Shakespeare & Company News

Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is proud to present the 2013 FREE Shakespeare in the Park Tour sponsored by Kroger. CSC will present 20 performances of their touring productions of 'Romeo & Juliet' and 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' throughout the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area at local community parks and venues. These performances are FREE and open to the public.

Tim Minchin, the Tony Award nominated composer of Matilda The Musical will be a guest on STUDIO 360 this weekend. Listen as he plays select songs from the hit and speaks with host Kurt Andersen about his music and lyrics for the show, which has received 12 Tony Award nominations including one for Best Musical.

Frank Grimes's one man show 'the he and the she of it...' is a riveting portrait of one of the world's greatest literary figures, James Joyce. With extracts from Finnegans Wake, Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners, this performance is a superb tribute to the man and his work.

This summer the Marin Shakespeare Company sets its outdoor stage with revenge, wild west wrangling and one of the Bard's wittiest comedies as they present 'The Spanish Tragedy,' a new country-western adaptation of 'A Comedy of Errors' and 'All's Well That Ends Well.'

Austin Shakespeare teen company Young Shakespeare will perform Romeo and Julieta at Richard Garriott de Cayeux' replica of an Elizabethan theater, The Curtain Theater, on the shores of Lake Austin 8 pm Thursday thru Sundays June 20-June 30. This new adaptation uses Shakespeare own language peppered with contemporary Spanish language verse by Austin playwright, Rupert Reyes. The production features a mashup of contemporary costumes, Quinceañera dances and classic sword fights.

The timeless classic family musical The Wizard of Oz, based on the beloved 1939 film starring Judy Garland, kicks off the 2013 Music Circus season with an extended run at the Wells Fargo Pavilion from June 21 - 30. Filled with favorite songs like 'Over the Rainbow' and 'We're Off to See the Wizard,' fans of all ages will once again be delighted as they follow Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man, Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion on an enchanting adventure along the Yellow Brick Road to Oz. The Music Circus production will be the Royal Shakespeare Company version of the musical, which was first presented at the Barbican Centre in London in 1988 and is based closely on the classic film.

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's 2013 Tony Awards Clip Countdown with a special spotlight focused on one of the most popular and enduring musicals of all time, LES MISERABLES.

Berkeley Playhouse closes its fifth season with the Tony Award-winning musical THE WIZ. Kimberly Dooley(Lucky Duck, Seussical, The Musical, Once On This Island) directs and choreographs this soulful re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's family classicThe Wonderful Wizard of Oz, featuring a cast of 46. THE WIZ plays July 13 through August 25 (Press opening: July 13) at the Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley. For tickets ($17-60) and more information, the public may visit berkeleyplayhouse.org or call 510-845-8542x351.

Two-time Tony Award-winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing) will star on Broadway in two startlingly different performances in repertory: as the suddenly love struck noblewoman Olivia in Twelfth Night and as the ruthless and conniving title monarch in Richard III. The critically heralded all-male Shakespeare's Globe productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III, which delighted audiences and broke all box office records in London's West End earlier this year, will openSunday, November 10 at the Belasco Theatre (111 West 44th Street), with previews beginning October 15. The productions, directed by Tim Carroll, designed byJenny Tiramani and with music by Claire van Kampen, will play a limited engagement for 16 weeks. Tickets are on sale now through www.telecharge.com. For a schedule of performances and more information, please visit www.ShakespeareBroadway.com.

About Face Theatre will kick off LGBTQ Pride Month with the Chicago premiere of the Oliver Award-winning drama THE PRIDE by Alexi Kaye Campbell, directed by Artistic Director Bonnie Metzgar, playing today, June 6 - July 13, 2013 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets for THE PRIDE are available at www.aboutfacetheatre.com or by calling the Victory Gardens Box Office at (773) 871-3000. The press opening is Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 pm.

The Old Globe today announced THINKING SHAKESPEARE LIVE!, a 90-minute presentation exploring the language of Shakespeare, on Saturday, June 15 at 11 a.m. Led by Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein and assisted by three professional classical actors, this special program based on Edelstein's book, THINKING SHAKESPEARE: A HOW-TO GUIDE FOR STUDENT ACTORS, DIRECTORS, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE BARD, will reveal a performer's approach to Shakespearean language so audiences may easily understand the poetry of the Bard. An ideal introduction to Shakespeare for families and young audiences, THINKING SHAKESPEARE LIVE! will take place on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center.

The Bard SummerScape festival in New York's Annandale-on-Hudson presents the world premiere of an original stage adaptation of The Master and Margarita (1937) by Mikhail Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita is widely recognized as one of the greatest and most beloved Russian novels of the 20th century.

59E59 Theaters welcomes the Finborough Theatre production of J.B. Priestley's CORNELIUS, directed by Sam Yates, to Brits Off Broadway. Produced by Jagged Fence, Handsome Dog and 31 Productions, CORNELIUS began performances on Saturday, June 1 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 30. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

There is much to love about the innovative production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Tom Morris, that is currently playing at the Dock Street Theatre in Charleston, S.C. as part of the Spoleto Festival. A spare company of twelve actors enacts a large cast of characters with the help of puppets composed of inventive materials ranging from classical masks to simple workmen's tools. A co-production by the U.K.'s Bristol Old Vic and Handspring Puppet Company from South Africa, the production is a visual feast chock full of imaginative surprises.

GreenStage, Seattle's longest-operating Shakespeare company, celebrates its 25th season in 2013 with two of the Bard's favorites for the summer Shakespeare in the Park season, and a new Backyard Bard series of scaled-down productions for smaller parks and other venues. Our silver-anniversary season will be our most exciting and biggest yet, with nearly 60 performances in 22 different parks from July 12-Aug. 18. As always, GreenStage performances will be absolutely free of charge. Go see a play!

Little Angel Theatre, London's powerhouse of puppetry, has announced that it will have a new Executive Director from this summer.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company, recipient of the 2012 Regional Theatre Tony Award, is pleased to announce that Potted Potter, a seventy minute production featuring all seven Harry Potter books, will play in the Company's Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW) this fall. The production will run from September 5 - 15, 2013 and tickets are now on sale for the public.

Winner of a record-breaking seven Olivier Awards including Best Musical, Matilda The Musical is more than a show, it's a phenomenon. Based on the beloved novel by best-selling author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox), Matilda The Musical is the story of an extraordinary girl who dreams of a better life. Armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, Matilda dares to take a stand and change her destiny. Watch the video below and listen to the cast of MATILDA perform 'Revolting Children'!

The four young stars of Broadway's MATILDA THE MUSICAL, Sophia Gennusa, Bailey Ryon, Oona Laurence, and Milly Shapiro, spoke to Mo Rocca on CBS THIS MORNING about the show, and their debut Broadway performances. Check out the appearance below!