SARAH BRIGHTMAN
Former Phantom of the Opera star Sarah Brightman will release her latest album, “La Luna,” on Aug. 29. An Angel Records release, the CD will feature classical pieces from Handel and Beethoven as well as more recent tunes. The release coincides with Brightman’s concert tour, a worldwide expedition that begins in Brazil on Aug. 20. The following tours dates are from Brightman’s website, which can be found at sarah-brightman.com.

BRAZIL
Aug. 20 and 21 in Sao Paulo
Aug. 23 in Rio de Janeiro
CANADA/USA
Sept. 15 in Ottawa, ON at the Corel Centre
Sept. 16 in Toronto, ON at the Air Canada Centre
Sept. 18 in Montreal, PQ at the Molson Centre
Sept. 19 in Rochester, NY at the Auditorium Centre
Sept. 22 in New York, NY at the Theatre @ MSG
Sept. 23 in Atlantic City, NJ at the Mark G. Etess Arena
Sept. 24 in Hartford, CT at the Oakdale Theater
Sept. 26 in Providence, RI at the PAC
Sept. 27 in Lowell, MA at the Memorial Auditorium
Sept. 29 in Philadelphia, PA at the Mann Center
Sept. 30 in Washington, DC at the Patriot Center
Oct. 1 in Norfolk, VA at the Scope Arena
Oct. 4 in Miami, FL at the AA Arena /Nat. Car Rental Arena
Oct. 5 in Tampa, FL at the Ice Palace
Oct. 6 in Atlanta, GA at the Civic Center
Oct. 8 in New Orleans, LA at the Saenger Theatre
Oct. 9 in Dallas, TX at the Reunion Arena/Starplex Amph.
Oct. 10 in Houston, TX at the Aerial Theatre
Oct. 13 in Columbus, OH at the Nationwide Arena
Oct. 14 in Detroit, MI at the Palace
Oct. 15 in Cleveland, OH at the CSU Convocation Centre
Oct. 17 in St. Paul, MN at the Minn. Wild Arena
Oct. 20 in Las Vegas, NV at the MGM Grand
Oct. 21 in Santa Barbara, CA at the Santa Barbara Bowl
Oct. 22 in San Diego, CA at the SDSU Open Air Theatre
Oct. 24 in Los Angeles, CA at the Universal Amphitheatre
Oct. 26 in Sacramento, CA at the Arco Arena
Oct. 27 in San Jose, CA at the San Jose Arena
Oct. 29 in Portland, OR at the Rose Garden
Oct. 30 in Seattle, WA at the Paramount/Key Arena
Nov. 01 in Vancouver, BC at the GM Place
Nov. 03 in Edmonton, AB at the Skyreach Center
Nov. 04 in Calgary, AB at the Saddledome
Nov. 05 in Spokane, WA at the Arena
Nov. 07 in Salt Lake City, UT at the Delta Center
Nov. 08 in Denver, CO at the Magness Arena
Nov. 11 in Chicago, IL at the Chicago Theatre
Nov. 14 in Grand Rapids, MI at the Van Andel Arena
Nov. 15 in Milwaukee, WI at the Riverside Theatre
EUROPE
Nov. 21 in Oslo at the Spektrum
Nov. 22 in Stockholm at the Globen
Nov. 24 in Borlange at the Kuppolen
Nov. 25 in Gothenburg at the Scandinavium
Nov. 26 in Copenhagen at the Forum
Nov. 27 in Aalborg at the Aarlborghall
Nov. 30 in Tallin at the Linnhall
Dec. 2 in Tampere at the Sporthall
Dec. 6. in Zurich at the Hallenstadion
Dec. 7 in Mannheim at the Mozartsaal
Dec. 8 in Dusseldorf at the Philipshalle
Dec. 10 in Munich at the Olympiahalle
Dec. 12 in Vienna at the Stadthalle
Dec. 14 in Berlin at the ICC
Dec. 16 in Warsaw at the Grand Theatre
Dec. 19 in St. Petersburg at the Octlabrsky
Dec. 22 in Moskau at the Kremi

