Thornton Wilder News

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre is heading into the final show of its 2011/12 season with Hello, Dolly!, March 13 through April 1, directed by Tony®-nominated director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge and starring Broadway veteran Vicki Lewis and Tony® winner Gary Beach.

The San Pedro Playhouse presents HELLO, DOLLY!, a regional production cast solely of local talent. The show will play the Russell Hill Rogers Theatre from July 20 through August 19. Tickets for HELLO, DOLLY! are available at www.sanpedroplayhouse.com or by calling the Box Office at (210) 733-7258.

Delaware Theatre Company will present Crowns, April 11 - 29, 2012. In the show, A young woman who moves down South to live with her aunt is given a lesson in 'hat-titude' in this toe-tapping musical. From feathered hats to flowered hats, pillboxes to turbans, to hats for work and hats for church, there is a hat for every occassion, and a cultural and historical significance to them as well as 'Mother Shaw' and her 'hat queens' share in their stories. This soul-stirring musical demonstrates the handing down of culture from one generation to the next and celebrates the refuge, equality and healing that occurs in this place of spirituality.

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse announced today casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Riding Hood, Danielle Ferland, is making her way back Into the Woods. The production is set to run March 7-April 15 at CENTERSTAGE before moving to Westport Country Playhouse in May. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical will be directed by Westport Country Playhouse's Artistic Director Mark Lamos.

Japan Society will present a staged reading of Our Planet by Japan's celebrated young writer Yukio Shiba, directed by OBIE award winner Alec Duffy. As part of Japan Society's Performing Arts Season spanning Fall 2011 through Spring 2012, Our Planet is a presentation of the Society's annual Play Reading Series of contemporary Japanese plays in English translation.

Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town has been a part of my American cultural mindset since high school, practically all my life. And, of course, being a New Englander, it is not very hard to put myself into Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, even though the time period for the play 1901-1913 is about 30 + years before my existence. People are people and daily life was pretty much the same; things - except cars replacing horse and buggy - didn't really start changing until the middle of the 20th century. Now in this spaced out, high tech, faster-than-the-speed-of-light world we live in, it's nice to look back and see how it once was and reflect on what it maybe should be. On the Broad stage through February 12 only, David Cromer's fascinating staging puts his audience smack dab in the middle of the town and makes us believe we have time-traveled back to this simpler but just as psychologically complicated era. How inexpensive things cost, how people trusted one another, and how they amused themselves by reading, attending choir practice or actually conversing with one another instead of being glued to the TV set or sidetracked by other low quality, insignificant perversions! But there were some who just could not cope, like Mr. Stimson, the alcoholic choir director, who ended up committing suicide. We've all known people like him. So, the play is timeless. And somehow contemporary dress for the actors is not a hindrance to our accepting who and where they are, as it makes them like us, as we all fit together into one big macrocosm.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.

Today in 1964, Hello Dolly! opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 2844 performances. The show features lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. Hello, Dolly! was first produced on Broadway by David Merrick in 1964, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and nine other Tonys. The show album Hello, Dolly! An Original Cast Recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, enjoying three Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into a 1969 film that was nominated for seven Academy Awards.

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's concert version of HELLO, DOLLY is set to feature Sandy Patty and Gary Beach, with Jack Everly at the helm.

The Open Fist Theatre Company has announced the next production in their 2012 season, MOON OVER BUFFALO, written by Ken Ludwig and directed by Bjørn Johnson, featuring fight choreography by B.H. Barry.

Gerne stelle ich Ihnen die Premieren und den Spielplan des Theater Basel im Januar 2012 vor

The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's concert version of HELLO, DOLLY is set to feature Sandy Patty and Gary Beach, with Jack Everly at the helm.

Oscar winning Actress Helen Hunt and MacArthur Award-winning director David Cromer triumph in a landmark production of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town that is '... probably the only production to enter the theater history books' (New York Times). The Broad Stage itself will be physically transformed, allowing for only 325 seats, to bring Grover's Corners, the play's every town USA, truly home. Forget nostalgic Americana or anything you recall from your high school production. Our Town has been reclaimed as the relevant and urgent work of art about living here and now, reminding us why it is a truly timeless - and timely - masterpiece. KCRW presents this production with Helen Hunt as the Stage Manager leading many of the original Chicago/New York cast in stripping away the myth and artifice to reveal what counts in Our Town and in ourselves.

Following up on her sightings at "Fag Bash," "Showgirls," and other festive events in P'town last summer, Tawny Heatherton will bring her own blonde-swept brand of sunny, funny cheer to the holiday show A Very Tawny Christmas! for one-night-only at the Crown & Anchor in Provincetown, MA.