Tag Archives: Ragtime

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS – Larry Payton

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Rock the TonyspaytonLARRY PAYTON

Little Rock connection: Founder and longtime leader of Celebrity Attractions which has brought Broadway shows to Little Rock since 1998. Though he died in 2013, the firm continues to bring shows to Little Rock.

Tony Awards connection: Nominated for producing the revivals of Peter Pan and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

He was a partner in the Independent Presenters Network which won Tonys for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002), Spamalot (2005), and La Cage aux Folles (2010). It also was nominated for producing The Color Purple and Leap of Faith as well as revivals of Guys and Dolls and Ragtime. Last season, it won Tonys for producing Kinky Boots and Pippin.

Larry was also served on the Board of Governors for The Broadway League, the presenter of the Tonys, and was a Tony voter.

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS – Debbie Gravitte and Christiane Noll

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Rock the TonysGravitte NollDEBBIE GRAVITTE and CHRISTIANE NOLL

LITTLE ROCK connection: Both have appeared with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.  The pair appeared together during one of the Broadway Pops concerts in 2007.  Noll returned in 2010 to appear in the Valentine Pops concert.

Tony Awards connection: Gravitte won the 1989 Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway. (She was then known by her maiden name, Debbie Shapiro.)  Noll was nominated for a 2010 Tony for Actress in a Musical for her performance in the revival of Ragtime.

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS – Judy Kaye

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Rock the TonysJudyKayeJUDY KAYE

Little Rock connection: Performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

Tony Awards connection: Won the Tony for Featured Actress in a Musical for The Phantom of the Opera in 1988 and Nice Work If You Can Get It in 2012. She has also been nominated for her performances in Mamma Mia (2002 Featured Actress in a Musical) and Souvenir (2006 Actress in a Play).  In addition to performing on the Tonys with the cast of Mamma Mia, she has appeared on the telecasts with the casts of On the Twentieth Century (1978) and Ragtime (1998).

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS: Scott Joplin

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Rock the Tonysscott-joplin-1Scott Joplin

Little Rock connection: A native of Texarkana, he visited Little Rock from time to time throughout his early life and early career. His second wife, Freddie Alexander, was from Little Rock. He met her on a visit here and dedicated his composition The Chrysanthemum to her.  In June 1904, he married Freddie. She died ten weeks later of pneumonia. Aspects of her life, as well as his mothers, form the story for his opera Treemonisha.

Tony Awards connection: Treemonisha was never performed during Joplin’s lifetime. In 1975 it was produced on Broadway. Joplin received a 1976 Tony nomination for Best Score for Treemonisha – 59 years after he had died.

ROCKing the TONYS – Lawrence Hamilton

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Rock the Tonys LawrenceHamiltonLawrence Hamilton

Little Rock connection: Arkansas native, former Philander Smith College faculty member, acted at Arkansas Repertory Theatre in The Piano Lesson, To Kill a Mockingbird and Looking over the President’s Shoulder and directed Arkansas Rep’s production of Crowns, appeared with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as well as numerous other performances and events throughout Little Rock and Arkansas.  He also brought his friends to Little Rock to perform including Jessye Norman.  He was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame and the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame.

Tony Awards connection: Appeared on Broadway in Tony winning productions of Jelly’s Last Jam, Sophisticated Ladies, Ragtime and Tony-nominated productions of Play On!, Uptown…It’s Hot!, and Porgy & Bess.

5 Time Tony Winner Audra McDonald in Concert Tonight at UCA

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audraTony winning actor and singer Audra McDonald will be in performance tonight at 7:30 at the UCA Reynolds Performance Hall.

Audra Ann McDonald didn’t waste any time starting her career. She made her Broadway debut as a replacement in The Secret Garden while she was still in school at Juilliard, won three Tony awards in five years, and, at age 27, became the first person to win three before the age of 30.

She has appeared on the stage in both musicals and dramas, including leading roles in Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, Master Class and Carousel. Her first starring role on Broadway was in Marie Christine, written specifically for her by Michael John LaChiusa after he saw her audition for Carousel. In 2007 she starred in 110 in the Shade on Broadway and joined the cast of Private Practice as Dr. Naomi Bennett, and spent the first 9 months of 2012 singing Bess in Porgy and Bess on Broadway. She has won five Tony Awards, sharing the record for most Tonys won by an actor with Julie Harris and Angela Lansbury.

McDonald has released five solo albums and appeared as a vocalist on many others.  In October her TV appearances ranged from Great Performances to “The Colbert Report.”  This December she will play the Mother Abbess in the live TV production of The Sound of Music.

Ark. Symphony welcomes WICKED Divas

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra closes out the 2011-2012 Pops season with a program entitled “Wicked Divas.”

Under the baton of Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson, the ASO will be joined by Eden Espinosa and Emily Rozek for an evening of Broadway power songs.  Both actors have Broadway credits and have appeared in productions of Wicked.

Among  the numbers which will be performed are:

The Overture to Gypsy (Jule Styne); selections from Carmen (Bizet); selections from Chicago (John Kander), “I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady (Alan Jay Lerner, Frederick Loewe); “Back to Before” from Ragtime (Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens); “Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber); “Ring Them Bells” (John Kander and Fred Ebb); and “Over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg);.

From Wicked, they will perform “Popular,” “Defying Gravity” and “For Good.”

The concert is being presented tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.