Harold Prince News

Variety reports that Oscar-winning and Tony-nominated stage and screen powerhouse Meryl Streep will receive the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's annual Monte Cristo award for her distinguished contributions to theater. Streep will be presented the Monte Cristo award by actor and Yale School of Drama classmate Joe Grifasi on April 21, 2014 in New York City.

Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson will portray Mrs. Lovett in the New York Philharmonic's staged production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, March 5-8, 2014. The production will mark Ms. Thompson's New York Philharmonic debut, New York stage debut, and first time performing the role. As previously announced, bass-baritone Bryn Terfel will star as the title character, Music Director Alan Gilbert will conduct, Lonny Price will direct, and Lonny Price and Matt Cowart are the producers. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Nathan Lane, Harold Prince, Angela Lansbury, Laura Osnes, Harriet Harris, Kate Burton, Kristine Nielsen, Alfred Uhry will salute actress Dana Ivey and arts patron Barbara Fleischman at The Acting Company's Gala on Monday, October 21 at Capitale. Ms. Ivey will receive the John Houseman Award recognizing her profound commitment to the development of American actors and a national audience for the theater. Ms. Fleischman will be presented the Warburg Humanitarian Award for her outstanding philanthropic endeavor and support of the arts. Harriet Harris (Cinderella) and Barclay Collins are Gala Chairs, Nathan Lane (The Nance) and Hal Prince (21 Tony Award winner) will present the awards; Stephen DeRosa (Boardwalk Empire) will host, Laura Osnes (Cinderella) will perform. Tributes will be offered by a host of celebrities. Three hundred guests complete an industry-filled audience of producers, directors, entertainers and other notables including TheHonorable Thomas Kean, record producer Clive Davis, playwrights Alfred Uhry and Elizabeth Egloff, actresses Angela Lansbury (upcoming in London's Blithe Spirit), Debra Monk (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Kate Burton (Scandal), Kristine Nielsen(Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) and Patricia Conolly, directors Nicholas Martin (Vanya and Sonia and Masha an Spike),Jack O'Brien (Macbeth), Mark Lamos (Harbor) and Walter Bobbie (Venus in Fur) and producers Jack Viertel, James Houghtonand Edgar Lansbury.

Symphony Space opens its 2013-14 Music season with 'Kurt Weill on Broadway,' tonight, October 7 (8 pm) at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre. Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Broadway opening of Weill's One Touch of Venus. Ted Chapin hosts a stellar cast featuring Melissa Errico, Brent Barrett, Judy Blazer, and Ron Raines, plus winners of the international Lotte Lenya Competition.

Great Lakes Theater (GLT) will commence its 2013-14 season at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, with a Fall Repertory that features William Shakespeare's royal epic, Richard III and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical thriller, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The productions will be performed in rotating repertory September 27 - November 3, 2013.

The Arden Theatre opened their twenty-sixth season with a stellar production of PARADE. This musical takes place in 1913 and tells the story of Leo Frank who was accused of murdering a thirteen year old girl, Mary Phagan. This show grapples with the trial of Leo Frank, and the racial environment that surrounded the trial in Georgia. PARADE depicts the resentments and fears held by many Georgians during the early twentieth century. The Arden's production of PARADE, under the direction of Terrance Nolan, is powerful, thought provoking, and well executed.

Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts has announced the award-winning Gioia De Cari's TRUTH VALUES: One Girl's Romp Through M.I.T.'s Male Math Maze, directed by Miriam Eusebio will play five performances at The Harold Prince Theatre, Annenberg Performing Arts Center (3680 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104), in addition to five other cities this Fall Season. Performances begin tonight, October 1 and continue through Saturday, October 5.

Show-stopping choreography. Unforgettable songs. Playhouse audiences are invited to take a seat at the Kit Kat Club as the excitement of big Broadway musicals returns to the Robert S. Marx Theatre stage with CABARET, from Oct. 19 through Nov. 16. English singer Sally Bowles and American novelist Clifford Bradshaw fall into a stormy romance as Nazi influence rises in pre-war Berlin and the political axis shifts.

Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) (Jed Bernstein, Producing Director) has announced the creation of the Bucks County Playhouse Hall of Fame to honor theatrical luminaries who have graced the New Hope stage. The inaugural inductee will be the five-time Tony Award winner and Playhouse alumna Angela Lansbury.

Great Lakes Theater (GLT) will commence its 2013-14 season at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare, with a Fall Repertory that features William Shakespeare's royal epic, Richard III and Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical thriller, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The productions will be performed in rotating repertory tonight, September 27 - November 3, 2013.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold 'Hal' Prince has been postponed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts. Now according to the New York Times, the musical is having trouble raising the funds to open on Broadway.

The Huntington Theatre Company presents a concert version of Jason Robert Brown's powerful contemporary musical The Last Five Years for three performances only November 23 and 24. Adam Kantor (Rent, Avenue Q) and Betsy Wolfe (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture) play the two twenty-something New Yorkers who dive head-first into marriage, fueled by the optimism of finding 'the one.' Winner of Drama Desk Drama Awards for Outstanding Music and Outstanding Lyrics, The Last Five Years takes a bold look at one young couple's hope that love endures the test of time.

Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic's concert staging of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical Company with an all-star cast including (in alphabetical order) Craig Bierko (as Peter), Stephen Colbert (as Harry), Jon Cryer (as David), Katie Finneran (as Amy), Neil Patrick Harris (as Robert), Christina Hendricks (as April), Adam Lazar (as Paul), Patti LuPone (as Joanne), Jill Paice (as Susan), Martha Plimpton (as Sarah), Anika Noni Rose (as Marta), Jennifer Laura Thompson (as Jenny), Jim Walton (as Larry), and Chryssie Whitehead (as Kathy).

Great Performances presents the New York Philharmonic's concert staging of Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical Company with an all-star cast

'Sondheim: A Musical Tribute' was the title given to a benefit staged in March 1973. American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the National Hemophilia Foundation first wanted to honor Harold Prince, but he declined, so they chose Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim thought it would be 'merely a dinner,' but it was actually a full-scale production with 33 performers and a 30-piece orchestra, staged on the set of the then-running 'A Little Night Music' at the Shubert Theatre. Below, check out footage from a short documentary that was made about the show.

Starring in the Musical Salute are Kennedy Center Award Honoree/Tony Award winner Barbara Cook, four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, record setting multi-Tony Award winnerHarold Prince, beloved TV and Stage Icon Charlotte Rae, multiple Academy, Grammy, Drama Desk Award winnerStephen Schwartz, Academy and Grammy Award winner David Shire and nine time Tony Award winner Tommy Tuneamong others, all performing songs with lyrics written by Mr. Harnick.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, the Tony Award-winning musical that has captured the hearts of people all over the world with its universal story of life, love and tradition, kicks off freeFall Theatre Company's Season of Outcasts playing tonight, September 21 through November 3. Fans of last fall's smash hit, CABARET, will not want to miss this unexpected, daring and authentic staging of a Broadway classic.

The Pearlman Sisters will present Devotedly, Sincerely Yours: The Story of the USO as part of the By Local series at The Annenberg Center October 18-19. Written by and starring Samantha Joy Pearlman, DSY is a swingin' big band portrait of a courageous female starlet of the United Service Organization (USO) who risked her life to entertain American troops overseas during World War II. The show is directed by Philadelphia native Kate Galvin, with Jamison Foreman serving as musical director. This new musical weaves archival text, patriotic jazz standards, and tap dancing to investigate war as experienced by a 'soldier in greasepaint.'

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, PRINCE OF BROADWAY, the new musical celebrating legendary Broadway director and producer Harold 'Hal' Prince has been postponed indefinitely due to scheduling conflicts. Now according to the New York Post, the musucal will debut in Osaka, Japan before moving to Broadway in Spring of 2016.

Below, we launch our 'Meet the Staff' series by profiling our Chief Theatre Critic Michael Dale!