Sally Ann News

The new London cast for the global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! at the Prince of Wales Theatre will begin performances on Monday June 15, 2009. The cast will be led by Sally Ann Triplett as ?Donna Sheridan,' with Katy Secombe as ?Rosie' and Jane Gurnett as ?Tanya.'

I'd Do Anything's Niamh Perry joins the cast, along with Sally-Ann Triplett and Norman Bowman

The cast of the Abba musical pick up the prize at the second annual West End Eurovision song contest

Oxygen kicks off its second night of original programming with the premiere of its first-ever dance/weight-loss competition series 'Dance Your Ass Off' on Monday, June 29th at 10pm ET/PT. The 10 one-hour episode series launches with a super sized 90-minute premiere with limited commercials. Bringing dance and diet together, the new series features talented, full-figured contestants who struggle with their weight and dance to unleash their inner thin. Tony Award-winning actress Marissa Jaret Winokur, well known for her role as plus-sized Tracy Turnblad in the hit Broadway musical 'Hairspray,' serves as host.

Legendary designers William Ivey Long and Bob Crowley were among the four recipients of the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards. Five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long will receive the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical costume design, and, for his achievements as both a costume and scenic designer, Bob Crowley (also a five-time Tony Award winner) received the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design at a ceremony on Friday, March 27, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

Graham Norton

Legendary designers WILLIAM IVEY LONG and BOB CROWLEY are among the four recipients of 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards to be presented at a ceremony this Friday, March 27 at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long will receive the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical costume design, and, for his achievements as both a costume and scenic designer, Bob Crowley (also a five-time Tony Award winner) will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design.

Alexander S. Bermange is known to millions in the UK as the resident songwriter on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme. But he has also enjoyed considerable public and critical acclaim as a composer and lyricist of a dozen musicals which have been produced in theatres across the country and in vast arenas around Europe. Most recently, Alexander has composed the music for Plague Over England, currently running at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End.

Marni Nixon will be appearing at the Music for All Seasons' Conversations series on Monday, March 9th at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Marni Nixon will be appearing at the Music for All Seasons' Conversations series on Monday, March 9th at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.

Legendary designers WILLIAM IVEY LONG and BOB CROWLEY are among the four recipients of the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards. Five-time Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey Long will receive the 2009 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for theatrical costume design, and, for his achievements as both a costume and scenic designer, Bob Crowley (also a five-time Tony Award winner) will receive the TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards' special Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design at a ceremony on Friday, March 27, at the Hudson Theatre in New York City.

Marni Nixon has joined the upcoming Encores! presentation of Music in the Air, she replaces Sally Ann Howes who had to drop out due to an illness. Marni Nixon, is known in the popular world as the singing voice behind the stars of West Side Story, The King and I and My Fair Lady. An accomplished singer in her own right, she has has sung opera, classical song and appeared on Broadway. Ms. Nixon worked with Lehmann in a production of Ariadne auf Naxos at the Music Academy of the West and considered her a friend. Besides her singing career, Marni Nixon is also an actress, recently nominated for an Ovation award. She gives master clases throughout the country in musical theater and classical song. She was last seen on Broadway in NINE and The Dead. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production runs for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). Production dates are February 5th through the 8th.

New York City Center Presents Encores! Music In The Air with tickes avaliable for as low as $20.00. Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production runs for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). In addition to Kristin Chenoweth, the cast includes Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan, David Schramm, Ryan Silverman, Robert Sella and Sally Ann Howes. Music in the Air, with music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett, has been restored by the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and not been seen in New York in its original form since its premiere Broadway engagement at the Alvin Theatre in 1932. Opening on November 8th of that year, it played for 342 performances in a production directed by the authors. A revised version had a brief revival at the Ziegfeld Theatre in 1951. Music in the Air is a musical romance, with the wit and elegance of an Ernst Lubitsch film. It's the story of a Bavarian music teacher (Robbins), his beautiful young daughter (Boggess), and the daughter's suitor, who travel to the big, bad city of Munich where they encounter a cast of self-involved, egotistical theater folk who promise them fame, fortune and romance. Marin Mazzie and Douglas Sills play a Diva (Mazzie) and an operetta librettist (Sills) who take the young couple under their wings (and claws). Songs include 'I've Told Ev'ry Little Star' and 'The Song Is You.'

Tony Award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth has joined the cast of Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008-09 season, running February 5-8. (Ms. Chenoweth replaces the previously announced Marin Mazzie. Ms. Mazzie is no longer available due to the death of her father.) Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld. The production runs for five performances at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Marin Mazzie, Douglas Sills, Dick Latessa, Tom Alan Robbins, Sierra Boggess, Walter Charles, Anne L. Nathan and Sally Ann Howes have been cast in Kern and Hammerstein's Music in the Air, the second Encores! production of New York City Center's 2008 - 2009 season, playing for five performances, February 5 - 8 at City Center, West 55th Street (between 6th and 7th Avenues). Music in the Air, a rarely seen 1932 musical, will be directed by Gary Griffin with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Michael Lichtefeld.

Mathilde, a new musical by burgeoning young composer Conor Mitchell, will receive an industry staged reading at the Vaudeville Theatre on Friday 14 November 2008 at 1.00pm.

Dress Circle will release 'Act One - Songs from the Musicals of Alexander S. Bermange,' a new CD featuring 26 West End stars, including members of the cast of Wicked, performing 20 brand-new recordings.

In addition to its 24 full productions, dance series, developmental series and concerts, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) celebrates its fifth year by partnering with Ailey Citigroup Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, The Philip Coltoff Greenwich Village Center, The Loft at Professor Thom's, The Cutting Room, and Paley Center (formally The Museum of Television & Radio) to bring more diverse special events to this years Festival, running September 15th to October 5th.

In addition to its 24 full productions, dance series, developmental series and concerts, The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) celebrates its fifth year by partnering with Ailey Citigroup Theater, Nuyorican Poets Café, The Philip Coltoff Greenwich Village Center, The Loft at Professor Thom's, The Cutting Room, and Paley Center (formally The Museum of Television & Radio) to bring more diverse special events to this years Festival, running September 15th to October 5th.

Touring productions of Monty Python's Spamalot and Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady evenly split eight of the 10 Stock Road Show Awards with Chita Rivera - The Dancer's Life and Camelot taking home one each.