Peter James Zielinski News

Yesterday, May 2, Primary Stages concluded its celebratory 25th Anniversary Season with a special celebrity benefit stage reading performance of Godfather IV written by Emmy Award-winner Tom Fontana ('St. Elsewhere,' 'OZ'), with original music by Stephen Elkins. The reading was a collaborative effort between Primary Stages and the Writers Guild of America, East Foundation, for which Fontana is Foundation president. Proceeds from the reading will benefit both organizations. BroadwayWorld was there to capture the event.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) is mourning the loss of their dear friend and artist Ms. Lynn Redgrave. Ms. Redgrave appeared on the Paper Mill Playhouse stage in The Importance of Being Earnest in early 2009 and has remained close with the Millburn theater until her passing. Ms. Redgrave is to be honored at Paper Mill Playhouse's Gala Event on Wednesday, May 12th at The Hilton Short Hills.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater debuted in October 1998 and has quickly became one of New York City's most celebrated and in-demand showcase venues for live music and performance. With its genre-blind booking and vast diversity of interests, the stage at Joe's Pub gives voice to a world of varied and stellar artists.

Actress Lynn Redgrave has passed away at the age of 67 according to her publicist, Rick Miramontez. Redgrave, who had battled breast cancer, died Sunday night in her apartment at the age of 67.

A Slew of Broadway and jazz vocal greats come together for one night only to perform selections from the Breithaupt Brothers Songbook at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater. The show will be featuring James Naughton, Kelli O'Hara, Lea Delaria, LaChanze, Catherine Russell, BETTY, Kevin Earley Carolyn Leonhart, Tyley Ross, Graham Rowat, Jamie Leonhart, Shelley McPherson, Greg Naughton Maggie Moore, Rikki Rumball, The Palookas and The Breithaupt Brothers.

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk.

On May 3 at 11:30pm, The Addams Family's Wesley Taylor will play Joe's Pub in concert with friends Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening, Bye Bye Birdie), Mitch Jarvis (Fiddler on the Roof, Rock of Ages), Lauren Molina (Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages), and Krysta Rodriguez (In the Heights, The Addams Family.

Jennifer Barnhart - the original AVENUE Q cast member who performed with the show for over seven years from the very beginning at the Vineyard Theatre through its entire run on Broadway - will once again join AVENUE Q when she resumes the roles of Mrs. T, Bad Idea Bear and other characters on Sunday, May 2nd at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) in Manhattan.

Darius de Haas ('Marie Christine,' 'Rent') and Bailey Hanks ('Legally Blonde') have been added to the growing list of special guests for the second annual Miss Fag Hag Pageant- to be held Sunday, May 2nd at 8pm at Comix.

Director/choreographer Twyla Tharp will be presented with the 2010 I.A.L. Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts from Columbia University on May 1. Ms. Tharp, who recently opened her new critically acclaimed musical, Come Fly Away, at Broadway's Marquis Theatre, is a 1963 graduate of Columbia's Barnard College.

Bye Bye Birdie alum Gina Gershon will host the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center's annual event 'An Evening with Women' on May 1. The event raises much-needed funds for the women-specific services of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. This year's event will feature a special performance by Heart and Linda Perry, and special appearances by Renee Zellweger, and Sarah Silverman. The dinner menu will be designed by Jamie Lauren of 'Top Chef.'

Award-winning actor Mamie Gummer will debut as The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's first artist-in-residence. She will star as Lady Dunmore, in a new Revolutionary Story scene, 'Lady Dunmore Prepares for the Ball.

Christian Campbell, the star of Reefer Madness: The Musical, tick, tick... BOOM! and Trick, will headline the cast of the New York premiere of Magnetic North, a play by William Donnelly about the perilous space between flirtation and betrayal.

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Penny Fuller, Sharon Lawrence, Diane Neal, Sherri Shepherd, Cobie Smulders and Myra Lucretia Taylor will join upcoming summertime casts of Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's smash hit show Love, Loss, and What I Wore.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Amari Cheatom, Brian D. Coats, Chuck Cooper, Maria Couch, Harriett D. Foy, Dion Graham, April Matthis, Jacob Ming-Trent, Seth Numrich, Stephen Plunkett, Michael Siberry and Shelley Thomas will be featured in its upcoming LCT3 world premiere production of ON THE LEVEE, a play with music, conceived and directed by Lear deBessonet, with play by Marcus Gardley, and music and lyrics by Todd Almond.

Award-winning actor Mamie Gummer will debut as The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's first artist-in-residence. She will star as Lady Dunmore, in a new Revolutionary Story scene, 'Lady Dunmore Prepares for the Ball.

The producers of RACE have announced that David Mamet's new play will extend through August 23rd at The Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th St.). The producers recently announced that the play recouped its investment. Tickets to RACE can be purchased by visiting telecharge.com or calling 212-239-6200.

Robert Lopez, the Tony-winning composer of Avenue Q, is using his songwriting talents to benefit an Off-Broadway theater. Lopez will write an original song for and about the highest bidder at BiddingForGood.com.

Broadway actors, singers, dancers, poets and musicians will be donating their time and talents to raise funds for UNICEF and perform in the one-night-only benefit concert Love Is On the Way: Artists Unite for World Disaster Relief.

Kate Mulgrew, who starred as Katherine Hepburn in Tea at Five, one of Hartford Stage's most successful productions of all time, will return to the Tony Award-winning theatre (Michael Wilson, Artistic Director; Michael Stotts, Managing Director) in William Shakespeare's classic play, Antony and Cleopatra. Tina Landau will direct the production, which will run at Hartford Stage October 7 - November 7. Antony and Cleopatra will be the first production in Hartford Stage's renovated and expanded Church Street facility. Construction on the renovation project will take place this summer.