West Side Story - 1960 - Broadway Articles Page 19

Cleveland Play House opens its 98th consecutive season with its new production of the smash Broadway hit Lombardi. Bob Ari, seen last season as Mark Rothko in Red, returns to CPH to play the legendary coach who defined inspiration.

Following two critically acclaimed shows earlier in the year, the Back to the Musicals series returns to The Pheasantry on Sundays 30th September 2012 and 11th November 2012, celebrating a selection of songs from a wealth of wonderful musicals from way back when.

The hills are alive as Surflight Theatre continues its 2012 season with The Sound of Music. Directed and choreographed by Charles Abbott, with music direction by Ben Krauss, The Sound of Music opens tonight, July 24 and runs through August 25, 2012. Tickets ($36-$54) are available by calling 609-492-9477 or at www.surflight.org.

Contra Costa Civic Theatre's West Side Story, opening tonight, July 13, boasts the largest orchestra in the company's 52-year history, 26 actors making their CCCT debut, and the first collaboration of Artistic Director Derrick J. Silva (Choreographer), and Managing Director Daren A.C. Carollo (Director).

Happy Birthday Arthur Laurents! Laurents' first play, Home of the Brave, opened on Broadway in 1945, followed by many others. He wrote his first musical, West Side Story, in 1957, followed by Gypsy and others. His first screenplay was The Snake Pit in 1948, followed by others including Rope, Anastasia, The Way We Were and The Turning Point. His own play, Invitation to a March in 1960, was the first of several he directed. I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1961 was the first musical he directed, followed by others including La Cage aux Folles and Gypsy with Angela Lansbury, then Tyne Daly and most recently, Patti LuPone. He pased away in May 2011.

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.'

Contra Costa Civic Theatre's West Side Story, opening July 13, boasts the largest orchestra in the company's 52-year history, 26 actors making their CCCT debut, and the first collaboration of Artistic Director Derrick J. Silva (Choreographer), and Managing Director Daren A.C. Carollo (Director).

Probably the golden age of musical theatre in the US was from 1950 to 1960. Great scripts like King and I, My Fair Lady, and West Side Story were staged. Also produced were such flops as Salad Days, Zuleika, Ankles Away, The Vamp, ShaNgri-La, Shinbone Alley, and Free As Air. Most shows were of the neither great nor flop variety. These included the likes of Call Me Madam, Guys and Dolls, Paint Your Wagon, Can-Can, Wonderful Town, Fanny, and The Pajama Game. Also included in the list was DAMN YANKEES, now on stage at Porthouse Theatre.

Kevin McCollum and Doug Morris will co-produce MOTOWN on Broadway next year, according to Michael Riedel in the New York Post. The musical is a biographical jukebox musical using the story and Motown hit catalogue of Berry Gordy Jr.. Charles Randolph-Wright will direct.

Today BroadwayWorld's 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown continues by highlighting one of the most innovative and unforgettable musicals ever composed - the Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim/Arthur Laurents/Jerome Robbins masterpiece WEST SIDE STORY.

World-renowned Jazz and Rhythm & Blues Vocalist, Barbara Morrison will present top talent in The 1st Annual Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center Blues Festival to be performed on two stages at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center (BMPAC), 4305 Degnan Boulevard, #101, Los Angeles, CA 90036 tonight, Saturday and Sunday, May 18, 19 and 20, 2012.

World-renowned Jazz and Rhythm & Blues Vocalist, Barbara Morrison will present top talent in The 1st Annual Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center Blues Festival to be performed on two stages at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center (BMPAC), 4305 Degnan Boulevard, #101, Los Angeles, CA 90036 on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, May 18, 19 and 20, 2012.

David Zwirner presents an exhibition of recent work by Yan Pei-Ming, on view at the gallery's 519 West 19th Street space today, May 4 - June 23. An opening reception will be held tonight, May 4 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of award-winning Broadway Producers Timothy Laczynski (The Pee-wee Herman Show, A Christmas Story), Executive Producer and Roy Miller (West Side Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Ragtime, and the upcoming new musical Animal House) Artistic Director, kicks off its 63rdAnniversary Season of 'Broadway at the Beach' with the Surflight Premiere of The Rat Pack Revue from tonight, April 18 through May 6, 2012.

