Brett Banakis News

Transport Group has announced casting for The Unsinkable Molly Brown, its second mainstage production of the 2019-20 season. Joining Tony Award nominee Beth Malone (Fun Home) who will play Molly Brown are David Aron Damane (The Book of Mormon, Big River, The Life) as JJ, Whitney Bashor (The Bridges of Madison County) as Julia, Omar Lopez-Cepero (On Your Feet!) as Vincenzo, Alex Gibson (SpongeBob SquarePants; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812) as Erich, and Paolo Montalban (Pacific Overtures, The King and I) as Arthur. Rounding out the cast are Kaitlyn Davidson; Tyrone Davis, Jr.; Gregg Goodbrod; Michael Halling; Karl Josef Co; Nikka Graff Lanzarone; Kate Marilley; Shina Ann Morris; Keven Quillon; and CoCo Smith.

Producers Greg Berlanti and Robbie Rogers and Creative Producers Dylan Pager and Andy Jones announced today the return of David Kwong's The Enigmatist to The High Line Hotel (180 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011). After overwhelming demand and six months of sold-out performances earlier in 2019, magician and cruciverbalist David Kwong will bring his immersive evening of puzzles, cryptology and illusions back to New York City for a limited engagement, beginning November 1, 2019 that must end January 2020.

In Broadway by Design, BroadwayWorld is shining a spotlight on the stellar designs of this Broadway season, show by show. Today, we continue the series with Christine Jones & Brett Banakis and Bob Mackie, who acted as scenic and costume designers for the Broadway musical we all believe in, The Cher Show.

Keep Miller, Mississippi on your theatre radar.

Let the magician who put a spell on New York City dazzle you - before time runs out. Due to overwhelming demand and a sold-out January slate, New York Times crossword creator David Kwong has extended his run as The Enigmatist at The High Line Hotel through March 2019.

Get them before they disappear! Starting today, members of the public can purchase tickets for The Enigmatist at The High Line Hotel, opening on January 4, 2019. Featuring renowned magician and New York Times crossword constructor David Kwong, the much-anticipated show includes two nightly performances at 7 PM and 9:30 PM every Friday and Saturday during January 2019.

In her third production at JACK, playwright Amina Henry shares a ghost story (with songs) about a homeless man who is approached in the park by the ghost of a murdered prostitute.  The ghost enlists him on a quest to find her remains so that her grieving mother can finally bury her and move past her mourning. Hunter John and Jane approaches trauma, mental illness and violence towards women in a whimsical way, giving the audience the opportunity to engage with difficult topics through poetic language as well as through a rich musical and visual landscape. With this work, Henry re-imagines what a love story can be, re-imagines what a musical can be, and proposes a world in which all lost or missing individuals are worthy of being found.

Producers Flody Suarez and Jeffrey Seller announced today the design team for The Cher Show including legendary costume designer and longtime Cher collaborator Bob Mackie. The Cher Show, the new musical based on the life and career of the iconic singer and actress, will have its Pre-Broadway Premiere in Chicago with previews beginning on June 12, 2018 at Broadway In Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph).

2017 Regional Theatre Tony Award® Recipient Dallas Theater Center presents the world premiere of Miller, Mississippi; a new play written by Boo Killebrew and directed by Lee Sunday Evans. Beginning with a Pay-What-You-Can performance on Wednesday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m., the production runs through Sunday, Oct. 1 at the Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre Studio Theatre. Press Night will be Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to Miller, Mississippi are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org and by phone at (214) 880-0202.

In June, LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow Theater will become the latest site to be transformed by the critically acclaimed Third Rail Projects when LCT3 presents the company's latest work GHOST LIGHT.

TACT (Scott Alan Evans, Artistic Executive Director; Nora Chester, Associate Artistic Director; Jeffrey C. Hawkins, Associate Artistic Director) today began rehearsals for the cast for a rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, which will kick off the theatre's 2016 - '17 season.    

TACT's rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer kicks off the theatre's 2016 - '17 season. TACT Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans will direct the production featuring performances from Jeremy Beck* (Widowers' Houses), Cynthia Darlow* (Beyond Therapy), Mairin Lee (The Heiress), James Prendergast* (Happy Birthday),  Tony Roach*(Bright Star), John Rothman (Prelude to a Kiss), Justine Salata*(Lovers), and Richard Thieriot* (Clybourne Park). (*Indicates TACT company member).  She Stoops To Conquer will mark the seventh time that TACT has moved a play from its Salon Series to the Mainstage program. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

TACT presents a rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, kicking off the theatre's 2016 - '17 season.

TACT (Scott Alan Evans, Artistic Executive Director; Nora Chester, Associate Artistic Director; Jeffrey C. Hawkins, Associate Artistic Director) today began rehearsals for the cast for a rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, which will kick off the theatre's 2016 - '17 season.    

TACT today announced the cast for a rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, which will kick off the theatre's 2016 - '17 season.    

TACT has announced the 2016-17 season will kick off with a rare NY revival of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops To Conquer, a fully mounted production seen in TACT's 2015-'16 Salon Series.  Performances at The Beckett Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) will begin Tuesday October 4th for a strictly limited engagement through November 5th.

New musical CLOSE TO YOU: BACHARACH REIMAGINED will end its limited West End run on Valentine's Day, Sunday 14 February. Featuring Burt Bacharach's songbook, CLOSE TO YOU broke box office records at the Criterion Theatre when it opened on 15 October, with the biggest advance in the venue's history.  Check out a first look below!

Kyle Riabko's CLOSE TO YOU: BACHARACH REIMAGINED, currently playing in the West End at the Criterion Theatre in an extended run through Valentine's Day 2016, is getting a cast album! Riabko took to Instagram last week to reveal the news about the show, which features Bacharach's iconic songbook. Below, check out some behind-the-scenes shots of the cast in the recording studio!

CLOSE TO YOU: BACHARACH REIMAGINED has today announced that it is extending its West End transfer at the Criterion Theatre until Valentine's Day 14 February 2016. The new booking period is now on sale.

Opening to public and critical acclaim on 15 October, new musical CLOSE TO YOU featuring Burt Bacharach's songbook, broke box office records at the Criterion Theatre with the biggest advance in the venue's history.