Brandon O'Neill

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced that Afterwords, a new musical with a book by Emily Kaczmarek and music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak, is the second of three Musical Radio Plays it will produce in its 2020/21 digital season.

Circle X Theatre Co. in association with Trial and Error Productions and thanks to a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to present two free Zoom readings of LOUIS SLOTIN SONATA by Paul Mullin, directed by John Langs.

On this day in 2014, Disney's Aladdin, a new musical comedy based on the Academy Award-winning animated film, opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre.

The 5th Avenue Theatre presents Sister Act, March 14 - April 5, 2020.

Complete casting has been announced for The 5th Avenue Theatre's new production of Sister Act, which begins rehearsals today.

Seattle Theater Writers Seattle's theater reviewers circle announces the Winners of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found across the area.

Seattle's critics' circle announces nominees for the 2020 Gypsy Rose Lee awards celebrating excellence in Seattle theatrical productions.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is excited to announce initial casting for its disco ball and sequin-studded brand new production of Sister Act! Leading the cast as Deloris Van Cartier is the celebrated actor and singer Lisa Estridge, who returns to The 5th after starring in Mamma Mia! as Tanya. Her other 5th Avenue Theatre credits include Into the Woods, Company, and Most Happy Fella.

The Granddaddy of horror icons has descended upon Seattle and he's just as romantically malevolent as you might want him to be. ACT has brought us Steven Dietz's retooled adaptation of Bram Stoker's a?oeDraculaa?? and this classic tale of the original bloodlust is just what you need for your Spooky Halloween season.

Let me start, Dear Readers, by saying this is NOT the frothy Disney cartoon you may recall from your youth. Yes, it does contain many of the Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz songs from the 1996 Disney animated film but this show is more akin to the Victor Hugo novel than the cartoon. Gone are the silly, wise-cracking gargoyles whom you might find recreated in a Happy Meal, and amped up is the story of religious persecution, intolerance, sex, and betrayal. Leading me to wonder, what audience are they aiming for? Disney songs, filled out with heady albeit soaringly beautiful choral pieces, and a dark and gritty story that (spoiler alert) does not end well for everyone. And this is my biggest problem with the show, it can't make up its mind as to what it wants to be.

This summer The 5th Avenue Theatre is staging an exciting new production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Joshua Castille as Quasimodo. A Deaf actor, Castille is celebrated for his performances in Tribes at ACT Theatre in Seattle and in Spring Awakening with Deaf West on Broadway.

I was speaking with a friend the other day about the current show from Showtunes Theatre Company, "The Boys from Syracuse". He's a somewhat new, fledgling musical theater geek and I said, that it was filled with great Rodgers and Hart songs many of which are standards now. I went through a few and got nothing but blank stares. And that, Dear Readers, is why Showtunes is so important. We need someone to keep bringing us these underdone, and often times older shows such as "The Boys from Syracuse" so established geeks like me can sit there and … well … geek out, and for a place for newbies to come and be exposed to these grand old shows so they might actually learn what a "standard" is.

BroadwayWorld was there for all of the magical opening night festivities, and Richard Ridge was on hand for the special purple carpet to chat with the evening's guests. Below, check out interviews with Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Kate Wetherhead, Michael Arden, Harvey Fierstein, Corey Cott, Josh Strickland, Alan Menken, Cheyenne Jackson, Laura Benanti and more!

Showtunes Theatre Company will return to the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, March 23-25, 2018 with a concert production of The Boys from Syracuse, with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and book by George Abbott. The show is produced by Showtunes in association with Village Theatre, directed by Steve Tomkins in his final year as Artistic Director of Village and is being presented as part of the city-wide "Seattle Celebrates Shakespeare" festival. With Kim Douglass music directing, the show will have four performances over one weekend. Performances are Friday, March 23 at 8:00 pm, Saturday March 24th at 2 pm and 8pm and Sunday, March 25th at 2 pm.

The 5th Avenue Theatre is a vibrant hive of musical theater activity as the projects of NextFest: A Festival of New Musicals have started rehearsals this week. A three-week musical theater intensive development cycle, NextFest has played a role in the creation of musicals ranging from Persuasion by Harold Taw and Chris Jeffries (Taproot Theatre, 2017) to  Come From Away by Irene Carl Sankoff and David Hein (Broadway). Nationally recognized for its contribution to the contemporary musical theater cannon, The 5th Avenue Theatre is a celebrated incubator for new musicals. Each year, the nationally renowned theater company connects writers at all stages of development with some of the region's most brilliant performers, giving life to the words on the page and allowing book writers, composers and lyricists to see their work in action. This year's various works are brought to life by Alexandria Henderson, Justin Huertas, Matthew Kacergis, Shaunyce Omar, Brandon O'Neill, Timothy Piggee, Hannah Schuerman, Billie Wildrick and many more.

Seattle Opera teams up with both ACT Theatre and Seattle Symphony for the first time to celebrate Shakespeare in a brand-new production of Berlioz's Beatrice and Benedict. The story, based on Shakespeare's Much Ado about Nothing, delights in the "skirmish of wits" between fiery Beatrice and bombastic Benedict and their failed resolution to avoid falling in love with each other. Their merry-war-turned-love-story has proven catnip to Hollywood-there are two film versions, one directed by Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer Joss Whedon, and the other directed by Kenneth Branagh and also starring Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. Now the story is ready for the Seattle Opera treatment.

ACT- A Contemporary Theatre is pleased to announce its 2018 Season Core Company. This year's Core actors are Christine Marie Brown, Avery Clark, Rachel Guyer- Mafune, Brandon O'Neill, and Chip Sherman. Each Core actor will be featured in at least two Mainstage shows, and will serve as artistic ambassadors throughout the season. In addition to the actors, ACT has added a playwright to the Core Company and is elated to announce that Yussef El Guindi will fill that role. El Guindi was the winner of the Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award for Pilgrims Musa and Sheri in the New World, which premiered at ACT in 2012. The Core actors will work closely with the playwright and his development of new work over the year.

Seattle's critics announce the Nominees of Excellence in Seattle theatrical productions. Spanning dozens of theater companies and productions, from large and prominent to small and humble, the Gypsy Rose Lee Awards honor the excellence found in as much professional theater as we reviewers can attend in a year. Named in honor of the famed theater entrepreneur and Seattle native, Gypsy Rose Lee, and in a nod to the vast numbers or theater practitioners forced to travel the country to earn their living, the Gypsys seek to acknowledge the excellence of the Seattle theater community.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE runs through October 29 at Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the critics are weighing in!

There's a general rule of thumb in any theatrical production that if the cast is enjoying what they are doing then that will translate into audience connection and enjoyment. Of course, good source material like Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice doesn't hurt the issue nor does a wonderfully quirky adaptation by Kate Hamill. But it's those two elements combined with the fact that the kick-ass ensemble cast, currently performing the piece at Seattle Repertory Theatre, appears to be big kids having two and a half hours of play-time on stage every night and having the times of their lives that makes this a winner. And that energy is certainly infectious creating uproarious laughter from the audience (and even sometimes from their fellow cast members as well).