Stephen Sondheim News

Katie Brayben plays the title role of Carole King, with Alan Morrissey as King's husband and song-writing partner Gerry Goffin, Lorna Want as song-writer Cynthia Weil, Ian McIntosh as song-writer Barry Mann,Glynis Barber as Genie Klein, King's mother, and Gary Trainor as music publisher and producer Don Kirshner.

Today we are reviewing the hotly anticipated feature film adaptation of THE LAST FIVE YEARS, starring Jeremy Jordan and Anna Kendrick, now available nationwide on VOD and in select cinemas.

The Daily Mail writes that Jennifer Coolidge has signed on to play 'Hattie Walker' in FOLLIES in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall on April 28, 2015. Also joining the lineup are Stefanie Powers as 'Solange Lafitte', with Alistair Brammer, Alexander Hanson and Laura Pitt-Pulford.

San Diego Musical Theatre presents the first production of their 2015 season, WEST SIDE STORY, February 13 - March 1, 2015 (press opening this Saturday, February 14) at their new home, the Spreckels Theatre on Broadway in downtown San Diego. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Bayou City Theatrics continues along their path of 'Art from New Perspectives,' by bringing you a breath of fresh air and reimagining an entire season of Broadway's most beloved musicals. The 2015 Spring Season will open with Stephen Sondheim's first Broadway musical, of which he penned both music and lyrics: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This hilarious production runs tonight, February 13 through March 1 at The Kaleidoscope.

Tony Award-winning actress and singer Bernadette Peters, known for her decades-long career on the Broadway and television stage, will make her Houston Symphony debut tonight, February 13, at 7:30 p.m.

San Diego Musical Theatre announces the first production of their 2015 season, WEST SIDE STORY, tonight, February 13 - March 1, 2015 (press opening on Saturday, February 14) at their new home, the Spreckels Theatre on Broadway in downtown San Diego.

Don't miss SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM, the Tony Award-winning musical opening at Bainbridge Performing Arts in mid February. The sophistication, wit, insight, heart and genius of Broadway's most innovative and influential artist are at the center of this tribute to composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Enjoy a dazzling array of some of Sondheim's best-known songs featuring numbers from landmark shows that revolutionized the musical theatre with their masterful craft and astounding creativity.

A cast of five will lead the reading of William Youmans', grandnephew of acclaimed composer and producer Vincent Youmans, Off-Broadway bound production of WHAT WOMEN DO (and men too). This new play, directed by Don Stephenson, is a battle-of-the-sexes farce set in New York City. The reading takes place on Thursday and Friday, February 26th and 27th, 2015.

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) Artistic Director Carey Perloff announced today the initial casting for A.C.T.'s upcoming production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's rapturous and seductive musical, A Little Night Music. Filled with Sondheim's signature wit and some of his most gorgeous melodies -- including the beloved and haunting treasure "Send in the Clowns" -- A Little Night Music will feature Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway, Contact) as Desiree Armfeldt; Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner (Billy Elliot: The Musical, Side Show) as Charlotte; and Patrick Cassidy (42nd Street, Sondheim's Assassins) as Federick Egerman. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Theater Works announces the cast for the Arizona premiere of FOLLIES, the legendary musical The New York Times calls 'one of the greatest musicals ever written'. FOLLIES will open on the Gyder Stage at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts on February 20, 2015.

Audience members, including multiple Tony, Oscar, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize Award-winning composer Stephen Sondheim, got lei'd last night at Broadway's newest critical smash hit musical, Honeymoon in Vegas. In celebration of Valentine's Day week, lovers of Broadway were treated to complimentary Hawaiian Leis and Mai Tais as they entered the Nederlander Theatre. Cast members Catherine Ricafort ('Mahi') and Raymond J. Lee greeted Sondheim before the Wednesday evening performance of Honeymoon in Vegas which transports the audience from Brooklyn, to Vegas, Hawaii, and back again.

Heartbeat Opera is a new company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company's work focuses on the body of the singer and the visceral power of the music.

From March 10 to September 20, 2015, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) presents Richard Estes: Painting New York City, the first exhibition of the art of Richard Estes to focus on the artist's technique and process, through an examination of his New York City paintings, prints, and photographs. Spanning from the mid-1960s to the present and featuring over forty paintings and works on paper, the exhibition is Estes' first New York City museum survey. It is also the first solo painting show in the history of the Museum of Arts and Design.

Heartbeat Opera is a new company intent upon re-imagining opera in intimate spaces for a new generation. Employing a minimalism that allows the emotional integrity of the music to shine through, the company's work focuses on the body of the singer and the visceral power of the music. Co-Artistic Directors Louisa Proske andEthan Heard, who trained together in the Directing program at the Yale School of Drama, are committed to nurturing the actor in every singer they work with. The company creates productions of classics and new pieces that are daring and visceral—productions that manifest the emotional grandeur and theatrical power of opera with minimal means. Heartbeat's one-act festival presentation of György Kurtág's Kafka-Fragments, directed by Heard, and the New York premiere of Jacques Offenbach's Daphnis & Chloé, in a new English translation directed by Proske, marks this young company's debut. Heartbeat Opera's resident music ensemble Cantata Profana, described by The New York Times as “a stylish early music ensemble,” will provide musical accompaniment.

It's been one of the most talked about (and most stalled) musical projects of the past few years. Stage and screen legend Barbra Streisand has been working with Universal Pictures on a new big screen adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical GYPSY since 2011. This would be the third film of GYPSY having first been made in 1962 (starring Rosalind Russell) and then again in 1993 for television (starring Bette Midler). Do you think the film will ever come to fruition? Catch up on what we know about the project so far!

Porchlight Music Theatre presents the second production in its 20th Anniversary Season of Sondheim, the Chicago premiere of Sondheim on Sondheim, running now through March 15, 2015, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, conceived by James Lapine, direction by Nick Bowling and music direction by Porchlight Artistic Associate Austin Cook at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont Ave. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night festivities below!

Performing Arts Fort Worth presents Tony Award-winner and Broadway legend Betty Buckley in concert, in her hometown, at 5:30 and 8pm Saturday, March 28, at Bass Performance Hall's McDavid Studio in Fort Worth. Tickets are $60.50 and are on sale NOW!

Lancaster's music scene has been greatly enriched by the stirrings of cabaret that have begun over the past few years. The end of January was notable, however, for two days of outstanding cabaret in a row on the 30th and 31st, first with Lancaster-based performer Reji Woods at the Ware Center, and then with Lancaster-bred performer Jonathan Groff giving a fundraiser at Ephrata Performing Arts Center.