Larry Hochman News

The Second National Tour of THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, broke the house record in its first week of performances at the Bank of America Theatre (18 West Monroe). The show grossed $1,493,961 for the week ending December 16. THE BOOK OF MORMON began performances on December 11, 2012, with performances through June 2, 2013. Broadway In Chicago and the show's producers have announced some tickets are still available March 5 - June 2, 2013 and due to popular demand, performances are now sold out through March 3, 2013.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, just launched its Second National Tour in Chicago at the Bank of America Theatre (18 West Monroe), featuring Nic Rouleau as Elder Price, Syesha Mercado as Nabulungi & Ben Platt as Elder Cunningham. Check out just-released production shots below!

The national tour of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a new musical based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, which will make its Orange County premiere tonight, December 18 - 30 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

The National Tour of THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, will play Las Vegas as part of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts 2013-14 Broadway Las Vegas Season in the summer of 2014.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents its production of Pippin, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus. The production is now running through January 20, 2013. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the show below!

According to Variety, Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman recently commented on a potential movie version of 'South Park' creators' Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. Viacom owns Comedy Central, which airs 'South Park'.

The producers of the national tour of the new musical THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, and PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh announce that single tickets will go on sale today, December 14, 2012 at 9 AM for the Pittsburgh engagement. Tickets begin at $36 and will be available at the Box Office at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, by visiting www.TrustArts.org, or by calling (412) 456-4800.

According to the Chicago Tribune, American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado has joined the cast of The Book of Mormon in Chicago and will be playing the featured role of 'Nabulungi'. Stephanie Umoh previously played the role. No details have been released on why she left.

The producers of the national tour of the new musical THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, and PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh announce that single tickets will go on sale December 14, 2012 at 9 AM for the Pittsburgh engagement. Tickets begin at $36 and will be available at the Box Office at Theater Square, 655 Penn Avenue, by visiting www.TrustArts.org, or by calling (412) 456-4800.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, is pleased to announce a day-of-show drawing for the Second National Tour, which launches in Chicago on December 11, 2012 at the Bank of America Theatre (18 West Monroe). In Chicago, the production will conduct a pre-show drawing at the box office, making a limited number of tickets available at $25 each. Performances are sold out December 11, 2012 - March 3, 2013. Tickets are still available for performances March 5 - June 2, 2013.

In this week's edition of 'Around BWW: Regional Highlights of the Week', we take you around the country - and beyond - with the most-read theater stories for the week of December 3! Scroll below to see what made news in your area!

Pippin began performances last night, December 5 at The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.), and already there is more buzz about the show attracting Broadway producers. According to the New York Times, producing team Baryy and Fran Weissler along with Howard and Janet Kagan have given enhancement money in order to 'enable them to put together a commercial production of "Pippin" for Broadway.'

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents its production of Pippin, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus. Previews begin at the Loeb Drama Center (64 Brattle Street, Cambridge) on December 5, with press opening on January 3, and running through January 20, 2013.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, has announced a lottery ticket policy for the National Tour, which begins on Tuesday, January 8, 2013 at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle and plays a limited two week engagement through Sunday, January 20. In Seattle, the production will conduct a pre-show lottery at the box office, making 20 tickets available at $25 apiece.

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) presents Pippin, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson, directed by A.R.T. Artistic Director Diane Paulus, with circus choreography by Gypsy Snider of the Montreal-based circus company Les 7 doigts de la main (also known as 7 Fingers) and choreography by Chet Walker in the style of Bob Fosse. Set design is by Tony Award-winning designer Scott Pask, costume design by Dominique Lemieux, lighting design by Tony Award-winning designer Kenneth Posner, and sound design by Tony winner and A.R.T. Resident Sound Designer Clive Goodwin. Orchestration is by Tony Award-winner Larry Hochman, Music Supervision by Nadia Di Giallonardo, and the Music Director is Charlie Alterman. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the rehearsal photos below!

Storyville the Musical, an historic musical stage production involving race relations in the red-light district of early 20th century New Orleans featuring orchestrations by Tony Award Winner Larry Hochman (Book of Mormon) and performances by Broadway actresses Jannie Jones (The Full Monty), Jessica Tyler Wright (Pump Boys and Dinette), and nationally known Edward M. Barker is set to debut following a Kickstarter campaign for Storyville the Musical. In the videos below, get a preview of the songs and watch the cast recording in the studio!

One of the most thrilling days in the entire process of building a new show is the sitzprobe. This is when the actors and full orchestra come together for the first time to sing and play through the show. Throughout the rehearsal process, the actors will rehearse with live accompaniment, but generally it is only piano or perhaps some percussion. The sitzprobe is the first time the actors get to hear the full orchestrations of the score. Words do not suffice to describe the sensation of hearing the music come to life for the first time. It is truly an amazing experience.

Lizzie Klemperer leads members of the cast of the The Addams Family National Tour, putting their dark twist on Carly Rae Jepsen's 'Call Me Maybe.' Watch the video below!

If the world were a little more just and the general public's taste for musical theatre a lot more cerebral, news of a new Michael John LaChiusa musical would cause the same kind of box office frenzy that in the 1940s and 50s greeted announcements of Rodgers and Hammerstein's latest.  Or at least match the high expectations these days whenever another Stephen Sondheim revival is mounted.

Well, our time rehearsing in NYC has come to a close, and we are all preparing to journey up to Cambridge, MA where we will move into the theater at the A.R.T. We finished up this week with our first full run through of the show. This was exciting because it was the first time we really got to see the complete picture of what we have been working on so hard for all these weeks.