John Lee News

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, an upcoming restaurant and club, 54 Below, hopes to become a new staple for performers and patrons alike. The 160-seat space is set to kick off featuring Patti LuPone for two weeks in June, and has also confirmed that Brian d'Arcy James, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Rebecca Luker and Megan Hilty have scheduled performances.

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) announces the following concerts going on sale this week.

VENUS IN FUR, the acclaimed new play by David Ives, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie starring Tony Award nominee Nina Arianda and Emmy Award nominee Hugh Dancy began performances at its new home at the Lyceum Theatre last night, February 7. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the celebratory evening and brings you curtain call overage below!

VENUS IN FUR, the acclaimed new play by David Ives, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie starring Tony Award nominee Nina Arianda and Emmy Award nominee Hugh Dancy begins performances tomorrow, February 7 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street).

An upcoming restaurant and club, 54 Below, hopes to become a new staple for performers and patrons alike.

Roundabout Theatre Company in association with Damian Arnold, has announced casting for the Broadway premiere of Marc Camoletti's classic farce Don't Dress For Dinner, starring Ben Daniels as "Robert," Melora Hardin as "Jacqueline," Adam James as "Bernard" and Jennifer Tilly as "Suzanne" with Spencer Kayden as "Suzette." Don't Dress For Dinner is adapted by Robin Hawdon and directed by John Tillinger.

Tonight, February 2, 2012, Broadway's hit revival of John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse's Tony Award-winning musical CHICAGO welcomes back worldwide stage sensation and audience favorite Amra-Faye Wright in the starring role of merry murderess Velma Kelly

Manhattan Theatre Club presented its annual Winter Benefit, an evening of cocktails and dinner followed by a special one-night-only cabaret-style show last night, January 30, at The Plaza.

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has announced its nominations and special awards for excellence in Los Angeles, Orange County and Ventura County theatre for the year 2011. The 43rd Annual Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards ceremony will take place on Monday, March 19, 2012 at A Noise Within, the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, in its new 33,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art venue in Pasadena, thanks to the generous donation of A Noise Within's management. The theatre is located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107. Tickets are $40, and should be reserved in advance from the LADCC's website, at www.ladramacriticscircle.com. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. for pre-show hors d'oeuvres (with no-host bar), and the show commences at 7:30 p.m.

After her critically acclaimed stage debut as Roxie Hart both on Broadway and in London's West End last year, Christie Brinkley, one of the world's most successful supermodels, returns to Broadway this spring to reprise her killer role in the six-time Tony Award-winning musical smash hit CHICAGO.

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its annual Winter Benefit, an evening of cocktails and dinner followed by a special one-night-only cabaret-style show featuring some of the biggest stars of musical theatre on Monday, January 30, 2012 at The Plaza (58th Street & Fifth Avenue).

BroadwayWorld.com reported the news exclusively on January 9, 2012 and now the The Public Theater has officially announced the line-up for the 50th Anniversary Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte. Daniel Sullivan, who directed acclaimed productions of All's Well That Ends Well, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night in the Park, will return to direct AS YOU LIKE IT in June with Lily Rabe as Rosalind. The second show of the 50th Anniversary summer season will be Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved musical INTO THE WOODS, directed by Timothy Sheader with co-direction by Liam Steel. Based on the Olivier Award-winning Regent's Park Open Air Theatre London production in 2010, The Public Theater's INTO THE WOODS will be an all new production with an American cast and designers and will be staged in one of the most beautiful outdoor venues in the world-the Delacorte Theater. INTO THE WOODS will begin performances at the end of July.

It is an annual gathering, dating back 1991-Mark Hummel assembles some of the finest blues musicians and, in a tribute to the mighty harmonica, takes them out on the road.

On Monday, January 16, 2012, Broadway's celebrated revival of John Kander, Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse's Tony Award-winning musical CHICAGO will welcome back Mexican stage and screen sensation Bianca Marroquin in the starring role of Roxie Hart.

Manhattan Theatre Club will present its annual Winter Benefit, an evening of cocktails and dinner followed by a special one-night-only cabaret-style show featuring some of the biggest stars of musical theatre on Monday, January 30, 2012 at The Plaza (58th Street & Fifth Avenue).

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Justin Kirk will assume the role of Trip Wyeth in its critically acclaimed production of OTHER DESERT CITIES, a new play by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Joe Mantello, on Tuesday, January 10 at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45 Street).

Justin Kirk begins performances tomorrow, Tuesday January 10, joining Stockard Channing, Rachel Griffiths, Stacy Keach, and Judith Light in the Lincoln Center Theater production of OTHER DESERT CITIES, a new play by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Joe Mantello, at the Booth Theatre (222 W. 45 Street).

Six theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 47th Annual Awards in a luncheon ceremony this winter. Eighty-six theater artists were nominated for outstanding work in 61 productions presented during the 2010-2011 New York season.