Nicole Rosky - Page 249

Today in 1981, Dreamgirls opened at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 1521 performances. Based upon the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Supremes, The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, the musical follows the story of a young female singing trio from Chicago, Illinois called 'The Dreams', who become music superstars. It was nominated for thirteen Tony Awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical, and won six. It was later adapted into a motion picture from DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures in 2006.

Today in 1996, the first Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for188 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred.

Today in 2008, the third Broadway revival of Pal Joey opened at Studio 54, where it ran for 85 performances. Pal Joey is a musical with a book by John O'Hara (from his novel of the same title) and music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart based on a character and situations O'Hara created in a series of short stories published in The New Yorker. The original 1940 Broadway production was directed by George Abbott and starred Gene Kelly. There have been several revivals since, including a 2008-09 Broadway run, and a 1957 film adaptation starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.

In the Heights might have wrapped up its Broadway run back in 2011, but creator Lin-Manuel Miranda is still treating fans to lost treasures from the show. Below, check out a demo track of 'I'm Out'- a cut song, in which Lincoln Rosario, Nina's brother, aspires to a songwriting career and quits the family taxi business.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

The 26th annual edition of Gypsy of the Year raised a record-breaking $5,229,611 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, thanks to six weeks of fundraising by 64 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies. The grand total was announced Tuesday, December 9, 2014, by special guests Hugh Jackman, Nathan Lane and Judith Light after two stellar performances of original dances, songs and skits by more than 200 'gypsies' from Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. The show's spirited opening number celebrated the 40th anniversary of The Wiz, one of the first large-scale, big-budget Broadway musicals to feature an all-black cast and winner of seven Tony Awards in 1975. Check out the full number below!

Honeymoon in Vegas, the eagerly anticipated new musical comedy with book by Blazing Saddles and Fletch writer Andrew Bergman and score by three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown, is currently in previews at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). BroadwayWorld brings you extended clips of 'I Love Betsy' and 'When You Say Vegas' below!

This holiday season, Birdland Jazz Club presents a special two-week engagement with beloved performer Michael Feinstein through December 27, 2014. A long-time friend of the club and frequent special guest at Cast Party, this NYC holiday tradition kicks off a year-long, global, centennial celebration of Frank Sinatra with a program of Ol' Blue Eyes favorite standards from the great American songbook. Below, BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you highlights from the show!

Today in 1998, Parade opened at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre, where it ran for 85 performances. Parade is a musical with a book by Alfred Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. The production was directed by Harold Prince and starred Brent Carver as Leo Frank, Carolee Carmello as Lucille Frank, and Christy Carlson Romano as Mary Phagan. The musical won Tony Awards for best book and best score (out of nine nominations) and six Drama Desk Awards. The show has enjoyed a U.S. national tour and numerous professional and amateur productions in both the U.S. and abroad.

MOTOWN's Patrice Covington, who plays Martha Reeves in the current national tour, has just released her premiere single 'Life Feels Good Right Now' on VIBEVixen.com. The music video features Broadway's Mike Evariste (co-producer of Disgraced on Broadway and Actor in Book of Mormon National Tour), Tiffany Howard (Motown The Musical on Broadway), Martina Sykes (Motown The Musical National Tour), Lynorris Evans (Motown The Musical National Tour) and Jarvis Manning (Motown The Musical National Tour). Check out the new single below!

Manhattan Concert Productions just announced television, film and Broadway star, Jeremy Jordan, has joined the cast of a one night only concert performance of the TONY Award-winning Broadway musical, Parade, on February 16, 2015, at 8:00 p.m. EST at Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center. Jordan will join the cast as Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-born Jewish factory manager accused and convicted of killing a thirteen-yearold employee in Atlanta, Georgia in 1913. Three-time TONY Award winner and original composer, Jason Robert Brown, will conduct this star-studded cast and full chorus alongside Oliver Award nominee Gary Griffin as Director and Tom Murray as Music Supervisor.

Love told Billboard: 'This would be my 28th year in a row. They never told me not to, but it was an unspoken thing. They couldn't ask me not to sing 'Christmas (Baby)' on another show, but after 10 years, then 15 years, of doing this one song on this one show, I felt I had an obligation to be true to them.' THE LATE SHOW has tributed Love's upcoming final performance of the song with a special compilation of her past performances. Check it out below!

