Based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow
Called by Time Magazine "A triumph for the stage," and by the International Herald Tribune "the best musical in twenty years," this acclaimed musical won 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and won both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. RAGTIME is not only a powerful portrait of life in turn-of-the-century America, but a relevant tale for today. Written by the award-winning composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens ("Once On This Island," "Seussical," "Lucky Stiff"), noted playwright Terrence McNally, ("Kiss of the Spider Woman", "Master Class"), and based on E.L. Doctorow's distinguished novel, the musical intertwines the stories of three extraordinary families, as they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America. The Tony-winning score by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty is just as diverse as the melting pot of America itself. It draws upon many musical styles from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems.
Featured are such show stopping songs as "Getting Ready Rag," "Your Daddy’s Son," "Wheels of a Dream," "Till We Reach That Day," "Back To Before," and "Make Them Hear You." This thrilling musical is sure to inspire actors and audiences alike! Book by Terrence McNally; music by Stephen Flaherty; lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Presented by Mesa Encore Theatre at the Farnsworth Studio.
Jeffrey Kuhn and Francesca Faridany will join the cast of Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS on Tuesday, October 28. Kuhn will play the role of Man #1 and Faridany will play the roles of Annabella Schmidt, Margaret and Pamela. Current cast members Jennifer Ferrin and Cliff Saunders will play their final performances on Sunday, October 26. THE 39 STEPS, the winner of two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, is playing at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues).
Jeffrey Kuhn and Francesca Faridany will join the cast of Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS on Tuesday, October 28. Kuhn will play the role of Man #1 and Faridany will play the roles of Annabella Schmidt, Margaret and Pamela. Current cast members Jennifer Ferrin and Cliff Saunders will play their final performances on Sunday, October 26. THE 39 STEPS, the winner of two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk Awards and the 2007 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, is playing at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues).
Director Billy Porter and Grammy nominee Ledisi mark their debuts with Reprise Theatre Company in the 1990 musical 'Once on This Island,' opening the 2008-2009 season, September 2 to 14 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The press opening is September 3.
Director Billy Porter and Grammy nominee Ledisi mark their debuts with Reprise Theatre Company in the 1990 musical 'Once on This Island,' opening the 2008-2009 season, September 2 to 14 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The press opening is September 3. Bradley Rapier, founder of the Groovaloos, choreographs and Darryl Archibald is the music director. Reprise Theater Company is led by Artistic Director Jason Alexander and Producing Director Susan Dietz.
Les Misérables in Concert makes its Hollywood Bowl debut in a production featuring Melora Hardin as Fantine, Maddie Levy as Young Cosette, Tom Lowe as Enjolras, Michele Maika as Cosette, Michael McCormick as Thénardier, J. Mark McVey as Valjean, Lea Michele as Éponine, Brian Stokes Mitchell as Javert, Sage Ryan as Gavroche and John Lloyd Young as Marius. Rosie O'Donnell, who was to play the role of Madame Thenardier, has withdrawn from the performances in order to care for her eldest son, who broke his wrist. She will be replaced by veteran actress Ruth Williamson.
Director Billy Porter and Grammy nominee Ledisi mark their debuts with Reprise Theatre Company in the 1990 musical 'Once on This Island,' opening the 2008-2009 season, September 2 to 14 at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The press opening is September 3.
Atlantic Theater Company (Neil Pepe, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Managing Director) is proud to announce the world premiere production of Annie Baker's play BODY AWARENESS, directed by Karen Kohlhaas and featuring Jonathan Clem, Peter Friedman, Mary McCann and JoBeth Williams.
The Signature Theatre has announced the complete cast for 'The Visit' the Kander and Ebb musical starring Chita Rivera and George Hearn.
Les Miserables at the The Hollywood Bowl has completed casting, and BroadwayWorld.com has the scoop!
The Road to Qatar!, a true new musical comedy, will have two staged readings for industry professionals at Chelsea Studios at 1pm and 4:30pm on April 18, 2007. The book and lyrics are by Stephen Cole and the music is by David Krane. Cole and Krane based the show on their real life experience of being commissioned to write the first American musical to premiere in the Middle East. The reading will be directed by Marcia Milgrim Dodge (Lucille Lortel Nominee for Seussical) and features a cast of five including Rob Bartlett (Little Shop of Horrors, The Imus Show), Mary Birdsong (Martin Short-Fame Becomes Me, Hairspray), Brad Oscar (The Producers, Spamalot), Seth Rudetsky (The Ritz), and Ray Wills (The Producers).
