Hair 1968

Today's Theater Stories features the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Learn about this history of the theatre, and productions to have graced its stage including Hair, Choir Boy, My Name is Lucy Barton and many more!

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

This May, Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. Scroll down for the full lineup!

Since its Off-Broadway debut in 1967, HAIR has become a touchstone for musical theatre fans with a fondness for the decade's counter-culture revolution. Having won both a Tony and a Grammy, there is no doubt that this musical, which defies nearly every theatrical convention, has become as important a part of the genre's cannon as any of the Golden Age's classics. However, it is a show that I have just never 'got.' Perhaps I am too square to appreciate the flower-power sensibility, or too straight-laced to understand the era of psychedelic drugs and free love. Nonetheless, the score by Galt MacDermot (music) and James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics) contains some of the theatre's best 'rock' songs with pop cross-overs 'Aquarius,' 'Good Morning Starshine,' and 'Let the Sunshine In.' Theatre UCF's production of 'The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,' which runs through October 25th, might not have been able to make me appreciate the show's trippy conceit, but it did confirm that the program has just as much talent as nearly any of Central Florida's professional theatres.

In this week's edition, we hear from Joel Perez, who is currently starring as 'Roy/Pete/Bobby Jeremy' in Fun Home- playing at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Read on to find out his top five picks!

'If music be the food of love, play on.' Even before the invention of the musical comedy (more on that later), William Shakespeare knew the importance of music in telling stories on stage. For our March feature, my colleague Jeff Walker and I thought that instead of marking the Ides of March with songs about murder, betrayal, and fate, we would focus on the synergy between showtunes and Shakespeare.

Tony Award-Winners Adriane Lenox (After Midnight, Doubt),Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains, Contact), Randy Graff (LES MISERABLES, City of Angels) and Andy Blankenbuehler (In The Heights, Bring it On), Tony Award-nominees Liz Callaway (Miss Saigon, Baby, Cats), Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Christiane Noll (Ragtime, Chaplin, Jekyll & Hyde), Stephen Bogardus (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Bob Stillman (Dirty Blonde) and Annie Golden(Hair), and Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet, Company), Ann Harada (Cinderella, Avenue Q), Eddie Korbich(A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Kerry O'Malley (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Sally Wilfert (Assassins) and Nightlife Award Winners Scott Coulter, Julie Reyburn andSteve Ross appeared in Town Hall's Broadway by the Year Series on Monday night, May 12, THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1965-1989.

Tony Award-Winners Adriane Lenox (After Midnight, Doubt), Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway, Curtains, Contact), Randy Graff (Les Miserables, City of Angels) and Andy Blankenbuehler (In The Heights, Bring it On), Tony Award-nomineesLiz Callaway (Miss Saigon, Baby, Cats), Sally Mayes (She Loves Me), Christiane Noll (Ragtime, Chaplin, Jekyll & Hyde),Stephen Bogardus (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Bob Stillman (Dirty Blonde) and Annie Golden (Hair), and Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet, Company), Ann Harada (Cinderella, Avenue Q), Eddie Korbich (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Kerry O'Malley (Irving Berlin's White Christmas), Sally Wilfert (Assassins) and Nightlife Award Winners Scott Coulter, Julie Reyburn and Steve Ross will be among the 25 stars set to appear in Town Hall's Broadway by the Year Series on Monday, May 12 at 8pm, THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1965-1989. More stars to be announced soon!

Three-time Tony Award-winning scenic designer ROBIN WAGNER and esteemed costume designer LEWIS BROWN are among the 2011 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 8 at 6:30pm at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Mr. Brown was selected to receive the 2011 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Tony Award-winning scenic designer Robin Wagner will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. Sadly, Mr. Brown passed away in January of 2011. His award will be accepted by his long-time colleague and friend, Albert Wolsky, who was the recipient of the 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award

Three-time Tony Award-winning scenic designer ROBIN WAGNER and esteemed costume designer LEWIS BROWN are among the 2011 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 8 at 6:30pm at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Mr. Brown was selected to receive the 2011 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Tony Award-winning scenic designer Robin Wagner will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. Sadly, Mr. Brown passed away in January of 2011. His award will be accepted by his long-time colleague and friend, Albert Wolsky, who was the recipient of the 2010 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award