Tom Kitt News

Below, GREASE: LIVE! music supervisor Tom Kitt takes you behind-the-scenes of the iconic music from this Sunday's live broadcast on FOX.

As BroadwayWorld reported yesterday, The SpongeBob Musical just announced casting for the Chicago engagement. Ethan Slater will make his Chicago debut in the role of the iconic SpongeBob Squarepants andLilli Cooper will play SpongeBob's close friend Sandy Cheeks. The cast will also feature Gaelen Gilliland, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, L'ogan J'ones, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Mark Ledbetter, Kelvin Moon Loh, Vasthy Mompoint, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Jason Michael Snow. The SpongeBob Musical will begin performances on Tuesday, June 7th at Broadway in Chicago's Oriental Theatre (24 West Randolph Street, Chicago, IL). This is a limited engagement through Sunday, July 3, 2016. Check out the just-released artwork for the show below!

Playwright Lynn Nottage notches another feather in her cap of outstanding work.

The SpongeBob Musical just announced casting for the Chicago engagement. Ethan Slater will make his Chicago debut in the role of the iconic SpongeBob Squarepants and Lilli Cooper will play SpongeBob's close friend Sandy Cheeks. The cast will also feature Gaelen Gilliland, Curtis Holbrook, Stephanie Hsu, L'ogan J'ones, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Mark Ledbetter, Kelvin Moon Loh, Vasthy Mompoint, JC Schuster, Abby C. Smith, Jason Michael Snow.

Republic Records, Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX) and Paramount Television have announced exciting news about the release of the GREASE: LIVE Official Soundtrack Album.

HAMILTON's Lin-Manuel Miranda will deliver the address at the 2016 University of Pennsylvania Commencement on Monday, May 16. Miranda will receive an honorary doctor of arts degree

Much like the opening night performance I experienced at the show's debut at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood last month, I was once again blown away by Menzel's incredible musical gifts with the show's opener at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa (which plays through January 24). Even better: she is still surrounded by the same equally astonishing support cast, particularly her original Broadway co-stars LaChanze, Anthony Rapp, and James Snyder. So how was the experience this time? While my initial reaction to the show itself hovered somewhere in the middle, I have to admit that I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the show the second time around. Dare I say, I even think I *loved* it more.

Think you could rock a starfish or crab costume onstage? THE SPONGEBOB MUSICAL is looking to fill two of its leading roles for its World Premiere engagement in Chicago this summer, and BroadwayWorld is excited to report auditions will be held this or next month in New York City and on January 29th in Orlando, Fla.

Even though Rydell High's easily excitable and enthusiastic head cheerleader, Patty Simcox, might not be the coolest kid in school, Elle McLemore, the equally as excited and enthusiastic actress who plays her in the upcoming GREASE LIVE!, is as sweet and likeable as can be. Most theatre fans know McLemore for playing less than loveable cheerleaders, first as the Machiavellian Eva in BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL, and then as the dim-witted Heather McNamara in HEATHERS THE MUSICAL. Despite some of her character's worst traits, McLemore is always disarmingly sweet and infectiously charming.

Grease is the word! CTV and CraveTV(TM) have joined forces to bring GREASE: LIVE first to audiences on CTV and CTV GO and then exclusively to subscribers of premium streaming service CraveTV.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: MERMAN'S APPRENTICE celebrates its cast album tonight at Birdland, plus the 2015 Sydney Theatre Awards were announced!

He brought us a Tony-winning rap musical, IN THE HEIGHTS. He showed us another side of the founding fathers and landed Broadway squarely in the popular spotlight with HAMILTON. He's just an Oscar away from an EGOT. And he's 36 today.

Throughout the week, BroadwayWorld has been rolling out some preview tracks from the album, and we have another one today! Below, take a listen to 'Made of Stone.'

BroadwayWorld learned tonight at GREASE: LIVE's TCA panel that IF/THEN, NEXT TO NORMAL and FREAKY FRIDAY songwriters Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey have written a new tune for 'Frenchy', played by Carly Rae Jepsen in FOX's upcoming live production.

Refuge Theatre Project's second season will open on January 29, 2016 with High Fidelity - the musical based on Nick Hornby's 1995 novel and on Stephen Frears' 2000 feature-film adaptation that starred Chicago natives John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Lili Taylor.

The Dramatists Guild of America has announced the recipients of their annual awards, which will be presented at their annual meeting on Monday, February 22, 2016, at The American Airlines Theatre Penthouse Lobby in New York.

Beginning today, fans who pre-order the album on iTunes will be able to download four tracks, including the soaring 'Out There,' immediately. Below, watch Michael Arden record the moving number 'Out There' from the production.

On the heels of the news that Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey's new musical adaptation of FREAKY FRIDAY will hit the stage in Washington, D.C. this fall, theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) just announced it has secured worldwide licensing rights for the show and will allow professional -- and eventually amateur theatres -- to produce the musical after its debut.

Get ready for a supernatural mother-daughter body swap -- onstage! BroadwayWorld is excited to report that D.C.'s Signature Theatre will present the world-premiere production of the new musical FREAKY FRIDAY.

In addition to Idina Menzel's predictably powerhouse vocals, IF/THEN features a stellar performance by LaChanze. She is a non-stop engine of energy, delivering one knockout song after another and acting up a storm. Janine DiVita stands out as well as a talent to watch.