Harold Prince News

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG begins performances 16 November 2012 - 23 February 2013. Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, with triple Olivier award winner Maria Friedman are making her professional directorial debut at the Chocolate Factory.

L.A. Theatre Works celebrates the 200th Anniversary of Pride and Prejudice with Christina Calvit's acclaimed stage adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel, returning from the first leg of a 25-venue national tour for five performances, today, Nov. 15-18, at UCLA's James Bridges Theater. There, the production will be recorded in front of a live audience for later broadcast on public radio and SiriusXM Satellite before heading back out on the road.

Tony® Award-winner George Hearn (La Cage Aux Folles, Scandoulous) joins the The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director), to honor legendary Broadway Music Director and Conductor Paul Gemignani with the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre at the 21st Annual Oscar Hammerstein Award Gala to be held next Monday, November 19, 2012 at The Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

At The Acting Company's 40th Anniversary Ruby Ball on Monday, December 3, 2012 at Capitale, James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director of the Signature Theatre and the Richard Rodgers Director of Juilliard's Drama Division, will accept the John Houseman Award recognizing his profound commitment to the development of American actors and an audience for the theater. Earl Weiner, Board Chairman of both The Acting Company and the Theater Development Fund (TDF) will receive the Warburg Humanitarian Award for his outstanding philanthropic endeavor and leadership. According to Barbara Fleischman, Gala Chair, Harriet Harris(Thoroughly Modern Millie, upcoming in Cinderella) and Dr. Kate Levin, Commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, will present the awards; Jim Dale will host, Kate Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow, upcoming in Giant) will perform and tributes will be offered by Angela Lansbury, Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Rainn Wilson, Dana Ivey, Hamish Linklater, Joe Dowling, Director of The Guthrie and Michael Kahn, Artistic Director of Washington's Shakespeare Theater. Four hundred guests complete an industry-filled audience of producers, directors, entertainers and other notables including The Honorable Thomas Kean, record producer Clive Davis,director/choreographer Susan Stroman, TV personality Pia Lindstrom, Juilliard President Joseph Polisi, composerMary Rodgers Guettel and The Broadway League's Charlotte St. Martin. Tickets from 212-258-3111.

BroadwayWorld.com, the premier theater news website in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in more than 20 other countries, has expanded, updated, and is now ready for this year's BWW Awards that are conducted simultaneously across all local and international markets, including the Philippines.

On April 15, 2013, Virginia's renowned Signature Theatre will honor the multiple Tony Award®-winning Broadway producer and director Harold "Hal" Prince with the company's fourth Stephen Sondheim Award. The award, established in 2009 in honor of America's most influential musical theatre writer and composer, will be presented at a black-tie Gala Benefit at the Embassy of Italy. The Sondheim Award Gala will benefit Signature Theatre's artistic, education, and community programs.

Following up on BWW's exclusive scoop on a presentation of the show, Michael Riedel reports this morning that the show has indeed been picked up by Tom Viertel and Richard Frankel who are aiming to bring the show to New York next fall.

L.A. Theatre Works celebrates the 200th Anniversary of Pride and Prejudice with Christina Calvit's acclaimed stage adaptation of Jane Austen's beloved novel, returning from the first leg of a 25-venue national tour for five performances, Nov. 15-18, at UCLA's James Bridges Theater. There, the production will be recorded in front of a live audience for later broadcast on public radio and SiriusXM Satellite before heading back out on the road.

Principal cast changes have been announced for the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the longest-running show in Broadway history. Produced by Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Group, Inc. and directed by Harold Prince, the musical phenomenon is in its unprecedented 25th year in New York, playing at The Majestic Theatre (247 West 44th Street).

Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) Broadway production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood begins previews tonight, Friday, October 19th at 8:00PM. The Mystery of Edwin Drood stars Stephanie J. Block, Will Chase, Gregg Edelman, Jim Norton, and Chita Rivera with Andy Karl, Jessie Mueller, Betsy Wolfe, Nicholas Barasch, Peter Benson, and Robert Creighton. Check out the just-released commercial for the show below and meet the cast with videos of them from past productions!

The longest-running show in Broadway history, Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, directed by Harold Prince and produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Company, Inc., will proudly welcome Broadway and West End star Sierra Boggess to the New York cast in January 2013 for a limited engagement as leading lady Christine Daae. Ms. Boggess, whose long history with the musical began when she originated the role in the revised Las Vegas production in 2006, has been specifically chosen by the creative team to join the cast in time for the production becoming the first Broadway show ever to celebrate 25 Years.

Masterworks Broadway continues to release cast recordings previously unavailable in the CD era. Seventeen (1951 Original Broadway Cast) and Cabaret (1968 Original London Cast) will be available as downloads through all major digital service providers and as disc-on-demand with the original cover art, via Arkivmusic.com and Amazon.com. All releases will be accompanied by new album pages and photos on MasterworksBroadway.com.

BroadwayWorld.com has learned that a new presentation of the production is taking place today, to hopefully line up additional investors for the show. In the cast of today's reading are Josh Grisetti, LaChanze, Emily Skinner, Sierra Boggess, Shuler Henlsey, Richard Kind, Amanda Kloots-Larsen, Caroline O'Connor and David Pittu.

The longest-running show in Broadway history, Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, directed by Harold Prince and produced by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Company, Inc., will once again make theater history when it becomes the first Broadway show ever to celebrate its 25th Anniversary on Saturday, January 26, 2013. The unprecedented milestone will be marked by a Special Gala Performance that night. While many of the evening's details are being kept under wraps, the special night will begin with an early 6:30 PM performance at The Majestic Theatre (247 West 44th Street), the musical's home for its entire run. Details for the historic performance and celebration will be announced in the coming weeks.

One for My Baby, set to a score of some three dozen Harold Arlen classics and billed as "a song-and-dance celebration ofbig-city nightlife at the end of World War II," will have a private, industry-only workshop at the New 42nd Street Studios, 229 West 42 Street, tonight, October 11 and October 12.

Since Lon Chaney first wore the mask for silent film audiences in 1925, filmmakers and stage producers have been drawn to Gaston Leroux's novel, "The Phantom of the Opera." The Alhambra Theatre & Dining will open Phantom tonight, October 10 with what director Todd Booth calls the theater's biggest, most lavish production ever. Phantom is presented by The Brumos Companies.

Now onstage in a thoroughly effective production directed by Sondra Morton at Franklin's Boiler Room Theatre, Parade is not your mama's or your granddaddy's musical comedy, to be certain.

Today, with musicals such as The Book of Mormon enjoying phenomenal box office success, revivals like The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess delighting new generations, and musical stage versions of popular films such as Once and Newsies dominating the Tony Awards, Broadway is proving yet again that its vitality and magic endure. Nominated for five 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards and winner of two, including Outstanding Nonfiction Series, THIRTEEN's landmark Broadway: The American Musical returns tonight, October 7 at 10 p.m., and continues on six consecutive Sundays through November 11 (check local listings).