Online Singing Contest Offers Exposure for Budding Broadway Stars
MusicalTheatreAudition.com's new online singing contest offers musical theatre singers from across the globe the chance to submit their recordings to a panel of professional performers, and to become the "King or Queen of Broadway". After years of providing up-and-coming performers with the tools and resources to help improve their auditions and performances, MTA has found a new way to propel would-be stars forward. With an all-star judging panel of professional performers and teachers, this contest will not only provide valuable exposure, but offer some valuable feedback and opportunity for growth as well. As an online singing contest, the King or Queen of Broadway competition will have a slightly different format than other singing contests such as "American Idol". The competition will consist of several rounds. In each round, each performer will have two weeks to submit via e-mail an mp3 recording of them singing a musical theatre song chosen according to certain criteria. Once all songs have been submitted, the judging panel will provide feedback to each contestant and identify two to four contestants (depending on the total number of entries) for possible elimination. The general public (via the MTA website) will then vote to determine who will stay to compete in the next round and who will be eliminated. All contestants will be featured on the MTA website for the duration of the contest. To the lucky winner, along with significant site exposure, will go a substantial Broadway Singer's Prize Package. Residents of North America, Europe, & Australia are eligible to enter. For further information and to register for the competition, performers must visit MusicalTheatreAudition.com and complete a registration form before July 30th, 2006. There is no entry fee, however, vocalists must pass through a qualification round in order to be featured on the site and compete in the rest of the competition.
Sweeney Todd... The Movie?
 Many Broadway fans and critics have commented on the recent trend of using popular feature films such as Legally Blonde, High Fidelity and The Wedding Singer as the source material for new Broadway musicals. But is this trend also going the other way? After recent hits such as Chicago and The Producers, rumors and opinions are flying about the possibility of a new movie version of Stephen Sondheim's Broadway hit, Sweeney Todd. Discussions of a film version of Sweeney were happening as far back as 1997, when Stephen Sondheim himself stated in an interview, "I don’t think it’s going to work for two seconds." This statement was made, however, before recent hits such as Chicago brought musicals back to the big screen. Media reports in the last several years have named both Sam Mendes and Tim Burton as possible directors. Both Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp have been mentioned as contendors for the lead role of Sweeney himself, and several actresses, including Emma Thompson, Imelda Staunton and Toni Collette, have been mentioned as possible Mrs Lovetts. A glance at IMDB's Sweeney Todd listing confirms Tim Burton as the director and John Logan, screenwriter of "The Aviator" and "Gladiator", as writer of the screenplay, but no casting decisions appear to have been made final at this point. There are a number of different opinions and arguments circulating about whether this film will be a hit as Chicago was, or a flop like the film version of Phantom of the Opera. Do you think Burton can pull off a Sondheim musical? Can Johnny Depp handle a role like Sweeney?
Cy Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York, NY on June 14, 1929. A child prodigy, he first played the piano at Carnegie Hall when he was only 7 years old. Most of his performance career was spent with the Cy Coleman trio, a popular club attraction that also made many recordings. His career as a composer began in popular music with a successful yet turbulent early partnership with Carolyn Leigh. Together they wrote many pop hits, including Witchcraft and The Best Is Yet To Come. Cy also wrote the instrumental "Playboy's theme" which become the signature music of the TV shows and specials that Playboy magazine produced, and is still remains synonymous with Hugh Hefner himself. Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh collaborated on Lucille Ball's Broadway debut, Wildcat (1960), and Little Me (based on the novel "Auntie Mame"). In 1964 Cy met Dorothy Fields at a party and they formed a new much more pleasant collaboration. Together they created Sweet Charity, and Seesaw before Fields died in 1974. Cy Coleman's later works include I Love My Wife, On The Twentieth Century, Barnum, City of Angels, The Will Rogers Follies, and The Life. Cy Coleman died of cardiac arrest on November 18, 2004 at the age of 75.  
New "Nutty Professor" Musical
 Another new musical based on a movie is on the way, but unlike High Fidelity or Legally Blonde, this movie is a classic. Jerry Lewis, the star of the original 1963 film, who has been bombarded with offers for years, has finally agreed to direct. Starring as the bucktoothed Julius Kelp who invents a potion that transforms him into the suave Buddy Love will be singer/comedian Michael Andrew. The Michael Andrew Company will produce the show. The musical is in the earliest stages of production, and writers & composers have not yet been recruited. The musical version of The Nutty Professor is set to hit the Broadway stage in October 2008.
Tony Awards Are This Sunday!
 Only three days left! If you consider yourself a true theatre or musical theatre fan, you won't want to miss the Tony Awards this Sunday at 8pm EST on CBS. In addition to seeing amazing performances by the Tony nominees, the list of presenters includes other stars of film, television, and stage including Julia Roberts, Eric McCormack, Julie Andrews, and many more. While you're watching the televised event, join us on the MusicalTheatreAudition.com Forum for an evening of trivia, games, and prizes.
