At the height of awards season, isn’t some silliness what we all need? Playbill is serving it up today in the way of its ANN Playbill series. We’d definitely purchase a ticket to all of these.

Stay on Twitter watch for even more ANN…

…and stop by the ViviANN Beaumont Theatre to see what critics are calling:

“FUNNY & TENDER. A DEEPLY AFFECIONATE, CLEVER TRIBUTE.” – USA Today

“As the INSPIRING ANN RICHARDS, HOLLAND TAYLOR is a FIERY DYNAMO.” – The New York Times

“HOLLAND TAYLOR IS BRILLIANT!” – The Hollywood Reporter

Photo Credit: @PlaybillMichael

Watch “Time Stops” written by Andrew Lippa and performed by two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz and Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin.

BIG FISH, a new musical based on the novel by Daniel Wallace and the 2003 Columbia Pictures film written byJohn August, will open Sunday, October 6, 2013, at Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre (250 West 52^nd Street).  Directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (Contact, The Producers, The Scottsboro Boys), with music and lyrics by Grammy and Tony Award nominee Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, The Addams Family), and a book by Grammy and BAFTA Award nominee John August (Frankenweenie, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), BIG FISH begins previews on Broadway Thursday, September 5, 2013, and stars two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Catch Me If You Can) as Edward Bloom,Tony Award nominee Kate Baldwin (Giant, Finian’s Rainbow) as Sandra Bloom and Tony Award nominee Bobby Steggert (Ragtime, Giant) as Will Bloom.

BIG FISH just finished a critically acclaimed run at Chicago’s Oriental Theater with The Chicago Tribune raving, “The time is ripe for an American musical with its heart in family reconciliation and its roots in the florid storytelling culture of the small towns of the Deep South. BIG FISH is a classy, detailed, heartfelt piece full of rich music and quality writing. You feel like you’re watching something deep and powerful,” with The Chicago Sun Times calling the new musical “INGENIOUS. BIG FISH GRABS YOUR HEART. You can point to its precursors — from Forrest Gump to Sondheim’s Into The Woods to The Wizard of Oz – but BIG FISH CATCHES ITS OWN SPECIAL WAVE. SUSAN STROMAN’s direction captures the story’s heart and humor, and her choreography is THE WINNING TICKET! NORBERT LEO BUTZ is PHENOMENAL.”

Variety calls BIG FISH “REMARKABLE! A wholly satisfying, meaningful, theatrically imaginative and engaging show. BIG FISH is FOR EVERYONE WHO LOVES MUSICALS.”

Click here to watch “Time Stops.”

Tony^® Award-winning producer Junkyard Dog Productions (Memphis) is proud to announce that leading man Zachary Levi, star of TV’s “Chuck,” Disney’s feature film Tangled and the upcoming Thor: The Dark World, will make his Broadway debut starring opposite Broadway and television ingénue  Krysta Rodriguez (“Smash,” The Addams Family) in FIRST DATE, Broadway’s new romantic musical comedy.  With a book by Austin Winsberg (“Gossip Girl”), music and lyrics by Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner (Secondhand Lions, Twice Charmed) and musical staging by Josh Rhodes (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella) FIRST DATE is directed by Bill Berry (Producing Director of The 5^th Avenue Theatre).  Featuring Sara Chase (“Arrested Development,” The Toxic Avenger), Kristoffer Cusick (Wicked, Rent), Blake Hammond (Sister Act, Billy Elliot) and Kate Loprest (“Boardwalk Empire,” Hairspray), the cast of FIRST DATE also includes Vicki Noon (Wicked, Mamma Mia!). FIRST DATE begins performances Tuesday, July 9, 2013, and opens Thursday, August 8, 2013, at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre (220 West 48^th Street).  Additional casting to be announced shortly.

When tightly wound Aaron (Zachary Levi) is set up with serial-dater Casey (Krysta Rodriguez) a quick drink at a busy New York restaurant turns into a hilarious, high-stakes dinner.  As the date unfolds in real time, the couple quickly finds they are not alone on this date as Casey and Aaron’s inner critics take on a life of their own when other restaurant patrons and the wait staff get into the act.  Dinner is served with sides of Google background checks, fake emergency phone calls, supportive best friends, manipulative exes and protective parents, who sing and dance them through ice-breakers, appetizers and potential conversational land mines. FIRST DATE is Broadway’s new hysterical and hopeful new musical about the chances we take to find love.

