James Lapine News

Tune in to NBC's "Today" show on Friday, April 27 at 9:30 AM (ET) to find out who will be playing the title role in the eagerly anticipated new production of the Tony Award-winning classic musical, opening in Fall, 2012 on Broadway at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

McCarter Theatre Center has announced the final two productions of its 2012-13 Theater Season: Elevator Repair Service's production of The Select (The Sun Also Rises) and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, produced in association with Fiasco Theater.

Westport Country Playhouse will present "LGBT Night OUT," for members of the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender communities and allies, beginning on Thursday, May 3, and continuing on selected Thursdays throughout the 2012 season.

'The Wizard of Oz' by L. Frank Baum, book by John Kane, music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, directed by Jonah Hagans, will be presented on TIP's mainstage May 17-20. TIP has also announced several upcoming performances and the program for its 2012-2013 season.

Today on Twitter, in response to a fan asking '@Rosie R U doing Annie or is that a rumor?', O'Donnell responded 'rumor - I auditioned but didn't get it'.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner announced today that acclaimed/awarding winning actresses Judy Kuhn and Melissa Errico will star as Fosca and Clara in the company's new production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Tony Award-winning musical PASSION, to be directed by John Doyle (the Tony Award-winning revivals of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd and Company). PASSION is slated to begin performances in February, 2013. Additional casting will be announced in the coming weeks and months, as well as full creative team. PASSION opened on Broadway in May of 1994 and received the Tony Award that year for Best Musical.

The enhanced programming surrounding Westport Country Playhouse's production of the Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical "Into the Woods" will feature a Sunday Symposium reuniting four original cast members from the 1987 Broadway production, on Sunday, May 6, following the 3 p.m. matinee performance.

The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue their 16th season with William Finn and James Lapine's Off-Broadway musical A NEW BRAIN. The one night only performance will take place tonight, April 16, 2012 at 7:30 PM at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Paul Gross, one of Canada's acclaimed actors, will lead the cast of Are You There, McPhee? a world premiere by John Guare at McCarter Theatre Center. Directed by Sam Buntrock, the production will run from May 4 through June 3, 2012. (Opening Night: Friday, May 11.)

Kim Crosby will play the Baker's Wife in the Springfield Little Theatre's INTO THE WOODS, which plays May 13-29 in Springfield, MO. Crosby created the role of Cinderella in the 1987 INTO THE WOODS, first at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and then on Broadway. Cinderella's Prince was played by Robert Westenberg, who Crosby later married.

As first reported exclusively by BroadwayWorld.com last week, the Public Theater confirmed today that Tony Award-winner Donna Murphy has been cast as The Witch in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved musical INTO THE WOODS, directed by Timothy Sheader with co-direction by Liam Steel. Murphy last performed at the Delacorte in the Shakepeare in the Park production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood in 1985. INTO THE WOODS will begin previews on Monday, July 23 and continue for five weeks through Saturday, August 25 with an official press opening on Thursday, August 9.

Queen City Theatre Company (2010 Theatre Company of the Year) is proud to announce the regional premiere of the musical PASSION. This highly anticipated production marks the closing of the company's 5th season in Charlotte, NC and will run from May 3rd until May 19th at the Duke Energy Theatre.

BroadwayWorld's Rialto Chatter was the first to break the news in January that INTO THE WOODS was to play the Delacorte Theatre as part of the 2012 Shakespeare in the Park season.

The cast has been set for the world premiere of the chamber musical LOS OTROS, with book and lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and music by Michael John LaChiusa. LOS OTROS will run May 23 through July 1, 2012, with the opening scheduled for June 3. Tony Award-winner Michele Pawk has been cast to play the role of Woman and Julio Monge will play the role of Man.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) announced additional casting today for the 50th Anniversary season of free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte. Robert Joy (Le Beau, Lord) and Oliver Platt (Touchstone) join the previously announced MacIntyre Dixon (Adam), David Furr (Orlando), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Celia), Omar Metwally (Oliver), Lily Rabe (Rosalind), and Stephen Spinella (Jaques) in Shakespeare's comedy AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

A 25th anniversary production of the imaginative, fractured-fairy tale musical "Into the Woods" by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim will be staged at the theater where Sondheim was an apprentice in 1950, Westport Country Playhouse, in Westport, CT, May 1 through May 26. Directed by Mark Lamos, the Playhouse's artistic director, the musical will open the historic theater's 82nd season. It is co-produced with Baltimore's CENTERSTAGE.

Another Sondheim musical at Center Stage is a huge success

The Public Theater has announced additional casting today for the 50th Anniversary season of free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte. David Furr (Orlando) and Stephen Spinella (Jaques) join the previously announced MacIntyre Dixon (Adam), Renee Elise Goldsberry (Celia), Omar Metwally (Oliver), and Lily Rabe (Rosalind) in Shakespeare's comedy AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Daniel Sullivan.

Exceptional casting, gorgeous piano accompaniment, and a powerful piece of theater come together to make the Lantern Theater's first attempt at a musical in 60 years a complete masterpiece. The first song of Falsettos, "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" (complete with flashlights), begins the evening on a quirky note but soon transitions into a story about five people (and in the second act, two more) who are trying to find their own happiness, their own rhythm, when life is confusing, unruly, and out of control.

Into the Woods began performances at The Pearlstone Theater on March 7, as a coproduction between Westport Country Playhouse and Baltimore Centerstage. BroadwayWorld brings you highlights from the production below!