Jason Allen News

Boston, MA — Giacomo Puccini's indelible characters, led by doomed lovers Mimì and Rodolfo, make a 120-year leap from the 1840s to the 1960s as Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) premieres a new production of the much beloved, often-reinvented La Bohème.  Transitioning the story of mid-19thcentury Parisian bohemian artists to mid-20th century student artists on the brink of social change, thisBohème opens BLO's French-influenced 2015/2016 Season and runs October 2-11, 2015 at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSM Shubert Theatre.

WAITRESS, the promising new musical adaptation of the 2007 indie rom-com that starred Kerri Russell and Nathan Fillion, may need a bit more shaking and baking before it's ready to contend for Broadway's Blue Ribbon. However, singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, screenwriter-turned-librettist Jessie Nelson, director Diane Paulus and star Jessie Mueller have stirred enough tasty ingredients into their bittersweet concoction to whet the audience's appetite for a second serving.

Sir Ian McKellen portrays an aging Sherlock Holmes attempting to solve one last mystery in the new film MR. HOLMES.

The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter, will now add a week by popular demand and run through August 9 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Tickets for the extension will go on sale this Sunday, July 12 at noon.

The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewackand an iconic score by Cole Porter, is a spectacular revival in collaboration with Hartford Stage, choreographed by Peggy Hickey and directed by Hartford Stage Artistic Director and former Old Globe Shakespeare Festival Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak, who won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, which made its world premiere at The Old Globe and Hartford Stage in 2013. The Old Globe engagement runs now through August 2, with opening night tonight, July 9, on the Donald and Darlene ShileyStage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. Click below to watch highlights from the show!

The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter, begins tonight, July 1, on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter.

The complete cast and creative team have been announced for The Old Globe's presentation of Kiss Me, Kate, the classic musical comedy featuring a book by Sam and Bella Spewack and an iconic score by Cole Porter.

Marquis Publishing, an affiliate of the Marquis Gallery announces the release of the edition 'The Topography of Evil: Notorious Northern California Murder Sites.' The paperback and eBook is California author and photographer Marques Vickers' visual return to 43 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking narratives behind each tragedy. Over 95 visual images amplify the experience by escorting the reader to the precise physical location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. 'Obscured by time and collective memory,' notes Vickers' preface, 'revisiting a dormant crime scene is a process of comprehending the convergence of evil absorbed into a physical space. Crime scenes typically revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location's unique significance. The captured snapshots portray searing testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence.' Northern California has been the residence for many notorious individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted 'Unabomber' Kaczynski, Dan White, Edmund Kemper III, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, Juan Corona and Scott Peterson. The media has renamed some such as the Trailside Killer, Co-ed Killer, Children of Thunder, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. Over 40+ convicted or deceased murderers are profiled including 24 who remain incarcerated and 5 awaiting execution at San Quentin Prison. The region has also buried notables among the profiled victims including San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Oscar Grant III, Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson and 412 unclaimed bodies from the People's Temple Massacre in Jonestown, Guyana. "The Topography of Evil" edition is segmented into seven categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of each profile, crucial issues and questions are raised regarding capital punishment, American racial perceptions, parental influences, media reporting, public bias, self-incrimination protections and the fairness of judicial sentencing. A controversial alternative of voluntary euthanasia for the condemned is raised following the observation of California's hopelessly backlogged number of inmates awaiting execution. Currently 743 inmates are sentenced to Death Row. Florida is second with 403 and Texas third at 276. The last California execution was in 2006. An extensive listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered in the California penal system is identified by their respective current penitentiary, verdict and length of original jury sentencing. Vickers' own introduction to the consequences of murder commenced with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author's hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of the author through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and ultimately thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. The 294-page paperback edition is available through Amazon.com and in electronic format via the Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook stores. Supplementary promotional videos on numerous chapter including Huey Newton, Brooke Hart, Fishhead Beach Killings and the Marin County Courthouse Massacre are available on YouTube.com and Vimeo.com. A southern California version is current in the production stages. For further information regarding Marquis Publishing, visit TopographyofEvil.com and InsiderSeriesBooks.com. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category) Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Oakland Times Journalist Chauncey Bailey, The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre and The Contract Killing of Joseph 'The Animal' Barboza. Abductions: San Francisco's Kevin Collins, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Student Kristin Smart, Brooke Hart and the Resulting 1933 San Jose Public Lynching, Heiress Patty Hearst, Petaluma's Polly Klaas and San Luis Obispo's Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford. Historical Legacies: Dashiell Hammett's Miles Archer, Chinatown Gangster Fung 'Little Pete' Jing Toy and Mysterious Rumors involving Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Mary Ellen Pleasant and American President Warren Harding Reckless Homicides: Oscar Grant III, O'Farrell Theatre's Artie Mitchell, Diane Whipple Dog Mauling, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Laci Peterson and Multiple Police Officer Killer Lovelle Mixon Unsolved Murders: Ashkenaz Performance Owner David Nadel, The Santa Rosa Hitchhiking Murders, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen on Fish Head Beach. Rampage Mass Murders: Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple Massacre, The Helzer Brothers and the Children of Thunder, The 101 California Building Rampage, Dr. Victor Ohta mansion burning and mass slaying, The 1977 Golden Dragon Bloodbath, Carmel Valley's Mel and Elizabeth Grimes, The Oikos University Shootings, Eastside Salinas Gang Killings and Morro Bay's Lynwood 'Jim' Drake rampage. Serial Killers: 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski, 'Co-ed Killer' Edmund Kemper III, 'Sacramento Vampire' Richard Trenton Chase, Juan Corona, Herbert Mullin, 'Death House Landlady' Dorothea Puente, 'Trailside Killer' David Carpenter, The San Francisco Zebra Killings and Zodiac Killer.

