How a director envisions a production makes all the difference in its prestation to an audience, starting with casting and continuing through rehearsals and all technical aspects of the show. I spoke with Branda Lock on bringing her vivid imagination and directing skills to George Bernard Show’s PYGMALION, filled with unique Lock-inspired changes to the casting which promise to shed new light on this classic tale of class struggles in Shaw’s time.
After a stunning opening weekend, there are just two weekends left to catch this new production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion at Black Box Performing Arts Center. Pygmalion is the play that inspired the hit Broadway musical My Fair Lady, but in this version Eliza Doolittle is nobody's lady. This immersive production gives audiences a vibrant look at Henry Higgins' wild experiment.
African-American director David Norwood premieres a uniquely re-envisioned American version of TENDER NAPALM by renowned British playwright Philip Ridley (The Pitchfork Disney, Mercury Fur, The Fastest Clock in the Universe). This poetic two-hander originally premiered in London in 2011, before making a limited engagement Off-Broadway debut in 2012 to critical acclaim.
Dutch Kills Theater (In Quietness, The Sister, The Providence of Neighboring Bodies) will present the World Premiere of SELKIE by Krista Knight (Hissifit, Primal Play). Directed by Matt Dickson (Disco Pigs, We The People), performances run through December 22 at The Wild Project.
As BroadwayWorld reported last week, acclaimed actor and director Brian Murray, who worked extensively on and off Broadway for more than fifty years, passed away from natural causes at the age of 80.
Regarded as one of most popular musicals of all time, the classic My Fair Lady turns 60 and receives this month a new theatrical production signed by the Director Jorge Takla. With a great cast and live orchestra, the show - based on the classic Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw - tells the story of an aristocrat teacher, Mr. Henry Higgins, who takes up the challenge to transform the poor Eliza Doolittle, street vendor without any refinement, in a society lady. With luxurious scenery and costumes, the show will have place at the Santander Theatre, in Sao Paulo, between August 27 and November 6, 2016.
The European premiere of Rex Pickett's acclaimed comedy SIDEWAYS opens tonight at St James Theatre, directed by David Grindley, for a limited run until July 9. The cast features Daniel Weyman (Miles), Simon Harrison (Jack), Ellie Piercy (Maya), Beth Cordingly (Terra), Anne Kavanagh(Phyllis/Evelyn), Kirsten Hazel Smith (Rosie/Victoria) and Daniel Barry (Chris/Daryl).
As BroadwayWorld reported earlier this week, Tony winner and premier actress of the American stage Marian Seldes, 86, died peacefully at her home Monday after an extended illness. Her brother Timothy Seldes made the announcement. Below, BroadwayWorld remembers the legend with a selection of photos from throughout her life.
Berkeley Repertory Theatre continues the second half of its season with Tribes, a sophisticated and moving family drama by celebrated British playwright Nina Raine. Her profound and powerful new play became an award-winning hit in London and New York. Now renowned director Jonathan Moscone brings it to Berkeley Rep this April for its Bay Area premiere. Tribes follows Billy, a young man who was born deaf into a loquacious and highly opinionated academic family who raised him to lip-read and integrate into the hearing world. When he meets Sylvia - raised by Deaf parents and going deaf herself - Billy decides it's time to speak on his own terms and to be heard. Playing out in words, sign language, and sometimes mesmerizing silence, this penetrating drama examines familial love, notions of belonging, and the intersections of communication. Tribes start previews Friday, April 11, opens on April 16, and closes on Sunday, May 11, 2014. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast below!
The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Patrick Willingham) will present post-show discussions following select performances of the Public Lab production, TITUS ANDRONICUS, directed by Michael Sexton. The Public Lab Thursday Night Speaker Series for TITUS ANDRONICUS will be held following the Thursday, December 8 and Thursday, December 15 performances and consist of engaging conversations with notable panelists. Tickets are $15 for all performances and include free admission to the post-show discussions. TITUS ANDRONICUS runs through Sunday, December 18. Check out production shots below!
Westport Country Playhouse will reunite six audience favorites---playwright Alan Ayckbourn, director John Tillinger, and cast members Paxton Whitehead, Cecilia Hart, Geneva Carr and Carson Elrod---in the classic comedy, 'How the Other Half Loves,' playing July 28 through August 15. Over the past two seasons, the popular team brought to the Playhouse the smash hit comedies 'Time of My Life' and 'Relatively Speaking.' Darren Pettie and Karen Walsh will round out the cast of 'How the Other Half Loves.'
Carol Mayo Jenkins, a veteran actress who has starred on Broadway and is remembered as English teacher Elizabeth Sherwood in the award-winning television series Fame, returns to Petaluma to star the upcoming Cinnabar Theater production of Collected Stories.
The Canadian Stage Company wraps its 2008.2009 season with Doubt, a parable, the award-winning play that's taken North America by storm. The production stars Canadian theatre icons Seana McKenna (Canadian Stage's The Clean House, Wit) and David Storch (Canadian Stage's Frost/Nixon and director of Palace of the End), and is helmed by renowned director Marti Maraden (Canadian Stage's Trying). The production runs from through May 30, 2009 (media night: May 7) at the Bluma Appel Theatre, 27 Front Street East. For tickets and information, contact 416-368-3110 or canstage.com.
Steven Weber, Jonathan Cake join Matthew Broderick in the Roundabout Theater Company revival of 'The Philanthropist.' Weber will play a friend of the leading character portrayed by Broderick in Christopher Hampton's 1970 take on 'The Misanthrope,' while Cake will play a writer. Anna Madeley is the female lead, reprising a role she played in the 2005 staging of the play at the Donmar Warehouse. Tate Ellington, Jennifer Mudge and Samantha Soule complete the rest of the casting. The cast met the press at at The American Airlines Theatre Penthouse in New York City. March 20, 2009 and BWW was there!
An impressive collection of Broadway and screen stars arrived for the officially opening of the Roundabout Theatre Company revival of Pygmalion on Thursday, October 18 at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street). This new Broadway production of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion is directed by David Grindley and stars Claire Danes in her Broadway debut as 'Eliza Doolittle' with Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays as 'Henry Higgins', Tony Award winner Boyd Gaines as 'Colonel Pickering' and Jay O. Sanders as 'Alfred Doolittle.' This is a limited engagement through Sunday, December 16.
The Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of 'Pygmalion' starring Claire Danes, Jefferson Mays, Boyd Gaines and Jay O. Sanders, begins Broadway previews at the American Airlines Theatre on September 21, opening October 18
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