Nell Benjamin News

Winners for the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced just last night at The Town Hall. In keeping with Drama Desk's mission, nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway during the 2017-2018 New York theater season in the same competitive categories.

The time has come for the 63rd Annual Drama Desk Awards, hosted by Michael Urie, June 3 (8:00 PM) at The Town Hall in Manhattan.

Watch below as they tell us all about want this nomination means to them, how they are preparing for the Tonys, and so much more!

In Broadway by Design, BroadwayWorld is shining a spotlight on the stellar designs of this Broadway season, show by show. Today, we continue the series with Tony nominees Scott Pask, Finn Ross and Adam Young, and Gregg Barnes, who acted as scenic, video and costume designers for Broadway's totally fetch new musical, Mean Girls.

Your Voice Matters! Voting Opens Today for the 2018 Theater Fans' Choice Awards! Awards season in NYC is now in FULL swing, and with the critics, press, and industry all having their chances to nominate and vote - now it's the fans' turn.

Regardless of whether fetch happens or not, MEAN GIRLS fans can for sure be glad the 2004 hit film is now a musical-- a 12 time Tony nominated musical no less. The musical iteration of Tina Fey's MEAN GIRLS opened on Broadway last month after an out of town run in Washington D.C. Like the film, this new production tells the tale of Cady Heron (Erika Henningsen) and her mission to take down "the plastics", aka the aforementioned "mean girls". The comedy and cleverness hit you like a bus with original  music from Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin, accompanying Fey's book. Atlantic Records released the original cast recording digitally on May 18, with a physical release date set for June 15.

Calling all plastics, cool moms and wannabes! Tina Fey and Jeff Richmond, creators of Tony nominated Mean Girls The Musical, are taking over Spotify's groolest "Best of Broadway" playlist to share 68 hidden gems about songs from the Broadway show and discuss their favorite show tunes. Listen to the podcast HERE!

Paper Mill Playhouse presents the East Coast premiere of Half Time, a new musical, with book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Nell Benjamin and additional music by Marvin Hamlisch and Ester Dean. Half Time begins performances tomorrow, Thursday, May 31, 2018, for a limited engagement through Sunday, July 1

The 12-time Tony Award-nominated Best Musical Mean Girls will partner with Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN) on 'Fearless Leaders' annual initiative beginning this September.

Your Voice Matters! Voting Opens Today for the 2018 Theater Fans' Choice Awards! Awards season in NYC is now in FULL swing, and with the critics, press, and industry all having their chances to nominate and vote - now it's the fans' turn.

Your Voice Matters! Voting Opens Today for the 2018 Theater Fans' Choice Awards! Awards season in NYC is now in FULL swing, and with the critics, press, and industry all having their chances to nominate and vote - now it's the fans' turn.

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: The Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony will be held tonight at Sardi's, and more!

Yesterday, the 2018 Tony Award nominees gathered at the Rainbow Room in New York City, to toast each other and their nominations. The luncheon was hosted by three outstanding past Tony Award recipients - actress Cynthia Erivo, lighting designer Natasha Katz and singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper.

The Muny announced today its full cast, design and production teams for the theater's opening centennial season show, Jerome Robbin's Broadway. In its first production ever in the world since its original Broadway and national tour productions, Jerome Robbins' Broadway will run June 11 - 17.

Mean Girls will launch a National Tour in the Fall of 2019 beginning at Shea's Buffalo Theatre. The show will also tech and rehearse at Shea's in the weeks preceding public performances. Mean Girls features a book by nine-time Emmy Award winner Tina Fey, based on her screenplay for the film, music by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond; and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin. Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.

Beginning Monday, June 4th at 10am, single tickets for Riverside Theatre's exciting 2018-2019 Season will go on sale. Building on the incredible success of last season's productions with sold out performances of Gypsy, Million Dollar Quartet and Mamma Mia, Riverside is proud to present another ambitious season of music, comedy, and drama.

Tina Fey hosted last night's episode of Saturday Night Live, and in doing so, she brought back her iconic portrayal of Sarah Palin. In a sketch last night, Fey's Palin sang 'What I Did For Love' from A Chorus Line, alongside Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Aidy Bryant), Kellyanne Conway (Kate McKinnon), Michael Wolff (Fred Armisen), Stormy Daniels (Cecily Strong), Rex Tillerson (John Goodman) and Omarosa Manigault (Leslie Jones).

Tony nominee Tina Fey  hosted the hilarious season finale of Saturday Night Live last night and as we reported, we also got an appearance from the cast of Mean Girls in a new digital short. Watch as Tina tries to join the Broadway cast of the show. 

Paper Mill Playhouse will soon present the East Coast premiere of Half Time, a new musical, with book by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin, music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Nell Benjamin and additional music by Marvin Hamlisch and Ester Dean.

Tony nominee Tina Fey will host the season finale of Saturday Night Live tomorrow, but does that mean that we can expect a nod to her new Broadway show? A source tells us that we just might just see a little bit of Mean Girls featured in a digital short. Tune in at 11:30pm to find out!