Review Roundups - Page 96

Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) opened it's latest production, TRUST, starring Zach Braff, Bobby Cannavale, Sutton Foster, and Ari Graynor, on August 12.

The Hollywood Bowl cast, featuring Vannesa Hudgens, Wayne Brady, Aaron Tveit, Skylar Astin, Tracie Thoms completed its successful weekend run on Sunday night.

The World Premiere of Robin and the 7 Hoods - A New Musical featuring a book by Tony Award winner Rupert Holmes and songs by four-time Academy Award winners Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen. Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw, with musical supervision and vocal and incidental arrangements by John McDaniel, the Broadway-bound musical comedy will run in the Old Globe Theatre through August 22. For more information, visit www.TheOldGlobe.org.

A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC 're-opened' on Sunday night August 1st as it officially celebrated Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch joining the cast. So what did the critics have to say?

SHREK THE MUSICAL tells the story of a swamp-dwelling ogre who goes on a life-changing adventure to reclaim the deed to his land. Joined by a wise-cracking donkey, this unlikely hero fights a fearsome dragon, rescues a feisty princess and learns that real friendship and true love aren't only found in fairy tales.

Trevor Nunn directs the first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Charles Hart's Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory, previewing from 07 July with press night on 15 July and running until 26 September. Designs are by David Farley with choreography by Lynne Page, lighting by Paul Pyant, musical supervision by Caroline Humphris, orchestrations by David Cullen and sound by Gareth Owen. Trevor Nunn previously directed the world premiere of Aspects of Love and returns to the piece to direct this new intimate version.

Mark Rylance (Valere), David Hyde Pierce (Elomire) and Joanna Lumley (The Princess) are joined by Stephen Ouimette (Bejart), Lisa Joyce (Marquise-Therese Du Parc), Greta Lee (Dorine), Robert Lonsdale (Rene Du Parc), Michael Milligan (De Brie), Liza Sadovy (Catherine De Brie) and Sally Wingert (Madeleine Bejart) in Matthew Warchus' production of David Hirson's La Bête.

Eddie Izzard, Dennis Haysbert, Afton C. Williamson, and Richard Thomas began their run in RACE, written and directed by David Mamet, on Monday June 21st for a nine-week limited engagement through Saturday, August 21st.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, directed by Daniel Sullivan, began performances for Shakespeare in the Park on Saturday, June 12. The Public Theater began Shakespeare in the Park performances of A Winter's Tale, directed by Michael Greif on June 9. Both shows will play in repertory through Sunday, August 1 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

The Dallas Theater Center proudly presents IT'S A BIRD...IT'S A PLAN...IT'S SUPERMAN, starring Matt Cavenaugh as Clark Kent/Superman and Patrick Cassidy as arch-villain Max Menken at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theater at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Paradise Found runs through 26th June 2010 at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The Book is by Richard Nelson, Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, Music by Johann Strauss II. The show is adapted & Arranged by Jonathan Tunick

The musical icon and beloved actress Julie Andrews returned to the UK stage for the first time in thirty years, with a special one off performance at London's O2 Arena. 'An Evening with Julie Andrews' saw a night of music from her greatest stage and screen performances, as well as the live narration of the story Simeon's Gift, the best-selling children's book written by Julie and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Stephen Buntrock, Kevin Odekirk, Christiane Noll, Anne Runolfsson, and Jubilant Sykes all took to the stage with Julie Andrews. Here, Julie and the cast perform Do-Re-Mi.

The musical icon and beloved actress Julie Andrews returned to the UK stage for the first time in thirty years, with a special one off performance at London's O2 Arena. 'An Evening with Julie Andrews' saw a night of music from her greatest stage and screen performances, as well as the live narration of the story Simeon's Gift, the best-selling children's book written by Julie and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton. Stephen Buntrock, Kevin Odekirk, Christiane Noll, Anne Runolfsson, and Jubilant Sykes all took to the stage with Julie Andrews.

Everyday Rapture is the story of a young woman's psycho-sexual-spiritual journey on the rocky path that separates her mostly Mennonite past from her mostly Manhattan future. With a cast led by Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture also features songs made famous by David Byrne, Roberta Flack, Mister Rogers, The Supremes, and Judy Garland.

Tony Award winner Linda Lavin and director Lynne Meadow, who collaborated on MTC's The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, reunite for a new production of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies' celebrated drama also starring Sarah Paulson. Collected Stories chronicles the relationship between two female writers: Ruth Steiner (Lavin), a celebrated New York author with a dry wit and a distinguished career; and her bright-eyed young protege, Lisa Morrison. As their relationship evolves and the line between fact and fiction starts to blur, their fascinating story comes to an explosive conclusion.

Based on real-life events and using music, dance and video, Lucy Prebble's Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world currently finds itself.

Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington returns to Broadway, alongside Academy Award nominee and Tony Award winner Viola Davis, in August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. This strictly limited 13-week engagement began on April 14th at the Cort Theatre. Both a monumental drama and an intimate family portrait, Fences tells the story of Troy Maxson, a man torn between the glory of his past and the uncertainty of his future. Emboldened by pride and embittered by sacrifice, Troy is determined to make life better for future generations, even as he struggles to embrace the dreams of his own son.

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Sunday, April 25, 2010.

Last week, on April 13, HAIR opened at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End. BroadwayWorld is very excited to bring you footage from opening night with the cast, special guests and lots more!

Five-time Emmy Award winner Kelsey Grammer makes his Broadway musical debut alongside Olivier winner Douglas Hodge in this funny and touching tale of one family's struggle to stay together... stay fabulous... and above all else, stay true to themselves. La Cage aux Folles, the splashy, high-kicking musical comedy, comes to Broadway this spring in a gloriously reconceived production that took London by storm. La Cage features Jerry Herman's Tony Award-winning score, with such fabulous songs as 'I Am What I Am,' 'The Best of Times' and 'Song on the Sand,' and a Tony Award-winning book by Harvey Fierstein.