Bartlett Sher News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: Abby Mueller and Evan Todd take over the leads in Broadway's BEAUTIFUL tonight, and WAR PAINT, starring Christine Ebersole and Patti LuPone, starts previews on Broadway!

Next spring, Lincoln Center Theater, in association with Nederlander Presentations Inc., will mount a new production of Lerner & Loewe's MY FAIR LADY, the first Broadway production of the classic musical in 25 years. MY FAIR LADY, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, March 22, 2018 and open on Thursday, April 19, 2018 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Ancient Rome looks a lot like modern America as irreverent, vivacious hosts Flora and Fawna invite you to the hottest club in the City Of Seven Hills for a sly, sexy, hilarious romp through Julius Caesar.

The King & I revival national tour is closing after tonight's performance in Minneapolis and moving on to the next city but left this writer with memories that were doubly delightful.

As Opera News notes in a "Spotlight" double-page spread in the just-published February issue, Tucker Award-winning tenor Stephen Costello is now "at the top of his game." This spring, marking his house title role debut, he headlines Gounod's Romeo et Juliette (March 3-18) at New York's Metropolitan Opera, starring opposite Pretty Yende in Bartlett Sher's hit staging. By way of a preview, Costello and Yende will each sing romantic arias from the opera in a special Valentine's Day edition of WQXR'S Classical Beer Jam at the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space in downtown Manhattan, marking their first public appearance together (Feb 14). Opera lovers around the world can catch a live webcast of the performance on Facebook and WQXR.org. Meanwhile, the tenor may already be seen at the Met, channeling Frank Sinatra as the Duke of Mantua in Michael Mayer's Vegas setting of Verdi's Rigoletto (Jan 20-Feb 4), to which, last year, the New York Times found his "bright tenor … perfectly suited."

As previously announced, Everyman Theatre presents the Baltimore/DC Premiere of Los Otros, a timely new reworking of the musical from Tony Award nominees Michael John LaChiusa (music) and Ellen Fitzhugh (book and lyrics). Los Otros is currently in rehearsal and runs from March 22 through April 23, 2017.

Denver Center for the Performing Arts proudly announces the 2017/18 Broadway season, welcoming HAMILTON to The Buell Theatre February 27 through April 1, 2018. Joining HAMILTON for the full 2017/18 Broadway subscription season package is: SOMETHING ROTTEN!, FIRST DATE, WAITRESS, Rodgers & Hammerstein'sTHE KING AND I, Disney's ALADDIN, SCHOOL OF ROCK and ON YOUR FEET!.

After a sold-out, standing-room-only Toronto engagement from November 2016, through January 2017, COME FROM AWAY will return to Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre in a new Canadian production beginning performances Tuesday, February 13, 2018.

Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA; Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) is pleased to announce 2017 programming for Open Books, its series of conversations with the authors of some of American theatre's most acclaimed new books. Jonathan Kalb, TFANA's Resident Literary Advisor and Dramaturg, curates and moderates these free public talks.

Today the Orpheum Theatre Group unveiled the highly anticipated 2017-2018 Broadway Season at an announcement party at the historic Orpheum Theatre. Attendees were the first to hear about next season's exciting offerings. HAMILTON was officially announced as part of the Orpheum's 2018-2019 Broadway Season.

Broadway Grand Rapids next season begins with Broadway's biggest blockbuster WICKED, the untold story of the Witches of Oz on stage for an unprecedented 3 weeks at DeVos Performance Hall.  One of the most celebrated musicals in theatrical history, LES MISERABLES returns in November. 

Miami New Drama (MiND) at Colony Theatre is presenting a one-night-only concert version of the beloved 2013 revival of Off Broadway show, The Last Five Years.

A pair of fresh Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals, a couple of critically-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning revivals, plus Broadway's biggest hit of the century (hint: Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote it) will all be a part of the spectacular 2017-2018 Broadway season at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. Announced earlier this week, SCFTA will be offering the following national tours for next season: SOMETHING ROTTEN • THE KING & I (2015 Revival) • LOVE NEVER DIES • HAMILTON • SCHOOL OF ROCK • ON YOUR FEET! • MOTOWN - THE MUSICAL • KINKY BOOTS • THE COLOR PURPLE (2016 Revival) • JERSEY BOYS • THE BOOK OF MORMON

???????On Monday, May 1, 2017, The New York Pops will celebrate its 34th birthday with a grand gala evening honoring Tony Award winners Kelli O'Hara and Bartlett Sher, whose collaborations over the last decade have won universal acclaim and whose individual careers represent pinnacles of achievement in the world of theatre.

Fifth Third Bank Broadway in Atlanta is proud to announce that Broadway musical HAMILTON will play its premiere Atlanta engagement and anchor the 2017/2018 season at the Fox Theatre.

Theatre for a New Audience (Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director) presents director Arin Arbus's new staging of Thornton Wilder's tragicomic masterpiece The Skin of Our Teethtonight, February 14, through March 19 at Polonsky Shakespeare Center(262 Ashland Place), TFANA's state-of-the-art permanent home in the heart of the Brooklyn Cultural District.

Theatre for a New Audience has announced the performance schedule, cast and creative team for director Arin Arbus's new staging of Thornton Wilder's comic masterpiece The Skin of Our Teeth, the first major New York production since 1998.

IRT presents Hard Sparks' THE CABARET AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Melody Bates and Rebecca Hart, directed by Joan Jubett, March 10-19 at IRT Theater (154 Christopher Street) as part of the 3B Development Series*.

Screen and stage actor, George Merrick, has starred in some of the most unforgettable and entertaining productions, such as the revival of South Pacific and Honeymoon in Vegas, and measures his success by how much he is enjoying his work. He has learned from legends like Danny Burstein, and has discovered opportunities to create new work and walk into experiences with fresh eyes and an open heart. These projects have allowed his passion for performing to grow, and his current role in Ring Twice for Miranda explores the notion of being governed by emotions and longing in a tumultuous world where humans fight each day for survival.

On Valentine's Day, at WQXR's downtown Greene Space, everyone will raise a pint glass to classical music's great love affairs and epic breakups.