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“I’m real late to the Sondheim game, sadly,” Beth Leavel tells Gold Derby as she thinks back to her first memory of a Stephen Sondheim song or show. Part of her tardiness stemmed from her family, who “didn’t really do musicals.” She had seen West Side Story and Gypsy, shows on which the legendary composer wrote the lyrics, but she didn’t know who specifically created those pieces. “The first time I really was cognitive of the fact that this body of work is the ownership of one man was when Sweeney Todd came out, and that was, I think, the first album I bought, and I played that thing to death,” remembers the actress. She adds that the song “Not While I’m Around” “just resonated with me, it made me feel better… I just found such grace and peace with that song. … That was my foray...

Emily in Paris star Ashley Park, Modern Family‘s Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Andrew Rannells braved the rain to witness the Broadway-bound production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends at the Ahmanson Theatre on Thursday (February 13) in Los Angeles.

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is a musical revue celebrating the legendary composer’s illustrious career, spanning “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy, a medley from Sweeney Todd,” “Somewhere” from West Side Story” and most unforgettably, “Being Alive” from Company. The show features an ensemble cast of Broadway veterans, including Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, delivering heartfelt renditions of Sondheim’s most beloved works. The Los Angeles run serves as a prelude to the show’s Broadway transfer, with previews set to begin on March 25 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and an official opening on April 8.

Tickets for the Los Angeles performances, running through March 9, are available now at Center Theatre Group LA.

Even a torrential downpour couldn’t dampen the spirit of Stephen Sondheim that flowed through Center Theatre Group on Thursday night.

Ctg’s Ahmanson Theatre hosted the opening night performance of Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, starring Broadway greats Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga and a cast of stage veterans. Billed as a “great big Broadway show,” Old Friends landed in Los Angeles for a North American premiere after a run in London’s West End. It will be staged at the Ahmanson through March 9 before it sets off for the Great White Way with a Broadway run opening April 8 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre at 261 West 47th Street. Previews begin March 25.

The stars came out despite the rain, and The Hollywood Reporter spotted a number of industry insiders including Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ashley Park, Andrew Rannells, Ian Paget, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Dan Jinks,...

Exclusive: Lea Salonga is set to star in The Vale – Origins, a hybrid live-action and animated short film that will precede the forthcoming middle grade novel of the same name by Abigail Hing Wen.

Wen’s novel will release Sept. 16, 2025 through Aapi publishing house Third State Books, founded by Stephanie Lim and Charles Kim. The short film is in post production and slated for completion this summer. Wen wrote and directed the short film, which also has an animation team of John Aoshima attached as director and Neil Blevins Incredibles I, II, Wall-e, Up) as animation designer.

The short film follows the Lees, a grieving inventor family in Silicon Valley who find healing and connection through their young son’s creativity in The Vale, a virtual reality fantasy world they made. The family-friendly short film shifts between the real, live action world and the animated world,...

Exclusive: Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, the upcoming Broadway revue of the great composer’s classics starring the previously announced Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, will also feature cast members Jasmine Forsberg (Six), Kate Jennings Grant (Noises Off), David Harris (Moulin Rouge!), Bonnie Langford (London’s Old Friends), Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Ryan McCartan, Jason Pennycooke (Hamilton), Joanna Riding (Carousel), Jeremy Secomb (London’s Old Friends), Maria Wirries (Dear Evan Hansen), and Daniel Yearwood (Sweeney Todd).

The company will also include Kevin Earley, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, and Peter Neureuther. The final co-star will be announced soon.

Previews begin Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with opening night set for April 8.

Producer Manhattan Theatre Club announced the cast additions today. Old Friends is a Cameron Mackintosh’s production presented by Mtc in association with Mackintosh and Daryl Roth.

Diane Foster’s feature directorial debut Easter Bloody Easter is out now on Cable VOD and Digital HD including Apple TV and to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video in the UK from Tmp and USA from Gravitas Ventures. Easter Bloody Easter will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the USA on 2nd April 2024 from Gravitas Ventures. The ensemble cast features Diane Foster, Kelly Grant, Allison Lobel, Zuri Starks, D’Andre Noiré, Zachary Kanner, Miles Cooper and Gavin Lee. Easter Bloody Easter is written by Allison Lobel, produced by Diane Foster, Allison Lobel, Kelly Grant, Mitch Olson, Liana Montemayor, Rafi Jacobs, and Will Amato. The iconic demon bunnies were created by Jesse Velez of Raptor House FX, who are known for creating the infamous “Hand”.

