Scott Frankel News

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced casting for its production of RAGTIME in the Eisenhower Theater April 18 - May 10, 2009. Based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, the production features book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and will be directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The musical is part of the Kennedy Center's Broadway: The Third Generation, a series celebrating the current generation of Broadway musical composers. The official press night will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.

Minnesota now has the chance to experience not one, but two productions of 'Grey Gardens,' the quirky story of two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The HBO non-musical movie premieres on the cable channel tomorrow and the regional premiere of the Broadway hit, co-produced by Ordway and Park Square Theatre, continues its run at the Ordway through May 17.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for a second round of major items for their special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit. Bidding for the auction, which already features an exceptionally eclectic array of items and unique opportunities, is currently underway at www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com.

Matt Cavenaugh, Tony in Broadway's West Side Story, and Jenny Powers, the co-star of LCT's Happiness, are getting married in Boston this August. They spoke to New York Magazine writer Jesse Oxfeld about the upcoming wedding and the joy of working on the New York.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) will present a return engagement of award winning actor John Lithgow in his critically acclaimed one man show John Lithgow: STORIES BY HEART on Sunday and Monday nights at 7pm beginning Sunday (April 12) in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 W. 65 Street). John Lithgow: STORIES BY HEART, which will once again be directed by Jack O'Brien, will be presented during the Mitzi E.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for a special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will present a special reading and signing with Pulitzer Prize finalist and Playwrights Horizons alumna writer Theresa Rebeck in honor of the upcoming paperback release of her acclaimed novel Three Girls and Their Brother. The event will take place Monday evening, April 20 at 8:00PM at the theater company's Mainstage (416 West 42nd Street), in advance of the paperback's release by Three Rivers Press on Tuesday, April 21.

The Lincoln Center Theater presents the new musical HAPPINESS at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. HAPPINESS has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, and features Fred Applegate. Sebastian Arcelus, Miguel Cervantes, Hunter Foster, Joanna Gleason, Ken Page, Robert Petkoff, Jenny Powers, Phyllis Somerville and Pearl Sun.

Lincoln Center Theater production of the new musical HAPPINESS at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater. HAPPINESS, which has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, and features Fred Applegate. Sebastian Arcelus, Miguel Cervantes, Hunter Foster, Joanna Gleason, Ken Page, Robert Petkoff, Jenny Powers, Phyllis Somerville and Pearl Sun. Opens tonight Monday, March 30.

Currently in previews, Lincoln Center Theater's production of the new musical HAPPINESS will open at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on Monday, March 30 at 6:45pm. HAPPINESS, which has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman. The Tony winning Stroman talked about the new musical with New York Newsday, to read the interview click here.

World Premiere of INKED BABY, a new play by 2007 Susan Smith Blackburn nominee Christina Anderson in her Off-Broadway playwriting debut. INKED BABY began previews on Thursday, March 5 at 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater (416 West 42nd Street). Directed by Kate Whoriskey (Fabulation at Playwrights Horizons, the current hit Ruined), INKED BABY will have its official opening on Monday, March 23 at 7:00 PM and continue through Sunday, April 5.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh and Roger Robinson will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, to be directed by Bartlett Sher. The production, which will be presented on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44 Street) while LCT's award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific continues its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, begins performances Thursday, March 19 at 8pm and opens on Thursday, April 16 at 6:45pm.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh and Roger Robinson will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, to be directed by Bartlett Sher. The production, which will be presented on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44 Street) while LCT's award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific continues its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, begins performances Thursday, March 19 at 8pm and opens on Thursday, April 16 at 6:45pm.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced that Marsha Stephanie Blake, Chad L. Coleman, Michael Cummings, Aunjanue Ellis, Danai Gurira, Andre Holland, Arliss Howard, Ernie Hudson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Amari Rose Leigh and Roger Robinson will be featured in the cast of its upcoming production of August Wilson's JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE, to be directed by Bartlett Sher. The production, which will be presented on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44 Street) while LCT's award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's South Pacific continues its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, begins performances Thursday, March 19 at 8pm and opens on Thursday, April 16 at 6:45pm.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) has announced its 2009 Fall productions of two new plays which will mark the Broadway and New York debuts for their respective playwrights: IN THE NEXT ROOM or The Vibrator Play, by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Les Waters; and BROKE-OLOGY a new play by Nathan Louis Jackson, directed by Thomas Kail. IN THE NEXT ROOM or The Vibrator Play, which will be presented on Broadway while LCT's Tony Award winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC continues its run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, will begin previews on Thursday, October 22 and open on Thursday, November 19 at a Shubert theater to be announced.

Two of the Twin Cities' most accomplished actors, Wendy Lehr and Christina Baldwin, will play the indomitable mother and daughter, 'Big' Edie and 'Little' Edie, in the Park Square Theatre and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts co-production of GREY GARDENS, opening March 25, 2009 (previews begin March 17). The show, by librettist Doug Wright, lyricist Michael Korie and composer Scott Frankel, earned widespread critical acclaim and three Tony? Awards during its nine-month run on Broadway. GREY GARDENS runs through May 17 in the Ordway's McKnight Theatre, 345 Washington St., Saint Paul.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of Andre Bishop, Artistic Director, and Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer) will present a return engagement of award winning actor John Lithgow in his critically acclaimed one man show John Lithgow: STORIES BY HEART on Sunday and Monday nights at 7pm beginning Sunday, April 12 in the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 W. 65 Street).

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced a one week extension for its production of RAGTIME. The musical will now run in the Eisenhower Theater April 18 through May 17, 2009. Based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, the production features book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and will be directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge. The musical is part of the Kennedy Center?s Broadway: The Third Generation, a series celebrating the current generation of Broadway musical composers. The official press night will take place on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 7:30 p.m.

Philadelphia Theatre Company is offering its own boost to the economy. For one day only, March 13 from 9:00-6:00, PTC has scheduled its GO BIG OR GO HOME Subscription Blowout Sale to close out the 2008/2009 Subscription campaign.

Currently in previews, Lincoln Center Theater production of the new musical HAPPINESS will open at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on Monday, March 30 at 6:45pm. HAPPINESS, which has a book by John Weidman, music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman, features Fred Applegate. Sebastian Arcelus, Miguel Cervantes, Hunter Foster, Joanna Gleason, Ken Page, Robert Petkoff, Jenny Powers, Phyllis Somerville and Pearl Sun.