Whoopi Goldberg News

Gerard Alessandrini's, FORBIDDEN BROADWAY: ALIVE AND KICKING, which received unanimous raves from critics and audiences alike, broke all box-office records at the 47th Street Theatre, and won spots on the Top Ten Lists of Time Magazine and the Associated Press, will wind up its current edition at the 47th Street Theatre on Sunday, April 28, in order to make room for The Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre's own season, as required by the show's lease agreement with the theatre. In a statement, Mr. Alessandrini said, "We knew from the start that the theatre could only be ours until the end of April. Although we hate to leave town when we're a hit, I actually think this is a perfect time for us to wind up "Alive and Kicking", which has been a thrilling return to New York for us, to take a brief break; and to begin plans to return with another edition later this year." The show, which has recently added extended parodies of Cinderella and the movie version of Les Miz, is also a Critic's Pick for The New York Times, The Daily News and New York Magazine. This edition stars Lindsay Nicole Chambers, Natalie Charle Ellis, Scott Richard Foster, Marcus Stevens and David Caldwell on piano. DRG Record's cast recording FORBIDDEN BROADWAY; ALIVE AND KICKING! The UN-Original Cast Album, is available in stores, on iTunes and Amazon.com.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre will continue their Spring 2013 season on Thursday, March 14 at The Duplex in New York's West Village. After a sell-out year, The Meeting* has added a second performance each month due to popular demand; there are now shows at 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM.

UNCF An Evening of Stars Educating Our Future Presented by Target is back by popular demand. Viewers across the country will be able to watch the 34th airing legendary television event during its rebroadcast nationwide on Sunday, March 17, on Centric at 8:00 PM EDT.

With Whoopi Goldberg in the audience, the Dutch version of Sister Act premiered in Scheveningen on March 2nd. Helmed by director Carline Brouwer, starring Carolina Dijkhuizen as Doloris Van Cartier, the show opended to largely positive reviews. Here's BroadwayWorld's summary of the reviews by the national newspapers.

The View might be fairly close to filling one of its vacant co-host positions. Following the news that both Joy Behar and Elisabeth Hasselbeck would be departing the long-running ABC daytime talk show, Showbiz 411 reports that executive producer and co-host, Barbara Walters, is gunning for Brooke Shields to join the panel.

There's been another shakeup on THE VIEW's host panel. Sources have confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that former Survivor Elisabeth Hasselbeck will be following in the footsteps of Joy Behar, and departing the long-running ABC daytime talk show come August. The news that Behar, one of the original hosts of the show, would exit, broke yesterday.

SOLO IN THE CITY: JEWISH WOMEN, JEWISH STARS is a solo performance series which will be presented throughout March at Baruch Performing Arts Center. The series will feature seven leading and emerging NYC-based soloists including Sandra Bernhard, Tovah Feldshuh, Judy Gold, and Jackie Hoffman performing one-woman shows and a special opening lecture/film event. The Baruch Performing Arts Center is located on the campus of Baruch College in Manhattan on East 25th Street between Lexington & 3rd Aves.

Full casting has been announced for the UK Tour of GHOST THE MUSICAL, beginning at the Wales Millennium Center, Cardiff, in April.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed gay comedy/variety show - will continue its Spring 2013 season on Thursday, March 14 at The Duplex in New York's West Village. After a sell-out year, The Meeting* has added a second performance each month due to popular demand; there are now shows at 7:000 PM and 9:30 PM.

SISTER ACT, the family friendly, over the top spectacle with nuns that rock, opens at the Academy of Music on April 2 - 7 for a limited engagement as part of the Broadway Season, presented by The Kimmel Center and The Shubert Organization. The press opening is Tuesday, April 2 at 7:30 pm.

Whoopi Goldberg, who has been delighting audiences since the age of eight, will return to Treasure Island, April 5 at 9 p.m.

Barbara Walters made her triumphant return to ABC's THE VIEW yesterday after overcoming the ill effects of a bad fall, followed by a bout of the chicken pox. Upon her return, the host shared that a 'well-known actor' had given her chicken pox but did not reveal the star's identity until today.

Vinnie Favale and Indie Global present staged readings of Hereafter (written by Vinnie Favale and Frankie Keane) on Monday, March 4th and Tuesday, March 5th in New York City. The industry-only staged readings are open by invitation only.

Casting is complete for The Actors Fund's benefit reading of the American classic Our Town tonight, March 4, 2013 at 7:30 p .m. at The Gerald R. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street). Tony Winners Blythe Danner, BD Wong and two-time Tony Award nominee S. Epatha Merkerson will share the role of the Stage Manager for this one night benefit.

Today we are celebrating one of the most beloved special entertainment events of all time - originally an original musical written for television, presented live, actually - which has now been retrofitted, refigured and wholly reinvented into an entirely new experience live on Broadway byway of the brand new stage adaptation of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA, which opens this weekend!

Surprises are in store and an appearance from Regis Philbin when Barbara Walters, executive producer, co-host and creator of ABC's THE VIEW, (11:00 a.m.-12:00 noon, ET), returns live MONDAY, MARCH 4.

Hip hop's MC and lyricist Nas will perform live in concert at DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, tonight, March 1, 2013. Following the release of his best-selling #1 new album Life Is Good, Nas is currently nominated for four Grammy© Awards including Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance. This exclusive concert will be hosted by Durham's own 9th Wonder, Grammy©-winning producer, DJ and college lecturer.

Casting is complete for The Actors Fund's upcoming benefit reading of the American classic Our Town on Monday, March 4, 2013 at 7:30 p .m. at The Gerald R. Lynch Theatre at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street). Tony Winners Blythe Danner, BD Wong and two-time Tony Award nominee S. Epatha Merkerson will share the role of the Stage Manager for this one night benefit.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre - the acclaimed gay comedy/variety show - has announced its Spring 2013 season at The Duplex in New York's West Village. Each edition of The Meeting* honors a different gay icon; following the Elaine Stritch tribute in February, the rest of the season will honor Karen Carpenter (March 14), the movie 'Showgirls' (April 18) and Justin Vivian Bond (May 16). Special guests will be announced soon. After a sell-out year, The Meeting* will add a second performance each month due to popular demand; there are now shows at 7:000 PM and 9:30 PM.

Today we are shifting our focus from the stages of Broadway and beyond to the stages of the previous 84 Academy Awards telecasts that have transpired to date, in anticipation of Sunday night's big, big, big show. After all, this year's Academy Awards is of particular interest and excitement to theatre fans around the globe, especially because super-producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are behind it - the men responsible for the hit stage-to-screen adaptations of CHICAGO and HAIRSPRAY, as well as the small-screen successes GYPSY, LIFE WITH JUDY GARLAND: ME & MY SHADOWS, ANNIE, and, most recently, NBC's musical series SMASH, to name a few of their many marvelous musical-friendly credits. They told me themselves earlier this week that this year's telecast would be the most music-packed Academy Awards show to date, and, just judging from the announced tributes, performers and presenters thus far it is clear to see that they were not kidding - reunions of the casts of the film versions of CHICAGO and LES MISERABLES live onstage, singing their film's most famous songs to Jennifer Hudson leading a DREAMGIRLS tribute all the way to a James Bond 50th anniversary celebration featuring Adele and Shirley Bassey on some famous Bond themes, as well as Barbra Streisand herself singing 'The Way We Were' in memory of friend and collaborator, three-time Oscar-winner Marvin Hamlisch.