Jack Viertel News

The Huntington Theatre Company presents a free reading and discussion with author and producer Jack Viertel at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA on Monday, June 20 at 7:30pm, moderated by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois. A New York Times bestseller, The Secret Life of the American Musical is an insider's look at the anatomy of a Broadway musical. Viertel writes about what he learned over the course of his career, including his observations about the egotists, geniuses, and workaday professionals who have sustained this unique American art form.

Every week director Robert W Schneider and actor Kevin David Thomas pull back the curtain on neglected, forgotten, and underappreciated musicals, as well as bizarre performances, endearing television appearances, and all things show business.

It's Tony Time so its time to place your bets! Who will win? Who will lose? Who wasn't nominated? Who should be nominated? Rob, Kevin, and Tony historian Bryan Hobgood, debate the 2015-2016 Theatre season in two episodes and predict who will walk away with the coveted Tony Award!

Every week director Robert W Schneider and actor Kevin David Thomas pull back the curtain on neglected, forgotten, and underappreciated musicals, as well as bizarre performances, endearing television appearances, and all things show business. This episode: Robert and Kevin discuss the brilliant lyrics of both Dorothy Fields & Corky St. Clair via SEESAW and WAITING FOR GUFFMAN.

Howard McGillin holds the record for the most performances as The Phantom in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. But, before he sang The Music Of The Night over 2,000 times, Howard starred in THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, ANYTHING GOES, and many others!

The bookwriter of ELF, ALADDIN and THE WEDDING SINGER says you can't just write a carbon copy of the source.

The Encores! production of Do I Hear a Waltz?, the romantic, rarely-seen 1965 musical that marked the only collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim, just conluded its seven performance run over the weekend. It starred Claybourne Elder, Melissa Errico, Sarah Hunt, Zachary Infante, Cass Morgan, Richard Poe, Michael Rosen, Sarah Stiles, and Richard Troxell.

New York City Center's Tony-honored Encores! series, led by Artistic Director Jack Viertel and Music Director Rob Berman, begins its 24thseason with Roger Miller's 1985 retelling of Mark Twain's classic novel, Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; followed by Cole Porter's 1930 Prohibition romp The New Yorkers, and The Golden Apple, John Latouche and Jerome Moross' 1954 reinvention of the Greek epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey into an all-American fable.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: The stars of ALADDIN announce the 2016 Drama League nominees this morning, and the company of MCC's 'A FUNNY THING...' meets the press, so stay tuned for coverage!

Just announced, Obie Award-winning BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON composer and lyricist Michael Friedman will take over as artistic director of New York City Center's popular Encores! Off-Center summer musical theater series.

Symphony Space pays exuberant homage to the Great White Way with Project B-way/95, a two-week celebration comprising 14 events, now through April 20. A particular highlight is this year's installment of Symphony Space's signature event, WALL TO WALL STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (tonight, April 16).

New Musicals at 54 is a series produced by Feinstein's/ 54 Below Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper. Some of the 10 new and diverse musicals by a selection of today's most talented writers have had out-of-town productions, some have had workshops... now's your chance to be first to see them in NYC! Join us at New Musicals at 54 for one-night-only concerts celebrating each new show with songs, behind-the-scenes stories, and all-star casts!

The unresolvedness of social themes is a feature, not a bug, as far as Miller is concerned. Miller has willed the ambiguities and the gaps in information, and tightly controlled the opportunities for interpretation that might resolve or suggest resolutions to the ambiguities. There is a path to execute, and the Everyman crew execute marvelously, but this is not the same thing as the artistry that directors and actors can ordinarily exert. Most plays give their performers more room to interpret, to breathe.

In THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL, Jack Viertel takes about musicals, puts them back together, sings their praises, marvels at their unflagging inventiveness, and occasionally despairs over their more embarrassing shortcomings. In the process, he invites us to fall in love with the art form all over again by showing us how musicals happen, what makes them work, how they captivate audiences, and how one landmark show leads to the next-by design or by accident, by emulation or by rebellion from OKLAHOMA! to HAMILTON and onward.

Encores! Artistic Director Jack Viertel today announced casting for the Encores! production of Do I Hear a Waltz?, the romantic, rarely-seen 1965 musical that marked the only collaboration of Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim. Do I Hear a Waltz? will star Claybourne Elder, Melissa Errico, Sarah Hunt, Zachary Infante, Cass Morgan, Richard Poe, Michael Rosen, Sarah Stiles, and Richard Troxell. The ensemble includes Kristine Bendul, Paloma Garcia-Lee, Jenny Laroche, Jennifer Locke, Nathan Madden, Skye Mattox, Devin Roberts, Manny Stark, and Alex Wong.

            Lincoln Center Theater, in association with Jujamcyn Theaters, has announced that Stephanie J. Block, Christian Borle, and Andrew Rannells will head the cast of its new production of William Finn and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical FALSETTOS.  FALSETTOS  begins previews Thursday, September 29, and opens on Thursday, October 27 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48 Street).

Symphony Space pays exuberant homage to the Great White Way with Project B-way/95, a two-week celebration comprising 14 events, April 7 - 20. A particular highlight is this year's installment of Symphony Space's signature event, WALL TO WALL STEPHEN SCHWARTZ (Saturday, April 16).

The Alliance Theatre, in association with producers Dori Berinstein and Bill Damaschke announced principal casting today for The Prom, the hilarious new musical that will have its pre-Broadway World Premiere at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in August 2016.

Atlanta's nationally acclaimed Alliance Theatre and Jennings Hertz Artistic Director Susan V. Booth have announced the 2016/17 Season for the Alliance Stage, Hertz Stage, Theatre for Youth and Families, and the Kathy and Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young series. The 48th season includes seven world premieres, five musicals, five productions by Atlanta playwrights, and exceptional productions for youth and families. The 2016/17 season marks the Alliance's last in its current theater space before it undergoes a complete renovation, its first since it was built in 1968.

Symphony Space pays exuberant homage to the Great White Way with Project B-way/95, a two-week celebration comprising 14 events, April 7 - 20. Curated and Produced by Joel Fram andAnnette Jolles, and named for the intersection where Symphony Space stands, Project B-way/95 salutes Broadway with an exciting array of concerts, tributes, film screenings, discussions, workshops, and more. Anchored by three starry concerts in the Sharp Theatre - an evening with the incomparable Patti LuPone (Tuesday, April 19), the cheerfully nepotistic "All in the Family" with Kelli O'Hara (Monday, April 11), and this year's installment of Symphony Space's signature event, Wall to Wall Stephen Schwartz (Saturday, April 16) - Project B-way/95 offers something for every lover of American musical theater. Tickets for all events are available at symphonyspace.org.