Royal Shakespeare Company News

The Stage Newspaper's annual list, The Stage 100, now in its 16th year, has once again listed the top 100 most influential people in UK theatre.

Since its founding in 1992, SITI Company has redefined contemporary theater in the United States through an innovative approach to actor training as well as collaboration and cultural exchange. Company members have taught at Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Juilliard, Bard, Emerson, Royal Shakespeare Company and UCLA, to name a few. As it begins its 20th anniversary season, SITI is proud to announce the establishment of the SITI Conservatory Program, a one-year program that will train the next generation of theater makers.

Jeanne Becquet is walking a tightrope without a net. She's trying to keep her family safe and provided for, which requires a certain level of 'cordiality' with the Nazi officer in command of a local occupying force. And she's been managing, however uncomfortably. But all that is about to change in Moira Buffini's Gabriel, beginning its run at Fort Worth's Stage West on Thursday, January 10. BroadwayWorld has a first look in the photos below!

Last spring, Josepha Penrose, Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction for Wildwood Public Schools asked artistic director, Gayle Stahlhuth, if East Lynne Theater Company would be interested in being part of an after-school program for Wildwood students. She was applying for the federally funded 21st Century Learning Centers grant. Since the Wildwood School District decided its theme would be visual and performing arts, Penrose believed ELTC would be a good partner. In late August, Penrose received word that the district was awarded the grant and the program must start on October 1.

Simcha Weinstein's uncompromisingly sensible solutions fly in the face of traditional ideas. Showing how having more children can actually be a boon to your bottom line without necessarily increasing your carbon footprint.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, December 23, 2012 - Sunday, December 23, 2012.

Christmas Day 2012 marks the biggest and best day of the year for many Broadway babies around the world, but the anticipatory fervor has little to do with the man with the beard in red and white from the North Pole - you see, the guy in question in this equation is more apt to be seen in red and black and his origins are decidedly a bit more Gallic than Jolly Old St. Nick. The man whom I speak of is, of course, Jean Valjean, the protagonist of Victor Hugo's spellbinding 1862 historical epic LES MISERABLES, a novel which was subsequently adapted into a 1980 concert spectacular and ultimately a 1985 full-fledged stage musical, painstakingly developed through the shepherding of uber producer Cameron Mackintosh, alongside the talents responsible for breathing song into the story - original French composer/lyricist team Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil (along with Jean-Marc Natel), to whom Mackintosh added English lyricist Herbert Kretzmer (and also contributor James Fenton). Through a special partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company, LES MISERABLES: THE MUSICAL premiered at the Barbican Theatre in the West End soon thereafter under the direction of Trevor Nunn and John Caird and opened to largely negative reviews, albeit ecstatic, ebullient audiences. Broadway was next, where it went on to win Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Actor, Best Featured Actress & Actor and even more (eight total). LES MISERABLES onstage was a hit like few others from then on and the rest, ze say, is history - or, in this case, l'histoire. Yet, on Christmas Day, the next step in the evolution of the worldwide phenomenon commonly and colloquially known as LES MIZ will occur - just days after the Mayan-predicted end of days, no less - and the movie musical adaptation of the stage show will finally become a reality, featuring an all-star cast comprised of Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Eddie Redmayne, Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter, among others. The time has come to hear the people sing onscreen at long, long last. But, first, how is the film?

While many MIZ-heads may have assumed the film adaptation of their beloved musical would never actually come to fruition, here it really is, all too soon available for all to see - lo, more than twenty years after it was first announced byway of an official promo ad in a tour souvenir going as far back as the late-1980s. I was lucky enough to catch an advance screening during the dawning days of December and many small moments, full musical sequences and my first impressions themselves have filled me with a certain kind of inexpressible enrapturing ecstasy heretofore inexperienced, coming as a direct result, no doubt, of the sheer force of power the film exacts in its relentless, barreling, blazingly bravado-bedecked style - a style, I can firmly say, is completely unique in movie history. LES MISERABLES is a lot of things, but, first and foremost, it is that which it is unlike that makes it most remarkable of all; that is: it is unlike any movie musical ever made. And, it is a masterpiece.

The Royal Shakespeare Company and The Dodgers today announced the casting of the principal roles and the ensemble in the eagerly anticipated Broadway-bound musical MATILDA THE MUSICAL. They are (alphabetically): Karen Aldridge (Mrs. Phelps), Gabriel Ebert (Mr. Wormwood), Lesli Margherita (Mrs. Wormwood), and Lauren Ward (Miss Honey).

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) joins the international celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Dickens' birth, Dickens 2012, with a World's Stage presentation of the Olivier Award-nominated production Dickens' Women, featuring actress Miriam Margolyes, tonight, December 18-22, 2012 in the theater Upstairs at Chicago Shakespeare.

With The Suit, theater director Peter Brook-whose 1987 production of The Mahabharata inaugurated the BAM Majestic Theater (now the BAM Harvey Theater)-returns to BAM with Theatre des Bouffes du Nord to showcase his signature approach of innovative stage design and the integration of live music. Written by Can Themba, The Suit was adapted for the stage by Mothobi Mutloatse, and Barney Simon.

Originally produced by the National Theatre of Scotland, the English premiere of Iain Finlay Macleod's Somersaults opens at the Finborough Theatre on Wednesday, 2 January 2013 (Press Night: Thursday, 3 January 2013 at 7.30pm) for a limited four-week season, directed by Russell Bolam.

The smash hit West End musical GHOST the Musical, based on the Academy Award winning film, is to tour throughout the UK opening at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff in April 2013. GHOST the Musical is directed by the Tony award winning Matthew Warchus (Matilda, Art) and has music and lyrics by Grammy® award winning Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard and features the iconic song Unchained Melody. Set and costume designs are by Rob Howell, musical supervision and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, illusions are by Paul Kieve, choreography is by Ashley Wallen, video and projection designs by Jon Driscoll, lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Bobby Aitken. The UK tour is being produced by David Ian Productions, The Ambassador Theatre Group, Colin Ingram, and Hello Entertainment/David Garfinkle. Full casting for the tour will be announced later this year.

From the author of Pride and Prejudice comes this heartwarming, humorous tale of two sisters struggling to move past a family disaster. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the road to true love beset with dashing suitors and well-meaning relatives, devoted friends and devious rivals, and scandalous secrets and unexpected twists in a period-perfect adaptation that captures all of the deliciousness, flirtation and folly of Jane Austen's well-loved novel.