The fabulous Ali MacGraw (pictured above) is making her Broadway (and stage) debut in Festen. A stage adaptation of the 1998 Danish film, the play had a successful run in London. The Broadway production began previews at the Music Box Theatre on March 23rd and officially opened on April 9th. A few days before, on April 1st, MacGraw celebrated her 68th birthday.

Theatre of Youth concludes its 2005-06 season with the musical Junie B. Jones & A Little Monkey Business. Directed and choreographed by Michael Walline, the production will star Leah Russo, Sarielys Matos, Nicole Marrale Cimato, Mary McMahon, Todd Benzin and Kurt Guba. The show opens May 12th and runs through June 4th .

Steve Jakiel will play King Arthur in the upcoming Niagara Regional Theatre Guild production of Camelot. The show opens May 5th at the Riviera Theatre. By the way, a new national tour of the Broadway classic is currently in the works, starring Michael York as Arthur.

The Irish Classical Theatre Company summer special will feature two plays from the very popular Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads series: A Chip in the Sugar, directed by Jeanne Cairns and starring Gerry Maher; and Waiting for the Telegram, directed by Josephine Hogan and starring Cairns.

Rebecca Ritchie’s new two-character play Memory Garden will be presented by The Gerald Fried Theatre Company in a workshop production at the BackLot Theatre in Sarasota next month. Starring Roz Cramer and Manny Fried, the play will then have its world premiere in Buffalo during Curtain Up at the Main Street Cabaret. Last month, Cramer and Fried appeared at the BackLot in Arthur Miller’s I Can’t Remember Anything. Fried also presented a work-in-progress performance of his one-man play Boilermakers and Martinis, dealing with his marriage to Rhoda Lurie Fried.

Actress/director/singer and now arts administrator Lisa Ludwig will be the new managing director of Shakespeare in Delaware Park. The company kicks off its 2006 season June 22nd with Love’s Labour’s Lost, co-directed by Saul Elkin and Tom Makar, starring David Oliver, Kelly Krupski, Paul Todaro, Tim Newell and John Warren. Twelfth Night, directed by Steve Vaughan, starring Lona Geiser, Richard Wesp, Todaro, Newell and Elkin, will follow on July 27th.

Based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, O’Connell & Company presents the musical Desperate Measures with music by David Friedman. Set in the Wild West, the musical opens this week and stars Stephanie Bax, Pamela Rose Mangus, Dan Schroeder, Ron Swick, Guy Tomassi and Michael Tosha, with musical accompaniment of the Desperate All Star Jug Band.

John Fredo and Norm Sham will star in Musicalfare’s summer offering I Left My Heart: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett.

Ann Mosner, Loraine O’Donnell-Gray, Lisa Ludwig and Tom Owen will star in Artpark’s production of the musical The Full Monty. Based on the popular British movie, the musical is set in Buffalo. Directed by Lynne Kurdziel-Formato, the production will also feature Michele Marie Roberts, Chris Critelli, Keith Ersing, Bethany Moore and Phil Farugia. The Full Monty will play August 10th–20th .

Buffalo United Artists will present a concert version of the musical Falsettos as a benefit for the company. Directed by Kelli Bocock-Natale, the one-night-only event will take place on June 28th .

Niagara University Theatre will open its 2006-07 season with Brother Augustine Towey’s Vincent in Heaven. The play, which was published a few months ago, tells the story of St. Vincent de Paul, seen from his perspective in heaven. Vincent in Heaven was first produced by NU Theatre in 1988.

Congratulations to Buffalonian Eric Alsford, who this past April 10th received the Carbonell Award for Best Musical Direction for his work in Aida. Alsford was nominated three times in the same category (Beauty and the Beast and Songs for A New World). The Carbonell Awards celebrate excellence in South Florida resident professional theater.

The 16th Annual Artie Award ceremony, celebrating excellence in Buffalo theater, will take place on Monday, May 22nd at the Town Ballroom on Main Street.

The late Blossom Cohan, pictured below with one of her favorite protégées, Constance McEwen, will throw one last party, on Monday, May 8, from 5–9pm. (Due to an editing error, Stagefright published an incorrect date two weeks ago). Arranged through a bequest in her will, the “Cheers to Blossom” party will take place at her beloved Studio Arena Theatre…probably to be followed by bar-hopping for the true Blossomophiles. This should be a major theater gathering, and will mark the unofficial start of the countdown to the Artie Awards. Blossom’s son, Dean, and daughter-in-law, Leslie, will be on hand for the event, as will newly appointed Studio Arena artistic director Kathleen Gaffney. Friends and fans of Blossom as well as members of the theater community are invited.