Stephen Schwartz News

On Saturday, April 30 at 7:00pm, members of the Bay Area Cabaret & Theatrical communities join forces to raise funds for, and honor the work of, cabaret columnist and award-winning director Mike Ward, facing the final months of terminal, inoperable liver cancer.

Walking along Ninth Avenue on an early Saturday evening after enjoying a light meal at one of the neighborhood sandwich shops, Maxwell Caulfield looks up at the Minskoff Building in the distance and sighs. He remarks, 'What a lovely view you have from the rehearsal space up there! There's a beautiful view of the setting sun as it goes down over the Hudson River! It's gorgeous. That rehearsal space will always be one of my favorite spots in New York.' There's good reason for that because it was in that rehearsal studio that he met his wife, actress Juliet Mills. They were preparing for the touring company of Bernard Pomerance's play THE ELEPHANT MAN in which Caulfield played the title role and Ms. Mills was Mrs. Kendall. The electricity between the two actors was evident to everyone in the room and it blossomed into a full romance and a marriage that has lasted 31 years. In these times of throw-away marriages and quickie divorces, it's refreshing to observe that Maxwell Caulfield is still very much in love with his wife. In fact, the two of them recently toured England together in a production of Alan Ayckbourn's BEDROOM FARCE.

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts will open the musical "Rags" by Stephen Schwartz ("Wicked"), Charles Strouse ("Annie"), and Joseph Stein ("Fiddler on the Roof") on April 14th.

First Stage concludes its 24th season with an up-beat musical adaptation of MISS NELSON IS MISSING!, opening on Friday, April 29, 7:00 p.m. at the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Pay no attention to what Joshua Waldrep tells you when you ask him what he thinks about his voice. The man is a master of understatement (no, really, he is...well, sometimes) and for some untold reason doesn't realize that he has an absolutely gorgeous voice. Seriously. At last fall's First Night, the Nashville Theatre Honors, he very nearly stole the stage out from under the estimable (read 'lovely and talented') Linda Sue Simmons Runyeon and Jenny Norris-Light when he joined them for Les Miserables medley that featured the very handsome and talented Mr. Waldrep (after he'd already stopped the show with Darin Richardson in their duet of 'The Proposal' from Titanic) doing a rather stunning version of 'Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.' Take it from me, the man has some very serious pipes on him.

Rep Stage, the professional Equity theatre in residence at Howard Community College (HCC), closes its 18th season with Stephen Karam's 'Speech & Debate,' directed by Eve Muson and featuring Parker Drown, the 2010 recipient of the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Musical.

LA MIRADA THEATRE FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS & UPRIGHT CABARET are thrilled to announce the performers for its third show of their season, I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND: The Music of The Beatles, which will include James Snyder (Broadway: Cry-Baby, Pasadena Playhouse: Dangerous Beauty), Tom Lowe (London: Les Miserables, Cats) and Elizabeth Brackenbury (Vanities, Rock Of Ages), performing the music of The Beatles, and their own selections, under the musical direction of Todd Schroeder, in a one night only concert - I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND which will perform on Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 7:30PM at the NEW Cabaret Lounge at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd. in La Mirada.

The Human Race Theatre Company has the largest group of finalists in the four-year history of its Stephen Schwartz Musical Theatre Scholarship - ten high school and college students will be vying for $3,500 in scholarships at The Loft Theatre April 26.

Tony Winner Sutton Foster has confirmed a May 9th ‘Live at Barnes & Noble' in-store performance and CD signing to celebrate Ghostlight Records' release of her 20-song tour de force ‘An Evening With Sutton Foster - Live at the Café Carlyle'. In a rave review, USA TODAY's Elysa Gardner praised the CD's ballads in particular as 'revelatory, showing a sense of grace and wonder,' adding that the live album 'offers delightful proof of a shier, wrier side' to Foster. This is a theme Foster herself reinforced in an interview with THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, emphasizing ‘it's a concert, not cabaret, but adds that whatever you call it, 'it's definitely quirky and weird -- and very much me.' Audio samples and more info, here: http://www.sh-k-boom.com/suttoncarlyle.shtml

As we come to April 15 (got YOUR taxes done yet?) and on into springtime, I trust you are making plans to frequent one of the several live performance and theatre venues here on the beautiful California Central Coast!

All work and play! Petterino's (150 N. Dearborn St., Chicago), the downtown theater district go-to restaurant, presents "Monday Night Live" on Monday, April 11 beginning at 7:30 p.m. with guest performances by select cast members of WORKING, currently playing at the Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place (175 E. Chestnut St., Chicago) through June 5, 2011.

Christian Youth Theater (CYT) Kansas City North proudly presents Godspell, Thursday, April 7 - Sunday, April 10 at YouthFront Auditorium, 4715 Rainbow Blvd., Shawnee Mission, KS 66205.

The Mornington Players present the hit musical Godspell.

New York City Opera's General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel will moderate an in-depth roundtable discussion on what defines the opera and musical theater genres at the Gershwin Theatre on the set of Stephen Schwartz's acclaimed Broadway production Wicked. He will be joined by a panel of distinguished composers and playwrights including Stephen Schwartz, Rufus Wainwright (composer and performer), Adam Guettel (composer of Floyd Collins and The Light in the Piazza), John Kander (composer of Cabaret and Chicago) and David Henry Hwang (librettist for operas such as Alice in Wonderland and The Fly, playwright of M. Butterfly, book for Flower Drum Song, Tarzan and Aida on Broadway). The discussion, which will take place on April 10, precedes the New York premiere of Schwartz's first opera Séance on a Wet Afternoon, opening at New York City Opera on Tuesday, April 19.

Tickets for FLCT's upcoming productino of Disney's MY SON PINOCCHIO are now on sale.

New York City Opera General Manager and Artistic Director George Steel today announced the company's 2010-2011 season, which spotlights American composers and 20th-century works within a mix of world premieres, New York premieres and new productions. Offering audiences the opportunity to experience new and rarely performed operas as well as modern interpretations of traditional repertoire, the 2010-2011 season will also feature the launch of a concert series showcasing the non-operatic works of several of the composers of this season's operas. Taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the recent renovation of the company's home, the David H. Koch Theater, the concert series expands the repertoire and programming of City Opera and casts new light on the season's productions.

Unity Center for Practical Spirituality is proud to present an upcoming musical extravaganza: 'Hear Our Song,' to be held at the Norwalk City Hall, Concert Hall at 125 East Avenue, Norwalk, on Friday April 8, 2011 at 8 pm.

Unity Center for Practical Spirituality is proud to present an upcoming musical extravaganza: 'Hear Our Song,' to be held at the Norwalk City Hall, Concert Hall at 125 East Avenue, Norwalk, on Friday April 8, 2011 at 8 pm.

The Mornington Players present the hit musical Godspell.

ZERO HOUR is a one-man play starring Jim Brochu and directed by Piper Laurie. A smash-hit off Broadway (Jim won the Drama Desk Award in 2010 for the role) the show is currently playing in Toronto until April 16th, 2011. Jim Brochu sat down to talk with BWW about the reasons why he chose now to do a piece on Zero Mostel, and about the man he is portraying.