Tom Sawyer News

MAC Award nominated songwriter Drew Fornarola (COLLEGE The Musical) and Broadway's Marshall Pailet (writer - 'On a Glorious Day;' Fringe's upcoming JURASSIC PARQ: The Broadway Musical) team up to rock the Laurie Beechman Theatre on Wednesday, June 23 at 9:30pm, joined by some of Broadway's top young talent. Fornarola and Pailet will present selections from their shows, as well as debuting a set of songs from their first full-length collaboration, SUPER CLAUDIO BROS.: A Videogame Musical, which will have its world premiere this summer in Washington, DC (commissioned and produced by the New Musical Development Foundation, executive producer Charlie Fink). The evening will be directed by Scott Elmegreen with music direction by Zak Sandler.

'I murdered Mozart!' rings out across Europe from Composer Antonio Salieri on his death-bed. Salieri had been the toast of Europe. He had been a devout Catholic all his life. He made a pact with God that he would be the vessel through which God's music would spring. All was good until Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart arrives in Vienna. In horror Salieri determines that it is Mozart instead who is his God's chosen voice. Mozart's music proves it; God had broken their pact. Salieri now makes a terrible new vow: to block God on earth and teach Him a lesson, using Mozart as the means to that end.

A new developmental production of Platinum (www.PlatinumTheMusical.com) starring Tony Award nominee Liz Larsen (The Most Happy Fella, A New Brain) and Sarah Litzsinger (Beauty and the Beast, Amour) will be presented by UnsungMusicalsCo. Inc. as part of the 2010 New York International Fringe Festival.

Trevor Nunn will direct the first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Charles Hart's Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory, previewing from 07 July with press night on 15 July and running until 26 September. Designs are by David Farley with choreography by Lynne Page, lighting by Paul Pyant, musical supervision by Caroline Humphris, orchestrations by David Cullen and sound by Gareth Owen. Trevor Nunn previously directed the world premiere of Aspects of Love and returns to the piece to direct this new intimate version.

The was my first time seeing BIG RIVER, and I must confess to some misgivings I harbored concerning William Hauptman's adaptation of Mark Twain's classic tale, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.' The original is a work of great American literature, filled with dialogue that's now considered controversial, but which was pitch perfect and true to its characters and its time. Happily, Hauptman and composer/lyricist Roger Miller have crafted a wonderful version that manages to capture the flavor and feel of the times, while remaining fairly faithful to its source material. Stage St. Louis has put together a production that's a feast for the eyes and ears, conjuring up the muddy Mississippi on stage with considerable technical wizardry, while a talented cast works its own magic under Michael Hamilton's expert direction.

Goodspeed Musicals announces the cast of BAND GEEKS!, a new musical. The spring production will kick off a three show season at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. The show will run from May 13 through June 6, 2010.

McCarter Theatre has announced the complete casting and creative team for the American premiere of Take Flight, a new musical by Richard Maltby Jr, David Shire and John Weidman that blends fact and fiction to tell the interweaving stories of three pioneers of aeronautics: the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.

The stage is set for a summer of adventures called the 'Classic Adventure Series' under an open-air tent theater in Waveny Park beginning June 12, from the Summer Theatre of New Canaan (STONC), a professional nonprofit theatre company.

The Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc. production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Harold Prince, has announced casting for its farewell engagement.

The upcoming Broadway premiere of David Mamet's A LIFE IN THE THEATRE, which will star award winning actor PATRICK STEWART, will play THE GERALD SCHOENFELD THEATRE (236 West 45th Street). Rehearsals start on August 23rd, 2010, with performances beginning on September 17th, 2010.

Children's Playhouse of Maryland's final two shows of Big River are Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23 at 1pm. The student cast features: Bradley Bowers as Huck, Jeremy Griffith as Jim, Tim Flaharty as Tom Sawyer, Kelsey Lake as Mary Jane, Dan Hasty as the King, and Brandon Montell as the Duke. Tickets are $10 and are available by phone at 443-840-2787. For more information visit http://www.ccbcmd.edu/performingarts/childrensplayhouse.html.

BIG RIVER Continues At CPM Through 5/23

Children's Playhouse of Maryland's final two shows of Big River are Saturday, May 22 and Sunday, May 23 at 1pm. The student cast features: Bradley Bowers as Huck, Jeremy Griffith as Jim, Tim Flaharty as Tom Sawyer, Kelsey Lake as Mary Jane, Dan Hasty as the King, and Brandon Montell as the Duke. Tickets are $10 and are available by phone at 443-840-2787. For more information visit http://www.ccbcmd.edu/performingarts/childrensplayhouse.html.

Theatre legends Hal Prince and Susan Stroman, in an interview with The Times Online, discuss their opinions and frustrations on the state of the musical and theatre, their pasts and their directorial collaboration on Paradise Found, set to begin previews this week at London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

Tickets go on sale to the general public tomorrow, Tuesday 18 May at 12 noon, for the first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Charles Hart's Aspects of Love, directed by Trevor Nunn at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Aspects of Love previews from 07 July with press night on 15 July and is running until 26 September. Designs are by David Farley with choreography by Lynne Page, lighting by Paul Pyant, musical supervision by Caroline Humphris, orchestrations by David Cullen and sound by Gareth Owen. Trevor Nunn previously directed the world premiere of Aspects of Love and returns to the piece to direct this new intimate version.

BIG RIVER Continues At CPM Through 5/23

The Players Club has announced that legendary sibling composers Robert and Richard Sherman will receive the Theatre Museum's Career Achievement Award on May 17. Also set to receive awards are Samuel French Inc. and the Mint Theatre, each being rewarded the Theatre Museum Arts Education Award and the Theatre History Preservation Award, respectively.

Goodspeed Musicals announces the cast of BAND GEEKS!, a new musical. The spring production will kick off a three show season at Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn. The show will run from May 13 through June 6, 2010.

America's eminent composer/lyricist duo, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, will receive the prestigious Career Achievement Award at The Theatre Museum's 2010 Awards Gala.

Today, in honor of the DVD release of Rob Marshall's film version of the 1982 Tony-winning Best Musical NINE, Maury Yeston was gracious and generous enough to grant me a few hours in which I could ask him intimate questions about his life, career and the future of theatre itself. Not one to mince words, Yeston is a veritable font of knowledge and it became clear during the interview that he may be as gifted and talented in his educational and mentorship skills as he is as a two-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist. His stage musicals include two Tony-winning Best Musicals, NINE and TITANIC, as well as: IN THE BEGINNING, GRAND HOTEL, PHANTOM, and the forthcoming DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY, as well as a full-length ballet of TOM SAWYER premiering later this year. From the handwritten letter sent by Katharine Hepburn to Frederico Fellini after seeing the workshop of NINE thirty years ago to this very day when NINE hits DVD, we will take a look at this magnanimous maestro's starry career in this inaugural InDepth InterView. Enjoy!