Jason Michael Evans

Chicago Shakespeare Theater has revealed the cast and creative team for the upcoming 75-minute family musical production Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, directed and choreographed by Amber Mak.

While the Maltz Jupiter Theatre technically opened its doors for two weeks in April 2022 after a two-year renovation, the largest LORT B+ regional theatre in the southeastern United States is thrilled to produce a full season starting this October.

The Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre brings the phenomenal music, memorable characters, and great storytelling of Jersey Boys to its stage June 23-July 3.

Theatre Aspen announced today the complete casts and creative teams for the company’s 39th Season, which includes the Tony Award-winning musicals Gypsy and Jersey Boys on the mainstage, as well as the summer Cabaret Series at Hotel Jerome and additional programming and special events for the summer.

Portland Stage closes its 2021-2022 season with a new play with music that is really a chamber opera, SABINA, about the pioneer in psychoanalysis, the muse and lover of Carl Jung and colleague of Sigmund Freud, Sabina Spielrein. Sabina’s story from Jung’s catatonic patient to medical student and respected doctor in the turbulent years leading up to WWII is a fascinating one, filled with history and hope.

After a two-year pandemic delay, the new musical Sabina arrives on stage tonight at Portland Stage. The new musical features Stephanie Machado in the title role, with Philip Stoddard as Carl Jung and Bruce Sabath (Company, Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish) as Sigmund Freud. The cast also includes Jason Michael Evans (Anastasia National Tour) and Sarah Anne Fernandez (Wicked National Tour). 

Sabina is a profoundly moving psychological mystery, the story of Sabina Spielrein, a catatonic 19-year-old Russian girl who is sent to the Burgholzli Institute by her parents as a last resort. She is found there by Carl Jung, who is looking for a patient on whom to try Freud’s not-yet-proven Talking Cure.

Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons opened tonight at STAGES St. Louis for their final offering of the season. Winner of the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical, 2009 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Musical, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album, Jersey Boys is among the most successful jukebox musicals ever produced. The STAGES St. Louis production runs through October 24, 2021 at the Ross Family Theater in the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center.

STAGES St. Louis has announced the casting for their upcoming production of JERSEY BOYS that will play September 24 – October 24, 2021 at The Ross Family Theater in the new Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. The cast will be headlined by Christopher Kale Jones who is best known for playing Frankie Valli in the 1st National Tour of JERSEY BOYS. With a book written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, JERSEY BOYS takes an exhilarating journey into the cultural phenomenon that is Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. The show features 30 show stopping performances of the hits that took the group all the way to the top of the charts, including: “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry,” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You.”

BroadwayWorld has learned that all remaining performances on the Anastasia tour have been cancelled through Summer 2020, due to the health crisis.

Meet Anastasia on tour's new Anya, Beth Stafford Laird, who rejoins the national tour of Broadway's Anastasia beginning April 7, 2020.

'ANASTASIA,' with music and lyrics by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally, based on the 1997 film of the same name, is now on stage at the Connor Palace, as part of the Key Bank Broadway series.

When the movie ANASTASIA was released in 1996, somewhere someone was humming along with the score of the 20th Century Fox film and thought 'This might make a fantastic musical.' It took nearly 20 years but the faith in the concept is paying off.

Perfectly timed for the blistery cold Rochester weather we're all suffering through, the RBTL is currently presenting 'Anastasia', the stage adaptation of the 1997 animated movie in which audience members are whisked away to snowy St. Petersburg during the height of the Russian Revolution of the 1920's. This era of political upheaval is the backdrop, but the story focuses on a young woman and her journey through the past to find her family and her identity.

A mysterious girl, who may or may not be the long lost Princess Anastasia Romanov of Russia, a grandmother intent on finding her, and the desperate men willing to do whatever it takes to get out of Russia. These are at the center of the musical ANASTASIA which is now playing at The Bushnell in Hartford.

At first glance, the musical stage adaptation of ANASTASIA looks and feels like an appropriately grand, luxe affaira?"from its gorgeous costumes designed to the lush soundscapes created by the orchestra and the vocal talents that have been assembled for this tour. But the undeniable wow factor of the show is, of course, the stunning visual trifecta of its scenic design working in keen harmony with dazzling projections and stage lighting. The overall technical prowess of this stage musical is just jaw-droppinga?"and, I must say, is quite an adequate enough reason to experience the show. The adaptation's execution of the story itself, however, suffers slightly from its well-meaning intentionsa?"revealing a stage show that feels stilted by its own drama, and with an unsure footing of what it truly wants to be.