Synopsis:

When a bloodthirsty Jackalope starts a fluffy murder-spree at Easter time, a Texas housewife fights to the death to save her husband and discover...

Directed by Diane Foster, Easter Bloody Easter is now available on Cable VOD and Digital HD from Gravitas Ventures, and we have an exclusive clip you can watch right now!

"When a bloodthirsty Jackalope starts a fluffy murder-spree at Easter time, a Texas housewife fights to the death to save her husband and discover the creature’s true identity before her town is destroyed forever."

Easter Bloody Easter stars Diane Foster, Kelly Grant, Allison Lobel, Zuri Starks, D'Andre Noiré, Zachary Kanner, Miles Cooper and Gavin Lee. It was written by Allison Lobel and produced by Diane Foster, Allison Lobel, Kelly Grant, Mitch Olson, Liana Montemayor, Rafi Jacobs, and Will Amato. The iconic demon bunnies were created by Jesse Velez of Raptor House FX, who are known for creating "Thing" from Wednesday.

The post Watch an Exclusive Clip from Easter Bloody Easter appeared first on Daily Dead.

Watch the Trailer for Alice Maio Mackay's T-blockers: "In small-town Australia, a nightmare is brewing. Sophie is a young filmmaker obsessed with finding a thought-to-be long-lost film. Meanwhile, an earthquake unleashes ancient parasites in the area that thrive on hatred, causing outbursts of violence. Now Sophie and her friends, struggling with dating and their undesirable jobs, must also face off against an ancient evil that spreads like wildfire."

Starring: Lauren Last, Lewi Dawson, Joe Romeo, Chris Asimos, Joni Ayton-Kent, Stanley Browning, Lisa Fanto Director: Alice Maio Mackay Writers: Alice Maio Mackay, Benjamin Pahl Robinson Release Date: March 5, 2024 from Dark Star Pictures

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Birdeater: "A bride-to-be is invited to join her own fiancé’s bachelor party on a remote property in the Australian outback. But as the festivities spiral into beer-soaked chaos, uncomfortable details about their relationship are exposed, and the celebration soon becomes a feral nightmare."

Directed by: Jack Clark,...

The world can never have enough holiday-themed horror movies, and we were excited to learn – thanks, Variety! – that a brand new Easter horror movie is headed our way this year.

In the wake of Variety’s report earlier today, Bloody Disgusting has been provided with the exclusive trailer for Easter Bloody Easter, the directorial debut of Diane Foster.

Foster also stars in the film, which comes to VOD outlets on March 26, 2024.

Watch Gravitas Ventures’ official trailer for Easter Bloody Easter below!

Here’s the official synopsis: “The film follows Jeanie (Foster), who, after discovering her husband missing and his car wrecked with blood and fur, embarks on a journey with her friend Carol to uncover the truth behind the town’s dark legend of the killer Jackalope — a shapeshifting human-rabbit hybrid that terrorized the area a century and a half ago. Now, Jeanie and Carol must team up with professional...

No matter where fate propels Oliver Twist—from the workhouse to the funeral home to the hideout of a master pickpocket—the orphan maintains a fierce sense of who he is, plus a willingness to stand up for himself and, yes, even ask for more in his pursuit of a loving home. And Benjamin Pajak, the actor who plays him, is on a similarly dogged quest: a nearly one-kid glorious mission to rescue the New York City Center’s lumpy revival of Lionel Bart’s 1960 musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic novel Oliver Twist.

If it felt like hyperbole to praise the 10-year-old playing Winthrop Paroo in the revival of The Music Man as the most electrifying performer on stage, there’s no need to pull punches now that he’s taken on a title role. Indeed, Pajak, now 12 years old, is a marvel in Oliver! For one, his...

Exclusive: Here’s the story of how the Brady Bunch might reclaim the now ubiquitous, Zoom-era Brady Bunch-style screen squares. With the help of the son and daughter of series creator Sherwood Schwartz, original Bradys Barry Williams and Christopher Knight and a cast of Broadway performers, a Maine theater company will present a benefit reading of the all-new A Very Brady Musical, squares and all.

The benefit for the Ogunquit Playhouse, featuring remote performances by Broadway’s Gavin Lee (SpongeBob SquarePants) as Mike and Kerry Butler (Beetlejuice) as Carol, will premiere Oct. 28 on YouTube (a link will be sent to ticket purchasers).

Authorized by CBS, the musical features a book by Lloyd J. Schwartz and Hope Juber, with music and lyrics by Juber and husband Laurence Juber.

Lloyd J. Schwartz and Hope Juber are the son and daughter of The Brady Bunch creator Sherwood Schwartz. Juber also played Greg Brady...

On Saturday, January 25th, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida will feature a special livestream presentation of the Disney on Broadway Concert Series, featuring performances by Broadway stars Alton Fitzgerald 'The Lion King', Kissy Simmons 'The Lion King', Heidi Blickenstaff 'The Little Mermaid' and Gavin Lee 'Mary Poppins'. Check back tomorrow at 755pm to watch live...

The Spongebob Musical: Live On Stage!, featuring the Broadway stars and director of 2017’s multiple-Tony-nominated musical, has drawn strong ratings for Nickelodeon.

In Live+3, a December 7 simulcast across Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons and TeenNick drew 1.7 million viewers, up 24% from the Live+Sd simulcast. It averaged a 3.4/751,000 in the K2-11 demo, +25% from L+Sd, and a 3.8/522,000 with K6-11, up 28%.

Directed by Broadway’s Tina Landau (herself Tony-nominated for the show), The SpongeBob Musical featured Ethan Slater in the title role, with Gavin Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles.

The cast also included Danny Skinner as Patrick Star, Brian Ray Norris as Eugene Krabs, Wesley Taylor as Sheldon Plankton, and Christina Sajous as Sandy Cheeks. The ensemble included Kyle Matthew Hamilton, Katie Lee Hill, Curtis Holbrook, L’ogan J’ones, Jai’len Josey, Kelvin Moon Loh, Lauralyn McClelland, Vasthy Mompoint, Bryonha Parham, Oneika Phillips, Jon Rua, Jc Schuster, Abby C. Smith,...

This past Thursday at Broadway Sessions we took a trip down memory lane to Bikini Bottom at our Spongebob Cast Reunion Show It was a joy to have the gang all back together as we all reminisced and naturally, hilarity ensued. Our wonderful lineup included Lauralyn McClelland, Kyle Matthew Hamilton, Danny Skinner Ethan Slater, Robert Taylor Jr., Gavin Lee, Kelvin Moon Loh, Tina Landau, with special guests Marty Thomas, Finn Douglas, and Rising Star Catie Pires Fernandes. What a fun way to gear up for the Highly anticipated Spongebob broadcast on Nickelodeon last week...

Are you ready, kids We're getting ready for The Spongebob Musical Live on Stage coming to Nickelodeon with a look at how the show's creative team brought their iconic characters to life, from the small screen to a costume sketch and to the stage Check out this video to see Ethan Slater, Danny Skinner, Gavin Lee, and more bringing the residents of Bikini Bottom to life...

December 7th is going to be far from a typical Bikini Bottom day because The Spongebob Musical Live On Stage is coming to Nickelodeon We're getting a sneak peek at the Tony-nominated musical is coming to the small screen with stars from its original Broadway cast, including Ethan Slater, Danny Skinner, Gavin Lee, and more. Have the best day ever with this video...

In today’s TV news roundup, Quibi announces new cast members for horror series “Emma” and Nickelodeon renews “Blue’s Clues and You!”

Castings

Academy Award winner Mira Sorvino and Rory Culkin have been cast in supporting roles in Quibi’s latest horror series “Emma.” The two are joined by Hannah Murray (“Game of Thrones”) and Michael Gaston (“Man in the High Castle”) who will appear in recurring roles. “Emma” follows the dark journey of a young woman (AnnaSophia Robb) down on her luck and pregnant under mysterious circumstances who must deal with the increasingly disturbing effects of her pregnancy, and the potential conspiracy surrounding it. Directed by Mary Harron, the series is currently in production.

Dates

“The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage” will premiere Dec. 7, Nickelodeon announced. The Broadway play will reunite members of the original cast and the musical with veteran voice actor Tom Kenny, who will make...

Tom Kenny again lives under the sea, though perhaps adjacent to a pineapple this time. The voice of the beloved cartoon character SpongeBob Squarepants has joined Nickelodeon’s upcoming “The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!”

He’s not taking on his usual role, however — the titular one played on Broadway by Ethan Slater, who will reprise that role for the now-scheduled Dec. 7 Nick event, which starts at 7 p.m. Et/Pt.

Kenny is joining the stage company as Patchy the Pirate. He’ll perform an original Sara Bareilles song, “Poor Pirates.” The whole thing was filmed for television in front of a live theater audience.

