Andrew Lippa News

GOOD GRIEF, IT'S CHARLIE BROWN! And he is coming to the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center in March!

Theatre enthusiasts packed the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts tonight to hear Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, incoming Artistic Director Tim Bond, and Executive Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announce the lineup for the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award-winning company's 2020-21 season, which launches this summer.

Samantha Womack and Cameron Blakely will revive their roles as Morticia and Gomez Addams in the new UK & Ireland Tour of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a musical comedy, with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the creators of multi award-winning Jersey Boys, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. This follows a highly successful premiere tour in 2017. The 2020 Tour will open at the Newcastle Theatre Royal on 30 July 2020 and will once again be directed by Matthew White. Further casting is to be announced.

MTC Music Academy presents a 5 week Vocal Masterclass featuring intensive technique coaching with Founder and Voice Teacher, Tegan Miller, as well as expert input from rest of the creative team, Music Director, Assaf Gleizner (Office the Musical) and Rep Coach, Andre Catrini (Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit). The classes will also include handpicked, personalized audition material for each student and a showcase for two Casting Directors, Holly Buzcek (HDB Casting/Wojcik/Seay Casting) and Alison Franck (Franck Casting), as well as the creative team. In this showcase, actors will present their new material and receive live, constructive feedback.

A new UK & Ireland Tour is kicking off for THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a musical comedy, with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the creators of multi award-winning Jersey Boys, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. This follows a highly successful premiere tour in 2017. The 2020 Tour will come to The Bristol Hippodrome from October 6-10 2020 and will once again be directed by Matthew White. Casting is to be announced.

A Soldier's Play officially opened on Broadway on January 21 for a limited engagement at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street).

The playwright nervously awaiting the make-or-break review on opening night has been the setting of many stage and movie scenes. But in this play, McNally runs with the idea, taking no prisoners across two acts boasting almost as many Broadway name-drops as punch lines, all delivered with perfect comic timing by a cast of talented actors who know how important it is to both give and take with each other as the wide range of human emotions overcomes the a?oestarsa?? who hope and pray this play will revive their struggling careers. And all the while, the laughs abound non-stop.

Feinstein's/54 Below, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Kristin Stokes in SOLO on Monday, February 10, 2020. After finishing her Broadway run in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Kristin Stokes makes her Feinstein's/54 Below solo debut. In this intimate and spellbinding evening of songs, Broadway's favorite wise girl shows you sides of her you've never seen. Joined by some special surprise guests, Stokes will perform music by Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright, Dave Malloy, and Stephen Schwartz, among others.

The Green Room 42 kicked off their 2020 of 'GR42 Sings' with a bang! In their introductory season they tackled composers such as Rodgers & Hammerstein, Andrew Lippa, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Alan Menken and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as celebrating Disney Villains and singing through In the Heights. They started off their 2nd season by singing through the music that has been a staple of musical theatre: The Music of Boublil & Schönberg. “GR42 Sings Boublil & Schönberg” was a night where we will fall back in love with the classics from Les Miserables and Miss Saigon, as well as listen to some lesser known work such as The Pirate Queen and Martin Guerre.

RECORDS A BROADWAY vuelve a Barcelona el próximo 2 de marzo, esta vez en el Almeria Teatre.

The Johnny Mercer Foundation (JMF) and the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP) at Northwestern University are seeking the nation's most talented young songwriters and writing teams for the 15th annual Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriters Project. The free, weeklong songwriting workshop will take place June 21 to 27 on Northwestern's Evanston campus.

Broadway cellist Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf (Bridges of Madison County, A Little Night Music) will host an evening that explores beautiful melodies from Broadway and beyond. With Scots-born guitarist Steve Gibb, Mairi will also celebrate Robert Burns Night by weaving in some of Scotland's most beloved melodies, and inviting her guests to perform their own versions of Burns' timeless poetry. 

Actress Kristen Towers Rowles is also an amazing director. She is nominated this year for two BWW Awards. In the conversation that follows she talks about acting, directing and the meaningful choices she has made in her career so far. Congratulations on your BWW Award nominations! Tell our readers in what categories you received them. Thank you. I'm nominated for Best Actress in a Play (Local) for playing Hattie in Laundry and Bourbon at Group Rep and as Director of a Play (Local) for Directing the World Premiere of The Lost Virginity Tour at The McCadden Place Theatre. If you had to choose winning one, which would that be? Why this choice?

The Children's Theatre of Cincinnati is announcing the opening title of their 101st season, and it's only fitting for Cruella De Vil to show up for the celebration a?" along with three other famous Disney super-villains in Disney's Descendants! Disney Channel's smash hit movie musical comes to life on stage October 10-19, 2020 at the Taft Theatre. The nation's oldest children's theatre is thrilled to present the pop culture phenomenon that mashes up of your favorite classic characters in a fun, fresh and feisty new Disney adventure.

Weathervane Theatre has announced that The Addams Family - the musical based off Charles Addams' cartoon characters - will join Season 55. In The Addams Family, America's darkest family comes to life in this original musical about love, family, honesty, and coming of age - with a comical and macabre, yet poignant spin.

The following bits of advice and at-the-piano and behind-the-table wisdom have been distilled from my 30+ years of playing auditions. While I have written a lot of words, a lot of prose, one thing to keep in mind is that auditioning is a three-step process.

The Emojiland kingdom is now complete! Arborhouse Productions & Visceral Entertainment (Michael Chase Gosselin and Tim Sulka) today announced that Max Crumm (Grease, Disaster) will take on the role of the Man In Business Suit Levitating emoji, along with Jacob Dickey (Aladdin Broadway as Aladdin) as Smiling Face with Sunglasses, (aka a?oeSunnya??), Dwelvan David (Finding Neverland & The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess Tours) as Guardsman, Heather Makalani (Aladdin) as Kissy Face, Tanisha Moore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Tour) as Woman Dancing and Jordan Fife Hunt (A Chorus Line First Revival Tour) as Man Dancing.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Regional Theatre, has announced the appointment of Tim Bond as its new Artistic Director. Bond will join the company officially in March 2020, stepping in as Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley winds down his 50th and final season at the helm of the theatre he created, ending one of the longest tenures in American theatre. Kelley previously announced his retirement at the conclusion of the company's current season in June 2020. Said Bond upon accepting the appointment, a?oeI am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue Robert Kelley's great work, and to lead this spirited company into its next exciting phase.a??

Stars of stage and screen, playwrights, composers, and supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley came together Saturday, November 2, 2019 to celebrate the acclaimed regional theatre at And the Tony Award Goes To…Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50, a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the company's half-century and its 2019 Regional Theatre Tony® Award. Some 480 guests attended this extraordinary event which raised nearly $800,000 for TheatreWorks marking it the most attended and most successful fundraiser in the company's history. Guests appropriately gathered in the heart of Silicon Valley at Mountain View's Computer History Museum for cocktails, dinner, and a lively auction, then proceeded to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, where a stellar array of TheatreWorks alumni returned to pay tribute to its history through words and music.