Langston Hughes News

Producers Scott Sanders and Wynton Marsalis announced today that After Midnight, the seven-time 2014 Tony® Award-nominee, and winner of the Tony® Award for Best Choreography (Warren Carlyle), will play its final performance on Sunday, June 29 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 47th Street). At the time of its closing, After Midnight will have run 8 months, with 19 preview performances and 272 regular performances. Conceived by Jack Viertel, and directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, After Midnight began preview performances on Friday, October 18, 2013, and opened to the best reviews of any new musical this season on Sunday, November 3, 2013.

This just in - as per the NY Times, a spokesman for the Broadway production of AFTER MIDNIGHT has confirmed that the show will close on June 29, 2014, 8 months into the show's run. The show, a $7 million dollar production will close at a loss, at the conclusion of current guest star Patti LaBelle's final performance. The production was hoping to shut down temporarily over the July 4th holiday, before the next star Gladys Knight was due to begin performances, but not all of the unions agreed to the proposal, making it impossible to continue running.

The cast and creative team of the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight, just welcomed Grammy Award-winning legend Patti LaBelle as 'Special Guest Star.' BroadwayWorld's own Richard Ridge was on hand last night to chat with LaBelle after she took her bows - below, check out what she had to say about her supportive co-stars, returning to the stage, and why she feels like she belongs on Broadway!

The cast and creative team of the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight, just welcomed Grammy Award-winning legend Patti LaBelle as 'Special Guest Star.' BroadwayWorld was there for her big night and you can check out photos from the backstage, post-show celebration below!

The cast and creative team of the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight, just welcomed Grammy Award-winning legend Patti LaBelle as "Special Guest Star.' BroadwayWorld was there for her big night and you can check out photos from her first curtain call below!

As part of BroadwayWorld's expansive coverage of the 68th Annual Tony Awards, we are providing the full text of all of the Tony Award acceptance speeches; from the emotional to the bizarre, and everything in between. Keep up with all of the winners' speeches on our continuously updated list.

AFTER MIDNIGHT's Warren Carlyle has won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Choreography. Mr. Carlyle was the choreographer of Chaplin, Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway, Finian's Rainbow (2 Drama Desk noms) and A Tale of Two Cities, choreographer of Follies (Drama Desk nom.), The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and A Christmas Story The Musical (Drama Desk nom.)

Advance tickets to Kingsbury Hall Presents 2014-15 Season will go on sale Monday, June 9 at 10 AM. There is no minimum sales requirement -- patrons can purchase tickets for one or multiple performances. No handling or facility fees will be charged during the advance ticket sales period.

Following yesterday's matinee, the cast and band of Broadway's After Midnight paraded to 47th and Broadway where West 47th Street was renamed 'DUKE ELLINGTON WAY' in an official Street Sign Unveiling Ceremony at the corner of 47th and Broadway. Musicians from the Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars (including Arthur Baron, one of the last surviving members from Ellington's orchestra) played two Ellington favorites for all of Times Square, in celebration. Check out coverage from the event below!

Look, we get it, whether due to budget or geography, you didn't see every show of the Broadway season, but that doesn't mean you can't be fully up-to-date for this Sunday's Tony Awards. To help get you prepared for theatre's biggest night, BroadwayWorld has put together the ultimate Tonys Crash Course. We've outlined all of the shows nominated in the Best Musical and Best Revival of a Musical categories, and provided you 'study materials' as only BWW can, by mining our one-of-a-kind archives.

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin wants to try her hand at musical theater by making her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated production of AFTER MIDNIGHT.

Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, releases 'Duke Ellington: The Original Recordings That Inspired The Broadway Hit After Midnight' today, May 27th on iTunes (iTunes.com/DukeEllington) that other digital retailers. The CD version hits stores June 17th.

On Tuesday evening, 9-time Tony award winner Tommy Tune hosted a dinner for the musical After Midnight to celebrate their 7 Tony Award nominations at his home on the Upper East Side. Guests for the evening included Andre Leon Talley, Ruben and Isabel Toledo, Mercedes Ellington, William Ivey Long, Rick Miramontez, Jean Doumanian, David Rockwell, Warren Carlyle and After Midnight producer Scott Sanders. Check out photos from the evening below!

Earlier this week, the cast and creative team of the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight welcomed back Grammy Award-winner Fantasia Barrino as 'Special Guest Star.' Last night, Mike Tyson stopped by the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, going backstage to visit Barrino and her castmates - check out a look back below!

Today we continue our Tonys coverage with Warren Carlyle, a double nominee for Best Choreography and Best Direction of a Musical for After Midnight, who chats about how it took four years to put the show together, getting to reunite with HUgh Jackman to choreograph the 2014 Tonys ceremony, and more. Check out what he had to say below!

Just last night, the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight, welcomed Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis to the Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars for one night only. BroadwayWorld was there for the special night and you can check out photos below!

Just last night, the cast and creative team of the Tony Award-nominated smash hit Broadway musical After Midnight, welcomed back Grammy Award-winner Fantasia Barrino as "Special Guest Star.' Fantasia Barrino returns to Broadway in the role she originated for a four-week engagement (5/13/14 - 6/8/14) leading up to the Tony Awards on June 9, 2014.

If you are even a semi-regular reader of this column of reviews, you know that about every three or four months, I post a compilation of observations of shows from the previous quarter of the year. This cabaret critiquing mash up happens for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I admittedly see too many cabaret shows for the amount of time I have to promptly review them (and then, of course, the usual writer's procrastination sets in). So I have to prioritize the timeliness of the reviews based on the prestige of the performer, the length of a show run, the strength (or lack thereof) of the performance, etc. The quality of the shows in these compilations—which can range from a half dozen to a dozen reviews in one shot—are usually a mixed bag of outright raves, qualified positives, and constructive pans (I'm not a fan of the word “negative” in the reviewer lexicon). With that in mind here are a collection of cabaret show reviews going back to the start of a very harsh winter.

Some of the talented students from Rosie's Theater Kids were invited to a performance of After Midnight currently starring Vanessa Williams and soon to welcome back Fantasia Barrino. The kids were thrilled to meet some of the cast before the dazzling, awe-inspiring show. Check out photos from the special event below!

Below you can check out photos of Warren Carlyle, nominated for Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography for After Midnight, in the BroadwayWorld.com series 'In the Spotlight' by acclaimed photographer Walter McBride!