Michael Cerveris News

Nominations for the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced at a news conference on April 27 by Drama Desk winners Donna Murphy and Brian d'Arcy James. After weeks of anticipation, the ceremony is tonight, June 3, at The Town Hall and BroadwayWorld will be bringing you the full spectrum of coverage, of course!

It's Saturday, and that means its time for BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' round-up! See below for the first Saturday Intermission Pics of June 2012! Today's photos feature the casts of Broadway's JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, GODSPELL, PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, EVITA, SPIDER-MAN, NEWSIES, ONCE, WICKED, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, ANYTHING GOES, THE BOOK OF MORMON's Josh Gad in his last SIP, National Tour of JERSEY BOYS, Courtney Reed of Paper Mill Playhouse's ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, a photo from Theatre Sheridan's RENT in Toronto, Ben Davis and Jessica Grové in Studio Tenn Theatre Company's SOUND OF MUSIC, Jessica Hendy and the cast of Gateway Playhouse's CATS, and more!

The 68th annual THEATRE WORLD AWARDS, which will take place on Tuesday, June 5th at 2 pm at The Belasco Theatre, 111 West 44th Street, NYC., will include special performances by Broadway favorites Brian Stokes Mitchell, Michael Cerveris, Howard McGillin and Stephanie Umoh. The by-invitation-only ceremony will present Theatre World Awards to 12 actors for their Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performances during the 2011-2012 theatrical season. The event also includes presentation of the 4th Annual Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence. This year The Theatre World Awards will have ASL interpretation.

Yesterday, May 24, New Dramatists honored two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters with their 2012 Lifetime Achievement Award at its 63rd Annual Spring Luncheon tribute at the New York Marriott Marquis. Among those who offered tributes were Emmy Award-winner Mary Tyler Moore, Peters' Tony Award-winning A Little Night Music co-star Elaine Stritch, and New Dramatists Artistic Director Todd London. Tony and Academy Award-winner Joel Grey and Peters' Tony-nominated Gypsy co-star John Dossett offered musical tributes. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the event and brings you photo coverage below!

The 57th Annual Obie Awards were given out at a ceremony last night at Webster Hall in Greenwich Village. The awards were presented by acclaimed stage actors Eric McCormack, Grace Gummer, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Justin Bartha, Leslie Odom Jr., Lily Rabe, Michael McKean, Tonya Pinkins, Topher Grace, and Tracee Chimo.

This weekend, BroadwayWorld will be presenting an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber all about the enchanting new performance capture film version of his PHANTOM OF THE OPERA sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES. Until that chat, let's take a look back at some of the finest Andrew Lloyd Webber-related performances related to the entertainment dynasty built upon his operatic pop musical version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel that is about to celebrate its 10,000th performance on Broadway later this month, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as well as its continuation, LOVE NEVER DIES, and the two revivals of his two classic 70s hit stage collaborations with previous InDepth InterView participant Sir Tim Rice coming back to Broadway in a big way - JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA. Plus, a look at the new Simon Phillips-directed production of LOVE NEVER DIES coming to Fathom-equipped movie theaters nationwide on February 28 and March 7, with DVD & Blu-ray after that, as well as the PHANTOM 25 DVD & Blu-ray being released in the US on February 7. It's a busy time of year for phans, clearly! Fetch your favorite mask and check out these four Andrew Lloyd Webber delicacies before they arrive!

The Drama League announced yesterday, May 18, the winners for the 78th Annual Drama League Awards at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos of the gentlemen who gathered for the ceremony. See below for photos of Matthew Broderick, Ricky Martin, Blair Underwood, Andrew Garfield, John Lithgow, Christian Borle, Roger Rees, Steve Kazee, Harvey Fierstein, Michael Cerveris and more!

Rachel Potter of the EVITA Broadway revival visited CBS on May 12. In this video, the Broadway veteran discusses her long-awaited album, Andrew Lloyd Webber, EVITA, and sings an original song from her new EP.

