JOHN LEE BEATTY, PORTRAIT OF THE DESIGNER AS A YOUNG MAN: A LOST INTERVIEW Part 3: Sneaking in Through the Back Door   As told to Samuel L. Leiter   This is the third installment in my previously unpublished 1980 interview with designer John Lee Beatty, which is being serialized in...

When the redhead Anita Gillette (Tony Nominee Chapter Two) and the blonde Penny Fuller (two time Tony Award nominee Applause & The Dinner Party) teamed up in a revue named Sin Twisters, written and directed by Barry Kleinbort, they didn’t realize they had hit upon a winning ticket...

  In memory of Jazz legend Bucky Pizzarelli, Theater Pizzazz’ Magda Katz is offering this video of Bucky with Marilyn Maye at the Iridium in 2014. Jazz guitarist John “Bucky” Pizzarelli, who was inducted to the New Jersey Hall of Fame, died on Wednesday April 1, at the age of 94....

GO ON, LAUGH! YOU DESERVE IT! YOU JUST CAN’T HELP...

  More than ever, we need what composer David Friedman offers us via Nancy LaMott and “We Can Be Kind” as inspiration. HEALING OUR WORLD ONE KINDNESS AT A TIME is being released online today. And since so many of us are sitting at home and our finances have taken a hit, David...

  Although there are far fewer people to see them, the digital billboards in Times Square will stay on. Despite complaints that the displays were wasting electricity to show ads to nearly empty streets, the Times Square Advertising Coalition said in an email that there was “no plan on...

LISTEN – DOWNLOAD TRACKS FREE     From Larry Kerchner   Just in time for the upcoming Passover holiday, songwriter Larry Kerchner has rolled out Mark Nadler’s recording of “The Passover Polka.”  It’s available for sale via download, but being offered free of charge to...

  Prayers go out to former Waitress and A Bronx Tale musical star Nick Cordero who has been hospitalized and in intensive care, according to his wife Amanda Kloots. In a Instagram post on Tuesday, Kloots said her husband, 41, is “in the ICU and now unconscious” after being diagnosed with...

Folksbiene! Live is coming to your living room. The NYTF Marketing Team in response to Covid-19 is helping combat the fear and isolation by bringing you the following: Tonight April 1 Adam B. Shapiro is on at 7 pm from Shapiro Hall with “From Fool to Fiddler” Tomorrow April 2 at 5...

  Due to the global pandemic, the Chita Rivera Awards, originally scheduled for May 17 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts (566 LaGuardia Place), will be postponed until later in the year, it was announced today by Joe Lanteri, Founder and Executive Director of the New...

Filmmaker Stever celebrates The Drama Desk & President, William Wolf     For nearly ten years, filmmaker Michael Lee Stever served as the ‘official’ man behind the camera for The Drama Desk Awards and their numerous related events as well as Sardi’s panel discussions. This week...

  The Actors Fund, the national human services organization for everyone in performing arts and entertainment, announced today that SiriusXM Broadway host Seth Rudetsky and his husband, producer James Wesley, will also produce and host Plays in the House as part of its weekly lineup...

Part One in a Two-Part Series   By Cooper Lawrence   He has legions of young fans, numerous awards (including a TONY nomination), incredible hair, and does not wait for “permission”…but what really keeps JOE ICONIS going? Theater Pizzazz explores the life, work and mind of the...

In light of recent events surrounding COVID-19, The Off-Broadway League and the Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation have revised the schedule for the 35th Annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. With the closure of theatres across the city, and to offer affected...

  It is with great sadness that I write that William Wolf died from complications related to COVID-19 on Saturday, March 28. Author, critic, and educator, Bill was the 22nd president of the Drama Desk. He also served a term as chair of the New York Film Critics Circle. William was part...

    By Michael Colby   The time was 9:37 PM.  The date – July 13, 1977.  That was when New York, the town that purportedly never sleeps, came to a standstill.  We were thrown into the abyss by the big electric blackout through the city.  Exceptions included the borough of...

    Award winning jazz vocalist, guitarist, songwriter Allan Harris brings his many talents to fans worldwide and has been dubbed “heir apparent to Nat King Cole.” His soulful voice is smooth as silk. Harris calls himself a storyteller through the genre of jazz. Thanks,...

  For the first time the big celebration of the Annual MAC Awards went Livestream due to COVID-19 as winner names were read from two different locations, hosted by MAC Pres. Lennie Watts, with Amy Wolk and Lorinda Lizitsa weighing in and offering up a new song they wrote. In normal...

