Broadway has a hot new mama!

Brooke Shields will make her debut as Morticia tonight in the Broadway cast of THE ADDAMS FAMILY!

Want to see The Addams Family now? The wait is almost over! The Addams Family will tour across North America and you can come see it October 18-23 right here in Tampa! Douglas Sills & Sara Gettelfinger will star as Gomez and Morticia in the National Tour of The Addams Family.

This magnificently macabre new musical comedy is created by Jersey Boys authors Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, Drama Desk-winning composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party), choreographer Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) and Olivier Award-winning director/designers Phelim McDermott & Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter) with creative consultation by four-time Tony Award® winner Jerry Zaks. This is definitely not the same old song and dance.

It's every parent's nightmare. Your little girl has suddenly become a young woman, and what's worse, has fallen deliriously in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. Yes, Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has a “normal” boyfriend, and for parents Gomez and Morticia, this shocking development will turn the Addams house downside up. It’s a family portrait that’s completely off the wall.

Think you want to come to the whole Broadway series? You can buy your season tickets now, and save!

The best way to get the best seats at the best prices is to buy early.

Shows scheduled on the series include the Tony Award®-winning revival of La Cage aux Folles, the macabre new Broadway smash-hit musical comedy The Addams Family, the high-energy ballroom sensation Burn the Floor, Twyla Tharp’s captivating Sinatra celebration Come Fly Away and the red-hot rock 'n' roll of Million Dollar Quartet. There will also be a new musical staging of the classic holiday film A Christmas Story and the return of Cathy Rigby in the family favorite Peter Pan. Plus, for the first time in nearly a decade, Les Misérables returns to the Straz Center in a stunning new 25th Anniversary production! In the Jaeb Theater, we will be producing the classic comedy of errors and 2008 Tony Award-winning Best Revival of a Play, Boeing Boeing.

Current Season Ticket Holders can renew their same great seats with no changes online now. Renewal invoices are in the mail. If you would like to pay by check or request changes, additions or upgrades, you'll want to wait until you receive your invoice.

SAVE more than 40% in the rear orchestra on Tuesdays and Wednesdays!

SAVE up to 75% in the Cloud Club! ACT NOW - the Cloud Club sells out every year!

New season ticket orders are now available online! Click here to get started!

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

“DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?”

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET

ANNOUNCES National ONLINE CASTING CONTEST

ONLINE SUBMISSIONS TO BEGIN MAY 17, 2011

CONTEST WINNER TO BE FLOWN TO NEW YORK

TO Audition FOR MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET TEAM

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, the smash-hit musical with productions in Chicago, New York, London, and a national tour to start this fall, announces “Do You Have What It Takes?,” an online casting contest to find musician/singer/actors for the roles of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. “Do You Have What It Takes?” will launch Tuesday, May 17 at www.MillionDollarQuartetLive.com/casting.

The grand prize winner will receive roundtrip airfare to New York to audition for the MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET team including a representative from Telsey + Co, the show’s casting company. In addition, the winner will receive hotel accommodations at Flatotel, tickets to the Broadway production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, and other prizes.

Interested parties can submit video files of themselves performing one of the song titles listed on the Million Dollar Quartet original cast recording – smash hit singles include, “Blue Suede Shoes,” “I Walk the Line,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Hound Dog,” and many more. A full song list from the cast recording can be found on www.MillionDollarQuartetLive.com/casting. Era-inspired clothing is also encouraged for video submissions, but not required.

Voting and video submissions begin May 17, 2011 and end on July 1, 2011. Fans will be able to vote for their favorite video submission. The submission with the most votes at the end of the voting period will win the grand prize package. This winner will be announced on July 5, 2011.

For additional information, contest rules, prize packages and submission details please log onto www.MillionDollarQuartetLive.com/casting.

The Chicago production of MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET opened in 2008 and is still playing to packed houses at the Apollo Theatre. The Broadway production opened in spring 2010 and received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. A West End production opened winter 2011 to rave reviews and is currently playing at the Noël Coward Theatre in London. An upcoming national tour will launch this October in Cleveland.

On December 4, 1956, an auspicious twist of fate brought Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley together. The place was Sun Records’ storefront studio in Memphis. The man who made it happen was Sam Phillips, the “Father of Rock and Roll,” who discovered them all. The four young musicians united for the only time in their careers for an impromptu recording that has come to be known as one of the greatest rock jam sessions of all time.

Inspired by the actual event, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET features a treasure trove of the greatest rock and roll, gospel, R&B and country hits from these musicians, including such iconic songs as “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Riders in the Sky,” “I Walk the Line,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On.” MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET captures the infectious spirit, freewheeling excitement and thrilling sounds of a singular moment when four of the music industry’s most extraordinary talents, all in their creative prime, came together for one of the most memorable nights in music history.

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET won a Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award and received Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical (Colin Escott & Floyd Mutrux), a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Musical Revue and three Drama League nominations including Distinguished Production of a Musical and Distinguished Performance (Lance Guest).

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET is directed by Eric Schaeffer and features a book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. The design team for Broadway includes: Derek McLane (scenic design), Howell Binkley (lighting design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Kai Harada (sound design) and Chuck Mead (musical arrangements and supervision).

MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET tours to Tampa Jan. 3-8, 2012. Get your tickets HERE.

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2010

The 84th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will kick off the holidays in New York City and on NBC on Thursday, November 25th! Every year, Macy’s exciting holiday tradition is seen by more than 3.5 million people who line the streets in New York and another 50 million people who tune into NBC to watch the giant balloons, one-of-a-kind floats, the nation’s best matching bands, hundreds of cheering clowns and a host of celebrities!

Something WE look forward to every year is the Broadway performances. Word on the street is that this year there will be performances from Billy Elliot, Memphis, American Idiot, Elf, Million Dollar Quartet and the Radio City Rockettes. Also look out for RAIN, A Tribute to the Beatles.

Other fun things include a giant balloon of Shrek, a float of Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure from Nickelodeon, clowns and talent.
For a full list of line-up click HERE.

Elvis, Perkins, Cash and Jerry Lee: One amazing night

NYC -- On Dec. 4, 1956 the cornerstones of rockabilly and rock 'n' roll convened on Memphis' Sun Studios for a legendary jam session.

As the creators of the new Broadway musical, "Million-Dollar Quartet" explained it, this was a relatively spontaneous event during a nominal Carl Perkins session. Sun's owner Sam Phillips helped pull it together.
Jerry Lee Lewis was Perkins' piano player at the time. Elvis Presley, who had recorded for Sun, had jumped to a bigger label. And Johnny Cash was worried about the emergence of this new rock style that threatened to end his career.

In the actual recording session, the quartet mostly sang the music that had influenced them. In a small bit of dramatic license, the musical actually features their greatest hits because that's really what audiences want to hear.

"We took 18 months of Sun Records history and condensed it to one night," they said.

Here's what the creative team had to say about their Best Musical Tony-nominated show:

"We kept it to the raw emotion and the journey these guys were on."
"We wanted to capture one historic moment that featured the of rock 'n' roll."
"You can see their torment. Their preachers said this was the devil's music. They had no education and were suddenly big stars."

"They're actually playing onstage; it's all spontaneous."

-- MKilgore