Cleavant Derricks News

Hear from Wicked superfans who were in attendance at the first performance, including one who has seen the show 267 times!

Today's top stories: check out the new trailer for the West Side Story film, the Wicked tour will be the first to reopen when it resumes next week, and more!

WICKED will be the first Broadway tour to resume performances in the U.S. following the pandemic shutdown.  The musical will relaunch at the Music Hall at Fair Park in Dallas from August 3 – September 5, 2021, kicking off the 2021-2022 Germania Insurance Broadway Series presented by Dallas Summer Musicals.

The producers of the hit musical have also announced complete casting for the relaunch of the North American Tour. Talia Suskauer (Elphaba), Allison Bailey (Glinda), Sharon Sachs (Madame Morrible) and Tony Award and Drama Desk Award winner Cleavant Derricks (The Wizard) will return to their roles.

Stars in the House continues tonight (8pm) with everything Effie with DREAMGIRLS Lillias White, Roz Ryan and Kecia-Lewis Evans.

Chances are, as America is an increasing book-abhorrent culture, most folks familiar with THE WIZARD OF OZ know only of the 1939 Judy Garland film, versus author L. Frank Baum's children's 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. While the book and the film are fairly well aligned as children's entertainment, author Gregory Maguire's 1995 spin on the story, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is most definitely for the adults. Political upheaval, adultery, multiple murders, family dysfunction, betrayal, it's downright Shakespearean. All three serve as fantastical fodder for Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman's Broadway production of Wicked, a sort of Oz-ian 'Odd Couple,' were Neil Simon a fan of J.R.R. Tolkein and J. K. Rowling: 'On Ozmember the 13th, Elphaba was asked to remove herself from her place of residence; that request came from her father. Deep down, she believed he was right, but knew that someday she would return. With nowhere else to go, she appeared at university and meets Galinda, fresh off an off-Broadway run of LEGALLY BLONDE. Can two strange women share a dorm room together without driving each other crazy?'

Wicked in Little Rock's Robinson Performance Hall is a thrill of sight and sound. It has stunning visuals and magnificent performers that will carry you away on a thrilling night of theatre.

Good News! Wicked is back in Jacksonville! The prequel to The Wizard of Oz tells the story of the witches of Oz before Dorothy showed up. Surprise, Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West were friends! This was my fourth time seeing the spectacular show, and it is just as magical as the first time I saw it. During the entire performance, I had the biggest grin on my face out of sheer amazement and wonder.

Today, producers Eden Espinosa, Bridget Elise Yingling, Scott Prisand, Doug Feurring and Jana Shea announced a one-night-only 15th Anniversary reunion concert of BKLYN: The Musical featuring Original Broadway stars Drama League nominee Eden Espinosa (RENT, Wicked) as Brooklyn, Tony Award winner Karen Olivo (Moulin Rouge, In the Heights) as Faith, and stage star Ramona Keller (The Public Theatre's Hercules, City Center's Little Shop of Horrors) as Paradice. The concert, which benefits Covenant House Foundation (www.covenanthouse.org), will be presented on the 15th anniversary of the show's Broadway opening night, Monday, October 21 at 7:30 PM, at Brooklyn Steel (319 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY 11222). Tickets can be purchased HERE. 

The Broadway sensation WICKED will welcome new cast members to the National Tour beginning performances Tuesday, September 24 at The Smith Center in Las Vegas.

To close out their 2018-2019 season Rochester's Geva Theatre chose a piece with deep historical, musical, and local significance. Revival: The Resurrection of Son House was commissioned by Geva in 2015 and received a staged reading that year at their festival 'Journey to the Son: A Celebration of Son House.' The fully-staged production is now getting its world premiere, and it's the perfect capstone to a season rich with history, diverse voices, and new works.

Geva Theatre Center's 46th Season concludes with the world premiere of Revival: The Resurrection of Son House, written and directed by Keith Glover, with music by Son House, Billy Thompson and Keith Glover, musical direction by Billy Thompson and choreography by Norwood Pennewell, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from May 1 through June 2, 2019.

Geva Theatre Center's 46th Season concludes with the world premiere of Revival: The Resurrection of Son House, written and directed by Keith Glover, with music by Son House, Billy Thompson and Keith Glover, musical direction by Billy Thompson and choreography by Norwood Pennewell, in the Elaine P. Wilson Stage from May 1 through June 2, 2019.

Riding the wave of renewed interest in August Wilson's 10 play, American Century Cycle, South Coast Repertory has one particular Wilson drama on their sonar at the moment: GEM OF THE OCEAN, the riveting, epic-sized 2003 drama now continuing at the Costa Mesa theater through November 11. An exquisitely rendered, mesmerizing production superbly directed by Kent Gash and featuring a truly impressive, excellent ensemble cast, SCR's new regional production of GEM OF THE OCEAN combines a bountiful interweaving of historical references, personal and emotionally-tinged character confessionals, and mystical, magical elements to fashion one of the most fascinating and engaging works of drama I have experienced in this Tony Award-winning regional theater.

August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean will continue South Coast Repertory's 2017-18 season. With quiet power and undeniable beauty, Gem of the Ocean transports audiences to 1904 Pittsburgh and tells a story that mixes legends from the past with notes of hope for the future. Kent Gash will direct Gem of the Ocean on the Segerstrom Stage, Oct 14-Nov. 11, 2017. Tickets are available at www.scr.org.

The event, which honors the work of the state's professional theaters, was held at Sacred Heart University's Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts June 26. Three-time Tony Award-nominee Terrence Mann was master of ceremonies.

TheaterWork's production of the musical "Next to Normal" led the nominations for the 27th annual Connecticut Critics Circle Awards event to be held Monday, June 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart University's Edgerton Center for the Performing Arts in Fairfield.

NEXT TO NORMAL, INVISIBLE HAND TOP Connecticut Critics Circle Award Nominations

GOOD MORNING, THEATERATI! It's Monday, May 15, 2017, which begs the question: What's on your theatrical agenda this week? There's plenty to see and do, so we simply won't allow any excuses: Get thee to a darkened auditorium, settle into your seats and allow yourself to be transported and, in the process, transformed - all thanks to the magic of live theater!

Geva Theatre Center presents Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, a funny and poignant stage adaptation of the beloved Academy Award©-winning film.  Adapted by Todd Kreidler and based on the screenplay by William Rose, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is directed by Skip Greer and will be performed in the Wilson Stage from February 14 to March 12.