LIZ CALLAWAY
Due to great demand a third date has been announced for Liz Callaway’s upcoming cabaret performances in Chicago. Callaway will now entertain at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights, IL, on Sept. 7, 8 and 9. Tickets, which are priced at $28.50, can be ordered by calling (847) 577-2121. The former star of Baby and Miss Saigon will also perform on July 7 and 8 in Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia) in two concerts saluting the music of The Great White Way. These concerts will also star such Broadway names as Roger Bart, Debbie Gravitte and Alton Fitzgerald White. If all that weren’t enough, Callaway will participate in a workshop of a new musical this month at the Kennedy Center entitled 90 North.

LINDA EDER
Hope you caught Linda Eder belting her heart out this past Tuesday night on A&E’s Independence Day celebration. Eder, who was in superb voice, wrapped her incredible vocals around three of her “standards”: Jekyll & Hyde’s “Someone Like You,” Man of La Mancha’s title tune and one of Frank Wildhorn’s most beautiful tunes, “Vienna.” As we enter the second half of 2000, several Eder concert dates for 2001 (!) have just been announced, which follow:

Jan. 12 & 13, 2001 in Charlotte, NC at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center; (704) 372-1000
Jan. 21 in Naples, FL at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts; (941) 597-1900
Feb. 1 & 2 in Phoenix, AZ at the Orpheum Theatre
Feb. 15-17 in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; (202) 467-4600
March 8 in Clearwater, FL at the Ruth Eckerd Hall; (727) 791-7400
March 9 in Sarasota, FL at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall; www.vanwezel.org
March 10 in Melbourne, FL at the Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts; (407) 242-2219
May 31-June 3 in Pittsburgh, PA at Heinz Hall; call (412) 392-4900

FOR THE RECORD

Sweet Music: In the past decade Rebecca Luker has become one of the most sought-after musical theatre actresses, appearing in such hits as The Phantom of the Opera, The Secret Garden and the recent revivals of Show Boat and The Sound of Music. This season, the multi-talented performer can be found at the Neil Simon Theatre bringing her glorious soprano to the score of Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Luker gets the chance to wrap her rich, vibrato-filled tones around such classic theatre tunes as “My White Knight” and “Till There Was You,” and she handles each and every one beautifully. Craig Bierko, following in the steps of the formidable Robert Preston, does equally well, bringing a strong voice and a wonderful comic, manic intensity to the role of Harold Hill. Willson’s score, chock-full of hits like “Trouble” and “Seventy-Six Trombones,” is available from Q Records.

Universal Choices: Decca Broadway, Universal Music Group’s new division specializing in original and Broadway cast recordings, has just reissued a handful of theatre favorites. Original London cast recordings from two Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals -- Song & Dance and Starlight Express -- are now both available in two-CD sets. The London production of Song & Dance depicts the story of an English woman who comes to America and has dalliances with four American men; British musical theatre star Marti Webb, who also replaced Elaine Paige in the London production of Evita, brings her powerful voice to this 21-song cycle, and she is at her best on the show’s big ballads, “The Last Man in My Life” and “Tell Me on a Sunday.” Starlight Express, the theatrical spectacle still running in London, includes such tunes as “Only He,” “I Am the Starlight” and the title track. Decca Broadway has also newly remastered and released three classic original Broadway recordings: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Carousel and The King and I. The stellar casts include such legendary theatre performers as Alfred Drake (Oklahoma!), John Raitt (Carousel) and Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner (The King and I).

