News

James Rado, who along with his friend and writing partner Gerome Ragni created Broadway’s seminal Age of Aquarius musical Hair, died peacefully Tuesday evening of cardio respiratory arrest in New York City, surrounded by family. He was 90.

His death was announced by his longtime friend, publicist Merle Frimark.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Rado and Ragni, who died in 1991, wrote the book and lyrics to the landmark musical (full title: Hair – The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical), with music composed by Galt MacDermot, who died in 2018. In addition to its hugely influential insertion of a ’60s counterculture sensibility into Broadway’s mainstream, the musical contributed a score of songs that would become radio hits (often in cover versions) and stage musical standards: “Aquarius,” “Let The Sunshine In,” “Hair,” “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “Easy To Be Hard,” among others.

In addition to co-creating the musical,...

‘Hey Blondie!’ Dagwood, Blondie, Mr. Dithers and a victimized postman return for a stab at a TV revival of the 1940s series from Chic Young’s never-ending comic strip. It’s not bad, with Arthur Lake clowning up a storm and Pamela Britton a charming new embodiment of a character who began as ‘Blondie Boopadoop.’ It’s the entire one-season series.

Blondie The Complete 1957 Television Series

DVD

ClassicFlix

1957 / B&W / 1:33 TV aperture / 26 x 30 min. / Street Date September 25, 2018 / 39.99

Starring: Arthur Lake, Pamela Britton, Stuffy Singer, Florenz Ames, Ann Barnes, Harold Peary, Hollis Irving, Elvia Allman, Lucien Littlefield.

Cinematography: Lothrop B. Wort

Original Music: Mahlon Merrick

Written by John L. Greene, George Beck, George Carleton Brown, Jo Conway, Frank Gill Jr., Gordon T. Hughes, Don Nelson, Jay Sommers, Warren Spector from characters created by Chic Young

Produced by William Harmon

Directed by Hal Yates, Paul Landres, Gerald Freedman

Chic Young’s...

On Monday, November 14, Sonnet Repertory Theatre hosted its Tenth Annual Benefit and Cabaret. The event brought together a diverse and talented group of performers and composers at Joe's Pub to honor award-winning director and teacher, Gerald Freedman. Celebrating Freedman's career, this evening featured some of Broadway's greatest talents and legends, including Brian d'Arcy James, Jennifer Ferrin, Penny Fuller, Hal Holbrook, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Jeremy Jordan, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Terrence Mann, John Mauceri, Estelle Parsons, Austin Pendleton, Bryce Pinkham,Wesley Taylor, Alfred Uhry, Price Waldman, and Emily Young, and including special video tributes by Olympia Dukakis and Chita Rivera.BroadwayWorld was on hand for the concert and brings you full photo coverage below...

• Actress Trieste Kelly Dunn interviews her Cold Weather director Aaron Katz -

 

Director Aaron Katz's third film Cold Weather focuses on Doug and Gail, a brother and sister duo leading ordinary lives in Portland.  Then, Doug's ex-girlfriend goes missing, and mystery ensues. Doug is played by Cris Lankenau and Gail is played by Trieste Kelly Dunn...who happens to be me. I had the chance to catch up online with Aaron to talk about the film, directing actors, and craft service.

 

By Trieste Kelly Dunn

 

 

Aaron. How's living in Pittsburgh?

Great. I really love the city. How's everything in Los Angeles?

It's sunshine and roses every day. Are you excited about the premiere of Cold Weather? A film people are calling "the best film of 2011."

I'm excited. I'm really looking forward to a lot of friends, family, and hopefully strangers coming out to see it.

 

 

Yeah, me too.

Kahlan's white confessor dress isn't gone forever, swears Bridget Regan. Rather, it's merely tucked away in her backpack, at the ready whenever her current leather get-up just isn't appropriate. That's one of the typically entertaining and witty comments to be found in part two of our exclusive and extensive interview with Legend of the Seeker (TV) star Bridget Regan, an interview composed primarily of questions from you, our TVStar.com readers. So read on for more, as Regan talks about her love for Kahlan, discusses co-producing the upcoming stage musical Camp Wanatachi, and reveals which five Legend of the Seeker (TV) episodes to date rank as her personal favorites. And, finally, congratulations to dandoruinn, picked by Regan as the winner of the second of two autographed photos that she signed and sent our way. You've said that Kahlan is noble and strong and always does the right thing. You've also...

Kahlan's white confessor dress isn't gone forever, swears Bridget Regan. Rather, it's merely tucked away in her backpack, at the ready whenever her current leather get-up just isn't appropriate. That's one of the typically entertaining and witty comments to be found in part two of our exclusive and extensive interview with Legend of the Seeker (TV) star Bridget Regan, an interview composed primarily of questions from you, our TVStar.com readers. So read on for more, as Regan talks about her love for Kahlan, discusses co-producing the upcoming stage musical Camp Wanatachi, and reveals which five Legend of the Seeker (TV) episodes to date rank as her personal favorites. And, finally, congratulations to dandoruinn, picked by Regan as the winner of the second of two autographed photos that she signed and sent our way. You've said that Kahlan is noble and strong and always does the right thing. You've also...

Heading to college? Back Stage asked six current undergraduate drama students from around the United States to describe their lives on campus. We run the gamut: R.J. Magee is just starting at Temple University in Philadelphia, while Rachel Lewis is a few months from finishing her degree at Nyu, mere blocks from the lights of Broadway. In Dallas, Erik Carter wants to change the world as performer and as playwright. Nathaniel Beaver works on stage and behind the scenes in University of Central Florida's student-run festivals. And in North Carolina, third-year student Jasmine Osborne is finally getting to perform, while at UCLA freshman Valerie Brandy is performing in a campus soap opera. Want to read more? Follow our student actors on Back Stage's actor-written blog Unscripted ( Unscripted) for the remainder of the semester.Rachel Marie Lewis New York University's Tisch School of the Arts Senior, Bfa in Drama I...

Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater Festival (Gltf), announced plans for the company's ambitious forty-eighth season to Festival Members earlier this week. Scheduled to run from September through May, Gltf's 2009-10 season will feature a Fall Repertory, the Festival's annual holiday classic and a Spring Repertory. In the fall (September 24-November 1, 2009), the Festival will present Rupert Holmes' Tony Award-winning solve-it-yourself musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Drood) in rotating repertory with Shakespeare's enchanting comedy, Twelfth Night. Gltf's annual production of Charles Dickens' holiday classic, A Christmas Carol (December 4-December 23, 2009), originally adapted and directed by Gerald Freedman, will mark the midpoint of the Festival's 48th season. Gltf will round out its 2009-10 season with a Spring Repertory (April 8-May 16, 2010) by pairing Keythe Farley and Brian Flemming's outrageous Off-Broadway hit Bat Boy: The Musical with Shakespeare's magical masterpiece, A Midsummer Night's Dream.

In The Tempest, one of the last plays William Shakespeare fully authored, the character of Prospero is a conundrum. For 12 years he's been marooned on an island with his young daughter, Miranda. Struggling to survive, he blackmails the spirit Ariel into being his servant and compels the mortal Caliban to be his slave. For reasons equally simple and complex, Prospero is hero and antihero, protagonist and antagonist. Perhaps it's those contradictions that make him the perfect role for Mandy Patinkin to play.For seven months Patinkin has enjoyed a luxury afforded very few actors: He's done little but prepare to play perplexing Prospero, in this case for Classic Stage Company's Off-Broadway production of The Tempest. For the first three months, he logged three to four hours a day, including Saturdays and Sundays, meeting with Shakespeare scholar Rachel Chavkin and analyzing each line of the play, "translating it into English,...