Eric Schaeffer News

This summer the Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre, one of the nation?s leading forces in musical theater, launches 21/24 Signature Lab, a new initiative for the creation of musical theatre works by emerging young composers which gives audiences a first look at new musicals.

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of the Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre, today announced that Signature Theatre is expanding its American Musical Voices Project (AMVP) for a fourth year with the commission and production of a new musical by Adam Guettel for its 2011-2012 season. Also announced as part of The Next Generation segment of the AMVP were two additional musical commissions awarded to Peter Foley and Marisa Michelson as well as honoree grants given to Chris Miller and Scott Davenport Richards for the development of future musical ideas. Signature, with the support of The Shen Family Foundation, has awarded $595,000 to artists in honors and commissions in the past three years. The American Musical Voices Project is the largest single musical theater commissioning and producing initiative at any non-profit theater in America.

Signature Theatre, recipient of the 2009 Regional Theater Tony Award®, opens its 20th anniversary season on August 11 with the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde, a comedy with music about the notorious film legend Mae West.

Signature Theatre, the recipient of the 2009 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre, presents its Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret series July 7 through 24 - three weeks of live music and performances ranging from cabaret and show tunes to jazz, blues, and R&B.

The entire original cast will return for the album, they head into the studio starting today, July 2nd. The cast recording is anticipated for release later this year.

Signature Theatre, winner of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award®, celebrates its 20th anniversary this season from August 11, 2009 through June 20, 2010. The season begins with the Broadway hit Dirty Blonde, a comedy with music about the notorious film legend Mae West starring Tony Award®-nominee Emily Skinner.

The free concert is set to take place on Friday, June 19 at 5:00 p.m. The stars of Million Dollar Quartet will draw crowds to the Dock Street Stage, playing two 20-minute sets of beloved hits including ?Blue Suede Shoes,? ?Great Balls of Fire,? and ?Who Do You Love,? among others.

Glory Days, the musical by Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner, will receive an original cast album over a year after it closed on Broadway. The album of Glory Days, which closed after its opening night performance, will be distributed by Friends of Ghostlight, an extension of Sh-K-Boom and Ghostlight Records.

Signature Theatre, the recipient of the 2009 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theatre, presents its Sizzlin' Summer Cabaret series July 7 through 24 - three weeks of live music and performances ranging from cabaret and show tunes to jazz, blues, and R&B.

This summer the Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre, one of the nation?s leading forces in musical theater, launches 21/24 Signature Lab, a new initiative for the creation of musical theatre works by emerging young composers which gives audiences a first look at new musicals.

BroadwayWorld Congratulates the 2009 Tony Award Honorees, Non-Competitive Categories

The American Theatre Wing and Broadway League hosted an evening to honor 2009 Special Tony Award recipients at Montenapo last night, Saturday June 6th, 2009. Montenapo is located at 250 West 41st Street in New York City. BroadwayWorld.com's cameras were there to greet the 'Tony' crowd as they arrived.

The Tony Administration Committee revealed the names of a quartet of honorees who are to be recognized in the four non-competitive Tony categories. Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, Virginia's Signature Theatre, and longtime press agent Shirley Herz will be honored at the 63rd annual Tony Awards ceremony on June 7. Actress/writer Phyllis Newman will receive the newest Tony Award for her volunteer work as an advocate for women's health.

Signature Theatre Again Takes a Gamble and Succeeds

Signature Theatre presents Partial Eclipse, a rock song cycle by Matt Conner directed by Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer, running June 10 through 13 in Signature?s MAX Theatre. Written by the composer of the musical Nevermore, Partial Eclipse is a fascinating evening of songs about six strangers all on the never-ending quest for love and happiness. With titles ranging from ?Cinderella? to ?Bed and Breakfast? to ?Sympathy,? Conner?s songs evoke visions of love from the simple to the edgy in the straight, gay, and lesbian worlds. Six of Signature?s favorite actor/singers, Kurt Boehm, Eleasha Gamble, Sam Ludwig, Eric Ulloa, Weslie Woodley, and Rachel Zampelli, will perform the song cycle accompanied by a four-man rock band.

The cast of the smash hit Million Dollar Quartet, Chicago's beloved musical inspired by the famed 1956 recording session that brought together legendary rock ?n' roll icons Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley, will be performing a free concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park this summer, on Tuesday, June 2, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.

BroadwayWorld Presents The 2009 Tony Award Honorees for Non-Competitive Categories

On Monday, May 5, the Tony Administration Committee revealed the names of a quartet of honorees who are to be recognized in the four non-competitive Tony categories. Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman, Virginia's Signature Theatre, and longtime press agent Shirley Herz will be honored at the 63rd annual Tony Awards ceremony on June 7. Actress/writer Phyllis Newman will receive the newest Tony Award for her volunteer work as an advocate for women's health.

Epic in vision and scope, Giant chronicles The Life and times of cattleman Jordan 'Bick' Benedict, his naïve young society wife, and their family in the sweeping panorama of Texas, the land that brings them together and almost splits them apart. A sensational story of power, love, lust, and bigotry among the wealthy Anglo cattle barons and oil tycoons, and the downtrodden Mexican-Americans who work for them, Giant is based on the classic novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edna Ferber, which also inspired the film starring James Dean, ElizaBeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson. Written by Michael John LaChiusa, considered one of today's most intelligent and innovative musical theater composers, Giant is the first work produced through Signature's multi-year American Musical Voices Project.

Eric Schaeffer, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre, presents the world premiere production of the musical Giant by composer Michael John LaChiusa and playwright Sybille Pearson.