Nominees have been announced for the 31st Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards taking place on Monday, June 3 at 7:30pm at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Select tickets are also now available to the public priced at $425, $200 & $75; tickets can currently be purchased online at www.FredandAdeleAstaireAwards.com.
Yesterday the nomineees celebrated at Lillie's Times Square and you can check out photos from the special occasion below!
Three contributors to Broadway's newest smash Matilda - composer-lyricist Tim Minchin, librettist Dennis Kelly and actor Bertie Carvel ("Miss Trunchbull"), are the guests on THEATER TALK this week. The program premieres Friday, May 3, 2013 at 1 AM (Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and repeats in New York City on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.
The paper reports that 'the Broadway version is expected to cost about $15 million, according to Bill Taylor of Stage Entertainment USA, which is producing 'Rocky' on Broadway with Mr. Stallone.' and that 'The Broadway production is expected to be fairly similar to the one in Hamburg, Mr. Taylor said, including the finale - Rocky's climatic fight against Apollo in a regulation-size boxing ring - and the use of music from the movies, like Bill Conti's theme music and 'Eye of the Tiger.'
A new THEATER TALK episode focuses on two of the season's best new plays. David Hyde Pierce and Kristine Nielsen, two of the stars of Christopher Durang's celebrated Broadway comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, lead off the two-segment episode, followed by playwright Joe Gilford and producer William Carden discussing Ensemble Studio Theatre's acclaimed off-Broadway production of FINKS, a look at the impact of the 1950s blacklist based on the experiences of Gilford's parents. The program premieres Friday, April 26, 2013 at 1 AM (Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and repeats in New York City on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.
Immediately, speculation began at what might replace MAMMA MIA! in the theatre, which was previously home to CATS. Today, Michael Riedel reports that Broadway might see a Spring transfer of the ROCKY musical, now running in Germany. He writes that '"Rocky das Musical" cost $20 million to stage in Germany. Sources say the price tag could hit nearly $30 million in New York. With so much money to recoup, the show would inevitably have to land at one of Broadway's largest theaters.'
This week, THEATER TALK welcomes Michael Urie and Jonathan Tolins,the star and writer of the hit off-Broadway comedy Buyer & Cellar at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and theater journalists Adam Feldman and Suzy Evans with an April Broadway Update.
THEATER TALK welcomes actor and writer Jesse Eisenberg on Friday, April 12, 2013 at 1 AM (Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and repeating in New York City on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. Eisenberg is the author of the current SRO off-Broadway play, The Revisionist. He also appears in it as a narcissistic young American writer who, in an effort to overcome writers block, travels to Poland to visit a distant and aging cousin, played by the great Vanessa Redgrave.
THEATER TALK celebrates the 30th anniversary of Off-Broadway's Vineyard Theatre - home to notable productions including Pulitzer Prize winners Three Tall Women by Edward Albee and How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel, and the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q - in an all-new episode premiering at 1 a.m. on Friday, April 5 (2013; early Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and continuing in New York City on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.
Cinderella, the only musical written by the legendary team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II especially for television, is now on Broadway for the first time. In 'A New Take on Cinderella,' librettist Douglas Carter Beane, actors Victoria Clark and Ann Harada (the Fairy Godmother and stepsister Charlotte), and producer Robyn Goodman trace the show's long journey from its inception in 1957 to today in an all-new THEATER TALK, premiering at 1 a.m. on Friday, March 29 (2013; early Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and continues in New York City on CUNY TV* Saturday at 8:30 PM, Sunday at 12:30 PM, and Monday at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.
The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography returns to Stage 72 (formerly the Triad Theater), 158 West 72 Street, with its new edition, Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter, tonight, March 11 at 8pm. The cast is scheduled to include Mario Cantone, Rachel Dratch, Janeane Garofalo, Carla Hall, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Michael Urie, and Alan Zweibel.
The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography returns to Stage 72 (formerly the Triad Theater), 158 West 72 Street, with its new edition, Celebrity Autobiography: The Next Chapter, on Monday, March 11 at 8pm. The cast is scheduled to include Mario Cantone, Rachel Dratch, Janeane Garofalo, Carla Hall, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Michael Urie, and Alan Zweibel.
Michael Riedel reports this morning in the NY Post that there 'It may be wishful thinking, but there's talk of involving Manilow in the Tony telecast this year. One idea floating around is to have him and Midler open the show with a medley of Broadway standards and a few songs from her first album, 'The Divine Miss M,' which Manilow produced, thrown in for kicks.'
From Kristin Chenoweth to Deborah Cox to Idina Menzel to Barbra Streisand to Michael Crawford to the Ladies of THE VIEW to Adam Pascal, Patti LuPone, Raul Esparza, Alan Menken, Lea Salonga, Bernadette Peters, Laura Osnes, Victoria Clark, GLEE and Everything in Between - It's the BroadwayWorld.com 2013 Valentine's Day Special - It's the Biggest Ever!
Elaine Stritch stops by THEATER TALK to celebrate her 88th birthday. Joining her in the festivities are two of her best friends, music director Rob Bowman and actor Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (who recently appeared with Stritch in the Broadway revival of A Little Night Music).
Michael Riedel reports that Simon Cowell is hard at work on THE X FACTOR MUSICAL, which just had an invitation only workshop in London last week, starring Alexander Hanson as the infamous reality show judge. The show, with a 16 million dollar budget is being co-produced by Cowell and Stage Entertainment, and features an original score by Steve Brown and a script by Harry Hill.
The Drama Desk Award-winning Celebrity Autobiography performs in San Francisco tonight, February 9 at 8pm and Sunday, February 10 at 5pm, at Marines' Memorial Theatre as part of SF Sketchfest.
Today, Michael Riedel reveals that potential investor, who has now been drawn into the controversy is Larry Runsdorf, who the drug manufacturing firm Breckenridge Inc. in 1983 and now lives in Boca Raton. Riedel writes:
