Kenneth Branagh News

Two-time Olivier Award winner Simon Russell Beale's performance in the title role of William Shakespeare's KING LEAR, directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, will be seen by cinema audiences worldwide when NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE broadcasts the production live from the National's Olivier Theatre today, May 1, 2014, with varying dates internationally and encore screenings to follow.

Featuring theatre and film heavyweights-and real-life friends-Sir Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation, X-Men) and Sir Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings, X-Men) and offering a compelling look behind the scenes of a West End production of Beckett's influential Waiting for Godot, Theatreland debuts on DVD on May 13, 2014 from Athena, an RLJ Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand. Filmed on location at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, a historic London playhouse that dates back to 1720, the program features rare, candid behind-the-scenes footage that follows two productions,Waiting for Godot and Breakfast at Tiffany's, from rehearsals to opening night. Broadcast on public television in October 2010, the documentary is ever more relevant with Stewart and McKellen's recent Broadway performances in Waiting for Godot andNo Man's Land. The DVD 2-Disc set includes eight episodes, plus a 12-page viewer's guide (201 min., $39.99,AcornOnline.com).

GRASSROOTS SHAKESPEARE LONDON is the only company performing Shakespeare in the West End for Shakespeare's 450th birthday. The four star production starring BBC's James Alexandrou as Iago and Ian Charleson Award nominee Nari Blair-Mangat is sold out throughout the birthday week, with the final performance on the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's baptism, 26th April.

Reviving important but neglected operas is one of the ways the Bard SummerScape festival in New York's Annandale-on-Hudson has established itself, and this year's immersion in "Schubert and His World" - culminating in the 25th-anniversary season of the Bard Music Festival - is no exception. To enrich its exploration of the roots of Austro-German Romanticism, Bard presents Euryanthe (1823) by Schubert's contemporary Carl Maria von Weber, marking the opera's first American revival in 100 years. Headlined by Ellie Dehn, Bard's original staging is by Kevin Newbury, creator of SummerScape's production of Richard Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae. Euryanthe's five performances (July 25, 27 & 30; August 1 & 3) feature the festival's resident American Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of music director Leon Botstein, who also leads semi-staged performances of Schubert's own seldom-heard opera Fierrabras starring Joseph Kaiser, best known for his leading role in Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of The Magic Flute, on August 17, and of a double-bill of rarities - Schubert's one-act Singspiel Die Verschworenen and Franz von Suppe's operetta Franz Schubert - on August 10.

Laguna Playhouse will present the return of Rita Rudner who will be performing her award-winning solo comedy, AN EVENING WITH RITA RUDNER and her new dress, for two performances only, Saturday, May 31 and Sunday, June 1 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach.

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: Billy Porter's new solo album is out today, Chloe Grace Moretz stars in THE LIBRARY, opening at the Public and more!

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE has announced an international broadcast of the National Theatre of Great Britain's production of Euripides' Greek tragedy MEDEA, in a new version by Ben Power, directed by Carrie Cracknell and starring Helen McCrory in the title role. The production will be broadcast live from the National's Olivier Theatre on Thursday September 4 2014, with varying dates internationally and encore screenings to follow.

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of VIOLET, starring Sutton Foster, Colin Donnell, Alexander Gemignani and Joshua Henry, begins previews tomorrow, March 28, 2014. VIOLET officially opens on April 20, 2014 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street). Scroll down to learn more about the full company and check out a sneak peek performance and interviews with the cast!

Acclaimed stage and screen star Kenneth Branagh looks back at the legendary original West End production of the politically applicable play ANOTHER COUNTRY and its various stars-on-the-rise as part of a new interview.

Roundabout Theatre Company's production of Joe Masteroff, John Kander and Fred Ebb's Tony winning musical Cabaret, starring Tony Award-winner Alan Cumming and Golden Globe-winner Michelle Williams, begins previews tomorrow, Friday March 21. Cabaret officially opens on Thursday, April 24, 2014 at Studio 54 (254 West 54th Street). This is a 24-week limited engagement. Scroll down to learn more about the full company, plus watch a TV spot for the production below!

JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT is called into action on Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD and VOD June 10, 2014

Variety writes that Helena Bonham Carter will be heading THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, reprising her role as the Red Queen in Disney's upcoming 'Alice in Wonderland' sequel, directed by James Bobin.

Broadway stars might boast the biggest fan-bases, but without their directors, the vehicle driving their talents could easily swerve off the tracks. Keeping the runaway train at bay are season's bold Broadway 'conductors'. Scroll down to learn more about this season's intrepid and imaginative leaders!

Fathom Events, National Theatre Live (NT Live) and BY Experience have come together again to broadcast the National Theatre's original stage production of 'War Horse,' pre-recorded live from London's West End, for only one night in cinemas across the country tonight, Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. local time. Based on Michael Morpurgo's novel and adapted for the stage by Nick Stafford, 'War Horse' takes audiences on a journey from the fields of rural Devon to the trenches of France during World War I. Filled with stirring music and songs, this powerfully moving and imaginative drama is a show of phenomenal inventiveness. At its heart are astonishing life-size puppets by South Africa's Handspring Puppet Company, who bring breathing, galloping, charging horses to life on stage.

Mark Arden as Fred, Ryan Molloy as Horace, Stefan Booth as Tosher, Christopher Ryan as Red Hot, Vivian Carter as Myrtle, Stevie Hutchinson as Ted/PC 2, John Olohan as Paddy, Gary Watson as Norman/PC 1 andJoanna Woodward as Margaret join the previously announced BAFTA nominated Jessie Wallace (EastEnders) as Lil, Gary Kemp (The Krays/ The Bodyguard/Spandau Ballet) as PC Collins, Sarah Middleton as Rosie, Ruth Alfie Adams as Brenda, Will Barton as Percy and Suzie Chard as Betty to complete the cast of Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be.

Casting is now complete for the transfer of Julian Mitchell's ANOTHER COUNTRY, directed by Jeremy Herrin. Following a hugely successful run at Chichester's Minerva Theatre last year, it transfers to the Trafalgar Studios, Studio 1 for a limited season, 26th March - 21st June.

Due to overwhelming demand in Sydney, a third concert has been announced on Friday, 4 April. Performing a rich selection of Broadway songs from her extensive songbook, including standards, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim to name a few, Broadway's brightest star, Bernadette Peters will dazzle audiences this coming April , bringing her concert to Australia in a glamorous and magical evening of song with a full orchestra as only Bernadette Peters can do. Throughout her illustrious career, the Tony Award winning actress has amazed critics and audiences with her performances on stage and television, in concert and on recordings.

Rising film superstar and current West End leading man Tom Hiddleston shares some insight gleaned from fellow theatre and film notable Kenneth Branagh as part of a new interview.