Bartlett Sher News

Lyric Opera of Chicago will begin a new chapter in its history with its 61st season - the first to be fully planned by general director Anthony Freud and music director Sir Andrew Davis. Lyric's two artistic leaders announced the repertoire and casting for the 2015-16 season today.

Lincoln Center Theater welcomes Mamoudou Athie, Diane Lane, Gayle Rankin, and Tony Shalhoub in its production of THE MYSTERY OF LOVE AND SEX, a new play by Bathsheba Doran. The production, which is directed by Sam Gold, begins previews tonight, February 5 and open on Monday, March 2 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

Laura Linney (The Big C, The Savages) and Seth Numrich (AMC's TURN, Broadway: War Horse) will perform in the Geffen Playhouse production of Switzerland by Joanna Murray-Smith (The Female of the Species, The Gift). This co-world premiere with Sydney Theatre Company will be directed by Mark Brokaw (Broadway: Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, The Lyons) in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse from March 6 to April 19, 2015. Opening night is Friday, March 13.

Direct from London's West End comes Seabright Productions' America's Got Downton. Actor, impressionist and YouTube sensation, Luke Kempner, creates more than 30 characters in this tour-de-force one-man parody that blends celebrity visitors with well-known characters from the PBS hit television series "Downton Abbey." Cultures will clash and eras will hilariously collide to help save the estate from financial ruin -- again! America's Got Downton arrives at the City Theatre on Sunday, April 12 with two performances at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.

BroadwayWorld previously reported that the Tony Award-winning musical romance THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY will be presented by Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) next January. Now, TUTS has revealed more details regarding their full 2015/2016 season in Sarofim Hall at The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Filled with a spoonful of sugar, one small girl with extra big dreams and a show that will have you "dying" with laughter, this season is sure to hit everyone's "sweet" spot.

A beautiful mechanical doll. An irresistible courtesan. A visit from beyond the grave-or is it just an illusion? All these, plus an imaginative hero who never gets the girl, show up in The Met's new production of Jacques Offenbach's masterwork. Les Contes d'Hoffman has been inspired by a variety of influences that reflect the opera's multiple dramatic layers-including Kafka, classic Hollywood cinema, and even Woody Allen. Town Hall Theater will broadcast this new production today, January 31st at 1pm.

Is there another staple of major opera houses that's as big a mess as LES CONTES D'HOFFMAN by Jacques Offenbach? If there is, I can't think of it--but it doesn't keep it from being wildly enjoyable in the right hands. The Met's current production is entertaining, in spite of itself.

While many are looking forward to the upcoming Broadway revival of THE KING AND I starting rehearsals, a controversial decision to cast a Caucasian actor as King Mongkut in Dallas Summer Musicals' forthcoming production is generating the opposite response. The Asian American Performers Action Coalition wrote an open letter to DSM expressing their disgust with the organization's choice to use the practice of yellowface.

A beautiful mechanical doll. An irresistible courtesan. A visit from beyond the grave-or is it just an illusion? All these, plus an imaginative hero who never gets the girl, show up in The Met's new production of Jacques Offenbach's masterwork. Les Contes d'Hoffman has been inspired by a variety of influences that reflect the opera's multiple dramatic layers-including Kafka, classic Hollywood cinema, and even Woody Allen. Town Hall Theater will broadcast this new production on Saturday, January 31st at 1pm.

Honeymoon in Vegas, the eagerly anticipated new musical comedy with book by Blazing Saddles and Fletch writer Andrew Bergman and score by three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown, opens tonight, January 15, at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street). Scroll down to learn more about the cast and watch interviews with the stars!

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, opened last night, January 12 at London's Playhouse Theatre after beginning previews last month, stars Tamsin Greig,Haydn Gwynne, Jerome Pradon,Anna Skellern, Ricardo Afonso, Haydn Oakley, Willemijn Verkaik and Seline Hizli.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, opening tonight, January 12 at London's Playhouse Theatre after beginning previews last month, stars Tamsin Greig, Haydn Gwynne, Jerome Pradon, Anna Skellern,Ricardo Afonso, Haydn Oakley, Willemijn Verkaik and Seline Hizli.

Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann will return to the Met stage January 12, with Italian tenor Vittorio Grigolo in his first company performances of the title role, a poet whose attempts at romance are repeatedly thwarted.

2015 is almost here, and that means that a slew of new shows are on their way to the Great White Way. Before the 2015 Awards season gets started, no less than nineteen new productions will take tike their first Broadway bows. Catch up on what's in store for the season ahead below!

To celebrate the UK premiere of David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane's new musical comedy adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-nominated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - now playing live on stage in London's West End - Pedro Almodovar will be taking part in a conversation with director Bartlett Sher and star of the original film Rossy de Palma. Esteemed film critic Maria Delgado will chair the panel.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, opening tonight, December 20, in the West End, stars Tamsin Greig, Haydn Gwynne, Jerome Pradon, Anna Skellern,Ricardo Afonso, Haydn Oakley, Willemijn Verkaik and Seline Hizli.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, beginning tonight, December 17, in the West End, stars Tamsin Greig, Haydn Gwynne, Jerome Pradon, Anna Skellern, Ricardo Afonso, Haydn Oakley, Willemijn Verkaik and Seline Hizli.

Today we are talking to one of Broadway's biggest and brightest stars all about her incredibly busy year and impossibly packed schedule coming up for the rest of 2014 and the start of 2015 - the winsome and angelic Kelli O'Hara. Offering a generous tease of her upcoming Carnegie Hall holiday concert spectacular alongside fellow InDepth InterView participant Matthew Morrison and the NY Pops in KELLI & MATTHEW: HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, O'Hara reflects on some of her favorite Christmas memories and shares some of her favorite holiday selections while commenting on the notable rapport shared between herself and Morrison, previously having co-starred in the Lincoln Center Theater productions of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA and SOUTH PACIFIC. Furthermore, O'Hara offers us a behind the scenes perspective on starring in NBC's recent entertainment extravaganza PETER PAN LIVE! and her thoughts on the unique production process as well as performing in the live telecast itself and introducing new material into the hallowed score for the show specifically for the broadcast. Additionally, O'Hara opens up about her leading role in the hotly anticipated forthcoming revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's vaunted THE KING & I, to be directed by her frequent collaborator Bartlett Sher, and sheds some light on what preparations are currently underway in taking on the iconic role of Anna as well as posits her own insights into the complex character in the historically-informed story. All of that, first news on appearing in the Tom Hanks tribute as part of this year's Kennedy Center Honors, reflections on THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY on Broadway and on disc, whether she would consider playing Marian in NBC's recently announced live TV production of THE MUSIC MAN and much, much more!