Review - Milk and Honey
by Ben Peltz - Oct 13, 2011
When Jerry Herman was pegged by producer Gerard Oestreicher to write the score for a Broadway musical set in the fledgling State of Israel, he was a 28-year-old composer/lyricist mostly known for writing clever lyrics and snazzy tunes for Greenwich Village topical reviews like Nightcap and Parade. But now, instead of writing for hip, downtown performers like Charles Nelson Reilly and Dody Goodman, he'd be penning a romantic score for opera stars Mimi Benzell and Robert Weede, with special comic relief material for Yiddish Theatre legend Molly Picon.
Review - The Lyons: Ooh, Do You Love You!
by Ben Peltz - Oct 12, 2011
When we first meet Rita Lyons, she's sitting in a hospital room casually thumbing through a furniture catalogue, asking her husband, Ben, who lies in bed, dying of cancer, to help her come up with ideas for redecorating the living room after he's gone.
Second Martin Luther King Play MOMENTS WITH DR. KING Broadway Bound?
by Nicole Rosky - Oct 6, 2011
Ambassador Andrew Young today joined Samuel Nappi, Ruth Hendel and Steven Hendel to announce that Moments with Dr. King is preparing for preliminary stagings prior to a Broadway production, and that Congressman John Lewis has joined the team as an advisor. The announcement was initially scheduled to take place in August, coinciding with the anniversary of Dr. King's speech at 1963's March on Washington and the dedication of the National Memorial to Martin Luther King in the capitol city, but it was postponed due to Hurricane Irene. The announcement was made today in tribute to Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth -- a leading civil rights pioneer, co-founder of Dr. King's primary civil rights organization, and a central figure in the groundbreaking events with Dr. King in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 -- who passed away yesterday.
Ten Years After: Remembering Circle Players' ASSASSINS and 9/11
by Jeffrey Ellis - Aug 8, 2011
In the days that followed the 9/11 attacks, Circle leaders and members of the Assassins production team were forced to consider closing the show (included in Sondheim's musical is the character of Samuel Byck, an unsuccessful presidential assassin who talks vividly about flying an airplane into the White House to kill President Richard Nixon in 1968. As Circle leaders discussed whether to shutter the show for a weekend, or to cancel the remaining three weeks of the show's run, the show's cast members debated whether or not they could justify to themselves, their friends and their families their own decision to continue with the show in the days just after the deadliest attack ever on American soil.
STAGE TUBE: Lauren Ambrose at the Mic - Musical Theater's Newest Star
by Jessica Lewis - Aug 4, 2011
BroadwayWorld announced yesterday that Lauren Ambrose has landed the coveted role of Fanny Brice in FUNNY GIRL in the first Broadway production of the musical since it originally opened in 1964. FUNNY GIRL, which features music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and book by Isobel Lennart, will be directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher.
The news came as a surprise to many, as Ambrose - while a screen favortie and sometimes stage star - is not a regular in the big musical circuit. In fact, the announcement had many asking...can she sing?
Ambrose, in fact, has powerhouse vocals and has been singing since childhood. She is the lead singer of jazz, swing and ragtime-style Leisure Class band, and in trained in opera at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Many may also recall Ambrose's famous belt-out of the 'Rainbow of Reasons' gag in a 2006 episode of Six Feet Under. The theater world certainly has a lot to look forward to when this soulful songstress reimagines Fanny onstage.
BWW Reviews: TWIST Moves and Grooves @ Pasadena Playhouse
by Don Grigware - Jun 29, 2011
There have been several musical plays based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist. The first and biggest hit was Lionel Bart's Oliver, which went on to a major film in 1968 and a multitude of Oscars. There has been a gay version as well, also titled Twist, that was nominated for Critics' prizes in New York, and now there's the interracially cast adaptation Twist in its West Coast premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse. From top to bottom the show is slick and a triumph for director/choreographer Debbie Allen. The cast is fine-tuned, and much of the music quite memorably singable. Its only flaw, for purists like me, is in the book, which does not include the charming Fagin, whose deliciously mischievous manipulation of everybody in Oliver Twist is a major highlight.
BEYOND THE RAINBOW, COCO'S DIARY Included in History Theatre's 2011-12 Season
by Nicole Rosky - May 3, 2011
History Theatre announces its 34th season filled with epic stories: from the tumultuous life of the resilient Judy Garland, to the sweet yet seemingly daunting adventure of being thirteen year old Coco Irvine. From a war that tore our nation apart, to a year filled with unprecedented social upheaval. Returning favorites bookend the season which includes two world premieres and a Minnesota preimere.
The Kennedy Center Will Present FRAGMENTS Plays, 4/14-17
by BWW
News Desk - Apr 17, 2011
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's production of Fragments running April 14 to 17 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Co-directed by Peter Brook and Marie Hélène Estienne, Fragments brings together four short plays by Samuel Beckett including Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Come and Go, as well as the poem, Neither. Press night will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
The Kennedy Center Will Present FRAGMENTS Plays, 4/14-17
by BWW
News Desk - Apr 14, 2011
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's production of Fragments running April 14 to 17 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Co-directed by Peter Brook and Marie Hélène Estienne, Fragments brings together four short plays by Samuel Beckett including Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Come and Go, as well as the poem, Neither. Press night will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Trevor Nunn to Direct ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD at TRHC
by Nicole Rosky - Apr 1, 2011
Following the opening of Terence Rattigan's Flare Path, the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company today (1 April 2011) announce a further two productions to be directed by Trevor Nunn in his role as Artistic Director. After a three week run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Nunn's production of Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead comes to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in June, followed in September by William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Further productions in the season will be announced shortly.
B.B. King Confirms Three Rare UK June Concerts
by Gabrielle Sierra - Mar 28, 2011
Universally hailed as the reigning King of the Blues, the legendary B.B. King will perform three UK concerts in Manchester, Edinburgh and London in June 2011.
The Kennedy Center Will Present FRAGMENTS Plays, 4/14-17
by Kelsey Denette - Mar 15, 2011
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents C.I.C.T./Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord's production of Fragments running April 14 to 17 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Co-directed by Peter Brook and Marie Hélène Estienne, Fragments brings together four short plays by Samuel Beckett including Rough for Theatre I, Rockaby, Act Without Words II, Come and Go, as well as the poem, Neither. Press night will take place on Thursday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Arena Stage Closes THE ARABIAN NIGHTS 2/20/11
by BWW News Desk - Feb 20, 2011
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is delighted to present The Arabian Nights, written and directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman (Metamorphoses). The production, presented in association with Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Lookingglass Theatre Company, has been recognized as "Zimmerman's most theatrically complete and perfect creation" (Chicago Tribune).
Samuel Jackson Confirms THE MOUNTAINTOP; Fall 2011
by Robert Diamond - Feb 4, 2011
Appearing on THE VIEW today, Friday February 4, on ABC, Samuel Jackson was asked by Joy Behar 'And you're going to be doing a play on Broadway, playing Dr. Martin Luther King?' He replied, 'Yes, that's the plan. I'm doing a play, I think that the play opens in October and will run through January. '
Museum Of The Moving Image Announces Events For Grand Reopening
by BWW
News Desk - Jan 15, 2011
Rochelle Slovin, Director of Museum of the Moving Image, today announced the complete schedule for the screenings and programs that will celebrate the grand re-opening of America's only museum dedicated to film, television, and digital media.