Also Read: SpongeBob Squarepants Looks for Gary in 'Sponge on the Run' Trailer - And Finds Keanu Reeves (Video)

In “The SpongeBob Musical,” the stakes are higher than ever, as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the potential of total annihilation of their undersea world,...

The stage is finally set for the most highly anticipated sponge-related event of the holiday season. The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! will air Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7/6c on Nickelodeon, TeenNick and Nicktoons, TVLine has learned. Additionally, Tom Kenny — who has voiced the iconic title character since 1999, and whose pre-recorded vocals were used throughout the musical’s Broadway and touring productions — will join the cast on stage.

“I’ve had a blast portraying live-action suburban buccaneer and President of the SpongeBob SquarePants Fan Club, ‘Patchy the Pirate,’ since the character’s first appearance in season two of SpongeBob SquarePants way...

It's far from a typical Bikini Bottom day because cast members from Nickelodeon's The SpongeBob Musical Live On Stage are recreating some of the most iconic memes that have stemmed from the beloved cartoon. Have the best day ever by checking out this video and seeing Broadway cast members Ethan Slater, Danny Skinner, Gavin Lee, and more put their own spin on some of the show's most memorable moments.

Original cast members of the award-winning Broadway show The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage! will reunite for a televised performance in front of a live studio audience. The show will air this December on Nickelodeon, with an exact date to be announced.

Based on the iconic series SpongeBob SquarePants, created by the late Stephen Hillenburg, The SpongeBob Musical will air on TV 20 years after the series’ debut in 1999.

“What better way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants than to bring this wildly imaginative Broadway musical to Nickelodeon for a wider audience,...

The Broadway stars and director of 2017’s multiple-Tony-nominated SpongeBob SquarePants musical will re-team on Nickelodeon this December, Nickelodeon announced today. Filmed for TV in front of a live theater audience, The SpongeBob Musical: Live On Stage! will star, among other original cast members, Broadway’s Tony-nominated Ethan Slater and Gavin Lee.

Directed by Broadway’s Tina Landau (herself Tony nominated for the show), The SpongeBob Musical features Slater in the title role, with Lee as Squidward Q. Tentacles.

“I’m so thrilled to be able to revisit the show in a new light and with our original cast members,” Landau said in a statement. “The whole creative and I are excited to go back into the world of Bikini Bottom and discover its new life in TV broadcast form. But above all, I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to share the joy and spirit of our show with a wider audience.

Nickelodeon is taking you to a pineapple under the sea — and Broadway — this December with a live TV special version of “The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!” set to air this holiday season, the kids’ cable channel said Thursday.

Director Tina Landau and members of the Broadway show’s original award-winning company will reunite to film the musical in front of a live theater audience with a production that “will capture all-new depths of theatrical innovation where the power of optimism really can save the world.”

Here’s the description for the musical: “Stakes are higher than ever before as SpongeBob and all of Bikini Bottom face the total annihilation of their undersea world. Chaos erupts. Lives hang in the balance. And just when all hope seems lost, a most unexpected hero rises up and takes center stage.”

Also Read: 'All That' Reboot Gets 13 More Episodes From Nickelodeon

“The SpongeBob Musical: Live on Stage!

With Mary Poppins Returns coming to movie theaters in a week, I thought theperfect Tbt would be a look back at the Opening Night of Mary Poppins on Broadway.So I doveback into the BroadwayWorld archives and found the 2006 video when we were formerly known as BroadwayBeat withAshley Brown, straight from starring as 'Belle' Beauty and the Beast on Broadway And lets not forget Gavin Lee who made his Broadway debut with Mary Poppins.

Broadway’s Gavin Lee will play the green villain in this holiday season’s Madison Square Garden production Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical. The casting was announced by the Msg Company today.

Lee was Tony-nominated for his most recent performance as the tap-dancing Squidward Tentacles in Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants. (He’d previously been nominated for a Tony as Bert in Mary Poppins).

TV audiences know Lee for his recurring role of Alan Woodford on USA Network’s White Collar.

“As a dad myself, I know first-hand the magic of introducing kids to live theater and I look forward to hearts growing three sizes as they experience this beloved story in a whole new way…live on stage,” Lee said.

The Grinch musical will play a limited engagement at Msg’s Hulu Theater from December 13 through December 30. Including songs “You’re A Mean One, Mr. Grinch...

The Madison Square Garden Company announced today that two-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway actor Gavin Lee will steal Christmas this season in the title role of the Grinch in Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas The Musical. This limited holiday engagement will run at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden from December 13 through December 30, 2018. Tickets are on sale now.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical will tap its last dance on Sunday, September 16, concluding a 10-month run at the Nederlander Organization’s Palace Theater. Producers say a North American tour will being in fall 2019 (details to be announced) and school and youth group licensing rights will be available in early 2019.