Dallas Theater Center will close its 2014-2015 season with Kate Hamill's fresh and witty adaptation of Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's classic romantic novel. Sense and Sensibility is directed by Sarah Rasmussen and begins with previews on Thursday, April 23 with a Pay-What-You-Can performance and runs through Sunday, May 24. Tickets to Sense and Sensibility are on sale now at www.DallasTheaterCenter.org.

USA Today went backstage at New York's Radio City Music Hall where NEW YORK SPRING SPECTACULAR is now playing to chat with some of the Rockettes and co-stars about performing the 'Singing in the Rain' dance number as 500 gallons of simulated rain pours down on them!

In a new videy by USA TODAY's Jason Allen, funny man Martin Short discussed his new memoir, his role on Fox's 'Mulaney,' his many characters, and his favorite moment from his time on 'Saturday Night Live.'

It is a signal of good writing and significant dramatic impact that a play which premiered in 1935 can be relevant nearly eighty years later. Clifford Odets' classic AWAKE AND SING! is grounded in the dire economics of the depression era and the circumstances of a Jewish immigrant extended family struggling to survive in their overcrowded Bronx apartment. Informed by her own family history, Obie Award-winner Melia Bensussen directs the Huntington Theatre Company production with intensity and an inherent understanding of the challenges faced by the Bergers and their ilk.

Digital Book World 2013 will be exploring a vital topic today, addressing a key question for publishers-how much should they rely on startups and other industry outsiders to transform or reinvent the publishing industry? This comes after a wave of startups have emerged over the past few years that are promising to revolutionize the business.

Boston area theaters mount a weighty 'Orson's Shadow,' a delightful 'Souvenir' and a quietly powerful 'Grapes of Wrath'

Some of the barbs in this dated social satire may be rusty, but much of the bite in this SpeakEasy production of Clare Boothe Luce's classic comedy still leaves its mark

Stand up, salute, and cheer for Peter A. Carey and Company in this inspiring musical production