Look at Her Now: Julie Budd has exquisite control over her voice, whether she’s singing softly or building a song to a full, belty climax. She has often been compared to Barbra Streisand, and there is no denying the similarity in their vocal tones, but when the sound is so pure, only a fool would complain. On her newest CD, “If You Could See Me Now,” Budd presents a wide variety of tunes, including songs from such composers and lyricists as Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim and Irving Berlin. The recording begins with a swinging, uptempo styling of “I’m Beginning to See the Light”; other highlights include a heartfelt version of the Johnny Mercer/Barry Manilow gem, “When October Goes”; a jazzy take on Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”; a belty rendition of South Pacific’s “This Nearly Was Mine”; and Herb Bernstein’s emotional “Home at Last.” “If You Could See Me Now” has been released on the After 9 label.

IN OTHER NEWS Casting is complete for the upcoming benefit performance of Clare Booth Luce’s The Women, which will be held on Monday, July 17 at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street). The evening will benefit the Actors’ Fund of America’s Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative, and the talent line-up boasts Bebe Neuwirth as Joan Crawford’s “Crystal,” Eartha Kitt as Mary Boland’s “Countess De Lave,” Sandy Duncan as Marjorie Main’s “Lucy,” Karen Ziemba as Norma Shearer’s “Mary,” Rita Moreno as Phyllis Povah’s “Edith,” Hazelle Goodman as Joan Fontaine’s “Peggy,” Elaine Stritch as Rosalind Russell’s “Sylvia” plus Tsidii Le Loka as the English nanny and Lea DeLaria, Dee Hoty, Holland Taylor, Mary Testa and Phyllis Newman in smaller roles. Tickets are priced at $250 (includes a pre-theatre cocktail party); call (212) 221 7300 ext. 129 for reservations . . . Upcoming guests for “Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway Chatterbox” include Jesse L. Martin on July 13, husband-and-wife Carolee Carmello and Gregg Edelman on July 20 and Christine Andreas on July 27. This weekly talk/variety show at Don’t Tell Mama (West 46th Street) benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Call (212) 757-0788 for reservations.

REMINDERS:

BETTY BUCKLEY
Several new concert dates have been added to BB’s always-growing schedule:

July 9 & 10 Hartford Stage in Hartford, CT
July 24 & 27 Martin Theatre (Ravinia Festival) in Highland Park, IL
Aug. 5 Edgewood Country Club in Rivervale, NJ
Aug. 21-Sept. 3 Donmar Warehouse in London, UK
Sept. 9 & 10 Robert Park Auditorium in Taunton, MA
Sept. 15 Southern Theater in Columbus, OH
Sept. 16 Stranahan Theatre in Toledo, OH
Oct. 6 & 7 Scottsdale Center for the Arts Theatre in Scottsdale, AZ
Oct. 28 Univ. of Texas Cowan Fine & Perf. Arts Center in Tyler, TX
Nov. 10 & 11 University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT
Jan. 5, 2001 Koger Center for the Arts (Univ. of SC) in Columbia, SC
Jan. 6 Georgia Institute of Technology Center for the Arts in Atlanta, GA
Jan. 19-28 Florida Condo Tour in Florida
March 3 at the Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA
May 12 at the College of Staten Island’s Center for the Arts in Staten Island, NY
June 17 at the Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans, LA

BARBARA COOK
I recently received a few new concert dates for theatre/cabaret legend Barbara Cook, which follow:
July 28 and 29 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA
Sept. 14 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts in Poway, CA (619) 748-0505
Sept. 21 & 22 at the Sydney Opera House (in concert with David Campbell) in Sydney, Australia 011-61-2-9250-7777
Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, CA (714) 556-2787

