The Development Wing, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support the creation of new American musicals, presents its fourth annual Broadway Under the Stars benefit concert June 6 at 6:30 PM.

Tony Award winner Melba Moore stars in the intimate Prince Music Theater production of Ain't Misbehavin', starting Dec. 4 in Philadelphia.

Tony Award winner Melba Moore will star in the intimate Prince Music Theater production of Ain't Misbehavin', starting Dec. 4 in Philadelphia.

Scheduling conflicts will prevent the unique idea of two Lolas wooing two Joe Hardys in an already unique Negro Leagues-setting of Damn Yankees, but the show — a benefit concert — will indeed go on.

Stephanie Pope Caffey has joined the benefit concert of Damn Yankees that is being set in the Negro Baseball Leagues.

Darius De Haas and Ira Hawkins have joined the concert cast of the fresh take on Damn Yankees that sets the action in the Negro Baseball Leagues.

Andrew Gans' weekly column of the latest news about the great ladies of musical theatre.

Andrew Gans' weekly column of the latest news about the great ladies of musical theatre.

Five days into April 1998, on Palm Sunday, Cats's Old Deuteronomy, Ken Prymus, will make his 2,672nd -- and last -- trip to The Heaviside Layer. "Seven years is a long time," he figures. "April 21, 1991, was when I started Cats, but I wanted to leave on a nice religious day."

NELL CARTER
It was during a performance with The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus that the exuberant singing actress Nell Carter decided that the concert should be recorded, sold, and all proceeds should go directly to the Chorus' Financial Assistant Network Club (FAN Club). One problem. The show had not been set up for a professional live recording. Thankfully, however, the show was being taped for the company's archives, and that recording -- in good enough condition for release and featuring Carter's glorious performance -- is now available on compact disc.

NELL CARTER
It was during a performance with The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus that the exuberant singing actress Nell Carter decided that the concert should be recorded, sold, and all proceeds should go directly to the Chorus' Financial Assistant Network Club (FAN Club). One problem. The show had not been set up for a professional live recording. Thankfully, however, the show was being taped for the company's archives, and that recording -- in good enough condition for release and featuring Carter's glorious performance -- is now available on compact disc.

Hello, diva lovers. I'd like to dedicate today's column to one of the most gifted comedic actresses of her time, Madeline Kahn, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer last week. Kahn, who received a Tony Award for her riotous portrayal of Dr. Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig, was equally at home on the stage or on screen, earning Tony nominations for her work in In the Boom Boom Room, On the Twentieth Century and Born Yesterday while meriting Academy Award nominations for such screen roles as "Blazing Saddles" and "Paper Moon." Though difficult to choose from her eclectic array of characters, I think my favorite Kahn performance was in the aforementioned "Paper Moon" as the good-bone-structured Trixie Delight, opposite the father-and-daughter team of Ryan and Tatum O'Neill. The operatically-trained performer had the ability to make you laugh with a simple inflection of the voice, and she could also move you in both song and the spoken word. This unique, multi-talented actress will be much missed. In lieu of flowers, Kahn's family asks that donations be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (One Penn Plaza, Suite 1610, New York, NY 10001).

Hello, diva lovers. I'd like to dedicate today's column to one of the most gifted comedic actresses of her time, Madeline Kahn, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer last week. Kahn, who received a Tony Award for her riotous portrayal of Dr. Gorgeous Teitelbaum in Wendy Wasserstein's The Sisters Rosensweig, was equally at home on the stage or on screen, earning Tony nominations for her work in In the Boom Boom Room, On the Twentieth Century and Born Yesterday while meriting Academy Award nominations for such screen roles as "Blazing Saddles" and "Paper Moon." Though difficult to choose from her eclectic array of characters, I think my favorite Kahn performance was in the aforementioned "Paper Moon" as the good-bone-structured Trixie Delight, opposite the father-and-daughter team of Ryan and Tatum O'Neill. The operatically-trained performer had the ability to make you laugh with a simple inflection of the voice, and she could also move you in both song and the spoken word. This unique, multi-talented actress will be much missed. In lieu of flowers, Kahn's family asks that donations be made to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (One Penn Plaza, Suite 1610, New York, NY 10001).

BETTY BUCKLEY
The latest recording by Betty Buckley is a spoken one, one that the actress calls "a work of the heart," and it is now available from amazon.com and should soon be available from The Borders chain of bookstores. The Fair Oaks Audio recording -- on two tapes or two CDs -- is titled "The Diaries of Adam & Eve: Translated by Mark Twain" and features Mark Twain's most personal writings, imagined diaries of Adam and Eve. The recording also boasts a performance from Mandy Patinkin, and this marks the first occasion the two Tony winners have worked opposite each other. Luckily for listeners, both are innately musical and find the 'music' in Twain's lyrical work, which mirrors his and his wife's personalities. Former newsman Walter Cronkite can also be heard on the two discs/cassettes; in fact, producer Don Roberts says Cronkite "has that 'voice of God,' which is perfect for the narration of this sort of story. [Buckley, Patinkin and Cronkite] were our first (and only) choices, and their readings exceeded our expectations in every way." Original music by Lester Seigel provides a sense of time and place and is performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony. For more information, contact Fair Oaks Audio at (415) 252-0977.

BETTY BUCKLEY
The latest recording by Betty Buckley is a spoken one, one that the actress calls "a work of the heart," and it is now available from amazon.com and should soon be available from The Borders chain of bookstores. The Fair Oaks Audio recording -- on two tapes or two CDs -- is titled "The Diaries of Adam & Eve: Translated by Mark Twain" and features Mark Twain's most personal writings, imagined diaries of Adam and Eve. The recording also boasts a performance from Mandy Patinkin, and this marks the first occasion the two Tony winners have worked opposite each other. Luckily for listeners, both are innately musical and find the 'music' in Twain's lyrical work, which mirrors his and his wife's personalities. Former newsman Walter Cronkite can also be heard on the two discs/cassettes; in fact, producer Don Roberts says Cronkite "has that 'voice of God,' which is perfect for the narration of this sort of story. [Buckley, Patinkin and Cronkite] were our first (and only) choices, and their readings exceeded our expectations in every way." Original music by Lester Seigel provides a sense of time and place and is performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony. For more information, contact Fair Oaks Audio at (415) 252-0977.

You may know my book, Let's Put on a Musical, which lists the assets and liabilities of producing over 200 musicals. What you'll need for a cast, costumes, choreography, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

You may know my book, Let's Put on a Musical, which lists the assets and liabilities of producing over 200 musicals. What you'll need for a cast, costumes, choreography, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The Tony Awards Administrative Committee is scheduled to meet April 30 to decide, among other things, whether a Special Award should be given in 1998. These special honors are given in addition to the regular Tony Awards, generally for lifetime achievement or special sustained contribution to Broadway.

It was "A Fundraising Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at the BC/EFA Easter Bonnet Competition April 8, all right.

Amas Musical Theatre, the Manhattan troupe devoted to multicultural musical theatre, is reinventing the baseball musical Damn Yankees — setting it in the Negro Baseball Leagues — for a fall benefit concert.