Theatre Memphis presents Bye Bye Birdie, a family musical. For more information, visit their website.
Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse! Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy (1964, also with Adams), starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966, based on the popular comic strip) which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams) won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon (1979), Dance a Little Closer (1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Rags (1986), Nick & Nora (1993), and An American Tragedy (1995, with lyrics by David Shaber).
The Sunday, June 2nd Kritzerland Show at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal in North Hollywood proved another highly enjoyable evening from Bruce Kimmel and Adryan Russ. The composer celebrated in this show, Noel Coward, is perhaps more renowned for his lyrics than his melodies, but what lyrics they are! Clever, witty, or cynical, they come fast and they delight the intellect.
The 2014 season of New York City Center's Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open with Little Me directed by John Rando and starring Christian Borle ('Smash,' Peter and the Starcatcher) on February 5, 2014. The season will continue with The Most Happy Fella, directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and starring Shuler Hensley (Oklahoma!, The Whale), followed by Irma La Douce, directed by John Doyle. Encores! Music Director Rob Berman will helm all shows.
Left Field Productions, Neil Berg, Adam Friedson and MSC OPAS at Texas A&M University welcome veteran Broadway actor Marc Kudisch to direct the world premiere project that will close the 40th Anniversary OPAS Season at Texas A&M University - Neil Berg's The Phantoms of the Opera.
Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman was Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Alli Mauzey, Adam Monley, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman played at City Center for seven performances only - check out photos from the closing night after party below!
Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman was Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Alli Mauzey, Adam Monley, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman played at City Center for seven performances only - see the final curtain call below!
Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman is Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Alli Mauzey, Adam Monley, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman plays at City Center for seven performances through today, March 24, and is directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman. Bob Holiday, the original Broadway Superman visited today's matinee, and BroadwayWorld brings you photos of him at the performance below!
Superman will return to the stage in the upcoming New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman. The production will feature Edward Watts in the title role with Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Adam Monley, Alli Mauzey, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.
BroadwayWorld brings you just-released highlights from the production below!
Superman finds his Lois Lane! Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman will be Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Erich Bergen, Alli Mauzey, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, tonight, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.
Superman finds his Lois Lane! Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman will be Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with , Alli Mauzey, Adam Monley, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.
The cast and creative team met the press earlier today, and BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was there to chat with them about the show. Check out what they had to say and catch a performance preview below!
Superman finds his Lois Lane! Joining Edward Watts (Superman) in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman will be Jenny Powers as Lois Lane and David Pittu as the evil Dr. Sedgwick, along with Erich Bergen, Alli Mauzey, James Saito and Will Swenson. Superman will play at City Center for seven performances, March 20 - 24, and will be directed by John Rando with choreography by Joshua Bergasse and music direction by Rob Berman.
Edward Watts will star as Superman in the New York City Center Encores! production of It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman, runningMarch 20- 24 at City Center. Stay tuned for the identities of the actors portraying Lois Lane, the evil Dr. Sedgwick and other inhabitants of the city of Metropolis.
Left Field Productions, Neil Berg, Adam Friedson and MSC OPAS at Texas A&M University have announced that veteran Broadway actor Marc Kudisch will direct the world premiere project that will close the 40th Anniversary OPAS Season at Texas A&M University - Neil Berg's The Phantoms of the Opera.
Peter Marshall, the five-time Emmy Award-winning host of The Hollywood Squares, who interrupted a career on Broadway to heed the call of Hollywood, returns to his showbusiness roots in a six-show major engagement at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, in January. The January 11 to 14 run marks the entertainer's first club dates in New York since he appeared with his comedy-variety partner Tommy Noonan in the late 1950's.
According to published reports, Broadway veteran Bonnie Lynn Fields passed away on Saturday, November 17 from cancer. She was 68 years old.
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from tonight, October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.
Sometimes once is just not enough, so, today, we have a super-special encore conversation with a recent InDepth InterView participant who shares even more candid tales from her impossibly colorful, genre-spanning career on Broadway and in Hollywood - star of properties as diverse as the Broadway musicals MR. PRESIDENT, KELLY and THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG, to movies like MOONSTRUCK and SHALL WE DANCE to her numerous TV appearances on everything from MATCH GAME to QUINCY to 30 ROCK - chameleon-like comedienne and actress Anita Gillette. Discussing some of the more ribald and hilarious stories from her idiosyncratic showbiz career - such as the riotous backstage goings-on out of town at the tryout of one of Broadway biggest bombs, KELLY - as well as spine-tingling "you had to be there"-type memories of the Golden Age - like Irving Berlin stopping by the Winter Garden every Wednesday just to see her Act One showstopper in ALL AMERICAN - Gillette paints a vivid picture of an era gone by, and, also, looks ahead to exciting future endeavors - especially the upcoming Ed Burns-directed feature film, THE FITZGERALD FAMILY CHRISTMAS, opening wide later this year. Of course, Gillette returns to the NYC stage the next two Mondays - September 24 and October 1 - with her new Birdland show, AFTER ALL, so in this all-encompassing conversation we also discuss the themes, style, songs and stories we can anticipate from that intimate solo piece, as well, and she generously shares her recollections of working with some of the men who penned many of the sensational songs she will be performing and figure in to some of the tales she will tell - Charles Strouse, Marvin Hamlisch, Jule Styne, Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and the aforementioned Irving Berlin included. All of that and much, much more!
