Eddie Varley - Page 257

Antonio Banderas attended his Blue Seduction for Women launch event held by PUIG USA, July 10th at Cedar Lake Dance Theatre in New York City. The event celebrated the launch of the new fragrance and the partnership between Antonio Banderas Seductive Fragrances for Women and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. As part of the celebration, select members of the cast of the 2008 Tony Award winning Best Musical, In The Heights, performed with children benefiting from the House of the Roses, Ballet Hispanico School of Dance, R. Evolucion Latina, Steps and Broadway Dance Center.

BroadwayWorld is pleased to bring you this exclusive BWW TV interview feature with Steve Coogan, Phoebe Strole and Skylar Astin, the stars of the upcoming summer comedy, 'Hamlet 2'. 'The hit, the very palpable hit' of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, Hamlet 2 is an irreverent comedy centering on one teacher's overzealous quest to mount a high school musical. The film is directed by Andrew Fleming (Dick, Threesome) from an original screenplay he wrote with Pam Brady (South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Team America: World Police).

BroadwayWorld.com's Eddie Varley and special Tony Night 2008 correspondent Laura Bell Bundy, star of the hit musical, Legally Blonde spent the evening celebrating the 2008 Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards with the various (and very happy) winners.

Natalie Toro and Sutton Foster applied their award-winning vocal skills to the classic duet, 'Get Happy/ Happy Days Are Here Again,' originally performed by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand on October 6th, 1963 when that version aired on CBS-TV. The BroadwayWorld.com cameras were invited in as the two talented performers worked on the duet in the studios at the Manhattan Center.

Curtains, the Musical Comedy Whodunit from the authors of Cabaret and Chicago, which starred 2007 Tony Award winner and four-time Emmy Award winner David Hyde Pierce as Lt. Frank Cioffi and Tony and Emmy Award winner Debra Monk as producer Carmen Bernstein played it's final performance on Sunday, June 29th, 2008. BroadwayWorld.com was there to cheer on the cast as they took their final bow.

Natalie Joy Johnson takes BroadwayWorld.com behind the scenes 'Backstage at Blonde', the young singer and actress is making her Broadway debut in the hit musical Legally Blonde. As the cast celebrates the show's continued success, Natalie shares the inside scoop on what it means to be a 'Blonde' on Broadway!

On Thursday May 22, 2008 the 54th annual Broadway Softball league opened their season at the Heckscher Fields in Central Park. Participating this year for the opening day festivities were Chris Jackson (In The Heights), Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park With George) and George Wendt (Hairspray). The day celebrated not only the beginning of the season and but also included an appearance by Bob Davis who presented a check for $50,000 to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids on behalf of Michelob Ultra, the official sponsor of the 2008 Broadway Softball Season.

Monty Python's Spamalot welcomed Emmy nominee Stephen Collins ('Seventh Heaven,' Because I Said So) and Grammy nominee Drew Lachey ('Dancing With The Stars,' the band 98 Degrees) to Broadway's Shubert Theatre (225 West 44th Street) on Tuesday, June 24, 2008. After the curtain came down the cast celebrated at Justin Timberlake's Upper East Side restaurant Southern Hospitality, and BroadwayWorld.com was on the invite list! Come join the fun as we mix and mingle with the new stars of Monty Python's Spamalot!

Radio Broadway Presents 'The Radio Hits of 1958' will feature a variety of Broadway stars, American Idol's Constantine Maroulis and alumni from American Bandstand and will be presented on Monday, June 30 at 8 p.m. at The Town Hall, Times Square's landmark concert venue.

Nominated for 13 TONY Awards 'In The Heights' features Latin, Salsa and Hip-Hop-infused music, conceived and written by emerging superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda. BroadwayWorld.com got some quotes from the talented nominees on how they felt, how strong the show's emotional connection is with the audience, and the magic of the Tony Awards!

Patti LuPone recently won a Tony Award nomination as well as the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Actress in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance of the 2007 -2008 season for her performance as Rose in the critically-acclaimed new Broadway production of the classic Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents landmark musical Gypsy, directed by the show's author, Mr. Laurents, currently at the St. James Theatre. BroadwayWorld.com had a moment to spend with her at the Tony Nominee Breakfast, she was warm, relaxed and engaged as she shared some insights into performing the work and the history behind the story of Gypsy.