In the closing announcement, producers – led by Nickelodeon with The Araca Group, Sony Music Masterworks and Kelp on the Road – attributed the Broadway closing to previously planned major theater renovations set to begin mid-September.

The musical, directed by Tina Landau, with book by Kyle Jarrow, music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Tom Kitt and choreography by Christopher Gattelli, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards but took home only of the trophies last month: For David Zinn’s Scenic Design of a Musical.

Cast includes Tony nominees Ethan Slater and Gavin Lee, along with Lilli Cooper, Brian Ray Norris, Danny Skinner and Wesley Taylor.

The Band’s Visit completed a remarkable 10-trophy night by winning Best Musical at the 72nd Tony Awards. The critical favorite cruised past the competition, while some notables were shut out, including Tina Fey’s Mean Girls and Disney’s Frozen.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won Best Play along with five other awards tonight. For the complete list of winners, click here.

A night of few surprises and virtually no unjustifiable honors. If CBS — and maybe the Broadway road show industry — might have wished for a few bigger, splashier wins for bigger, splashier productions, they’ll concede so only quietly. A Band’s Visit, a critical favorite, certainly won’t have the name recognition of Disney’s Frozen or Tina Fey’s Mean Girls as it takes up stakes in theaters across the country, all the more reason those 10 Tonys landed with the right show.

As for Harry...

The 72nd Annual Tony Awards are taking place Sunday evening in New York at Radio City Music Hall, with “Mean Girls” and “Spongebob Squarepants” topping the nominees list at 12 nominations each. Musical “The Band’s Visit” and play revival “Angels in America” took 11 each, while hot-ticket play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” got 10.

Bruce Springsteen will pick up a special Tony for his mega-selling show “Springsteen on Broadway,” as well as John Leguizamo. Critical favorite “The Band’s Visit” is widely considered the title to beat for new musical, while “Harry Potter” looks like the shoo-in for best play.

Josh Groban and Sara Bareilles will host the show.

Keep checking back as the list is updated live.

Best Play:

“The Children”

“Farinelli and The King”

“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts One and Two” (Winner)

“Junk”

“Latin History for Morons”

Best Musical:

“The Band’s Visit”

“Frozen”

“Mean Girls...

The 72nd annual Tony Awards took place on Sunday, June 10 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Two previous nominees, composer Sara Bareilles (“Waitress”) and actor Josh Groban, hosted the ceremony that aired on CBS.

While the nominees for these top theater kudos were determined by 51 theater professionals, the winners were voted on by 846 members of the Broadway community. Below, is the full and complete list of 2018 Tonys winners in each of the 26 competitive categories.

See 2018 Tonys online: How to watch 72nd Tony Awards live stream without a TV

Heading into the evening, the British import “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” led among plays with a whopping 10 nominations. That is twice the haul of its closest rival for Best Play, “Farinelli and the King.” Two new musicals – “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” — earned a leading 12 Tony Awards nominations apiece while a third, “The Band’s Visit,” had to...

The 2018 Tony Awards take place on Sunday, June 10 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The three-hour ceremony hosted by two past nominees, composer Sara Bareilles (“Waitress”) and actor Josh Groban, will air on CBS. Those in the Eastern and Central time zones can see it live while those in the Mountain and Pacific time zones have a three-hour tape delay.

Thirty shows were eligible for consideration. A whopping 21 of these reaped at least one bid across the 26 Tony Awards categories. While the nominations were determined by 51 theater professionals, the 2018 Tonys winners will be decided by 842 members of the Broadway community.

See 2018 Tony Awards: When does the show start on Sunday, who are the hosts and presenters and what will win?

Two new musicals – “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” — earned a leading dozen Tony Awards nominations apiece while “The Band’s Visit,” had to settle for 11 bids. Among new plays,...

Looking for a handy cheat sheet before entering your predictions for the 2018 Tony Awards? Winners will be announced on June 10 during a live ceremony on CBS hosted by Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban. Take a look at our racetrack odds below for all of the categories. The predicted winners are indicated in gold.

These official odds for the Tonys are derived from the predictions of our Experts who write about theater year-round, our in-house team of Editors, the Top 24 Users who got the top scores predicting last year’s winners the All-Star Top 24 who got the highest scores when you combine predictions from the last two years, and all Users who make up the largest (and often savviest) bloc of predictors.

