Scott Wittman News

Hundreds of thousands of theatregoers and fans weighed in, breaking site traffic records (including last year's record breaking tally) and further solidifying the BroadwayWorld.com Awards place as the largest and most popular online Broadway polling event of its kind, open to all and with fully visible and audited results. So, who what shows, performers and creative teams were the favorites of the theatregoing public? Let's find out...

The Drama Desk Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein on May 23 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center. This year, for the first time, a 90-minute Highlights Special of the Drama Desk Awards Ceremony will be televised nationally on OVATION, the national cable network dedicated to presenting creative arts programming to national TV audiences. The ceremony will be given two primetime broadcasts plus four other airings between June 4 and June 19, 2011.

Jim Caruso announces the return of TOM WOPAT to the Birdland stage on Monday, June 20 at 7pm. This concert is part of the Broadway at Birdland series, which highlights performers and composers from the Great White Way.

Cast members from CATCH ME IF YOU CAN including Aaron Tveit, Tom Wopat, and Kerry Butler made an appearance at Macy's yesterday where they performed 'Fifty Checks,' 'Goodbye,' and 'Fly Fly Away' respectively. Click below to check out their performances!

In NBC's highly anticipated new series SMASH, Debra Messing plays a lyricist developing a brand new Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe, but according to a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter she has also been inspired by musical theatre in real life. Messing revealed: 'My prototype growing up was Barbra Streisand. That's how I saw myself more at the time, I wanted to be Funny Girl, literally on Broadway and in the real world.'

Cast members from CATCH ME IF YOU CAN including Aaron Tveit, Norbert Leo Butz, Tom Wopat, and Kerry Butler will make an appearance at the Upper East Side Barnes and Noble for a performance and CD signing on June 28. The events will begin at 4:00pm on the event stage (86th/Lex).

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN star Aaron Tveit rcently stopped by Sirius XM Live on Broadway where he performed 'Seven Wonders' and 'Goodbye' from the show (accompanied by Marc Shaiman). Click below to check out the performances!

This week, Seth speaks to CATCH ME IF YOU CAN's Aaron Tveit, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and gets the inside scoop on their Tony-nominated show.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to New York. 'Smash,' new CD releases, 'Follies,' 'Trogg!,' 'Earthqueef,' 'Show Boat' at Lyric Opera, Alan Cumming, more....

Relive the 60's! Complete with hairspray-infused towering wigs, wacky-patterned costumes and a musical beat that radiates from the stage, Stagecrafters presents the irresistible musical comedy, Hairspray which runs May 20 through June 12 at the Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. Lafayette in downtown Royal Oak.

The producers of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN announced today that the 2011 Tony Award-nominated Best Musical will launch its first national tour in the fall of 2012 at the Providence Performing Arts Center in Providence, RI.

Last night, May 23, the 2011 Drama Desk Awards Ceremony took place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan. The Book of Mormon, Anything Goes, War Horse and The Normal Heart were the night's big winners, with favorites Sutton Foster, Norbert Leo Butz, Bobby Cannavale, Frances McDormand, Laura Benanti, John Larroquette, Brian Bedford and Edie Falco taking home the evening's top performance honors. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the evening's starry opening red carpet and brings you Part 2 of our complete photo coverage below!

As a super-special Spring extension of BroadwayWorld's SOUND OFF column, every day until the Tony Awards on June 12 we will be presenting a spectacular new entry in the SPOTLIGHT ON THE 2011 TONY AWARDS series featuring a particularly entertaining, interesting, relevant and exciting Tony Awards-related clip from the last sixty-three years of the ceremonies (and subsequent seasons on Broadway) with a rundown and commentary on the sights, sounds and showmanship on display in each carefully chosen selection - all, of course, coming in anticipation of Broadway's biggest night, which will be broadcast on CBS this year, as always. Once again this year, BroadwayWorld is the official home of the 2011 Tony Awards and we will also be featuring exclusive interviews, articles, photos, video content, interactive features and more in the coming days and weeks leading up to the event so be sure to check back daily for your theatre fix!

The Hollywood Bowl's production of HAIRSPRAY reunites original Broadway stars Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Both Fierstein and Winokur, playing mother Edna Turnblad and daughter Tracy Turnblad, were awarded Tony Awards for best leading actor in a musical and best leading actress in a musical respectively for their appearances in HAIRSPRAY on Broadway. This is the first time that they have performed these roles together in Los Angeles; this is also Fierstein's Hollywood Bowl debut.

The Awards ceremony was hosted by Harvey Fierstein last night at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan Center! BroadwayWorld was updating the winners list live throughout the evening.

Nominations for The 56th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced on Friday, April 29, 2011, at 9:30 AM at the New York Friars Club, 57 East 55th Street, in Manhattan. Amongst the shows with multiple nominations were THE BOOK OF MORMON with 12, ANYTHING GOES with 10, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE with 7, BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO, CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, SEE ROCK CITY & OTHER DESTINATIONS and WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN with 6.

Culled from as A-list a list as you are ever likely to acquire - Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Michael Mayer, Theresa Rebeck and Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman onwards - SMASH is the adult answer to riveting dramatic musical entertainment coming with heart, laughs, unforgettable characters and some of the biggest twists this side of the starry stages on the Great White Way. Oh, yeah, and those hallowed Broadway halls, too. Plus, SMASH provides a great new opportunity to showcase the unbelievable talent on display on the stages of Broadway and Off-Broadway and beyond, particularly given the fact that it is shot in New York and it is being cast by the biggest casting director on Broadway, Bernie Telsey. Consider the theatre-centric casting LAW & ORDER times seventy six (trombones). All of New York is the talent pool from which the stage of SMASH shall be set. And, what exactly is SMASH about, anyway? Well, SMASH is all about Broadway and what makes a musical tick - from the very inception of the show's idea by the songwriters, through writing, rehearsals and the road; all the way to the big Broadway opening where dreams are made - and nightmares born - on one magnificent, momentous night. As viewers, we are taken inside the ticking clock of the show and we experience each and every one of the multitude of machinations enacted by everyone from the stars - Marilyn Monroe, and the actress playing her, Ivy; and, more importantly, her alternative, Karen - to the overworked director (Derek), harried songwriters Tom and Julia, and the speculative and cutthroat producer behind it all, Eileen.

DanceOn, the YouTube partnership channel exclusive for dance videos, released the tenth and final episode of DIARY OF A CHORUS GIRL today. CATCH ME IF YOU CAN officially opens at the Neil Simon Theater, and Alex Ellis celebrates her Broadway debut

BroadwayWorld.com excitedly reported last week that NBC has officially picked up the pilot entitled SMASH for a series to begin mid-season. This week in New York City, stars Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston as well as a slew of other NBC stars gathered for NBC's upfronts. Check out photos from the event below!

On Thursday, May 19, and Thursday, June 2 audience members at the new , Tony Award Nominated Broadway musical CATCH ME IF YOU CAN will get the chance to hear first-hand from the real Frank W. Abagnale Jr. (played on stage by Aaron Tveit), whose teenage escapades are the basis for the musical and the 2002 film of the same name. Immediately following the 8pm performance, Mr. Abagnale will host an on stage post-show talk back and Q&A. Tickets for these performances can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com and at The Neil Simon Box Office (250 West 52nd Street). Only ticketholders for that evening's performance will be able to attend the Talk Back.