Superstars of the New York stage headline eighth season of acclaimed concert series in New Orleans, hosted by Seth Rudetsky
Producer Mark Cortale has announced that his internationally acclaimed Broadway concert series, hosted and music directed by Sirius XM Radio star Seth Rudetsky, will return to NOCCA’s Lupin Hall for its eighth consecutive year. For the 2019-2020 season, Beth Leavel, Audra McDonald with Will Swenson, and Liz Callaway with Bryan Batt will share the marquee.
- Beth Leavel, a Tony Award-winner and star of the recent Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning musical The Prom, kicks-off the season with her NOCCA series debut on October 10, 2019. Leavel won a Tony Award as leading actress in a musical for her title role in The Drowsy Chaperone. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
- Audra McDonald, the historic six-time Tony Award-winner has thrilled audiences in starring roles on Broadway in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Carousel, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill; She’s no stranger to television, either, having performed in The Good Wife and NBC’s live telecast of The Sound of Music. On December 14, 2019, she returns to the New Orleans series with a very special guest, her husband and fellow-Broadway star Will Swenson. CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
- Liz Callaway—Tony nominee for Baby, star of Cats and Miss Saigon on Broadway, and the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s animated Aladdin series of films–makes her NOLA series debut on January 11, 2020. She’ll be joined by special guest, New Orleans’ own Bryan Batt! CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
Broadway @ NOCCA blends intimate, behind-the-scenes stories from top Broadway talent (prompted by Rudetsky’s funny and revealing questions) with music from the artists’ stellar careers. The result is a spontaneous evening of show-stopping songs and hilarity.
Broadway @ NOCCA is sponsored by J Hospitality and Development. All proceeds from the 2019-20 Broadway @ NOCCA series will benefit The NOCCA Institute.
From now until October 1 only, all three of these star-studded shows will be offered at a special subscription-only “Season Pass” discount of 20% off the regular ticket price. For tickets and information, please visit BroadwayNOLA.com or call 800-838-3006.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Beth Leavel just finished her latest star turn in her 13th Broadway show: the Tony-nominated The Prom, which received a Drama Desk Award for Best Musical. During the run, Beth received Tony, Drama Desk, OCC, and Drama League Award nominations for her portrayal of Dee Dee Allen, a role written specifically for her. She also received Tony, Drama Desk, NY Outer Critics Circle, and LA Drama Critics Awards for her performance as the title character in The Drowsy Chaperone on Broadway, and she received Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her performance as Florence Greenberg in Baby, Its You. Beth’s other Broadway roles include June Adams in Bandstand, Emily in Elf, Donna in Mamma Mia!, Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein, Dorothy Brock in the revival of 42nd Street, Tess in the original company of Crazy For You, Mrs. Bixby in The Civil War, Ellie in Hal Prince’s Showboat, and Anytime Annie (Broadway debut) in 42nd Street. Beth currently resides in New York with her two sons.
Audra McDonald–the historic six-time Tony Award-winner–just starred on Broadway with Michael Shannon in the revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (New York Times Critics Pick). She holds the record for more Tony Best Performance wins than any other actor in history, and she is the only person to win all four acting categories.
In a four-star review of this show’s recent recent premiere at New York City’s famed Town Hall theatre, New York Stage Review said: “Each and every song was beyond wonderful; I mean, McDonald turned ‘Cornet Man’—a minor song from Funny Girl—into a veritable art song.” The performance will also include a special guest appearance by McDonald’s husband, Will Swenson, the Tony nominated star of Hair and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The couple married in 2012 and became parents together three years ago.
Liz Callaway is a Tony nominee and Emmy Award-winning actress, singer, and recording artist. She made her Broadway debut in Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in Baby, and for five years, won acclaim as Grizabella in Cats. She has also starred in the original casts of Miss Saigon, The Three Musketeers, and The Look of Love. Off-Broadway, she received a Drama Desk nomination for her performance in The Spitfire Grill, and she also appeared in Brownstone, No Way to Treat a Lady, Marry Me a Little, and Godspell. Other New York appearances include the legendary Follies in Concert at Lincoln Center, A Stephen Sondheim Evening, Fiorello! at Encores!, and Hair in Concert.
