Michael Shawn Lewis News

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic Theatre Ensemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Founding Executive Directors) has announced the lineup for the fifth annual Sunshine Series 2009, a play reading festival nurturing new political plays. The free staged-readings begin May 28th at the East 13th Street Theatre (136 East 13th Street, between 3rd & 4th Avenues, just southeast of Union Square) where Epic is currently presenting the World Premiere of A More Perfect Union by Vern Thiessen.

Ryan Silverman, who previously starred as 'Raoul' in the Las Vegas production, took over the role on Broadway on Friday, April 24th.

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed 'Best of New York' by New York Magazine, and 'an invaluable New York institution' by The New York Post, continued its 10th Anniversary season with the debut of 'Avenue Q' and 'Shrek' star John Tartaglia on March 30th.

Something's Afoot opens on a dark and stormy night at an English country estate. Guests invited to Lord Dudley Rancor's home discover that not only is the host dead, but so is his butler. Based on Agatha Christie's 'Ten Little Indians,' Something's Afoot will keep you guessing as the determined guests unmask the murderer among them.

Ryan Silverman, who previously starred as 'Raoul' in the Las Vegas production, will take over the role on Broadway starting Friday evening, April 24. He succeeds current and long-time star Tim Martin Gleason, whose final performance will be Thursday evening, April 23.

The National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction (NFFR) presented Broadway for Medicine II featuring funny-lady Julie Halston (Hairspray, Sex and the City) and 'Professor of all things Broadway,' Sirius/XM Satellite Radio host Seth Rudetsky along with some very exciting special guests. The event took place on Monday, March 9, 2009 at Cipriani 42nd Street.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys and Understudies with its next editions of At This Performance... to be held on Monday, March 9th at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway, (above the Promenade Theatre- Broadway at 76th Street), 3rd Floor at 8 PM.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys and Understudies with its next editions of At This Performance... to be held on Monday, March 9th at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway, (above the Promenade Theatre- Broadway at 76th Street), 3rd Floor at 8 PM.

European producer Werner Signer announced the workshop of 'The Count Of Monte Cristo,' the latest Wildhorn/Murphy collaboration, which opens in St. Gallen, Switzerland on March 24, 2009. The European pre-cast recording, which was recorded in Vienna in English with both European stars and Brandi Burkhardt as Mercedes, has been #1 on the European charts for two weeks now.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys and Understudies with its next edition of At This Performance… to be held on Monday, October 20th at New York's McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The evening celebrates the popular concert series' 5th Anniversary.

Musicals Tonight! continues its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys and Understudies with its next edition of At This Performance… to be held on Monday, October 20th at New York's McGinn/Cazale Theatre. The evening celebrates the popular concert series' 5th Anniversary.

heAtrainplays are a celebration of New York, created by six teams while traveling the entire route of the A train, from 207th Street & Broadway to Far Rockaway and back. On Tuesday evening, June 24th, four librettists will hop on the A train at 207th Street and begin writing the books for four 15-minute musicals, all set on the A train. Before each of the teams begins their journey, they pick a number between 3 and 5 to set the number of characters, then they choose headshots from a blind draw to determine who is in each piece. When the librettists reach the Far Rockaway stop, they randomly select, through another blind draw, their collaborative lyricists, composers, directors and choreographers, who have been awaiting their arrival at a nearby McDonald's with two playwrights joining them and just beginning their journey. Two directors will meet the creators of the now finished plays at 207th Street and they all proceed to Columbus Circle where they meet the pre-selected pool of actors, decipher their scribbles, copy the scripts and begin rehearsals. They have until show time THE NEXT DAY, Wednesday night, June 25th at 8:00PM to develop these works into six exciting new musical experiences to be shared with the audience at New World Stages on the set of the hit musical Altar Boyz.

Broadway performer Michael Shawn Lewis will once again be featured as Jean Valjean, the desperate yet determined protagonist at the center of this epic story of justice, love, and faith. Lewis was seen on the SMT stage last summer as Guido in Nine. He debuted at SMT as Curly in Oklahoma! and played the Beast in the 2004 production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Short Tenors and a Dead Soprano, a new musical which had a concert reading at the New Provincetown Players in Provincetown, MA in October of 2007 as part of the Fall Playwrights Festival, will have a reading on January 8 in New York City by invitation only.

An array of stars attended the film premiere of Dori Berinstein's documentary ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway on Tuesday, May 1st at the Film Center Cafe, and BroadwayWorld was there!

Beginning Monday, April 30, Gary Mauer will step into the title role of The Phantom of the Opera- the longest-running show in Broadway history - for three weeks at The Majestic Theatre

Musicals Tonight! will continue its ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway Standbys and Understudies with its current edition of At This Performance…, this Monday, April 23rd at the McGinn/Cazale Theatre, 2162 Broadway, (above the Promenade Theatre- Broadway at 76th Street), 3rd Floor at 8 PM.

On April 4th, The Phantom of the Opera set the unprecedented milestone of becoming the first Broadway show to reach 8,000 performances, and BroadwayWorld was there!

The longest-running show in Broadway history, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, is set to reach another unprecedented milestone.