The impact of the influential 1969 rock opera TOMMY by The Who is incalculable insofar as its impact on perceptions of what modern musical storytelling could be and the way it shaped the way theatre music was received by audiences at large, and that is due in no small part to the awe-inspiring attributes of Pete Townshend's seminal, still timeless score. "Pinball Wizard" to "Acid Queen" to "Listening To You" and beyond, the multitude of strong melodies and potent messages in the psychedelic show continue to be compelling and absorbing - and the success of the show has continued beyond its multi-Tony Award-winning Broadway production: GLEE takes on the unforgettable Act One closer tonight, "Pinball Wizard".

Just yesterday, Ricky Martin, current star of the revival of EVITA on Broadway, hosted a fundraising event for President Barack Obama in New York City. We previously brought you a video of Martin thanking President Obama for his support of marriage equality and the Latino community, and today we bring you the President's following speech, which includes a shoutout to EVITA. Check it out below!

Producers Hal Luftig and Scott Sanders announced today that the Tony Award Nominated Best Revival of a Musical, Tim Rice's and Andrew Lloyd Webber's EVITA, will launch a first national tour in the fall of 2013 at Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. Casting and additional information will be announced at a later date.

Ricky Martin, current star of the revival of EVITA on Broadway, hosted a fundraising event for President Barack Obama today, May 14, in New York City. Martin took a moment to thank President Obama for his support of marriage equality and the Latino community. Watch his speech in the video below!

EVITA's Rachel Potter and ROCK OF AGES' alum/soon-to-be JEKYLL & HYDE star Constantine Maroulis took to the stage at Joe's Pub last night, May 13, to celebrate the release of Potter's debut country EP, 'Live the Dream.' BroadwayWorld was there for the concert and we brings you a sampling of the tracks below!

EVITA's Rachel Potter and ROCK OF AGES' Constantine Maroulis just performed at Joe's Pub to celebrate the release of Potter's debut country EP, 'Live the Dream.' BroadwayWorld was there for the concert and we bring you full coverage below!

Ricky Martin, currently starring in the new revival of EVITA, will host a fundraising event today, May 14th to support the re-election of President Barack Obama.

The Twitter-verdict is in, and boy do stage stars love sharing their intermission antics! If you have ever wondered what your favorite Broadway stars are doing backstage, thanks to NEWSIES' Andrew Keenan-Bolger (@KeenanBlogger), now you can see for yourself. Keenan-Bolger Tweeted on May 12: 'Okay showfolk, if you're in a show today, at intermission take a picture of yourself and tag it #SIP (Saturday Intermission Pic).' Check out Saturday backstage photos from the stars of NEWSIES, EVITA, ONCE, ROCK OF AGES, THE BOOK OF MORMON, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, ANYTHING GOES, INTO THE WOODS, GODSPELL, MAME, MAMMA MIA! and more below!

Rachel Potter celebrates the release of her debut country EP, 'Live the Dream,' at Joe's Pub tonight, May 13.

BroadwayWorld brings you photos of EVITA's Rachel Potter and ROCK OF AGES' Constantine Maroulis rehearsing in the studio for Potter's upcoming release concert for her debut country EP, 'Live the Dream.' She and Maroulis will perform at Joe's Pub tomorrow, May 13.

In a correlative column to this weekend's extensive and exclusive InDepth InterView, tonight we are shining a special solo spotlight on the vast multitude of talents possessed by one of Broadway's brightest stars - known best to theatre fans for his tremendous turns in Maury Yeston's TITANIC, Andrew Lippa's THE WILD PARTY, the original musicals SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, SHREK and NEXT TO NORMAL as well as original dramas such as TIME STANDS STILL - who now can now regularly be seen on NBC's hit music drama series SMASH, and, starting this Sunday in a three-episode arc on Showtime's THE BIG C with fellow Broadway notable Tammy Blanchard - the one and only Brian D'arcy James. While you will have to wait until tomorrow for the career-spanning conversation that covers his experiences working on those thrilling original musicals as well as reflections on collaborating with the starry array of cast members and creatives on the Steven Spielberg-produced SMASH and what lays ahead for Season Two, now is an absolutely ideal opportunuity to reacclimatize ourselves. Just what can't Brian d'Arcy James do? As this spell-binding collection of clips prove - everything; and then some.

In 1976, Coal Miner's Daughter, country star Loretta Lynn's autobiography (written with journalist George Vecsey) became a New York Times Bestseller; in 1980 the book was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones. Now, it's headed for Broadway, with actress Zooey Deschanel playing Loretta Lynn.