As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, stage star Phyllis Newman passed away yesterday, September 15, at the age of 86.
Newman got her start in show business at 4 years old imitating Carmen Miranda in theatres and clubs. Her portrayal of Martha Vail in the Jule Styne/Comden and Green musical Subways Are For Sleeping - costumed only in a bath towel - earned her a Tony Award. Her other Broadway credits include Bells Are Ringing, The Apple Tree, On the Town, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Awake and Sing, Wish You Were Here, First Impressions, and her one-woman musical The Madwoman of Central Park West, which she co-authored with Arthur Laurents. She garnered a Tony Award nomination for her highly-acclaimed performance in Neil Simon's Broadway Bound.
Following the critically acclaimed 'Lost West End' album series, Stage Door Records present the launch of 'Lost Broadway', a new series of albums that will focus on celebrating Broadway's forgotten and obscure musicals. With each album dedicated to specific years in Broadway history, the 'Lost Broadway' series launches with 'Lost Broadway 1961', a particularly abundant year in the Broadway calendar for musicals whose residencies were short lived but deserve not to be forgotten.
SHARE Inc. announced today that their annual Boomtown Gala will be headlined by The Righteous Brothers with additional performances by Martha and the Vandellas, Louis Van Amstel of "Dancing with the Stars" and the SHARE ladies. This year's honoree is Loreen Arbus, President of The Loreen Arbus Foundation and disability rights activist, philanthropist, producer, writer and author. The event's MC, a SHARE legacy, will be Natalie Lander (ABC's The Middle) - the daughter of famed actors David Lander and Kathy Fields and granddaughter of Hollywood agent Freddie Fields and actress Polly Bergen. The event will be held on May 20th 2018 at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
Legendary ballet costume designer HOLLY HYNES and costume and scenic designer ZACK BROWN are among the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients which were just announced by TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Ms. Hynes was selected to receive the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Brown will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards are presented through TDF's Costume Collection. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 20, at 6:30pm, at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).
Miami Beach welcomes renowned director/producer Richard Jay-Alexander for a no-holds-barred evening, launching the new series called 'A conversation with . . .' The inaugural event features Richard alongside his friend of 30 years, Lee Brian Schrager, at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU today, October 26, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Miami Beach welcomes renowned director/producer Richard Jay-Alexander for a no-holds-barred evening, launching the new series called 'A conversation with . . .' The inaugural event features Richard alongside his friend of 30 years, Lee Brian Schrager, at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU on Thursday, October 26, from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Executive Director, Connor Deane announced today that the third annual BROADWAY SINGS gala would be held on Monday, November 27 at the historic Westport Country Playhouse. Broadway Method Academy is a non-profit musical theater-training program where young artists are linked with working Broadway professionals, both in the classroom and on-stage. The academy serves at resident conservatory to Westport Country Playhouse.
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces the complete company for The Pajama Game directed by Alan Paul in his Arena Stage debut, with music and lyrics by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, and book by George Abbott and Richard Bissell.
As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, Barbara Cook has passed away at 89. This is an enormous loss for Broadway, the golden age of television and the music world.
Making his Segerstrom Center for the Arts debut, Tony Award® nominee Charles Busch is bringing his unique and critically-acclaimed talents to the Samueli Theater March 9-11, 2017 as part of Segerstrom Center's Cabaret Series. Entitled THE LADY AT THE MIC, Busch will enchant audiences in this intimate evening of songs and stories which he originally created for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series. Busch will be accompanied by longtime musical director Tom Judson where the artists will be paying tribute to extraordinary and much-missed women. Before Busch sashays into Costa Mesa, he agreed to answer a few questions from BroadwayWorld's Michael L. Quintos about the upcoming OC cabaret concert.
The inimitable Charles Busch, two-time MAC Award winner, Tony nominee, and drag legend, brings to 'That Girl/That Boy' an eclectic program of songs both contemporary and from the past, with 'Cabaret,' presented by Monica Horan Rosenthal and Scott H. Mauro. Accompanied by his dashing longtime musical director, Tom Judson, Charles combines hilarious personal reminiscence, character sketches and superb storytelling through song into one glittering and glamorous evening in cabaret.
As we enter the new year, it is important to remember those we have lost in the preceding twelve months. Who shared their gifts with both our community and the world and whose mark will forever be left on all those lucky enough to have witnessed them in action.
As BroadwayWorld sadly reported earlier this week, Marni Nixon, perhaps best known for dubbing the singing voices of the leading actresses in films, including THE KING AND I, WEST SIDE STORY and MY FAIR LADY, passed away from breast cancer on July 24th. She was 86.
A two-time MAC Award winner, Tony nominee, and recipient of a Drama Desk Lifetime Achievement Award, Charles Busch just visited the exquisite Appel Room for an intimate evening of song and stories. The actor, playwright (Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, The Tale of the Allergist's Wife), novelist, screenwriter, director, and drag legend has happily added 'vaudevillian' to the list over the past years.
Returning for its 17th season, Lincoln Center's acclaimed series American Songbook continues to broaden its scope in celebrating the best in American singing and songwriting as interpreted by top performers and rising stars, with events at three Lincoln Center venues. The Appel Room series continues with gender illusionist Charles Busch tonight, February 26, 2016.
Following a short winter hiatus, Catskill's Bridge Street Theatre is now ready to spring back into action. With a new marquee providing greater visibility to travelers along the West Bridge Street corridor and continuing improvements to its interior spaces, 2016 promises to be even more seriously entertaining at what one reviewer has called "the ballsiest theater in the region."
On Saturday night, before the Stage Q production of 'Psycho Beach Party', I got the opportunity to chat with 'Psycho Beach Party' playwright Charles Busch and his cabaret partner/pianist Tom Judson about their Sunday evening show in downtown Madison as well as Charles' history as a playwright and performer.