Rebecca Ann Johnson News

Currently in its world premiere run at Burbank's Colony Theatre through May 19th, Falling for Make Believe is a 95-minute bio-musical-dramedy chock full Broadway nostalgia, debilitating alcoholism, covert homosexual dalliances and musical fantasy sequences that is often-times bewitching, occasionally bothersome, and at points just downright bewildering.

Tony and Olivier Award-winner John Caird (Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby), West End rising star Sam Caird, and Tony nominee Paul Gordon (Jane Eyre) recently arrived in Ventura to begin rehearsals for a new holiday musical entitled LITTLE MISS SCROOGE, which will be presented as a limited-run staged concert for Rubicon Theatre subscribers, December 12 through 23, 2012. (The fully staged World Premiere will be produced by Rubicon in December of 2013.) BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage in the photos below!

Tony and Olivier Award-winner JOHN CAIRD (Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby), West End rising star SAM CAIRD, and Tony nominee PAUL GORDON (Jane Eyre), arrived in Ventura today to begin rehearsals tomorrow for a new holiday musical entitled LITTLE MISS SCROOGE, which will be presented as a limited-run staged concert for Rubicon Theatre subscribers December 12 through 23, 2012. (The fully staged World Premiere will be produced by Rubicon in December of 2013.) BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek below.

Broadway veterans Brandi Burkhardt and Robert Torti are set to lead the upcoming Pasadena Playhouse reading of SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE. The duo joins previously announced Marissa Jaret Winokur, who will play Becky in the project.

Ed Waterstreet, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre announces that their smash-hit 30th anniversary production of CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, written by Mark Medoff and directed by Jonathan Barlow Lee, is Extending through Sunday, November 1 at Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood. It is performed so that it is fully accessible to deaf and hard of hearing audiences, adding a new dimension to the material.

Ed Waterstreet, Artistic Director of Deaf West Theatre announces that on the heels of their innovative revival of the musical Pippin, a co-production with Center Theatre Group, Deaf West will present a special 30th anniversary production of a play that brought deaf culture to the forefront of the theater world, CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD, written by Mark Medoff and directed by Jonathan Barlow Lee, who was the original stage manager for the Tony Award-winning play.

The Los Angeles cast of Pippin includes Michael Arden, Jonah Blechman, Dan Callaway, Bryan Terrell Clark, Nicolas Conway, Rodrick Covington, James Royce Edwards, TL Forsberg, Sara Gettelfinger, Tyrone Giordano, Harriet Harris, Rebecca Ann Johnson, Troy Kotsur, Jose F. Lopez, Jr., John McGinty, Anthony Natale, Aleks Pevec, Victoria Platt, Ty Taylor, Nikki Tomlinson, Melissa Van Der Schyff and Alexandria Wailes. Tony Award winning, the musical is composed by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell) and is directed by Jeff Calhoun. Deaf West Theatre is best known to Los Angeles audiences for their CTG productions of Big River, at the Taper and Sleeping Beauty Wakes at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

Ben Vereen earned a Tony Award for his singing and dancing in Pippin, and while his vast and celebrated career has taken him far beyond those early days of that Fosse hit, his heart will always belong to the stage. Vereen was there for the opening night of the CTG and Deaf West Theatre production of Pippin at the Mark Taper Forum. He spoke to the Los Angeles Time about performing in the original Broadway mounting, and how much the show still matters to the audience...and him. Vereen explained to the LA Times that 'Pippin' holds an undeniably central spot in his heart. 'Well, first of all, it got me a Tony,' he said with a loud laugh that echoed outside the theater minutes before the opening night curtain. 'It was also an honor to work with Bob Fosse. There was nothing more rewarding.'

Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre's production of 'Pippin' opens the Mark Taper Forum's 2009 season on Sunday, January 25, at 6:30 p.m. Both deaf and hearing actors sign and sing the magical musical comedy with book by Roger O. Hirson and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, 'Pippin' continues performances through March 15. 'Pippin' is the captivating coming of age story about a young man's search for meaning in his life, as told by a lively band of troubadours in the Roman Empire. The episodic quest of Pippin, the son of the powerful Charlemagne, takes him through battlefields, orgies, revolution, and finally, love and domesticity, as he tries to find a place for his 'spirit to run free,' for his 'corner of the sky.' This production interweaves music, voice, American Sign Language and dance, and combines powerful storytelling techniques from both hearing and deaf cultures. The cast includes (in alphabetical order) Michael Arden, Jonah Blechman, Dan Callaway, Bryan Terrell Clark, Nicolas Conway, Rodrick Covington, James Royce Edwards, TL Forsberg, Sara Gettelfinger, Tyrone Giordano, Harriet Harris, Rebecca Ann Johnson, Troy Kotsur, Jos? F. Lopez, Jr., John McGinty, Anthony Natale, Aleks Pevec, Victoria Platt, Ty Taylor, Nikki Tomlinson, Melissa van der Schyff and Alexandria Wailes.

Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre's production of 'Pippin' opens the Mark Taper Forum's 2009 season on Sunday, January 25, at 6:30 p.m. Both deaf and hearing actors sign and sing the magical musical comedy with book by Roger O. Hirson and music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun, 'Pippin' continues performances through March 15. 'Pippin' is the captivating coming of age story about a young man's search for meaning in his life, as told by a lively band of troubadours in the Roman Empire. The episodic quest of Pippin, the son of the powerful Charlemagne, takes him through battlefields, orgies, revolution, and finally, love and domesticity, as he tries to find a place for his 'spirit to run free,' for his 'corner of the sky.' This production interweaves music, voice, American Sign Language and dance, and combines powerful storytelling techniques from both hearing and deaf cultures. The cast includes (in alphabetical order) Michael Arden, Jonah Blechman, Dan Callaway, Bryan Terrell Clark, Nicolas Conway, Rodrick Covington, James Royce Edwards, TL Forsberg, Sara Gettelfinger, Tyrone Giordano, Harriet Harris, Rebecca Ann Johnson, Troy Kotsur, Jos? F. Lopez, Jr., John McGinty, Anthony Natale, Aleks Pevec, Victoria Platt, Ty Taylor, Nikki Tomlinson, Melissa van der Schyff and Alexandria Wailes.

Center Theatre Group and Deaf West's PIPPIN will star Michael Arden and play the Mark Taper Forum, January 15th through March 15th, 2008.