The Book of Merman - Articles Page 6

BroadwayWorld has just learned that Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE will return to Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street) this spring. Bill Camp (as Reverend John Hale), Jim Norton (as Giles Corey), Tavi Gevinson (as Mary Warren), and Jason Butler Harner (as Reverend Samuel Parris) are among those who will join previously announced stars Ben Whishaw (as John Proctor), Sophie Okonedo (as Elizabeth Proctor), Saoirse Ronan (as Abigail Williams), and Ciaran Hinds (as Deputy-Governor Danforth).

ArtsEmerson: The World on Stage presents the East Coast Premiere of HERSHEY FELDER AS IRVING BERLIN: A NEW MUSICAL PLAY at the Emerson/Cutler Majestic Theatre. Performances have been extended through August 2nd for this feel-good evening of just over two dozen selections from Berlin's vast catalogue. The program includes unknown gems, lovely ballads, patriotic tunes, and favorites that everyone can sing along with, but Felder's artistry also evokes the man behind the music. Irving Berlin is a delight for any and all who appreciate hearing an array of standards from the great American song book.

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Comedy of Errors as The Old Globe's 2015 Summer Shakespeare Festival continues the Globe's 80th Anniversary festivities as part of the Balboa Park Centennial Celebration.

Today we are toasting this week's big news than Megan Hilty will take on the title role in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN.

Sean Graney, who recently returned to Chicago to resume his post as Artistic Director of The Hypocrites, informed the Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee that he just learned the theater company had been operating under an Equity CAT-N contract for the duration of the 2014-2015 Non-Equity season.  Over the past year, requests for judging its productions were made to the Non-Equity Wing without the committee having knowledge of the company's Equity status. The Jeff Committee was aware that two of the productions had Equity performers (as indicated in the program); however, the committee has now confirmed that these were not guest contracts.  As such, the company's productions are not eligible for consideration in the Non-Equity Wing, and all related Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations have been rescinded.  The productions in question will be shifted to the Equity Wing for awards consideration during its current season, which commenced on August 1, 2014 and will end on July 30, 2015.

The Jeff Awards Committee today announced 118 nominations in 24 categories for the 42nd Annual Non-Equity Jeff Awards for productions that opened between April 1, 2014, and March 31, 2015. The Non-Equity Awards honor excellence in Chicago theatres not under a union contract. Jeff judges attended opening nights of 133 productions offered by 56 Non-Equity producing organizations. The Jeff Committee recommended 62 of those shows, making them eligible for Non-Equity Jeff Award nominations. Of the 62 Jeff Recommended productions, 46 received nominations, representing 23 theatre companies.

The Meeting* hosted by Justin Sayre, the acclaimed comedy/variety show, will return to JOE'S PUB at The Public Theater on Sunday, January 18 at 9:30 PM to open the Winter/Spring 2015 Season. The Meeting* has been called 'delicious and delightfully droll' by The New York Post and 'hilarious and sardonic' by The Village Voice. A story for Slate.com called the evening 'so deliciously icy that it left me shivering with fear and delight.' The Fall 2014 shows sold out after a New York Times 'Arts & Leisure' piece ran in September. The January show will include a tribute to Broadway legend Ethel Merman, with special guests Klea Blackhurst, Erin Markey, Nora Mae Lyng, Molly Pope and Ben Rimalower. Tracy Stark serves as the show's Music Director.

If you've been a regular reader of this particular reviewer's musings, you know that every year there are long stretches of time where I just haven't been able to critique all the shows I've seen that deserve commentary. So I end up playing what they call in sports, 'Catch-up ball,' and post a mash up of belated reviews from past shows. It's kind of like a critic's version of the song 'Six Months Out of Every Year,' from Damn Yankees. Give or take a month or two, that's usually the time period during which I store unpublished reviews in my fevered brain and then unload them all in one seemingly endless column-like this one is going to be. If my cabaret-show reviewing days will be over (as chronicled here), I might as well go out with a bang-and relieve my procrastination guilt during holiday season. Now I can scratch one New Year's resolution off the list.

It's your last week to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Columbus Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 26th. Voting closes at the end of the year, in under one week!

Time is ticking on your last chance to vote for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Columbus Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 19th. Voting closes at the end of the year!

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Columbus Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Columbus Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of December 4th.

Voting has now opened for the 2014 BroadwayWorld Columbus Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 25th.

In celebration of this season's ON THE TOWN, we've collected 10 of our favorite dance musicals. From classics like ANYTHING GOES, 42ND STREET, A CHORUS LINE and WEST SIDE STORY to modern marvels such as NEWSIES and STRICTLY BALLROOM, the way choreography is used to tell a story continues to evolve and inspire.

This August and September 54 BELOW presents an exciting lineup of the brightest talent from Broadway and beyond. Located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street.

History is being made over at the Harriet S. Jorgensen Theatre on the UConn campus as Leslie Uggams becomes the first African-American actress to star as Rose in an Equity production with a mixed race cast for the musical Gypsy.

As the summer months heat up, so do the Columbus stages. Check out BWW's top 5 picks that the whole family can enjoy without breaking the bank this summer:

Today we continue the 2014 edition of our annual BroadwayWorld feature series spotlighting the very best Tony Awards-related moments of all time with a special focus on one of the most adored and highly-awarded musicals ever written, HELLO, DOLLY!

Producing Artistic Director Mark Cortale, now entering his fourth season at the helm of Provincetown's Art House Theater, has made the picturesque Cape Cod town a must-do stop on the itinerary of Broadway's brightest stars. The Art House continues to somehow top itself with each successive summer's celebrity lineup.

Today we continue the 2014 edition of our annual BroadwayWorld feature series spotlighting the very best Tony Awards-related moments of all time with a special spotlight on one of the most revered and revived musicals of all time, GYPSY!

In honor of this weekend's sure-to-be spectacular BroadwayWorld special event EVERYTHING'S COMING UP BROADWAYWORLD.COM: A JULE STYNE TRIBUTE, today we honor the man behind the music for many of the greatest musicals of all time.

Katy Lipson of Aria Entertainment and Robert McWhir of The Landor Theatre are delighted to announce the full programme of work for the second annual From Page To Stage Festival, a season of new musical theatre at the Landor Theatre from Monday 10 February to Sunday 9 March 2014.

Executive produced by James Lapine and Frank Rich, the exclusive HBO presentation debuts MONDAY, DEC. 9 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT).

While it was billed as a presentation celebrating the release of his 13-song CD, Tales From the Bonus Round, and his 60th birthday, Steven Schalchlin's recent show at the Metropolitan Room was so much more than that. It was also one about fear, fortitude, anxiety, anguish, compassion, courage, and love, all expressed in poetic and often clever lyrics and melodies ranging from uplifting gospel to Billy Joel-sounding mid-tempo pop to sensitive ballads, many colored with musical theater undertones. At their core, most of the songs conveyed what Schalchlin has thought, felt and experienced since early 1993, when he was diagnosed with AIDS, launched one of the first internet diaries/blogs (in early 1996), stared death in the face on a daily basis, took an experimental AIDS drug (Crixivan), and ultimately regained his health and career. When you listen to his songs, it's not hard to believe Schalchlin when he claims that during those scary days writing music and the “healing properties of piano vibrations” also helped save his life, and the 17 years since are what he calls his “Bonus Round.”