Craig Smith News

On May 7, Barbara Eden will take her magic to the longest running professional dinner theater in the country when the Alhambra Theatre & Dining opens Social Security, a comedy that was originally directed on Broadway by Mike Nichols. Social Security is presented by WEJZ-FM

King Lear's fate is sealed in Shakespeare's play: to be tragically reunited with the one daughter he loves. But what would be the fate of his faithful Fool? That question lies at the heart of 'The Fool's Lear,' a new play by Randy Neale, which will have its New York premiere May 5 to 25 as a featured production of Phoenix Theatre Ensemble's Tenth Anniversary Spring Rep season at The Wild Project 195 E. 3rd Street (at Ave. B). This new, funny, poignant comedic drama follows the journey of the Fool and his King as they ply a path along side Shakespeare's great tragedy, exploring hilarious and harrowing byways between its scenes. Grant Neale directs and plays The Fool and Craig Smith plays The King in a play which South Carolina critics called a delight and a must-see comic drama.

As a featured event of its Tenth Anniversary Spring Rep season, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble (www.PhoenixTheatreEnsemble.org) will present 'Dogg's Hamlet, Cahoot's Macbeth' by Tom Stoppard from May 2 to 23, 2014 at The Wild Project 195 E. 3rd Street (at Ave. B). It's an evening of two short plays in which Stoppard radically shortens 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth' to craft a witty Shakespearean two-step on serious themes of artistic dissent. Kevin Confoy directs.

For the first time in its 48-year history the Alhambra Theatre & Dining in Jacksonville (FL) will perform The Color Purple. Nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2006, the show will open at the Alhambra today, March 26 and run through April 27, 2014.

For the first time in its 48-year history the Alhambra Theatre & Dining in Jacksonville (FL) will perform The Color Purple. Nominated for 11 Tony Awards in 2006, the show will open at the Alhambra on March 26 and run through April 27, 2014.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis is in the building. As will be The Beatles, Branson on the Road, Abba and Elton John - or at least exceptional facsimiles thereof when the Alhambra Theatre & Dining adds a new concert series to its 2014 line up.

In 1984 Tod Booth was hired to direct at the then-named Alhambra Dinner Theatre. The show? I Ought to be in Pictures starring Claude Akins. Five weeks later, on a return trip to watch a show, while sitting at table B15 with owner Leon Simon, Tod made an offer to buy the Alhambra. The deal was done on a napkin. In two years he took the gross revenue from $700,000 to $2,500,000 and was named 'Entrepreneur of the Year' by the Jacksonville Business Journal. The rest, as Tod says, 'is history.' While not necessarily billed as an anniversary, it's hard to miss the parallels between the 1984 production and the 2014 production: Tod is still directing and the Alhambra is still bringing in big-name guest stars, this time Richard Karn from television's Home Improvement. I Ought to be in Pictures opens February 12, 2014 at the nation's longest running professional dinner theater.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis is in the building. As will be The Beatles, Branson on the Road, Abba and Elton John - or at least exceptional facsimiles thereof when the Alhambra Theatre & Dining adds a new concert series to its 2014 line up.

Drive a ways outta town in central North Carolina, and you'll come to a filling station, and across the blacktop is the Double Cupp Diner. You wouldn't know that this little stop on North Carolina Highway 57 is where all the action is, but once the boys get revved up with their guitars and fiddles, it might as well be the center of the music world. Featuring Ashley Roberson, fresh off of her critically acclaimed and popular performance in South Pacific, Pump Boys and Dinettes presented by WQIK will be backed by a live band and promises to be a fun show.

Craig R. Smith presents a reconstructed historical novel of Herod the Great, after he is consigned to hell, in, 'Herod from Hell: Confessions and Reminiscences' (published by AuthorHouse).

On Friday evening, December 6, just before the Gala Grand Opening of it's holiday show, Christmas Carole, The Alhambra Theatre & Dining, the nation's longest running professional dinner theater, kicked off it's 5th season under new ownership.

When the new Alhambra Theater & Dining opens it's production of Bruce Allen Scudder' Christmas Carole, it will mark the 21th time in the last 23 years for the Christmas classic at the nation's longest running professional dinner theater.

This November, Disney salutes National Aviation History Month, a month-long celebration of U.S. aviation's storied past, with the release of the high-flying family adventure 'PLANES' on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD and On-Demand on November 19

Director Dean Sobon and Pittsburgh's Trey Compton as Finch bring Dutch Apple a hilarious ride up the corporate ladder

Eddie Mekka, who played the role of Carmine Ragusa - the Big Ragu - in the hit TV series Lavern & Shirley will be featured in the Alhambra's upcoming performance of Rogers and Hammerstein's, South Pacific presented by Brumo's. Mekka follows his Laverne & Shirley cast-mate (and good friend) Cindy Williams.

The Alhambra Theatre & Dining (www.alhambrajax) will open its 2014 season - its 47th - with a rockin' musical and close it out in December with a return of show that sold 100% of it's tickets in 2012. Season Packages will go on sale to the general public on October 4, said Managing Partner Craig Smith.

Owing to sold-out houses and one extremely encouraging major review, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble is extending its production of Shaw's'Don Juan in Hell,' directed by Karen Case Cook, through October 6 at the newly-renovated Paradise Factory Theater, 64 East 4th Street (between 2nd and Bowery).

BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ Marriott International, Inc. (NYSE: MAR) announced today that Robert J. McCarthy, chief operations officer of the company, will retire at the end of February 2014 after 38 years of distinguished service.

Phoenix Theatre Ensemble has announced that its Tenth Anniversary season will begin tonight, September 18 with George Bernard Shaw's Don Juan in Hell and a cabaret performance of songs of Jacques Brel titled Go To Brel on September 20 performed at the newly renovated Paradise Theatre Factory at 64 East 4th Street (next door to La MaMa).