Birth Place: Boston, MA, USA
Curtain up! Light the lights! Six-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald takes on the role of a lifetime, playing 'Mama' Rose Hovick in the classic musical, Gypsy, is now running on Broadway at the newly renovated Majestic Theatre. Read the reviews!
Gypsy is back on Broadway, starring Audra McDonald in the iconic role of Mama Rose. BroadwayWorld is looking back on some of the performers who have taken on the musical's lead role, from Ethel Merman to Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, and more.
One of the most exciting updates to expect from the 2024 revival of GYPSY will be the inclusion of a fully restored score- a project that is being helmed by Musical Supervisor, Director and Conductor Andy Einhorn. He checked in with BroadwayWorld to tell us all about the work he and his colleagues are doing to create a Gypsy that hasn't been heard since 1959.
Recently I wrote a Broadway World feature dealing with a partial restoration of Robert Ginzler’s original orchestrations for Bye, Bye, Birdie at the Kennedy Center by conductor John Bell with additional work by Joshua Clayton. When the piece was shared on social media, it started a bigger conversation about proper credit for the original orchestrator. Robert Ginzler was somehow never acknowledged in the Kennedy Center program.
Nowadays orchestra size has become more and more of an issue for me. Even when seeing productions of classic Broadway musicals, there is a tendency to reduce the size of the orchestra for more in the way of production elements. It’s even worse when a production “reimagines” the charts completely and wipes away the work of Robert Russell Bennett, Don Walker, and even Jonathan Tunick. The latter should be deemed sacrilege.
What better way to ease into fall and the holiday season than with an evening of show tunes with a symphony orchestra, three great singers, and a superb maestro.
Fred Barton and Elena Bennett bring their Song Salon back to Pangea!
While Labor Day weekend marked the unofficial end of summer it also marked Signature Theatre’s return to presenting LIVE entertainment. In this case, it was not in the cozy confines of their home in Shirlington but at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap. The concert entitled Broadway in the Park marked the first of what we hope to be many collaborations between these two giants of the arts organizations.
The cast includes Bette Midler as Mama Rose, alongside Cynthia Gibb, Elisabeth Moss, Peter Riegart, Jennifer Rae Beck, Lacey Chabert, Edward Asner, Linda Hart, Christine Ebersole, Andrew Martin, Tony Shalhoub, and more!
American Dance Machine for the 21st Century has released its next virtual video, “Cool” from West Side Story, performed by 10 extraordinary dancers around New York City. “Cool” was directed by Tony Award nominee Joshua Bergasse, with choreography by Jerome Robbins recreated by Robert La Fosse.
Dharon E. Jones, making his Broadway debut, will succeed actor Ben Cook in the role of 'Riff' in the new Broadway production of West Side Story, producers Scott Rudin/Barry Diller/David Geffen announced today.
Producers Scott Rudin / Barry Diller / David Geffen announced today that the Broadway return of the Jerome Robbins / Arthur Laurents / Leonard Bernstein / Stephen Sondheim musical, West Side Story, has once again broken the all-time Broadway Theatre house record for a single week, with a gross of $1,807,025.94. In 7 performances the previous week, West Side Story broke the record (with a gross of $1,497,319) held by Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella ($1,479,889.97, established on 12/29/13, for an 8-performance week).
I've recently had the great pleasure of interviewing actress Addie Morales, who is currently in rehearsals for North Carolina Theatre's upcoming production of West Side Story, where she'll be starring in the coveted role of Maria. Addie has previously played the role numerous times regionally at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Barrington Stage Company, Casa Mañana, and New London Barn. Her other regional credits include Tick, Tick, Boom at Playhouse Square and The Buddy Holly Story at Casa Mañana.
BroadwayWorld is saddened to report that composer and orchestrator Sid Ramin, best known for his work on West Side Story, has died, according to The New York Times. Ramin was 100 years old.
State Theatre New Jersey presents the Czech National Symphony Orchestra in a program celebrating 100 years of Leonard Bernstein's work on Sunday, February 24, 2019 at 3pm. This concert features conductor John Mauceri and Grammy Award-winning Mezzo-Soprano Isabel Leonard. Tickets range from $17.50-$70.
Assistant Conductor Joshua Gersen will conduct the New York Philharmonic in a program of 20th-century American works: Barber's Adagio for Strings, Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, and Copland's Symphony No. 3, Thursday, February 22, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, February 23 at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, February 24 at 8:00 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein was arguably one of the most versatile musicians the world has ever known. If you are a lover of classical music, you know that his recordings and compositions were the stuff legend is made of; and if you are a musical theatre geek, you know that Bernstein wrote some of the most innovative and genre-merging theatrical scores that still have not been topped to this day.
American Composers Orchestra (ACO) announces its complete 2017-2018 season, Dreamscapes, under the leadership of Artistic Director Derek Bermel, Music Director George Manahan, and President Edward Yim, featuring ten world, U.S., and New York premieres by a diverse set of composers. ACO continues its concerts at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall (December 8, 2017 and April 6, 2018) while expanding its presence in New York to include performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center (November 7, 2017) and as part of the 2018 PROTOTYPE Festival (January 12-14, 2018). ACO continues to take its commitment to fostering new work beyond the stage in its annual Underwood New Music Readings (June 21 and 22, 2018) for emerging composers, now in its 27th year, and through EarShot, the National Orchestra Composition Discovery Network, which brings the Readings experience to orchestras across the country.
SAN FRANCISCO, December 5, 2014 – Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony's live concert recording of Leonard Bernstein's complete score for the musical West Side Story is nominated for a Grammy® Award in the category of Best Musical Theater Album. The album features a stellar Broadway cast including Cheyenne Jackson and Alexandra Silber, and members of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. The performances were recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall in late June and early July 2013 after Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony became the first orchestra to receive permission from all four West Side Storyrights-holders to perform and record the musical score in its entirety in a concert setting.
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