Last night, July 9, Ben Vereen (Pippin, Fosse) hosted the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival opening night gala celebrating the season kick off. On hand to show support for the famed fest, which opened last night and runs through July 29, were Corbin Bleu ("High School Musical"), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Dreamgirls, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Leslie Krtizer (A Catered Affair), Matt Bogart (Jersey Boys), Jeremy Kushnier (Jesus Christ Superstar), Jack Noseworthy (Sweet Smell of Success), Tom Deckman (Spamalot), Anika Larsen (Xanadu), Melissa Van der Schyff (Bonnie and Clyde), and many more.
BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photo coverage below!
The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Janet Billig Rich & Rebecca Roffman present a staged reading of the new musical IT'S ON!, the T.V. show theme song musical. Readings will take place on Tuesday July 10th and Wednesday July 11th at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center located at 480 West 42nd Street. The official opening is Tuesday, July 10th at 8:00 PM.
Be the first to see tomorrow's Broadway hits at the 'Sundance of Musical Theatre,' the Festival that brought you shows like Next to Normal, Altar Boyz, , the Broadway-bound Chaplin, and many more!
The New York Musical Theatre Festival and Janet Billig Rich & Rebecca Roffman present a staged reading of the new musical IT'S ON!, the T.V. show theme song musical. Readings will take place on Tuesday July 10th and Wednesday July 11th at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center located at 480 West 42nd Street. The official opening is Tuesday, July 10th at 8:00 PM.
According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the US-born The First Wives Club and Dream Lover may be heading to Sydney for further development in the near future.
Today we are talking to an iconic Tony Award-winning star who made her name as a teenager singing on TV variety shows - THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW and SING ALONG WITH MITCH included - and then went on to a multimedia career in film and theatre, conquering Broadway with her Tony-winning turn in the Jule Styne/Arthur Laurents musical HALLELUJAH, BABY! in 1967 and returning to the stage in the subsequent decades in a host of Broadway productions, such as BLUES IN THE NIGHT, JERRY'S GIRLS, ANYTHING GOES, August Wilson's KING HEDLEY II and her celebrated Muzzy in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - a role she reprises in the new Muny production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical beginning this week - the one and only Leslie Uggams. Taking a thorough look back at her career thus far, Uggams opens up about her many successes and how she has endured for fifty years in show business and shares recollections of many of her most noted co-stars and collaborators, all the way up to the recent 2012 Encores! PIPE DREAM. Additionally, Uggams comments on her film and TV appearances over the years, speaking about her work in INHERIT THE WIND, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN, ROOTS and beyond. Plus, she shares her candid opinions on GLEE, SMASH, Broadway then versus now, future plans for her Lena Horne solo show and thoughts on other roles she would enjoy pursuing - and much, much more!
Chris Isaacson has announced that Upright Cabaret's AMERICAN ICON Series ends another stunning season with VIVA LAS VEGAS - a presentation of personality and pop that honors the flashiest performers of all time: Elvis, Cher and Elton John. Joining the group of all-star performers will be Patrick Cassidy.
Yesterday in the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown - a look at the finest moments in theatre history as shown on the Tony Awards telecasts over the last sixty years - we focused on the 1982 Best Musical winner, NINE. While Tommy Tune's Fellini-inspired fever dream won the big prize, Michael Bennett's innovative and visionary R&B pop opera DREAMGIRLS won many of the night's most significant awards and has certainly firmly established itself as a firmament of the history of the modern musical in the intervening years. Among the prizes won by the DREAMGIRLS cast and creative team: Best Actress for Jennifer Holliday, as well as wins in the Featured Actor In A Musical category, Best Book for Tom Eyen and wins in the technical categories for the unprecedented, hi-tech design.
Chris Isaacson has announced that Upright Cabaret's AMERICAN ICON Series ends another stunning season with VIVA LAS VEGAS - a presentation of personality and pop that honors the flashiest performers of all time: Elvis, Cher and Elton John. Joining the group of all-star performers will be Patrick Cassidy.
Topdog / Underdog is the story of two brothers, abandoned by their parents as adolescents, Lincoln and Booth. Both feeling powerless, they find themselves competing for the topdog position. Lincoln, the older brother, is now divorced, and living with Booth in a seedy, dilapidated room in a boarding house. They have no running water, but they have plenty of liquor. The room is furnished without comforts and with minimal furniture, including milk crates and a sheet of cardboard that serves as the card table for Booth to practice his 3-card monte hustle.
The 28th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E. presents ORIGINAL CAST 3, a musical celebration showcasing artists from theater, television and cabaret performing songs they originated in musical productions, tonight, April 28 at 7:30PM. This year, the annual event, which benefits AIDS Project Los Angeles, returns to the Saban Theatre Beverly Hills.
The 28th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E.- presents ORIGINAL CAST 3, a musical celebration showcasingartists from theater, television and cabaret performing songs they originated in musical productions, for one-night-only, tonight, April 28 at 7:30PM. This year, the annual event, which benefits AIDS Project Los Angeles, will return to the Saban Theatre Beverly Hills.
The 28th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event-S.T.A.G.E.-will presentORIGINAL CAST 3, a musical celebration showcasingartists from theater, television and cabaret performing songs they originated in musical productions, for one-night-only onSaturday, April 28 at 7:30PM. This year, the annual event, which benefits AIDS Project Los Angeles, will return to the Saban Theatre Beverly Hills.
Topdog / Underdog is the story of two brothers, abandoned by their parents as adolescents, Lincoln and Booth. Both feeling powerless, they find themselves competing for the topdog position. Lincoln, the older brother, is now divorced, and living with Booth in a seedy, dilapidated room in a boarding house. They have no running water, but they have plenty of liquor. The room is furnished without comforts and with minimal furniture, including milk crates and a sheet of cardboard that serves as the card table for Booth to practice his 3-card monte hustle.
Ebony Theatre's production of Lorraine Hansberry's American classic 'A Raisin in the Sun,' playing at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre, opened last night with performances continuing through February 19, 2012. Check out photos from the show's opening night below!
As previously announced, TLC will provide an inside look into the most memorable, outrageous and headline-garnering ceremonies of 2011 on Friday, December 23 at 10:00 PM (ET/PT).
30 years ago today, Dreamgirls premiered on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre. The production was directed by Michael Bennett, produced by Bennett, Bob Avian, Geffen Records, and The Shubert Organization, and choreographed by Bennett and Michael Peters. It starred Sheryl Lee Ralph as Deena Jones, Jennifer Holliday as Effie White, Loretta Devine as Lorrell Robinson, Ben Harney as Curtis Taylor, Jr., Cleavant Derricks as James 'Thunder' Early, and Obba Babatundé as C. C. White. Dreamgirls proved to be a star-making vehicle for several of its performers, particularly Holliday, whose performance as Effie received significant praise.