Isaiah Johnson News

Beginning today, Wednesday, April 10, tickets will go on sale to the general public for the Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) World Premiere production of FAR FROM HEAVEN.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys, Understudies and Alternates with its next edition of At This Performance… to be held tonight, April 7th at The Lion Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street at 7 PM.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys, Understudies and Alternates with its next edition of At This Performance… to be held on Sunday, April 7th at The Lion Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street at 7 PM.

The 52nd Street Project makes a difference in the lives of countless Hell's Kitchen (Clinton) kids by pairing them with theater professionals who mentor them through the creation of original theater. Perhaps the most poignant presentations made by The 52nd Street Project are those in its semi-annual Playmaking series, which features the Project's youngest Hell's Kitchen mentees-ten year-olds who have just begun their theatrical education-writing for accomplished professional actors and director-dramaturges, and revealing their work to a public audience for the first time. Reed Birney, Billy Crudup, Peter Dinklage and Myra Lucretia Taylor, along with other accomplished actors, will perform in Stand by Me: The Reliable Plays, the Project's newest Playmaking show, Stand by Me: The Reliable Plays.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) announced today complete details for FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain, the current Breakfast at Tiffany's and The Assembled Parties both now on Broadway), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, Finding Neverland) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway, The Grapes of Wrath, Finding Neverland). The musical is choreographed by Alex Sanchez (Giant, Fiorello!) and directed by three-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Grey Gardens at PH and on Broadway; Rent, Next to Normal, Giant). The musical is based on the Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes. FAR FROM HEAVEN will now begin previews Wednesday evening, May 8 at 8PM with an Opening Night set for Sunday, June 2 at 7PM. The limited engagement subscription run will play through Sunday, June 30 at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Headlining the cast is the previously-announced four-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara (nominated for her acclaimed performances in The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game, South Pacific and the current Nice Work If You Can Get It). One of Broadway's leading musical stars, she returns to Playwrights Horizons for the first time since starring in the World Premiere of the new musical My Life with Albertine in 2003. She will reunite with co-star Steven Pasquale (The Spitfire Grill at PH; reasons to be pretty on Broadway; The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide… at The Public; Drama Desk and Outer Critic Circle nominations for A Man of No Importance at Lincoln Center; The Grapes of Wrath at Carnegie Hall, star of the NBC series 'Do No Harm'). Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale created their respective roles in FAR FROM HEAVEN for the musical's Preview Production run at Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer. In addition to Ms. O'Hara and Mr. Pasquale, the full cast of FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature J.B. Adams (Parade, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway; Annie Warbucks Off-Broadway; the film Far From Heaven), Marinda Anderson (From the Inside, Out at NY Fringe Festival; Freedom Train for TheatreWorks USA), Olivier Award nominee Nancy Anderson (Wonderful Town, A Class Act on Broadway; Kiss Me, Kate in London; Yank! Off-Broadway), Elainey Bass (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), Obie Award winner Quincy Tyler Bernstine (In the Next Room… on Broadway; Ruined at MTC), Justin Scott Brown (Les Miserables, Spring Awakening national tours), Obie Award winner Alma Cuervo (PH's The Heidi Chronicles and Isn't It Romantic?; Titanic, Cabaret, Women on the Verge… on Broadway; Road Show at The Public; Wicked national tour), Korey Jackson (Wild with Happy at The Public; 'Homeland'), Isaiah Johnson (Peter and the Starcatcher; The Merchant of Venice on Broadway), Jake Lucas (Newsies), James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Ragtime, White Christmas, on Broadway; Happiness Off-Broadway), Julianna Rigoglioso (Pippi Longstocking Off-Broadway; Mary Poppins national tour, The Smurfs), Sarah Jane Shanks (Wicked, Promises Promises, Shrek, Wonderful Town, The Apple Tree on Broadway), Tess Soltau (The Addams Family on Broadway; Into the Woods for The Public/Shakespeare in the Park), Mary Stout (Cather County at PH; Jane Eyre, Beauty & the Beast, Me & My Girl on Broadway) and Victor Wallace (Mamma Mia! on Broadway, Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera national tours). FAR FROM HEAVEN will feature scenic design by Tony Award nominee Allen Moyer, costume design by five-time Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, sound design by Nevin Steinberg, projection design by Peter Nigrini and orchestrations by Tony Award winner Bruce Coughlin. Musical Director is Lawrence Yurman and Production Stage Manager is Judith Schoenfeld. Cathy Whitaker (Ms. O'Hara) seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel, with incendiary consequences. With a lush score that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, FAR FROM HEAVEN is a powerful story of romance, betrayal and intolerance, as a woman grapples with her identity in a society on the verge of upheaval. FAR FROM HEAVEN was commissioned, developed, and produced through the Playwrights Horizons Musicals in Partnership Initiative, with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Through this initiative, the musical had a Preview Production run at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, also featuring