Chanhassen Dinner Theatres brings its audiences a fresh rendition of a musical classic never before seen on the Main Stage with BYE BYE BIRDIE. This all-American musical will light up the stage with preview performances from October 5 through 18. Official grand opening festivities take place on October 19. The production is slated to run through March 30, 2013.
Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army. Bye Bye Birdie runs today, July 13 through July 22 in the Robinson Theatre, 617 Lexington Street, Waltham.
Today we are talking to a celebrated comedienne and actress known for her decades-spanning career on screens and stages large and small - from making her Broadway debut in the original Jerome Robbins production of GYPSY on Broadway in 1960 to her many musical roles throughout the 60s to her countless game show and variety show appearances following that all the way to creating an unforgettable character in MOONSTRUCK in the 1980s, as well as her subsequent oft-Neil Simon stage work; now, playing Tina Fey's sweet and daffy mom on NBC's 30 ROCK and, most recently, appearing in Nora & Celia Ephron's LOVE, LOSS AND WHAT I WORE and the Playwright's Horizons premiere production of THE BIG MEAL in the new millennium - the one of a kind Anita Gillette. Analyzing her nearly sixty-year career and sharing candid stories of her brushes with some of Broadway and Hollywood's brightest talents - Jule Styne to Ethel Merman to Irving Berlin to Burt Lancaster and beyond - Gillette paints a vivid portrait of the tail end of the Golden Age of Broadway and the heady game show days of TV in the 1960s and 70s to her lauded stage work with Neil Simon and many of the great comedy and musical writers in the years since. Additionally, Gillette and I discuss her current essaying of the role of Mae Peterson in the new Regal Music Theatre production of Charles Strouse and Lee Adams's BYE BYE BIRDIE in Massachusetts as she looks towards opening night tomorrow and relates her joy in participating in a production that has some behind-the-scenes help by her loving granddaughter (while another attends their summer camp). Plus, Gillette's observations on sharing a soundstage with Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Elaine Stritch and Buck Henry for a recent 30 ROCK shoot, reflections on her fondest and most celebrated comedy roles, hilarious memories of appearing in some short-running flops (JIMMY, SKYSKRAPER) as well as in some big hits (GYPSY), her upcoming series of master classes titled "Life In The Business", her return to Birdland with her concert show, AFTER ALL, her role in an upcoming Ed Burns film and maybe even a role in a new Alexander Payne film - all of that, all about attending the Diamond Jubilee celebration in the United Kingdom and much, much more!
Pittsburgh CLO will present Fiddler on the Roof, July 13-22 at the Benedum Center. This classic tale is filled with 'memorable music, rousing dances and a touch of human wisdom.'
Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston has announced the full cast of BYE BYE BIRDIE, the Tony Award-winning 1960s rock 'n' roll-inspired musical parody of what happens to a small Midwestern community when an Elvis-like singing sensation swings through town looking for one last kiss before entering the Army.
Happy Birthday, Charles Strouse! Strouse's first Broadway musical was the 1960 hit Bye Bye Birdie, with lyrics by Lee Adams, who would become his long time collaborator. Following this was Golden Boy (1964, also with Adams), starring Sammy Davis, Jr. and It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman (1966, based on the popular comic strip) which introduced the song 'You've Got Possibilities' sung by Linda Lavin. In 1970, Applause (starring Lauren Bacall, with book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and lyrics by Adams) won Strouse his second Tony Award. In 1977, Strouse adapted another comic strip for the stage, creating the hit Annie, which garnered him his third Tony Award and two Grammy Awards. Other Strouse musicals include Charlie and Algernon (1979), Dance a Little Closer (1983, with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner), Rags (1986), Nick & Nora (1993), and An American Tragedy (1995, with lyrics by David Shaber).
Valenti (playing Rose Alvarez, Albert's girl Friday/girlfriend) and Fair (as his overbearing mother, Mae Peterson) pretty much dominate the action as they deliver perfectly-timed, expertly crafted performances as the two women in feckless Albert's life, ensuring that a good time will be had by all in the fast-moving, quick-paced and altogether entertaining show. Directed and choreographed by Bryan J. Wlas (who celebrated a birthday during the show's first weekend of shows) with musical direction by Nathan W. Brown, Bye Bye Birdie offers a delightfully nostalgic look back at the beginnings of rock-star idolatry and the evolving manners and social mores of the early 1960s.
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