Susan Haefner News

Time Magazine has named Billy Elliot the Musical the 'BEST MUSICAL OF THE DECADE,' according to Time Senior Editor and Theater Critic Richard Zoglin.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions in association with Weinstein Live Entertainment, has announced, with Broadway In Chicago, casting for the Chicago production of Billy Elliot the Musical, beginning preview performances March 18, 2010 at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre (24 W. Randolph St.). Opening night is Sunday, April 11, 2010. The cast includes John Peter (J.P.) Viernes who joins the previously announced actors Tommy Batchelor, Giuseppe Bausilio and Cesar Corrales in the role of ‘Billy'.

Stranger to the Muse, a new musical with music by Adam David Cohen and book and lyrics by Patrick Gallagher, will receive two industry readings on Sunday, 10/4 and Monday, 10/5 at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.

Stranger to the Muse, a new musical with music by Adam David Cohen and book and lyrics by Patrick Gallagher, will receive two industry readings on Sunday, 10/4 and Monday, 10/5 at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.

Stranger to the Muse, a new musical with music by Adam David Cohen and book and lyrics by Patrick Gallagher, will receive two industry readings on Sunday, 10/4 and Monday, 10/5 at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.

Stranger to the Muse, a new musical with music by Adam David Cohen and book and lyrics by Patrick Gallagher, will receive two industry readings on Sunday, 10/4 and Monday, 10/5 at Manhattan Theatre Club Studios.

Award-winning songwriter and performer Hector Coris brings his original musical comedy revue What's The Point?! - with original music by Alan Cancelino - back to NYC. What's the Point?! enjoyed a two-month run at Cincinnati's Know Theatre, performed a limited engagement in Montreal and now returns to NYC with several new songs!

As her company celebrates its 25th anniversary, Hill chats with BWW for our Women's History Month series.

Award-winning songwriter and performer Hector Coris brings his original musical comedy revue What's The Point?! - with original music by Alan Cancelino - back to NYC. What's the Point?! enjoyed a two-month run at Cincinnati's Know Theatre, performed a limited engagement in Montreal and now returns to NYC with several new songs!

The West Bank Café announces upcoming performances to be presented in The Laurie Beechman Theatre. The West Bank Café is located at 407 West 42nd. St., at Ninth Avenue.

The West Bank Café announces upcoming performances to be presented in The Laurie Beechman Theatre. The West Bank Café is located at 407 West 42nd. St., at Ninth Avenue.

Heavy ticket demand has prompted Urban Stages to extend its hilarious drawing room musical, 27 Rue de Fleurus, for two weeks through Sunday, April 13th. Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein are delighting audiences with wit and one-up(wo)manship in repartee and song as they confront each other about love, marriage, jealousy, genius and other delicious topics... Add into the salon Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mabel Dodge, Sylvia Beach and the smashing Jean Harlow, and you have a highly memorable and amusing night of theatre. Unlike most of the stage works about Gertrude and Alice, 27 RUE DE FLEURUS is told from Alice's point of view as 'her muse.' When Gertrude becomes embarrassed by Alice's revealing tell-all, she attempts to hijack the play as only the author of such lines as 'sugar is not a vegetable' can. But Alice has secrets to share with the audience that silence the famously verbose Gertrude. Quelle surprise! Critical reviews have praised Frances Hill's 'smart direction,' the 'strong performances' of the cast (New York Times), as well as 'luscious' costumes by Carrie Robbins (Variety). Curtain Up says, ' Add this small charmer to this season's cornucopia of off-beat new musicals,' and Theatermania declared, 'Director Frances Hill's production has a zest that matches the unbridled creativity of the creators, unfolding on a handsome scenic design from Roman Tatarowicz, who's created a surreal white salon with skewed walls that's backed by a series of overlapping frames into which Alex Koch's collage-like video is projected. It's the perfect canvas for this haphazard look into Toklas and Stein's world.' The critically acclaimed cast includes Cheryl Stern as Alice, Barbara Rosenblat as Gertrude, and Sarah Chalfy, Susan Haefner and Emily Zacharias in various celebrity parts. John Bell is Musical Director. ARTSHOW. During the run of the show, photographs and other artworks from the Gertrude and Alice collection of San Francisco collector Hans Gallas are on display in the theater lobby. Gallas coordinated events around the world last year to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the meeting of Gertrude and Alice on Alice's first day in Paris. Works exhibited include original Carl Van Vechten photographs, wood-block prints, caricatures, and mixed media pieces created by artists from around the world. Gertrude and Alice have been the subjects of visual artists from the beginning of the 20th century and continue to inspire artists in all media. Urban Stages produces new plays with themes that reflect our diverse society. Their most recent productions were the critically acclaimed Oxford Roof Climbers Rebellion by Stephen Massicotte, Marion Bridge by Daniel MacIvor, the Pulitzer Prize finalist Bulrusher by Eisa Davis and Apostasy by Gino DiIorio. Since 1983, director Frances Hill has overseen more than 600 staged readings and workshops, plus over 75 productions of new work for the stage. Recent directing credits include Jim Lehrer's Chili Queen (Urban Stages and The Kennedy Center), John C. Picardi's Seven Rabbits on a Pole and The Sweepers (Urban Stages and Capital Rep), Comfort Women by Chungmi Kim and last season's Apostasy by Gino DiIorio. As Artistic Director of Urban Stages, she has moved two plays to commercial off-Broadway runs: Minor Demons and Men on the Verge of a His-Panic Breakdown, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award. SCHEDULE for 27 RUE DE FLEURUS: Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3PM. Tickets are $40.00; all Wednesday performances are specially priced at $25. Tickets may be purchased by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444, or online at www.urbanstages.org. There will be talkbacks every Wednesday and Saturday night, check www.urbanstages.org for schedule of speakers. 27 RUE DE FLEURUS A New Musical; Book and lyrics by Ted Sod, music and lyrics by Lisa Koch; Directed by Frances Hill At Urban Stages, 259 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th avenues) Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8PM, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 3PM. TICKETS: $40; College and High School Students, $15; Half-Price Wednesdays: All seats $25.00 EXTENDED! NOW THROUGH APRIL 13th Call 212-868-4444, or order online at www.urbanstages.org

Hector Coris and Alan Cancelino give the ailing form of 'topical musical revue' a shot in the arm with their new show 'What's the Point?!', playing Monday nights at The Reprise Room.

Urban Stages is pleased to announce the final production of their 2007/2008 season: 27 Rue de Fleurus, a new musical derived from the imagination of Alice B. Toklas. Alice tries to set the record straight about being Gertrude Stein's 'wife' for nearly 40 years. 27 Rue de Fleurus will be directed by Urban Stages Artistic Director Frances Hill. Performances will be at 259 West 30th Street (between 7th and 8th). Previews will begin on Saturday, March 1st with the opening date scheduled for Thursday, March 6th and will run through Sunday, April 6th.

The Walden Company will present A Day in the Life of Ordinary People at the Flamboyan Theatre from May 25th to June 11th

At a packed after-party at Tony's DiNapoli Times Square Restaurant, 42nd Street stars old and new dined, dished and said goodbye.