Andrew Jackson News

Wicked opened its run at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center Wednesday with a capacity crowd enjoying the performance by the Second National Touring Company in Andrew Jackson Hall. Opening night also featured the inaugural Nashville.BroadwayWorld.com First Night Theatre Event, with some 25 theatre devotees attending the show, with cocktails and hors d'oevres before curtain and a dessert/champagne reception afterward.

Nashville Opera opens the 2009-10 season with a grand production of Giacomo Puccini's Tosca in the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall on Thursday, October 8 at 7:00 pm and Saturday, October 10 at 8:00 pm.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is proud to present the World Premiere of David Ingber's Bromatic Comedy, Fantasy Football: The Musical?, directed by Adam Arian with musical direction by Brian Usifer and choreography by Nancy Renee Braun. Performances will begin on October 1 -October 8 at The Barrow Group Theatre (312 West 36th Street).

Don't tell Marcie Dodd and Helene Yorke (Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, in the second national company of Wicked), but during every performance Colin Donnell, aka Fiyero, has a ritual, 'a tradition' if you will, that he follows. He stands in the wings and watches his two leading ladies in a scene 'and everytime I do it, it gives me chills,' he says, 'it sort of reminds me what's going on with the show and why I'm doing it. They inspire me.'

The New York Musical Theatre Festival, Michael Minarik & Eleven Entertainment announced today that Carly Jibson (Cry-Baby, Hairspray), Clarke Thorell (Catch Me If You Can, Hairspray), Sarah Saltzberg (?Spelling Bee), Kristine Zbornik (A Catered Affair, Road Show) and Randy Blair (Adding Machine) will star in Fat Camp, a new, completely original musical, at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival. With book by Blair and Timothy Michael Drucker (creators of the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival?s Outstanding Musical winner Perez Hilton Saves the Universe), lyrics by Blair, and music by Matthew Roi Berger, Fat Camp will play the Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row from September 30th ? October 8th. The production will be directed by Obie Award-winning and Drama Desk Award nominee director Alex Timbers (Gutenberg! the Musical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, ?Children?s Scientology Pageant).

'Wickedly Wonderful' is the theme of the 2009 Fest de Ville Gala on Saturday, August 29 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Décor, lighting design, entertainment and even the dinner menu are inspired by the Broadway blockbuster Wicked, playing TPAC September 2-20.

A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held for each performance of WICKED, which will be performing from September 2-20, 2009, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall.

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to present HOOVER COMES ALIVE!, by Sean Cunningham, with songs by Michael Friedman, and directed by Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatchers), running September 8 - 13, 2009 in the Mandell Weiss Forum. HOOVER COMES ALIVE! is a Page To Stage presentation, as well as part of the Playhouse's THE EDGE series.

The extraordinary ongoing chapters of a five-decade career illustrate the unending public demand for the music of American rock-and-roll heroes Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, who will play the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall, September 27, 2009. Tickets go on sale to the public on Sunday, August 16, at 10:00 a.m.

Single tickets for the upcoming works included in Nashville Ballet's 2009-2010 season will go on sale Monday, September 7.

The extraordinary ongoing chapters of a five-decade career illustrate the unending public demand for the music of American rock-and-roll heroes Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, who will play the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall, September 27, 2009. Tickets go on sale to the public on Sunday, August 16, at 10:00 a.m.

The Civilians' Artistic Director Steve Cosson ('This Beautiful City'), composer Michael Friedman ('This Beautiful City,' 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson') and book writer Bess Wohl ('Cats Talk Back,' 'In') have begun investigations in Los Angeles for an untitled porn musical. The new project from the award-winning investigative theatre company is commissioned by Center Theatre Group, which presented The Civilians' 'This Beautiful City' at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in 2008.

The extraordinary ongoing chapters of a five-decade career illustrate the unending public demand for the music of American rock-and-roll heroes Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, who will play the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's Andrew Jackson Hall, September 27, 2009. Tickets go on sale to the public on Sunday, August 16, at 10:00 a.m.

In a historic move for the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, 9 to 5: The Musical will open its national tour in Nashville in September, 2010, it was announced Wednesday.

'Wickedly Wonderful' is the theme of the 2009 Fest de Ville Gala on Saturday, August 29 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Décor, lighting design, entertainment and even the dinner menu are inspired by the Broadway blockbuster Wicked, playing TPAC September 2-20.

The cast has been announced for the reading of Operation Epsilon, a new play by Alan Brody (Housewives of Manheim), directed by Andy Sandberg (Producer of Hair). This developmental reading is being presented by Ellen Berman (Enchanted April), and this presentation is supported by a grant from the Council of the Arts at MIT.

The Playwrights Realm - under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors John Dias and Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Stephanie Ybarra - and the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts present the 2009 WRITERS JAM SESSION - a week of readings by emerging artists, featuring such acting talents as Tovah Feldshuh (IRENA'S VOW, GOLDA'S BALCONY), Michael Cumpsty (DEMOCRACY, COPENHAGEN), Mather Zickel ('Rachel Getting Married,' 'I Love You, Man'), etc. free and open to the public - at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Center (113 2nd Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets). For reservations please email jd1429@nyu.edu.

Giselle, one of the world's most beloved ballets for the past 150 years, will open the 2009-2010 season for the critically acclaimed Nashville Ballet, October 23-25, at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre.

The Playwrights Realm - under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors John Dias and Katherine Kovner and Producing Director Stephanie Ybarra - and the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts present the 2009 WRITERS JAM SESSION - a week of readings by emerging artists, featuring such acting talents as Tovah Feldshuh (IRENA'S VOW, GOLDA'S BALCONY), Michael Cumpsty (DEMOCRACY, COPENHAGEN), Mather Zickel ('Rachel Getting Married,' 'I Love You, Man'), etc. free and open to the public - at the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program Center (113 2nd Avenue, between 6th and 7th Streets). For reservations please email jd1429@nyu.edu.

13P (Thirteen Playwrights, Inc), the OBIE Award-winning theater company made up of 13 playwrights, will present Lucy Thurber's (P#8) 'MONSTROSITY,' directed by Lear deBessonet. 'MONSTROSITY' will be performed at The Connelly Theatre, 220 East 4th Street (between Avenues A and B), with performances running from July 9 through 19, 2009 for a total of twelve performances.