Adrienne Walker News

Broadway in Bryant Park is back! The 2018 program will bring the best of Broadway together for free performances for six consecutive weeks through Thursday, August 16. New Yorkers and visitors to the Big Apple are invited to come at 11 a.m. every Thursday with performances running from 12:30 p.m. EST - 1:30 p.m. EST on the Bryant Park Stage. Hosted by 106.7 LITE FM's on-air personalities, this year's annual presentation continues this week.

Broadway Match Maker, a bone marrow donor database drive, was held on Wednesday, June 27th at The Actors Fund Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts. Broadway's best came out in support, check out the photos below!

A great tasting handcrafted cocktail requires a balance of ingredients, including a stimulating liquor, sweet, bitter, savory and beautiful garnish. Blue Henry provides you with the same great taste of handcrafted cocktail in just half the time and cost. Blue Henry is a new line of all-natural rich simple syrups, candied fruit, and cotton candy divvy's. Available online at bluehenryspirits.com for purchase.

In honor of International Women's Day, the Broadway League asked 25 leading ladies of Broadway to describe Women in one word. Watch below as strong women of Broadway unite!

In honor of the show's 20th anniversary, The Lion King cast members Adrienne Walker, who's been playing Nala on Broadway since July of 2016, and Agust n Arg ello, currently starring as Simba in Mexico City's production, released a performance of 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' in Spanish and English. EW exclusively released the video, which you can watch here.

Last night at the Minskoff Theatre, The Lion King celebrated a huge milestone- 20 years on Broadway. Creative team members Julie Taymor, Tim Rice, Garth Fagan, Lebo M., Mark Mancina, Roger Allers, and Irene Mecchi joined hundreds of alumni and others for a special performance of the show, culminating in a surprise performance by The Lion King's Tony-nominated composer Elton John.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art is pleased to announce the forthcoming exhibition, Magnetic Fields: Expanding American Abstraction, 1960s to Today, which will be on view at Kemper Museum June 8 through September 17, 2017, and will then travel to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Magnetic Fields is the first U.S. presentation dedicated exclusively to the formal and historical dialogue of abstraction by women artists of color. The exhibition has also garnered major support and merit through the reception of prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The exhibition is organized by Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, and co-curated by Erin Dziedzic, director of curatorial affairs at Kemper Museum, and Melissa Messina, independent curator and curator of the Mildred Thompson Estate, Atlanta, Georgia.

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber are proud to announce the final mainstage production it its 2016 - 2017 season Marry Me a Little starring Austin Cook and Bethany Thomas, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and originally conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, with direction by Jess McLeod and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Cook. Previews are Friday, April 14 at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 15 at 8 p.m., Sunday, April 16 at 2 p.m. and Monday, April 17 at 7:30 p.m. Opening night is Tuesday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. with an added matinee performance Thursday, May 11 at 1:30 p.m. NOTE There are no 7:30 p.m. performances Thursday, April 20 and  May 11 and no 4 p.m. performance  Saturday, April 22. Tickets to Marry Me a Little are available at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org or by calling the Stage 773 box office, 773.327.5252. 

The third episode of our Official Disney on Broadway Podcast, The Pride of The Lion King, is now live. In this episode, we chat with company members whose time with the show ranges from 8 months to 17 years. You will hear about what it is like on and off stage for this very special Broadway family. Interviews include Adrienne Walker (Nala), Tshidi Manye (Rafiki), Bonita J. Hamilton (Shenzi), and Rema Webb (Ensemble, Understudy for Sarabi and Shenzi).

From a 14-year-old up and comer to a DANCING WITH THE STARS' mirrorball champion, 2016 has been a year filled with noteworthy debuts on the Great White Way. Below, BWW looks back on the talented actors who were profiled in this year's 'Debut of the Month' column.

Entering its 20th year, THE LION KING continues ascendant as one of the most popular stage musicals in the world.  Since its Broadway premiere on November 13, 1997, 24 global productions have been seen by more than 85 million people.  Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions (under the direction of Thomas Schumacher), THE LION KING is only the second show in history to generate five productions worldwide running 10 or more years.  Translated into eight different languages (Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and Mandarin), productions of THE LION KING can currently be seen on Broadway; London's West End; Hamburg; Tokyo; Madrid; Mexico City; Shanghai; Scheveningen and on tour across North America, for a total of nine productions running concurrently across the globe.  Having played over 100 cities in 20 countries on every continent except Antarctica, THE LION KING's worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.  

The holiday season is not complete without the perfect music to accompany it. 'Broadway's Carols for a Cure' is the latest compilation album that embodies the spirit of the season like nothing else can. A project born completely out of love, 'Broadway's Carols for a Cure' pairs the casts from famous Broadway musicals with songs that are both classic and new. The result is pure gold that will make you reach for the 'repeat' button over and over again.

Just last night, the American Theatre Wing honored legendary Tony Award-winning actress Cicely Tyson at its annual gala at The Plaza Hotel (Fifth Avenue at Central Park South). Tony Award winners Cynthia Erivo and Adriane Lenox, as well as Tony Award nominees Danielle Brooks and Saycon Sengbloh performed for the special night.

Today, Adrienne Walker speaks exclusively to BWW about making her Broadway debut in the Tony Award winning show and explains why her casting 'just kind of swept me off my feet!'

Broadway's award-winning best musical, The Lion King, will welcome Derek Smith, Cameron Pow and Adrienne Walker as Scar, Zazu and Nala, respectively, beginning performances Tuesday, July 5.

Since the dawn of the genre, stage shows have been adapted from various sources; books, other plays, poems, historical events, and, increasingly over the past two decades, movies. The best projects based on movies take what is special from the source material and use that as inspiration to form a fresh stage adaptation. However, the DIRTY DANCING National Tour, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, April 3rd, focuses so intently on recreating the minutia of the film, that it completely misses what made it so captivating in the first place; authentic, compelling characters and an intimate, passionate story.

 Casting has been announced for DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, coming to The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for a limited two week engagement.  Christopher Tierney and Rachel Boone will star as Johnny Castle and Frances "Baby" Houseman in the Fort Lauderdale premiere of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage.

Rachel Boone joins Christopher Tierney as Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle as Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage continues its North American tour.  BroadwayWorld has a first look at the new cast in action below!

There's currently a live version of the classic movie Dirty Dancing touring, and it's in Denver through the end of the month. I'll admit, I've never seen the film version of Dirty Dancing. (I swear, it's the truth.) But I had the time of my life. (OK, sorry.)

In the second concert of their fall 2015 City Winery series, the Chicago Philharmonic Chamber Players (cp2) find their groove in a fusion of Nina Simone, jazz guitar, and cutting edge classical. One of cp2's most beloved string quartets adds soprano Adrienne Walker, guitarist Zvonimir Tot, and bassist Rob Kassinger for the afternoon's performance.