Broadway veterans Kecia Lewis-Evans and Darius de Haas will be two of the soloists in a special performance of Too Hot to Handel: The Gospel Messiah Project with choirs from six New York City high schools at Carnegie Hall Nov. 14 at 4 PM.
The performance will be accompanied by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with Marin Alsop conducting. Vaneese Thomas will take the mezzo-soprano solo part in the concert, with Lewis-Evans (The Drowsy Chaperone, Dessa Rose, Once on This Island) singing soprano and de Haas (Marie Christine, Rent) singing tenor.
Broadway veteran Bryan Batt was spotted on the red carpet with “Mad Men” cast members at the 2010 Emmy Awards, prompting speculation that the actor will return to the series to again play his much-missed character, gay advertising art director Salvatore Romano, according to tvguide.com.
Batt would only say that “the god of ‘Mad Men’ [series creator Matthew Weiner]” had recently called to tell him that “Sal is not dead.” The character had been fired from his agency last year, prompting Batt’s exit from the series.
Batt has appeared on Broadway in La Cage aux Folles, Beauty and the Beast, Saturday Night Fever, Seussical the Musical, Sunset Bouelvard and The Scarlet Pimpernel, and Off-Broadway in Forbidden Broadway and Jeffrey.
Tony nominee and "Glee" star Matthew Morrison recently visited his old high school, the Orange County High School of the Arts. The surprise visit was captured by the people at Cambio.
Morrison caught up with his old teachers, talked to students, and donated $15,000 to the school to continue its programs.
The cast of American Idiot recently recorded videos of six songs from the Green Day punk rock musical for the online video concert series AOL Sessions.
The songs featured include the title song, “Are We the Waiting,” “Last Night on Earth,” “Letterbomb,” “Whatshername” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
To enjoy video of the cast’s performances, look below. For even more, including behind-the-scenes footage and a series of Q&A videos, click here.
Composer Alan Menken has delivered some of the catchiest tunes on stage and screen. From The Little Mermaid’s “Under the Sea” to “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast and the title song from Little Shop of Horrors, audiences have been tapping their toes to his music for decades.
Menken is also at work on the new Broadway-aimed musical Leap of Faith, which features lyrics by Glenn Slater (Little Mermaid, Love Never Dies, Sister Act) and a book by Slater and Janus Cercone. The musical is set to debut Sept. 11 at the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles prior to a possible Broadway arrival next year, though no official announcement has been made.
The musical centers on a con artist posing as a traveling reverend who seeks to take a small Kansas town for all its worth. Producers have released a promotional video for the new musical featuring Menken and Slater’s gospel-infused title track.
Tony Award winners David Hyde Pierce and Mark Rylance and BAFTA winner Joanna Lumley star in a revival of David Hirson’s 17th-century-set satire La Bete, currently playing London’s Comedy Theatre prior to a Broadway bow at the Music Box Theatre beginning Sept. 23.
The London production has released footage to offer a glimpse of the production – directed by Matthew Warchus – which pits Pierce (as a classical dramatist) and Rylance (as a street performer) against each other for the court favor of a princess (Lumley).
To enjoy a peek at the production before it crosses the pond, look below:
While "Glee" may not have won Best Comedy Series at the 2010 Emmy Awards, they did take home several other trophies, and the cast helped Jimmy Fallon and several other television stars begin the evening with a splashy opening number set to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.”
In the pre-filmed section of the opening, Fallon discovers that the “Glee” kids (Emmy nominees Lea Michele and Chris Colfer, plus Cory Monteith and Amber Riley) can’t afford tickets to the big night. So what better way to raise money than a regional glee club competition, with some help from Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, Randy Jackson, Tim Gunn – and, of course, 2010 Emmy winner Jane Lynch?
To enjoy the segment and the onstage number that results, look below:
Tony and Olivier Award winner Patti LuPone, who will return to Broadway this season in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, will also release her memoirs Sept. 14.
Simply titled “Patti LuPone: A Memoir,” an audio version of the book that details her lengthy stage career will also be for sale, and a preview of the audio version is now available on the Random House website.
To hear the singing actress read a portion of her upcoming tome, click here.
The latest comic misadventures of Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) and his intimidating father-in-law Jack (Robert De Niro) will be played out in “Little Fockers.” A new trailer for the comedy, set for a Dec. 22 release and featuring Tony and Academy Award winner Barbra Streisand and Tony and Emmy Award winner Blythe Danner, has been released.
The film also stars Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, Laura Dern, Harvey Keitel and Jessica Alba. The film’s score is composed by Stephen Trask (Hedwig and the Angry Inch). Academy Award winner and Tony nominee Dustin Hoffman is listed on IMDB as reprising his role from “Meet the Fockers” as Streisand’s husband and Stiller’s father, but he does not appear in the trailer.
To get a sense of what’s to come for Greg and extended family, look below:
