Marshall Barer News

The Black Box New Play Festival is the Gallery Players' signature festival of new works by both new and established playwrights. Now in its 22nd year, the festival will premiere 11 new plays over the course of three weekends. The festival opens Thursday, January 10 and runs through January 27, with a new collection of plays presented each week. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30PM, and Sundays at 3PM. There will be a talk back with the playwrights directly after the Sunday matinees.

On this day in 1996, film and television star, Sarah Jessica Parker made her big Broadway return as Princess Winnifed in a revival of the fractured fairytale Once Upon A Mattress!

The team behind the critically acclaimed, sold out UK premiere of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, adapted by Nathan Lane at Jermyn Street Theatre, are to present a new production of the hit Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress.

This December, Gallery Players is pleased to present APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie, an entertaining murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. In this adapted version of the 1938 detective novel of the same name, Christie created an entirely new ending. Featuring a group of travelers who find themselves thrown together on a Middle Eastern expedition, the 'Queen of Crime' offers a unique take on the classic murder mystery, where characters' motivations are suspect and relationships may not be what they seem. First performed at the Piccadilly Theatre in London on March 31, 1945, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH remains fresh and exciting today.

This December, Gallery Players is pleased to present APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH by Agatha Christie, an entertaining murder mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. In this adapted version of the 1938 detective novel of the same name, Christie created an entirely new ending. Featuring a group of travelers who find themselves thrown together on a Middle Eastern expedition, the 'Queen of Crime' offers a unique take on the classic murder mystery, where characters' motivations are suspect and relationships may not be what they seem. First performed at the Piccadilly Theatre in London on March 31, 1945, APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH remains fresh and exciting today.

The upcoming London production of the hit Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress is being postponed.

The ambassador of the Great American songbook and multi-platinum-selling, Emmy and Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Michael Feinstein brings an incomparable concert experience to Pepperdine University's Smothers Theatre at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 7 at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts.

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre (DMT) opens its 2018-19 season to Once Upon a Mattress, with performances running September 13-30, 2018.

Casting has been announced for Matt Board and Reina Hardy's Fanatical, which will receive its world premiere at The Playground Theatre this November.

Star of stage, screen and television, Sophie Ward will lead the cast in the world premiere of Twentieth Century American cult writer James Purdy's The Paradise Circus at The Playground Theatre this October. She will be joined on stage by her son Josh Ward (Enemy of the State, The Chain Reaction) as well as Tim Woodward (Poirot, K-19:The Widowmaker, Beast), Sam Coulson (Babylon, The Huntsman, Mr Holmes), Mark Aiken (24, Trinity, Inspector Lewis), Peter Tate (National Theatre, American Shakespeare Company, Actors Studio New York) and Debra Penny (A Royal Night Out, Peaky Blinders, Eastenders).

The Douglas Morrisson Theatre (DMT) opens its 2018-19 season to Once Upon a Mattress, with performances running September 13-30, 2018.

The team behind the critically acclaimed, sold out UK premiere of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs, adapted by Nathan Lane at Jermyn Street Theatre, are to present a new production of the hit Broadway musical Once Upon A Mattress.

Michael Feinstein and the Pasadena POPS close out their popular outdoor summer concert series at the Los Angeles County Arboretum on Saturday, September 8 with Broadway Goes to the Movies. The POPS season finale will provide a quintessential Feinstein experience with some of Broadway's greatest performers recreating songs from hit shows that traveled from 42nd St. to Hollywood. "This program is going to celebrate all the different musical aspects of Broadway and Hollywood," says Feinstein, who has put together a program spanning the Broadway canon from My Fair Lady to The Sound of Music to Jersey Boys. Highlights include "The Impossible Dream," "Can't Take My Eyes off of You," and "There's No Business Like Show Business," among many other beloved showtunes.

Following a triumphant first year, The Playground Theatre today announces its first full Autumn Season. The programme runs from October to January and features the World premiere of The Paradise Circus by cult American novelist James Purdy, the World premiere of Fanatical the Musical by Matt Board and Reina Hardy, and a Christmas revival of Once Upon a Mattress, Mary Rodgers and Marshall Barer's musical comedy based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Princess and The Pea.

'Once Upon a Mattress' is a comical retelling of the 1835 fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson, 'The Princess and the Pea.' This fun song and dance show is reminiscent to the films like 'The Court Jester' starring Danny Kaye. Overall the production is a fun comedy representation of the real story behind this classic fairy tale.

Hershey Area Playhouse is proud to present Once Upon a Mattress, a musical comedy with music by Mary Rodgers, lyrics by Marshall Barer, and book by Jay Thompson, Dean Fuller, and Marshall Barer. It's an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, The Princess and the Pea.

Principal Pops Conductor Michael Feinstein opens the 2018 Pasadena POPS Sierra Summer Concert Series on Saturday, June 23rd with That's Entertainment: Gershwin to Sondheim. The POPS season opener will cover the gamut of the Great American Songbook from jazz standards to Broadway hits, and vintage charts that can't be heard anywhere else. Hear your Broadway favorites from Porgy and Bess and An American in Paris to Company and Follies, plus popular standards and vintage archival surprises with Nice Work if You Can Get It, S'Wonderful, and Being Alive just to name a few.

If you thought you knew the story of 'The Princess and The Pea,' you may be in for a walloping surprise! Did you know, for instance, that Princess Winnifred actually swam the moat to reach Prince Dauntless the Drab? Or that Lady Larken's love for Sir Harry provided a rather compelling reason that she reach the bridal altar post haste? Or that, in fact, it wasn't the pea at all that caused the princess a sleepless night? Carried on a wave of wonderful songs, by turns hilarious and raucous, romantic and melodic, this rollicking spin on the familiar classic of royal courtship and comeuppance provides for some side-splitting shenanigans. Chances are you'll never look at fairy tales quite the same way again. Performances run May 4th thru May 20th, 2018 at Little Theatre Off Broadway, 3981 Broadway, Grove City, Ohio.  For reservations/more info visit:  http://www.ltob.org or call 614-875-3919

For our 86th show we once again celebrate April Fools and all things April Foolish, one of our favorite shows to do. After a year and three months of doing the initial Kritzerland shows, we inaugurated the Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal room on April 1, 2012, so this is our sixth anniversary in the room. That, of course, is reason enough to come but it's also always a wild and wacky show.

Valley Performing Arts Center (The Soraya) welcomes back two-time Emmy nominee and five-time Grammy nominee Michael Feinstein to perform in a Holiday Celebration including Classic Standards as well as selections from his album, A Michael Feinstein Christmas today, December 8, at 8:00pm.