Bartlett Sher News

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.

The Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) announces this season's Joe A. Callaway Award winners for Direction and Choreography from more than 200 eligible productions in the 2013-2014 New York City theatre season. This year's awards will be presented to John Rando for his direction of The Heir Apparent, produced by Classic Stage Company, and Martha Clarke for her choreography of Cheri, produced by Signature Theatre.

Theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) has secured worldwide licensing rights to Broadway's Tony Award-winning musical, THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

Haydn's oratorio The Creation (Die Schopfung) depicts nothing less than the creation of the world, based on the Bible's Book of Genesis and Book of Psalms, and Milton's Paradise Lost. It is the work with which the Oratorio Society of New York (OSNY), New York's standard for grand choral performance, will open its 2014-15 season at Carnegie Hall on Monday, November 3, 2014, at 8:00 PM. OSNY Music Director Kent Tritle will conduct The Creation in its German language version, and the three soloists - representing the archangels Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael - are Susanna Phillips, soprano; Aaron Blake, tenor; and Sidney Outlaw, baritone.

Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning play YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU just opened last night, September 28, 2014, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th Street), after 32 previews. The production is directed by six-time Tony Award-nominee and Drama Desk Award winnerScott Ellis (The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Twelve Angry Men, 1776) and will play a 19-week limited engagement. BroadwayWorld was there for the special evening and below, you can check out photos from the star-studded red carpet!

Multi-award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown joins the star of his recent Broadway musical drama THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, Kelli O'Hara, for an innovative new commentary track for the complete cast album of the musical, now available to hear in full.

A compelling first official poster has been unveiled for the upcoming hotly anticipated Lincoln Center Theater revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's beloved classic musical THE KING & I starring Ken Watanabe and Kelli O'Hara.

OldSoundRoom's production of OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR AND OTHER FRAGILE THINGS, based on the short stories of New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, brings 90 minutes of absurdist, dark humor, just in time for Halloween. Directed by Michael McQuilken, OCTOBER IN THE CHAIR AND OTHER FRAGILE THINGS will play six performances only - October 29th and October 30th at 8PM; October 31st and November 1st at 8PM and 10:30PM and November 2nd at 2PM at The American Theatre of Actors (314 West 54 Street). Tickets are $20. For tickets please visit: www.oldsoundroom.com.

Derek Klena (Wicked, Bridges of Madison County, Second Stage's DogFight), Natalie Weiss (Everyday Rapture, Wicked, Les Miserables), and Stephen C. Anthony (The Book of Mormon, Catch Me If You Can) are all set to guest star in Danielle Wade sings Carner & Gregor at the Metropolitan Room (34 W. 22nd St., New York, NY) on October 13th at 9:30pm.

Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF) has announced the 2014-2015 Committee for the Joe A. Callaway Award, the only peer-given award for excellence in direction and choreography. The Committee, which will oversee the award for the theatre season, is Sue Lawless, William Martin, Barry McNabb, Leslie (Hoban) Blake, Linda Burson, Jonathan Cerullo, Edie Cowan, Clinton Turner Davis, John Going, Richard Hamburger, Bruce Heath, Michael Montel, DJ Salisbury, and Amy Saltz. Sue Lawless will serve as Committee Chair.

Peter Brook has been creating work for theatre, opera, and film for over 50 years. During the run of The Valley of Astonishment, written and directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne, Theatre for a New Audience will honor Mr. Brook's achievements with Celebrating Peter Brook, a series of events designed to explore the life of his work.

Monica West has joined the cast of the kef theatrical production of IT'S ONLY KICKBALL, STUPID -- the new play by Caroline Prugh and directed by Adam Fitzgerald. She will step in for Autum Hurlbert, who had to leave the production do to scheduling conflicts, for performances through Sunday, September 14 at The Hartley House (413 West 46th Street).

Hadyn Gwynne, Jerome Pradon and Anna Skellern join Tamsin Greig in the UK premiere of David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane's new musical adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-nominated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, and following two full-scale development workshops with actors, musicians and the creative team, the production will open in a limited run for 20 weeks only at The Playhouse Theatre on 12 January 2015, with previews from 20 December 2014.

Olivier-Award winner Tamsin Greig makes her musical theatre debut in the UK premiere of David Yazbek andJeffrey Lane's new musical adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's Oscar-nominated film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, the production follows two full-scale development workshops with actors, musicians and the creative team and will open in a limited run for 20 weeks only at The Playhouse Theatre. Capturing the sexy and colourful spirit of Madrid, Pepa (Tamsin Greig) and her friends juggle their everyday lives and extraordinary moments in a surprising, heart-breaking and rebellious musical comedy.

Amas Musical Theatre in association with North Haven Arts and Enrichment welcomes Broadway's Josh Grisetti (Broadway Bound, Enter Laughing), Alli Mauzey (Wicked, Cry-Baby), and Kevin Pariseau (Legally Blonde) to lead the cast of the New York Premiere of Red Eye of Love, a new musical (based on the 1961 play by Arnold Weinstein) with book and lyrics by Arnold Weinstein and John Wulp, music by Sam Davisand scenic design by renowned American artist Robert Indiana. Directed by Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, opening night was last night, September 4. BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening festivities and curtain call below!

Tune in to SiriusXM Radio 'On Broadway' Channel 72 on Labor Day (Monday, September 1) at 12:00 pm EST for an exclusive broadcast on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of this year's 'Best Score' Tony Award winner, The Bridges of Madison County from Ghostlight Records. The special program will feature never-before-heard song-by-song commentary from the show's three-time Tony-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown and leading lady Kelli O'Hara. An encore presentation will air at 8:00 pm EST. SiriusXM is available on radios, in vehicles, online and via apps for mobile devices. A free listening trial is available at www.siriusxm.com.

The Metropolitan Opera's popular Summer HD Festival returns to Lincoln Center Plaza with screenings of ten acclaimed productions from the Met's Emmy Award-winning Live in HD series, including four new productions from the 2013-14 season.

In honor of the beloved show's final week of performances, BWW is taking a look at where the original NEWSIES principal cast members and creative team have landed after carrying the banner for a final time!

Joyce DiDonato sings the title role in Rossini's Cinderella story, La Cenerentola, with bel canto master Juan Diego Florez as her dashing prince.

This fall marks the 50th anniversary of a cultural landmark, the original Broadway premiere of Fiddler on the Roof, which ran for nearly eight years, setting records with 3,242 performances. Crown now presents a new edition (On Sale: September 14, 2014) of the full text and lyrics that will serve as a collector's item, honoring the brilliant history of Fiddler on the Roof and commemorating its illustrious half-century reign, on Broadway and in the hearts of those who experience it today.