Life With Father Photos - Broadway

Last week, the brand-new stage production of Helen Forrester's By The Waters Of Liverpool opened at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton and now embarks on its 17-venue tour across the UK.

NATIVE SON, a novel written in 1940 by Richard Wright, tells the story of 20-year of Bigger Thomas, an African American youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in 1939. While not apologizing for Bigger's crimes, Wright portrays a systemic inevitability behind them, making the case that there is no escape from his destiny since he is the inevitable product of the society in which he has lived since birth, faced by expectations imposed upon him by others tasked to teach him the proper way for a Black man to live in society. It is often said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. This is certainly the case in Wright's original story which could have been written today, given the similar news stories filling the airwaves right now involving police beatings of Black men and gun violence leading to senseless murders.

The wait is almost over until the premiere of the new stage play By The Waters Of Liverpool opens at the Liverpool Empire in less than two weeks.

I first saw Paula Stoff perform-oh, years ago¬-in a revue by the Non-Prophet Theatre. They had some fine local talent who were performing very well indeed. But when Paula stepped into the spot-light and sang I swallowed my gum! What in the world was this Broadway talent doing with this tiny company in St. Louis?? Now (as Paula Stoff Dean) she appears in her cabaret debut. I can only say, 'IT'S ABOUT TIME!!

The psychological arcs of history are sometimes lost in the details and dates. THE BOOK OF JOSEPH amplifies those emotional truths as it follows the Hollander family's past struggle to survive World War II and present struggle to deal with the reverberations of a past we both wish to remember and seek to forget.

Intellectual debate and food for thought: Odyssey Theatre Ensemble presents Mark St. Germain's off-Broadway hit, Freud's Last Session. Emmy Award-winner Robert Mandel directs for a January 13 opening, with performances continuing through March 4 at the Odyssey Theatre in West L.A.

Rehearsal images have been released from the Tabard Theatre's Christmas production of The Little Match Girl, based on the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. The musical that launched the Christmas single Mistletoe and Wine, will be directed by the original show's composer, Keith Strachan.

August Wilson is considered not only one of the greatest of African American playwrights, but of all theatrical writers. His themes of self-identity, racism, loyalty, religion, deception, love, gentrification and historical verification form the centerpiece of his well-received 'Century Cycle' about black life in Pittsburgh.

Westport Country Playhouse will stage 'And a Nightingale Sang,' a love story surrounding a working-class British family during World War II. Written by C. P. Taylor, and directed by David Kennedy, Playhouse associate artistic director, the play runs now through June 27. The title is based on the 1940s popular song, 'And a Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,' which, among other music of the war years, is included in the play. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Broadway fans had plenty of reasons to celebrate this year, with dozens of shows having opened since January, hundreds of actors having made their debuts, and many more having returned to the stage for critically acclaimed performances. Not all news was good though, as we also suffered a loss of an incredible amount of talent. Below, BroadwayWorld sends a fond farewell to those who passed away in 2014.

First produced in 1939, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE by American playwright Joseph Kesselring is a farcical black comedy revolving around the Brewster family, descended from the 'Mayflower,' but now composed of insane homicidal maniacs. This classic play has been produced around the world and will continue to be done as long as audiences love to laugh at the outrageous situations and over-the-top characters, especially the eccentric, and frequently murderous and disturbed, family.

Roland Hayes, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson. While Robeson and Anderson are probably names that many Americans can identify, Hayes probably is not.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION, the off-Broadway runaway hit by Mark St. Germain, is now playing at The Cell - home of the Fusion Theatre Company - and I urge you not to miss it!

Executive Producer Lou Spisto today announced the complete cast and creative team for the U.S. premiere of Alan Ayckbourn's new comedy, Life of Riley. Directed by Richard Seer, Life of Riley will run in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, part of The Old Globe's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, April 30 - June 5. Preview performances run April 30 - May 4. Opening night is Thursday, May 5 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

Set in French Guiana, a region where on Christmas Eve the temperature has graciously dropped to 104 degrees, three amiable convicts are employed as roofers above the Ducotel's general store. The roof winds up being the least of the family's troubles.

Darius Danesh and Jill Paice lead the cast in Trevor Nunn's production of Margaret Mitchell's classic novel, Gone with the Wind, playing the iconic roles of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. The show opens on April 22.

Darius Danesh and Jill Paice will lead the cast in Trevor Nunn's production of Margaret Mitchell's classic novel, Gone with the Wind, playing the iconic roles of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. Joining them are Edward Baker-Duly who will play Ashley Wilkes, Madeleine Worrall who plays Melanie, NaTasha Yvette Williams as Mammy and Jina Burrows as Prissy.