The Right to be Happy 1912

Ragtime, based on the 1975 novel by E. L. Doctorow, premiered in Toronto in 1996 before opening on Broadway in 1998. The musical, by Terrance McNally, Stephen Flaherty, and Lynn Ahrens, tells the story of the United States in the early 20th century, focusing on the experiences and tensions that existed (and still exist) between different groups of people. It is a beautiful, thoughtful, and thought-provoking show, and audiences can experience it on stage at Dutch Apple through May 12th. Tricia Corcoran, who portrays Emma Goldman, spoke with BroadwayWorld about this production of Ragtime.

Eugene O'Neill's classic play of family strife has had regular revivals in London (most recently in 2018 and 2012). Set in 1912 and published posthumously in 1956, it remains one of the great American plays. Brian Cox returns to the London stage as James Tyrone, actor, family colossus, and flawed man, in a mesmerising performance.

OKC Broadway has announced their 2024 – 2025 Season. Learn more about the lineup here!

Complete casting has been set for Second Stage Theater's TOROS by Danny Tejera and directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch. See who is starring, and learn how to purchase tickets!

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center has announced its 2023-24 season, which celebrates the passing of the artistic torch and the theme of Legacy, with the final farewell concerts of two esteemed American string quartets, both with long histories at CMS.

Quintessence Theatre Group, Philadelphia's professional classic repertory theatre, begins Season XIII: Celebrating the Extraordinary with Eugène Ionesco's The Chairs. Directed by Quintessence's Artistic Director Alexander Burns, The Chairs, full of absurdist philosophy, witty wordplay and slapstick comedy, starts previews September 28, with an Opening Night Saturday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m

On September 30, 2022, the Chineke! Orchestra will release a new album, Coleridge-Taylor. The album features music by the celebrated African-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with an appearance by award-winning U.S. violinist Elena Urioste, plus a world premiere recording of a work by Coleridge-Taylor's daughter Avril Coleridge-Taylor.

Hale Centre Theatre in Sandy has announced its 2023 season of entertainment, including its highly anticipated production of TITANIC (postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic), the world premiere of a unique new Frank Loesser musical, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN IN NEW YORK & more. View the complete schedule and how to get tickets here.

On March 11th 2020 Mint Theater Company completed casting for their next production, the long delayed American premiere of Chains by Elizabeth Baker, scheduled to open that May.  

TFANA has extended the run of Alice Childress’s Wedding Band, directed by Awoye Timpo, to May 22. (The production, which began previews April 28—postponed from an original date of April 23 due to two COVID-19 cases—was formerly set to close May 15).

TFANA will present Alice Childress’s Wedding Band. Director Awoye Timpo’s new staging, running April 23–May 15, brings Childress’s masterpiece to New York audiences for the first time since 1972, when it made its New York premiere in a production directed by Childress and Joseph Papp.

Titanic the Musical opened on Broadway in April of 1997. The musical tells the story of the maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic, or what would soon be aptly named “The Unsinkable Ship.” However, as history tells us the ship sank on its maiden voyage on April 15, 1912. The 1997 Broadway production won five Tony Awards including Best Musical and was directed by Richard Jones. Following the opening of its Broadway run, Titanic was adapted for film and released the same year in 1997 by James Cameron starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Both of which the musical and film have no correlation to the other. Maury Yeston who was a Broadway composer and lyricist for Nine was inspired by the discovery of the wreckage of the Titanic off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985. Yeston said he was inspired by all the ship represented. So Yeston met with Peter Stone who wrote the libretto and Titanic the Musical was born. Of the five Tony’s that Titanic went onto win among them were Best Score, Best Book, Best Orchestrations, Best Scenic Design as well as Best Musical mentioned above. Previews started in 1997 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and received mixed but positive reviews. After 804 performances, Titanic the Musical closed in March of 1999. Boasting a whopping 20 musical numbers in Act One and 12 in Act Two this behemoth of a musical is grand in design, and song. This musical also features a cast of 37 some doubling multiple roles. Proving to be a huge undertaking for amateur productions and professionals alike.

It was the event of the year and people missed it at their peril. The ones who didn't miss it will be talking about it for the rest of their lives.