Ms. O'Hara, Mr. Pasquale, Mr. Adams, Ms. Bernstine and Ms. Stout. The program allows Playwrights Horizons to develop new works of musical theater, each in partnership with a Regional theater - wholly within the not-for-profit system. This seven-year program aims to commission at least four new works of musical theater and develop and produce three or four full-scale productions. Each of the three musicals will be produced at both one specific Regional partner and at Playwrights Horizons. Generous support for FAR FROM HEAVEN was also provided by The Laurents / Hatcher Foundation, Stacey & Eric Mindich Fund for New Musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Daniel & Joanne Smith, Cathy & Stephen Weinroth, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Tobin Theatre Arts Fund, Thomas & Patricia Barron, Bruce Horten, Rosalee A. & Bruce Lovett, Larry Tatelbaum, Elroy and Terry Krumholz Foundation, and Nancy Roistacher & Wayne P. Merkelson. The original 2002 film, which stars Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert and Patricia Clarkson, earned over 100 awards, honors and nominations. It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Actress (Ms. Moore), Best Original Screenplay (Todd Haynes), Best Cinematography (Edward Lachman) and Best Original Score (Elmer Bernstein), and was named one of the 10 Best Movies of the Decade by Entertainment Weekly. It was also named Best Film of the Year by the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Village Voice, among many others. Far From Heaven also earned 4 Golden Globe nominations including Best Screenplay, a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and a bevy of additional awards for leading actress Julianne Moore, including one from the National Board of Review Award and nominations from the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes. With FAR FROM HEAVEN, Playwrights Horizons continues its commitment to developing unique and ground-breaking new musicals, including Grey Gardens, James Joyce's The Dead, Floyd Collins, Assassins, Once on This Island and Sunday in the Park with George. FAR FROM HEAVEN reunites the theater company with Mr. Frankel, Mr. Korie and Mr. Greif, the composer, lyricist and director of Grey Gardens, which was one of Playwrights Horizons' most heralded original musicals. The project also marks the long-awaited return to the theater company of Mr. Greenberg, who was last represented there in 1987 with his play The Maderati. The performance schedule for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7PM, Thursdays and Fridays at 8PM, Saturdays at 2:30 PM & 8PM and Sundays at 2:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Both the Wednesday, May 8 and Tuesday, May 28 evening performances have 8PM curtains and the Sunday, June 2 matinee has an early 2PM curtain. Beginning the week of April 8, single tickets, starting at $80, may be purchased online via www.TicketCentral.com, by phone at (212) 279-4200 (Noon-8pm daily), via Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PlaywrightsHorizons or in person at the Ticket Central Box Office, 416 West 42nd Street (between Ninth & Tenth Avenues). A ticketing initiative created as part of Playwrights Horizons' Arts Access program, LIVEforFIVE makes available $5 tickets for the first preview performance of each Playwrights Horizons production through a lottery via the company's website. The LIVEforFIVE lottery for FAR FROM HEAVEN will be for tickets to the first preview on Wednesday, May 8 at 8PM. Details for the lottery are as follows: beginning Wednesday, May 1 at 12 Noon, theatergoers can enter the lottery by filling out an entry form at www.PlaywrightsHorizons.org. Entries will be accepted until Monday, May 6 at 12 Noon. Winners of the lottery will be notified via email no later than 3PM on Monday, May 6 with instructions on how to book their $5 tickets. Unclaimed tickets will be offered via email to a limited standby list starting at 12 Noon on Tuesday, May 7 on a first-come, first-served basis. One or two tickets may be purchased for $5 each. A limited number of tickets will be available for Mainstage shows via the lottery. Reflecting Playwrights Horizons' ongoing commitment to making its productions more affordable to younger audiences, the theater company will offer HOTtix, $25 rush tickets, subject to availability, day of performance only, starting one hour before showtime to patrons aged 30 and under. Proof of age required. One ticket per person, per purchase. Cash only. LIVEforFIVE and HOTtix are two of Playwrights Horizons' popular Arts Access initiatives, which allow the institution to reach out to those who may not be able to afford the cost of a full-price theater ticket. This program is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies. A special open captioned performance of FAR FROM HEAVEN for theatergoers who are deaf and hard of hearing will be held on the Saturday, June 8 matinee at 2:30 PM. Funding for this program is provided, in part, by the Theodore H. Barth Foundation, and TDF and TAP Plus, which is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Peter and the Starcatcher will follow Avenue Q, Rent and Million Dollar Quartet by opening off Broadway at New World Stages. According to Telecharge, the show will begin off-Broadway on March 18. The show just played its final performance on Broadway yesterday, January 20, and BroadwayWorld brings you coverage from the final curtain call below!

Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony Award-winning play by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice, will play its final Broadway performance today, January 20, 2013, ending its nearly year-long run. Directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony Award-nominee Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher began performances on March 28, 2012, and opened April 15, 2012, and is playing at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre. Before the production lands in its new home at off-Broadway's New World Stages this March, BroadwayWorld takes you on a journey through Starcatcher's beginnings (and ending) on Broadway!

Directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony Award-nominee Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher began performances on Wednesday, March 28 and opened to rave reviews on Sunday, April 15, 2012. The show will play its final performance on January 20, 2013. The production took home five 2012 Tony Awards, the most of any play of the season, including Best Scenic Design (Donyale Werle), Best Lighting Design (Jeff Croiter), Best Costume Design (Paloma Young), and Best Sound Design (Darron L West). BroadwayWorld was invited backstage at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for a special chat between Celia Keenan-Bolger and Adam Chanler Berat, and you can check out what they had to say about pre-show snacks, favorite moments, future projects, and more below!

BroadwayWorld was invited backstage at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for a special two-part tour from Celia Keenan-Bolger (right before she left the show) and Adam Chanler Berat. Click below to watch Part 2 and be sure to check back later for a special chat between the castmates!

Directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony Award-nominee Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher began performances on Wednesday, March 28 and opened to rave reviews on Sunday, April 15, 2012. The show will play its final performance on January 20, 2013. The production took home five 2012 Tony Awards, the most of any play of the season, including Best Scenic Design (Donyale Werle), Best Lighting Design (Jeff Croiter), Best Costume Design (Paloma Young), and Best Sound Design (Darron L West). BroadwayWorld was invited backstage at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre for a special two-part tour from Celia Keenan-Bolger and Adam Chanler Berat. Click below to watch Part 1 and be sure to check back later for Part 2!

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony® Award-winning play by Rick Elice which tells the back story of Peter Pan, announced today that they have partnered with the NYC Department of Education to hold a special matinee for theater students on Wednesday, December 5 at 11:30 AM, with a post-show talkback following the performance.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony® Award-winning play by Rick Elice which tells the back story of Peter Pan, announced today that the show will host a post-performance Halloween costume party on stage at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street) on Tuesday, October 30. Both the young and the young at heart are encouraged to come to the 7:00 PM performance on Halloween Eve of Peter and the Starcatcher in their best Peter Pan inspired attire. After the show, ticket holders dressed in costume will be invited on stage to meet the cast and participate in a group photo.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony Award-winning play by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice, announced today that Starcatcher has assembled a special behind-the-scenes team to help raise awareness and funds for men's health issues by letting their moustaches grow throughout the month of November as part of Movember.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony® Award-winning play by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice, announced today that the show will host a Wednesday Evening Talkback Series, commencing tonight, October 3, following the 7:00 PM performance. Each week, audience members at the specified performance will be invited to stay for post-performance talk backs that offer a behind-the-scenes look into the show, its road to Broadway, and playing Peter Pan.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony® Award-winning play by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice, announced today that the show will host a Wednesday Evening Talkback Series, commencing on Wednesday, October 3, following the 7:00 PM performance. Each week, audience members at the specified performance will be invited to stay for post-performance talk backs that offer a behind-the-scenes look into the show, its road to Broadway, and playing Peter Pan.

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony Award-winning play by Tony Award-nominee Rick Elice, today announced that the show will play its final Broadway performance on January 20, 2013, ending its nearly year-long run. Directed by Tony Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony Award-nominee Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher began performances on March 28, 2012 and opened April 15, 2012, and is playing at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street).

Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony® Award-winning play by Rick Elice, celebrates the 10th annual International Talk Like a Pirate Day today, September 19th, with a special "Stache Day" in honor of their own pirate, Black Stache. This morning, the first 100 fans in line at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street) with mustaches (real or fake!) received one free ticket for this evening's performance. Matthew Saldivar and Dave Barry were at the Brooks Atkinson to celebrate this morning with fans, and you can check out full coverage below!

PETER AND THE STARCATCHER cast member Matthew Saldivar recently made a new television promo for the show, and you can check it out below!

Directed by Tony® Award-winner Roger Rees and Tony® Award-nominee Alex Timbers, Peter and the Starcatcher began performances on Wednesday, March 28, with an official opening night on Sunday, April 15, 2012. Tickets are now on sale through January 6, 2013. The production recently took home five Tony® Awards, the most of any play this season, including Best Scenic Design (Donyale Werle), Best Lighting Design (Jeff Croiter), Best Costume Design (Paloma Young), and Best Sound Design (Darron L West). Cast members Matthew Saldivar and Kevin Del Aguila recently made a new television promo for the show and you can check it out, along with hilarious outtakes below!

The producers of Peter and the Starcatcher, the five-time Tony Award-winning play by Rick Elice, today announced "The Thing You Did" Initiative, which will provide people with the opportunity to have their inspirational stories told on a Broadway stage. Through this initiative, which was inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama's remarks at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, members of the public are invited to share a personal story of a time in their life when someone reached back to help them achieve a goal, or a time when they reached back to help someone else achieve theirs. Stories will then be selected to be told onstage by the cast after specific performances throughout the month of November.