Marshall Barer News

Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano are in a really good mood. The infectious buoyancy of their new show at the Metropolitan Room, Shoulder Season (Don't ask me what the title means. Despite explanation, I haven't a clue.), will erase world news, ease arthritis, and make love seem possible again. Well, maybe not all that. Its warm, cheerful, sometimes exuberant musicality is nonetheless recommended for whatever ails you.

Today in 1959, Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Phoenix Theatre, where it ran for 244 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred. Also featured were Joseph Bova, Allen Case, Jack Gilford and Matt Mattox. Jane White played the role of Queen Aggravain, becoming the first African-American actress to portray a white character on the Broadway stage.

Vocalist B.J.Ward, who released B.J. Ward Sings Marshall Barer on Concord Records in 2005, will perform the late lyricist's music at London's The Crazy Coqs on April 13th at 8pm, with UK pianist and composer, Simon Wallace. Ward is one of the most popular voice talents in the U.S., known both as a voiceover talent who has voiced hundreds of films, TV and games, and as a concert artist. Her very popular one-woman show, Stand-Up Opera, has played at The Kennedy Center and Ward has been a guest artist with symphonies and Performing Arts Centers around the U.S. On the day following the Crazy Coqs show, Ward releases Double Feature (LML), a recording dedicated largely to film music, with the legendary pianist, Donn Trenner.

Marymount Manhattan College (MMC), a private liberal arts college on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and the college's celebrated musical theatre program, will present a spring theatre festival honoring three generations of musical writers - Richard Rodgers, renowned composer of American popular music and Broadway shows; his daughter, Mary Rodgers, author of Freaky Friday and composer of the Broadway musical comedy, Once Upon a Mattress; and her son, Adam Guettel, composer and lyricist, and Tony winner for his musical The Light in the Piazza.

Transport Group, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and OBIE Award-winning theatre company, has announced that its 2015 season will include the world premiere musical The Blonde Streak by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer, slated to run July 5 - August 16 at Theatre 79, and a revival of the classic musical Once Upon a Mattress, starring Jackie Hoffman as Princess Winnifred and John 'Lypsinka' Epperson as Queen Aggravain, running November 29 - January 3, 2016 at Abrons Arts Center. Both musicals will be directed by Jack Cummings III.

For Day 7 of BroadwayWorld's 12 Days of Christmas 'video finds,' we present Carol Burnett and Alan Alda. They both boast Broadway pedigrees.

Today in 1996, the first Broadway revival of Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Broadhurst Theatre, where it ran for188 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred.

ArtReach Educational Theatre is staging Disney's Tarzan. Music by Phil Collins, Lyrics by Marshall Barer, Book by David Henry Hwang. Based on the story Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Disney film - Tarzan. Performed by a Cast of Chicago Professional Actors and the Students of the ArtReach Theatre Mentoring Program.

Paley Presents will host 'A Celebration of Mary Rodgers' today, July 19, 2014, beginning at 2 pm in New York City.

Paley Presents will host 'A Celebration of Mary Rodgers' on Saturday, July 19, 2014, beginning at 2 pm in New York City.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) has announced the full lineup of productions, concerts, readings and special events for its 11th annual festival. This year's Festival will begin July 7th and continue through July 27th.

The York Theatre Company celebrates the great American lyricist Marshall Barer (Once Upon a Mattress) with a special concert event, The Marshall Barer Project, a musical tour through the life, career and mind of a man whose songs are shimmering jewels from the American Songbook. Starring BJ Ward with special guest Michael Feinstein. Directed by Gordon Hunt, The Marshall Barer Project will play two performances only on Tuesday June 10, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (Citicorp Building, entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Atlantic Theater Company's OUR NEW GIRL opens off-Broadway tonight, and BAKERSFIELD MIST, starring Kathleen Turner, kicks off in the West End!

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, May 11, 2014 - Sunday, May 11, 2014.

Stages, A Children's Theatre Workshop, Inc., brings back a Once Upon a Mattress to Bay Street. Fifty-four years ago, Once Upon a Mattress, a romantic and hilarious musical version of 'The Princess and the Pea', opened on Broadway to the delight of theatergoers young and old. It won the hearts of its audiences with an inventive and raucous twist on the old story. Stages, is excited to present this fractured fairy tale at the Bay Street Theatre today, May 10, at 2pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, May 11, at 2pm. And in celebration of Mother's Day on May 11, all mothers will be Queen-for-a-day, with a crown compliments of Stages.

Today in 1959, Once Upon a Mattress opened at the Phoenix Theatre, where it ran for 244 performances. Once Upon a Mattress is a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The play was written as an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Princess and the Pea. Once Upon A Mattress marked the Broadway debut of later stage and TV legend Carol Burnett, who originated the role of Princess Winnifred. Also featured were Joseph Bova, Allen Case, Jack Gilford and Matt Mattox. Jane White played the role of Queen Aggravain, becoming the first African-American actress to portray a white character on the Broadway stage.

Stages, A Children's Theatre Workshop, Inc., brings back a Once Upon a Mattress to Bay Street. Fifty-four years ago, Once Upon a Mattress, a romantic and hilarious musical version of 'The Princess and the Pea', opened on Broadway to the delight of theatergoers young and old. It won the hearts of its audiences with an inventive and raucous twist on the old story. Stages, is excited to present this fractured fairy tale at the Bay Street Theatre on Saturday, May 10, at 2pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, May 11, at 2pm. And in celebration of Mother's Day on May 11, all mothers will be Queen-for-a-day, with a crown compliments of Stages.

This past Tuesday evening Maude Maggart, a celebrated young veteran of the cabaret scene, started her debut run at the Cafe Carlyle (which ends tonight with shows at 8:45 pm and 10:45 pm) and her new show certainly didn't disappoint, at least not in the singing department. Throughout a 16-song set, this attractive and willowy brunette from a performing family that now spans three generations was a delightfully dreamy enchantress conveying retro-romantic songs she delivered with the ethereal mezzo soprano style of an early Disney movie heroine of pre-Little Mermaid vintage, only one more worldly wise and seductive.

Jason Tramm will conduct the Live Arts Maryland's mid-winter Broadway in Annapolis production of 'Once Upon a Mattress,' Friday, February 14 (7:30 p.m.) and Saturday, February 15 (8 p.m.) at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts. Tramm, who serves as principal conductor and Artistic Director of the MidAtlantic Opera and is widely recognized in the Tri State and MidAtlantic region as a conductor of classical and sacred music, made his conducting debut with Live Arts Maryland last October. In this return engagement Tramm will lead the Annapolis Chamber Orchestra and the Annapolis Chorale in Mary Rodgers beloved musical comedy, with lyrics by Marshall Barer and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer.