Bea Arthur News

The Drama Desk Awards have announced the lineup of presenters for this yearÂ’s awards ceremony, hosted by Brooke Shields and Drama Desk winner Brian d'Arcy James. The presenters represent many different aspects of the New York theater community including Broadway royalty: Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, Bernadette Peters; award winning dramatists: Doug Wright and Rick Elice; legendary composers: Maury Yeston, William Finn; heralded directors: Roger Rees, Alex Timbers; celebrated designers: Peggy Eisenhauer; revered orchestrators: Jonathan Tunick; valued members of the New York theater scene: Oskar Eustis, Jenny Gersten; and, of course, popular performers: Martha Plimpton, John Larroquette, Julie Halston. The 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8PM at The Town Hall. (more...)

Ars Nova has just released information about its upcoming June 2012 events, all part of ANT Fest, the annual All New Talent Festival. Tickets and more information can be found online at www.arsnovanyc.com. (more...)

Bea Arthur would have turned 90 years old on May 27, 2012. To celebrate her birthday, actor D.J. Schaefer is transformed as Bea Arthur and will join Judy Garland played by rewound tribute artist, Peter Mac in a very special show Bea Arthur and Judy Garland: Tribute Artists Celebrate 90th Birthdays. (more...)

The Drama Desk Awards have just announced that award winning actress, model and author Brooke Shields will co-host the 57th Annual Drama Desk Awards with TV Star, BroadwayÂ’s favorite leading man and past Drama Desk Award winner, Brian dÂ’Arcy James. The Drama Desk Awards will take place on Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 8PM at The Town Hall in Manhattan. This yearÂ’s award show is being written by cast album producer, playwright, and two-time Drama Desk Award winner Bill Rosenfield and directed by multi-award winning director Mark Waldrop (Divine Miss Millennium Tour, When Pigs Fly, Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends). (more...)

Judy Garland (Peter Mac) is spending Mother's Day evening with some of her her favorite gal pals with a VERY Special guest, Bea Arthur (D.J. Schaefer). Those dropping by will be Liza Minnelli, Tallulah Bankhead, Katherine Hepburn, Peggy Lee and all are played by, actor and triubte artist Peter Mac. The special event for the Mother's Day Show is on May 13 at 8pm with doors open at 6:45pm dinner. (more...)

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater produces the 2011 Tony Award-winning production of Larry KramerÂ’s The Normal Heart, directed by George C. Wolfe. Wolfe, who directed the showÂ’s sold-out Broadway engagement last season, mounts the professional D.C.-area premiere of this production, which features returning Broadway cast members Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane, among others. Presented by special arrangement with Daryl Roth, The Normal Heart runs June 8-July 29, 2012 in the Kreeger Theater. (more...)

Judy & Company will run every Friday & Saturday at 8PM for the month of May at the Peter MacÂ’s Supper Club Theater, a private theater seating 60 people. It is located in the back of The French Market Quarter. The show has Tribute Artist Peter Mac performing all roles as the iconic ladies of yesteryear, including Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Tallulah Bankhead, Katherine Hepburn and Peggy Lee . The evening includes performance by Peter Mac as Peter Mac, with musical direction by Bryan Miller. (more...)

Theater producer Daryl Roth, who produced last season’s Tony Award-winning revival of The Normal Heart and has presented an unprecedented seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays on the stage, is set to receive two prestigious honors next month. The Family Equality Council will present Roth with the Hostetter-Habib Family Award for her continued support of the LGBT community. The presentation will take place at the organizations Night at the Pier event on May 8. Later in the month, at its Stella by Starlight Gala on May 20, the Stella Adler Studio of Acting will present Roth with The Harold Clurman Spirit Award “for courageous contribution to the culture of the city of New York and beyond.” Her fellow honorees at the Stella by Starlight Gala include Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Ed Schultz, and Masa Tanaka. (more...)

This is my 7th Peter Mac show since August. Needless to say, I am a huge fan of the man and his talent, which must be experienced up close to be fully appreciated. He is the current master tribute artist, making Garland totally his own. As Margaret O'Brien herself said, it's like an evening up close and "personal with Judy Garland", and Mac gives so very much of himself to the singing and banter, that it's uncannily infectious. He could read/sing the phone book, and that would be OK too, as audiences will listen. Once a Peter Mac fan, you are hooked, baby! This show Judy Garland's Lost Easter Special with special guests DJ Schaefer as Bea Arthur, Alissa Cote as Lorna Luft, Glory Gale as Liza Minnelli and David Marker as Joey Luft, very similar to the Christmas Special in December at the Gardenia, is a lot of uproarious fun, obviously because it takes liberties in its originality and in not copying an actual special. But it's every bit as spontaneous, warm and loving as Garland's own family-oriented program. (more...)

