Sarah Brightman News

Center Productions, Inc., has announced its roster of artists for the 2013-14 Booking Season. Center Productions, Inc. was founded in 2006 and has quickly proved to be one of the most respected booking agencies in the performing arts industry. Center Productions prides itself on its extraordinary artists and exceptional customer service.

ANNIE, the new production of the Tony Award-winning musical, went into rehearsal today in New York City with its full company. The production begins previews October 3, 2012 and opens November 8, 2012 at the Palace Theatre (Broadway at 47th Street). Meet the full cast below!

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Jonathan Silverstein, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that Lauren Molina and Jason Tam will star in Marry Me A Little, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conceived by Craig Lucas and Norman Rene, directed by Keen Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein. Marry Me A Little kicks off their 2012 - '13 season and will be followed by a newly revised version of the 1991 play, The Old Boy by A.R. Gurney.

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA has announced cast changes slated to take place on the 3 September. Joining the company will be Marcus Lovett as 'The Phantom', Simon Thomas as 'Raoul', Lara Martins as 'Carlotta' and Anna O'Byrne as 'Christine' at certain performances.

One of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history, CATS will begin a new tour in 2013. Premiering at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 9 February 2013 the show will also visit Aberdeen, Wolverhampton, Manchester, Bradford, Hull, Sunderland, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Woking, Ostend and Dublin. Further dates and venues to be announced.

According to MCV, an Andrew Lloyd Webber video game titled 'Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals: Sing & Dance' will be released exclusively for Wii on Sept. 14, 2012.

The new musical Foreverman, with book, music, and lyrics by Brett M. Boles, will be presented as an official selection of the New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF's) 2012 Next Link Project, beginning performances tonight, July 20 and running through Sunday, July 28, at the PTC Performance Space, 555 West 42 Street (between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues).

The new musical Foreverman, with book, music, and lyrics by Brett M. Boles, will be presented as an official selection of the New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF's) 2012 Next Link Project, beginning performances Friday, July 20 and running through Sunday, July 28, at the PTC Performance Space, 555 West 42 Street (between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues).

The Concrete Jungle, an original work from American composer Bobby Cronin opened at the Studio Theatre of London's Arts Educational School on 8th June, 2012, and runs until the 16th June, 2012. The show follows the lives and loves of a group of young singletons who have just moved to New York City as they share stories in their local bar, 'The Concrete Jungle'.

IN CONCERT KRISTIN CHENOWETH National Tour blew into the Boston Opera House on the heels of a wind and rain-driven thunder squall for one night only. Backed by an 11-piece orchestra and a trio of triple-threat performers, the diminutive star of stage, screen, and soundtrack put on a tight, well-paced production displaying her vocal versatility and comedic chops.

Today we are continuing the 2012 Tony Awards Clip Countdown with another pairing sure to instigate ample amounts of approbation and opprobrium - now, just as it did twenty-five years ago - the famous Tony Awards battle of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA versus INTO THE WOODS.

This weekend, BroadwayWorld will be presenting an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary composer Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber all about the enchanting new performance capture film version of his PHANTOM OF THE OPERA sequel, LOVE NEVER DIES. Until that chat, let's take a look back at some of the finest Andrew Lloyd Webber-related performances related to the entertainment dynasty built upon his operatic pop musical version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel that is about to celebrate its 10,000th performance on Broadway later this month, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, as well as its continuation, LOVE NEVER DIES, and the two revivals of his two classic 70s hit stage collaborations with previous InDepth InterView participant Sir Tim Rice coming back to Broadway in a big way - JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA. Plus, a look at the new Simon Phillips-directed production of LOVE NEVER DIES coming to Fathom-equipped movie theaters nationwide on February 28 and March 7, with DVD & Blu-ray after that, as well as the PHANTOM 25 DVD & Blu-ray being released in the US on February 7. It's a busy time of year for phans, clearly! Fetch your favorite mask and check out these four Andrew Lloyd Webber delicacies before they arrive!

