Since 1922, The Drama League Awards have been recognizing excellence in Broadway and Off-Broadway theater, making them America’s oldest theatrical honors. This year, the Drama League — which includes thousands of members across the nation — is bestowing special honors on beloved Tony Award-winning actress and singer Bernadette Peters, acclaimed director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, and The Rockettes (known of course for their yearly appearance in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular).
Bernadette Peters (Follies, Gypsy, Annie Get Your Gun) is being given the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award for her decades-long contribution to the art form (her first appearance on Broadway was in The Most Happy Fella in 1959). Jerry Mitchell, who is currently represented on Broadway by the new musical Kinky Boots, is receiving The Founders Award for Excellence in Directing. The Rockettes, along with Madison Square Garden Entertainment, are being given the Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award for their longstanding contribution to the promotion of live theater.
The 79th Annual Drama League Awards will be held on May 17 at the Marriot Marquis (home of Broadway’s Marquis Theatre) in Times Square. Visit www.dramaleague.org for more information.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, the new musical by novelist Stephen King and rock singer/songwriter John Mellencamp, will be available this June on CD. The studio cast recording will be released in two formats, a single-disc version and a two-disc version that features extras like deluxe artwork, a libretto, and a “Making of Ghost Brothers” documentary DVD.
Already released in the United Kingdom, the U.S. will finally get the new recording Rodgers and Hammerstein At the Movies on April 9. The CD features 14 well-known songs and iconic musical sequences from the classic film versions of many of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s greatest and most beloved Broadway musicals.
Jenna Fischer, best known as Pam on NBC’s hit TV show The Office, will head the cast of the new Neil LaBute play Reasons To Be Happy, playing Off-Broadway this coming spring. She will be joined onstage by three co-stars, Josh Hamilton, Fred Weller, and Leslie Bibb.
Most devoted musical theater fans don’t like to settle for only half of a cast album — and it’s no different when it comes to movie musical soundtracks. The Oscar-nominated musical Les Miserables put out a highlights recording when it was released in theaters this past December, but that CD only included around half of the movie’s songs. Fortunately for fans, on March 19 a two-disc deluxe edition of the soundtrack featuring many more tracks will be released.
For the last time, The Mystery of Edwin Drood will be solved today, as the show’s audience votes whodunnit. The interactive musical, based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel of the same name, has been delighting Roundabout Theatre Company audiences since October but is finally concluding its limited run at Studio 54.
The Roundabout Theatre Company, which is currently represented on Broadway by The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the soon-to-open The Big Knife, has announced that its 2013-2014 Broadway season will include revivals of the plays Dinner With Friends and The Real Thing.
Already a respected comic actress and improv performer due to her extensive work in films like Christopher Guest’s Best in Show, and now a well-known TV star thanks to her role on Glee, Jane Lynch is soon to add Broadway to her resume. Later this spring, Lynch will make her Broadway debut in the well-received Broadway revival of the musical Annie, now playing at the Palace Theatre.