Richard Rodgers News

The Bucks County Playhouse (BCP) in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has announced the casting for its first production of the summer, Rodgers & Hammerstein's A Grand Night for Singing. The cast will feature a line-up of some of Broadway's most seasoned performers including Courtney Balan (Broadway: [title of show], Cry-Baby), Ron Bohmer (Broadway: Phantom of the Opera, Ragtime), Greg Bosworth (Atlanta: Xanadu, Clyde and Bonnie: A Folktale), Erin Davie (Broadway: A Little Night Music, Grey Gardens), and Kenita R. Miller (Broadway: Xanadu, The Color Purple). Performances begin Monday, July 2 at 8:00 p.m.

Goodspeed Musicals will welcome Carousel to the main stage this summer. The classic Golden Age musical will run from July 13 - September 23 at the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Conn. Carousel and will celebrate an official opening night on August 1, 2012.

Today in 1951, the first Broadway revival of Oklahoma! opened at the Broadway Theatre, where it ran for 100 performances. Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams. The original Broadway production opened on March 31, 1943.

A near capacity crowd gathered at the Benedum Center as Pittsburgh CLO and the University of Pittsburgh honored Allegheny County's finest high school performers at the 22nd Annual Pittsburgh CLO Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theateron Saturday, May 26, 2012.

Surflight Theatre, under the leadership of award-winning Broadway Producers Timothy Laczynski (The Pee-wee Herman Show, A Christmas Story), Executive Producer and Roy Miller (West Side Story, The Drowsy Chaperone, Ragtime, and the upcoming new musical Animal House) Artistic Director, continues its 63rdSeason with the Surflight premiere of All I Ask of You: A Musical Tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber, on stage for three weeks, tonight, May 26 through June 16.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 5/25/2012.

The Colony Theatre Company has announced its 2012 - 2013 season of shows. In this, its 38th season, the multi-Ovation Award-winning theatre company, for the first time in its history, will be bringing its subscribers and audiences six World, West Coast or Los Angeles premiere shows. The season includes a world premiere musical that looks at the life of lyricist Lorenz Hart - to a smack-down of biblical proportions in Savannah, Georgia; From a Hitchcock-ian style thriller to a behind-the-scenes look at a non-profit theatre; throw in a legendary Stradivarius violin and some Fiestaware and you have one of the company's most exciting seasons ever.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Three shows make a PR appearance at Sidetrack, ATC plans a 'Hair' re-do, 'Camelot,' 'Floyd Collins,' three new mainstage musicals, a reading, a benefit and more!

With music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, the grandson of Richard Rodgers, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA fulfilled its great promise by becoming one of the most enchantingly romantic and melodically moving musicals to come about in the new millennium and its Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Actress In A Musical, Best Orchestrations and a trio of technical prizes go a long way in justifying the notable place the Italianate musical has in American theatre history. Plus, what an original cast - besides Tony-winner Victoria Clark, THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA also featured fellow nominee Kelli O'Hara, who appears this season in a leading role in NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, as well as crossover GLEE superstar Matthew Morrison, who would go on to make another strong impression in a pivotal role in a musical at Lincoln Center soon thereafter (also under the direction of Barlett Sher) - SOUTH PACIFIC.

All summer and into the fall, Fox Valley Repertory presents beloved music, modern comedy, and staged readings of new plays never before seen on stage. The season includes: Theo Ubique's nostalgic musical revue, Some Enchanted Evening, the inquisitive innovation of Collider New Play Project, Heather Moran's musical story of Rosemary Clooney in Rosie! A Tribute..., FVR Youth Ensemble's return to Disney's High School Musical, Mike Toomey's multimedia comedic recollection of television in TV & Me, Chicago's finest improv troupe performing The Best of The Second City, and marriage, mermaids, and modern comedy in Sirens, at Pheasant Run Resort (4051 E. Main St., St. Charles, IL; 630-584-6342).

Second Stage Theatre has announced the casting for its upcoming world premiere musical, DOGFIGHT.

The 20th Anniversary season of New York City Center's Tony Award-winning Encores! series will open on January 30, 2013 with Fiorello!, the show that launched the series in 1994. The season will continue with It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman, followed by On Your Toes. A Gala Encores! at 20 Celebration on November 12, 2012 will star Tony Award nominees and Encores! alumni Rauil Esparza and Kelli O'Hara.

The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre is getting ready to cut loose this summer with the dance musical Footloose. The stage production, based on the Paramount Pictures film, will open at the Frederick theatre on Friday, June 15th and run through August 25th.

BroadwayWorld.com's SHOW BIZ: Rush, Lottery & Standing Room Only Ticketing Policies - updated on 5/18/2012.

Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale, "The Princess and the Pea," comes to the stage as a musical comedy in Once Upon a Mattress June 19 - August 5 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.

As previously reported, Julian Ovenden will star in a new musical version of the film Finding Neverland, which starred Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet and followed the the story of J.M. Barrie's inspiration for his famous children's book, Peter Pan.

Producers Scott Landis and Philip Morgaman have announced that EVER AFTER, a new musical based on the 20th Century Fox Film, will open on Broadway in the 2013-2014 season following a pre-Broadway engagement to be announced. The production will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall. EVER AFTER features music by Zina Goldrich and book & lyrics by Marcy Heisler, who recently won the 2012 Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre for most promising musical theatre lyricist. The music director is Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

Bill Kenwright presents one of the best loved and longest running musicals in theatrical history, as Andrew Lloyd Webber's sensational Starlight Express explodes back onto the stage with a new production for 2012, set to take the UK by electrifying storm. Starlight Express just opened at the New Wimbledon Theatre. Go behind the scenes of the production below!

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (Lincoln Center) and The Philhallmonic Society present 'Swingin' On A Star'--a musical celebration of the 1940s on Saturday, June 23rd, 2012, 2:30 p.m. at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center (entrance on 65th and Amsterdam Avenue). The concert is free with general seating.