Check out opening night photos from Music Theater Works’ production of Lerner and Loewe’s Brigadoon here!
BISEXUAL SADNESS is now playing at The Road Theatre Company, written by India Kotis and directed by Carlyle King. Check out all new photos here!
Get a first look at photos of King of the Yees, written by Lauren Yee at Signature Theatre! Learn how to purchase tickets!
The Moorestown Theater Company transports us to Oz and back, with their enchanting 66th Summer Stage Musical, The Wizard of Oz, Youth Edition.
What did our critic think of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Beck Center For The Arts?
What did our critic think of PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL at Orpheum Theatre?
Alone on stage. Alone, alone and desperate. Alone forever. Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and that courageous soprano Patricia Racette bring us Francis Poulenc’s one-act opera LA VOIX HUMAINE. It’s a solo piece, a true tour de force for the singer. And Ms. Racette carries it off magnificently.
The timely nature of the play, given how many seniors are now dealing with living alone in isolation which can lead to loneliness and depression to the point of feeling hopeless, THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN adds in a much-needed dose of how important it is to stay in touch and support our elderly family members who are struggling during our current on-going pandemic.
a?oeAllergic to Walnuts' written by Michelle Kholos Brooks and directed by Jenny Sullivan for Skylight Live features three-time Emmy Award nominated actress and Academy Award nominated director JoBeth Williams stars with Emmy Award winning Broadway actor Joe Spano as an awkward couple who declare their affection for each other and, in the course of conversation on various topics, discover ita??s their first time being loved. But how do they know that for sure? Is love a logical equation or simply about nuts?
As I walked into the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City to see ROTTERDAM, the second play of Center Theatre Group's 2019 Block Party, I was drawn to a display asking audience members questions about relationship deal breakers. A few of the questions about relationship deal breakers included if one person in a couple changes into a religious zealot for beliefs you do not share or takes a job requiring a cross country move to a small town where you know no one, would that end the relationship for you. What I realized in answering the questions is that real and abiding love of who a person really is down to their soul, not their superficial appearance or belief system, is what is necessary for a relationship to survive real challenges. But what if one person in a couple decides he/she is transgender and decides to transition to the opposite sex? Is that a deal breaker, especially if you are no longer physically attracted to that person?
Discussions proliferate about immigration reform, whether it be the building of a wall to protect our border or deporting those who enter our country illegally to milk the system for everything they can get for free thanks to American taxpayer dollars. But while our focus seems to be on our Southern border, what about all of the other people from around the world that manage to come here illegally seeking a better life for themselves or, more importantly, their children? Is there really one correct answer or solution to the problem? Boni B. Alvarez, a Los Angeles-based writer-actor, addresses the question head-on in his world premiere play AMERICA ADJACENT.
ASPECTS OF LOVE, Andrew Lloyd Webber (Book & Music), Don Black (lyrics) and Charles Hart's (lyrics) 1980's story of various types of relationships is given the intimate small stage treatment at Hayes Theatre in Andrew J. Bevis' (Director) new production.
Marius (Justin Mouledous) begs Eponine
(Emma Pollet) for help finding Cosette
'Life-changing,' 'Engaging,' 'Rewarding,' 'Surreal,' 'Exciting,' 'Humbling,' 'Wonderful,' 'Extraordinary,' and 'A Blast and a Half' are just a few of the ways this extraordinary, young cast is encapsulating what it is like to be a part of The New Octavians production of the epic, grand, and uplifting, Les Miserables School Edition-The show that packs an emotional wallop that has thrilled over 65 million people worldwide. Winner of over 100 international awards, Les Miserables is an epic and inspiring story about the survival of the human spirit. The musical, based on Victor Hugo's novel, adapted for high school performers, features one of the most memorable scores of all time and some of the most memorable characters to ever grace the stage. This cast of nearly fifty students, hailing from twelve different schools from the Northshore area of the New Orleans Metropolitan area, is certainly fulfilling expectations. It is always a challenge to produce a show of this magnitude, but for Director, Brent Goodrich, being able to recruit talent from all over our community has made this production not only possible, but even more sensational.
Combining the perfect mix of music, mayhem and murder, comes the hit musical comedy, Murder for Two, running July 3 through August 26, with a press opening on Wednesday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m. at 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire. Written by Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, and featuring two powerhouse actors performing 13 roles and playing the piano throughout, Murder for Two is a modern twist on the classic whodunit, directed by Jeff Award winner Scott Weinstein (Drury Lane: Rock of Ages; Griffin: Ragtime, Violet; National Tour, Las Vegas and Chicago productions of Million Dollar Quartet; world premiere of Baristas at the New York International Fringe Festival), with Music Direction by Matt Deitchman (Marriott Theatre: She Loves Me, Shrek).
