Goodman Theatre News

Producer Scott Rudin, who holds the rights to produce the show on Broadway, has decided not to stage the Goodman Theatre production on the Great White Way.

Immediate Family by Paul Oakley Stovall, directed by Phylicia Rashad, plays the Goodman Theatre now through August 2. Check out photos from the production below!

13P, the innovative collective of 13 playwrights, is about to culminate the mission it set forth upon its founding in 2003: to produce one play by each of its members. Pulitzer Finalist, TONY Award nominee and MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship recipient Sarah Ruhl (P#13) is creating a new, chamber version of her Melancholy Play (2001) with the composer Todd Almond and Davis McCallum, who directed a version of the work in 2002.

In case you missed it in the "Showtune Mosh Pit" column last week, here is my full listing of musical theater shows (plus three special concert events) happening in Chicago this summer. Click on the name of each show for a link to more information. And enjoy!

Ensemble Theatre announces its 33rd consecutive season, dubbed "Discover The HUMAN Element." This season's selection of plays will explore the fundamentals of the human experience.

Ten Chimneys Foundation has announced the ten actors who will participate in the 2012 Lunt- Fontanne Fellowship Program, a widely acclaimed national program to serve the future of American theatre. July 22-29, the Lunt-Fontanne Fellows will join Broadway legend Joel Grey for an intensive, weeklong master class and immersion experience at Ten Chimneys, the National Historic Landmark estate of Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.

Lifeline Theatre presents "An Austen Soiree: Readings, Music and Games of Jane's World" for its 29th Anniversary Benefit.

Ten Chimneys Foundation has announced that Washington, D.C. actors E. Faye Butler, Christopher Bloch, and Brad Oscar have been selected as 2012 Lunt-Fontanne Fellows.

Producers Debbie Bisno, Fox Theatricals and Paula Wagner announced today the Broadway Premiere of GRACE, the acclaimed American play by Award-winning writer Craig Wright (Mistakes Were Made, Recent Tragic Events, Lady; "Six Feet Under"). Grace will premiere in a strictly limited engagement beginning on Friday, September 14, 2012 at a Shubert Theater to be announced. Dexter Bullard (Tracy Letts' BUG) will direct the production, which will feature an all-star cast that includes Paul Rudd and Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon, with Kate Arrington and seven-time Emmy Award®-winner Edward Asner, who returns to Broadway for the first time in nearly 25 years. Opening Night is set for Thursday, October 4, 2012.

Emmy Award winning actress Jane Lynch will host this year's Backstage at the Geffen fundraiser, which recognizes leadership in the theater community while raising support for the theater's artistic and outreach initiatives, honoring Hollywood legend Carol Burnett and Chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment Jim Gianopulos. Ms. Burnett will receive the Distinction in Theater Award and Mr. Gianopulos will be presented with the Distinction in Service Award by entertainment icon and longtime colleague Warren Beatty. The star-studded event will be co-chaired by Chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company Robert A. Iger and his wife, journalist Willow Bay. This irreverent evening of laughter, music and stories, which is sponsored by City National Bank, will be held tonight, June 4, 2012 at the Geffen Playhouse.

Paul Boskind, Ruth Hendel and Stephen Hendel, by special arrangement with the Goodman Theatre, and in association with About Face Theatre, announce Immediate Family, a new American play by Paul Oakley Stovall, directed by two-time Emmy nominee and Tony Award winner Phylicia Rashad. Immediate Family begins previews at Goodman Theatre's Owen Bruner Theatre tonight, June 2, 2012.

In June, Goodman Theatre presents four free staged readings developed as part of the Playwrights Unit, the Goodman's season-long residency program for playwrights who meet once a month to discuss their plays in progress.

Drury Lane Theatre presents the Tony Award-winning Broadway and West End smash hit THE 39 STEPS, previewing July 5, opening July 12 at 8 p.m. and running through August 26.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. The non-Equity Jeff Awards are Monday night, and we've compiled our first ever Summer Musical Theatre Guide! Here are 35 listings for your viewing pleasure....

Regina Taylor brings her musical Crowns - based on the book by Craig Marberry with photographs by Michael Cunningham-back to the Goodman stage.

Due to popular demand, FREUD'S LAST SESSION, the smash hit at the Mercury Theater (3745 N. Southport, Chicago), will now run through September 2nd with an exciting new Chicago cast, including local theater legend, Mike Nussbaum (Emmy, Drama Desk Award and four-time Jeff Award winner) as "Sigmund Freud" and Coburn Goss (Vigils at the Goodman Theatre, Dead Man's Cell Phone at Steppenwolf Theatre Companyand Off Broadway When the Messenger is Hot at 59E59) as "C.S. Lewis". A current sold-out sensation in New York and winner of the 2011 Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play, the Midwest Premiere of FREUD'S LAST SESSION has received rave reviews and a Jeff Recommendation.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tony Brunch on May 2, 2012, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Jessie Mueller, nominee for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge was thrilled to sit down and speak with nearly all of this year's Tony Award nominees at the official Tony Brunch on May 2, 2012, and we will be bringing you special coverage on all of them throughout the awards season. Today we bring you Pam MacKinnon, nominee for Best Direction of a Play for Clybourne Park.