Laura Benanti, a 2008 Tony nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as 'Louise' in Gypsy had her caricature unveiled at the world famous Sardi's Restaurant on Tuesday June 3rd, 2008. We were there to catch all the fun as she was cheered on by family, friends and her co-stars!

Eight shows a week, there is magic taking place on the stage of the Cort Theatre, four actors, no, better to describe them as magicians or alchemists or conjurers. In truth they would most likely be happy to be labeled as 'lucky stiffs' as they are able to bring joy and laughter to an audience every evening as the house lights dim, the foursome in question are the incredibly gifted cast of the Tony nominated, The 39 Steps. One talented gentleman plays the ironically billed role of 'Man 1', this would be better titled, 'Man 1000', for he seems to be playing that many roles and more, seemingly at the same time! This 'Man' is the delightfully talented, Cliff Saunders, a Canadian actor making his Broadway debut in The 39 Steps.

The critically acclaimed Broadway musical PASSING STRANGE is currently nominated for 7 Tony Awards, including Best Musical. With book and lyrics by the popular singer/songwriter Stew, and with music by Stew and his longtime musical partner Heidi Rodewald, PASSING STRANGE is directed by and created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen. PASSING STRANGE is the tale of a young black musician on a journey of escape and exploration: leaving the confines of his middle-class, church-reared youth in south central L.A., the further he travels the more he discovers the voyage within is the one that counts. BroadwayWorld.com checked in with three of it's celebrated company members, all of whom are Tony nominated for the creative work they bring to this vibrant and thrilling musical, they spoke candidly about everything from being nominated for a 2008 Tony Award to how inspired and different every single performance continues to be!

'American Idol' Season Five winner, Taylor Hicks, made his Broadway debut when he joined the cast of GREASE in the role of 'Teen Angel' on Friday, June 6, 2008 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. BroadwayWorld.com was there to catch all the 'Hand Jivin' action!

One of the most inspired moments you'll find on a Broadway stage this season is in the musical Cry-Baby, the inmates of a prison utilize the license plates they are making to aid in a very memorable jail break number titled 'Jailyard Jubilee', it's one of those 'this is why I love musicals' moments. The man who dreamed up that rockin' and rattlin' choreography is another reason why people love musicals, he's 2008 Tony nominated choreographer Rob Ashford.

Rondi Reed has been a Steppenwolf member since 1979, and has appeared in over 60 Steppenwolf productions. Rondi most recently appeared and to great acclaim at that, as Madame Morrible in the Chicago production of Wicked, proving she can do just about anything on a stage! Her many Broadway credits include The Grapes of Wrath, Rise and Fall of Little Voice and of course her current Best Featured Actress in a Play Tony nominated role of Mattie Fae Aiken in Tracy Lett's August: Osage County. We caught with up her at the Tony Nominee's Brunch where she discussed the play and its journey from Chicago to Broadway.

Alanna Ubach may be celebrated as a film actress with a distinctive comic flair and energy, but she began and would still be happy to be thought of as a stage actress, one with something funny, and important to say. She takes a moment away from her successful film career to bring herself, her colorful array of characters and her critically acclaimed one woman show, Patriotic Bitch to the Clurman Theatre. She took a break from rehearsal to give us at BroadwayWorld.com a little peek at what's in store for audiences…

There's a dynamo taking over this Tony season, and No, I'm not talking about Patti Lupone's Mama Rose, I'm talking about that most influential of theatre folk, teenage Tony Campaign manager Cubby Bernstein! Every Tony season he turns his considerable might towards the show he believes he can lead to Tony victory, did I mention he has 63 wins to his name? So with Xanadu as his chosen production the tiny titan of Tony 2008 has come out of the shadows, or at least pulled himself away long enough from the Go Diego Go aisle at Toy 'R' Us to answer a few questions for us here at BroadwayWorld.com.

Raúl Esparza burst onto Broadway with his 2000 debut as Riff-Raff in the cult hit revival of The Rocky Horror Show, but he quickly made the trip from Transsexual, Transylvania to become what many consider to be the best actor of his generation. Broadway audiences found him definitively interpreting the music of Stephen Sondheim in his Tony nominated role of Bobby in Company. He chatted with BroadwayWorld.com about being nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for his work in Harold Pinter's classic play The Homecoming.