Bartlett Sher News

After garnering audience acclaim and playing to sold out houses, Standing Room Only: Variety Hour, is proud to announce its move to one of Los Angeles's highest regarded showrooms, Upstairs at Vitello's. Join us Today, November 4th for an unforgettable night of song, drink, and food! Hosted by Broadway's favorite Beltress, Kate Pazakis and star of Broadway, Film, and Television, Michael-Leon Wooley this is a cabaret night like nothing Los Angeles has ever seen.

With the Broadway Fall season in full swing, and a constant need for replacements, there is a solid group of performers making their Broadway debuts this Fall. Meet all of Broadway's newest stars below!

After garnering audience acclaim and playing to sold out houses, Standing Room Only: Variety Hour, is proud to announce its move to one of Los Angeles's highest regarded showrooms, Upstairs at Vitello's. Join us Monday, November 4th for an unforgettable night of song, drink, and food! Hosted by Broadway's favorite Beltress, Kate Pazakis and star of Broadway, Film, and Television, Michael-Leon Wooley this is a cabaret night like nothing Los Angeles has ever seen.

The Elegy Project will present the Chicago premiere of Elegy, October 31 - December 1, written by Ron Hirsen and directed by Dennis Zacek at the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens Biograph, 2433 Lincoln Ave. Preview performances are Thursday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2 at 5 and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. Opening/press night is Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception. The performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 5 and 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. There is no performance Thursday, Nov. 28 and an added performance Sunday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $30 for previews, $48 for opening night and $42 for the regular run. Tickets are available at victorygardens.org, elegyproject.org or 773.871.3000.

THE BOOK OF MORMON's tour stars Nic Rouleau and Ben Platt just announced via Twitter that they will soon join the Broadway company, replacing Matt Doyle (Elder Price) and Cody Jamison Strand (Elser Cunningham) respectively. Rouleau wrote: 'Thrilled to announce that Heavenly Father is sending me back to Broadway to serve another mission at @BookofMormon in January!!' Platt wrote: 'Bursting with excitement to finally announce that I will be joining the Broadway company of @BookofMormon this January!! #DreamComeTrue #NYC'

Nico Muhly's opera Two Boys will have its North American premiere at the Met October 21, in a production conducted by David Robertson and directed by Bartlett Sher. The two-act opera, which features a libretto by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas, is loosely based on true events and follows a lonely detective whose investigation of a seemingly simple crime draws her into a complex web of online intrigue. Alice Coote sings the role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson and Paul Appleby sings Brian, the 16-year-old boy at the center of her investigations. Sher's staging, a co-production with English National Opera, premiered in London in 2011. Check out a sneak peek below!

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) proudly reveals this season's Joe A. Callaway Award winners for Direction and Choreography from more than 200 eligible productions in the 2012 - 2013 New York City theatre season. This year's awards will be presented to Ruben Santiago-Hudson for his direction of The Piano Lesson produced by Signature Theatre and Marlo Hunter for her choreography of Unlock'd produced by Prospect Theater Company. The winners join previous Joe A. Callaway Award Winners including Susan Stroman (1991), Harold Prince (1993), Julie Taymor (1996), Jack O'Brien (2001), Bartlett Sher (2002), Daniel Sullivan (2004), John Tiffany (2012) and Steven Hoggett (2012).

Spotlight on Broadway-an interactive website and multi-media project featuring the history of Broadway-has officially launched with 40 videos that chart the evolution of Broadway's 40 official theaters and honor the thousands of men and women who have worked on Broadway. Developed by the City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, in partnership with The Broadway League, each video was filmed inside one of the Broadway theaters and features insightful interviews with some of Broadway's most legendary performers and creative professionals.

Nico Muhly's opera Two Boys has its North American premiere at the Met tiday, October 21, in a production conducted by David Robertson and directed by Bartlett Sher. The two-act opera, which features a libretto by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas, is loosely based on true events and follows a lonely detective whose investigation of a seemingly simple crime draws her into a complex web of online intrigue. Alice Coote sings the role of Detective Inspector Anne Strawson and Paul Appleby sings Brian, the 16-year-old boy at the center of her investigations. Sher's staging, a co-production with English National Opera, premiered in London in 2011.

