Patti LuPone News

The Drama League has announced Emmy Award winner Debra Messing will join Tony and Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce as co-host of the 79th Annual Drama League Awards. One of the high points of the theater season, the Awards Luncheon will be held Friday afternoon, May 17th at the Marriott Marquis Times Square (1535 Broadway) at noon.

Christine Baranski, Kelli Barrett, Walter Bobbie, Jeremy Cohen, Dalton Harrod, Randy Skinner, Shonn Wiley, Karen Ziemba,New York City Ballet Principaldancer Joaquin De Luz and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko will star in Rodgers and Hart's On Your Toes, the final Encores! presentation of the 2012-13 New York City Center season.

FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will make its Segerstrom Center premiere tonight, May 7 - 19, 2013.

Broadway's Leslie Kritzer, currently starring in The Memory Show with The Transport Group (through May 18) returns to Joe's Pub with her all-new extravaganza Beautiful Disaster for four performances: May 13 at 11:30pm and May 13 at 9:30pm. Tickets are $25. For tickets, visit www.joespub.com or call (212) 967-7555. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the show below!

Today we are talking to a legendary triple-threat performer who over the course of her unique career has become one of a select few in show business to have attained the entertainment quadruple crown - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony, that is; commonly referred to as the EGOT - the exceptionally gifted Rita Moreno. Exploring many aspects of her revealing and absorbing new autobiography RITA MORENO: A MEMOIR, Moreno opens up about her unique and boundary-breaking career in Hollywood and on Broadway, having appearing in three of the greatest movie musicals of all time - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE KING & I and WEST SIDE STORY - as well as in the Mike Nichols classic CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, in addition to an impressive list of TV and theatre credits. Additionally, Moreno reveals her insights into the creative process itself and the strides she made in the industry as the first Latin American actress to win an Academy Award. Plus, memories of starring in Terrence McNally's THE RITZ on Broadway and its subsequent film adaptation, as well as a rich recounting of her time starring in the original West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's SUNSET BOULEVARD as the one and only screen icon Norma Desmond. Also, Moreno reveals plans to revisit her one woman show from which sprung her stupendous new book, titled LIFE WITHOUT MAKE-UP, as well as shares her thoughts on Broadway today, remarks upon favorite recent films, shows and performers as well as offers an update on her new family-friendly film MICKEY DEUCE and touched upon her current small-screen role in HAPPILY DIVORCED - and much, much more!

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, written by Christopher Durang, today won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award (NYDCC) for Best Play of the 2012-2013 season. Matilda received the award for Best Musical. The selections were made at the 78th annual voting meeting of the organization today at the offices of Time Out New York in Manhattan.

International Drag Sensation Varla Jean Merman is returning to London for the first time in 10 years, joining newcomers Well-Strung,The Singing String Quartet, for a two-act evening of sublime entertainment at Leicester Square Theatre from Thursday 19 September - Saturday 21 September.

As previously announced, John O'Hurley will star as King Arthur. Also starring will be Michelle Ragusa as The Lady of the Lake, Kevin Cahoon as Historian, John Scherer as Sir Robin, David Hibbard as Patsy, Chris Hoch as Sir Lancelot, Ben Davis as Sir Dennis Galahad, and Tally Sessions as Dennis' Mother/Sir Bedevere. Joining them will be broadcast legend Bob Costas as The Voice of God.

To coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the Ford Partnership Program, which nurtures locally based artists and arts organizations, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission presents the inaugural Zev Yaroslavsky Signatures Series. This two-concert program benefiting the Ford Theatre Foundation pairs world-renowned performers with a local artistic treasure, celebrating Los Angeles as a destination for world-class artists, who find here both collaboration with, and inspiration from, celebrated local artists.

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the epic musical LES MISERABLES. Due to popular demand, the production's run has been extended by two weeks. Performances take place tonight, May 3 through June 1, 2013.

Today, May 3rd at 12 noon, Brave New World Enterprises, LLC will present a Special Pre-Broadway Workshop Table Reading of the new musical based on Aldous Huxley's novel, BRAVE NEW WORLD. The presentation, directed by SHERYL KALLER, with musical direction by JOHN McDANIEL, will take place at the Snapple Theatre Center (1627 Broadway) for invited industry audiences only.