One day three years ago both Stephen Cole and David Krane (who did not know each other at the time) received an email that read: 'We want you write musical. How much?'
This began an unbelievable but true journey that introduced the two 'short Jews' to an alien world of camels, deserts and crazy Egyptian theatrical producers. During the course of this crazy Arab adventure, Stephen and David starred in their own personal Bob Hope-Bing Crosby 'road picture' that took them to Dubai, Qatar, London, Bratislava and back to the USA after writing and presenting a huge original musical for the Emir of Qatar and one thousand of his invited guests. When they returned, they had no other choice but to write their story in the only way they knew how: as a musical! The names have all been changed, but the story is totally true.
Married actors Charma and David Bonanno will head up the cast of Blindsided by a Diaper: The Musical, the next and final event in the Stamford, Connecticut, based Curtain Call Theater's 2007/2008 Musical Mondays series of concert readings. The musical is adapted from the Three River's Press collection of essays about the changes that couples face in their relationships when children enter into the picture. The musical was written by the book's editor, Dana Bedford Hilmer, and songwriters Jeffrey Lodin and William Squier (100 Years into the Heart, Top of the Heap).
New Repertory Theatre in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts announces the World Premiere of According to Tip, a play with music by Dick Flavin, starring Tony and Emmy award-winner Ken Howard. Just in time for election season, According to Tip will open for the press on Friday, June 27, 2008 and will play through Sunday, July 13, 2008.
'Just in time for election season, New Rep brings you the World Premiere of According to Tip. Featuring Broadway and TV star Ken Howard, this play traces the colorful and historically memorable career of Thomas P. 'Tip' O'Neill, former Speaker of the House. Tip will escort you back in time from Barry's Corner in Cambridge to the White House. Get the inside scoop on politics during the Red Scare, Watergate, and Vietnam in this touching played filled with humor, music, and beguiling Irish wit,' press notes state.
New Repertory Theatre presents provocative and intelligent works of both established and emerging playwrights in an intimate setting that involves and engages the audience. New Rep has earned a reputation for dynamic productions that honor the writers and feature talented professional actors from the New England theatre community as well as guest artists from around the U.S. New Rep has received Elliot Norton and IRNE Awards for outstanding acting, scenic design, direction, and production. Programming at New Repertory Theatre is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Lead Sponsor for According to Tip, Bank of America.
The Artists
Rick Lombardo (Director) is now in his twelfth season as New Rep's Producing Artistic Director. Earlier this year: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Pinter Duet: The Lover & Ashes to Ashes, The Clean House, and Dessa Rose. Last season: The Pillowman, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (which he also adapted), Silence, and The Wild Party, as well as Hamlet for Actors' Shakespeare Project. Other New Rep Credits: Ragtime (IRNE Awards-Best Director of a Musical and Best Musical); Bill W. and Dr. Bob (which he also directed Off-Broadway in the spring of 2007 at New World Stages in NY); Romeo and Juliet; Into the Woods (multiple IRNE Awards); Quills; Approaching Moomtaj; The Threepenny Opera; A Girl's War; his new musical adaptation of Moliere's Scapin; Waiting for Godot (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Sweeney Todd (2004 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Director, IRNE Award for Best Director, and Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Production); The Weir (IRNE Award, Best Drama); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Director); The Scarlet Letter; American Buffalo; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Twelfth Night; Beast on the Moon; Das Barbecu; Tartuffe; and The Real Thing; among others. Additional credits include the world premiere of Moby Dick: An American Opera, for which he received the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre by Northern Ohio Live. He is honored to be a two-time recipient of the Elliot Norton Award from the Boston Theatre Critics Association for Outstanding Director.
