Royal Shakespeare Company News

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents Short Shakespeare! A Midsummer Night's Dream, a 75-minute abridged production of William Shakespeare's whimsical comedy of misplaced young passions and magical mischief.

Jamie Lloyd is directing the UK premiere of URINETOWN The Musical, with music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis. The musical runs at the St James Theatre from tonight, 22 February until 3 May 2014, with opening night on 11 March 2014.

A peek behind the scenes of the hit West End production of the multi-award-winning page-to-stage adaptation of Roald Dahl's MATILDA is now available to view.

Leigh Zimmerman will join the cast of Theatre Royal Bath Productions' Relative Values as it transfers to the Harold Pinter Theatre, Wednesday 19th March to Saturday 21st June 2014, in the role of Miranda Frayle. Leigh is known all over the world for her leading roles on stage, in the West End and on Broadway, and in TV and film. Most recently she won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her performance as Sheila in A Chorus Line (Palladium) and appeared with Domenick Allen in A Love Affair from A2Z (St. James Theatre).

On 17 March 2014, Arthur Darvill, who has previously played the role in the Broadway production, will join the West End cast of Once to play the leading role of Guy. The eight-time Tony award-winning musical last month released over 400,000 new tickets for sale, taking bookings at the Phoenix Theatre to 4 July 2015. Directed by John Tiffany, Once opened at the Phoenix Theatre in April last year where it has been acclaimed by audiences and critics alike.

Gulfshore Playhouse will present the hilarious-whodunit-meets-screwball comedy, Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot tonight, February 21st through March 16th, with a $25 preview performance on February 20th.

The Public Theater and British Council announced today that they will present THE ARTISTS EXCHANGE on Saturday, March 8 at 12:00 p.m. with MacArthur Fellow Tarell Alvin McCraney and CenterStage's Kwame Kwei-Armah swapping stories about creating theater on both sides of the pond. All tickets to this exciting one-on-one discussion at Joe's Pub at The Public are free and can be reserved on-line at www.publictheater.org or by calling (212) 967-7555.

Trap Door Theatre extends run of Judith through March 18th. In Howard Barker's Judith, his re-telling for 'the Theatre of Catastrophe' of the apocryphal Book of Judith, the beautiful widowed heroine offers her body as sacrifice to the enemy's general Holofernes in order to save her country only to end up as woman in love 'who kills the thing she loves.'

The UK's very finest spoken word talent descends on Deptford with astonishing feats of breakneck poetry. Featuring an all-star line-up of guest artists, as well as a razor sharp Headline Poem cooked up in response to the day's news events, Classic Corner, showcasing verse of yesteryear for audiences to test their poetic knowledge, and well-loved anthems on the decks, the Albany's Chill Pill nights present an eclectic mix of original works, re-spun classics and cutting edge underground poetry.

In the 2014-15 season, David Mirvish will present 16 shows in Toronto, consisting of seven shows in the Mainstage Subscription Series, three in the Off-Mirvish Subscription Series and six shows off-subscription.

Regent's Park Open Air Theatre has confirmed lead casting for Hobson's Choice and the Gershwins' Porgy and Bess. Mark Benton will play Henry Hobson in Hobson's Choice, with Jodie McNee as his daughter Maggie. Rufus Bonds Jr and Nicola Hughes play the title roles in Porgy and Bess with Phillip Boykin re-creating his Tony Award nominated performance as Crown, and Sharon D Clarke as Mariah.

Graham Parker, General Manager WQXR and Vice President of NYPR will moderate the Breakfast With Mugabe post-performance talk back, as the play celebrates its 100th performance and on the eve of president Robert Mugabe's 90th birthday celebration, tonight, February 19.

Graham Parker, General Manager WQXR and Vice President of NYPR will moderate the Breakfast With Mugabe post-performance talk back, as the play celebrates its 100th performance and on the eve of president Robert Mugabe's 90th birthday celebration, Wednesday, February 19.

The God Box: A Daughter's Story, performed by acclaimed author Mary Lou Quinlan based on her bestselling book, will play the Cherry Lane Theater (38 Commerce Street) on Monday March 3rd at 7PM as a benefit performance for Gilda's Club NYC. Based on Mary Lou Quinlan's New York Times' bestselling book, The God Box, Sharing my mother's gift of faith, love and letting go, the performance explores the laughter and tears of a family in love, in loss, and in triumph. Quinlan is donating 100% of the night's proceeds to Gilda's Club NYC, the free cancer support program founded in memory of comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989. The God Box: A Daughter's Story is co-written and directed by Martha Wollner of the LAByrinth Theater Company.

The Broadway Cast - led by Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock - will appear in the internationally celebrated Kneehigh production of Noel Coward's Brief Encounter, which will have a 43-performance limited engagement at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts today, February 15 to March 23, 2014 (press opening February 19).

Disney and Sonia Friedman Productions are delighted to announce casting for the roles of star-crossed lovers Will Shakespeare and Viola De Lesseps in the forthcoming stage production of Shakespeare in Love. Tom Bateman will play Will Shakespeare and Lucy Briggs-Owen will play Viola De Lesseps.

Grammy Award-nominated singer and renowned interpreter of the Great American Songbook, Michael Feinstein, returns to Carnegie Hall with a special concert featuring a variety of love songs in celebration of Valentine's Day, tonight, February 14 at 8:00 p.m. He is joined by special guests Laura Osnes (Broadway's Cinderella, and Maria in Carnegie Hall's The Sound of Music) andJulian Ovenden (Season Four of PBS's Downton Abbey, the West End's Finding Neverland, and as John F. Kennedy in the 'Bombshell' production on NBC's Smash).

"The new season, our 48th season at the Music Center of Los Angeles," said Ritchie, "will include from Broadway two hit musicals and a celebrated drama - the magical 'Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella,' the mischievous 'Matilda The Musical' and the much beloved Cicely Tyson in Horton Foote's exquisite 'The Trip to Bountiful.'

A "5, 6, 7, 8," the countdown begins for Segerstrom Center's popular Six Days of Broadway musical theater summer camps returning June 23 through July 6. During the week-long sessions, students learn and participate in musical performance, monologue interpretation, audition technique, scene work, dance and much more.

A new South African love story and political thriller. Intrigue, deception and betrayal at the Baxter in the world premiere of John Kani's latest play, Missing ...