Liz has also established a major career as a concert and recording artist. The award-winning Sibling Revelry (created with sister Ann Hampton Callaway) was presented to great acclaim at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Boom!, a celebration of the music of the 60s and 70s (also created with her sister) was recorded live at Birdland and has toured the country. She had the pleasure of singing “Chances Are” with singing legend Johnny Mathis, co-starred with Jimmy Webb and Paul Williams in their critically acclaimed engagement at Feinstein’s in New York, and joined Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick, and Stevie Wonder at Hal David’s 90th Birthday Celebration Concert at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
On the film front, Liz sang the Academy Award-nominated song “Journey to the Past” in the animated feature Anastasia, and she’s also the singing voice of Princess Jasmine in Disney’s Aladdin and the King of Thieves and The Return of Jafar. Her work includes the singing voice of the title character in The Swan Princess, as well as Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride, Beauty and the Beast, and other children’s favorites. She received an Emmy Award for hosting the children’s program Ready to Go on CBS.
Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon host of Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s On Broadway, as well as the host of Seth Speaks on Sirius/XM Stars. As an author, he penned My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan and the sequel, The Rise And Fall Of A Theater Geek (Random House), as well as three volumes of Seth’s Broadway Diary featuring inside scoop and hilarious stories from all of the stars he’s worked with. He co-wrote and co-starred in Disaster! (New York Times Critics Pick), which also premiered to rave reviews in London.
In June 2016, Seth and his husband, James Wesley, co-produced a recording of “What The World Needs Now” with stars like Idina Menzel, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Carole King, and Audra McDonald, which went to number one on iTunes and raised more than $100,000 for victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. (It’s still raising money today. Buy it!). Seth and James have a foundation called Your Kids Our Kids that presented Concert For America, a coast-to-coast concert series featuring stars like Barry Manilow, Stephanie Mills, Vanessa Williams, Tina Fey, Randy Rainbow, and Audra McDonald that has raised money for five nonprofits working relentlessly since the 2016 presidential election. They also present Voices for The Voiceless, an annual, star-studded concert for You Gotta Believe, which helps older foster children find families, even if they’ve aged out of the system.
If you want to hang out with Seth and James and a bunch of Broadway stars performing up a storm, join them on one of their cruises! In October 2020 their Transatlantic Crossing sails to England; in February 2020 they journey to the Caribbean; and in June 2020 they’ll travel to The Adriatic and Greek Isles. There’s more info at SethsBroadwayVacations.com.
Mark Cortale (producer) co-produced the critically acclaimed new Off-Broadway musical Midnight At The Never Get at The York Theatre last October, which received 3 Lucille Lortel Award nominations (including Best Musical) and two Drama Desk Nominations (including Best Score). He produced Deconstructing Patti on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre with Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS starring Patti LuPone and Seth Rudetsky. He created the Broadway @ concert series in 2011 at The Art House in Provincetown, where he serves as Producing Artistic Director. The series, featuring creative partner Seth Rudetsky as music director and host, just wrapped its ninth season this summer; guest artists over the years have included Patti LuPone, Audra McDonald, Sutton Foster, Megan Mullally, Christine Ebersole, and Jessie Mueller. The Broadway @ series also premiered in 2013 in New Orleans, in Australia (Sydney & Melbourne) with Megan Mullally, and in London’s West End with Patti LuPone at the Leicester Square Theater. The series has since traveled to cities that include Chicago @ The Steppenwolf, Beverly Hills @ The Wallis, Fort Lauderdale @ The Parker Playhouse, San Francisco @ The Herbst Theater and Scottsdale @ Scottsdale Center for the Arts. In the 2018/19 the series launched in Boston @ the Huntington Theatre with Chita Rivera and in New York City @ The Town Hall with six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald. Mark produced the feature film Varla Jean and the Mushroomheads and also produces the singing string quartet Well-Strung, which he co-founded. Info at MarkCortalePresents.com.