Alec Cohen News

Music Theatre Wichita concludes its 2017 Season, "Hollywood to Broadway: A Summer Festival of Musical Theatre" with the regional premiere of Disney's Newsies. The lively season finale has an extended run, with performances August 11-20 in the Century II Concert Hall in downtown Wichita, KS. Newsies is part of the organization's 46th season, which is also the 30th season for producing artistic director Wayne Bryan, the final of five locally produced Broadway-scale productions.

Recent graduate of Florida State University's Musical Theatre program, Trevor Michael Schmidt is currently seizing the day in Music Theatre Wichita's production of 'Newsies' as 'Crutchie' the sickly boy with a big heart. Schmidt has been a company member in MTWichita's whole summer season and is wrapping up his stay in Kansas by telling the Newsboy strike of 1899.

Music Theatre Wichita continues its 2017 Season, "Hollywood to Broadway: A Summer Festival of Musical Theatre" with a new rendition of the vibrant 1954 movie musical turned stage show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which opened June 28 in the Century II Concert Hall in downtown Wichita, KS. The second of five locally produced Broadway-scale productions, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is part of the organization's 46th season, which is also the 30th season for producing artistic director Wayne Bryan.

Casting is announced today for Music Theatre Wichita 46th Season, 'Hollywood to Broadway,' featuring five lavish stage musicals inspired by films, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Hairspray, and the Kansas premieres of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Disney's Newsies.  

BROADWAY SESSIONS is described as an evening of musical performances, games and open mic featuring a new Broadway guest each week. The show is created and hosted by Ben Cameron (Bway Wicked, Aida and Footloose) and features musical director Joshua Stephen Kartes on piano. 

Each year some two dozen young theatre professionals make their way to Brunswick, Maine, to take part in a dynamic summer program that is both educational and experiential. They come to fill performance, production, and administrative internships at one of New England's leading regional theatres. Maine State Music Theatre is an Equity summer company with more than a half century of storied history of bringing first-class Broadway shows to midcoast Maine and beyond. And at the heart of this ensemble are the talented, aspiring, and inspiring young actors and technicians who come to learn, to absorb, and to contribute to the magic of their chosen profession.

Maine State Music Theatre marshaled all its resources for the finale of its 2015 season with a stunning production of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein, filled with rollicking humor, brilliant dancing, and dazzling design effects that had the opening night audience on their feet cheering not only at curtain calls, but also during the course of the show. Directed and choreographed by Marc Robin, the cast of starry principals and equally gifted ensemble gave Brooks' signature off-beat humor a vibrancy and wit that had the intimate Pickard Theatre pulsating with joyous energy.

Coming to a village near you (Brunswick, Maine) to close out Maine State Music Theatre's 2015 season is Mel Brooks' hilarious musical comedy YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. This show runs August 5 through August 22 with show times at 2 and 7:30 PM.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Meredith Willson's beloved all-American classic THE MUSIC MAN. This six-time TONY Award-winning musical has been entertaining audiences since 1957. THE MUSIC MAN runs tonight, July 15, through August 1, 2015. Check out a first look below!

Who doesn't love Meredith Willson's classic musical, Music Man, with its thrilling score, its witty humor, its irresistible combination of bravura and unabashed romanticism?. Generations have grown up on movie versions and memories of the big Broadway productions. So when a company undertakes a revival of such a classic, they risk the inevitable comparisons. Undaunted, Maine State Music Theatre has mounted a grand, original, and compelling look at this cornerstone of American musical theatre. The new production, directed by Marc Robin, starring Curt Dale Clark and Lauren Blackman, which opened at Brunswick's Pickard Theatre on July 16, skillfully fuses the familiar and the fresh into an evening of absolute delight.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Meredith Willson's beloved all-American classic THE MUSIC MAN. This six-time TONY Award-winning musical has been entertaining audiences since 1957. THE MUSIC MAN runs tonight, July 15, through August 1, 2015. Check out a first look below!

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Meredith Willson's beloved all-American classic THE MUSIC MAN. This six-time TONY Award-winning musical has been entertaining audiences since 1957. THE MUSIC MAN runs tonight, July 15, through August 1, 2015.  Check out a sneak peek below!

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Meredith Willson's beloved all-American classic THE MUSIC MAN. This six-time TONY Award-winning musical has been entertaining audiences since 1957. THE MUSIC MAN runs tonight, July 15, through August 1, 2015.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) presents Meredith Willson's beloved all-American classic THE MUSIC MAN. This six-time TONY Award-winning musical has been entertaining audiences since 1957. THE MUSIC MAN runs July 15 - August 1, 2015.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) is proud to be one of the first regional theatres to present the feel-amazing musical comedy smash SISTER ACT, running June 24 - July 11, 2015.

In the first act of the Menken/Slater/Steinkellner musical comedy, Sister Act, the heroine, Sister Mary Clarence (aka Deloris Van Cartier) tells Mother Superior that song should come from the soul to raise the rafters. Maine State Music Theatre's second season offering does just that with a dazzling production and a cast whose talent is, indeed, cause for celebration!

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) is proud to be one of the first regional theatres to present the feel-amazing musical comedy smash SISTER ACT, running tonight, June 24 - July 11, 2015.

'Fame/I'm gonna live forever/I'm gonna learn how to fly. . . .'So sings the company of young aspiring actors in the Steve Margoshes/Jacques Levy 1984 musical, FAME, and, indeed, one finds the description appropriate for the talented cast which Maine State Music Theatre has assembled for its annual intern production, presented at Brunswick's Pickard Theatre on Monday, June 15th. Each year some two dozen young artists, who also perform in the main stage shows and work behind the scenes come together to present their own show, and in this year's FAME they outdo themselves! The 1988 musical based on the earlier movie is an excellent choice for the company, offering age-appropriate characters with which the actors can identify and challenging them to turn out colorful, individual performances while creating an esprit de corps. Moreover, it is a theatre story, filled with laughter, pathos, and heart.

Maine State Music Theatre (MSMT) is proud to be one of the first regional theatres to present the feel-amazing musical comedy smash SISTER ACT, running June 24 - July 11, 2015.