Randolph Wright News

?He's going to put a smile on your face and song in your heart.

?He's going to put a smile on your face and song in your heart.

Centenary Stage Company continues its trend this season of featuring women playwrights and premieres by closing their main stage professional theater series with Eleanor Burgess' START DOWN beginning today, April 8 through April 24 in the Lackland Performing Arts Center.

Centenary Stage Company continues its trend this season of featuring women playwrights and premieres by closing their main stage professional theater series with Eleanor Burgess' START DOWN April 8 through 24 in the Lackland Performing Arts Center.

MAURICE HINES TAPPIN' THRU LIFE is a swinging, song and dance musical that celebrates the astonishing showmanship of one of the last great tap dancers of a by-gone era still working today and whose collaborators were a jaw-dropping, who's who of theatre, music, film and television. Co-starring the fierce tap dancing Manzari brothers and the all female vivacious Diva Jazz Orchestra, the show is directed by Jeff Calhoun (Newsies, Deaf West's Big River, Grease). Performances began December 23rd at New World Stages (340 W. 50th Street), and opening night is tonight, January 11th.

He's going to put a smile on your face and song in your heart.

All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable production and one that I would highly recommend.

He's going to put a smile on your face and song in your heart.

Below, BroadwayWorld has some behind-the-scenes photos of the making of FOREVER ALWAYS. Plus, click here to read Pati Buehler's interview with Dodie about the project!

The award-winning, nationally-renowned Ma-Yi Theater Company - one of the country's leading producers of new works for the stage by Asian-American writers - will continue its 2014-15 season this spring with the world premiere of SOLDIER X by Rehana Lew Mirza, with preview performances set to begin March 24 prior to an official opening night on March 31 at the HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, enter on Dominick Street, one block south of Spring) in NYC. SOLDIER X is directed by Lucie Tiberghien.

Based on Berry Gordy's 1994 autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown, this musical tells the true story behind Mr. Gordy's founding and running of the Motown record label, and his personal and professional relationships with Motown artists such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. The music and lyrics for the musical are taken from selections from the Motown catalog.

Hodges & Hodges grooved their way down to the Orpheum Theatre to dance the night away at MOTOWN the Musical! The hit record company defined the sound of the sixties and seventies, breaking down racial barriers with a signature soul/pop sound that cut across the black/white divide at a time when segregation was still the law of the land. Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and the Temptations were just a few of the artists that made up the hit parade at Motown.

The Pasadena Playhouse announced today that trailblazing actress Diahann Carroll will be the 2014 Diversity Award Honoree at the 8th Annual Pasadena Playhouse Wells Fargo Theatrical Diversity Project fundraising event on Sunday, September 21, 2014.

Harlem9 presents the Obie Award Winning '48 HOURS IN HARLEM' -- a twist on the traditional 24-hour play festival. This event marks the 4th year of the collaborative Harlem9, bringing together 6 playwrights, 6 directors, and 18 actors to re-conceive classic plays from the African Diaspora over the course of one weekend in Harlem. 48 HOURS IN HARLEM culminates in a final presentation on Sunday, August 17, 2014.

Growing up in Staten Island, New York, Jeff Tracta (www.jefftracta.com) remembers watching legendary 'Man of a Thousand Voices' Rich Little on TV, and hearing his dad say, 'This guy is the greatest impressionist in the world. When he goes to work, he makes people happy. Whatever you do in your life, make people happy.'