Andrew Jackson News

Looking to change-up your Halloween routine? Hoping to escape the macabre and the ridiculous? Diversionary Theatre has the antidote or the answer for whatever you crave-Dead From New York: It's Pepper & Sam! Smart, hip and hilarious, Pepper & Sam will bring their downtown New York act to Diversionary beginning Friday October 21, 2011.

Recording artist and Broadway actress Shoshana Bean will play the title role in an invited reading of Lempicka, a musical commissioned by Yale Rep and New Dramatists, about the tumultuous life of art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka.

A limited number of tickets remain for the special one-night-only return engagement of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which is being produced by and benefiting Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Due to extraordinary demand, The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) announced today that it would extend the critically acclaimed THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS by three weeks through Sunday, December 4.

For Jody Gelb, who plays Madame Morrible in the national touring company of Wicked now ensconced at TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall for another record-setting run, every night in the theater is so much more than just another day on the job. For her, it's an inspiring adventure which further proves that Wicked is so much more than musical theater: it's a phenomenon.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher announced today that the acclaimed new American play by Tony Award nominee Rick Elice, directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Drama Desk Award-winner and Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), will open on Broadway this spring at a theatre to be announced. Based on The New York Times best selling Disney-Hyperion novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher will be produced on Broadway by Nancy Nagel Gibbs and Greg Schaffert.

After breaking box office records and selling out in record time in 2009, WICKED, Broadway's biggest blockbuster will return to Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center, October 19 through November 6.

Karina Martins and McKenna Dabbs in conjunction with Fresh Ground Pepper, present a limited engagement of 'All the Rats and Rags' at 3LD Art and Technology Center from November 17-20.

Anne Brummel and Tiffany Haas, the two actresses playing Elphaba and Glinda in the national tour of Wicked - which will be calling Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall home October 19-November 6 - might be advised to keep an eye cast over their talented shoulders on lookout for Delaney Amatrudo and Katelyn Fiorini, two Nashville actresses and Wicked superfans, each of whom has her sights on claiming one of the two iconic roles sometime, somewhere in the future.

Off-Broadway's The New Group proudly presents Burning, written by Thomas Bradshaw and directed by Scott Elliott, kicking off the company's 2011-12 Season. Previews begin October 26 advance of an Official Opening on Monday, November 14 at 7:00 PM. Burning plays a limited engagement through December 17 at The New Group @ Theatre Row (The Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street).

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) will present post-show discussions following select performances of the Public Lab production, LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST, directed by Karin Coonrod. The Public Lab Thursday Night Speaker Series for LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST will be held following the Thursday, October 27 and Thursday, November 3 performances and consist of engaging conversations with notable panelists. Tickets are $15 for all performances of LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST and include free admission to the post-show discussions.

The Public Theaterhas just announced the final line-up for its two upcoming fall Public Forum events. The 2011-2012 Public Forum season will continue on October 23 with 'The Legacy of Steve Jobs,' a provocative discussion with Mike Daisey, the creator and performer of The Agony and The Ecstasy of Steve Jobs; Robert Krulwich, the science correspondent of NPR and co-host of Radiolab; and Dan Lyons, the technology editor at Newsweek Daily Beast and creator of 'Fake Steve Jobs,' the persona behind the notorious tech blog The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Single tickets, priced at $25, are on sale now.

Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, New York Theatre Workshop, and Friends of the Jenin Freedom Theatre announced today an evening of song, video and performance on October 30th, 2011 at 7:00pm to benefit the Freedom Theatre. Tickets are $100 and the event is hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner and featuring Academy Award-winner David Byrne, Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks, Grammy-winners Aimee Mann and Angelique Kidjo, Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, Palestinian hip-hop group DAM, as well as a special performance by the acting company of The Freedom Theatre. The entire evening is directed by Jo Bonney.

Composer-lyricist Michael R. Jackson returns to the Laurie Beechman Theater Sunday October 16th with a concert evening of new music entitled GOOD CLEAN MUSIC: ANOTHER MICHAEL R. JACKSON SONG THING.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Interim Executive Director Joey Parnes) will begin previews for KING LEAR, directed by James Macdonald, on Tuesday, October 18. KING LEAR will run through Sunday, November 20 in The Public's Newman Theater with an official press opening on Tuesday, November 8.

Composer-lyricist Michael R. Jackson returns to the Laurie Beechman Theater Sunday October 16th with a concert evening of new music entitled GOOD CLEAN MUSIC: ANOTHER MICHAEL R. JACKSON SONG THING.

Coffee and Conversation season begins with cultural historian and author Patricia Brady at 7 p.m., Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at the Jefferson Parish Library.