Jeffrey Saver News

Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains), John Bolton (A Christmas Story, The Musical, Spamalot) and newcomer Ethan Slater will lead a cast for two readings of SOCIAL LIFE: The Musical today, February 8, and tomorrow, February 9, 2015.

Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains), John Bolton (A Christmas Story, The Musical, Spamalot) and newcomer Ethan Slater will lead a cast for two readings of SOCIAL LIFE: The Musical in February.

Cole Mining: The Songs of Stephen Cole will be presented as part of Urban Stages' Winter Rhythms tomorrow, December 3, 2014 at 7pm at Urban Stages 259 W. 30th Street.

Urban Stages, in association with producer/director/lyricist and Director of Musical Programming Peter Napolitano, today announced that Tony Award Nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo will join the line-up for their sixth series of musical evenings entitled WINTER RHYTHMS 2014, beginning Tuesday, December 2nd and continuing through Sunday, December 14th at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director), in association with producer/director/lyricist and Director of Musical Programming Peter Napolitano, today announced the line-up for their sixth series of musical evenings entitled WINTER RHYTHMS 2014, beginning Tuesday, December 2nd and continuing through Sunday, December 14th at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street, just East of 8th Avenue).

Paper Mill Playhouse will open its 2014-2015 season with a Broadway-bound, world-class revival of Can-Can starring Kate Baldwin as Pistache and Jason Danieley as Aristide. This fresh new production features direction by David Lee(Frasier, Cheers) and choreography by Patti Colombo (Paper Mill's Peter Pan, On the Town, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). The show features a book by Abe Burrows (Guys and Dolls, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and a re-crafted script by Joel Fields (Ugly Betty, The Americans) and David Lee. The company just met the press to preview the new production and you can check out photos from inside the special preview event below!

New arts center raises the bar for a Shakespeare favorite

The 12.14 Foundation will be producing two shows for its summer season incorporating 200 children from the Newtown-area as a continuation of its mission to promote personal development through high-level performing arts programs. The first show A ROCKIN' Midsummer Night's Dream, a world premiere adaptation of one of Shakespeare's favorite plays will be performed tonight, August 1st, through August 10th.

The 12.14 Foundation will be producing two shows for its summer season incorporating 200 children from the Newtown-area as a continuation of its mission to promote personal development through high-level performing arts programs.

Last Saturday, Dennis De Young, best known as the main songwriter and singer for the legendary rock band, Styx, paid a visit to Newtown, CT to watch the rehearsals of 12.14 Foundation's 101 DALMATIANS. He wrote the music and lyrics for this version of 101 Dalmatians and even reworked the show just for this program. Scroll down to see the photos!

The 12.14 Foundation will be producing two shows for its summer season incorporating 200 children from the Newtown area as a continuation of its mission to use the performing arts to promote healing and strength.

The York Theatre Company launches the Winter 2014 Musicals in Mufti Series Celebrating Sheldon Harnick with season opener, A World to Win, a new revue with Lyrics & Book by Sheldon Harnick and Music by Jerry Bock, plus David Baker, Larry Hochman, Michel Legrand, Richard Rodgers and Mr. Harnick. Directed by Robert Brink, and with Music Direction by Jeff Saver, the four-member cast features Kerry Conte, Jason Graae, Rhyn McLemore and Aaron Serotsky. BroadwayWorld has there for opening night and brings you photos of the festivities below!

When more than 100 students from the Newtown area go back to school in the Fall, they will have some amazing tales to tell of their summer. For the last 5 weeks, a dedicated team of Broadway professionals - led by 3 of the same individuals who produced a Broadway tribute to the Newtown community in Waterbury last January - has been working with more than 100 Newtown area students in a production of Seussical the Musical. It is the first of what is to be many tangible practices in healing offered by the 12.14 Foundation (the foundation's president and founder, Newtown resident Michael Baroody, serves as Executive Producer of this production). It is comfort and healing in the true sense. As director Michael Unger works with the cast on their roles, he encourages them to look inward to develop their characters. This is what will eventually be a hallmark program of the 12.14 Foundation as it seeks to strengthen Newtown's youth through the arts. It is something that is mentioned often among these budding artists: that sense of camaraderie and strength.

FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area. An hour-long version of the concert will premiere tonight, July 18 at 10 p.m on WLIW21, Friday, July 26 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN and CPTV, and Tuesday, July 30 at 10 p.m. on NJTV. 'From Broadway With Love' was a concert of healing for the Newtown community where composers, musicians and more than 100 stars of Broadway came together with over 300 students from several Newtown dance groups, the Sandy Hook Elementary School 3rd and 4th grades and the Newtown High School Chamber Choir.

The 12.14 Foundation has just announced that Emmy Award, Tony Award, and Drama Desk Award nominated John Tartaglia (Avenue Q, Shrek, Johnny and the Sprites) will portray 'The Cat in the Hat' and lead a cast comprised of 86 Newtown area students in Seussical: The Musical written by Tony Award winning team Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. The production will be presented August 9, 10 and 11 at Newtown High School.

FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook?, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will soon be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area.

Seussical: The Musical, one of Broadway's most joyous musicals, written by the esteemed, Tony Award winning team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, will be presented at the Newtown High School this summer. Authors, Ahrens and Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance and the upcoming Rockymusical) have expressed their joy that this musical has been selected as the inaugural production of the 1214 Foundation.

For diehard fans of Judy Garland, for those who adored every song she sang and every word she uttered, Peter Quilter's account of Judy's final comeback in the UK at Talk of the Town in December, 1968, called End of the Rainbow must be seen. Yes, it's darkly frank showing literally the decay of the alcoholic/drug addicted superstar whose great pain and loneliness drove her over the edge, but it retains a delicious sense of humor, Judy Garland's unique sense of humor whereby she could put herself down and everyone in the room around her, get big laughs and get away with the deprecation...and still be adulated and adored by all. Garland was iconic who delivered every performance from the bottom of her soul, and in End of the Rainbow Tracie Bennett's mesmerizing electricity dominates her portrayal, giving us the essence of the woman on and off the stage. It's uncannily brilliant!

'From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Sandy Hook' will take place 7:00 pm tonight, January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut. The evening will be a concert of love and healing for the Newtown community from the composers, musicians and more than 100 stars of Broadway together with over 100 students from several Newtown dance groups and the Newtown High School Chamber Choir. All proceeds and donations will go directly to United Way of Western Connecticut's Sandy Hook School Support Fund.