We’re predicting all 26 categories. Below, find out who we’re betting on as of this writing. And there’s still time to make or edit your own predictions...

Ethan Slater was a sophomore at Vassar when he took the train from Poughkeepsie for a casting call that would change everything, and he was on the train back when he got the word. “Oh, man, I must’ve left my backpack in the room,” he thought.

Now 26, Slater, in his Broadway debut as the title invertebrate of SpongeBob SquarePants – The Broadway Musical, has been Tony-nominated in the Best Performance By A Leading Actor in a Musical category. He’s been with the show since its first workshops, through a 2016 Chicago premiere and onto the stage of New York’s Palace Theater. He thinks director Tina Landau might have noticed a certain natural optimism in his character, something that all but shouted SpongeBob, but whatever combination of exuberance and talent she saw hasn’t gone unnoticed by critics and audiences.

Here, Slater talks about his life-changing gig, how he transforms...

This Sunday’s Drama Desk Awards could well be a preview of next Sunday’s Tony Awards on the play side with almost all of the above-the-line awards going to our predicted front-runners for the Tonys including Best Play Revival to “Angels in America.” Three of the four acting awards on the play front went to performers in revivals on the rialto: leads Andrew Garfield (“Angels in America”) and Glenda Jackson (“Three Tall Women”) and featured player Nathan Lane (“Angels in America”). All of them are tipped to take home Tonys too. Jamie Brewer won the Featured Actress award for the off-Broadway production of “Amy and the Orphans.”

See 2018 Drama Desk Awards winners: Full list led by ‘SpongeBob Square Pants,’ ‘Angels in America,’ ‘Carousel”

However, the Drama Desk nominating committee was not as enamored with the hit British import “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.” Voters spurned the Tony...

Winners of the 63rd annual Drama Desk Awards were revealed on June 3 during a ceremony at the Town Hall in midtown Manhattan that was hosted once again by Michael Urie. As with the Outer Critics Circle Awards, these kudos also consider both Broadway and off-Broadway fare. To that end, the Broadway production of “The Band’s Visit” was ineligible, save for its sound design which was deemed to be new and won with these voters.

See 2018 Tony Awards nominations push Broadway to best season ever for attendance and grosses

Plays

Best Play

X – Admissions, by Joshua Harmon

Mary Jane, by Amy Herzog

Miles for Mary, by The Mad Ones

People, Places & Things, by Duncan Macmillan

School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, by Jocelyn Bioh

Best Revival of a Play

X – Angels in America

Hindle Wakes

In the Blood

Three Tall Women

Travesties

Best Director of a Play

Marianne Elliott,...

That old Broadway dictum – Never share a stage with fuchsia sea anemones – is blown to smithereens when Gavin Lee taps his way through “I’m Not A Loser,” the gleeful 11 o’clock number of Broadway’s SpongeBob SquarePants musical that all but guaranteed Lee his Tony Award nomination this year for Best Featured Actor in a Musical. An homage to Broadway panache, cartoon anarchy and good old four-legged tap dancing, “I’m Not A Loser” is, night after night, capped by the kind of sustained applause that combines Bravo! with What Was That?

And that’s right, four-legged. Lee, in top hat and tails cleverly outfitted by designer David Zinn with an extra pair of legs and in a just-right shade of (perfectly described) celadon, plays Squidward Q. Tentacles, the grouchy but starry-eyed cephalopod forever carping at the underwater denizens of Bikini Bottom.

Lee, a British actor whose Broadway performance...

Exclusive: Mean Girls led the field by winning eight prizes, including Favorite New Musical, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child won Favorite New Play in the 18th annual Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards.

The winners were announced today ahead of a cocktail reception for winners set for May 24 in Manhattan. The list of winners (see full list below) overlaps to some degree with the Tony Award nominees. But because they were determined by nearly 21,000 fans voting in a Broadway.com survey, there are some notable departures, with The Parisian Woman winning twice and Lobby Hero‘s Chris Evans also getting on the board.

The 22 competitive categories include areas not covered by the Tonys, such as Favorite Long Running Show. This year that honor went to Dear Evan Hansen, last year’s winner for Favorite New Musical. Before Hamilton broke the streak last year, Favorite Long-Running Musical had gone to...

The 2018 Tony Awards will take place on Sunday, June 10 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and will air live on CBS. Nominees were announced today by Tony winner Leslie Odom, Jr. (“Hamilton”) and “American Idol” Katharine McPhee,who is starring in the Broadway musical “Waitress.” While the nominations were determined by 51 theater professionals, the 2018 Tonys winners will be decided by 863 members of the Broadway community. (Read the full report on the 2018 Tony Awards nominations.)

