Christopher Ashley News

Escape to Margaritaville includes brand new music, specifically written for the musical by Jimmy Buffett, along with many of his hit songs that are near-and-dear to fans' hearts. The original story was created by co-book writers Greg Garcia ('My Name is Earl') and Mike O'Malley ('Survivor's Remorse,' 'Shameless'). Playhouse Artistic Director and three-time Tony Award nominee Christopher Ashley directs, and the creative team also includes Tony Award-nominated Choreographer Kelly Devine, Scenic Designer Walt Spangler, Tony Award-winning Costume Designer Paul Tazewell, two-time Tony Award-winning Lighting Designer Howell Binkley, two-time Tony Award-winning Sound Designer Brian Ronan, Tony Award-nominee Christopher Jahnke as Music Supervisor.

At a press conference held May 30 in the lobby of the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) announced 235 nominations for the 38th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards, which recognize excellence in the performing arts in Toronto.

Escape to Margaritaville includes brand new music, specifically written for the musical by Jimmy Buffett, along with many of his hit songs that are near-and-dear to fans' hearts. Take a look at photos from the show below!

Outer Critics Circle, the organization of writers and commentators for media covering New York theatre announced its award winners for the 2016-17 season in 27 categories earlier this month. Broadway's Danny Burstein, Katie Finneran and Christopher Fitzgerald served as gala award presenters at the 67th Annual Outer Critics Circle Awards ceremony yesterday, May 25th, at the legendary Sardi's Restaurant. BroadwayWorld was there and brings you photos below!

BWW has learned that Tony Award-nominee and star of Broadway's DEAR EVAN HANSEN, Ben Platt will perform on ABC's THE VIEW on Thursday, June 1st. On Friday, June 2nd, the cast of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical COME FROM AWAY will perform.

Best Musical Tony Award contender COME FROM AWAY won big at the Toronto Theatre Critics Awards including Best New Musical, Best Production of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical. Mirvish Productions produced the show at the Royal Alexandra Theatre last December before it moved down to New York.

The cast of Broadway's COME FROM AWAY performed the show's opening number, 'Welcome to the Rock' on last  night's LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS. Check out the appearance below!

Houston's Alley Theatre will open a new musical comedy, FREAKY FRIDAY, on June 2 to will play through July 2. A co-production by La Jolla Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse, and Alley Theatre, directed by Christopher Ashley, this wild classic has been translated into a contemporary musical comedy based on Mary Rodger's novel of the same name, with music and lyrics by Tom Kitt and   Brian Yorkey of Next to Normal and If/Then. I spoke with Jennifer Newberry, Houston native and avid performer about her performance past growing up in Houston and the striking similarity she has to her character in FREAKY FRIDAY, Gretchen.

BWW has just learned that the cast of the Tony-nominated musical COME FROM AWAY will perform on NBC's LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS on Monday, May 22nd. Kyle Chandler and Michaela Watkins are also scheduled to appear on the show.

Junkyard Dog Productions announced today that the critically acclaimed new musical COME FROM AWAY, which is nominated for 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical, won 5 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical and 4 Helen Hayes Awards including Outstanding Musical Production, and is nominated for 9 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical and the Drama League Award for Best Musical, will launch a North American Tour across the United States and Canada at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre in October 2018. COME FROM AWAY, which has been playing to standing room only audiences, features a book, music and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominees and Outer Critics Circle Award winners Irene Sankoff & David Hein, direction by two-time Tony Award nominee and Outer Critics Circle winnerChristopher Ashley (Memphis), musical staging by two-time Tony Award nominee Kelly Devine (Rocky), and music supervision by Ian Eisendrath (A Christmas Story).

Director Christopher Ashley and choreographer Kelly Devine both earned Tony nominations for their work on the seven-time nominated Come From Away. Below, watch as the duo explains how they brought the musical to life on stage!

Come from Away, nominated for seven Tony Awards, has now played 96 performances at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, but the show's road to Broadway was a long one. Just yesterday the cast celebrated a special milestone- made up from engagements in La Jolla (40), Seattle (47), DC (50), Gander (2), Toronto (65) and Broadway, and the combined performances bring the count to 300!

BWW has just learned that the cast of the Tony-nominated musical COME FROM AWAY will perform on NBC's LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS on Monday, May 22nd. Kyle Chandler and Michaela Watkins are also scheduled to appear on the show.

Due to unprecedented demand, La Jolla Playhouse announces another extension for its world-premiere musical, Escape to Margaritaville, now scheduled to run through July 9.

With Come From Away establishing itself as one of the frontrunners at this year's Tony Awards, people are buzzing more than ever. In a recent article by the Washington Post, the producers of the hit new musical discussed the lasting impact that it has been having on its audience.

WFMT's long-running weekly radio series, The Midnight Special, hosted by Rich Warren, has gotten the rights to broadcast and stream the original cast recording of the seven-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical COME FROM AWAY in its entirety on Saturday, May 27 during its weekly broadcast between 9:00 pm and 12:00 am CDT. Listeners can tune in to 98.7WFMT or go to wfmt.com/listen to access the live stream.

The Alley Theatre announces the cast and creative team of its 2016-2017 season finale production - Disney's new musical Freaky Friday.

Jenn Colella agrees that COME FROM AWAY is both a fun and important story to tell, which audiences remind her and the cast after 'every breath we take.' Audiences are also loving her performance as Beverley, which as earned her a Tony nomination for Featured Actress in a Musical. Check out the video below, as she talks about when she realized she would become a performer, and what it's like to live in the world of COME FROM AWAY!