In honor of this week's US release of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL on DVD/Blu-ray - PHANTOM 25 for short - today we are focusing on the multitude of attributes that have made Andrew Lloyd Webber's unforgettable gothic musical the most successful entertainment of all time, now in its 25th year onstage and about to reach 10,000 performances on Broadway, where it is the reigning longest running show of all time. The gargantuan excitement generated by and the enthusiastic reception enjoyed by PHANTOM for audiences worldwide is unprecedented, yet, the new ultimate presentation of the show - PHANTOM 25 - is even more spectacular and thrilling than any iteration of PHANTOM on any stage or screen thus far. Bringing together the cast of a lifetime with the electricity of a live audience, the HD preservation of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL is positively peerless in its sleekness, precision and polish of presentation. Never before - not even in the vaunted hands and cords of original show stars Sarah Brightman and Michael Crawford - has the show been this contemporary, sexual and hypnotizing. Ramin Karimloo as the Phantom brings a rawness and austerity to the role that commands attention and Sierra Boggess is, in a word, supreme, as the young ingenue under the Phantom's watchful musical tutelage. So, too, does Hadley Fraser's perfectly painted Raoul hit the right mark, as do the rest of the exceptional cast in their commitment to making clear-cut, strong and colorful impressions in their roles. The LED-enhanced set is an imaginative reworking of the designs by Maria Bjornson and the musical staging is smooth and assured thanks to original show choreographer Gillian Lynne. Yet, the star of PHANTOM 25 is, unquestionably, Andrew Lloyd Webber's rapturous, rich and enveloping score. Bringing together an impressive and inspired assortment of genres in creating the quintessential pop opera, Lloyd Webber employs elements of grand opera, opera bouffe, operetta and musical theatre, as well as incorporates a diverse range of musical styles - even a little heavy metal guitar in the title song, as we shall see (and hear). The score of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's finest achievements and stands tall alongside his other classic scores for JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, EVITA, CATS, SUNSET BOULEVARD among many other international hit shows. Indeed, the story and score of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is so very complex and decadent as to allow for a continuation of the story, score, characters and overall themes in the form of the new musical, LOVE NEVER DIES, which premiered in a new version in Australia last year and whose story traces the relationship of the Phantom, Christine and Raoul from the end of the original show all the way from Paris to Coney Island ten years later where PHANTASMA is the show everyone must experience thanks to a mysterious figure lurking in the shadows beyond the carousel. In today's celebration of PHANTOM 25, we will take a look at the original music videos, the legendary Hal Prince production on Broadway and in the West End, the forthcoming LOVE NEVER DIES - coming to Fathom-equipped theaters nationwide later this month - all with a special spotlight on the most phantastic anniversary concert of all time, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL.

Actor and daughter of the late ITC Board Member Barbara Manuell, Lynn Manuell wrote the following as a plea to help the Illinois Theatre Center finish its season before its impending closure.

It's been a while since original THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA star Sarah Brightman has starred in a theatrical production, but she might be returning to theatre in the near future. When asked in an interview featured on her Facebook page if she would ever return to the stage, she responded: Yes, I particularity would love to entertain performing in a play again.'

Parody must have bite to grab hold of an audience. Since its inception, the Forbidden Broadway series has had the incisors of a shark and the claws of a lion, and theatre folk just clammer to have their gods and divas dished and devoured.

The 25th anniversary spectacular celebrating The Phantom Of The Opera airs on British TV for the first time today. The show, starring Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess and Hadley Fraser, begins on Channel 5 at 1.40pm.

A few days shy of the holiest week of the year for Christians - aptly named Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with Easter (with Holy Thursday and Good Friday, the most sacred events on the calendar coming between) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's seminal rock opera JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was resurrected on Broadway by TOMMY and JERSEY BOYS director Des McAnuff - modeled after the hit Stratford Shakespeare Festival production last year and comprised of many of the same cast members, including all three leads - to hails of praise and hosannas, mostly. While JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR itself will always divide audiences and critics alike - and not merely because of its controversial content and its button-pushing treatment of the hallowed tale it tells - the magnetism and sheer power that Lloyd Webber's propulsive, throbbing rock score imbues gives the show an energy, vitality and life rare to find in even the most earnestly effervescent and energetic of comparable entities - the recently revived and similarly-themed GODSPELL in a revival a few blocks away included. Then, there are Tim Rice's lyrics - oh-so-spot-on in 1970, but still biting and edgy today in McAnuff's hi-tech and elaborately presented new Broadway production. Using the book of John as the jumping off point, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR tells the story of the last seven days in the life of Jesus Christ (Paul Nolan) and his subsequent betrayal by Judas (Josh Young) and sentencing to death at the hands of King Herod and Pontius Pilate (Tom Hewitt). The twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene and her female companions, lepers, Pharisees, priests and others populate the grand story told almost entirely through song - the show is 90% music - and Webber and Rice's score never, ever lets up. While this may not be the most faithful rendering as far as the Bible is concerned, nor the most historically accurate, SUPERSTAR is now available to experience for a whole new generation thanks to this new revival and the timing could not be more ideal. The time is ripe for a revival of SUPERSTAR, and, as Andrew Lloyd Webber himself has recently related, this new production of the show is the best ever as far as he is concerned. High praise indeed - coming from no less than the Lord.