Alliance Theatre News

The Prom begins previews on Broadway tonight, October 23, at the Longacre Theatre. Get a first look at the full cast in action in the all new production photo below!

On Saturday, November 17th, Barefoot Theatre Company celebrates the third annual Vassallo Awards with a Fall Gala beginning at 8pm at the SVA THEATRE in NYC on 333 W 23rd Street in Manhattan. 

The new Broadway comedy The Prom has announced that a limited number of $40 general rush tickets (including the $2 facility fee) will be available at the Longacre Theatre box office (220 West 48th Street) when it opens for that day's performance(s) beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, October 23, 2018. Limited to two tickets per person, tickets are subject to availability. Cast and major credit cards are accepted.

Broadway Licensing is working with Stephen King and John Mellencamp to redevelop their haunting musical for worldwide licensing.

This December, New Conservatory Theatre Center continues its not-so-traditional tradition of its award-winning production of Avenue Q. Featuring "catchy melodies sung by randy puppets suffering post-collegiate existential dread" (SF Chronicle), NCTC's Avenue Q has been proclaimed a "local tradition" by San Francisco Travel, winning over critics and audiences alike in its previous engagements in NCTC's intimate Decker Theatre. Declares the San Francisco Examiner, "only the Grinch could prevent the laughter-filled show from selling out night after night."

The Educational Theatre Foundation (ETF) will partner with The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati (TCT) to entrust the management and administration of the nationally-recognized JumpStart Theatre program to the oldest theater for young audiences in the nation.

Putting on a brand-new, original musical can be a daunting and challenging task for any theatre company. If you're doing a golden oldie such as, say, Camelot, you have a familiar score, and just about everyone knows the songs. Then again, Camelot was new once and someone had to give it a go, so I applaud the Alliance Theatre for kicking off their 50th anniversary season with Nick's Flamingo Grill, a new jazz musical written by Atlanta playwright Phillip DePoy. The show fits very nicely into the Hertz Stage, a beautiful black box space with the stage in the center and audience members on either side, making the story an intimate experience and getting all of us to feel as though we are the jazz club audience during the musical numbers. And what numbers they are! But more on that later.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago announces its production of Eclipsed, written by Danai Gurira and directed by Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan, October 4 - November 4 at Pegasus's resident home Chicago Dramatists, 773 N. Aberdeen. Opening/press night is Monday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. with added Saturday 3 p.m. or Sunday 7:00 p.m. performances (TBD). Tickets are $18 - $30 and are available at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Discounts available for groups of ten or more by contacting boxoffice@pegasustheatrechicago.org.

The members of the Board of Directors of Synchronicity Theatre are pleased to announce that Celise Kalke has been selected to be the Company's new Managing Director. Her official start date will be October 22, 2018.

Greenway Arts Alliance (Whitney Weston and Pierson Blaetz, Co-Founders and Co-Artistic Directors) announced the cast and creative team for the THE COLOR PURPLE, which will play at the Greenway Court Theatre (544 N. Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles). Performances run from November 9 through December 9 with the official press opening on Saturday, November 10. The Tony Award-winning musical features a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. Directing and choreographing the cast of 15 is NAACP Theater Award-winner Jeffrey Polk (Smokey Joe's Cafe).

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley brings an enchanted bestseller to life for the holidays with the regional premiere of Tuck Everlasting. Set in the 1890s, free-spirited Winnie Foster searches for adventure, finding the Tucks, a close-knit family that has discovered the secret to everlasting life.

Cleveland Play House (CPH) brings to life Lynn Nottage's complex story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Rust Belt drama Sweat.  Set in Reading, PA, this relevant story offers audience members suspense through its intricate portrayal of characters battling to survive in a city crippled by economic stagnation. CPH Artistic Director Laura Kepley will direct. Previews begin on October 13th, with press opening on October 19th at the Outcalt Theatre in Playhouse Square. This production is sponsored by Great Lakes Brewing Company.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director), dedicated to the development of new musicals and rediscovery of musical gems from the past, presents the Off-Broadway premiere of the acclaimed new musical Midnight at The Never Get, with book, music, and lyrics by Mark Sonnenblick, co-conceived by Sam Bolen, by arrangement with Visceral Entertainment and Mark Cortale Productions.  Directed by Max Friedman, with choreography by Andrew Palermo, and music direction/arrangements by Adam Podd, the cast will feature Sam Bolen, Jeremy Cohen, and Jon J. Peterson.  Performances begin Tuesday, October 2, 2018 for a limited engagement through Sunday afternoon, November 4, 2018 at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue). Opening Night is Thursday evening, October 11, 2018 at 6:45 p.m. 

