They didn't have to compete with one another in New York, but The Lion King and Contact went head-to-head at the Los Angeles 2001 Ovation Awards, held Nov. 12. Lion King, settled in at the Pantages Theatre, received 12 nominations including Best Musical, Best Leading Actress and Best Featured Actor and Actress. Contact received nine, with Tony Award winner Susan Stroman and Tony Award winner Julie Taymor both up for directing honors. The Center Theatre Group, who controls both the Ahmanson and the Mark Taper Forum, garnered a whopping 32 nominations.

Featured are new albums from Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss, and Todd Almond, a single from Billy Porter, a worthy initiative spawned by a holiday tune, and more.

Playbill remembers the actors, directors, playwrights, and other familiar faces of the stage who died this year.

Jeannette Bayardelle will star as the nun on the run in the Alan Menken-Glenn Slater musical.

Take a look at the big opening night celebration for the brand new Sound of Music national tour. Directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien, it officially opened Sept. 30 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

A brand-new production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music, directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien, officially opens Sept. 30 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles following previews that began Sept. 20.

Playbill.com's feature series Their Favorite Things asks members of the theatre community to share the Broadway performances that most affected them as part of the audience.

This week we spotlight the choices of Ken Ludwig, the Tony-nominated playwright of Lend Me a Tenor, whose newest work, A Comedy of Tenors — featuring characters from the former work — is currently playing The Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre through Oct. 3.

Maria is back in this brand-new production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music, directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien. Here are the very first onstage pics from the tour that officially launches Sept. 22 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles with opening night scheduled for Sept. 30.

A brand-new production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music, directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien, officially launches Sept. 20 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles with opening night scheduled for Sept. 30. This North American tour recently offered previews in Boise, ID.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music which will be directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien and will tour North America officially launches Sept. 20 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. The cast offered a sneak peek in NYC Sept. 3.

Complete casting has been announced for the brand-new production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic The Sound of Music, which will be directed by three-time Tony winner Jack O'Brien and will tour North America, officially launching Sept. 20 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

In honor of Presidents' Day, Playbill.com revisits conversations with seven actors who have played the President of the United States in different plays.

Playbill.com offers a behind-the-scenes look at opening night of the new Broadway musical Big Fish.

Playbill.com offers a behind-the-scenes look at opening night of the new Broadway musical Big Fish.

The Tony Award-nominated musical Sister Act is currently traveling the country in its first national tour. Blair Goldberg (Carrie) takes readers on the road as the troupe spread the joy in a few warmer climates before heading to the Northeast.

PATTI LuPONE
Our Tony-winning Evita gal, Patti LuPone, has been very busy lately. While performing her Matters of the Heart concert act at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater — to rave reviews, mind you — La LuPone filmed a role opposite Robert De Niro in the new Michael Caton-Jones film, City By the Sea, in which she plays De Niro’s ex-wife. In January she filmed an episode of “Touched By An Angel,” which just aired this past Sunday night, and she is currently starring in a new TNT movie, Monday Night Mayhem, with John Turturro. Turturro portrays the late Howard Cosell in this TV-film, which tells the story of the creation of ABC’s Monday Night Football, and LuPone stars as Cosell’s wife. And, earlier in the fall LuPone filmed a role in David Mamet’s Heist opposite Gene Hackman . . . For those of you who can’t wait for these screen appearances, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning actress has also just released a whole new slew of concert dates, which follow:

PATTI LuPONE
Our Tony-winning Evita gal, Patti LuPone, has been very busy lately. While performing her Matters of the Heart concert act at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater — to rave reviews, mind you — La LuPone filmed a role opposite Robert De Niro in the new Michael Caton-Jones film, City By the Sea, in which she plays De Niro’s ex-wife. In January she filmed an episode of “Touched By An Angel,” which just aired this past Sunday night, and she is currently starring in a new TNT movie, Monday Night Mayhem, with John Turturro. Turturro portrays the late Howard Cosell in this TV-film, which tells the story of the creation of ABC’s Monday Night Football, and LuPone stars as Cosell’s wife. And, earlier in the fall LuPone filmed a role in David Mamet’s Heist opposite Gene Hackman . . . For those of you who can’t wait for these screen appearances, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning actress has also just released a whole new slew of concert dates, which follow:

The season of Top 10 lists is upon us. As in previous years, Playbill On Line invites theatregoers everywhere to write their own Top 10 lists, or Top 5, or even the single most memorable theatre-related experience of the calendar year 1997.

ALL SINGING! ALL DANCING!
Thanks to those lovely cassettes that the Motion Picture Academy sends to its nominators, I've had the opportunity to study in the privacy of my living room the two major live-action movie musicals released late last year, Evita and Everyone Says I Love You.

ALL SINGING! ALL DANCING!
Thanks to those lovely cassettes that the Motion Picture Academy sends to its nominators, I've had the opportunity to study in the privacy of my living room the two major live-action movie musicals released late last year, Evita and Everyone Says I Love You.