Shakespeare & Company News

The Royal Shakespeare Company's (RSC) production of William Shakespeare's RICHARD II with David Tennant in the title role opened last night to rave reviews. The production will be shown across the US and Canada from today, December 3, 2013 to January 2, 2014 as the premiere broadcast of 'Live from Stratford-upon Avon,' a program that will screen RSC productions from Shakespeare's home town around the world.

Florida Studio Theatre will host The Play's The Thing: A Celebration of FST's 40th Season on January 27, 2014. It will celebrate the completion of the New Gompertz Theatre campaign, including the renovation of the Gompertz, the opening of the John C. Court Cabaret and the completion of Bowne's Lab Theatre. This event will showcase the vibrant organization that FST is today - a lively five-theatre complex that reaches over 165,000 people every year through a diversity of programs. Tickets are $200 per person with proceeds supporting the ongoing work of FST. To reserve a seat, please call Steve Turrisi, Development Associate at (941)-366-0932.

The unknown play written by Orson Welles and Cole Porter Around The World, based on Jules Verne's Around The World in 80 Days, is to play a series of benefit performances in London's Sadler's Wells and New York City's Mint Theater. The performances are fundraising events for The Lost Musicals Charitable Trust (UK). This production marks the first time it will be seen in NYC since the original production in 1946. Some 70 years after the original Broadway production, a new generation of New Yorkers will get the rare opportunity of seeing Around The World.

The award, which was set up for theatre professionals who do not describe themselves as playwrights to showcase their writing talent, was judged by David Lan, Mark Ravenhill, Mike Bradwell, Nina Steiger and Julia Tyrell.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Broadway veteran Louise Pitre will lead GYPSY when it plays Chicago Shakespeare Theatre next year. Directed by Gary Griffin, the production will run at Chicago Shakespeare's Courtyard Theater, February 6- March 23.

Additional casting was announced today for Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed new production of Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical masterpiece LES MISERABLES, which returns to Broadway beginning Saturday, March 1 at the Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street). The official opening night for LES MISERABLES is Sunday, March 23.

Today the Donmar Warehouse announced the full cast of Versailles, Peter Gill's new play about the legacy of the decisions made at the end of WWI, and an accompanying series of talks entitled Impossible Conversations, which will bring together some of today's most important thinkers to discuss the Great War and its legacy. The full cast of Versailles will beFrancesca Annis, Helen Bradbury, Barbara Flynn, Christopher Godwin, Selina Griffiths, Tom Hughes, Tamla Kari, Edward Killingback, Gwilym Lee, Adrian Lukis, Josh O'Connor, Simon Williams and Eleanor Yates.

London's Arts Theatre's DICKENS ABRIDGED opens tonight, December 2 and runs through January 5, 2014. Tickets are £39.50, £37.50, £20.

The Atlanta Shakespeare Company at The New American Shakespeare Tavern presents the 10th Anniversary of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, running December 5-23, 2013, with additional performances: Tuesday December 17, 2013 (Friday night ticket prices) 7:30pm; Wednesday December 18, 2013 (Friday night ticket prices) 7:30pm; Monday December 23, 2013 (Saturday night ticket prices) 2pm; and Monday December 23, 2013 (Friday night ticket prices) 7:30pm. Directed by J. Tony Brown.

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In an interview with The Huffington Post, Stephen Moyer, who portrays Bill Compton in HBO's True Blood spoke about the final season of the drama series.

Move over Grinch; Santa Claus is coming to town and taking up residence at Rubicon Theatre in Ventura! Rubicon's November/ December HOLIDAY CENTRAL calendar offers a sparkling array of more than 35 shows and events for all ages. The festivities begin with the return of a holiday revue with six Broadway singers and a local children's chorus; followed by a late-night adult comedy presented in a cabaret setting; a poetic reading of wartime love letters; and culminating with an enchanting new musical from the Tony and Olivier Award-winning director of Les Miserables and Nicholas Nickleby and the creators of Jane Eyre and Daddy Long Legs, who will have a five-week residency at Rubicon during the holidays.

The Library Theatre Company's reputation for the quality of its Christmas shows is second-to-none, and this year's production, Wanted! Robin Hood, a brand-new adaptation of the magical tale of the legendary hero of Sherwood Forest, suitable for everyone aged six upwards, promises to be one of its very best. The show will run tonight, 29 November 2013 - Saturday 11 January 2014.

Sheffield Theatres will welcome Tom Edden as Fagin in Artistic Director Daniel Evans' production of Lionel Bart's Oliver!. The production runs from today 29 November 2013 until Saturday 25 January 2014 at the Crucible Theatre.

The nation's most beloved spectacle, the Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, returns for the 87th year of magic on Thursday, Nov. 28 (9 a.m.-noon) throughout the country on NBC. Check out the wonderful cast of MATILDA performing below!