The new musical, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, has targeted Broadway for the spring of 2015 following its world premiere in December, 2014 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. It will be directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, making his Broadway directing debut. Featuring music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by Tony and Pulitzer Prize nominee Craig Lucas, the creative team also includes Tony Award winners Bob Crowley (sets and costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting) and Scott Lehrer (sound) with a musical score adapted and supervised by Rob Fisher. Bartlett Sher is creative consultant. Based on the Academy Award winning film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition by George Gershwin, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS brings this classic tale to Broadway for the first time.

The Metropolitan Opera and Le Poisson Rouge announced details for 'An Evening of Britten and Muhly,' two concerts at Le Poisson Rouge tonight, October 17 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. Metropolitan Opera stars Patricia Racette, Kathleen Kim, and Iestyn Davies will perform at the event. Composer Nico Muhly will host and perform on piano.

Nico Muhly's opera Two Boys will have its North American premiere at the Met October 21, in a production conducted by David Robertson and directed by Bartlett Sher.

The Elegy Project is proud to announce the Chicago premiere of Elegy, October 31 - December 1, written by Ron Hirsen and directed by Dennis Zacek at the Richard Christiansen Theater at Victory Gardens Biograph, 2433 Lincoln Ave. Preview performances are Thursday, Oct. 31 at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 2 at 5 and 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 3 at 3 p.m. Opening/press night is Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a reception. The performance schedule is Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 5 and 8:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. There is no performance Thursday, Nov. 28 and an added performance Sunday, Dec. 1 at 7:00 p.m. Ticket prices are $30 for previews, $48 for opening night and $42 for the regular run. Tickets are available at victorygardens.org, elegyproject.org or 773.871.3000.

HBO Films presents in association with SAF Films West MUHAMMAD ALI'S GREATEST FIGHT, starring Academy Award(R) winner Christopher Plummer ('Beginners'), Academy Award(R) nominee Frank Langella ('Frost/Nixon') and Benjamin Walker ('Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter'); directed by Academy Award(R) nominee Stephen Frears ('The Queen') from a script by Shawn Slovo ('A World Apart'); and executive produced by Emmy(R) winner Frank Doelger (HBO's 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Gathering Storm'), Emmy(R) winner Tracey Scoffield (HBO's 'The Gathering Storm'), Jonathan Cameron and Stephen Frears.

Ghostlight Records has debuted the first song from the Broadway-bound musical THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, starring Kelli O'Hara and Steven Pasquale. Check out the somber, emotional track, titled 'Falling Into You,' below!

Sh-K-Boom / Ghostlight Records releases the 2013 Off-Broadway cast recording of the hit Second Stage Theatre production of The Last Five Years, created and directed by Jason Robert Brown, both in stores and via online outlets today, September 24. Second Stage Theatre (Carole Rothman, Artistic Director) extended this production starring Adam Kantor and Betsy Wolfe three times.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre kicks off its 46th season this September with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, winner of the 2013 Tony Award for Best Play. The hilarious Broadway blockbuster from three-time Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang begins previews in the Roda Theatre tonight, September 20, opens September 25, and runs through October 20. Get a first look at the cast below!

Tenor Matthew Polenzani, who has been praised as "perhaps the finest tenor voice of his generation" (Boston Phoenix), and fast-rising young star soprano Corinne Winters will launch the 2013-14 season of events of The George London Foundation for Singers with a recital at The Morgan Library and Museum on Sunday, October 20, 2013, at 4:30 PM. The George London Foundation Recital Series presents pairs of outstanding opera singers, many of whom were winners of a George London prize early in their careers or are recent George London Award recipients. Mr. Polenzani is a 1998 George London Award winner, and Ms. Winters won a George London Award in 2012 (watch Corinne Winters's George London Award-winning performance of Meyerbeer's "Robert, toi que j'aime"here).

Rachel Reiner Productions presents the World Premiere of Victor L. Cahn's A Dish For The Gods, directed by Adam Fitzgerald. A Dish for the Gods began performances on Saturday September 14, and opens tonight, Monday, September 16 and will run through October 5, 2013 at Theatre Row's Lion Theatre (410 West 42 Street). Tickets are $19.25 (including a $1.25 theatre restoration charge) and can be purchased at www.Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.

The Harvard Department of Music and the Office for the Arts at Harvard have announced the appointment of Jason Robert Brown as Blodgett Artist-in-Residence during the spring of 2014. A celebrated American composer, Brown has been hailed as 'one of Broadway's smartest and most sophisticated songwriters since Stephen Sondheim' (Philadelphia Inquirer). He is known best as the award-winning composer and lyricist of the musical The Last 5 Years, and the Tony-award winning composer of Parade.