Al Pacino News

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, The National Asian American Theater Company, presents Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter, which will kick off their 22nd season.

Today we are analyzing all aspects of last night's spectacular special presentation of the 25th anniversary of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA live from the Royal Albert Hall. This unprecedented full performance of the world's most successful entertainment staged specifically for this event was simulcast live to hundreds of theaters around the world, with Fathom proving yet again - LES MISERABLES, Sondheim's COMPANY and the Shakespeare's Globe Series, among many others, coming before - that they are the pioneers of perhaps the most exciting Broadway-related entertainment entity of the twenty-first century - live HD filming of theatrical enterprises. Over the course of the three hours of the complete musical as it has been performed on Broadway and the West End and around the world for twenty-five years, as well as a phantastic reception and encore featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber, Michael Crawford, Sarah Brightman, Cameron MackIntosh and four famous Phantoms - Toronto's Colm Wilkinson, the West End's John Owen Jones, Australia's Anthony Warlow and the new incoming West End title player Peter Joback - PHANTOM 25 is the theatre event of the year. Yes, PHANTOM 25 may very well be the most exciting and engrossing live show ever filmed and the presentation was exceedingly superb in technical aspects - and, now, the mind boggles at how utterly brilliant and breathtaking the forthcoming Blu-ray will be based on last night's performance (November in the UK, February in the US). Capturing the comedy in an enjoyable and surprising manner while still containing the menace and horror that gives it a distinct bite in the musical theatre realm (from the original director of SWEENEY TODD, Harold Prince, no less), and, most of all, arousing the most passionate and carnal of emotions in any willing and ready viewer. And so much more. PHANTOM 25 is now the crowning jewel of the show's legacy - the mask on the eponymous master magician and musician's face that somehow manages to make him truly, finally complete.

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, The National Asian American Theater Company, presents Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter, which will kick off their 22nd season.

Katselas Theatre Company's World Premiere production of A Death in Colombia by Shem Bitterman (Influence, Harm's Way, The Job) directed by Steve Zuckerman (Everybody Say Cheese, Nuts) at The Skylight Theatre 1816 N. Vermont Ave. LA 90027 will close on October 2, 2011.

CoActive Content, Stacey Martino, Founder/Artistic Director, and American Latino Theatre Company, David Llauger-Meiselman, Artistic Director, will present a new co-production of the critically acclaimed play, 'The King of the Desert,' written by Stacey Martino, performed by René Rivera, and helmed by award-winning director, Sal Romeo, all Studio Lifetime Members of The Actors Studio.

The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, are pleased to announce honorees that will be recognized for their achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 24, 2011.

The OBIE Award-winning NAATCO, The National Asian American Theater Company, will kick off their 22nd season with Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.

The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, have announced that the cast of DreamWorks Pictures and Participant Media's 'The Help' - Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel - will be recognized at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony with the 'Hollywood Ensemble Acting Award.'

Academy, Tony and four-time Emmy Award nominee Bob Balaban; acclaimed 'White Collar' television star Matt Bomer; Emmy Award-winning journalist Campbell Brown; celebrated playwright and gay rights activist Larry Kramer; two-time Academy Award-nominated, multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning, two-time Tony Award-winning actor John Lithgow; Tony Award nominee and Broadway Impact Co-Founder Rory O'Malley; and Emmy Award winner and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee Bradley Whitford will appear in the world premiere of '8' on Broadway, joining the previously announced Anthony Edwards, Morgan Freeman, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith and Marisa Tomei. The production is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the case filed by AFER to overturn Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California.