Here's a sneak peak of some of our prizes:
 
 Finally, the OBC recording of the Tony-nominated musical The Wedding Singer was released today. Contrary to what I've heard some others say about the new musical The Wedding Singer, I believe this show is much more than just an 80s nostalgia trip. The music, while certainly not overly complicated (a la Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown) is catchy, sing-alongable, and very entertaining. Although I love "work of art" musical theatre too, I also think there is a place on Broadway for "fluff" shows such as The Wedding Singer, that put on a good show and entertain, with some original music that you'll be happy to add to your cast recording collection. I'm actually quite impressed that the composer has managed to produce original songs that somehow remind you of the 80s without being too cutesy or obvious about it. The first time I heard this pop/rock inspired score, it was almost as if I had heard the songs somewhere before - they were familiar somehow, yet new and exciting at the same time. The standout songs for me are "It's Your Wedding Day", "Casualty of Love" and "Come Out Of The Dumpster". The first time I heard "Get Out Of The Dumpster" I could barely drive the car I was laughing so hard. If you haven't heard this amazing score yet, what are you waiting for? iTunes is offering the rocking "It's Your Wedding Day" as a free download this week. I'm sure once you hear it, you won't be able to resist the rest of the album. Get it on iTunes:
1. "It's Your Wedding Day"--Stephen Lynch 2. "Someday" --Laura Benanti 3. "A Note From Linda"--Felicia Finley 4. "Pop!"--Amy Spanger 5. "Somebody Kill Me"--Stephen Lynch 6. "A Note From Grandma"--Rita Gardner 7. "Casualty of Love"--Stephen Lynch 8. "Come Out of the Dumpster"--Laura Benanti 9. "Today You Are a Man"--Stephen Lynch 10. "George's Prayer"--Kevin Cahoon 11. "Not That Kind of Thing"--Stephen Lynch 12. "Saturday Night in the City"--Amy Spanger 13. "All About the Green"--Richard H. Blake 14. "Someday" (Reprise)--Stephen Lynch 15. "Right in Front of Your Eyes"--Amy Spanger 16. "Single"--Matthew Saldivar 17. "If I Told You"--Stephen Lynch 18. "Let Me Come Home"--Felicia Finley 19. "If I Told You" (Reprise)--Stephen Lynch 20. "Move That Thang"--Rita Gardner 21. "Grow Old With You"--Stephen Lynch 22. "It's Your Wedding Day" (Finale)--Stephen Lynch
Patrick Swayze to Star In Guys & Dolls
 Patrick Swayze will make his West End debut next month playing Nathan Detroit in Michael Grandage's multi award-winning production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre - and, if the actor gets his way, he may be here awhile longer than the eight weeks advertised. Speaking at a press reception this morning at West End club Century, Swayze recalled his frustration when in 2003, returning to the stage after a 25-year absence to play Billy Flynn in the Broadway production of Chicago, he only felt that he was hitting all the right notes as his limited contract came to end. He doesn’t want his enjoyment curtailed this time around with Guys and Dolls: “I would like to stay with it until I feel I’ve found that comfortability (sic) and sense of play,” he said. Swayze’s main wish today is that the London drama critics, who he’s heard can be vicious, were coming later in his run rather than so early on. He imagines the press performance is “going to be like being shot out of a cannon… If you screw up, nobody can help you because it just moves too fast.” And he admitted that he does feel “an intimidation, a little fear factor about how you’re going to be judged but I think that just makes you work harder.” The son of a choreographer, Swayze trained as a ballet dancer and appeared on stage in the Broadway productions of Goodtime Charley (1975) and Grease (1978) before finding international fame in Hollywood, most notably with the 1987 blockbuster film Dirty Dancing, in which he became a pin-up as holiday camp dance instructor Johnny Castle to Jennifer Grey’s teenaged Baby. Asked today what his prediction is for the stage version of Dirty Dancing (See News, 24 Feb 2006), which receives its West End premiere at the Aldwych Theatre on 24 October 2006 (previews from 28 September), Swayze said: “It’s definitely going crazy everywhere it opens.” He attributes the success of “the movie that would not die” to the passion, and lack of ego, behind the original project. “When something works, it’s really about heart.” As for Guys and Dolls, Swayze hailed it as “one of the best scores and best books ever written for musical theatre”. Though he’s never appeared in Frank Loesser’s 1950 classic before, he remembers fondly his mother choreographing a production in Houston when he was a child. He’s now looking forward to working opposite Claire Sweeney, who will play his long-suffering fiancée Miss Adelaide, in Grandage’s revival. The pair met for the first time last night. According to Swayze, “As soon as I looked in her eyes, I thought, this is going to be fun. She’s got a fabulous sense of play and I could just smell that she’s good at what she does.”
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