The first clue that ANASTASIA was going to be different than what I expected was a note on the title page reading, “Inspired by the Twentieth Century Fox Motion Pictures.” Plural? A savvy journalist, I quickly asked Siri to bring up the imdb page for “Anastasia”. Turns out Fox made ANASTASIA twice, the 1997 animated off-brand Disney princess movie and a 1957 film that scored Ingrid Bergman's second Oscar and marked Helen Hayes' transition to the big screen. And it turns out the musical version has more in common with LES MISERABLES and RAGTIME than BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Gone is the hell-wizard Rasputin, his talking fruit bat sidekick, and the singing demon caterpillars. At intermission, I asked my third grade niece, Adalyn, how she was liking it. “It's awesome…it's real people, like no Beast or anything. No animals.” We decide that Disney staged musicals are great but more it's more impressive when you can achieve the magic without a story that departs from reality. ANASTASIA is historical fiction hypothetical. It poses a “what if…?” that a daughter of the last czar of Russia (The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna) escaped when the czar's family was executed in 1918. Rumors persisted for decades that Anastasia did, in fact, escape. In 2007, DNA testing confirmed the remains of all four Grand Duchesses were in the Imperial grave. In this version, Terrence McNalley's book follows Anastasia's rediscovery of her identity after surviving the attack on her family and sustaining some plot enabling amnesia. Renamed “Anya” she grows up and makes a life in post-Revolution Russia. Anastasia's grandmother, the Dowager Empress (in a staggeringly moving performance by Joy Franz) has fled to France and offered a cash reward for anyone escorting the rumored alive Anastasia to Paris. The wily duo Vlad (Edward Staudenmayer) and Dmitry (Jake Levy) pull a My Fair Lady style makeover on Anya to collect the Dowager's prize. They are pursued by Gleb (Jason Michael Evans). A Soviet officer drawn to Anya romantically but tasked with finding and eliminating the last Romanov. Anya's memory becomes somewhat coaxed back, but the Dowager has stopped seeing Anastasia claimants after too much heart-break from countless frauds. It sounds dark, but with high-tech digital scenery and inspired performances across the cast it is delightful. Stephen Flaherty (Music) and Lynn Ahrens (Lyrics), responsible for bringing us RAGTIME, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, LUCKY STIFF, as well as the Oscar nominated songs carried over from the animated film. ANASTASIA is a perfect context for this pair. “Stay, I Pray You” (my favorite song of the evening) is evocative of RAGTIME's “New Music”. The two songs literally race my heart in a strangely specific way. My real test of a National Tour at Gammage is how fast I get the music playing in my car on the way home. At ANASTASIA I was already finding, “Stay, I Pray You” walking through the parking lot. The rest of the score is similarly haunting. Lila Coogan, as Anya/Anastasia, powers through the score with nuance, clarity, and passion. Tari Kelly, as Countess Lily, and Stadenmayer (Vlad) were Adalyn's favorite performances and I have to agree. This incredibly gifted pair take the “triple threat” designation (singer, dancer, actor) and go quadruple with the addition of flawless comic timing. The choreography by Peggy Hickey is masterful. It somehow combines inventive and traditional throughout and the ten-minute slice of “Swan Lake” infused into “Quartet at the Ballet” is the highlight of the second act. It's a fun-size version that gets an under-represented art form onto the plate. This kind of trope often means the plot putting the plot on hold. But here, it is the connective tissue between Anya, Dmitry, the Dowager, and Gleb as they each bring us up to speed heading into the show's climax. Ultimately, the show's success comes from applying a higher artistic standard to the “previously-animated-film-now-theatrically-staged” genre. It cashes in on the name draw of the 1997 film then gives the viewer something much more enriched than what they think they are coming to see.

We headed to St. Petersburg yesterday for an inside look at the Anastasia tour with Jake Levy as he took over BroadwayWorld's Instagram Story! So in case you missed it (or just want to relive all of the fun and excitement), we compiled clips for you to enjoy. Check it all out!

It's no rumor: the Anastasia tour's new Dmitry, Jake Levy, is taking over BroadwayWorld's Instagram Story this Saturday, October 19th, at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre! Be sure to tune in throughout the day to get a peek behind the scenes with this kid on the fly on a two-show day! You're not gonna want to miss being welcomed to his Petersburg!

The National Tour of Anastasia had its official opening night in Schenectady, New York last week! The production stars Lila Coogan as Anya, Stephen Brower as Dmitry, Jason Michael Evans as Gleb, Joy Franz as Dowager Empress, Tari Kelly as Countess Lily, Edward Staudenmayer as Vlad and Victoria Amelia Bingham as Little Anastasia. The ensemble includes Brianna Abruzzo, Ronnie S. Bowman Jr., Alison Ewing, Peter Garza, Jeremiah Ginn, Brett-Marco Glauser, Lucy Horton, Mary Illes, Fred Inkley, Kourtney Keitt, Beth Stafford Laird, Mark Mackillop, Kenneth Michael Murray, Taylor Quick, Claire Rathbun, Michael McCorry Rose, Matt Rosell, Sareen Tchekmedyian, and Addison Mackynzie Valentino.