Shakespeare & Company News

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. SummerScape's theatrical adaptation comes courtesy of visionary Hungarian director Janos Szasz in collaboration with Gideon Lester, Director of Bard's Theater Programs. It is also Szasz, whose previous stage adaptations of Bulgakov's underground classic have already "made it big" (Moscow Times) at both the Hungarian National and Moscow Art Theatres, who directs Bard's new production: an exploration of miracles, madness, and the magic of theater itself. The Master and Margarita will be presented in ten performances between July 11 and 21 in Theater Two of the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, on Bard's glorious Hudson Valley campus.

In October this year, two of literature's best-loved characters, the charmingly incompetent Bertie Wooster and his unflappable valet Jeeves will be brought to life in a new comedy by brothers Robert and David Goodale. Sean Foley will direct Matthew Macfadyen and Stephen Mangan as the legendary duo at the Duke of York's Theatre from 30 October 2013 with opening night on 12 November.

Final Analysis and Breakfast with Mugabe will open in repertory at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center in August and will have a limited run engagement through the first week of October. Producers of Final Analysis and Breakfast With Mugabe are utilizing the innovative crowd-funding platform, Kickstarter, to help defray production expenses.

Bring your picnic blanket and tow along the kids - Rustic Canyon Park is about to get a little more mischievous this summer, thanks to The City Shakespeare Company's (City Shakes') weekend performances of William Shakespeare's As You Like It. Click below to get a sneak peek from the production!

In a radio interview with Australia's 96FM, Tim Minchin discussed MATILDA's future plans beyond Broadway, mentioning a US tour and a film!

Bring your picnic blanket and tow along the kids - Rustic Canyon Park is about to get a little more mischievous this summer, thanks to The City Shakespeare Company's (City Shakes') weekend performances of William Shakespeare's As You Like It.

Performances begin in just five weeks for the third annual Next Up, continuing Steppenwolf Theatre Company's commitment to Chicago's next generation of theater artists. Next Up features three productions presented in rotating repertory, in collaboration with Northwestern University's MFA programs in Direction and Design. Next Up 2013 showcases the work of graduates of those programs with casts of professional Chicago actors-including nine alumni of the School at Steppenwolf: Fat Pig by Neil LaBute, directed by David Prete; The Drunken City by Adam Bock, directed by Johnny Michael DiResta; and The Internationalist by Anne Washburn, directed by Erin Murray. BroadwayWorld has a first look at all three prodcuctions below!

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone headlines the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's 2012-13 NJSO POPS season finale in Newark and New Brunswick, tonight, June 1 and tomorrow, June 2.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL was featured on ESPN this week when the Broadway hit collaborated with the Scripps National Spelling Bee to celebrate the power of words, learning and education. The 86th Annual Bee opened with a segment shot on stage at the Shubert Theatre featuring a monologue penned by the show's Tony Award nominated book writer Dennis Kelly and performed by Tony Award nominated Bertie Carvel as the terrifying Miss Trunchbull. Watch it below!

MATILDA THE MUSICAL will be featured on "CBS This Morning" this Monday, June 3, when the show's Tony Award nominated composer and lyricist Tim Minchin and the four girls who share the title role join correspondent Mo Rocca for an interview and performance. The four "Matildas" (Sophia Gennusa, Oona Laurence, Bailey Ryon and Milly Shapiro) will each receive a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater.

Utah Repertory Theater Company announces its production of the hysterical farce WHAT THE BELLHOP SAW -- the funniest show you've never seen.

Washington Ensemble Theatre presents Tall Skinny Cruel Cruel Boys by Caroline V. McGraw, directed in its World Premiere by Jane Nichols, running tonight, May 31 - June 24, 2013.

Cameron Mackintosh announced today that his acclaimed new production of Alain Boublil & Claude-Michel Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical masterpiece LES MISERABLES will return to the Imperial Theatre, the show's home on Broadway for nearly 13 years and 5244 performances. Previews for the new production of LES MISERABLES will begin Saturday, March 1 with an official opening night Sunday, March 23. The original New York production of LES MISERABLES premiered first at the Broadway Theatre on March 12, 1987, later moving to the Imperial on October 17, 1990, where it played until May 18, 2003, for a total Broadway run of 6680 performances. The casting process for the new production has begun and will be completed later this summer.

Brave Spirits Theatre has announced its fourth production, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The production will run beginning June 12 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H Street, NE, Washington, D.C.

Theatre for a New Audience has been partnering for 15 years with P.S. 235 in Canarsie, Brooklyn, with an annual 13-week program that combines the experience of seeing a great Shakespearean play with in-depth classroom work. P.S. 235 is a Pre-K to Grade 8 school which attracts gifted and talented students, largely of Caribbean descent, from all over Brooklyn.

Theatre Rhinoceros presents... Drunk Enough To Say I Love You? by Caryl Churchill, directed by John Fisher and featuring Sam Cohen, Rudy Guerrero* and Kim Stephenson, tonight, May 30 - June 16, 2013.

This June, Park Avenue Armory unveils a new large-scale installation and video project by artist Paul McCarthy, considered among the most provocative and influential voices in the international art world today. Drawing inspiration from the 19th-century German fairytale Snow White and McCarthy's ongoing exploration of American myths and icons, WS takes over the Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall from June 19 through August 4, 2013, and marks the Armory's seventh major visual art installation to date. The monumental installation weaves together a fantastical forest and a three-quarter-scale house modeled after McCarthy's own childhood home with multi-channel video projections to immerse visitors in a world of fantasy and depravity. A press preview for WS will be held at the Armory on June 18, 2013.

Theatre Rhinoceros presents... Drunk Enough To Say I Love You? by Caryl Churchill, directed by John Fisher and featuring Sam Cohen, Rudy Guerrero* and Kim Stephenson, May 30 - June 16, 2013.

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) announced today that it is collaborating with Picturehouse Entertainment on 'Live from Stratford-upon-Avon', a new programme to screen its productions live from Shakespeare's home town, and will work with Ravensbourne College to stream the production straight to UK schools.