Bay Area Cabaret will conclude its 2012-2013 season by honoring the memory and legendary career of composer Marvin Hamlisch. Selections from his work (A Chorus Line, The Way We Were, They're Playing Our Song) will be performed by special guests including Broadway stars Lisa Vroman (The Phantom of the Opera, Sweeney Todd) and Karen Mason (Mamma Mia!, Sunset Boulevard), Grammy Award winner Billy Stritch, 2012 Bay Area Teen Idol winner Bobby Conte Thornton, Academy Award-winning songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and other guest artists to be announced. Having performed with Bay Area Cabaret for the grand re-opening of the Venetian Room in 2010, Mr. Hamlisch will always hold a special place in Bay Area Cabaret's history. This tribute to his legacy will take place on the late composer's 69th birthday, Sunday, June 2, 2013, at 8pm in the historic Venetian Room of the Fairmont San Francisco (950 Mason Street). Tickets ($75 - $100) are available at www.bayareacabaret.org or by phone at City Box Office (415) 392-4400.

'PATTI ISSUES' - the hit solo play hailed as 'ecstatically vivid' by The New York Times and praised for its 'wit, feeling and conviction' by Time Out New York - will be performed in Chicago, Fire Island Pines and Provincetown this summer after its sixth extension in New York and recent performances in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Berkeley. The show can be seen at Mary's Attic in Chicago on June 13; in the Fire Island Pines at The Blue Whale and the Pavilion on select Fridays from May 17 to August 9; and at the Crown & Anchor in Provincetown, MA on July 2, 3 and 4 with a special benefit performance for the Family Equality Council on August 4. After more rave reviews and a host of awards, the New York production of 'PATTI ISSUES' will now run through June 29 at The Duplex in the West Village. See below for full listings information. Tickets for all shows can be purchased at PattiIssues.com.

To prep for the live webcast of the 2013 Tony Award nominations on April 30, TonyAwards.com wrote up a list of some of the shows and performers who are eligible this season. Click HERE for the full cheat sheet!

Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway: Alive and Kicking! ends its run today, April 28, at the 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47th Street). The smash musical, which received unanimous raves from critics and audiences alike, broke all box-office records at the 47th Street Theatre and won spots on the Top Ten Lists of Time Magazine and the Associated Press, begins its hiatus in order to make room for The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre's own season, as required by the show's lease agreement with the theatre.

The Tony Award Nominations were just announced and we've got the complete list. Always an equally hot topic -- we've also got the complete list of who was overlooked this year.

Wendy Beckett's seductive new play, LOVE THERAPY opens at the DR2 Theatre (101 East 15th Street) on Monday, April 29th. Directed by Evan Bergman, LOVE THERAPY is the fourth in a series of ten of Ms. Beckett's plays that will be brought across the Pacific from Australia by Peter Walters for Pascal Productions. For tickets, please visit Telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200.

There are only a few more performances to catch for Gerard Alessandrini's FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: ALIVE AND KICKING! at the 47th Street Theatre (304 West 47th Street). The smash musical, which received unanimous raves from critics and audiences alike, broke all box-office records at the 47th Street Theatre and won spots on the Top Ten Lists of Time Magazine and the Associated Press, will begin its hiatus on Sunday, April 28, in order to make room for The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre's own season, as required by the show's lease agreement with the theatre.

Today we are talking to a versatile stage and screen actress who has scored in a number of unique roles on Broadway and around the country in addition to making a recent mark with her work on the Broadway-themed web series IT COULD BE WORSE - the passionate and compelling Alison Fraser. Discussing her vast resume and some of her most fondly remembered performances to date, Fraser opens up about her remarkable career thus far - including her work originating parts in IN TROUSERS, MARCH OF THE FALSETTOS, THE SECRET GARDEN, ROMANCE/ROMANCE, GUNMETAL BLUES, THE DIVINE SISTER and more - and looks ahead to her most recent projects, current, upcoming and beyond. Most importantly, Fraser details the finer points of LOVE THERAPY, the new Wendy Beckett play she stars in Off-Broadway and outlines her continuing collaboration onstage with the playwright, having previously starred in CHARITY CASE, as well as what we can expect from the realistic new drama, opening April 29. Additionally, Fraser sheds some light on her recent work in the world premiere of the Tennessee Williams play IN MASKS OUTRAGEOUS AND AUSTERE and how that led to her new solo revue, THE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS SONGBOOK. Plus, memories of appearing in GYPSY on Broadway with Patti LuPone and working with Arthur Laurents on that as well as his own final play, cameoing on SMASH, reflections on her memorable musical partnerships with husband Rusty Magee and noted FALSETTOS songwriter William Finn, as well as thoughts on the contemporary theatre scene and her various theatre-related web projects, favorite recent shows and much, much more!