Ben Brantley News

Aurora Theatre continues the 2010-2011 GGC Lab Series with the comically brutal Fat Pig by Neil LaBute running February 10-27, 2011.

The Public Theater's acclaimed production of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, starring Al Pacino as Shylock and Lily Rabe as Portia, will resume performances on Tuesday, February 1 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a final three week extension through Sunday, February 20.

IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, is coming to Detroit's Fisher Theatre from February 1-13, 2011.

The Public Theater's acclaimed production of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, starring Al Pacino as Shylock and Lily Rabe as Portia, will resume performances on Tuesday, February 1 at the Broadhurst Theatre for a final three week extension through Sunday, February 20.

Tickets go on sale this Sunday, January 30 at 10 a.m., for the scathingly funny, Tony Award-winning Best Play "God of Carnage."

Sideshow Theatre Company is proud to present the Chicago premiere of Elizabeth Meriwether's Heddatron as one of three storefront theaters selected for Steppenwolf's 2nd annual GARAGE REP. The play, directed by Sideshow artistic director Jonathan L. Green, is one of Sideshow's most ambitious projects to date, both for its artistic and technical challenges, and will conclude Sideshow's 2010-2011 season. Heddatron will run in repertory for 11 weeks starting February 11 through April 24, 2011, in Steppenwolf's Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St.

Wednesday marked an exciting day for theatre lovers in Toronto, when Mirvish (in association with The Touring Consortium International & Marquis Entertainment) announced plans to build a new theatre for the North American Premiere of the UK Smash Hit The Railway Children. BWW was on hand to bring you pictures and details of this historic event.

Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning next to normal, reprises her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week North American tour. the production will play San Francisco's Curran Theatre January 25-February 20.

Billy Elliot the Musical begins its San Francisco engagement on June 27, 2011 at the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street at 8th). This multi-award winning smash hit musical concludes the 2010- 2011 Best of Broadway series under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays. Billy Elliot the Musical, produced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions, is based on the international smash-hit film.

In response to overwhelming box office demand-and before its official opening performance tonight-the West Coast premiere of Bruce Norris's Clybourne Park has been extended through February 20 at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.). The five additional performances will take place on the following dates: Wednesday, February 16, at 8 p.m.; Thursday, February 17, at 8 p.m.; Friday, February 18, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, February 19, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, February 20, at 2 p.m. Directed by Jonathan Moscone, this 'buzz-saw sharp new comedy' (The Washington Post) cleverly spins the events of A Raisin in the Sun to tell an unforgettable new story about race and real estate in America. Act I opens in 1959, as a white couple sells their home to a black family, causing uproar in their middle-class Chicago neighborhood. Act II transports us to the same house in 2009, when the stakes are different, but the debate is strikingly familiar.

Tickets go on sale this Sunday, January 30 at 10 a.m., for the scathingly funny, Tony Award-winning Best Play "God of Carnage."

IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, will end its run at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia January 23 as part of the Broadway Season. The Broadway Season is presented by the Kimmel Center and Shubert Organization.

Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning Next to Normal, will reprise her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour, launching in November. It will end its run in San Diego January 23, 2011 at the Balboa Theatre, as a Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation.

Billy Elliot the Musical begins its San Francisco engagement on June 27, 2011 at the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street at 8th).

The Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical winning musical Next to Normal broke its own box office record at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45th Street) for its final week of performances, with a gross of $552,653 for the week ending January 16, 2011.

San Diego actress Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning Next to Normal, reprises her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week North American tour. It will play January 18 - 23,

IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, is coming to the Academy of Music in Philadelphia from January 18 through 23 as part of the Broadway Season.

Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning Next to Normal, will reprise her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour, launching in November. It will play in San Diego January 18 - 23, 2011 at the Balboa Theatre, as a Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation.

Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning Next to Normal, will return to San Diego, where she spent several years performing in local productions, to reprise her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour, launching November 23 at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. It will play in San Diego January 18-23, 2011 at the Balboa Theatre, as part of the current season of Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) and La MaMa proudly present an encore benefit performance of the Belarus Free Theater's acclaimed BEING HAROLD PINTER on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 17 at 7 PM, at The Public Theater (425 Lafayette Street).