Happy Birthday, Adam Guettel! Adam Guettel is an American composer-lyricist of musical theater and opera. He is best known for the musical 'The Light in the Piazza,' for which he won two Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Orchestrations, and two Drama Desk Awards for Best Music and Best Orchestrations. His early works include 1996's 'Floyd Collins,' 'Love's Fire,' and 'Saturn Returns.' Guettel's songs have been recorded by such artists as Audra McDonald and Brian d'Arcy James. He also contributed original scores to several documentary films, including 'Arguing the World and Jack: The Last Kennedy Film.' In 1999, he performed a concert evening of his own work at New York's Town Hall.

very few playwrights have the acute sense of American place you find in D'Amour's beautiful writing. Especially toward the end, 'Airline Highway' is a worthy follow-up to the similarly adroit 'Detroit,' a Pulitzer Prize finalist about another great city ridden and then mostly abandoned by the country at large. These are both moralistic plays (with similar codas) suggesting we pay more attention to the beautiful urban gardens between sea and shining sea, very much dimmed by human tears.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Broadway's Side Show will end its run at the St. James Theatre on Sunday, January 4, 2015, the show's producers announced today. Discussions are currently underway for Side Show to make its London debut. The completely reimagined revival began previews on October 28 and officially opened on November 17, 2014. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you an exclusive video featuring reactions from the musical's Broadway audiences, as well as clips from the show!

The 26th annual edition of Gypsy of the Year raised a record-breaking $5,229,611 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, thanks to six weeks of fundraising by 64 Broadway, Off-Broadway and national touring companies. The grand total was announced Tuesday, December 9, 2014, by special guests Hugh Jackman, Nathan Lane and Judith Lightafter two stellar performances of original dances, songs and skits by more than 200 'gypsies' from Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Below, we bring you the winning numbers from the casts of THE LION KING and PIPPIN!

This week's spotlight is on composer/lyricist Drew Fornarola and bookwriter Scott Elmgreen. TIANANMEN is an original rock musical that follows the events of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, focusing on the stories of three student demonstrators and the Communist leaders they dare to challenge. The students communicate through music while government leaders communicate through spoken dialogue, and in this way the show uses musical theatre to starkly and viscerally portray the generational and cultural divides that come between both sides. Selections from Tiananmen premiered in a March 2014 concert at 54 Below starring Telly Leung, Ruthie Ann Miles, and Karl Josef Co, and the show continues to be developed under the artistic guidance of director Stafford Arima and with academic support from the Harvard University Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. For more, email: TiananmenMusical@gmail.com.

In celebration of Disney Theatrical Productions' 20 years on Broadway, the ABC Television Network will air 'Backstage with Disney on Broadway: Celebrating 20 Years,' SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14 at 7:00 p.m., ET. The special will be hosted by Broadway veteran Jesse Tyler Ferguson, star of ABC's 'Modern Family,' and feature musical performances from Sir Elton John, Sam Palladio and Clare Bowen (ABC's 'Nashville'), Darren Criss, Ashley Brown('Mary Poppins') and Adam Jacobs ('Aladdin'). Multi-talented entertainers and Broadway performers Toni Braxton, Whoopi Goldberg and Rosie O'Donnell are part of the roster of all-star talent sharing memories and anecdotes from the past two decades of Disney on Broadway. Below, BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you an exclusive audio preview of Nashville's Sam Palladio & Clare Bowen singing the title song from Beauty and the Beast! Check it out the full performance below!

For the first time in 10 years, Broadway Bares creator Jerry Mitchell will return to the show's director's chair to helm what promises to be a scintillating and titillating 25th celebratory edition of Broadway Bares. Join Jerry and 200 of Broadway's sexiest dancers for two performances only on Sunday, June 21, at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom, located in Manhattan Center. Show times are 9:30 pm and midnight.

The Skivvies, Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley just covered a Chrostmas classic- 'Grandma Got Runover By a Reindeer, stripped down live from a Bucks County couch. Check out their version of the darkly comic holiday tune below!