Well-ensconced on the UCLA campus, Los Angeles Theatre Works presents audio theatre, or as pre-millennials call it 'radio drama,' a throwback technique of decades-old entertainment enhanced by current day technology. I had the chance to delve into the inner workings of LATW from one of the co-founders herself, Susan Albert Loewenberg.

I consider myself a Shakespeare purist of the worst sort.  I wax snobbish at Shakespeare productions where Hamlet, language updated, sounds like a California surfer:  'Dude.  It was my uncle, Bro.'  I scoff at productions that situate themselves in some setting that's divergent from the original.  Macbeth cannot be a one-man show set in an insane asylum, and Midsummer is definitely no good in a Catholic school for girls.  But soft!  Methinks I've stumbled upon an anomaly that's making me rethink my whole purist disdain for the Creative Shakespeare Catalogue O' Crap.  That anomaly is Alliance Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that's playing on an outdoor stage at the Atlanta Botanical Garden through October 21.  Though the production liberally infuses the Bard's most delightful play with a healthy dose of our 21st- century American vernacular, frames the action of the play in a moern garden being outfitted for a wedding, and cuts a significant portion of the original play, it's still pretty darn magical. 

Goodman Theatre's commitment to new works and emerging artists continues in its 2018/2019 Season. Today, the Goodman named four Chicago-based writers to its Playwrights Unit-Georgette Kelly, whose play Ballast was featured on The Kilroys List and received the Craig Noel Award for Outstanding New Play; Dianne Nora, a playwright, dramaturg, theater scholar and comedy writer who works in Chicago, Brooklyn and Dublin; Marisela Treviño Orta, semifinalist for the 2018 O'Neill Theater Center National Playwrights Conference and 2019 Kendeda Finalist (Alliance Theatre); and Stacey Rose, whose work has been presented at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, National Black Theatre and more. The Playwrights Unit, in partnership with Chicago Dramatists, meets bi-monthly to discuss their commissioned plays-in-progress with the Goodman's artistic team. The residency culminates in a public staged reading of each new play in Summer 2019. 

City Springs Theatre, Atlanta's newest professional theatre company presents Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley in '42nd Street,' the ultimate Broadway musical, playing at the brand-new Byers Theatre at The Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center (1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs) September 14th through the 23rd. Tickets are $30-$62, with discounts for seniors, students, groups, and active and retired military personnel. Visit www.CitySpringsTheatre.com or call 404-477-4365 for more information.

Atlanta Lyric Theatre presents this sparkling, larger than life production October 19-November 4, 2018. After a fabulous run in Gwinnett county, the Lyric is pleased to bring this exciting collaboration with Aurora Theatre to its audiences. Based on the 1992 motion picture, NEWSIES features a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Sister Act) and Jack Feldman and a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein (La Cage aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy). NEWSIES, performs at the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre (548 South Marietta Pkwy., Marietta). For tickets, reservations and group pricing visit www.AtlantaLyric.com or call 404-377-9948.

On Wednesday September 12th, Arts Club's production of the play: THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME had its opening night at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Theatre in Vancouver. This 2015 Tony Award winning play (Best Play) is based on the best-selling novel by Mark Haddon with the stage adaptation by Simon Stephens. Being the first show of their 2018-19 season, Arts Club did not disappoint with this impeccable show featuring an incredibly talented cast and compelling storyline.

City Springs Theatre, Atlanta's newest professional theatre company presents Tony Award winner Shuler Hensley in '42nd Street,' the ultimate Broadway musical, playing at the brand-new Byers Theatre at The Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center (1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs) September 14th through the 23rd. Tickets are $30-$62, with discounts for seniors, students, groups, and active and retired military personnel.