Jane Austen News

Though it never made it to Broadway, LOVE FROM JUDY was a 1952 West End hit.

On the heels of Hallmark Channel's #1 rated Countdown to Christmas, the network continues to roll-out seasonal programming with its inaugural 'WINTERFEST' event featuring four world premiere original movies every Saturday in January 2016.

Continuing to bring original musical stories and new productions to beloved Chicago audiences, 'Hershey Felder Presents' (George Gershwin Alone, Maestro Bernstein, The Pianist of Willesden Lane, Louis and Keely 'Live' at the Sahara) now brings BARITONES UNBOUND, a new play with music and baritone superstars to the Royal George Theatre as part of a continuing season of new productions. Performances begin at the Royal George, 1641 N. Halsted Street, today, December 11th, 2015 and continue through Sunday, January 3rd, 2016 with a press opening on Sunday, December 13th at 3:00 p.m. A special New Year's Eve performance includes a champagne and dessert reception with the artists.

DADDY LONG LEGS will become the first ever Broadway or Off-Broadway performance to be broadcast online to the world for free tonight, December 10, 2015.

The highly acclaimed Chichester Festival Theatre revival of GUYS AND DOLLS, begins tonight, December 10, at the Savoy Theatre in the West End.

In IMPRO THEATRE'S JANE AUSTEN UNSCRIPTED; seven very talented, quick-thinking members of the Impro Theatre, with only two idea suggestions from the audience, act out (sans script) a hysterical complete beginning-middle-and-end of a tale based on Jane Austen's writings.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) has secured worldwide licensing rights to Off-Broadway's DADDY LONG LEGS by Tony Award -nominated composer-lyricist Paul Gordon (JANE EYRE) and Tony-winning librettist-director John Caird (LES MISERABLES). The new two-actor musical is an adaptation of Jean Webster's 1912 novel, which also inspired the 1955 movie starring Fred Astaire.

Sundance Institute today completed its feature film lineup for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival with the highly anticipated narratives, documentaries, episodic work and events in the Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Spotlight, Sundance Kids and Special Events sections.

It's been 200 years since Jane Austen's incorrigible matchmaker "Emma" first came on the scene in print and since has spawned film versions, adaptations and has never been out of print since its release. And while the current adaptation from Book-It Repertory Theatre keeps the mischievousness and attitudes alive, at times if feels a little too static making this romp drone on a bit.

Clever, sharp and witty, "Emma" the musical is as charismatic as it title character. Creator Paul Gordon took the Jane Austen classic and gave audiences a crisp, well-paced and engaging script with a score that wonderfully serves its characters' acerbic humor and innermost thoughts. Gordon's soliloquy style and multiple short themes highlight each role, which, when well-cast, sell the show with radiant storytelling. In the case of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, a four-member orchestra also adds charm.

The 11th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, kicks off its much-anticipated three-day festival of brand-new works on Friday, January 15, 2016 at the Goodspeed Opera House with a staged reading of a new Southern Gothic musical, We Foxes by Ryan Scott Oliver.

A lengthy, stylized improvised narrative, especially one that isn't rooted in the predictable contingency of absurd comedy, is a sophisticated practice—one that Impro Theatre, a Los Angeles-based improvisational group presented in Santa Barbara by Instant Karma Improv Comedy, presents in abundance.

Adam Halpin (Broadway's GLORY DAYS, RENT Natl. Tour) has just joined the cast of the new musical Daddy Long Legs, alongside his wife Megan McGinnis (Broadway's LES MISERABLES, SIDE SHOW, LITTLE WOMEN). Halpin, recently seen in another two-person musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Long Wharf Theatre, assumed the role on November 20th. The couple will appear together onstage through February 2016.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

DADDY LONG LEGS has just announced that it will be the first ever Broadway or Off-Broadway performance to be broadcast online to the world for free on December 10, 2015.

et City Improv is excited to announce it's Artistic Director, Andrew McMasters, will be teaming up with his wife, Mary Lindsey McMasters (JCI's Education and Donor Development Coordinator) to direct a new ensemble piece created by the undergraduates of the UW School of Drama for it's 75th anniversary season.

November 16, 2015—(Boston, MA) Delighting audiences of all ages with a sense of youthful imagination, Mikko Nissinen's The Nutcracker returns to the Boston Opera House from November 27–December 31, 2015. Celebrated as “elegant and theatrically striking,” this completely re-imagined production premiered in 2012 and has received praise from audiences and critics alike (The New York Times). With “sleek, bejeweled costumes and spacious, regal sets” by Robert Perdziola and all-new lighting design by Finnish-based Mikki Kunttu, this timeless holiday classic features the full company of 68 dancers along with more than 200 Boston Ballet School students (Thea Singer, The Boston Globe). 

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.

This year we celebrate the 14th anniversary of everyone's favorite mall elf, Crumpet, in THE SANTALAND DIARIES by David Sedaris and adapted to the stage by Joe Mantello. See the show that has become an 'anti-holiday tradition' for San Francisco's audiences and escape the craziness of the holidays with Combined Artform at the Eureka Theatre.

Starting tonight, November 20, Adam Halpin (Broadway's GLORY DAYS, RENT Natl. Tour) stars in the new musical Daddy Long Legs, alongside his wife Megan McGinnis (Broadway's LES MISERABLES, SIDE SHOW, LITTLE WOMEN). Halpin, recently seen in another two-person musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS at Long Wharf Theatre, will appear together with his wife through February 2016.