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Stagefright

TV star Kelsey Grammer (pictured) is nominated for a Tony Award this year in the leading actor in a musical category for his performance in the revival of La Cage aux Folles. Also nominated in the same category is his co-star, British actor Douglas Hodge, who is playing Albin/Zaza, a part he also played in London to great acclaim. Best known for TV’s Frasier, Grammer was last on Broadway playing the title role in an ill-fated revival of Macbeth which lasted only 13 performances. No stranger to musicals, he also played Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady with the New York Philharmonic. Watch the Tony Awards on Sunday, June 13 beginning at 8pm on CBS.

Speaking of My Fair Lady, an all new 10-person, two-piano version of this Broadway classic opens at MusicalFare on July 7. Directed by Susan Drozd, the production will star Edith Grossman, Christian Brandjes, Doug Crane, Phil Farugia, Eric Rawski, Kevin Craig, Kevin Kennedy, and Ellen Horst.

Peter Palmisano, Lisa Ludwig, Linda Stein, Jacqueline Raymond, Bonnie Taylor, Patrick Cameron, and Ryan Cutello will star in the Jewish Repertory Theatre of WNY production of Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo. The play won the 1997 Tony Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Uhry won the Pulitzer in 1988 for his play Driving Miss Daisy. Ballyhoo opens in October under the direction of Saul Elkin.

This summer Road Less Traveled Productions will kick its new Max Series, created to present “edgy and uncompromising dramas.” The first offering will be Insidious by Western New York playwright Ibn Shabazz, The play was developed in RLTP’s 2008 Emanuel Fried New Play Workshop. Directed by Doug Zschiegner, the production opens on July 16 and will star Greg Howze, Xavier Harris, Adrienne Lewis, Carlton Franklin, and John Vines.

Plans under way for Curtain Up 2010 (September 10): Kaleidoscope and Joe DiPietro’s Art of Murder; ALT and Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.

BUA continues its cabaret series with Brian Riggs in All I Have to Say, also starring Chuck Basil at the piano. The show opens on June 19 at 8pm at the BUA Theater.

What a busy weekend ahead of us! Congratulations to the Irish Classical Theatre Company, which will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Andrews Theatre on June 4 at the opening of Lovers. Congratulations to MusicalFare, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary on June 5 with two very special performances at 4pm and 8pm. And the 20th annual Artie Awards will be on Monday, June 7.

Stephen Henderson (pictured right), is nominated for a Tony award in the featured actor category for his performance in August Wilson’s Fences, which is now playing at the Cort theater through July 11. Henderson won the Artie Award in 1992 for his performance as the lead in Fences, produced by Studio Arena. Roslyn Ruff (pictured below), who won an Artie in 1999 for her performance in The Amen Corner (Ujima Theatre Company), is also in the Broadway company of Fences, as the standby for the leading female actress, Viola Davis. Henderson also received the 2002 Career Achievement Award at the Arties. This year the Career Achievement award will go to Vincent O’Neill and will be presented to him by Saul Elkin and Lorna C. Hill. Have a great summer! Stagefright goes on hiatus until September.


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