JOHN LEE BEATTY – PORTRAIT OF THE DESIGNER AS A YOUNG MAN: A LOST INTERVIEW Part 2: From High School to Brown to Yale     As Told to Samuel L. Leiter   This is the second installment in my previously unpublished 1980 interview with designer John Lee Beatty, which is being...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   Linda Lavin has been the consummate entertainer for nearly 50 years, triumphing on stage in numerous shows such as Gypsy, Broadway Bound, and The Lyons – earning one Tony Award and six nominations in the process — as well as starring as the...

  New York City Center’s Encores! Archives Project—(click on link) your song-a-day video series on social media, curated by Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel.  The show must go on…online that is, and Encores! will make sure you can still reminisce about your favorite musical,...

  Jazz lovers: You’re in for a treat. You’ll be sitting in the theater of your living room and enjoying some of the best jazz concerts imaginable with Lincoln Center’s “Jazz At Home.” Whether you play it first thing in the morning to put a spring in your...

  Julie Halston may not be singing but she sure is keeping our spirits up because anything she reads comes out funny – even from make up queen Charlotte Tilbury! Her message to TP fans: “In this tough time we need to laugh now more than ever -hopefully this clip will help in...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   Renowned actor David Schramm, an original member of the famed Acting Company, passed away on Sunday, March 29 at age 73. No cause of death was given. During his career, the Kentucky-born Schramm appeared in numerous Broadway shows include Bedroom Farce,...

by Brian Scott Lipton   Country superstar and Broadway veteran Jennifer Nettles has joined Tony Award winner Alex Lacamoire for a special video recording of the Charles Strouse-Martin Charnin standard “Tomorrow” from Annie. The recording is accompanied by a video that shows scenes from...

  You would normally be seeing this magical duo husband and wife, Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock singing regularly at Birdland. Alas, with all the nightclubs shuttered, we’re thrilled they have made this loving video to share with their fans and friends, uplifting spirits and...

JOHN LEE BEATTY, PORTRAIT OF THE DESIGNER AS A YOUNG MAN: A LOST INTERVIEW Part 1   As Told to Samuel L. Leiter   In 1980, I interviewed John Lee Beatty in his apartment on West 86th Street. At the time, he was just emerging as one of the most brilliant young set designers in the...

  There’s no way to describe the indescribable Mr. Show Biz, Mark Nadler.  He sings, dances, plays concert piano, has the ultimate flair for comedy and . . . he’s very smart!  That said, if you want to know much more, in exquisite detail, it would be a lot easier for you to...

    The 92Y has a beautiful tribute to recently departed Terrence McNally on his 80th Birthday. Check this video and their archives for much more! www.92Y.org...

    Tony Winner Anita Gillette sends this video to her fans and wants to quote her friend, Irving Berlin: “It’s a lovely day tomorrow. Tomorrow is a lovely day. Come and feast your tear dimmed eyes on tomorrow’s clear blue skies. If today your heart is weary, if every little thing...

  Singer-Songwriter- Soprano Saxophonist extraordinaire, Danny Bacher responded to the call to keep fan spirits up during this unusual time in our history. He’s “Makin’ Whoopee” in more ways than you can imagine! From the 1928 Broadway production Whoopee (written...

For the first time in its 86-year history, the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night auditions will be conducted exclusively through online submissions, as the nonprofit looks to continue its mission in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. The series, which has run consecutively through...

  The 74th Annual Tony Awards, scheduled to air live on the CBS Television Network on Sunday, June 7th from Radio City Music Hall in New York City, will be postponed and rescheduled at a later date, in coordination with broadcast partner. The health and safety of the Broadway community,...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   Most New Yorkers have at least walked by Manhattan Plaza, the giant apartment buildings on 43rd Street (one on the corner of Ninth Avenue, the other on Tenth Avenue) that became subsidized apartments for struggling artists and performers. But you...

  By Ron Fassler   As a kid in the 1960s and 70s and totally infatuated with Broadway, listening to a cast album was as close as I could get to the real thing. There was no internet to go on, or YouTube and watch clips, and no such thing as streaming on your television screen. There...

IT’S TODAY from Marilyn Maye on Vimeo.   Marvelous Marilyn Maye, the Queen of Cabaret, wants her fans to know that she’s doing just fine back in Kansas City, washing her hands (as is Helen) frequently and not touching her face. She’s offering up this song from a recent...