Today we are closing out our first season of interviews with the star players of USA's breakout hit series NECESSARY ROUGHNESS with the show's star, the endearing and scrappy Callie Thorne. In addition to all about the first season of the freshman smash - which has just this week has been greenlit for Season Two - Thorne illustrates what makes the show work so well and what initially drew her to her complex character and the show itself, as well as describing what working with show creator Craig Shapiro is like and how she has collaborated with him and her costars to help further shape her role on the sports themed dramedy. In addition to all of that, we touch on her assortment of cast-mates and the previous participants in this column - Marc Blucas, Scott Cohen, Mehcad Brooks and Andrea Anders included - as well as what she thinks the themes and ideas the show presents mean to men, women and the world at large in 2011. We also touch on her stage roots, having appeared alongside Sam Rockwell and Eric Bognosian in THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT, directed by InDepth InterView participant Philip Seymour Hoffmann, as well as her extensive theatre training (at the Lee Strasberg Institute, no less) and how that background informs all of her work, on NECESSARY ROUGHNESS and beyond - and how to endure big game-time injuries, as a result. Plus, comments on HOMICIDE, the final season of RESCUE ME, her new film MEET MY BOYFRIEND and more!

Labyrinth Theater Company has announced final casting for the World Premiere Production of The Atmosphere of Memory by David Bar Katz. Performances begin Saturday, October 15th with Opening Night scheduled for October 30th at Labyrinth's new home, the Bank Street Theater for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 13th.

Roman Polanski's film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play GOD OF CARNAGE, 'Carnage,' received the Leoncino Prize at the Venice Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The prize is awarded by area students.

Katselas Theatre Company announces the extension of the World Premiere of A Death in Colombia by Shem Bitterman (Influence, Harm's Way, The Job) directed by Steve Zuckerman (Everybody Say Cheese, Nuts) at The Skylight Theatre 1816 N. Vermont Ave. LA 90027.

Academy, Tony and four-time Emmy Award nominee Bob Balaban; acclaimed 'White Collar' television star Matt Bomer; Emmy Award-winning journalist Campbell Brown; celebrated playwright and gay rights activist Larry Kramer; two-time Academy Award-nominated, multiple Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning, two-time Tony Award-winning actor John Lithgow; Tony Award nominee and Broadway Impact Co-Founder Rory O'Malley; and Emmy Award winner and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee Bradley Whitford will appear in the world premiere of '8' on Broadway, joining the previously announced Anthony Edwards, Morgan Freeman, Cheyenne Jackson, Christine Lahti, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith and Marisa Tomei. The production is an unprecedented account of the Federal District Court trial in Perry v. Schwarzenegger (now Perry v. Brown), the case filed by AFER to overturn Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples in California.

LAByrinth Theater Company has announced that stage and screen star, and LAByrinth Theater Company member, Ellen Burstyn (Tony Award, Emmy Award, and Academy Award-winner) will lead the cast of the World Premiere Production of The Atmosphere of Memory by David Bar Katz. Burstyn was last seen on the LAByrinth stage in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Little Flower of East Orange. Performances begin Saturday, October 15th with Opening Night scheduled for October 30th at LAByrinth's new home, the Bank Street Theater (155 Bank Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 13th.

Producers Jeffrey Finn, Jill Furman, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith and Roy Furman have announced the on-sale Ticketing schedule for two-time Tony Award nominee, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner Alan Rickman (Private Lives, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Harry Potter franchise) making his eagerly-anticipated return to Broadway starring in the World Premiere of SEMINAR, a new comedy by Pulitzer Prize finalist and Peabody Award winner Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, The Understudy, Omnium Gatherum, The Family of Mann, Spike Heels, NBC's upcoming 'Smash'). Directed by acclaimed Obie Award winner Sam Gold (Circle Mirror Transformation, The Aliens, Tigers Be Still, Kin, The Coward) in his Broadway debut, the production will also star Tony Award nominee Lily Rabe (The Merchant of Venice, Steel Magnolias, this summer's lauded A Doll's House at Williamstown) and Obie Award winner Hamish Linklater (The School for Lies, Twelfth Night, 'The New Adventures of Old Christine'). SEMINAR will begin previews on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at The Golden Theatre (252 West 45th Street) with an Opening Night set for Sunday, November 20 at 6:30 PM.