City Center News

Nancy Manocherian's the cell presents the World Premiere of SHOES & BAGGAGE, a one-woman musical about the "high of the buy." Written and performed by Broadway veteran Cheryl Stern (La Cage Aux Folles, The Women), it is directed by Joe Barros with music by Emmy Award-winning composer Tom Kochan. Previews begin May 5 at the cell with opening slated for Thursday, May 12. NOTE: this limited engagement is produced on an Off-Broadway contract.

This Tuesday in New York City, Circus Road Films and Theatricals & Big Head Productions will present an invite-only reading of a new play The Poets of Amityville by Eugene Pack.

Arizona Theatre Company's (ATC) powerhouse season continues with one of the most celebrated works in American literature, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, the emotional and stirring account of migrant workers George and Lennie who dream of settling down on a farm where the land stretches forever and the soft rabbits need tending, tonight, March 5, through March 26 at the Temple of Music and Art, 333 S. Scott Ave. I.

The Play Company's (PlayCo) Idea Lab series complements the productions in their 2016 season by bringing together artists, scholars, writers and community leaders for stand-alone events to examine themes raised in the shows. Following performances of the world premiere of The Wildness, a co-produced with Ars Nova, Playco will present three post show events over three Thursdays, March 3, 10 & 17.

Producer Roy Furman, in association with Sandy Robertson and Luigi Caiola, just announced the return to the stage of one of the greatest voices and storytellers of our time. The legendary Tony and Grammy Award winner Barbara Cook will share the stories and songs that shaped her life and career in Barbara Cook: Then and Now, a candid and intimate evening conceived by 3-time Tony Award winner James Lapine and directed by 10-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune. 

Bergen Performing Arts Center located at 30 North Van Brunt Street in Englewood, New Jersey presents: New Milford native Rob McClure - Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 8PM. Purchase tickets for this one-night only debut at www.ticketmaster.com or Box Office at 201.227.1030. 

White Plains Performing Arts Center (WPPAC) is proud to announce that Robert Klein will present an evening of comedy to benefit the White Plains theatre on Saturday, March 12.

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for its spring musical, Pump Boys and Dinettes. This Tony Award nominee features James Barry (Jim), Gabe Bowling (Jackson), Julie Foldesi (Prudie), Jason Ostrowski (L.M.), Alysha Umphress (Rhetta) and Sam Weber (Eddie).  Pump Boys and Dinettes is conceived and written by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel and Jim Wann. Pump Boys and Dinettes will be directed by John Foley with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter. Pump Boys and Dinettes will run eight times a week at the Millburn, New Jersey, theater from April 6 through May 1, 2016. The official press opening night is Sunday, April 10, at 7:00pm. Paper Mill Playhouse's 2015-2016 Season is proudly sponsored by Investors Bank.

BILLINGS, Mont., March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ Coconut Club Vacation reviews a few of the most accommodating destinations the world has to offer the LGBT community.

The Irish playwright's second work premiered after her country adopted a new constitution limiting women's rights.

Broadway leading lady Carly Hughes has landed a series regular role on ABC's single-camera pilot THE SECOND FATTEST HOUSEWIFE IN WESTPORT, from ABC Studios. 

Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced casting for the Encores! production of 1776, the classic Tony Award-winning musical about how the founding fathers drafted the Declaration of Independence and gave birth to a new nation. 1776 will star Terence Archie, John Behlmann, Larry Bull, Nikki Renee Daniels, Andre De Shields, Macintyre Dixon, Santino Fontana, Alexander Gemignani, John Hickok, John Hillner, John Larroquette, Kevin Ligon, John-Michael Lyles, Laird Mackintosh, Michael McCormick, Michael Medeiros, Christiane Noll, Bryce Pinkham, Wayne Pretlow, Tom Alan Robbins, Robert Sella, Ric Stoneback, Jubilant Sykes, Vishal Vaidya, Nicholas Ward, and Jacob Keith Watson. 

Off-Broadway's acclaimed Classic Stage Company today announced plans for its 2016-17 season, led by incoming Artistic Director John Doyle and Managing Director Jeff Griffin. Doyle, a Tony Award winner for Sweeney Todd and the director of Broadway's highly-praised new production of The Color Purple, assumes the artistic leadership of CSC beginning in July, succeeding Brian Kulick, who has led the company since 2003. For CSC, Doyle has directed Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro, and later this season will direct Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt.

The world premiere of THE WILDNESS: SKY-PONY'S ROCK FAIRY TALE, with text by Obie Award winner Kyle Jarrow and Lauren Worsham and songs by Kyle Jarrow, opens tonight, February 29, 2016. Presented by Ars Nova in collaboration with The Play Company, a limited Off-Broadway engagement is slated through March 19.

Seattle's Pacific Northwest Ballet under the artistic direction of Peter Boal returned to New York City Center in February 2016 with an 'All Balanchine' program on the 24th and 25th followed by a triple bill, 'Contemporary Innovations', on the 26th and 27th. The latter, which I saw on the 26th, featured works by two choreographers who had at one time worked with William Forsythe as members of Ballett Frankfurt and a third piece by Forsythe himself. Forsythe's protegees created pieces that harked back to his own reinvention of classical ballet, yet went further in that direction with strikingly individual styles. The PNB dancers, superbly trained and impeccably rehearsed, gave world-class performances in all three of the evening's offerings. In particular, Angelica Generosa was a shining presence with superb technique. She is currently a member of the corps de ballet, but I see a promotion in her future.

One thing I can always count on when I go to a National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Pops concert featuring music of the Great White Way - and perhaps beyond - is that the accomplished musicians and their exceptional conductor Steven Reineke will give it all the energy, vigor and verve it deserves. This was certainly the case on Friday night as the orchestra and guest vocalists Darren Criss and Betsy Wolfe explored a bit of the current Broadway repertoire.

COSTA MESA, CA – Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the return of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in an exclusive Southern California engagement April 6 – 10, 2016. The program includes eight works never before seen at the Center, four Southern California premieres and new productions of Ailey classics. In addition to the three full repertory programs, on April 3 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Center and the Company will hold their second free community event – Revelations Celebration – on the Arts Plaza, and on April 6 at 7:30 p.m., Discover Ailey, a special hour-long Ailey mini performance with all seats at just one price.

Jean-Christophe Maillot has put his own choreographic stamp on Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella. The music is faster than that used in the classical version. For this reason, the up-tempo pace keeps the viewers from getting bored. The story is basically the same Cinderella story we have come to know since childhood. What is unusual is in the telling.

Arizona Theatre Company's (ATC) powerhouse season continues with one of the most celebrated works in American literature, John Steinbeck's OF MICE AND MEN, the emotional and stirring account of migrant workers George and Lennie who dream of settling down on a farm where the land stretches forever and the soft rabbits need tending, March 5-26 at the Temple of Music and Art, 333 S. Scott Ave. I.

Performances are on now for the next Mint Theater production, WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, and continue through March 26th at New York City Center Stage II (131 West 55th Street). The play explores the clash of conflicting natures and petty competitions that erupt amongst the cloistered teaching staff of an all-girls boarding school. Opening Night is set for tonight, February 25th. BroadwayWorld has a look at the cast in action below!