Caroline, or Change takes place in Louisiana in 1963, just before President Kennedy's assassination and during the Civil Rights movement. Caroline is the black maid of the Gellmans, a Southern family, made up of a father, his new wife and the man's young son, Noah. The son's birth mother has recently died, and the stepmother is trying to establish a relationship with the child, who already has a close connection with Caroline. The title has a double meaning, referring to the myriad social changes swirling around the family and a family argument surrounding the spare change perpetually found in the boy's pants pockets.
Artistic Director Antoni Cimolino has announced the 2014 season, in which, through the prism of a dozen plays, the Stratford Festival will explore the theme of Madness: Minds Pushed to the Edge.
Summertime is an important season for Broadway, with tourists flocking from all over to check out the stars they watched on the Tony Awards, be the first to visit the newest additions to the Broadway line-up, and even stop back at an old favorite.
Need help keeping track of Broadway's newest and most buzzed-about performers? BroadwayWorld brings you a roundup of the hottest stars of the summer below!
Happy Birthday Tony Kushner! Kushner's best known work is Angels in America, a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep and directed by George C. Wolfe. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, Corneille's The Illusion, and S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk.
Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Judy Kuhn, Martin Moran, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose and Henry Stram will star in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores! Off-Center series, playing for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The show will be directed bySam Gold and choreographed by Chase Brock; Jeanine Tesori is the Encores! Off Center artistic director. Chris Fenwick is the music director. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all and to younger audiences, the majority of tickets are $25.
TimeLine Theatre Company, dedicated to presenting plays inspired by history that connect to today's social and political issues, announces that The How and the Why by Sarah Treem (Netflix's House of Cards, HBO's In Treatment), directed by Keira Fromm and starring Janet Ulrich Brooks and Elizabeth Ledo, will be the third production of its 2013-14 season.
Tony Kushner's screenplay for LINCOLN, directed by Steven Spielberg, is set for release on Jan. 22, it was announced today.
The Guthrie Theater today announced complete casting for its production of Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities. The production will be directed by Peter Rothstein and will feature actors Sally Wingert (Broadway/West End, London: La Bete, Guthrie: Appomattox, Charley's Aunt) as Polly Wyeth, Michelle Barber (Guthrie: Roman Holiday, Caroline, or Change) as Silda Grauman and David Anthony Brinkley (Guthrie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Scottsboro Boys) as Lyman Wyeth in a contemporary and politically charged dramedy by the acclaimed playwright whose television credits include the compelling dramas "Brothers and Sisters" and "The West Wing."
Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, who wrote the screenplay for Lincoln, recently joined Bill Moyers to talk about what Abraham Lincoln can still teach us all about politics, compromise, and the survival of American democracy. Click below to watch the interview!
Casting is complete for the world premiere of Amandine, the new musical from writer Winter Miller, 13P founding member who penned In Darfur (The Public Theater), among other acclaimed plays; Emmy Award-winning composer Lance Horne, who is known for his own work and collaborations with Alan Cumming, Amanda Palmer, Meow Meow, Sandra Bernhard and Justin Vivian Bond; and Drama Desk Award-winning director Josh Hecht (Christine Jorgensen Reveals). The production will run January 9-26, 2013 at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street) main stage. Critics are welcome as of January 13 for an official opening on January 16.
The New York Film Critics Circle today annouces its 2012 winners via a live Twitter feed. Below is the NYFCC winners which have been announced so far:
Tony Kushner appeared on last night's THE COLBERT REPORT on Comedy Central to speak about 'Lincoln', his lastest film collaboration with director Steven Spielberg. Check out the full interview below!
Vital Theatre Company has announced that its long-running production of Pinkalicious, The Musical will play its final performance at the Culture Project (formerly Bleecker St Theatre) on Sunday, November 11th at noon. The production will continue performances at the new Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts in Rahway, New Jersey on November 17th at 1 pm and November 18th at 11 am, then will appear on tour in South Orange, NJ; Easton, PA; Lakewood, NJ; Red Bank, NJ; Sandusky, OH; and New Albany, OH before it will return to its new home at the Riverside Theatre in February of 2013.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY columnist Mark Harris sat down with Pultizer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner to discuss the highly anticipated film LINCOLN. Kushner, best known for Broadway's Angels in America, penned the screenplay for the upcoming Steven Spielberg epic. In the November 9th issue of the magazine, Kushner revealed that another collaboration with the legendary director is currently in the works.
Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.
