Arthur Laurents News

Indiana University Opera Theater will close its 2009-10 season with Leonard Bernstein's timeless West Side Story April 9, 10, 16 and 17 at 8 p.m. in Bloomington's Musical Arts Center. The production, presented at the one-year anniversary of a major gift by the Bernstein family to the Jacobs School of Music, will be conducted by guest Rob Fisher, with sets and costumes designed by Jacobs Professor C. David Higgins.

This week, both in memory of the real-life Baby June, June Havoc, who passed away this week, as well as a precursory introduction to a multi-part series critiquing the entire canon of all major Sondheim cast albums available in anticipation of the late April opening of the new review SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM (currently in previews at Studio 54), we are taking a listen to the various cast recordings of the major productions on Broadway/West End of GYPSY over the last fifty years. GYPSY was, of course, one of the first scores on Broadway boasting lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and whether a leading lady the likes of Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Bernadette Peters or Patti LuPone, it is a score unlike any other before or since and a true pinnacle of not only musical theatre, but all theatre, on Broadway and beyond. Some may even say the greatest musical of all...

Joseph, who was in 4 B'way musicals last year, will go straight from the hit 'Yank!' into the latest Encores! show.

Tony Award winning actress Anika Noni Rose will perform in a concert reading of THE MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall. The reading will take place at 7:30 PM on April 3 at the Independence Community College as a part of the William Inge Theatre Festival. Chay Yew will direct.

Anyone Can Whistle is the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season and will run for five performances April 8 - 11. The show will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with musical direction by Rob Berman.

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk.

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Judy Gold, Melissa Joan Hart, Shirley Knight and Doris Roberts have signed on to lend their talents to Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's smash-hit Off Broadway show, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, which has been playing to sold-out houses at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43rd Street). Judy Gold, Melissa Joan Hart and Shirley Knight will join the April cast (March 31 - April 25), and Doris Roberts will join the cast beginning April 28 (through May 23).

New Repertory Theatre, in residence at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, is thrilled to present Opus, a New England Premiere by Michael Hollinger. Opus opens for the press on Monday, March 29, 2010 at 7:30pm and plays through Saturday, April 17, 2010 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in the Charles Mosesian Theater.

J.L. 'Lynn' Singleton, President of the Providence Performing Arts Center, is pleased to announce PPAC's 33rd Anniversary Broadway season. The 2010/2011 Broadway Series will kick off with the SPECTACULAR Rhode Island Premiere of the RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR STARRING THE ROCKETTES, and will follow with the return of DISNEY'S THE LION KING, the groundbreaking NEXT TO NORMAL, and the highly-regarded Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's SOUTH PACIFIC. The INSKIP LEXUS Touring Selections of the 2010/2011 Broadway Series are the inspiring IN THE HEIGHTS and the enthralling new production of WEST SIDE STORY.

Patti LuPone, the winner of three Drama Desk Awards as Outstanding Actress in A Musical for her performances in Evita (1980), Anything Goes 1988) and Gypsy (2008), will host this year's 55th Annual Drama Desk Awards ceremony on Sunday, May 23, 2010, at 9 PM, it was announced today by Robert R. Blume, Executive Producer of the annual awards show, and William Wolf, President of the Drama Desk.

Although he's 91 years old, Arthur Laurents, author of the books for GYPSY and WEST SIDE STORY as well as the original director of LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, continues to create. Currently, the revival of WEST SIDE STORY is running on Broadway and is being met with much success. Laurents is a theater veteran, and one who isn't afraid to say what's on his mind.

The smash hit revival of WEST SIDE STORY celebrated its first anniversary on Friday, March 19, 2010, at Broadway's Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) having begun previews Monday, February 23, 2009, and opened Thursday, March 19, 2009. Karen Olivo won a 2009 Tony Award for her performance as 'Anita,' and the new Broadway cast album won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. WEST SIDE STORY recouped its $14 million investment after running only 30 weeks (247 performances), and a touring production is set to tour North America beginning in the fall of 2010.

Big band sound transforms the Lincoln Theatre into a Duke Ellington jazz club as Arena Stage presents Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Ladies, choreographed by and starring Maurice Hines (Broadway's Sophisticated Ladies and Uptown... It's Hot!) with direction by Charles Randolph-Wright (Arena's Guys and Dolls and Blue).

From the theatrical madness of 'Young Frankenstein' that only a Mel Brooks could produce, to the depths of passionate emotion evoked by such legendary musicals as 'Les Misérables' and 'West Side Story,' announced by Broadway Across America for subscription season 2010-2011 are a mix of six (6) musical hits that will also include such current Broadway show-stoppers as 'HAIR,' the dance excitement of 'Burn The Floor,' and the fast-moving '80s rocker 'Rock of Ages' presented by Florida Theatrical Association at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

The smash hit revival of WEST SIDE STORY celebrates its first anniversary on Friday, March 19, 2010, at Broadway's Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) having begun previews Monday, February 23, 2009, and opened Thursday, March 19, 2009.

Raúl Esparza, Edward Hibbert, Jeff Blumenkrantz and John Ellison Conlee will join Donna Murphy and Sutton Foster in Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents' Anyone Can Whistle, the final New York City Center Encores! production of the 2009-2010 season. Anyone Can Whistle, running for five performances April 8 - 11, will be directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw with musical direction by Rob Berman.

The smash hit revival of WEST SIDE STORY celebrates its first anniversary on Friday, March 19, 2010, at Broadway's Palace Theatre (1564 Broadway) having begun previews Monday, February 23, 2009, and opened Thursday, March 19, 2009.

The Cardinal Group is thrilled to announce its proction of HATE MAIL, a play by BILL CORBETT and KIRA OBOLENSKY. The play will be presented at the 45th Street Theatre, located at 354 W. 45 St. in the heart of New York City's Times Square.

Producer Daryl Roth announced today that Judy Gold, Melissa Joan Hart, Shirley Knight and Doris Roberts have signed on to lend their talents to Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's smash-hit Off Broadway show, Love, Loss, and What I Wore, which has been playing to sold-out houses at the Westside Theatre (407 W 43rd Street). Judy Gold, Melissa Joan Hart and Shirley Knight will join the April cast (March 31 - April 25), and Doris Roberts will join the cast beginning April 28 (through May 23).

Lakewood Theatre Company will be having open auditions for roles in Gypsy on the following dates: For ADULTS SATURDAY, MARCH 6 AND SUNDAY MARCH 7, 2010 For YOUTH SATURDAY, MARCH 13 AND SUNDAY MARCH 14, 2010