Freddie Gershon News

Stage and screen stars Darren Criss (Glee, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies, Tuck Everlasting), Ben Platt ("Pitch Perfect", Dear Evan Hansen), Tony-nominated composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, A Christmas Story, Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach), Philip McAdoo (The Lion King and Rent), Brad Simmons ("Camp", Lysistrata Jones), Jacob Brent (Cats); Cory Lingner (On the Town), and writing team Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel (Camp-Wish-No-More, My Little Brony) are some of the talent confirmed for the 2016 Junior Theater Festival (#JTF16), it was announced today by Timothy Allen McDonald, founding chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group.  

Bert Fink will join Music Theatre International (MTI) as Chief Creative Officer for MTI Europe, it was announced today by Drew Cohen, President and Chief Operating Officer of MTI Worldwide.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is seeking nominations for the 2016 Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards-a series of annual grants that recognize inspiring teachers in any field of education across the United States. Now entering their sixth year, the awards were created in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday in 2010. The program was initiated and funded through the generous support of arts philanthropists and friends of Mr. Sondheim, Myrna and Freddie Gershon.

Music Theatre International Chairman and CEO Freddie Gershon and his wife Myrna hosted eight outstanding educators from schools and performing arts centers around the country for four days of classes and activities honoring them for working to make a difference for their students and communities through the process of staging musical theatre productions in their schools and educational theatre groups.  The event known as the 6th Annual FREDDIE G FELLOWSHIP culminated in a gala dinner at Chez Josephine on July 11th.  Joining the festivities were Broadway greats Bernadette Peters and Brian d'Arcy James. Scroll down for photos!

Eight outstanding educators from schools and performing arts centers around the country will work one-on-one with Broadway greats at the 6th Annual FREDDIE G FELLOWSHIP July 8th - 11th.

The seventh annual National High School Musical Theatre Awards / Jimmy Awards were held last night, June 29, 2015, at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. This one-of-a-kind-event was hosted by two-time Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris, currently on Broadway in this year's Best Musical Fun Home at Circle in the Square. The coveted Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress and Best Performance by an Actor on Monday, June 29 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre, was presented to Marla Louissaint representing The Gershwin Awards and Anthony Skillman, representing the M.A.C.Y. Awards. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the red carpet!

The 10th Anniversary celebration of The Shubert Foundation/Music Theatre International arts education Broadway Junior Program will take place Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (2900 Campus Rd.)

The 10th Anniversary celebration of The Shubert Foundation/Music Theatre International arts education program, Broadway Junior, will take place today, May 19, 2015 at at 10:30 a.m. at Broadway's Imperial Theatre (249 W. 45th St.). The event will be hosted by 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' star Darren Criss.

The 10th Anniversary celebration of The Shubert Foundation/Music Theatre International arts education program, Broadway Junior, will take placeTuesday, May 19, 2015 at at 10:30 a.m. at Broadway's Imperial Theatre (249 W. 45th St.). The event will be hosted by "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" star Darren Criss.

Music Theatre International (MTI) is to open a European office in London this summer, to be accompanied by new offices in Melbourne, Australia by the end of this year and eventually in the Far East. Already the largest company in its field in America, MTI is the world's leading library of musicals. Founded by the legendary composer Frank Loesser over sixty years ago, MTI represents and licenses the performance rights to the works of the majority of contemporary musical theatre writers throughout the world.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the 2015 winners of Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards -- a series of annual grants which recognize American teachers by spotlighting their extraordinary impact on the lives of students. Thirteen teachers were selected in 2015 from a pool of nominations received through the Kennedy Center's website. Award recipients each receive $10,000 and are showcased, along with the people they inspired, on a website dedicated to inspirational teachers. The awards were created in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday in 2010 and were initiated and funded through the generous support of Myrna and Freddie Gershon.

Produced by iTheatrics and sponsored by music theatre international and disney musicals, the junior theater festival is the biggest and best festival dedicated to young people and musical theatre. Check out photo highlights below!

The Denver Center Theatre Company presents the highly anticipated new adaptation of Meredith Willson's classic musical, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN. Based on the book by Richard Morris, the revitalized production will feature a new book and additional lyrics by three-time Tony Award nominee Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie) and showcase never before heard songs from Willson's prolific body of work with musical adaptation by Michael Rafter(Violet). It is be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall (Anything Goes). Check out a first look at the opening night party.

Music Theatre International (MTI) and iTheatrics recently joined First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House to support The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities' (PCAH) successful Turnaround Arts initiative, a program designed to help turn around low-performing schools, narrow the achievement gap, and increase student engagement through the arts. The program was celebrated at the White House with a special showcase of various schools from around the country who have benefitted from the initiative.

Denzel Washington, currently starring in the acclaimed Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, served as Host of the Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Junior Student Share celebration while hundreds of students from middle and intermediate New York City Public Schools made their Broadway debut on stage at the Broadhurst Theatre yesterday, May 19th.

Harlem's Mama Foundation for the Arts will celebrate its 15th Anniversary at its second annual Gala, which will take place at St. Martin's Cathedral (230 Lenox Avenue at 122nd Street) on Monday, June 16th from 6 - 9 PM. The special evening of food and entertainment -- which benefits Gospel for Teens, a program of the Mama Foundation for the Arts' School for Gospel, Jazz, and R&B Arts -- is graciously underwritten by Larry Scott and Lawrence Scott Events. Tickets for the Gala are $250.00 and $500 (VIP) and are now available by calling the Mama Foundation for the Arts at (212) 280-1045.

Denzel Washington, currently starring in the acclaimed Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, will serve as Host of the Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Junior Student Share celebration while hundreds of students from middle and intermediate New York City Public Schools make their Broadway debut on stage at the Broadhurst Theatre (235 W. 44 St.) on Monday, May 19th at 10:30 a.m. (Press set up at 9:30 a.m.; select pre-show photo ops at 10 a.m.).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts announced the 2014 winners of Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards-a series of annual grants which recognize American teachers by spotlighting their extraordinary impact on the lives of students. Six teachers were selected in 2014 from a pool of hundreds of nominations received through the Kennedy Center's website. Award recipients each receive $10,000 and are showcased, along with the people they inspired, on a website dedicated to inspirational teachers. The awards were created in honor of Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday in 2010 and were initiated and funded through the generous support of Myrna and Freddie Gershon.

Students from the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) will perform in four nationally distributed choreography DVDs for the Music Theatre International (MTI) Broadway Junior collection of musicals. The news was announced today by Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) and educational musical theatre consultancy firm iTheatrics. iTheatrics, which is based in New York City, is producing the DVDs, which will feature original choreography by its chief choreographer, Steven G. Kennedy.