Peter James Zielinski News

Chris Isaacson Presents and Upright Cabaret proudly present Broadway diva Lillias White: The Night After The Tonys, as she belts out the best of Broadway and Jazz, at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood, for one performance only, on Monday, June 11. Showtime is 8pm, with cocktail and dinner service beginning at 6:30pm. (more...)

Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber's song for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee-"Sing" will be officially released on May 28 and performed live at the Diamond Jubilee Concert outside Buckingham Palace June 4, and Lloyd Webber is hoping for audience participation at the festivities. (more...)

On Friday June 1, DunkinÂ’ Donuts will celebrate "National Donut Day" by unveiling its first digital billboard in Times Square in collaboration with iconic Broadway producer and director Harold Prince. The billboard will advertise PRINCE OF BROADWAY: THE MUSICAL OF A LIFETIME, scheduled to open this fall. The show is a look at PrinceÂ’s unrivaled career, which has seen him win more Tony Awards than any other person in the history of Broadway. (more...)

Earlier today at a press conference held in BET's New York studios, it was announced that actor Samuel L. Jackson, declared the highest grossing movie actor of all time according to the Guinness Book of World Records, will be this year's BET AWARDS 12 host. In addition, the members of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly were announced to be the prestigious recipients of the 'Cadillac Lifetime Achievement Award;' and Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj were revealed as the first confirmed performers. (more...)

Richard Kind revealed he will be leading the Hollywood Bowl's THE PRODUCERS this July on the Kevin Pollak's Chat Show on Saturday. No casting has been announced officially by the production, but when asked if the engagement was set in stone, Kind said "I think so". (more...)

According to a report by BBC News, Andrew Lloyd Webber will follow his ITV talent show SUPERSTAR with a new musical about Stephen Ward, who was linked to the Profumo scandal in the '60s that caused War Minister John Profumo to resign after an affair with Christine Keeler. (more...)

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo just announced that the theatre will honor New York Theatre Workshop Board Chair Barbara Warner Howard and Disney Theatrical Group and its president Thomas Schumacher at its 2012 Spring Gala on Tuesday, May 22 at the Plaza Hotel. (more...)

Several Tony Award-winners are teaming up to bring an adaptation of the 1988 musical “Lucky Stiff” to the screen. The show, based on Michael Butterworth’s 1965 novel “The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo,” was written by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty and first performed at New York’s Playwright’s Horizons where it won the Richard Rogers Production Award before going on to London and hundreds of international productions. Ahrens & Flaherty went on to win the Tony for their musical “Ragtime” as well as two Academy Award nominations. Other notable credits include “Once On This Island” and “Seussical.” Ahrens has adapted the play for the screen, while Flaherty and Ahrens have written additional songs. (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...)

Andrew Lloyd Webber will receive a BASCA Fellowship at this yearÂ’s Ivor Novello Awards on Thursday 17 May. The BASCA Fellowship is the highest accolade which a composer can receive, bestowed by composers in the UK. It recognises unique creative talent in music writing together with iconic achievement for and on behalf of composers. BASCA Fellows are exceptional artists and ambassadors for the song-writing and composing profession and BASCAÂ’s role within it. (more...)

Nordoff Robbins, the national specialist music charity, has announced today that Jessie J and Andrew Lloyd Webber will reunite as they both win 2012 Nordoff Robbins O2 Silver Clef Awards. The O2 Silver Clef Awards is hosted by Nordoff Robbins at the London Hilton on Park Lane, on Friday June 29th. The star-studded annual event which is known for its whoÂ’s who audience of A-list musical heavyweights recognises outstanding musical talent whilst raising money for the national specialist music charity, Nordoff Robbins, using music to transform the lives of vulnerable children and adults. (more...)

Award winning SHREK THE MUSICAL® will celebrate its first year in the West End on May 6, 2012. To mark the first anniversary, SHREK THE MUSICAL® will open its doors to the public for a FREE, ogre-sized, family fete at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on May 6, 2012. There will be party games, competitions, sweet treats, storytelling, theatre tours and opportunities to meet the cast from 11am to 2pm. (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...)

Jujamcyn Theaters (Jordan Roth, President) and True Colors Theatre Company (Kenny Leon, Co-Founding Artistic Director) have announced the judges and guest performers for the 4th Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition on Monday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street). The event, which is free and open to the public, features high school students from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh and Seattle performing monologues by the late, legendary American playwright. (more...)

According to an audition listing, Walter Bobbie is set to direct Vineyard Theatre's Developmental Lab Production of THE LANDING (previously titled "Andra") -- a collection of three related one-act musicals written by the celebrated composer John Kander and his new collaborator, Greg Pierce - THE LANDING will be presented May 15-June 3 at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St.). (more...)

This Thursday, April 12, Melissa Errico (Irving Berlin's White Christmas, My Fair Lady) will make a guest appearance at Seth's Broadway Chatterbox at Don't Tell Mama. (more...)

Public Theater has announced the line-up today for The PublicÂ’s 2012-2013 Season, beginning in the fall with an October rededication of The PublicÂ’s historic downtown building. The season continues the theaterÂ’s nearly 60 year tradition of developing new theatrical voices and presenting Shakespeare to the entire New York community. (more...)

The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation just announced a donation to The Theatres Trust to help launch its Theatres Protection Fund. The Foundation will award a grant of £125,000, to be paid over the next five years, in order to help create a new Small Grants Scheme providing grants of under £5000 from the Theatres Protection Fund. The Foundation hopes its donation will encourage other organisations and individuals to give to the Scheme which will help protect theatres across the country that have significant value within their communities. (more...)

Maja Lieberman cannot tell a lie, and unfortunately, neither can I. Mario FrattiÂ’s OBAMA 44, now playing at the La MaMa Theatre, inherently lacks the necessary appeal to enable the audience to sympathize with any of its bizarre and one-dimensional characters, thus rendering an uninspiring and overall lackluster performance. (more...)

Since its first edition in 1987, the annual Easter Bonnet Competition has capped off weeks of fundraising for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS with dozens of shows from Broadway, Off-Broadway and tours offering song and dance presentations, often featuring outlandish insider humor, topped off by the modeling of wildly creative Easter bonnets. (more...)