Why Am I So Single? - Articles Page 25

Today we begin a new comprehensive academic music discussion series on BroadwayWorld in which I speak to the most cutting-edge artists in the recording industry, on Broadway and in Hollywood about their influences and experiences in the industry with an emphatic emphasis on the songwriting process itself and what drives and inspires it. While these discussions may be on occasion only tangentially theatre-related, the insights provided by the various participants is a demonstrative way in which to illuminate perhaps the most mysterious of all the arts: music. Peering into the psyche of the composer and lyricist, we may begin to understand what the craft of composition and lyric-writing is all about and why musical theatre tends to attract the most talented and innovative songwriters, both in the twentieth-century and today (as this column proves).

Former JERSEY BOYS star Erich Bergen is certainly one busy guy. In support of his first soon-to-be released solo CD The Vegas Sessions, Bergen will be debuting his new club act at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, September 15. On top of that, he is currently in rehearsals for the new musical VENICE, which is set to open October 7 at Center Theatre Group's Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Recently, Bergen chatted with BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos about the new album, his days on JERSEY BOYS, New York vs. L.A. theater, and the whereabouts of his Gossip Girl ascot.

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall's 2010-2011 season features some of the most exciting and talented performers in the entertainment world from such greats as Mandy Patinkin, Michael Bolton, Dionne Warwick and Shirley MacLaine to hot favorites like Diana Krall, Clay Aiken and so many more!

In Ten Reasons I Won't Go Home With You, now playing as part of the Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival, actress/stand-up comic Kelly Nichols plays Katie, a smart, funny and single New Yorker looking to find her one true love.  But as bookwriter of the show, which is inspired by her own dating highs and lows, Nichols is happy playing the field; seeking out and supervising the work of seven composer/lyricist combinations to create the score.  I asked her about this unusual process for creating a new musical.

Single Carrot Theatre concludes its third season in Baltimore with a well-crafted production of Will Eno's TRAGEDY: A TRAGEDY.

Today, we present the final section of the Sondheim Palooza for this week with a discussion of Sondheim's work in the last two decades. The shows themselves stand as solid proof that this is a composer/lyricist still at the absolute height of his abilities and at the top of his game, as we can very clearly hear in the scores for ASSASSINS, PASSION, THE FROGS and ROAD SHOW...

Talk about a makeover. Just over one year ago, Diane Paulus was merely a freelance director with a hit on her hands. Now, that hit - Hair - is a Tony Award winning musical, and she a Tony-nominated director, newly appointed Artistic Director of one of the most prestigious regional theaters in the country (A.R.T. in Boston), and soon to be triple tasking on productions on Broadway, in London, and at her theater in Boston. Did I mention she's also a mother of two?

Before the hit stage musical MARY POPPINS' three-month-long tour stop at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre comes to an end on February 7, BroadwayWorld's Michael Lawrence Quintos sat down with Bolger for a nice, long chat about his year on tour, his stay in Los Angeles, his video blog stardom, and his future plans after he dances his final super-CALI-fragilistic jig.

With over 30 shows opening this month on DC area stages, there is a buffet of choices for local theatre goers and visitors to our nation's capital, from a Tom Kitt musical, to a bloody barber pie-filled Sondheim feast, to children's classics adapted for the stage, to American Idol contestants with slicked back hair, to a psycho woman and her schizo sister, to Commedia dell'Arte. There's something for everyone, so come visit the DC area, and have a monumental time in our theatres!

Nick Spangler currently starring as Matt in the Off Broadway revival of The Fantasticks, will be a contestant on the latest edition of The Amazing Race. Spangler will compete against the other 'Amazing Racers' with his sister and teammate, Starr Spangler, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. Starting at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the 13th season of the Emmy-winning reality competition will follow the teams as they travel over 30,000 miles in 23 days to countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Russia, India and Kazakhstan.

The number one news story of 2007, for this critic, is the arrival of a fresh, daring new theatre company.

We talk to, and hear from, the wonderful Stephanie Block! Most recently seen as Grace O' Malley in The Pirate Queen, you might also remember her as Liza Minnelli from The Boy from Oz, with Hugh Jackman. Add to that a 2006 Helen Hayes award for Outstanding Actress for her performance as Elphaba in the First National Touring Company of Wicked, Stephanie is it -- what we love about our leading ladies: ever graceful, humble, and sharp as a tack. Oh yes, and she can sing pretty well, too We also play songs from two of her shows: 'She Loves to Hear the Music' from The Boy from Oz, and 'Woman' from Pirate Queen

Stephen Lang, who gives not one but eight tour de force performances in 'Beyond Glory,' discusses his craft and the multiple personality disorders of actors.

Happy Holidays Everyone! Well ... here it is ... our BIGGEST CD coverage EVER and just in time for some last minute 'stocking-stuffer' inspiration ... even though a few of these are better used as coal, if you know what I mean.

After talking with this 'gentleman' from Texas you soon find out his plate has been full of wonderful entertainment experiences and he's no where ready to slow up yet.

Curt Columbus is the new Artistic Director of Trinity Repertory Company. On September 20, 2006 he will have his first opening night of his first show at Trinity, He is directing Anton Chekhov's 'Cherry Orchard', which he also translated.

Stan Richardson, the lyricist and bookwriter of the NYMF musical The Children, discusses his self-imposed ban from show rehearsals

Susan Egan, currently in Cabaret portraying Sally Bowles, sat down to talk about her career including her recent position as Artistic Director for the Orange Country High School of the Arts and so much more!

I recently had the chance to sit down with Bruce Kimmel and ask him a plethora of questions. Bruce is used to putting others in the proverbial hot seat on his website - but as they say...turnabout is fair play!