Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton & More to Receive 2011 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award 2010/12/22

I'm now looking forward to the 2011 Grammy Awards-two of my idols, Julie Andrews & Dolly Parton, are receiving lifetime achievement awards!

Julie Andrews, Dolly Parton & More to Receive 2011 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award 2010/12/22

Fun Fact of the Day: A Revised 9 to 5 Does Well on Tour

We all know that my love for 9 to 5 the musical by Dolly Parton was serious when the show was on Broadway. But it got poor reviews, was snubbed for any TONY awards, and was overall a big fat flop. And I was very upset when the show closed. But the show has since been revised for the touring company starring American Idol alum Diana DeGarmo as Doralee Rhodes, the Parton role played by Megan Hilty on Broadway. A new director and choreographer and a new design team were hired to overhaul what even I can now admit, was kind of the Broadway hot mess of 2009. The new production is more streamlined and features a less obtrusive set. Dolly even joins the cast, well at least on video screen she does, to welcome the audience and provide narration. I still love the show and I am so happy that it has been getting good reviews on tour and wish it the best of luck! Click below to read the reviews from the tour's first two stops in Nashville and Atlanta.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100924/ENTERTAINMENT0503/100924026/+9+to+5++works+well+as+a+musical

http://www.atlantaintownpaper.com/2010/09/theatre-review-9-to-5-the-musical-at-the-fox/

The Kennedy Center Honors

Over the years, the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC has become one of the foremost institutions for the Performing Arts in the nation. In terms of theatre, I will even venture to guess that it has done more for the art form than any institution away from Broadway. In 1978, the first Kennedy Center Honors were bestowed upon 5 people who had contributed greatly to the performing arts and therefore, enlivened American culture. The tradition as continued every December since 1978 and the annual ceremonies have given us countless memorable performances and many that I hold near and dear to my own heart. One of the most special for me, in recent memory, was the tribute to Dolly Parton, who as I have mentioned many times, is one of the 3 performers that I truly idolize. Her life story was introduced by Reba McEntire, another great lady in country music, who ultimately concluded with the tried and true statement "there ain't nobody like Dolly Parton". The following performance, Alison Krauss singing "Jolene" was a particular highlight of that broadcast for me.



I'm going to try to include a comprehensive list of all of the honorees from the past 30 years. Please inform me if I forget anybody and I will add them to the list! I'm also going to include a small list at the end of artists who I think are deserving of being honored by The Kennedy Center in the near future.

1978: Marian Anderson, Fred Astaire, George Balanchine, Richard Rodgers, Arthur Rubeinstein
1979: Aaron Copland, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Fonda, Martha Graham, Tennessee Williams
1980: Leonard Bernstein, James Cagney, Agnes de Mille, Lynn Fontanne, Leontyne Price
1981: Count Basie, Cary Grant, Helen Hayes, Jerome Robbins, Rudolf Serkin
1982: George Abbott, Lillian Girsh, Benny Goodman, Gene Kelly, Eugene Ormandy
1983: Katherine Dunham, Elia Kazan, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Virgil Thompson
1984: Lena Horne, Danny Kaye, Gian Carolo Menotti, Arthur Miller, Isaac Stern
1985: Merce Cunningham, Irene Dunne, Bob Hope, Alan Jay Lerner & Frederick Loewe, Beverly Sills
1986: Lucille Ball, Hume Cronyn & Jessica Tandy, Yehudi Menuhin, Antony Tudor, Ray Charles
1987: Perry Como, Bette Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Nathan Milstein, Alwin Nikolais
1988: Alvin, Ailey, George Burns, Myrna Loy, Alexander Schneider, Roger L. Stevens
1989: Harry Belafonte, Claudette Colbert, Alexandra Danilova, Mary Martin, William Schuman
1990: Dizzy Gillespie, Katharine Hepburn, Rise Stevens, Jule Styne, Billy Wilder
1991: Roy Acuff, Betty Comden & Adolph Green, Fayard & Harold Nicholas, Gregory Peck, Robert Shaw
1992: Lionel Hampton, Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward, Ginger Rodgers, Mstislav Rostropovich, Paul Taylor
1993: Johnny Carson, Arthur Mitchell, Geog Solti, Stephen Sondehim, Marion Williams
1994: Kirk Douglas, Aretha Franklin, Morton Gould, Harold Prince, Pete Seeger
1995: Jacques d'Amboise, Marilyn Horne, BB Kind, Sidney Poitier, Neil Simon
1996: Edward Albee, Benny Carter, Johnny Cash, Jack Lemmon, Maria Talchief
1997: Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman, Edward Vilella
1998: Bill Cosby, Fred Ebb & John Kander, Willie Nelson, Andre Previn, Shirley Temple Black
1999: Victor Borge, Sean Connery, Judith Jamison, Jason Robards, Stevie Wonder
2000: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Placido Domingo, Clint Eastwood, Angela Lansbury
2001: Julie Andrews, Van Cliburn, Quincy Jones, Jack Nicholson, Luciano Pavarotti
2002: James Earl Jones, James Levine, Chita Rivera, Paul Simon, Elizabeth Taylor
2003: James Brown, Carol Burnett, Loretta Lynn, Mike Nichols, Itzhak Perlman
2004: Warren Beatty, Ossie Davies & Ruby Dee, Elton John, Joan Sutherland, John Williams
2005: Tony Bennett, Suzanne Farrell, Julie Harris, Robert Redford, Tina Turner
2006: Zubin Mehta, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, Steven Spielberg, Andrew Lloyd Webber
2007: Leon Fleisher, Steve Martin, Diana Ross, Martin Scorsese, Brian Wilson
2008: Morgan Freeman, George Jones, Barbra Streisand, Twyla Tharp, Pete Townshend & Roger Daltrey
2009: Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro, Bruce Springsteen
2010: Merle Haggard, Jerry Herman, Bill T.Jones, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey
My Picks for Upcoming Ceremonies: Burt Bacharach, Barbara Cook, Renee Flemming, Billy Joel, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patti LuPone, Reba McEntire, Bette Midler, Mark Morris, Al Pacino, Bernadette Peters, Hal Prince, Meryl Streep, Betty White