David Zwirner presents an exhibition of recent work by Yan Pei-Ming, on view at the gallery's 519 West 19th Street space May 4 - June 23. An opening reception will be held May 4 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Today we are saluting one of the most beloved Broadway scores of all time, created by the formidable show business songwriting dynasty of Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein - THE SOUND OF MUSIC. While the original 1959 Broadway production was well-received and won Mary Martin a Tony Award for her winsome Maria, the property has gone on to win over generations the world over thanks in no small part to the 1965 Robert Wise feature film version starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. On Monday, Carnegie Hall will be presenting a special concert version of the family- friendly show starring Laura Osnes, Tony Goldwyn and Brooke Shields. Be sure to check out my comprehensive conversation with Brooke Shields, who will be playing the Baroness, available here, and, also, stay tuned to BroadwayWorld for my upcoming InDepth InterView with the Maria of the concert presentation, rising Broadway superstar Laura Osnes. So, what exactly is it about THE SOUND OF MUSIC that has won over audiences of all ages for more than fifty years and set hearts aflutter and souls stirred? Is it the dramatic story of a family torn apart by death and war only to be brought back together again when least expected by a kindly maternal nun? Is it the slice of life depiction of the family dynamic and how we can all relate to one or many facets of it therein? Is it the ensuing romance between Maria and Captain Von Trapp and their delicately portrayed courtship (particularly when considering the ravishing duet added for the film, "Something Good")? Or, is it that classic Rodgers & Hammerstein score - containing a dizzying assortment of standards that have gone on to become ingrained in our ears, minds and hearts, as well as made a fixture of pop culture itself - "Do-Re-Mi", "My Favorite Things", "Edelweiss", "The Lonely Goatherd", "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", the title song and beyond. AMC's hit series MAD MEN even featured one of the most beloved SOUND OF MUSIC duets on a recent broadcast as an ironic episode capper all too befitting of the moment (and, given the 60s setting of the series, era) - Betty Draper mischievously sneaking an extra bowl of ice cream set to the strains of "I Am Sixteen Going On Seventeen". Between the MAD MEN song reference, the ongoing SOUND OF MUSIC film singalongs occurring every week (with many patrons coming in costume and with props, ala ROCKY HORROR) around the world and the countless professional and amateur productions that crop up every year, as well as the glitzy Carnegie Hall concert on Monday, THE SOUND OF MUSIC has never gone out of style - it shall forever remain sixteen, even when the show itself is not too far away from hitting sixty.

Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of award-winning Broadway Producers Timothy Laczynski (The Pee-wee Herman Show, A Christmas Story), Executive Producer and Roy Miller (West Side Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Ragtime, and the upcoming new musical Animal House) Artistic Director, kicks off its 63rdAnniversary Season of 'Broadway at the Beach' with the Surflight Premiere of The Rat Pack Revue from April 18 through May 6, 2012.

Fort Wayne Civic Theatre announces its 2012-13: Dreamgirls, A Few God Men, A Christmas Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Cinderella, Lombard.

FIORELLO!, the next staged reading of MUSICAL THEATRE WEST'S REINER READING SERIES will take place on March 11, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the University Theater on the CSU Long Beach campus at the 7th Street entrance.

The 5th Avenue Theatre brings the wide open plains to Seattle with a reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

FIORELLO!, the next staged reading of MUSICAL THEATRE WEST'S REINER READING SERIES will take place on March 11, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the University Theater on the CSU Long Beach campus at the 7th Street entrance.

A multi-talented cast and onstage band bring to life the famous songs of 'The Man In Black' when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH makes its Thousand Oaks premiere at the Civic Arts Plaza.

A multi-talented cast and onstage band bring to life the famous songs of 'The Man In Black' when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH makes its Thousand Oaks premiere at the Civic Arts Plaza.

A multi-talented cast and onstage band bring to life the famous songs of 'The Man In Black' when Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of RING OF FIRE: THE MUSIC OF JOHNNY CASH makes its Thousand Oaks premiere at the Civic Arts Plaza.