Charlie Franklin News

The papers called it 'the first intentionally campy musical in Broadway history' and 'Broadway's first disco musical,' but Paul Jabara's Rachael Lily Rosenbloom... and don't you ever forget it! packed her bags after only 7 previews at the Broadhurst in 1973.

First up in Encores! 2017 season is Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Tony Award-winning musical based on Mark Twain's classic American novel. Big River will star Nicholas Barasch, Patrice Covington, Andrew Cristi, Wayne Duvall, Mike Evariste, Charlie Franklin, Annie Golden, Katherine A. Guy, Megan Masako Haley, Adrianna Hicks, Zachary Infante, Gizel Jimenez, Andrew Kruep, John-Michael Lyles, Cass Morgan, Tom Nelis, David Pittu, Tom Alan Robbins, Horace V. Rogers, Kyle Scatliffe, Christopher Sieber, and Lauren Worsham. 

Twenty-five years after the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle co-presents the timeless tale - now extended through Jan 8, 2017 - at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

This weekend's big news: DEAD POETS SOCIETY closes Off-Broadway on Sunday with a special benefit performance, and the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of AMELIE, starring Phillipa Soo, opens tonight in Los Angeles!

Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced casting for the Encores! production of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Tony Award-winning musical based on Mark Twain's classic American novel.

Rare--and in many cases, never-before-recorded--Irving Berlin love songs are the focus of Chip Deffaa's latest album, 'Irving Berlin Revisited,' being released today. 

This production of THE SECRET GARDEN excels in nearly every way.

25 years after the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle co-presents the timeless tale from now through December 31 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW). The musical is directed by David Armstrong, Artistic Director at The 5th Avenue Theatre, with whom STC is co-producing the production. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

25 years after the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle co-presents the timeless tale from November 15-December 31 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW). The musical is directed by David Armstrong, Artistic Director at The 5th Avenue Theatre, with whom STC is co-producing the production.  BroadwayWorld brings you a first look at rehearsals below!

25 years after the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle will co-present the timeless tale from tonight, November 15, through December 31 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW).

25 years after the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical production of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's story The Secret Garden, the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) and the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle will co-present the timeless tale from November 15-December 31 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW). The musical is directed by David Armstrong, Artistic Director at The 5th Avenue Theatre, with whom STC is co-producing the production.

Lost, forgotten, and  unknown Irving Berlin songs are the focus of  Chip Deffaa's new album, 'The Irving Berlin Songbook,'  being released today.  

Award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa's 'Irving Berlin Songbook' album--part of an ongoing 'Irving Berlin Project' which Deffaa has been developing at the 13th Street Theater in New York City--will be released August 16th.  The album--with two-dozen members of New York's theatrical community singing 29 rare Berlin songs--includes many songs that have never before  been recorded.  Deffaa--one of the world's foremost authorities on Berlin's music and the author of five different shows about him--went through every song in the Berlin archive, some 1500 in all, in preparation for the project.

I remember the first time I heard Songs For a New World. Mind. Blown. Melodic like Andrew Lloyd Webber, cerebral like Sondheim. Perfect. Of course now, Jason Robert Brown is a living legend and one of the most prolific theatre composers in history.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents the music of Ryan Scott Oliver in We Foxes and Rope on March 14, 2016. W e Foxes and Rope represent two of three musicals in a cycle of musical folk operas Oliver is writing about American resilience in war­time.

Broadway's 40 theatres aren't the only places to catch performances from your favorite stars! Well after Broadway orchestras begin their overtures, ensemble members take their dance breaks, and performers belt out their eleven o'clock numbers, the party continues at various cabaret venues throughout New York City. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you some cabaret highlights for this week as picked by our theatre editors, including: The Songs of Tor & Lisa, ft. Brandon Victor Dixon, and more; New Musicals at 54: Fallout by Kyle Jarrow and Nick Blaemire; Kyle Dean Massey at 54 Below; Jasper In Deadland CD Release Concert; and Broadway Couples Sing I Do! I Do! For Valentine's Day.

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.54Below.com/Feinsteins or call (646) 476-3551.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, has cast the first same sex couple to participate in Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt's classic musical I DO! I DO! on February 14th, 2016.

Celebrate Valentine's Day at Feinstein's/54 Below with BROADWAY COUPLES SING I DO! I DO! on FEBRUARY 14 AT 7PM & 9:30PM. Real life Broadway couples sing from the hit musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt about the ups and downs of marriage. A special $85 prix-fixe menu will be available.

?Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents BROADWAY COUPLES SING I DO! I DO! on February 14th, 2016. To celebrate Valentine's Day, Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt's classic look into a fifty-year marriage will get a one night only, all-star concert, featuring some of Broadway's most legendary couples.