Former child star and teenage heartthrob actress/singer Renn Woods, best known for her roles as Fanta in the Emmy Award winning TV mini-series Roots, her unforgettable interpretation of "Aquarius" in Milos Forman's movie musical Hair, and as Dorothy in the first national tour of the Broadway musical hit The Wiz, has written a new stage musical, titled Sold: Renn Woods In Concert (A Play in Rhythm and Blues) adapted from her successful autobiographical one-woman show, A Diva Like Me. Musical selections from the first act of the new show will be presented for an invitation-only audience of theatre industry executives on Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 PM in PH1 Studio at Shetler Studios, 244 West 54th Street, 12th Floor (and short stairway to Penthouse 1).
Following its celebrated opening at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Pullman Porter Blues travels across the country to sweep D.C. audiences along for a ride in its world-premiere co-production at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Inspired by her grandfather's work on the postal trains, playwright Cheryl L. West, whose work at Arena Stage includes Jar the Floor and Play On!, returns with the tale of three Pullman train porters whose journey is underscored by Midwest blues songs, including "Sweet Home Chicago" and "This Train." Directed by Lisa Peterson (Arena's The Rainmaker and The Quality of Life), Pullman Porter Blues runs November 23, 2012 - January 6, 2013 in the Kreeger Theater.
Yale Repertory Theatre, in a co-production with American Repertory Theater, presents the world premiere of Marie Antoinette by David Adjmi, directed by Rebecca Taichman. Marie Antoinette will be performed at Yale Repertory Theatre (1120 Chapel Street) October 26 through November 17. Opening Night is Thursday, November 1. The cast includes Fred Arsenault, Hannah Cabell, David Greenspan, Marin Ireland, Vin Knight, Jo Lampert, Polly Lee, Steven Rattazzi, Jake Silbermann, Teale Sperling, Brian Wiles, and Ashton Woerz.
Appomattox, a sprawling political epic by Christopher Hampton taking place in 1865 and 1965 at the close of the American Civil War and the pivotal Civil Rights Era, opened Friday, October 5 at the Guthrie Theater to continue the Hampton Celebration. The play runs until November 11 on the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage, and is directed by David Esbjornson (Broadway/London: Driving Miss Daisy, A Few Good Men; Broadway: The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Guthrie: The Great Gatsby, Resurrection Blues).
Check out photos from opening night below!
The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) announced today that FUN HOME, a new musical with music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, will open the 2012-2013 season of the Public Lab, a program designed to connect audiences and artists in the process of creating new theater. Directed by Sam Gold, FUN HOME is based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel and will run Wednesday, October 17 through Sunday, November 4 in The Public's Shiva Theater. Member tickets are $12 and are on sale now. Single tickets, priced at $15, go on sale Tuesday, September 18.
Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and Tristan Wilson, Managing Director, presents a workshop production of the new musical The Black Suits with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and book by Joe Iconis and Robert Emmett Maddock. The Black Suits is part of Barrington Stage's Musical Theatre Lab, William Finn, Artistic Producer. Directed by John Simpkins, choreographed by Jennifer Werner, with musical direction by James Sampliner, The Black Suits is currently running through September 2 at BSC's St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production photos below.
Yee-haw! It's time to start two-steppin' and boot-scootin' in the aisles, as Signature Theatre kicks off its 2012/13 season with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, beginning performances tonight, August 14.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announces casting for the 2012 Fall Season. The Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine will be staged by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin, September 26-November 4, 2012 in CST's Courtyard Theater. The season continues with The School for Lies by David Ives, adapted from Moliere's The Misanthrope and staged by CST Artistic Director Barbara Gaines, December 4, 2012-January 20, 2013 in CST's Courtyard Theater.
Happy Birthday Tony Kushner! Kushner's best known work is Angels in America, a seven-hour epic about the AIDS epidemic in Reagan-era New York, which was later adapted into a miniseries for which Kushner wrote the screenplay. His other plays include Hydriotaphia, Slavs!: Thinking About the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness, A Bright Room Called Day, Homebody/Kabul, and the book for the musical Caroline, or Change. His new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children was performed at the Delacorte Theater in the summer of 2006 starring Meryl Streep and directed by George C. Wolfe. Kushner has also adapted Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan, Corneille's The Illusion, and S. Ansky's play The Dybbuk.
Yee-haw! It's time to start two-steppin' and boot-scootin' in the aisles, as Signature Theatre kicks off its 2012/13 season with the Tony Award-winning musical comedy The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, beginning performances on Tuesday, August 14.
The New York Times is reporting that Alec Baldwin will return to Broadway in the Spring of 2013 in a new production of OPRHANS, to be directed by Tony-winner Daniel Sullivan. There is no word yet on a theatre or additional cast members for the production.
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