Christopher Ashley News

This fall, Rent vet Adam Pascal stepped into the shoes of Tony nominee Chad Kimball as Broadway's newest 'Huey Calhoun' in MEMPHIS. Check him out in action below!

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, opens at The Bushnell on January 10, 2012 for a limited engagement.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opened to rave reviews and is coming to Heinz Hall from December 27, 2011 to January 1, 2012.

In the video below, JustinPatterson, Jamison Scott, and Kevin Massey, from the cast of Broadway's MEMPHIS, sing the holiday classic: 'I'll Be Home for Christmas.' Click below to check it out!

BroadwayWorld has learned that movie producers Peter Schneider, Laurence Mark and Barry Kemp are working on bringing 'Romy & Michele's High School Reunion' to the stage. Based on the 1997 film of the same name, the musical just held a New York reading, which featured the talents of Kerry Butler, Lesli Margherita, Adam Kantor, and Mara Davi. Christopher Ashley directed the reading.

The 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical MEMPHIS previously announced that original Broadway cast member, and Outer Critics Circle Nominee, Cass Morgan will return to the company as "Mama." Morgan will begin performances tonight, December 15th. Nancy Opel played her final performance on Sunday, December 11th, before taking a leave of absence to appear in David Bryan and Joe DiPietro's The Toxic Avenger at The Alley Theater in Houston, TX. Opel is expected to return to her role in MEMPHIS in February, 2012.

The producers of LEAP OF FAITH, the new musical based on the Paramount Pictures film, have just announced new members of the creative team for the production that will have its Broadway debut in the fall of 2012 at a theatre to be announced. With music by Academy and Grammy Award-winner Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, LEAP OF FAITH will star 4-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza as conman Jonas Nightingale.

Broadway's Memphis will begin a new performance schedule starting January 3, 2012, which will include 7pm performances Tuesday through Thursday. Friday and Saturday evening performances will take place at 8pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm.

Memphis roared into Toronto on Wednesday night, where it will play the Toronto Centre for the Arts until Christmas Eve. A unique blend of original music, choreography and story this show provides a welcome reprise from the revivals and jukebox musicals of late, plus is a toe tapper of a good time as well.

Earlier this week, La Jolla Playhouse announced a casting update for its current presentation of the acclaimed Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Playhouse Director Emeritus and Stratford Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Des McAnuff. Beginning Wednesday, December 7, Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt (Playhouse's Zhivago and Dracula: The Musical) will perform the role of Pontius Pilate for a limited engagement at the Playhouse. Whether Hewitt will remain in the production through the Broadway transfer remains unknown, but Stratford Shakespeare Festival has released the following statement:

MEMPHIS posted a contest on their Facebook fan page for fans to write a 'Jingle Bells' parody in the MEMPHIS style and post it on the MEMPHIS Facebook wall. To win, they had to acquire the most 'likes' on their lyrics.

Yesterday, December 7, Tony nominees Montego Glover and Adam Pascal, along with their MEMPHIS co-stars, brought Broadway to B. Smith's Restaurant to introduce a MEMPHIS-inspired specialty cocktail with B. Smith herself! BroadwayWorld was on hand and brings you photo coverage below!

La Jolla Playhouse announced a casting update for its current presentation of the acclaimed Stratford Shakespeare Festival production of Jesus Christ Superstar, lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed by Playhouse Director Emeritus and Stratford Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Des McAnuff. Beginning Wednesday, December 7, Broadway veteran Tom Hewitt (Playhouse's Zhivago and Dracula: The Musical) will perform the role of Pontius Pilate for a limited engagement at the Playhouse.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, November 27, 2011 - Sunday, November 27, 2011.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director), Women's Project (Julie Crosby, Producing Artistic Director) and La Jolla Playhouse (Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director; Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director) has announced a one-week extension of its critically-acclaimed, sold out New York premiere production of MILK LIKE SUGAR, a new play by Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Originally set to play a limited engagement through Sunday, November 20, the production extended through Sunday, November 27 at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). The additional week represents the only extension possible.

Adam Pascal and the cast of Broadway's 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical MEMPHIS will perform 'Radio' on THE THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE ON CBS, Thursday, November 24th. The parade is a Thanksgiving Day tradition that will broadcast on the CBS Television Network 9am-Noon, live ET; 8-11am, live CT; 7-10am, live MT; 9am-Noon, delayed PT.

La Jolla Playhouse announces two more productions for its 2012/13 season: An Iliad, a one-man adaptation of Homer's classic tale, adapted by Lisa Peterson (Surf Report, Be Aggressive) and Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out), from a translation by Robert Fagles, directed by Lisa Peterson. The production will run June 19 - July 15, 2012 in the Mandell Weiss Forum. The Playhouse will also present David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, running February 2 - March 3, 2013 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

MEMPHIS, the 2010 Tony® Award Winner for Best Musical, and the show that's currently blowing the roof off Broadway, opened to rave reviews and is coming to the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines on Tuesday, April 24 to Sunday, April 24 for eight performances only as part of the Willis Broadway Series.

Memphis, the musical, is a lot like Memphis, the city: You either love it or you hate it. But if you let its sincerely heartfelt story and evocatively written music wend its way into your heart, you'll find your soul. With the national touring company now ensconced at Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall through Sunday, it's easy to see why Memphis won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical, its spirit is infectious, its music glorious and its cast - what a stunning ensemble they are! - nothing short of wondrous.

Adam Pascal and the cast of Broadway's 2010 Tony Award winning Best Musical MEMPHIS will perform 'Radio' on THE THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE ON CBS, Thursday, November 24th. The parade is a Thanksgiving Day tradition that will broadcast on the CBS Television Network 9am-Noon, live ET; 8-11am, live CT; 7-10am, live MT; 9am-Noon, delayed PT.