Ken Howard (Tip) Ken Howard launched his acting career in 1968 when he won a role in the original Broadway production of Promises, Promises, for which he won both a Tony and an Emmy. He originated the role of Thomas Jefferson in 1776 for which he won a Theatre World Award. He returned to the role for the 1972 film version. He won a Tony for his work in Child's Play in 1970. From 1976 - 1981, he starred in as the title character in the TV series The White Shadow. He earned an Emmy in 1980 for his narration of The Body Human: Facts for Boys. Other film and television includes: The Thron Birds, The West Wing, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Crossing Jordan, Rambo, Cane, Smother and Michael Clayton. Upcoming work includes: Conrad in Still Waters, Sheriff Sedgewick in Two: Thirteen, Officer Ford in The Beacon, and Phelan Beale in the film adaptation of Grey Gardens.
Dick Flavin (Playwright) is a nationally known writer and speaker. He has made thousands of speaking appearances all across America, chiefly addressing groups on the subject of how to use humor as a strategy in business and in life. His television commentaries have appeared on NBC-TV, CNN and WBZ-TV in Boston. He is the winner of seven New England regional Emmy Awards for writing and commentary. He was the narrator of The Teammates, an ESPN documentary that was nominated for three national Emmy Awards. Known as the 'Poet Laureate of the Boston Red Sox,' he has written countless poems and song parodies about the team and its history, some of which are being compiled into a compact disc and DVD. The most well-known of them, Teddy at the Bat, a salute to Red Sox legend Ted Williams that is based on Ernest Lawrence Thayer's immortal Casey at the Bat, has been performed by Mr. Flavin at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, at Fenway Park and in cities and towns across the country. He was the co-host of and contributing writer to Red Sox Stories, a weekly television series that ran during the 2007 baseball season. He has also written and performed special material for the Boston Pops and Symphony orchestras. In addition to According the Tip, his play on the life and times of the late Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, Mr. Flavin has also written I Feel a Song Comin' On, a soon to be produced musical about the lyricist Dorothy Fields.
Porchlight Music Theatre, Chicago presents the season finale, the sexy and sophisticated Broadway musical, Nine. This Tony-Award Winning Best Musical is now in development with Rob Marshall to become a major motion picture. Chicago audiences can catch this musical live at Theatre Building Chicago from April 4 to May 18, 2007. The Press Opening is Sunday, April 6 at 2:30PM.
J. Mark McVey, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lea Michele, Melora Hardin, Aaron Lazar, Rosie O'Donnell cast in Richard Jay-Alexander directed summer concert. We talked to the director and more!
The 11th Annual Broadway Bears auction line-up, presented by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS on February 17 at 7PM, is here! Each year, 'Broadway Bears: A Costumed Teddy Bear Auction' is a much-anticipated BC/EFA event. These specially-designed bears (often using actual material from their respective Broadway productions, and autographed by the stars) raised $130,000 last year. BC/EFA hopes to reach even higher this winter!
The Tony Award-winning Vineyard Theatre continues its 2007-08 Season with the unique new musical The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island (Or, The Friends of Dr. Rushower) with libretto and drawings by Ben Katchor and music composed by Mark Mulcahy, with previews to begin January 25, prior to its official press opening on February 12 at Vineyard Theatre
Toby's Dinner Theatres' David Bosley-Reynolds
The Up and Comers and The Masters: 46 men, women, and a few youngsters who made their mark on the Baltimore theatre scene in 2007.
A staged reading of the Broadway/West End-bound musical, Twice Upon a Time will be presented in Los Angeles on Monday, November 5, 2007...
Lincoln Center Theater's Platform Series, a forum for public discussion between Lincoln Center Theater artists and interested theatergoers, opens its 2007-2008 season on Tuesday, October 23, at 6PM with a pre-performance talk with lyricist and bookwriter, Lynn Ahrens, and composer, Stephen Flaherty.
This October, Berkeley is the epicenter of Bay Area drama when Tony Award-winning director Frank Galati brings after the quake to Berkeley Repertory Theatre; performed on the Thrust Stage beginning previews October 12, opening October 17 and runs through November 25.
The 2007 Broadway Flea Market and Grand Auction raised a total of $559,810, beating the 2006 total of $505,832. Over the past 21 years, the Flea Markets and Grand Auctions have raised a total of $7,262,372.
The Actors Fund announced today that Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell will take to the stage at Carnegie Hall for the very first time as a solo artist on October 15th, 2007.
Brian Stokes Mitchell in-concert will open the UNLV Performing Arts Center 2007-2008 Season on Friday, September 14 at 8PM as part of the New York Stage & Beyond Series.
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