Fun Fact of the Day: Diana DeGarmo Joins the 1st National Tour of 9 to 5: The Musical!

Diana DeGarmo, American Idol season 3 runner-up and Broadway performer in Hairspray and Hair, will be taking on a new type of role. She announced today via twitter (@DianaDeGarmo) that she will be playing the role of Doralee Rhodes in the 1st National Tour of 9 to 5, a musical by the incomparable Dolly Parton. The role was originated on film by Dolly Parton herself and on Broadway by Megan Hilty. The tour kicks off in Nashville in September of 2010.

Congratulations Diana!

My Pre-TONY Post...I Promise

All I've been able to think about recently is the TONYs so I'm going to list My Favorite Things (no pun intended)from each show over past decade. **Disclaimer: my 'favorite things' will probably only relate to musicals**

1999, Greatest Dynamic Duo: Both of my theater idols, Kristin Chenoweth and Bernadette Peters win the TONY -- Kristin wins for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for You're A Good Man Charlie Brown and Bernadette for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Annie Get Your Gun

2000, Revolution of The Decade: Contact wins Best Musical-- This win by a show that was primarily danced and include no original score was the controversy of the year, but it paved the way for what I like to call dance-icals like Movin' Out

2001, Most Predictable Ceremony Ever, The Producers Owns the TONYs-- I didn't enjoy this show, but I found it funny (funny ironic, not funny haha) that there was nothing else better in that season. Precursor of the 2010 season, anyone?

2002, Most Peggy Sawyer-like moment: Sutton Foster wins for Best Leading Actress in a Musical for Thoroughly Modern Millie-- Sutton Foster was pulled out of the show's chorus when the original Millie was forced to step down and the result was Broadway stardom

2003, Yay For Cross-dressers: Harvey Fierstein wins for Best Leading Actor in a Musical for his portrayal of a woman in Hairspray-- This is only the second time an actor has won in a cross-dressing role, Mary Martin won previously in the role of Peter Pan

2004, Best Winner's Speech: Idina Menzel -- When she won the Leading Actress in a musical category for Wicked, not only did she thank the show's creative team for creating a show that celebrates women, but she also thanked her mom for taking her to see Dreamgirls and Annie when she was a little girl

2005, The Classical Musical is Reborn: Adam Guettel's The Light in The Piazza takes Best Score and Orchestrations-- While it ultimately didn't take the night's biggest prize, Best Musical, Guettel showed us that classical melodies, lush orchestrations, and well-trained sopranos still have a place in the musical theater

2006, La-Upset: LaChanze beats the Diva Quartet of Patti LuPone, Chita Rivera, Sutton Foster, and Kelli O'Hara in the Best Leading Actress in a Musical category-- I adore all five women in this category, but LaChanze's performace as Celie in The Color Purple blew the roof off of the Broadway Theatre

2007, Best Themed Opening: God I Hope I Get It-- Introducing every nominated show and presenter with their head shot against background of Marvin Hamlisch's One from A Chorus Line was pure genius. We all remember watching the cast of A Chorus Line performing the opening of their show in front of Radio City Music Hall, seeing the cast of Spring Awakening getting ready in a stairwell and watching Raul Esparza in the role of Bobby from Company as he read a newspaper with his feet propped on a dressing table

2008, Most Divalicious Performances: Patti Lupone singing Everything's Coming Up Roses-- too amazing for words, simply fabulous

2009, Most Exhilarating Opening Number: Liza, Dolly, and Elton, oh my-- I practically fell out of my chair during this opening performance. When I thought it was simply too fabulous for words, it kept getting better and better. We started with Elton John and the Billy Elliot boys, then we went into a rumble between the casts of West Side Story and Guys and Dolls. Then Aaron Tveit and Stockard Channing battled it out in a mash up of I'm Alive and Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered. Then Brett Michaels performed with the cast of Rock of Ages and got smashed with a moving set piece while the Shrek cast let their freak flags fly. But the moment that left me breathless was Dolly Parton singing the title song with the cast of 9 to 5, followed by Liza Minelli kickin' it like it was 1975. It all ended with a big dance party with the cast of Hair singing Let The Sunshine In with every performer from the whole Broadway season.