Will Rogers News

Lakewood ends its 2009-10 season with the hit musical that closed on Broadway in 2008... Curtains. This hilarious show-within-a-show, murder mystery musical is a real knock-out tribute to show business, with music and lyrics by John Kander and Fred Ebb - the composer/lyricist team from Cabaret and Chicago.

Geva Theatre Center Presents FIVE COURSE LOVE, May 5-June 6. Gregg Coffin's musical returns to the home of its birth following worldwide acclaim. The cast features Broadway actors Troy Britton Johnson (THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and DAMN YANKEES), Kevin Ligon (THE PRODUCERS, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and FINIAN'S RAINBOW) and Kristen Mengelkoch (FORBIDDEN BROADWAY). Brad Greer and Jessica Vosk complete the ensemble.

Geva Theatre Center Presents FIVE COURSE LOVE, May 5-June 6. Gregg Coffin's musical returns to the home of its birth following worldwide acclaim. The cast features Broadway actors Troy Britton Johnson (THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES and DAMN YANKEES), Kevin Ligon (THE PRODUCERS, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN and FINIAN'S RAINBOW) and Kristen Mengelkoch (FORBIDDEN BROADWAY). Brad Greer and Jessica Vosk complete the ensemble.

Tamzin Outhwaite is joined by Mark Umbers in the West End transfer of the Tony Award-winning musical, Sweet Charity. Matthew White's production of Sweet Charity, which completed its sell-out run at the Menier Chocolate Factory last month, will open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 23 April 2010 with press night on 4 May and is currently booking until 8 January 2011.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) is proud to announce casting for Peter Pan. Directed by Mark S. Hoebee with choreography by Patti Colombo, Peter Pan will run at the Millburn Theater from June 2 through June 27, 2010. Peter Pan is generously supported by a gift from Allen and Joan Bildner and supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis, Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) will welcome back NEW WORK NOW!, the popular reading series that allows audiences an opportunity to experience new work by a diverse selection of established and emerging theater artists for FREE, beginning Friday, May 7.

Two backers of the original production of THE FANTASTICKS have reaped a 24,000-percent return on their original investment. The production, which began its run in 1960 and and closed in 2002, will still produce income for the family, Marjorie and Malcolm Gray, until 2020 based on the terms of the original contract, which states the backers will receive money for 18 years following the shows final performance.

The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, will turn 50 this coming Monday, May 3, 2010. Three days of celebration are planned to commemorate this historic occasion.

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk.

In response to high ticket demand, First Folio Theatre has added a performance to the run of WILL ROGERS: AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL. The added performance is on Sunday May 2 at 7:30pm.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Artistic Director, Mark W. Jones-Executive Director) will close the production of Smokey Joe's Café on May 2nd.

In honor of Margaret Wise Brown's 100th Birthday, The InterSchool Orchestra of New York (ISO) (www.isorch.org) in association with GPR Records (Glen Roven, Peter Fitzgerald, Richard Cohen, artistic directors) have announced a live concert based on Brown's two best selling children's books Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny.

Tony Award winner Sutton Foster performed her solo show 'An Evening with Sutton Foster' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre on April 29 and 30. Foster was accompanied by her Musical Director Michael Rafter. Songs for the evening were drawn from her critically-acclaimed debut solo album Wish and from the stage roles that have helped make her famous, such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Drowsy Chaperone.

Tony Award winner Sutton Foster will perform her solo show 'An Evening with Sutton Foster' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre on April 29 and 30. Foster will be accompanied by her Musical Director Michael Rafter. Songs for the evening are drawn from her critically-acclaimed debut solo album Wish and from the stage roles that have helped make her famous, such as Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Drowsy Chaperone.

The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, will turn 50 this coming Monday, May 3, 2010. Three days of celebration are planned to commemorate this historic occasion.

Producers Cameron Mackintosh and Thomas Schumacher are pleased to announce full casting for the Atlanta engagement of MARY POPPINS. Atlanta's most eagerly anticipated stage production will begin performances at the Fox Theatre on Thursday, April 29 for a limited engagement of 3 weeks through Sunday, May 16. The opening night is Friday, April 30 at 8 p.m.

Utilizing songs from John Denver, one of America's most cherished songwriters and performers, A MOMENT IN TIME, is about a marine in Afghanistan who, moments before a battle, recalls a safer, happier place. The new musical will get its world premiere at Five Towns College, Dix Hills, New York, on June 25-27, 2010.

Tom Jones, the lyricist and book writer of The Fantasticks, will reprise the role of Henry (The Old Actor) in The Fantasticks, the world's longest-running musical, in celebration of the show's 50th anniversary. Jones originated the role in 1960 when The Fantasticks premiered at The Sullivan Street Playhouse.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Broadway vet John Schneider is set to star in the upcoming feature film Doonby directed and written by British filmmaker Peter Mackenzie.

Northern Stage, the region's professional theater, concludes its 2009 - 2010 Family Theater Series with a brand new musical adaptation of the beloved Newbery Honor book Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater. The book was adapted for the stage by Jody Davidson, who also wrote the lyrics; the music is by Brett Schrier.