George Abbott...A Celebration - 1976 - Broadway Articles Page 9

This September, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond.

A lineup of leading performers, including Dan Aykroyd, Aziz Ansari, Roy Blount Jr., Bill Hader, Jimmy Kimmel, David Letterman, Brian Doyle Murray, Paul Shaffer, Sigourney Weaver, and others will salute Bill Murray at the 19th Annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 8 p.m.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announces the cast & creative team for COMPANY, with Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM and Book by GEORGE FURTH. Directed by Spiro Veloudos with music director Catherine Stornetta and choreography & musical staging by Rachel Bertone, COMPANY will run September 2 - October 9, 2016.

Two books in the University Press of Kentucky's Screen Classics series have been named award finalists by the Theatre Library Association.Ziegfeld and His Follies: A Biography of Broadway's Greatest Producer by Cynthia Brideson and Sara Brideson was one of ten finalists for the George Freedley Memorial Award for an exemplary work in the field of live theatre or performance. In addition, Dalton Trumbo: Blacklisted Hollywood Radical by Larry Ceplair and Christopher Trumbo was one of eight finalists for the Richard Wall Memorial Award for an exemplary work in the field of recorded performance.

Irish Repertory Theatre has announced its Fall 2016 Season. On the Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage will be FINIAN'S RAINBOW, adapted and directed by Irish Rep Artistic Director Charlotte Moore, and starring Melissa Errico ('Billions', Encores! Do I Hear A Waltz?), who will reprise her role from the acclaimed 2004 production.

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston announces the cast & creative team for COMPANY, with Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM and Book by GEORGE FURTH. Directed by Spiro Veloudos with music director Catherine Stornetta and choreography & musical staging by Rachel Bertone, COMPANY will run September 2 - October 9, 2016.

The Washington Ballet (TWB) has added the Finale of George Balanchine's 1947 masterpiece Theme and Variations to its 40th Anniversary Celebration. The work is set to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and will provide a grand conclusion to a festive evening of performance and video excerpts that celebrate the 40 year history of The Washington Ballet dance company. The special one-night only production features works by Choo San Goh, Septime Webre as well as other favorites from TWB repertoire on September 30, 2016, 8PM at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Narrated by Julie Kent, the production includes an emotional and inspirational look back at the people and creative works that have come to define TWB throughout its 40 year history. 

Preeminent Actor, director and producer Robert De Niro, two-time Academy Award® winner, five-time Academy Award® nominee and Golden Globe® winner, will receive the first Honorary Heart of Sarajevo - Lifetime Achievement Award for his extraordinary contribution to the art of film

Tonight, The Ensemble Theatre begins its celebration of Satchel Paige and Negro League Baseball with season ender SATCHEL PAIGE AND THE KANSAS CITY SWING by Trey Ellis & Ricardo Khan. The production runs through July 31.

Now celebrating its 38th year, the annual Museum Mile Festival takes place rain or shine on Tuesday, June 14, 2016, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.  Over 1.5 million people have taken part in this annual celebration since its inception.  Festival attendees can walk the Mile on Fifth Avenue between 82nd Street and 105th Street while visiting seven of New York City's finest cultural institutions, which are open free to the public throughout the evening.  The Museum Mile Festival's opening ceremony takes place at 5:45pm at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street).  Traditionally, the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs and other city and state dignitaries open the Festival.  Details on the Festival's offerings can be found at MuseumMileFestival.org.

Today in 1976, the first Broadway revival of My Fair Lady opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 377 performances. My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons from professor Henry Higgins, a phoneticist, so that she may pass as a well born lady. The musical's 1956 Broadway production was a hit, setting what was then the record for the longest run of any major musical theatre production in history. It was followed by a hit London production, a popular film version, and numerous revivals.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

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: HOLD ON TO ME DARLING starts off-Broadway and BILLY ELLIOT heads across the UK!

The inaugural class of Legends at Lincoln Center: The Performing Arts Hall of Fame, which celebrates unparalleled excellence in the arts, was announced today

Just announced, Virginia's Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre will honor Broadway librettist John Weidman (ASSASSINS, PACIFIC OVERTURES, ROAD SHOW) with the company's seventh Stephen Sondheim Award on April 4, 2016.

The Kitchen, founded in 1971, has continued to serve as an important catalyst for a broad community of groundbreaking artists working across disciplines.

The holiday season brings family, fun, togetherness and music! Experience all of that and more at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's annual holiday celebration, Highmark Holiday Pops, on December 11-13 and December 19 and 20 at Heinz Hall.

In her recent cabaret show, More Than You Know (November 23 at The Triad's Stage 72), Arlene Wolff continued a comeback that has been 50 years in the making (which started last November when she performed at the Waterwheel Café in Milford, PA). Revisiting her youth and those turbulent political years, Wolff offered up a smorgasbord of delectable “Tales from the City” over a two-hour long concert of some 22 songs, presented in a two-act format with one intermission . . . Relying on an impressive repertoire of standards, Wolff vocally revisited the classics with a smoldering propensity, impeccable phrasing and articulation--never once dropping a lyric.

The holiday season brings family, fun, togetherness and music! Experience all of that and more at the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's annual holiday celebration, Highmark Holiday Pops, on December 11-13 and December 19 and 20 at Heinz Hall.

Today in 1981, Merrily We Roll Along closed at the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre), where it ran for 16 performances. Merrily We Roll Along is a musical with a book by George Furth and lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim. It is based on the 1934 play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. Furth and Sondheim retained the basic structure and overall theme of the play but updated it to encompass the period from 1957 to 1976. The story revolves around Franklin Shepard who, having once been a talented composer of Broadway musicals, has now abandoned his friends and his songwriting career to become a producer of Hollywood flicks. Like the play, the musical begins at the height of his Hollywood fame and moves backwards in time, showing snapshots of the most important moments in Frank's life that shaped the man that he is today.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its upcoming nightly performances from November 25-December 6, 2015. Scroll down or visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows!

After an exciting first season, Sutton Theatres is proud to announce its spring 2016 season of West End transfers, high profile comedians and new circus work alongside local community pieces.

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its upcoming nightly performances, running November 18-29, 2015. Scroll down or visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows!

Joe's Pub at The Public has announced its upcoming nightly performances, running November 18-29, 2015. Scroll down or visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows!

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.