Michael Arden News

It wasn't long after moving to New York City before actress Courtnee Carter made her Broadway debut understudying the lead character Ti Moune in the highly celebrated revival of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. This week, we caught up with Ms. Carter while on tour with the show from Charleston, North Carolina where she now performs the role full time. She spoke about breaking down barriers and building a better community through love and hope. Read our full conversation below.

Today's top stories: Idina Menzel plays Carnegie Hall tonight, Sir Patrick Stewart's one-man A Christmas Carol plays its first of two performances, and more!

The 2018 Tony Award-winning Best Revival of a Musical, Once On This Island will play The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas March 10-15, 2020. Tickets starting at $30 go on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019 at TheSmithCenter.com.

Noah Galvin will replace Ari'el Stachel, who regrettably had to withdraw due to an unforeseen conflict, as the lead role of a?oeJosepha?? in Manhattan Concert Productions' Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Galvin joins Michael Arden (Stage Director) and Stephen Oremus (Music Director) in leading this 50th Anniversary Celebration of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center on February 17, 2020 at 8:00 pm. This one-night-only performance features a chorus of over 300 singers from across the United States, professional cast and creative team, and the New York City Chamber Orchestra.

Once on this Island is a beautiful and heart-wrenching story of love, loss, belief, and sacrifice. With music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, Once on this Island won the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical. Director Michael Arden describes their process of working on the revival, explaining, 'Once On This Island is the story of how one seemingly insignificant girl becomes myth and legend for survivors of a wounded and healing island and how the good we do can echo and reverberate long after our lives are over.' As part of the North America tour, Once on this Island is playing at Hershey Theatre through December 8th.

The Alliance Theatre announced casting today for its upcoming new musical MAYBE HAPPY ENDING. Written in two versions - English-language and Korean-language - the Korean-language version had its world premiere in Seoul, Korea, in 2016, where it won six Korean Musical Awards including the awards for Best Book, Lyrics, and Music. The English-language version was awarded the 2017 Richard Rodgers Production Award and will have its American Premiere at the Alliance Theatre on The Coca-Cola Stage Jan. 21 - Feb. 16, 2020. MAYBE HAPPY ENDING is by Will Aronson (Book & Music) and Hue Park (Book & Lyrics) and is directed by two-time Tony Award® nominee Michael Arden (Once on This Island, Spring Awaking).

Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS) now has an onstage seating opportunity for every performance of Once On This Island.

Nominees for the 30th Annual LA Stage Alliance Ovation Awards were announced on Tuesday, November 5 on at This Stage [ThisStage.la]. The ceremony will take place Monday, January 13, 2020 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Among the nominees are director Michael Arden and actor Jefferson Mays for A Christmas Carol, and Tina star Daniel J. Watts.

Last night the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) hosted its annual DGF Gala to celebrate artists and honor patrons of the American theater community in gratitude of their continued support of emerging writers and creators at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC.  Jason Alexander may have said it best: “a world without writers is just mimes and improv.”

The National tour of Once On This Island is now officially on the road across the country! Once On This Island will play over 25 cities in its first year on tour. Get a first look at all new production photos!

Today, the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) announced critically acclaimed performers for its annual DGF Gala on Monday, November 4 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC.

Today, the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) announced critically acclaimed performers for its annual DGF Gala on Monday, November 4 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC. Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe nominee and Tony Award Winner Jason Alexander (Seinfeld, Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Merrily We Roll Along), the fundraising evening will feature special performances by Tony Award Winner Betty Buckley (Cats, Sunset Boulevard, Pippin), Tony Award Winner Brian Stokes Mitchell (Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, Man of La Mancha), Oscar, Grammy and Tony Award winning songwriting duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land, The Greatest Showman), Tony nominatee Michael Arden (Once On This Island, Spring Awakening, Big River ), Tony Nominee Liz Callaway (Anastasia, Baby, Miss Saigon), Tony Nominee Christiane Noll (Ragtime; Jekyll & Hyde, Urinetown), Betsy Wolfe (Falsettos, Waitress), and Charlotte Maltby (Les Miserables, The Sound of Music national tour).

Go.  Now. Pick up the phone or your computer and get your tickets to see one of the five remaining performances of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at the Schuster Center. 

Twin brothers Jack and Benny Lipson, aka the critically acclaimed jackbenny, returned to Birdland Theater in New York City with their new show All Aboard! The Train of Thought for one performance only on Tuesday, October 15, at 7pm.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND comes to life with mounds of sand, full-fledged shacks, an overturned boat that doubles as a platform, a wood-planked bridge, and a running stream of water that curls around the stage in a rock-lined canal. Let me repeat: they built a river that flows through the theatre. It's the most impressive set I've seen here, and that's saying something. At one point, rain falls down from the ceiling all around the stage, as if to replenish the river as it evaporates under Derek Critzer and Jonathan Scaringella's lively light design.

Rush to TPAC to learn why they tell the story!

The North American tour of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND officially opened this past Tuesday in Nashville. Check out a photo of some of the cast and creatives at the after party!

The National tour of Once On This Island is now officially open in Nashville, TN at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). Once On This Island will play over 25 cities in its first year on tour.

Visually stunning. Inventively staged. Compellingly acted. Beautifully told. Utterly delightful. Heartrendingly poignant. What more can be said about Once On This Island, the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty musical which launched its national tour in Nashville last night with a remarkable opening performance before a capacity crowd in Andrew Jackson Hall? The critical raves, audience adulation and awards for the recent Broadway revival of the Caribbean-influenced musical were enough to attract ticket-buyers, to be certain, but the sheer artistry of the production and its amazingly talented cast will be more than enough to propel the company forward on their cross-country tour where, we suspect, the accolades will continue to be bestowed upon the heartfelt and authentic story.

For audience members who saw Once On This Island during its recent Tony Award-winning revival on Broadway, actress Tamyra Gray has some pointers in regard to the show's national tour, which launches tonight at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center: a?oeThere's a new set-up,a?? she explains. a?oeSince we are no longer in the round, our set has been restructured and it's really, really cool: It's like you've walked into this village and you're watching events unfold.a??