                                    Video Red Carpet Interviews: Originally posted on March 25, 2014 a day after the opening of Terrence McNally’s Mother’s and Sons on Broadway. Terrence...

  Terrence McNally died. His long, varied and prolific career as a playwright, musical librettist and screenwriter earned him four Tony Awards and an Emmy. He died today, March 24 from coronavirus complications at the age of 81. His plays included Master Class, Love! Valor! Compassion!,...

  Neil LaBute’s Ten X Ten Series will be offered by Contemptible Entertainment as free content via The St. Louis Actors’ Studio’s Twitter account @STLAS1 beginning March 25, 2020. Ten X Ten is a collection of original monologues that are performed directly to the camera and in...

    The League of Professional Theatre Women (Shellen Lubin and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been championing women in the professional theatre for more than three decades, is sad to announce that one of their co-founders, Julia Miles, passed away on...

  Happily, Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) has announced that it will reopen its productions of the new musical Flying Over Sunset at the Vivian Beaumont Theater and the new opera Intimate Apparel at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater this fall. Both productions...

  In keeping with current times and due to closings and postponments, 54 Below will launch its new series with Tony® nominee Joe Iconis & Drama Desk nominee George Salazar on March 25. See your favorite artists. Artist lineup includes Brittain Ashford, Charles Busch, Ann Hampton...

  The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization announced today the launch of their new YouTube live stream series, R&H Goes Live! beginning with JeremyJordan. The ongoing series will feature some of Broadway’s best performing stripped-down, contemporary versions of iconic Rodgers &...

  Lincoln Center Launches Lincoln Center at Home New Portal Enables Families and Communities to Keep the Performing Arts Front and Center With:   Lincoln Center Pop-Up Classroom A Daily Dose of Creativity with Artists and Educators, Weekdays at 10am ET   #ConcertsForKids  Short...

  BroadwayHD is a theater-streaming service allowing people to watch performances from Broadway and the West End from the comfort of their own homes. It’s currently offering a seven-day free trial, perfect for people self-isolating amid the coronavirus pandemic. Musicals, plays,...

An Amusement Column     by Harry Haun     ALL AGLOW AGAIN: Radium Girls is the title of not one but two fact-based dramas about female factory workers at United States Radium plants in the decade after World War I. Told the paint was harmless, they contracted radiation...

Lauren Molina, seen off Broadway in the hit Desperate Measures and on Broadway in Sweeney Todd and Rock of Ages, was most recently playing Sally Bowles in Cabaret at the Bristol Riverside Theatre, when the emergency shutdowns began to stop the spread of Coronavirus. She wrote this original...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   Many celebrities are inspirational in their own ways, but few match Rita Moreno, who remains one of the world’s busiest – and most uplifting – octogenarians. (She will turn 89 later this year). One of the world’s few EGOTs (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and...

    Michele says she found this song written decades ago with Karen Gottlieb (lyrics), music by Michele Brourman, to sing just for you – “Think About the Bad Times.”  Recently, you may have seen Michele’s one-woman shows at Pangea and Birdland. A composer and...

        By Samuel L. Leiter   Part I   This is a true story I’ve told to a few friends over the years but never, in my recollection, revealed in print. It happened in 1961, when I was 21 and in my third year at Brooklyn College. This July, if I manage to slide by...

  In our efforts to bring you new and newly unearthed memories of people, places and events, Magda Katz has been rummaging through her endless supply of photos and videos.  They will be constantly updated as new ones come our way. They represent a myriad of time periods. You’ll...

    by Marcina Zaccaria   Shakespeare in the Park was typically always about Shakespeare, but when George C. Wolfe was the Artistic Director of the Public Theater in the late 90s, it was announced that “On The Town,” (Music by Leonard Bernstein and Book/ Lyrics by...

  Michael Feinstein is the great interpreter, as singer-pianist and archivist, of the Great American Songbook. His contributions as an educator are notable, defining him as one of the most important musical forces of our time. He is a multi-platinum selling and multi-Grammy Award...

The Rosie O’Donnell Show Sunday, March 22, 7 pm ET Benefit Concert, Broadway.com 12-time Emmy Award® winner and Tony Award® recipient Rosie O’Donnell and actor/Producer Erich Bergen are proud to announce the one-night-only return of the legendary, 25-time Emmy Award winning The Rosie...