LINDA EDER
Eder in concert:
July 8 with Michael Feinstein & The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at the Chastain Park Amphitheatre in Atlanta, GA; (404) 733-4801
July 14 with Feinstein at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, WA; (206) 628-0888
July 15 with Feinstein at Schnitzer Hall in Portland, OR; (503) 274 6564
July 16 with Feinstein at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco, CA; (415) 551-2000
August 5 at the Wildflower Music Festival in White Mills, PA
July 22 at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles
July 23 at Colorado’s Boettcher Concert Hall
Aug. 6 with Feinstein at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ; (732) 335-0400
Aug. 8 with Feinstein at the Mann Performing Arts Center in Philadelphia, PA (215) 336-2000
Aug. 9 with Feinstein at the Wolf Trap Filene Center in Vienna, VA; (703) 218-6500 or 1-800-955-5566
Aug. 19 at the John Drew Theater of Guild Hall in East Hampton, NY (631) 324-4050

Aug. 25 with Feinstein at The Ravinia Festival in Chicago, IL; go to www.ravinia.org
Aug. 26 Boys & Girls Club Fundraiser at The River Center w/ Michael Feinstein in Minneapolis, MN
Sept. 26 at the Jones Hall w/Houston Symphony in Houston, TX; call (713) 224-7575
Nov. 4 at the Westbury Music Fair in Long Island, NY; call (516) 334 0800
Nov. 17 at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ; call (732) 246 SHOW
Nov. 18 at the State Theatre in Easton, PA; call (610) 252-3132
Nov. 19 at the Strand-Capitol Theatre in York, Penn.

PATTI LUPONE
Several concert dates have been added to Patti LuPone’s ever-growing schedule. What follows are La LuPone’s confirmed concert appearances as of this week:
July 8 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA (with Audra McDonald and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra); (323) 850-2000
July 29 ("Matters of the Heart") at the Long Island Summer Festival at Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, NY; (516) 922-0061
Sept. 9 ("Matters of the Heart") at the Valentine Theatre in Toledo, Ohio; (419) 242-2787
Sept. 23 at the University of Maine in Orono; (800) 622-8499
Oct. 7 ("Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda") with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, Alabama; (205) 458-8401
Nov. 3 ("Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda") with the Louisville Symphony Orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky (502) 583-4555
April 8 ("Matters Of The Heart") at Duke University’s Page Auditorium in Durham, North Carolina; (919) 684-4444
Jan. 5-7, 2001 at the Morton J. Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX (214) 871-4000

KAREN MASON
July 18-23 World Premiere of White Christmas at the St. Louis MUNY Opera
Sept. 5-14 at Arci’s Place in New York, NY (212) 532-4370

AUDRA McDONALD

July 8 in Hollywood, CA at the Hollywood Bowl (with Patti LuPone); (323) 850-2000
July 15 in Cleveland, OH at the Blossom Festival/Cleveland Orchestra; (800) 686-1141
July 21 in San Fransisco, CA with the San Francisco Symphony; (415) 864-6000
Aug. 6 in Detroit, MI at the Meadowbrook Festival/Detroit Symphony; (313) 576-5111
August 16 in Chicago, IL at the Ravinia Festival; (847) 266-5100
Sept. 28-30 with the National Symphony Orchestra

BERNADETTE PETERS
The two-time Tony winner will conclude her run in Annie Get Your Gun on September 2, when she will begin a U.S. concert tour:
Sept. 15 at the Starlight Theatre in Kansas City (with symphony)
Sept. 22 at the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia
Oct. 6 at the Einsenhower Hall Theatre in West Point, NY
Oct. 7 at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ
Oct. 13 at the OnCenter War Memorial in Syracuse, NY
Jan. 5, 2001 at PAC in Tulsa, Oklahoma (with symphony)
Jan. 11 at the Leon County Civic Center in Tallahassee
Jan. 13 at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater
March 29 at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady, NY
April 6 at the Bass Perf. Hall in Fort Worth, TX (with symphony)
April 7-8 at the Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston, TX
April 19 at the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto (with symphony)
April 28 at the Pasquerilla PAC in Johnstown, PA
May 11-12 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, MN (with symphony)
May 18-20 at the Myerson Hall in Dallas, TX (with symphony)

Well, that’s all for now. Happy diva-watching!

By Andrew Gans