Laurence Olivier News

According to the NY Times, Yasmina Reza's newest play, HOW YOU TALK THE GAME, might make its debut at Paris' Comédie-Française. The new play, which was inspired by Guy Peellaert's 'The Big Room,' is about a French novelist who decides to promote her lateest project by taking an interview with a reporter.

The Hollywood Bowl's production of HAIRSPRAY reunites original Broadway stars Harvey Fierstein and Marissa Jaret Winokur. Both Fierstein and Winokur, playing mother Edna Turnblad and daughter Tracy Turnblad, were awarded Tony Awards for best leading actor in a musical and best leading actress in a musical respectively for their appearances in HAIRSPRAY on Broadway. This is the first time that they have performed these roles together in Los Angeles; this is also Fierstein's Hollywood Bowl debut.

Written by Peter Quilter directed by Daniel Pasker, Glorious! is the story of the joyful Florence Foster Jenkins, who had a passion for singing, but a voice of disastrous proportions which left audiences crying with laughter.

A simple white canvas. A 200,000 franc price tag. The real cost? A 15-year long friendship. Virginia's Tony Award®-winning Signature Theatre presents Yasmine Reza's (God of Carnage) scathing dark comedy Art. Translated by Christopher Hampton, Reza's play examines the pressures friends place on one another and asks the question - are you who you think you are or are you who your friends want you to be? Signature Theatre's Resident Director Matt Gardiner will direct the award-winning play. Produced worldwide and performed in over thirty languages, Art won the 1998 Tony Award® for Best Play and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

After accepting the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival for the second year in a row for Into the Woods, Artistic Director Timothy Sheader gets rehearsals underway for the first play of the 2011 season, Lord of the Flies

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents the world premiere family musical The Adventures of Pinocchio from July 13 to August 28, 2011. Based on Carlo Collodi's classic tale of a wooden puppet who yearns to be a real boy, this original CST Family commission will turn CST's Courtyard Theater stage into a larger-than-life, European-style marionette theater. Created by multiple Drama Desk Award-nominated team Neil Bartram (music/lyrics) and Brian Hill (book), The Adventures of Pinocchio is directed by Rachel Rockwell, who returns to CST after staging last summer's world premiere CST Family musical The Emperor's New Clothes. Tickets for The Adventures of Pinocchio from July 13 to August 28, 2011, in CST's Courtyard Theater are $18-$25 with special discuonts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Casting has been announced for the Dayton premiere engagement of Disney's THE LION KING.

Broadway's landmark musical event THE LION KING is pleased to welcome CLIFTON OLIVER as Simba, tonight, Friday, May 13.

Some call him a genius; some say he is the finest comedian working today. Some refer to his concerts as otherworldly; some define his honesty as terrifyingly insightful.

From the pulsating heart of the Arabic-speaking world, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's (CST) World's Stage Series presentation of a spectacular retelling of One Thousand and One Nights kicks off the Theater's 25th Anniversary Season from June 25 to July 3, 2011.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) premieres Murder for Two-A Killer Musical, created by Joe Kinosian (music/book) and Kellen Blair (lyrics/book), May 12-June 19, 2011, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. This comedic Agatha Christie-like whodunit musical comes with a surprising twist: one actor plays the inspector, the other plays all 10 suspects, and both play the piano. Staged by CST veteran director David H. Bell, this 75-minute premiere features the show's co-creator Joe Kinosian playing the slew of hilarious would-be criminals and Chicago favorite Alan Schmuckler performing the role of the inspector. Tickets for Murder for Two-A Killer Musical Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare May 12-June 19, 2011, are $25-$30, with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) premieres Murder for Two-A Killer Musical, created by Joe Kinosian (music/book) and Kellen Blair (lyrics/book), May 12-June 19, 2011, Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare. This comedic Agatha Christie-like whodunit musical comes with a surprising twist: one actor plays the inspector, the other plays all 10 suspects, and both play the piano. Staged by CST veteran director David H. Bell, this 75-minute premiere features the show's co-creator Joe Kinosian playing the slew of hilarious would-be criminals and Chicago favorite Alan Schmuckler performing the role of the inspector. Tickets for Murder for Two-A Killer Musical Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare May 12-June 19, 2011, are $25-$30, with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com

The musical theater classic, The Wiz, the iconic African-American re-telling of The Wizard Of Oz made famous by Motown Productions' cult movie starring Diana Ross as Dorothy, Michael Jackson as The Scarecrow and Richard Pryor as The Wiz, will be revived in a new production that will tour Birmingham and Leeds this summer. In Birmingham, the production will The New Alexandria Theatre from Friday, 10 Jun 2011 through Saturday 18 Jun 2011. From there, the production will play Leeds at the West Yorkshire Playhouse from June 24 through July 16.

In a virtual parade of some of contemporary dance's leading choreographic voices, The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago presents a tour de force season, beginning in fall 2011 with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, David Gordon's Pick Up Performance Co(s), Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan and, in a co-presentation with the Harris Theater of Music and Dance, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company's Legacy Tour.

Jonathan Wilkes will star as Billy Flynn in the smash-hit West End musical CHICAGO at the Cambridge Theatre from Monday 9 May for seven weeks only, until 26 June. His last West End engagement was as Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. On tour, Jonathan has starred in We Will Rock You, The Wedding Singer, Guys and Dolls, Tommy, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show and Godspell.

Seventy six years after its movie release, Top Hat will receive its world stage premiere at the Milton Keynes Theatre on 16 August 2011 where it opens for the start of an initial 17 UK week tour prior to an anticipated West End transfer in spring 2012.

On Friday June 24 at 8:00 PM, The Town Hall (123 W. 43rd St.), Times Square's landmark concert venue, presents A Blue Note Jazz Festival Event, 'To Billie With Love A Celebration of Lady Day' by famed jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater with guest artist Chrisette Michelle, who is produced in association with Jill Newman Productions. Dee Dee Bridgewater will perform a tribute to the legendary Billie Holiday that will feature selections from Bridgewater's latest recording, 'Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee,' for which Ms. Bridgewater received the 2011 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album. She will sing and scat her way to a fresh interpretation of Holiday's signature melodies, accompanied by the quartet of Edsel Gomez (Piano), Kenny Davis (Bass), Jaz Sawyer (drums) and Craig Handy (reeds). Tickets are on sale now for $50 and $45 and are available through Ticketmaster (800) 982-2787 or www, ticketmaster.com or by visiting The Town Hall Box Office between noon and 6PM (except Sundays).

Jonathan Wilkes will star as Billy Flynn in the smash-hit West End musical CHICAGO at the Cambridge Theatre from Monday 9 May for seven weeks only, until 26 June. His last West End engagement was as Frank N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show. On tour, Jonathan has starred in We Will Rock You, The Wedding Singer, Guys and Dolls, Tommy, Grease, The Rocky Horror Show and Godspell.

Today, 5 May 2011, Nicolas Kent announces full casting for the world premiere of the Tricycle Theatre production - Tactical Questioning: Scenes from the Baha Mousa Inquiry.

Jonathan Wilkes will star as Billy Flynn in the smash-hit West End musical CHICAGO at the Cambridge Theatre from Monday 9 May for seven weeks only, until 26 June.