Success!!

With Conor Ryan, Gizel Jimenez, musical director Michael O'Flaherty and Laurie Wells.

We all got a rave review in the Examiner for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra concert "70 YEARS OF TONY AWARD-WINNERS" but forgive me for quoting this paragraph....

"Tony Sheldon is a multi-award-winning actor whose unforgettable portrayal of Horace Vandergelder in Goodspeed Musicals’ Hello, Dolly! earned him the Connecticut Critics' Circle Award for Best Actor. Sheldon played the role of Bernadette in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for 1750 performances in Australia, New Zealand, London, Toronto and on Broadway, winning the Theatre World Award and a nomination for the Tony Award as Best Actor in a Musical. With the Hartford Symphony backing him all the way he brought zany wit to The Music Man’s “Seventy Six Trombones” as he marched in step from one end of the stage to the other while leading both the show’s invisible boy’s band and the very real symphony orchestra simultaneously. In the second act, his My Fair Lady song “I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face” was done with both poignancy and humor – the sign of a gifted actor/singer who understands every nuance in the lyric."

More EMPIRE pics

Courtesy of cast mate and photographer extraordinaire Ricky Bulda.

Hartford

This was huge fun, if nerve wracking, as we got one rehearsal with the orchestra for songs most of us had never sung before. I got to fulfil my fantasy of playing three roles I'll probably never get a crack at with "76 Trombones". "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face" and "I Don't Understand The Poor" from A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER.

Plus I bonded with my three FABULOUS co-stars, including the wonderful Laurie Wells. I even made the journey to see her mad '60s Vegas style songfest TRIP OF LOVE the following day, also starring my PRISCILLA mate Kyle Brown (left, pictured with Nick Adams)

Conor Ryan is gorgeous, young and can sing anything so I should hate him.

But I want to be able to say "I knew him when".

And here's Gizel Jimenez with the gorgeous Bushnell Theatre in Hartford behind her. We had a packed house for the show.

And Gizel looked spiffing!!

From Playbill

Tony Sheldon to Join Charles Busch in Off-Broadway's Cleopatra

By Olivia Clement
19 Feb 2016

Tony Sheldon

Full casting has been announced for Charles Busch's Cleopatra, the drag legend's newest comedy at Theater for the New City. Tony nominee Tony Sheldon (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) will play both Julius Caesar and Caesar’s wife Calpurnia, and Joe Zaso ("The Wolf of Wall Street") will play Marc Antony.

In his newest show, directed by longtime collaborator Carl Andress, the performer will take to the stage with his own bawdy interpretation of the Egyptian queen. It is billed as "original, outrageous and majestic"; performances will run March 22-April 17.
Joining Busch as the title character will also be frequent collaborators: Lawrence Bullock as Apollodorus, Jennifer Cody as Iras, Andy Halliday as The Soothsayer, Ashley Austin Morris as Charmion and Jennifer Van Dyck as both Octavian and his twin sister, Octavia.
Busch returns to Theater for the New City following the 2010 premiere of The Divine Sister, which later received an acclaimed Off-Broadway run, and 2012’s Judith of Bethulia. Both productions, directed by Andress, played sold-out engagements. Busch is the writer of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, which was nominated for three Tony Awards and ran on Broadway for nearly two years.
Read More: Beauty, Inspiration and Danger: Charles Busch's Top 10 Drag Performers
The creative team for Charles Busch’s Cleopatra includes scenic and graphic design by B.T. Whitehill, costume design by Jessica Jahn, lighting design by Zach Blane, sound design by Bart Fasbender and wig design by Katherine Carr.
Tickets, priced $25, can be purchased online at SmartTix.com or by calling (212) 868-4444. Theater for the New City’s Community Theater is located at 155 First Ave., Manhattan.

Cleopatra

The End

The tall, talented and utterly gorgeous Tim Hughes came to the last matinee (pictured above and below with Michael Starr and Michael Baxter.)

Tim has just played the title role in ELF and will be repeating his performance as the Monster in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at the St. Louis Muny. He knew absolutely everyone in EMPIRE and is universally adored.

Now the final curtain has fallen on our epic.

Cooper and Justin couldn't wait to shave off their 'staches.

And now, as the sun sinks slowly in the west, we bid a fond farewell to La Mirada where it will be 90 degrees tomorrow, and journey home to New York where the snow is as high as a elephant's eye....

Runyon Canyon

Hiking With Dancers is my new Indian name.

I joined Cooper, Charlotte, Juan, Tommy and Michael on a hike through Runyon Canyon in the Hollywood Hills.

Posh homes everywhere.

This area was actually my first experience of America back in 1970 because my aunty Helen Reddy lived around here when she brought me over for a holiday as a Christmas gift.

Of course, the kids couldn't resist struttin' their stuff at the top of the world.

Tommy started the stretch class.

Juan and Charlotte joined in

followed by Michael and Cooper

and they're off!

The Hollywood Bowl is doing A CHORUS LINE this year so there was a Cassie backbend competition.

and much kicking and leaping

And re-creating the famous Empire State builders eating lunch on the high beams.

My heart is heavy to say goodbye to these gorgeous kids.

But, you know, the corridors of show biz and all that.