Disney’s Broadway musical The Little Mermaid played its last performance at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on August 30.
Since it began previews November 3, 2007, and opened on January 10, 2008 at the Lunt-Fontanne, it played 50 previews and 685 regular performances.
You can still hear the cast as their voices were preserved on The Little Mermaid original Broadway cast recording.
Thomas Schumacher, producer and president of Disney Theatrical Productions, said this about the show’s close:
We are tremendously proud of the show and are confident we’ll have an excellent summer but it would be …

Disney’s The Little Mermaid is closing on August 30, and, according to an official press statement, all tickets were sold out as of August 18.
The Little Mermaid, which began previews November 3, 2007, and opened on January 10, 2008, had a 20-month run, though it never quite achieved the popularity of its predecessors, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
If you want to see the show before it closes on August 30, you have two options:

wait in line at the Lunt-Fontanne box office for cancellations
wait in line …

Say it with me… Mamma Mia!
Yesterday, August 19, the hit Broadway musical Mamma Mia! celebrated a milestone: it became the 13th longest-running show in Broadway history!
Congratulations, Mamma Mia!
Last night it played its 3,243rd performance, knocking Fiddler on the Roof out of the 13th spot.
The official website describes the musical:
Writer Catherine Johnson’s sunny, funny tale unfolds on a Greek island paradise. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings 3 men from her mother’s past back to the island they …

Michelle Federer, who created the role of Nessarose in the original Broadway production of Wicked, returned to the Broadway role on August 18. She is succeeding Cristy Candler in the role.
Federer made her Broadway debut in Wicked.
The cast currently includes Dee Roscioli as Elphaba, Erin Mackey as Glinda, Tony Award winner Rondi Reed as Madame Morrible, P.J. Benjamin as The Wizard, Kevin Kern as Fiyero, Alex Brightman as Boq, and Timothy Britten Parker as Dr. Dillamond.
Press notes describe the musical:
Based on Gregory Maguire’s novel, which turned every Oz myth inside …

Talk-show host Jerry Springer joined the Broadway cast of Chicago on August 18, playing the role of lawyer Billy Flynn. Springer recently played a limited run in the London company, as well.
You don’t have to go to New York to see Springer in Chicago, either. He will also be performing the role in limited engagements elsewhere: Sept. 8-13 at Atlanta’s Fabulous Fox Theatre and Sept. 15-20 at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center’s Academy of Music.
The rest of the cast currently includes Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly, Bianca Marroquin as Roxie Hart, Raymond …

Robb Sapp joined the Broadway cast of Shrek the Musical on August 18. He will portray the role of Pinocchio, the long-nosed-fibber who longs to be a real boy, while John Tartaglia, the role’s creator, takes a leave of absence until December 15.
Sapp was previously seen as Boq in the Broadway cast of Wicked.
Shrek the Musical also stars Sutton Foster as Princess Fiona, Brian d’Arcy James as Shrek, Christopher Sieber as Lord Farquaad, and Daniel Breaker as Donkey. Ben Crawford, the current standby for the role of the green ogre, …

Don Stephenson joined the cast of Broadway’s Rock of Ages on August 17. He is filling in for Paul Schoeffler in the role of Hertz. Schoeffler is taking a leave of absence to play Lawrence in the Walnut Street Theatre’s production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; he will return to Rock of Ages on October 26.
Stephenson was last seen as Leo Bloom in the Broadway’s The Producers, in addition to By Jeeves, Dracula, Private Lives, Parade, Pardon My English, Titanic, and Wonderful Town.
The Rock of Ages production notes describe the show:
In …

The American Theatre Wing’s 63rd Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards took place Sunday night, June 7 at Radio City Music Hall. CBS presented a live broadcast from 8-11 p.m. Eastern/7-10 p.m. Central.
The Tony Awards are the most prestigious awards in the theatre world.
View a complete list of the Tony nominees here.
So, without further ado, allow us to share the 2009 Tony Awards winners.
Best Play
God of Carnage
Author: Yasmina Reza
Producers: Robert Fox, David Pugh & Dafydd Rogers, Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Jon B. Platt, The Weinstein Company, The Shubert Organization
Best Musical
Billy Elliot, …

Wow, what an opening! By the way, I’m going to try to live-blog this…stay tuned as the show continues, and I continue to update this post.
Stockard Channing! Rizzo forever! She’s amazing, as always.
Shrek looks interesting, indeed. I love the Duloc “toy” dancers. I wish they’d have done a song that fully featured Sutton Foster — love her!
Angela Lansbury SO deserved the Tony for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play — and she’s got 5 Tonys now!
Yay! I love me some Dancing Queen!
*sigh* I love West Side Story. …

The “preview event” pilot episode of the new Fox musical series, “Glee,” premieres tonight from 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT.
“Glee” tells the story of a high school glee club, with Matthew Morrison starring as the eager music teacher. Other musical theatre stars will be appearing, including Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, “Pushing Daisies”), Victor Garber, Deb Monk, Lea Michele (Spring Awakening), John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys), Jessalyn Gilsig (”Heroes”), Jayma Mays (”Heroes”), Stephen Tobolowsky (”Heroes”), and more.
According to Fox press notes:
Cast performances of “Rehab” and “Don’t Stop Believin’” will be available for purchase on …