Valerie Harper News

Today, in an excerpt from The O'Neill: Transformation of Modern American Theater, we hear from Manhattan Theatre Club Executive Producer Barry Grove who cites his semester away at NTI for 'literally changing the arc of my life - it led to Broadway, the National Playwrights Conference, my Equity card as a Stage Manager, the RSC with the infant Shakespeare & Co, a national tour launch, and a summer stock tour - all before I graduated from Dartmouth!'

Audiences who can't get enough of reality television can take their obsession to the next level when the spectacular dancing and singing extravaganza BALLROOM WITH A TWIST performs live on stage at Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre. BALLROOM WITH A TWIST featuring celebrity pros from 'Dancing with the Stars,' dancing with finalists from 'So You Think You Can Dance' along with live vocals provided by finalists from 'American Idol,' and 'The X Factor,' will play three performances only from July 23 - July 25.

Mary Louise Wilson has been a luminary force in the theatre world for nearly five decades. The veteran actor's performances have ranged from a Tony Award-winning portrayal of Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens to a Drama Desk Award-winning role as legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, which she co-authored with Mark Hampton. But she hasn't limited her talents to the stage. Wilson's astonishing resume also features roles on Louis C.K.'s award-winning television show Louie, Amazon's recent hit Mozart in the Jungle, and the Academy Award nominated film Nebraska. The biting wit and brutal honesty that Wilson brings to her many outstanding performances is once again illuminated in her forthcoming memoir MY FIRST HUNDRED YEARS IN SHOW BUSINESS (Published by The Overlook Press / Hardcover / $28.95 / ISBN: 978-1-4683-1085-6 / Publication Date: July 13, 2015).

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Founding fathers, stage moms, music icons and more!

The Ogunquit Playhouse is thrilled to announce that star of stage, screen and television Valerie Harper will join the cast in the role of the wealthy and stylish Millicent Winter in the delightful Nice Work If You Can Get It on stage July 22 to August 15. Also joining the cast is two-time Emmy Award winner Sally Struthers as the Dutchess Estonia, a temperance enforcer who is set against a gang of bootleggers in this madcap musical comedy set during the Roaring Twenties. This brand-new musical written by Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro is based on material by Guy Bolton and P. G. Wodehouse and was nominated in 2012 for 10 Tony Awards, winning two. This high-stepping Broadway musical recalls the golden age of American musicals, complete with extravagant dance numbers, glittering Broadway costumes and a treasure trove of George and Ira Gershwin's most beloved songs, including "But Not For Me," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "I've Got a Crush on You" and "Someone to Watch Over Me."

Mary Louise Wilson has been a luminary force in the theatre world for nearly five decades. The veteran actor's performances have ranged from a Tony Award-winning portrayal of Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens to a Drama Desk Award-winning role as legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, which she co-authored with Mark Hampton. But she hasn't limited her talents to the stage. Wilson's astonishing resume also features roles on Louis C.K.'s award-winning television show Louie, Amazon's recent hit Mozart in the Jungle, and the Academy Award nominated film Nebraska. The biting wit and brutal honesty that Wilson brings to her many outstanding performances is once again illuminated in her forthcoming memoir MY FIRST HUNDRED YEARS IN SHOW BUSINESS (Published by The Overlook Press / Hardcover / $28.95 / ISBN: 978-1-4683-1085-6 / Publication Date: July 13, 2015).

Issaquah, Washington

Dysfunctional families provide delicious humor for stage and film, because most everyone can identify with one or more of the characters. And if they plan a mercy killing? The irreverent humor quadruples. In Howard Skora's new world premiere comedy Miserable with an Ocean View, we come face to face with a Jewish family on Long Island - a mother, who is wheelchair-bound and dying, two sons - one gay and one super macho straight - and one daughter, a horrible interior designer whose long-term marriage is on the rocks. Now for a limited run through July 18 at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks, Miserable is laugh.out.loud funny with fluid direction from Jim Fall and a marvelous cast headed by Patty McCormack as grandma Rhoda.

Valerie Harper is not letting brain cancer, even a rare form, keep her down.

Actress/producer/motivational speaker/champion of senior causes Jackie Goldberg, known more popularly as the Pink Lady and 'Pink' o her friends, has come up with yet another fantastic idea to help promote permanent senior entertainment in greater Los Angeles. The event is appropriately entitled Senior Star Search, a senior competition that will be held on Sunday July 12 at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre at Barnsdall Park, Hollywood. Co-producing the event will be actress/singer/humanitarian Barbara Van Orden, known for her outrageous Las Vegas night club act as well as her close involvement in producing LA's Next Great Stage Star held annually at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in North Hollywood. Goldberg and Van Orden as co-producers of Senior Star Search wish to bring active, motivated seniors into local live entertainment. They are hopeful that more than 200 interested entertainers 55 or older will come forth to audition for the event on May 23rd and 24th.

'THE STARS COME OUT FOR SURVIVORS - NYC' is slated for tonight, May 9th at Webster Hall in NYC, with a special full benefit concert by Indigo Girls presented by the award-winning Survivor Mitzvah Project.

"THE STARS COME OUT FOR SURVIVORS - NYC" is slated for Saturday, May 9th at Webster Hall in NYC, with a special full benefit concert by Indigo Girls presented by the award-winning Survivor Mitzvah Project.

West Coast Jewish Theatre has announced the first production of its 2015-16 season, the American Premiere of O My God by Anat Gov. Directed by WCJT Artistic Director Howard Teichman, the show opens tonight, April 18 at 8pm at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. The engagement will run through June 7.

Rick McKay, the producer/director of Rick McKay's Broadway: The Golden Age Film Trilogy, just unveiled a backstage video of Valerie Harper and himself wishing legendary dance pioneer and teacher Eugene 'Luigi' Louis Facciuto a happy 85th birthday after a performance of LOOPED. Watch the footage below!

Valerie Harper, the actress best known as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s sitcoms "Rhoda" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming award ceremony honoring oncology nurses, CURETM magazine announced today.

Impassioned members of Actors' Equity Association in Los Angeles have raised funds from within their own ranks to follow up yesterday's North Hollywood rally with a full-page ad in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times to urge a 'No' vote on the upcoming AEA advisory referendum to eliminate L.A.'s 99-Seat Theater Plan. Scroll down for photos from the Pro-99 Rally, held yesterday, March 23!

West Coast Jewish Theatre has announced the first production of its 2015-16 season, the American Premiere of O My God by Anat Gov. Directed by WCJT Artistic Director Howard Teichman, there will be two preview performances on April 16 and 17 with opening set for Saturday, April 18 at 8pm at the Pico Playhouse in West Los Angeles. The engagement will run through June 7.

Frances Fisher, French Stewart and Kirsten Vangsness will join a protest march by members of Actors' Equity Association against a proposal recently announced by their union to end the 99-Seat Theater Plan in Los Angeles on Monday, March 23.

The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 60 short films, 40 of which are world premieres.

TheaterWorks the award winning theater in downtown Hartford, under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Rob Ruggiero, announced today that DANCING LESSONS by Mark St. Germain will extend its run through Friday, March 6, 2015 due to popular demand.