In the years before computers and cell phones to assist Bernard with scheduling, he uses a datebook and the world globe sitting on his desk to keep track of where each of the three stewardesses he plans to marry will be travelling, and has managed to keep 'one up, one down and one pending.' But Bernard's life is about to get incredibly bumpy when his friend, Robert (pratfall expert Brian O'Sullivan), comes to stay and unexpected schedule changes bring all three women to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time. And with Robert meeting all these lovely ladies for the first time on the same day, he soon forgets which lies to tell to whom to keep Bernard out of the doghouse. Hilarity ensues!
Even though Sheldon Harnick was playing the violin in his High School's Gilbert & Sullivan productions… 'I could still hear the lyrics', he wrote in his alumni magazine of Northwestern University. Harnick continued, 'At that time I was turned on by the patter songs, so I began to familiarize myself with Gilbert and Sullivan. I was more fascinated by the virtuosity than anything else. Little by little, I also realized what a fine poet Gilbert was and how imaginative he was, even in the slower songs. So he became an enormous influence.'
Of course, we can continue to produce our own work- and there is a growing amount of that being done in the Valley. Some of the companies in town have had their awareness awakened to this issue and have started choosing scripts by and for women- some even have roles for women our age! There are also groups of women forming to address the issue - Arizona Women's Theatre has expanded its mission to that express purpose and mounted Eve Ensler's 'Necessary Targets' at MET in September. The Bridge Initiative is focusing on works by and for women. What concerns me is how we approach it. I hope that rather than be bitter and becoming entrenched, we find ways to work within the system to change it. We all need to challenge ourselves to be more proactive in ferreting out scripts that represent those not being represented- not just 'women of a certain age', but disabilities, cultures, creeds - and when we select those scripts - casting from those populations.
The all Australian cast of BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, led by the outstanding Esther Hannaford as Carole King, recreate the original production that has been seen on Broadway and the West End, infusing an energy and lightness to the incredibly beautiful and brilliant expression of the true story of Carole King and her closest friends.
Andy Huntington Jones, who plays Prince Topher in the national tour of Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA leads a fairy tale life. Read on to find out how his love story echoes the magical story unfolding on stage.
In his program notes for Great Lakes Theater's production, director Joseph Hanreddy states, 'KING LEAR, with its titanic range of emotional, vast physical landscape, dark ironic humor and snarl of mysteries, contradictions, ambiguity and paradoxes, render it one of the theater's greatest challenges to realize in performance.' To his credit, Hanreddy creates a production which lives up to the challenge.
'You really don't choose this business; it chooses you,' Jessica Lee Goldyn says of her becoming a professional dancer and actress while still in her teens. That bright career which has taken her to Broadway and around the country performing in musical theatre now brings her to Brunswick, Maine, to reprise the role of Elizabeth in Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, which opened at Maine State Music Theatre August 6th. The role of Frederick Frankenstein's glamorous and fickle wife has been tailored to her extraordinary dancing abilities by director Marc Robin, and, as she tells Broadway World a few days before opening, she is enjoying the experience enormously!
Written by James Reach, adapted from the 1955 teleplay by Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame, PATTERNS, takes an insightful look at corporate politics, examining just how much it takes for an individual to crack in order to succeed financially. Directed with great skill and insight into human foibles and behavior by Jules Aaron (one of Los Angeles' most honored directors, the recipient of over thirty awards for his work, directing over 250 stage and television productions), with a brilliant cast and design team at Theatre 40, the play depicts the emotional wreckage that corporate culture can inflict on individuals to bring them into the fold.
'I never wanted to do anything else!' the dynamic blonde character actress tells Broadway World one recent afternoon on a break in her rehearsals for Maine State Music Theatre's Music Man, which opened July 16. Charis Leos is currently playing Eulalie, the Mayor of River City's wife in her third with the company role this summer season; she has already delighted audiences as Georgie in The Full Monty and Sister Mary Patrick in Sister Act, and she looks forward to undertaking Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein in what will be her tenth season in Brunswick. Leos has strong ties to MSMT, to Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark, and to director Marc Robin (Music Man/Young Frankenstein), and she says she 'loves the quality of work we do here. A lot has to do with the community which is so incredibly supportive. This is the best-paid vacation ever. Of course, it it's a great deal of hard work because the schedule is so compact, but I am having a wonderful time!'
Portland's Good Theater celebrated Christmas with a delightfully conceived and stylishly performed musical revue, Broadway at the Good Theater, created and directed by Brian P. Allen. Devoted to the music of the 60s and showcasing both Broadway show tunes and other iconic popular melodies, this almost forty-song evening flows seamlessly through the diverse music of the decade.
Allen's selection of numbers reads like an index to the masterpieces of that tumultuous decade, and yet, he is astute in selecting some of the lesser-known production numbers together with the undeniable blockbusters. Moreover, he knows how to weave them together subtly to chronicle an era, and he provides musical staging that is characterful, but just right for the context.
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