The Tony Awards have lined up two past nominees — composer Sara Bareilles and actor Josh Groban — to host the 72nd annual edition of these top theater honors. Bareilles lost her 2016 bid for Best Score for “Waitress” to Lin-Manuel Miranda for “Hamilton.” Groban contended last year for his lead role in the tuner “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” but was bested by Ben Platt (“Dear Evan Hansen”).

Musicals

Best Musical

“Frozen”

“Mean Girls”

“SpongeBob SquarePants...

Broadway musicals “Mean Girls” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” topped the list of 2018 nominations for the Tony Awards, with each show scoring a dozen noms apiece. Musical “The Band’s Visit” and play revival “Angels in America” took 11 each, while hot-ticket play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” got 10.

Celebrity names also did well this year, with Bruce Springsteen picking up a special Tony for his mega-selling show “Springsteen on Broadway” and nominees on the list “Mean Girls” co-creator Tina Fey as well as actors Denzel Washington (“The Iceman Cometh”), Amy Schumer (“Meteor Shower”), Michael Cera (“Lobby Hero”), Tony Shalhoub (“The Band’s Visit”), Laurie Metcalf, Glenda Jackson (both of “Three Tall Women”), Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane (both from “Angels in America”) and Lauren Ambrose and Diana Rigg (both in “My Fair Lady”).

The shows with the highest tally of Tony nominations aren’t necessarily the frontrunners to win. Critical favorite “The...

Every year, the featured acting races at the Tony Awards prove to be the most daunting to predict. Whereas the lead races rarely have more than a dozen possibilities, there is a true embarrassment of riches to sift through when it comes to the supporting players. Before you make your 2018 Tony predictions in advance of the May 1 announcement read our breakdown of these four tough categories based on our official Tony Awards odds.

Featured Actor in a Play

Nathan Lane should send the Tony Administration Committee gift bags for placing him in the Featured category. His towering portrayal of Roy Cohn is likely to win. Lane’s co-star James McArdle should also find a spot for his neurotic Louis. The other sure bet is Anthony Boyle’s heart-wrenching and Olivier winning performance in “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

We could simply fill out the category with the other “Angels...

Looking for a handy cheat sheet before entering your predictions for the 2018 Tony Awards nominations? The nominations will be announced on May 1 with the ceremony set for June 10. Take a look at our racetrack odds below for all of the top categories. The predicted winners are indicated in gold.

These official odds for the Tonys are derived from the predictions of our Experts who write about theater year-round, our in-house team of Editors, the Top 24 Users who got the top scores predicting last year’s nominations the All-Star Top 24 who got the highest scores when you combine predictions from the last two years, and all Users who make up the largest (and often savviest) bloc of predictors.

We’re predicting 17 categories. Below, find out who we’re betting on as of this writing. And there’s still time to make or edit your own predictions before the nominations are unveiled on Tuesday morning.

The Broadway revival of “Carousel” and the new musical “SpongeBob SquarePants” led the list of nominations for the 2018 Drama Desk Awards, with “Carousel” snagging a dozen nods (including outstanding musical revival) and “SpongeBob” landing 11 (among them outstanding musical).

“Mean Girls” — the only other Broadway show competing with “SpongeBob” for new musical in this year’s Drama Desks — scored ten nods total. Among plays, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” already an awards-favorite in London, took eight, while the high-profile revival of “Angels in America,” starring Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane, walked away with seven.

The Drama Desks are one of a number of theater awards that cluster around the Broadway-centric Tony Awards in the late spring. The Drama Desks, however, serve as an imperfect indicator of Tony love, since the they consider Off Broadway shows eligible to compete against Broadway productions. This year, too, one of the Broadway’s season’s biggest contenders,...

Is Auli’i Cravalho sending in her audition for Steven Spielberg’s reboot of “West Side Story?”

The 17-year-old star of “Moana” and NBC’s “Rise” took the stage at McC Theater’s annual gala, Miscast, a fundraising event where Broadway stars perform songs from roles in which they would never be cast. Hence the name, and Cravalho’s song choice “Something’s Coming,” which is originally sung by male lead Tony.

The Disney Princess teased the NY crowd starting off with the ballad that made her famous, “How Far I’ll Go,” but jokingly backtracked to her scheduled programming after the first few lines.