Judy Garland's The Lost Easter Special, starring tribute artist Peter Mac, currently showing April 6-14 at 8 p.m. at the new Peter Mac Showroom inside The French Market at 7985 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 104, West Hollywood, Calif., has added two shows on Easter Sunday, April 8, at 1 and 7 p.m. (more...)

The first two weeks of April will be Judy Garland's The Lost Easter Special" on stage with Judy, her three kids and good friend, Bea Aurthur! Then the last to weeks is "Judy at Carnegie Hall", Peter Mac celebrates the 51st Anniversary of Judy Garland's concert by recreating it just as Garland did in 1961. (more...)

As BroadwayWorld previously announced, Gerald Goehring, Michael F. Mitri and Dorothy Berloni are developing BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, a new Broadway musical based on the popular 2000 novel by Kate DeCamillo. Casting for a developmental reading is currently underway and set to take place in early March. This is set to be followed by an out of town engagement and Broadway production, the timing of which will be confirmed at a later date. (more...)

The Tea Lounge is set to present I Like You, Maude, a night of live storytelling created and hosted by Kerri Doherty. (more...)

The Tea Lounge is set to present I Like You, Maude, a night of live storytelling created and hosted by Kerri Doherty. (more...)

Tribute artist Peter Mac as Judy Garland is motivation enough to go on down to the Gardenia for a fun-filled evening of entertainment, and with Christmas fast approaching, what could be more pleasurable than a stroll down memory lane and TV's delightfully homespun The Judy Garland Christmas Special. In that very show audience get to see a really youngish Liza Minnelli (Glory Gale), a young Lorna Luft (Alissa Cote) and little brother Joey Luft (not so little David Marker). And very special guest star - this was pre Golden Girls - Bea Arthur (D. J. Schaefer), who camps it up buddy-style with la Garland. (more...)

Gerald Goehring, Michael F. Mitri and Dorothy Berloni are developing BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, a new Broadway musical based on the popular 2000 novel by Kate DeCamillo. A developmental reading will be staged in early 2012, followed by an out of town engagement and Broadway production, the timing of which will be confirmed at a later date. (more...)

Take another trip over the rainbow with Judy Garland in a new cabaret concert specifically designed for the beautiful cabaret room at Tom RollaÂ’s Gardenia. (more...)

Take another trip over the rainbow with Judy Garland in a new cabaret concert specifically designed for the beautiful cabaret room at Tom RollaÂ’s Gardenia. (more...)

Tribute artist Peter Mac, nominated for 4 BWW Awards 2011, left his dresses in the closet November 25 and 26 to present an intimate evening of song at the Gardenia in honor of his favorite composers.Potpourri was almost the title of the show, Mac explained, because the composers as diverse as Harold Arlen and Bobby Darin, who composed the opener and title song "As Long As I'm Singing", created tunes with a mix of styles. Very few impressionists can strip away the makeup and perform as themselves. Jim Bailey did it on occasion, and Peter Mac is following gloriously in his footsteps. Mac has a terrific vocal range, and much, much more... he's sexy and has an aura, a charismatic spirit that never lets down. Anecdote follows anecdote, and he keeps his audience on their toes as they are asked to take commemorative journeys with him. Such TV programs as Dark Shadows and everyone's fav vampire Barnabas Collins played into a couple of his songs. Remember? Those who did not live through the 60s had either collected those delightful Shadows videos like Mac himself or had found themselves entertained by the gothic soap's actors, such as David Selby or Lara Parker, at yearly conventions/festivals. If none of the preceding, you can look forward to the new film starring Johnny Depp as Collins. Mac essayed "If I Can't Love Her" from Beauty and the Beast and really delved into this in depth love that he compared to that of Barnabas and his beloved Josette Dupres. (more...)

The Judy Show - My Life As A Sitcom, the new comedy starring Judy Gold, will end it's extended limited engagement at Off-Broadway's DR2 Theatre (103 E 15th Street) on November 27th. (more...)