The Actors Fund presents a very special Musical Monday, an evening with five grand ladies of musical theatre in LADIES OF AN INDETERMINATE AGE tonight, December 10, 2012. Anne Jeffreys, Jane Kean, Pat Marshall, Patricia Morison and Charlotte Rae - join together on the same stage to sing songs from their careers, talk about their co-stars, directors and composers and stray into their wicked (or not-so-wicked) adventures in the great tradition of "No Business Like Show Business."
The Actors Fund presents a very special Musical Monday, an evening with five grand ladies of musical theatre in LADIES OF AN INDETERMINATE AGE on December 10, 2012. Anne Jeffreys, Jane Kean, Pat Marshall, Patricia Morison and Charlotte Rae - join together on the same stage to sing songs from their careers, talk about their co-stars, directors and composers and stray into their wicked (or not-so-wicked) adventures in the great tradition of "No Business Like Show Business."
Dick Van Dyke, beloved actor, singer, dancer, writer and comedian, will receive SAG-AFTRA's highest honor - the SAG Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment.
Drama Desk and Helen Hayes Award winner Jim Brochu ("Zero Hour," "The Big Voice: God or Merman?") will debut his new solo show "Character Man" at the Triad Theatre on Monday, October 1st at 9pm.
The California Women's Conference will present a panel titled "Legendary Ladies of Stage and Screen," giving patrons the chance to hear personal and professional stories from women who embraced their dreams and worked their advantages.
On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.
Geoffrey Rush will lead John Frost's production of Sondheim's A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM when it opens in Melbourne Saturday, October 27 at Her Majesty's Theatre. The show will be directed by Simon Phillips and will feature a cast of Australian comedy actors, according to funnything.com.au.
The DVD collectors set that fans of classic TV have been waiting for is finally coming out as Time Life will now start taking pre-orders for THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW: THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION. The 22-DVD set contains 50 episodes from the award-winning and influential TV series, featuring the funniest and most beloved characters and sketches, including:
Broadway veteran Bill Starr directs Hillbarn Theatre's upcoming production of the Mel Brooks musical, The Producers, playing May 3-27. Below, Starr talks about how his own experience informed his direction of the show, what makes the show fun and unique, and what audiences can expect from Hillbarn's production.
"DANNY and SYLVIA: THE Danny Kaye MUSICAL", the long-running musical at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street, which opened May 13, 2008, will close tonight, April 27th after a special added performance at 1 PM. The musical would have celebrated its 3rd anniversary this May.
"DANNY and SYLVIA: THE DANNY KAYE MUSICAL", the long-running musical at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street, which opened May 13, 2008, will close on Friday, April 27th after a special added performance at 1 PM. The musical would have celebrated its 3rd anniversary this May.
Sirius XM Radio announced that legendary entertainer Regis Philbin will return as the special guest host of 'Bing Crosby Christmas Radio,' a limited-run holiday channel devoted to classic Bing Crosby radio broadcasts from 1944 -1962 from Crosby's personal vault, brimming with comedy skits and musical performances from celebrity guests, as well as a rare recording of Crosby reciting the iconic poem 'The Night Before Christmas.'
Sirius XM Radio announced that legendary entertainer Regis Philbin will return as the special guest host of 'Bing Crosby Christmas Radio,' a limited-run holiday channel devoted to classic Bing Crosby radio broadcasts from 1944 -1962 from Crosby's personal vault, brimming with comedy skits and musical performances from celebrity guests, as well as a rare recording of Crosby reciting the iconic poem 'The Night Before Christmas.'
Today, BroadwayWorld is extremely proud to present an extensive conversation with the modern master of the musical theatre himself, Stephen Sondheim, all about the incredibly revealing and thoroughly riveting second volume of his complete collected (and annotated) lyrics (covering 1981-2011) - following last year's superlative FINISHING THE HAT - titled LOOK, I MADE A HAT. With ample insights pertaining to the Pulitzer Prize-winning SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, INTO THE WOODS, ROAD SHOW, THE FROGS and many more, Sondheim and I also discuss some of his Hollywood endeavors - the proposed film adaptation of INTO THE WOODS, as well as the never-produced SINGING OUT LOUD and his Oscar-winning work for Warren Beatty's DICK TRACY - and his affection for - and process of adapting (in the case of WEST SIDE STORY, the CYMBELINE setting in THE FROGS and his recent scoring of the Public Theatre's production of KING LEAR starring Kevin Kline) - the works of William Shakespeare. Additionally, we discuss the upcoming Encores! revival of MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, the currently-running revival of FOLLIES starring Bernadette Peters (as well as its brand new cast album), the West End transfer of the Michael Ball/Imelda Staunton-led SWEENEY TODD in the UK and much, much more!
On Sunday, Oct 2nd, The Omni Youth Music & Actor Awards proudly presented their most prestigious awards to actress/comedienne Rose Marie with '2011 OMNI YOUTH LIFETIME CAREER ACHIEVEMENT' award and actress/activist Tippi Hedren with the '2011 OMNI YOUTH HUMANITARIAN/CAREER ACHIEVEMENT' award.
THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW was been selected as a 2011 Television Critics Association Award winner. The series was the top vote getter in the category of 'Heritage Award.' The TCA presents this prestigious award to one long-standing program that has culturally or socially impacted society. Carol Reiner, Larry Mathews and he first Lady of Las Vegas, Rose Marie, were on hand to accept the honor. 'Sheldon Leonard told me that if you want the best, to get Rose Marie,' recalled Carl Reiner. Ms. Marie said, 'When they first approached me about being part of The Dick Van Dyke Show, I said 'What's a Dick Van Dyke?'
With a solidly funny book by Larry Gelbart and Bert Shevelove and a clever, under-appreciated score by Stephen Sondheim (It remains Broadway's only Best Musical Tony-winner with eligible music and lyrics that were not even nominated for Best Score.), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is one of the more dependable titles of musical theatre's standard repertoire.
DIETRICH & CHEVALIER: The Musical, the hit musical by Jerry Mayer, starring Robert Cuccioli, Jodi Stevens and Donald Corren, will conclude its Off-Broadway run Sunday, December 26th at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street (between Eighth & Ninth Ave.) DIETRICH & CHEVALIER: The Musical began performances June 5th, with the opening night on June 20th.
Before anyone removes a lick of clothing in EndTimes' decidedly secular song and sketch revue, Naked Holidays, an unlikely matchup of a perky and cultured Brit (Ruthie Stephens) and a snarling Mexican heavy metaler (Alessandro Colla) leads the cast of nineteen young and attractive performers, most of whom you will see naked by the evening's end, in a brief orientation of the history of the holidays that grace our December calendars. The sketchy reasons for the celebration of the birth of Christ occurring on December 25th, they conclude, originates from the already present pagan solstice festivals, which were loaded with drunkenness, orgies and crude comedies and spectacles.