  In this disconcerting and confusing time, on Sunday March 22 at 4pm on their YouTube Channel, Guild Hall is delighted to offer, as a special live-streaming treat, the premiere of one of the most clarifying and crystalline concerts we’ve presented in recent years, Tony-nominee Melissa...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   In a time where any cause for celebration seems scant, musical theater lovers will still want to throw a “private” party in their homes on Sunday, March 22 to honor the 90th birthday of musical theater’s greatest composer-lyricist...

    Linda Purl recorded this video on her cell phone and has oodles of Purls of wisdom for her fans. You’ll get a chuckle – much needed right now. You’ve had the great pleasure of seeing this artist in New York City clubs (Feinstein’s/54 Below &...

  Music is magic. Music is healing. Music is for every moment – especially this one. So let’s make some, every week. Everything The Public Theater does is, and always has been, about making connections between you and our artists. And we are committed to continuing that work...

  Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and piece by piece productions, in association with Rising Phoenix Repertory, are proud to announce that a limited number of tickets to view-at-home recordings of Ren Dara Santiago’s The Siblings Play are now on sale. Beginning on Monday, March 23,...

  by Guest Writer Gary Morgenstein   During World War II, the British government initially closed down theaters; an audience would be easy targets for the relentless German bombers raining death on London. Gradually the government relaxed its rules and theater flourished. Air raids...

  The Broadway League, in conjunction with the American Theatre Wing, and based upon CDC recommendations to keep theaters dark for an added four weeks, plays havoc with any chance of staying on schedule with a June 7 Radio City Music Hall ceremony, as coronavirus continues its rapid...

  “We are serenading to all keeping faith Till Tomorrow that the sun will come out.” KT, Jeff &...

  This is a song that Christine Andreas sent, written by Bill Danoff of Starland Vocal Band, that she wants to share with you. Beautiful for St. Patrick’s Day or any day from this gorgeous-voiced performer. Christine Andreas made her Broadway debut in a 1975 revival of Angel...

    By Tania Fisher   Thanks to Theater Pizzazz, there are now sections of my life that are filled with bright light from the shining star that is, Lainie Kazan.  And although our relationship continues, these early segments remain forever embedded as the most life-affirming...

  Photographer Genevieve Rafter Keddy took these photos on March 9, 2020 at Sony Hall when many performed for BROADWAY AGAINST BULLYING. This was her last photo call before our world, as we know it here in New York City, came to a standstill.     No Bully (nobully.org), the...

  The Theatre World Awards Board of Directors, Dale Badway, President, has announced, today, the 76th Annual Theatre World Awards Ceremony originally scheduled for Monday evening, June 1, 2020 beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Circle in the Square Theatre (1633 Broadway) has been POSTPONED until...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   Universal Home Pictures Entertainment has announced that the film version of the hit Broadway musical Cats will be available to purchase on Digital HD beginning today, with the Blu-ray and DVD release of the film to follow on April 7th. The Blu-Ray and DVD...

MELISSA ERRICO’S FAVORITE SONDHEIM LYRIC (On this 90th birthday week of the great composer)  Dear Sandi’s readers,   Hope you’re doing okay at this crazy time. Sondheim’s birthday is coming up & with more time at home, we can celebrate by thinking what our favorite twisted,...

  by Carol Rocamora   For those of us who love – and live for – the theater, these are unthinkable times.  With Broadway and off-Broadway theatres dark, where is our soul?  Where is our spiritual sustenance? Like all our writers and readers here at Theater Pizzazz, we are...

West End theaters will be closed beginning Monday night, the Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre announced. The theaters will be closed “until further notice and will re-open as soon as possible,” the theater organization said in a press release Monday. This follows the recommendation of...

  As live performances are cancelled and postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those looking for alternative entertainment options can count on PBS’s vast library of streaming content. In particular, the PBS franchise, GREAT PERFORMANCES, brings the best in the performing arts from...

  The League of Professional Theatre Women (Shellen Lubin and Catherine Porter, Co-Presidents), an organization which has been championing women in the professional theatre for over three decades, responds to the recent Broadway shut down by offering full members of the League, in good...

    “Broadway Licensing Offers Up Streaming Rights to Shows that Can’t Perform Live” by BroadwayWorld – “Broadway Licensing has secured approvals for live streaming over 400 plays from their Playscripts catalog. … Broadway Licensing has worked...

  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced March 15 that small theatres, nightclubs, movie theaters, and concert venues must all close, effective 9 AM, Tuesday, March 17. The mandate comes as efforts intensify nationwide to curb the spread of coronavirus. “Our lives are all changing...