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the best TV episodes from the 1950's to 2020; see if your favorites made the list!

BWW Reviewer Peter Nason chooses the greatest theatrical works (non-musical) from 1920-2020; see if your favorites made the list!

The Belmont Theater District (BTD), Chicago's largest theater district located in the Lakeview West and Lakeview East neighborhoods, celebrates the holidays this November and December. The Belmont Theater District acts as an advocate to create, promote and strengthen the diverse artistic offerings of the Lakeview West and Lakeview East neighborhoods to its residents and visitors.

On December 7th and 8th, hot on the heels of 'GABRIELLE CHANEL' with Svetlana Zakharova at the Coliseum (December 3rd, 4th, 5th) MuzArts presents a triple bill like no other - a rare and wonderful treat for ballet fans.

What do the 1950s have in common with 1912? Both were ages of innocence. When Meredith Willson wrote his story with Franklin Lacey about a con artist bamboozling an Iowa town in 1912, which formed the substance of his musical The Music Man (1957), the effect became like that of N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker. People were jubilant, ecstatic and welcomed Professor Harold Hill, as they craved a good old-fashioned love story coated with ironic excitement. He was a charmer, and they saw way past his bad side. Now in a spectacular new production at 5-Star Theatricals, this company headed by Tony nominee Adam Pascal, keeps the show fantastically rousing and musically. almost perfect yet grounding the love story within the realm of  kitchen.sink believability. With splendid director Larry Raben, divine choreographer Peggy Hickey and fab musical director Brad Ellis at the helm, a marvlous 40 member cast takes the The Music Man and offers a much needed take on the way life should be, whether it's 1912, 1955 or 2019.

Janis Stevens gives the performance of the year in a show that you won't be able to shake for a long time.

There are some musicals that simply epitomize the genre. You know the ones - the shows where you have lost count how many times you have seen them, either on Broadway, on tour, or at your local theatre. They are like a part of the family - the favorite uncle or aunt that you are happy to see whenever you are together. One of these shows for me is Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN, the classic that serves as a near-perfect representation of American Musical Theatre. So, it is with excitement, and a bit of trepidation (how will this production fare with all the others in my memory?) that I went to see Goodspeed Musicals latest production. I am thrilled to say that the play feels as fresh as the day it premiered, is as lovely as the "bells on the hill" that feature in one of its most iconic songs, and serves as a brilliant opening to the new season at the Goodspeed Opera House.

Rarely produced in full, Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre (MET) presents the entirety of Horton Foote's nine-act  Magnus Opus “The Orphans' Home Cycle” running in repertory through November 18, 2018. This massive production utilizes over 30 veteran performers from across the Metro KC area in 64 roles throughout the expansive production.  

George M. Cohan has been attributed to being the father of the American Musical, whose works are the very roots of Broadway and musical theater that we know today. Without his numerous contributions to the American theater, Broadway as we all know it probably wouldn't even exist. This is the idea that's drummed rather loudly and patriotically by the ending of YANKEE DOODLE DANDY, the 2004 stage musical now in the midst of its Southern California regional premiere via Musical Theatre West. A fairly entertaining, if inescapably old-fashioned jukebox musical that paints rather broad strokes rather than giving a deep dive into Cohan's life story, this new production continues performances at the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts in Long Beach through July 22, 2018.

Nadim Naaman is best known for playing Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera in the West End, though he has also appeared in shows like Sweeney Todd, Titanic and Chess. He has released a solo album, Sides, and has just co-written his first musical with Qatari composer Dana Al Farden. Broken Wings is based on a poetic novel by Khalil Gibran about forbidden love, gender equality and religion in 1912 Lebanon.

All too often, the word dated is misguidedly used to diminish the impact a play of a bygone era can have on contemporary audiences. Take, for example, the puritanical attitude towards pre-marital sex expressed by many of the characters in English playwright Stanley Houghton's social commentary, HINDLE WAKES, which premiered in Manchester in 1912 and crossed the ocean to Broadway before the year was done.

Mint Theater presents a rare revival - the first in 95 years - of Stanley Houghton's Hindle Wakes. Performances continue through February 17th at the Clurman Theater at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). Opening Night is tonight, January 18th.