Patti LuPone, Sutton Foster, Betty Buckley and More to Appear on Seth Rudetsky's Broadway Concert Series in New Orleans, Beginning Today

Five of the entertainment world's leading ladies will perform in New Orleans in 2013 as Seth Rudetsky's popular Broadway Concert Series makes the leap to NOCCA's Lupin Hall from its summer home at The Art House in Provincetown, MA. Patti LuPone, two-time Tony winner for Gypsy and as the legendary original Evita, will appear for two shows only on January 7th at 6:30 and 8:30. Sutton Foster, two-time Tony-winner for this year's Anything Goes and previously for Thoroughly Modern Millie and star of the ABC Family series Bunheads arrives for one show only on March 2nd at 7:30. Megan Mullally, two-time Emmy-winning star of TV's Will and Grace and star of Broadway's Young Frankenstein performs two shows only on April 6th at 7:30 and 9:30. Audra McDonald, a five-time Tony Award winner and recent star of Porgy and Bess on Broadway and TV's Private Practice will make her New Orleans debut with two shows only on May 18 at 7:30 and 9:30. Betty Buckley, the Tony winning legendary star of Cats and Sunset Boulevard will close the series on June 1 with two shows only at 7:30 and 9:30. The visiting Broadway artists will also be giving master classes for the NOCCA Institute's high school-aged musical theatre students. All five concerts are produced by Mark Cortale, long time producer/manager of Jeffery Roberson aka Varla Jean Merman, and will be hosted by Sirius/XM radio star Seth Rudetsky at the piano. The series is sponsored exclusively by the New Orleans Hotel Collection and Gambit. Tickets can be purchased at www.broadwaynola.com or by calling 800-838-3006.

Patti LuPone won her second Tony Award as well as Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, for her performance as Rose in the Broadway revival of Gypsy, and created the title role in Evita on Broadway, for which she won her first Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her legendary performance. She is currently starring in David Mamet's The Anarchist on Broadway with Debra Winger. Patti LuPone's Broadway career includes her most recent appearance opposite her Evita co-star Mandy Patinkin in An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin, and created the role of Lucia in the new musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, for which she was nominated for Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. She has also been seen on Broadway in Sweeney Todd (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), Michael Frayn's Noises Off, David Mamet's The Old Neighborhood, Terrence McNally's Master Class, and her own concert Patti LuPone on Broadway. On London's West End, she won Olivier Awards for her performances as Fantine in the original production of Les Miserables and The Acting Company production of The Cradle Will Rock, and also created the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and recreated her Broadway performance as Maria Callas in Master Class there. In addition to her acclaimed stage career, Patti LuPone's film work includes Union Square, Parker, City By The Sea, Heist, State and Main, Summer of Sam, Driving Miss Daisy, and Witness. Her TV work includes Glee, 30 Rock, Ugly Betty, Will & Grace, OZ, Frasier, Law & Order, Life Goes On, the Emmy winning PBS broadcasts of Passion and Sweeney Todd, PBS Great Performances' Candide and PBS' An Evening with Patti LuPone.

Megan Mullally is best known for playing the iconic role of Karen Walker on the groundbreaking hit TV series Will & Grace for which she won two Emmy Awards, from a total of seven consecutive nominations between 2000 and 2006. She is also a three-time winner of the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, a winner with her cast-mates of the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series, is one of only two actresses to win a SAG Award three years in a row, and was nominated four years in a row for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She made her Broadway debut as Marty in the 1994 revival of Grease with Rosie O'Donnell and subsequently appeared as Rosemary in the hit 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite Matthew Broderick. In 2007, Mullally starred as Elizabeth in Mel Brooks' original Broadway musical, Young Frankenstein. She can be heard on the cast albums of all three productions.

Sutton Foster has starred on Broadway in The Will Rogers Follies, Grease, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Annie, Les Miserables before her big break and Tony Award-winning performance in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has since then originated roles in the Broadway productions of Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical. She most recently starred as Reno Sweeney in The Roundabout's revival of Anything Goes, a role that earned her the 2011 Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Astaire, and Broadway.com's Audience Favorite Awards. She was first seen on television on Star Search at age 15, and has more recently appeared in Johnny and the Sprites and Flight of the Conchords.

