Oscar Hammerstein II News

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Three shows make a PR appearance at Sidetrack, ATC plans a "Hair" re-do, "Camelot," "Floyd Collins," three new mainstage musicals, a reading, a benefit and more! (more...)

The 20th Anniversary season of New York City Center’s Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open on January 30, 2013 with Fiorello!, the show that launched the series in 1994. The season will continue with It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, followed by On Your Toes. A Gala Encores! at 20 Celebration on November 12, 2012 will star Tony Award nominees and Encores! alumni Rauìl Esparza and Kelli O’Hara. (more...)

Today in 1946, the second Broadway revival of Showboat opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre, and ran for 418 performances. Show Boat is a musical in two acts with music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It was originally produced in New York in 1927 and in London in 1928, and was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. The plot chronicles the lives of those living and working on the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River show boat, from 1880 to 1927. The show's dominant themes include racial prejudice and tragic, enduring love. (more...)

Producers Scott Landis and Philip Morgaman have announced that EVER AFTER, a new musical based on the 20th Century Fox Film, will open on Broadway in the 2013-2014 season following a pre-Broadway engagement to be announced. The production will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall. EVER AFTER features music by Zina Goldrich and book & lyrics by Marcy Heisler, who recently won the 2012 Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre for most promising musical theatre lyricist. The music director is Mary-Mitchell Campbell. (more...)

Walnut Street Theatre’s 2011-2012 Independence Studio on 3 season concludes with an all-new production filled with unforgettable music, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING. Directed by Bruce Lumpkin, the production opens tomorrow, May 3rd and continues through June 24th in the Walnut’s Independence Studio on 3. (more...)

It is truly gratifying to experience a quintessential musical like Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's Tony-winning, Showboat -- especially when it has a great cast like CM PAC’s current production. Initially presented in 1927, this Noel Ruiz directed production has performances through May 20th. The story follows the lives of the patrons of the Cotton Blossom, a Mississippi River performance boat over a span of nearly fifty years as they endure the trials of everlasting love and racial prejudice. (more...)

We'll be talking to nominees all day for their reactions! Click here for the complete list! Audra McDonald for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for THE GERSHWINS' PORGY AND BESS "I am honored and grateful and I'm super thrilled for the production as a whole to get so many nominations. I am so proud of this production and thankful to the Tony nominating committee for recognizing all aspects of the show. I got the news via text message. As usual, it was up at 6:15 for me to get the kids to school and I was back in bed by 8! Will was here though so it was nice to roll over when I got the news and say "Hey I got a nomination!" Then we both conked out again. When we finally got up I asked him to be my date for the Tonys - he said yes! - so I guess that was our little celebration. Now it's back to being a mom for the day and get ready for the show tonight. I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at the theater tonight to congratulate them." (more...)

Last night, April 24, Carnegie Hall presented its gala benefit performance of The Sound of Music in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The cast was led by Laura Osnes (Maria Rainer), Tony Goldwyn (Captain von Trapp), Brooke Shields (Elsa Schraeder), Patrick Page (Max Detweiler), Stephanie Blythe (The Mother Abbess), Mary Michael Patterson (Liesl von Trapp), Nick Spangler (Rolf Gruber), Cotter Smith (Herr Zeller), and Reed Birney (Admiral von Schreiber). They were joined by and Joel Hatch (Franz, The Butler), Joy Hermalyn (Sister Berthe), Linda Mugleston (Sister Margaretta), Faith Sherman (Sister Sophia), and Veanne Cox (Frau Schmidt). BroaadwayWorld was on hand for the exciting evening and brings you photo coverage below! (more...)

Jed Bernstein, Producing Director of the Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has announced the Summer 2012 Season. (more...)

Let ‘Ol Man River take you on a musical stroll down the Mississippi with the musical SHOW BOAT. (more...)

Southern Rep has added new dates to its 4- to 8-year-old campers in 101 Dalmations, Kids! Camp after the first round sold out. Spots are still left in its Oklahoma! and Avenue Q camps. See information below. (more...)

Thanks to the efforts of a cast of high school students under the direction of their artistic mentor Paula Y. Flautt (who’s the fine arts director at CPA), I have to admit that Carousel is my favorite musical. It’s always been my favorite among all the musical masterpieces created by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, but I found myself so completely moved, so thoroughly enchanted by the production in CPA’s Events Center (where it continues through Saturday evening)—which boasts stellar production values, an amazing live orchestra and a production design that rivals some of the best professional mountings we’ve seen in Nashville—that Carousel has supplanted Gypsy on my list of all-time favorites. (more...)

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts announces an all-star summer line-up set to kick off in June. The summer will feature the legendary Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, jazz songstress Diana Krall, instrumentalist Chris Botti, the multi-talented Steve Martin and many more. Tickets to all performances go on sale Friday, April 27. Season sponsors include Bank of Nevada and the Las Vegas Design Center. (more...)

Some 67 years after Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel first opened at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre, director Paula Y. Flatt will unveil her vision for the show—which was named by Time magazine in 1999 as the best musical of the 20th century—in a new production featuring her students at Nashville’s Christ Presbyterian Academy. (more...)

Laura Osnes will play Cinderella and Santino Fontana will portray the Prince in the new Broadway-bound production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's CINDERELLA, it has been announced by the musical's producers. CINDERELLA -- which is aiming for a Broadway opening during the 2012-13 season -- is produced by Robyn Goodman, Stephen Kocis and Jill Furman in association with Center Theatre Group. (more...)

Michael Riedel reports in today's New York Post that Lincoln Center Theater "wants the Beaumont for its next big production — a revival of THE KING AND I starring Kelli O’Hara." BroadwayWorld.com first reported back in 2011 that the theatre was considering a Bartlett Sher helmed revival of the classic show. O'Hara is currently starring opposite Matthew Broderick in NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT. (more...)

SOUTH PACIFIC makes its Fort Lauderdale debut for a limited two week run, Tuesday, April 10–Sunday, April 22, presented by the Bank of America, Broadway Across America-Fort Lauderdale in association with the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. (more...)

Carnegie Hall today announced the complete cast for its gala benefit performance of The Sound of Music on Tuesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. New to the cast are Mary Michael Patterson (Anything Goes) as Liesl von Trapp, Nick Spangler (The Book of Mormon) as Rolf Gruber, Cotter Smith (Next Fall) as Herr Zeller, Drama Desk and Obie Award recipient Reed Birney as Admiral von Schreiber, and Joel Hatch (Billy Elliot) as Franz, The Butler. (more...)

The Birmingham Hippodrome today announced full season information for its forthcoming 2012/13 season, which includes Cape Town Opera's PORGY AND BESS and Cameron Mackintosh's new production of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, THE KING AND I, WONDERFUL TOWN, DIRTY DANCING, SISTER ACT and BLOOD BROTHERS. (more...)

This breathtaking new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s SOUTH PACIFIC is based on the 2008 Tony Award® winning Lincoln Center Theater production, directed by Bartlett Sher. Based on James Michener’s Pulitzer Prize winning book Tales of the South Pacific, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s SOUTH PACIFIC has music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and a book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan. (more...)