                  That’s the Ticket – Where It All Began by Guest Writer Mel Miller   I first became aware of That’s the Ticket, thanks to “The Musicals No One Came to See” by Rick Simas.  His bare-bones description:  music and lyrics – Harold Rome; book – Philip and...

  by Sandi Durell   Remember Cheers and Ted Danson? (as if you can forget!) Here’s an apropos video segment I received today that should help to put a smile on your face – something we all need right now. Enjoy the moment. . ....

    by Marcina Zaccaria   Three hours after confirmation that all Broadway theaters would be closed and Lincoln Center Pavillion would be shut, I traveled to Greenwich Village to attend a performance reserved a month in advance. In a perfectly neat, black box theater in the...

  by Sandi Durell   You have a new opportunity to sing to any of your favorite tunes when you’re alone in the shower. And it’s in the name of public health and beating coronavirus. A new website created by 17-year-old UK designer William Gibson at WashYourLyrics.com generates...

  By Sandi Durell   I’ve been saying to many that in the wake of the theater shutdown in New York (and worldwide), how important it would be for someone to tape shows and then live-stream them (for a nominal cost to viewers) as “the show must go on!” Of course, all the union...

Our Efforts to Bring You Information on Many Topics of Interest to Those in Entertainment Related Small Businesses   When the city said it would offer cash and loans to help businesses navigate the Covid-19 outbreak, firms across the city asked the same question—when? Applications for...

  The following is a compilation of the most recent news articles via Broadway Briefing and other Entertainment outlets regarding COVID-19 and Theater and Event Shutdowns   Broadway producers vow that shows will play again” by Broadway News’ Gordon Cox, with additional...

  By Brian Scott Lipton   According to the Internet, the traditional 35th anniversary gift is coral and the modern one is jade, but leave it to the brilliant Jamie deRoy to find the perfect alternative to present to the valued Off-Broadway theater company Primary Stages for their...

  All Broadway theaters will close as of 5 p.m. Thursday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced today. The shutdown was ordered by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo Thursday, after he banned gatherings of 500 or more. The Broadway League had previously said that Broadway would be “open for business” unless...

  by Sandi Durell   Those 72 miles can be a short hop and jump or, as in Hilary Bettis’ new play at Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre, an indeterminate unreachable number if you’ve been deported to Nogales, Mexico finding your visa will no longer allow you to return to...

  by Alix Cohen   Take your time passing through the exhibit of Dadaist objects and signage on the way in. An embodiment of the show, it’s droll, minimal, evocative; mood setting. Joel Jeske sits stock still, high on an elevated platform in the corner of the theater. His white make-up,...

      by Adam Cohen   Political polemics abound, especially in an election year where viruses get politicized.  This concept is theatricalized compellingly in the George Street Playhouse’s production of Joe DiPietro’s play Conscience. The scene, of course, is Washington,...

  The producers of To Kill a Mockingbird, West Side Story, The Lehman Trilogy, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and The Book of Mormon, in an unprecedented move, have announced that all remaining tickets to all performances from March 12th through March 29th of these shows will be...

    By Brian Scott Lipton   What is, what was and what might have been. These everyday yet profound questions envelop the minds of both the main characters and the audience of Unknown Soldier, the often moving if sometimes frustrating new musical now on view at Playwrights...

    By Linda Amiel Burns   Joan Ryan has been living in Los Angeles for many years, and commuting between the two coasts. However, she is thrilled to now be living in NY full time and performing at many clubs in the city, even being chosen “Top Artist” by Broadway World. Her...

  By Sandi Durell   It’s always gratifying to watch young talent make their way up the ladder of success. In this case, it’s Mark William who, once again, knocked it out of the ballpark, not only vocally, but with a new and commanding assurance in his latest show. And he’s got even...

  by Adam Cohen   Rex Pickett’s new off-Broadway play Sideways features wine and commentary about wine.  Inspired by his novel, the play includes pre-show wine and food sampling on stage.  One will learn quite a bit about wine – both from the show and the sommeliers. Set in...

By Hazen Cuyler   About Love faithfully celebrates Ivan Turgenev’s 1860 coming-of-age novella, First Love. It’s an engaging production, preserving original prose, adding songs, and running 95 minutes. Precise staging alongside a charming ensemble make About Love a compelling way to...

An Amusement Column   by Harry Haun   SOME PEOPLE SAY IT WITH FLOWERS: Since Bob Dylan was a no-show at the Sweden Academy in 2016 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, nobody bothered to save him a table Thursday night when Girl From the North Country bowed at the...