Cravalho’s opening remarks also revealed that when she was sent a list of potential songs to choose for Miscast, she had never heard the Leonard Bernstein-Stephen Sondheim number. “Don’t stone me please,” she pleaded with the theater crowd.

Other big showstoppers...

McC Theater Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler, Artistic Directors Blake West, Executive Director is thrilled to announce the additional performers to the all-star lineup set for their annual Miscast gala include Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan 'Supergirl,' Newsies Caissie Levy Frozen Tony Award winner Victoria Clark The Light in the Piazza, Cinderella and SpongeBob SquarePants' Ethan Slater, Wesley Taylor The Addams Family, Rock of Ages and Tony Award nominee Gavin Lee Mary Poppins.

Absorbent and yellow and porous is he — and soon a Broadway star to boot. A new SpongeBob SquarePants musical is headed to the Main Stem, which previews starting November 6 at the Palace Theatre and opening night on December 4. It is, of course, just the latest beloved IP to have a go at the Great White Way after such mega-successes as The Lion King, Wicked and Aladdin and more recently School of Rock, Groundhog Day and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The SpongeBob SquarePants cast will include Ethan Slater as everyone’s favorite pineapple-dwelling fry cook, Danny Skinner as his best pal Patrick Starfish, Gavin Lee as SpongeBob’s neighbor/co-work/sort-of nemesis Squidward, and Lilli Cooper as the air-breathing squirrel Sandy Cheeks. The full cast will be named later.

An overview of the story for the show, which originally was announced in August 2015: Stakes are higher than ever before...

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed new production of Boublil amp Schonberg's Les Miserables just welcomed several new cast members for its second year on Broadway last night, March 3 at The Imperial Theatre 249 West 45th Street. Joining the cast are Tony and Oliver Award nominee Gavin Lee Mary Poppins as Thenardier, Erika Henningsen as Fantine, Rachel Izen as Madame Thenardier,Brennyn Lark as Eponine, Chris McCarrell as Marius and Wallace Smith as Enjolras. Tony Award nominee Ramin Karimloo will perform as Jean Valjean through the end of the summer Will Swenson, as Javert, and Samantha Hill, as Cosette, will continue in their roles as well. Below, BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge brings you interviews with the full gang on their first night...

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed new production of Boublil amp Schonberg's Les Miserables just welcomed several new cast members for its second year on Broadway last night, March 3 at The Imperial Theatre 249 West 45th Street. Joining the cast are Tony and Oliver Award nominee Gavin Lee Mary Poppins as Thenardier, Erika Henningsen as Fantine, Rachel Izen as Madame Thenardier, Brennyn Lark as Eponine, Chris McCarrell as Marius and Wallace Smith as Enjolras. Tony Award nominee Ramin Karimloo will perform as Jean Valjean through the end of the summer Will Swenson, as Javert, and Samantha Hill, as Cosette, will continue in their roles as well. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the new cast's first night...

She loves being mom to her 2-year-old son Gavin Lee and now Marisa Miller has shared the bun in her oven is another baby boy.

The 36-year-old stunner told People, “We found out we are having another boy and I’m so excited! It will be awesome for Gavin to have a buddy. I never had brothers so raising a boy has been awesome. Gavin is so funny and I get to be silly all day with him.”

Thankfully, Ms. Miller has moved past the difficult first trimester, during which she had an especially rough time. “I was really nauseous and could only handle eating bagels. Right now, I’m feeing great! This pregnancy has been very different because I’m also chasing around a toddler, so you can’t really lay down if you feel sick or tired. But I also feel a lot less anxious about what’s to come.

Spoiler Alert: Don’t read if you haven’t watched Thursday’s episode of “White Collar,” titled “Au Revoir,” and don’t want to be spoiled.

USA Network’s “White Collar” series finale Thursday finally answered the long-standing question of the buddy cop drama: Does Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) earn his freedom?

Yes, he does.

Caffrey pulled off his biggest con yet, faking his own death, unbeknownst to his fellow partner Mozzie (Willie Garson) and FBI handler-turned-friend Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) .

The final scene shows a carefree Caffrey strolling through Paris, the destination he longed to see again. Seeing Caffrey take in the cobbled streets,...

Broadway's Gavin Lee, who recently returned from London where he was playing the Fred Astaire role in the musical Top Hat, will assume the role of Ted Hanover for the four additional weeks of Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn now running through December 28th at Goodspeed Opera House. On Broadway and national tour Lee played Bert the chimney sweep in Disney's Mary Poppins for which he was nominated for a Tony award.