In 2005, the original production of The Color Purple, starring LaChanze, opens on Broadway.

In 2019, Adrienne Warren opens what will become her Tony-winning performance in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical.

In 2011, The Book of Mormon opens on Broadway.

In 2018, Donja R. Love's Fireflies premieres Off-Broadway.

This week we chat with the multi-talented women who have been nominated for a 2007 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.

This week we chat with the multi-talented women who have been nominated for a 2007 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical.

Change will come to two of Broadway's blazing marquees at 7:30 PM May 9, when the Plymouth Theatre becomes the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre and the Royale becomes the Bernard B. Jacobs.

BETTY BUCKLEY
Betty Buckley fans will be thrilled with the just-released cast recording of Triumph of Love, the Susan Birkenhead/Jeffrey Stock/James Magruder musical loosely based on the Marivaux play. Buckley sounds terrific on the CD, whether she's belting the opening lines of "This Day of Days," tenderly caressing the notes in the quartet of "Teach Me Not to Love You" or bringing an emotional intensity to her duets with Susan Egan ("You May Call Me Phocion") and F. Murray Abraham ("The Tree"). And, her two solo pieces, "Serenity" and "If I Cannot Love," are masterfully crafted and delivered. Just listen to the way she builds "Serenity" from a quiet remembrance of her youth to a full-voiced declaration of love's surprise arrival. She is also equally effective on "If I Cannot Love," which was unfortunately cut during previews but is thankfully preserved on this JAY Records release.

BETTY BUCKLEY
Betty Buckley fans will be thrilled with the just-released cast recording of Triumph of Love, the Susan Birkenhead/Jeffrey Stock/James Magruder musical loosely based on the Marivaux play. Buckley sounds terrific on the CD, whether she's belting the opening lines of "This Day of Days," tenderly caressing the notes in the quartet of "Teach Me Not to Love You" or bringing an emotional intensity to her duets with Susan Egan ("You May Call Me Phocion") and F. Murray Abraham ("The Tree"). And, her two solo pieces, "Serenity" and "If I Cannot Love," are masterfully crafted and delivered. Just listen to the way she builds "Serenity" from a quiet remembrance of her youth to a full-voiced declaration of love's surprise arrival. She is also equally effective on "If I Cannot Love," which was unfortunately cut during previews but is thankfully preserved on this JAY Records release.

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.

Spoke to October's "Leading Men" en masse by attending the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market and Grand Auction in Shubert Alley. It was fun to see well-known stage and TV personalities oozing out of the woodwork for a worthy cause (to contribute visit broadwaycares.org). I also got my picture taken with a green baby at the Wicked booth, so all in all, a beautiful day.

Spoke to October's "Leading Men" en masse by attending the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market and Grand Auction in Shubert Alley. It was fun to see well-known stage and TV personalities oozing out of the woodwork for a worthy cause (to contribute visit broadwaycares.org). I also got my picture taken with a green baby at the Wicked booth, so all in all, a beautiful day.

With seven songwriters making their Broadway debuts this season, it's cause for celebration.

Game girl, that Jessica Lange—game and smart and frontal.

Game girl, that Jessica Lange—game and smart and frontal.

PETULA CLARK
There were those of us who had hoped that Sunset Boulevard would run, if not indefinitely, then at least a decade at the Minskoff Theatre, so we would be able to witness all the possible interpretations of Norma Desmond, the faded silent screen star who had been inhabited in the New York company by Betty Buckley, Glenn Close, Elaine Paige and standby Karen Mason. Wouldn't it have been great to have had the chance to see Australia's Debra Byrne, Germany's Helen Schneider, Toronto's Diahann Carroll and England's final Norma, Petula Clark? Well, Sunset and Clark fans are in for a treat this month when Petula Clark heads the second national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard. The tour will feature direction by The Sound of Music's Susan H. Schulman and a new set design by Derek McLane; however, the dialogue and music will remain the same as the previous professional productions. So, fear not, Sunset fans, you will indeed hear Clark belt out that show's two "arias," "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye."