Wayman Wong News

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: Watch the new trailer for Mary Poppins Returns, starring Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emily Blunt, and more!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: Write Act Repertory's new musical LILI MARLENE opens tonight at St. Luke's Theatre!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: The Drama Desk Award nominations are being announced from Feinstein's/54 Below, and A DOLL'S HOUSE, PART 2 bows on Broadway!

Nikita Burshteyn, 22, is an award-winning actor who's making a name for himself in the San Francisco Bay Area, and not just because he's got a tricky name to pronounce. When he played Judas in 'Jesus Christ Superstar' at STAGE 1 Theater in Newark, Linda and Nick Hodges of BroadwayWorld.com raved: 'The show should be renamed 'Nikita Burshteyn Superstar.' The theater should be filled with talent agents waiting to give him an offer.' When he played Tony in 'West Side Story' at Broadway by the Bay in Redwood City, Joanne Engelhardt of the Palo Alto Daily News gushed: 'With Tom Cruise-good looks and an angelic voice, Burshteyn is the real deal.' And when he did his San Francisco cabaret act, 'Livin' Nikita Loca,' Richard Connema of Talkin' Broadway compared his 'full-throated voice and flawless phrasing' to Jonathan Groff's.

Christopher Gattelli, the Tony-winning choreographer, is practically jumping with joy over the success of ''Disney's Newsies: The Broadway Musical!'' and its giant leap to the big screen. Its three-day screenings (Feb. 16, 18 and 22) broke records to become the highest-grossing Broadway event from Fathom Events. And now ''Disney's Newsies'' will return for an encore showing on Saturday, March 4, at 12:55 p.m.

When Jose Llana was 19, 'Something Wonderful' happened: The Filipino-American actor made his Broadway bow as Lun Tha, the mellow young lover, in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's 'The King and I.' Lou Diamond Phillips played the titanic and titular ruler of Siam in that 1996 Tony-winning revival. Now, two decades later, Llana has followed in Phillips' footsteps as the new King of Broadway, with his glorious voice and regal bearing. What's more, he is taking the 2015 Tony-winning revival across America.

For Ben Fankhauser, life is 'Beautiful.' He's about to celebrate his one-year anniversary touring in that Broadway bio musical about Carole King. It showcases Abby Mueller, the sister of its original Tony-winning star, Jessie Mueller. In 'Beautiful,' Fankhauser plays Barry Mann, who teamed up with Cynthia Weil to co-write top pop hits like 'On Broadway' and 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling.'

By Wayman Wong Jonathan Groff and his cast ran the rainbow of emotions at the world premiere of their 'Looking' movie Sunday night (June 26) at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Their picture, which will air July 23 on HBO, capped the 40th anniversary of the acclaimed Frameline LGBT film festival on Pride Weekend. And Groff said he could not have been prouder than to have 1,400 fans cheer the sold-out, crowd-pleasing finale to his two-year-old cable series about gay friends seeking sex and love.

Jonathan Groff recently appeared at the historic Curran Theatre in San Francisco and wowed the crowd by 'Looking' back at his stage and screen career.

Rain on Saturday night (Feb. 23) did not dampen the spirits of more than 700 concertgoers to fill the historic performance venue The Town Hall in Times Square for the post-Valentine concert of 'Les Miserables' alums Adam Jacobs and Ali Ewoldt.

Awards season is in full swing and to celebrate all of the 2011-2012 nominees, we've dug deep into our archives to bring you vintage photos of all of the talent during special moments in their careers. Check out the 2011-2012 Tony-nominated men below!

Happy Days are Here Again! Simply Barbra is in San Diego this weekend at The Celebration Cabaret!!! Hurry, hurry, don't be late....we can't wait, we gotta celebrate! There'll be no more tears if you join us for the two performances of the internationally-acclaimed Barbra Streisand impressionist Steven Brinberg when he brings his latest SIMPLY BARBRA show to our cabaret this weekend, March 12 and 13

Happy Days are Here Again! Simply Barbra is in San Diego this weekend at The Celebration Cabaret!!! Hurry, hurry, don't be late....we can't wait, we gotta celebrate! There'll be no more tears if you join us for the two performances of the internationally-acclaimed Barbra Streisand impressionist Steven Brinberg when he brings his latest SIMPLY BARBRA show to our cabaret this weekend, March 12 and 13

Applause Video will be selling a special 4-DVD set of 'The Leading Men' concerts on Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Broadway Flea Market in Shubert Alley.

Applause Video will be selling a special 4-DVD set of 'The Leading Men' concerts on Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Broadway Flea Market in Shubert Alley.

Drama Desk nominees received their official Nomination Certificates at a cocktail reception on Thursday, May 6 at Churrascaria Plataforma, New York's authentic Brazilian Steak House, 346 West 49th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). BroadwayWorld.com was there to share the event with you!

Tom Andersen, Scott Coulter and Tim Di Pasqua will perform their award-winning show, 'Southern Comfort: A Down-Home Country Music Jamboree!,' on Friday, March 12, at 7 p.m. at the Schwartz Center for the Arts, 226 S. State St. in Dover, Delaware. The trio will sing classic and contemporary hits by Glen Campbell, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill, George Jones, Alan Jackson, k.d. lang, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis and Hank Williams.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Broadway audiences may be able to expect adaptations of both Dumbo and Newsies in the near future. Disney continues to fuel this speculation, as stitchkingdom.com is now revealing that Disney Theatricals has registered website domains for both productions.

Tom Andersen, Scott Coulter and Tim Di Pasqua will perform their award-winning show, 'Southern Comfort: A Down-Home Country Music Jamboree!,' on Friday, March 12, at 7 p.m. at the Schwartz Center for the Arts, 226 S. State St. in Dover, Delaware. The trio will sing classic and contemporary hits by Glen Campbell, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill, George Jones, Alan Jackson, k.d. lang, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis and Hank Williams.

Wayman Wong of the NY Daily News has revealed that Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken has told him that he and lyricist Jack Feldman who wrote the music for the 1992 film are working on bringing the show to the stage, with a reading scheduled for the Spring of 2010 and a new book being written by Harvey Fierstein.