Tickets for FIRST DATE are on sale now.  Tickets range from $35 to $137, and can be purchased at www.Telecharge.com (212.239.6200).  The performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday-Saturday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.  Beginning August 5, 2013 the performance schedule is as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 3pm and 7pm.

www.FirstDateTheMusical.com

www.Facebook.com/FirstDateTheMusical

Twitter: @FirstDateBway

Billy Crystal returns on Broadway to say goodbye to the Tony Award-winning, record-breaking play, and “one of the biggest thrills of his life,” 700 SUNDAYS. This marks the final engagement of the production.

700 SUNDAYS, an autobiographical journey, is an original two-act play in which Crystal plays numerous characters that influenced who he is today. It deals with family, fate, loving, loss, growing up in the jazz world of Manhattan, his teenage years and, finally, adulthood.

The Broadway debut of 700 SUNDAYS earned Crystal the title of “The King of Broadway” by The New York Post. In its opening week on Broadway, 700 SUNDAYS broke the house record for highest weekly gross at the Broadhurst Theatre and then continued to top its own record every week. With a cumulative gross of over $21 million, 700 Sundays set a record for the highest weekly grossing non-musical in Broadway history at the time ($1,061,689 for the week ending May 22, 2005) and was one of the top ten grossing shows every single week of its run, despite playing only seven performances per week. The show won the 2005 Tony Award for Special Theatrical Experience and both the 2005 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Outstanding Solo Performance.

Previews for this 9-week-only limited engagement begin Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2013 at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45^th Street) with opening night scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013 and a final performance set for Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014. 700 SUNDAYS is performed and written by Billy Crystal with additional content by Alan Zweibel and direction by Des McAnuff.

Broadway World Article:

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Billy-Crystal-to-Bring-Tony-Winning-700-SUNDAYS-Back-to-Broadways-Imperial-Theatre-November-5-January-5-20130514

Yesterday, the 58^th Annual Drama Desk Award nominees gathered at the Marriott Essex House Ballroom to receive their nomination certificates and celebrate! Check out some photos below of our nominees from Second Stage Theatre’s Dogfight, The Trip to Bountiful, Hands on a Hardbody, Bring It On, and Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812. Be sure to visit DramaDeskAwards.com  on May 19^th for a list of winners!

Dogfight composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul with star Lindsay Mendez

The Trip to Bountiful’s Condola Rashad

Hands on a Hardbody creatives Amanda Green & Doug Wright pose with cast members Keith Carradine, Keala Settle, and Jay Armstrong Johnson

Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oustanding Lyrics Nominees for Bring It On

Rachel Chavkin (Director) and Dave Molloy (Music/Lyrics) of Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812

Bring It On Director/Choreographer Andy Blakenbuehler

Hands on a Hardbody choreographers Sergio Trujillo and Lorin Latarro

Costume Designer Paloma Young nominated for Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812

Photo Credit: David Gordon

BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL receives seven major award nominations for the 2013 season and, as the competition gets tough, the team is in it to win it.

TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Best Musical

-          Best Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler

DRAMA DESK AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding Director of a Musical: Andy Blankenbuehler

-          Outstanding Choreography: Andy Blankenbuehler

-          Outstanding Lyrics: Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda

-          Outstanding Book of a Musical: Jeff Whitty

-          Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical: Brian Ronan

The cast of Bring it On: The Musical (Photo by Joan Marcus)

Uniting some of the freshest and funniest creative minds on Broadway, BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL features a libretto by Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty (Avenue Q), music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda (In the Heights), music by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal), lyrics by Broadway lyricist Amanda Green (High Fidelity) and music supervision by Tony and Grammy Award winner Alex Lacamoire (Wicked). The production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights).

BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL tells the story of the challenges and unexpected bonds formed through the thrill of extreme competition. With a colorful crew of characters, an exciting fresh sound and explosive dance with aerial stunts, this hilariously universal story is sure to be everything you hoped for and nothing like you expected.

Hands on a Hardbody received 15 major award nominations for the 2013 season. Hands on!

TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Best Original Score: Trey Anastasio & Amanda Green

-          Best Featured Actor: Keith Carradine

-          Best Featured Actress: Keala Settle

DRAMA DESK AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding Musical

-          Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical: Keith Carradine

-          Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Keala Settle

-          Outstanding Choreography: Sergio Trujillo

-          Outstanding Music: Trey Anastasio & Amanda Green

-          Outstanding Lyrics: Amanda Green

-          Outstanding Book of a Musical: Dough Wright

-          Outstanding Orchestrations: Trey Anastasio & Don Hart

-          Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical: Steve Canyon Kennedy

OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding New Broadway Musical

-          Outstanding New Score

-          Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Keala Settle

The cast of Hands on a Hardbody

Inspired by true events and based on the acclaimed 1997 documentary of the same name that was created by S.R. Bindler and produced by Bindler and Kevin Morris, the musical features a book by Doug Wright (Pulitzer Prize winner, I Am My Own Wife), lyrics by Amanda Green (Bring It On: The Musical), music by Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Amanda Green, direction by Neil Pepe (Broadway’s Speed-The-Plow), and musical staging by Sergio Trujillo (Memphis, Jersey Boys).

For ten hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they’ll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is HANDS ON A HARDBODY only one winner can drive away with the American Dream.

Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful garnered 14 nominations for the 2013 Awards Season! The new production stars Academy Award nominee & Emmy Award-winning actress Cicely Tyson, returning to Broadway for the first time in 30 years alongside Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Emmy Award nominee and recording star Vanessa Williams. Congratulations!

TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Best Revival of a Play

-          Best Actress: Cicely Tyson

-          Best Featured Actress: Condola Rashad

-          Best Sound Design: John Gromada

DRAMA DESK AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding Revival of a Play

-          Outstanding Actress: Cicely Tyson

-          Outstanding Featured Actress: Condola Rashad

DRAMA LEAGUE AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding Revival of a Play

-          Distinguished Performance Award: Cicely Tyson

-          Distinguished Performance Award: Vanessa Williams

OUTER CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD NOMINATIONS

-          Outstanding Revival of a Play

-          Outstanding Actress: Cicely Tyson

-          Outstanding Featured Actress: Vanessa Williams

-          Outstanding Director: Michael Wilson

Cicely Tyson

Vanessa Williams and Cuba Gooding, Jr. in The Trip to Bountiful

Directed by MICHAEL WILSON, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL is playing at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43^rd St) through July 7, 2013.  Tickets are available at the box office, www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

Emmy Award winning actress Holland Taylor of CBS’s “Two and a Half Men” sweeps the 2013 Broadway nominations for her performance as Ann Richards in the new critically-acclaimed play ANN!

Tony Award Nomination, Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Drama Desk Award Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance
Outer Critics Circle Award Nomination, Outstanding Solo Performance
Drama League Award Nomination, Distinguished Performance

Holland Taylor as Ann Richards in ANN

Written and performed by Holland Taylor, ANN is an intimate, no-holds-barred portrait of Ann Richards, the legendary Governor of Texas. This inspiring and hilarious new play brings us face to face with a complex, colorful and captivating character bigger than the state from which she hailed. ANN takes a revealing look at the impassioned woman who enriched the lives of her followers, friends and family.  ANN is playing at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theatre (150 West 65 Street) through Sunday, September 1, 2013.

The journey has truly begun! Horton Foote’s classic play, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, officially opened on The Great White Way last night at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre. Get an insider’s look at the after-party at Copacabana below:

Cuba Gooding Jr, Cicely Tyson, Vanessa Williams, and Condola Rashad (Photo by Bruce Glikas, Broadway.com)

Vanessa Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr, Condola Rashad, and Tom Wopat (Photo by Bruce Glikas, Broadway.com)

Hallie Foote and director Michael Wilson (Photo by Bruce Glikas, Broadway.com)

Deborah Cox (Jekyll and Hyde) and Vanessa Williams (Photo by Bruce Glikas, Broadway.com)

Plus, check out more photos of the curtain call and pre-show red carpet here!

Currently playing on Broadway for the first time in 60 years, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL tells the story of Carrie Watts (Cicely Tyson), who is trapped in a cramped Houston apartment with her soft-spoken son (Cuba Gooding Jr) and self-absorbed daughter-in-law (Vanessa Williams), dreaming of a return to her home in the small Gulf Coast town of Bountiful, where she grew up and raised her own family. Fearing that she’s an imposition and chafing under her daughter-in-law’s watchful eye, she steals away with her latest pension check and heads home in the journey of a lifetime. The result is an unforgettable meditation on the idea of home and its power to sustain us.

Produced by Nelle Nugent, Stephen Byrd, and Kenneth Teaton, this 14-week limited engagement began previews on Saturday, March 30th at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre (124 W 43rd St). For ticket information please visit www.TheTripToBountifulBroadway.com.