Audra McDonald became a three-time Tony Award winner by the age of 28 for her performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, placing her alongside Shirley Booth, Gwen Verdon and Zero Mostel by accomplishing this feat within five years. She won her fourth in 2004 for her role in A Raisin in the Sun, a role she reprised for a 2008 television adaptation, earning her a second Emmy Award nomination. On June 10, 2012, McDonald scored her fifth Tony Award win for her portrayal of Bess in Broadway's The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess, thus tying a record held by Angela Lansbury and Julie Harris for most Tony Awards won by an actor. She also maintains her ties to classical repertoire with an active concert and recording career, performing song cycles and operas as well as concerts throughout the U.S. Audra's many television appearances include four seasons as Naomi Bennett in Private Practice, as well as Homicide: Life on the Street, Law & Order: SVU, Having Our Say, Mister Sterling, The Bedford Diaries, Kidnapped, the television remake of the musical Annie, and HBO's Wit with Emma Thompson. Her film roles include Cradle Will Rock, Object of My Affection, It Runs in the Family, Best Thief in the World, and Seven Servants.

Betty Buckley won two Tony Awards, as Grizabella in Cats and for Triumph of Love on Broadway, and received an Olivier Award nomination for her critically acclaimed performance as Norma Desmond in the London production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard – a role she repeated to rave reviews in the Broadway production. Other Broadway roles include 1776, Bob Fosse's Pippin, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and Carrie. Off-Broadway, she's been seen in White's Lies, Lincoln Center's Elegies, the original New York Shakespeare Festival production of Edwin Drood, The Eros Trilogy at The Vineyard Theatre, and Second Stage Theatre's production of Juno's Swans directed by Marsha Mason. Her many starring film roles include M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening, Brian de Palma's classic film of Stephen King's Carrie, Bruce Beresford's Tender Mercies, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Woody Allen's Another Woman, and Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp. On television, Betty appeared as Abby Bradford in the hit series Eight is Enough, and starred for three seasons on HBO's series OZ. Other guest starring television roles include Evergreen, Roses for the Rich, Without a Trace, Law & Order: SVU, and Pretty Little Liars. Her concert appearances include, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Café Carlyle, The Bottom Line, The Blue Note, Feinstein's, Town Hall, among many others.

Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius XM satellite radio and was recently featured in the film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads. As a musician, he has played piano for over a dozen Broadway shows including Ragtime, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera. He was also the Artistic Producer and Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts, which included Dreamgirls with Audra McDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and Hair with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy nomination). As a comic he was awarded "Funniest Gay Male in NY" at Stand-Up NY and is a three-time Emmy nominee as a writer for The Rosie O'Donnell Show. As an actor, he made his Broadway debut in The Ritz directed by Joe Mantello, and has appeared on television on Law and Order C.I. and All My Children. As an author, he wrote the books The Q Guide to Broadway, Broadway Nights, and My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan on Random House, has an audio book on audible.com featuring Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson, SNL's Ana Gasteyer, Smash's Megan Hilty, and also writes a weekly column on Playbill.com. This summer he is added "television mogul" to that long list as Seth TV, his new, web-based entertainment network, launched. Go behind-the-scenes of the Broadway ringmaster's a-MAH-zing life with original shows like Seth's Reality, celebrity concerts and more.

About NOCCA: New Orleans Center for Creative Arts is a regional, pre-professional arts training center that offers students intensive instruction in culinary arts, dance, media arts: filmmaking & audio production, music (classical, jazz, vocal), theatre arts (drama, musical theatre, theatre design), visual arts, and creative writing, while demanding simultaneous academic excellence. The Freda Lupin Memorial Hall on the NOCCA campus is used for student, local theatre and dance performances. Producer Mark Cortale is thrilled to be launching the New Orleans premiere of the Broadway at NOCCA series in association with this outstanding organization.

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