over the span of our considerable discussion last week we touched on everything from his pop music roots writing hits for Whitney Houston and Kenny Rogers, to his tenure at Atlantic Records and his series of recordings, shows and concerts with muse Linda Eder, as well as a thorough discussion of his compositional process, what inspires him in a story, his own favorite musicals, what the future holds - EXCALIBUR with Jim Steinman, perhaps? The world premiere of the long-awaited HAVANA? JEKYLL & HYDE: THE MOVIE MUSICAL? - and much, much more!

To accrue all the characters, characteristics and components of a career as diverse and varied as that of stage and screen star John Leguizamo would be near-impossible for even the most gifted performers in the galaxy. Having appeared in nearly ninety films so far in his twenty-five year career - including a musical, MOULIN ROUGE, and an adaptation of Shakespeare, ROMEO + JULIET, both for noted directed Baz Luhrmann - as well as five off-Broadway and Broadway solo shows - MAMBO MOUTH, SPIC-O-RAMA, FREAK, SEXAHOLIX and, now, GHETTO KLOWN - Leguizamo is consistently challenging himself and revealing new sides to his personality and skills as an actor and performer with his daring choices of roles and searing performances. In this comprehensive career retrospective, we cover Broadway, Hollywood and much more and we even have his first comments on his new feature film opening this weekend, THE LINCOLN LAWYER. From Todd Haynes' POISON to Brian DePalma's CASUALTIES OF WAR and CARLITO'S WAY, to Spike Lee's SUMMER OF SAM, to TO WONG FOO, SUPER MARIO BROS. and more; singing Sondheim's 'Send In The Clowns'; plus, stories on his recently departed co-stars Dennis Hopper (LAND OF THE DEAD) and Brittany Murphy (SPUN), and first news on the David Koresh biopic WACO co-starring Kurt Russell and Adrien Brody, and FUGLY with Radha Mitchell - Leguizamo‘s performances speak (and sing) for themselves. King, cartoon, criminal, artist, clown or klown - Leguizamo can play them all. And play them damn well, as well.

Today we are continuing our series of coverage of the offerings this Spring at The Public Theater with the playwright of the new LAB production, URGE FOR GOING, Mona Mansour. With topics ranging from the Palestinian crisis to Patty Hearst and the play, ME AND THE SLA, that it inspired; her Lebanese upbringing; her affection for John Waters; humble beginnings at the Groundlings leading now to the New York premiere of her first play at the Public, URGE FOR GOING; and more. Additionally, Mansour provides her insights into the culturally rich material at the core of URGE FOR GOING, her own family's reaction to the controversial material and what audiences can expect from the drama.

Each night, actor Patrick Lewallen gets to live out his rock star fantasy. Currently traveling the country as the scene-stealing narrator Lonny in the First National Tour of ROCK OF AGES, this Kansas City native is busy putting audiences into a head-banging frenzy, as they sing along to a bevy of guilty pleasure tunes from the biggest hair bands of the 80's. His hilarious antics in this Broadway musical--a show now being prepped for its much talked about big-screen adaptation--will soon take center stage at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa for a week's worth of shows on March 1-6. The self-admitted Pepsi addict chatted briefly with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos about life on the road and his role as a crowd favorite.

Make no mistake about it: Street Theatre Company's Chess in Concert is filled to overflowing with an embarrassment of riches. If for no other reason, you should see the concert (onstage through Sunday, February 27) for Laura Matula's bravura performance as Florence Vassy - the American chess champion's second who falls into a torrid affair with his Russian counterpart - which is as stunning as any star turn you will see by any woman in musical theater anywhere. (There. I've said it and I mean it with all my heart: Laura Matula has a spectacularly expressive voice and her dramatic performance in this role is richly shaded and nuanced. In short, she should be a very big star!)

'There are no small parts, only small actors,' goes the old theatrical saw that's tossed about willy-nilly to encourage budding thespians to take on roles they suspect might be beneath them and their lofty stature. But, of course, there's much truth to be found in the axiom and you will certainly see it brought to life in the efforts of the members of many acting ensembles, particularly those considered among the best in Nashville's 2010 theater season:

You really must give credit to Kaine Riggan: the man has recreated one of downtown Nashville's best-known nightspots into a beautifully appointed live theater venue, somehow doing a thriving business in an economy that, at best, may be described as 'dire.' Add to that noteworthy achievement the fact that his A Scattered, Smothered and Covered Christmas is a delightful holiday-season repast, a down-home good time that even the most cynical audience member can enjoy.

Broadwayworld has joined with the cast of Rain- A Beatles Tribute for our new "8 Days A Week" feature.