Ben Brantley News

Theatre for a New Audience's 32nd season features boldly diverse plays by William Shakespeare, Samuel Beckett, John Ford and a joyful klezmer musical adapted by Robert Brustein from the stories of Nobel-winning Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble (BTE) will kick off their 25th Anniversary Season with Conor McPherson's 'Shining City' directed by BTE Ensemble member Brian Burke at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, located at 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn, Ill. Sept. 23 - Oct. 9. A preview will be held Thursday is Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. Press opening is Friday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. For more information visit www.AtTheMac.org.

On her debut CD, ‘The Dimming of the Day,' acclaimed singer/actress Anastasia Barzee reimagines an eclectic range of Broadway, pop and jazz-infused songs, and showcases a diverse array of her favorite contemporary artists including Paul Simon, Rufus Wainwright, Randy Newman, Kate Bush, Andrew Lloyd Webber and many more.

On July 18, the Next To Normal tour pulled into Toronto, where it will play through July 30. Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Next to Normal, reprises her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour. Below, we bring you photo coverage of Next To Normal onstage in Toronto!

Due to unforeseen changes in the tour schedule, the producers of Billy Elliot the Musical have decided to postpone their fall tour including an engagement at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center October 5-16.

Cymbeline is back! Two sold-out weeks last January for Fiasco Theater's production of Cymbeline wasn't nearly long enough to satisfy the demands of a theatre-going public hungry for, as Ben Brantley of The New York Times wrote, 'the comedy, poignancy and unlikely magic of Cymbeline.'

According to the Hollywood Reporter, stage veterans America Ferrera and Julia Stiles have joined the cast of 'It's a Disaster.' The movie will feature a screenplay by Todd Berger, who will also direct. As described by THR, the film is a 'comedy about four couples who meet for Sunday brunch only to discover they are stuck in a house together as the world may be about to end.'

Abrons Arts Center and Barbara Busackino have announced that the critical and popular hit Arias with a Twist will return for a limited encore engagement Wednesday, September 14 - Saturday, October 15. This bigger-than-life cabinet of curiosities was created by seductive songstress Joey Arias, who stars, and Basil Twist, who directs and designs.

Manhattan Theatre Club has just announced that due to popular demand, the new Broadway production of Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning MASTER CLASS, directed by Stephen Wadsworth has been extended a second time. The limited engagement has now been extended by two additional weeks with tickets now on sale through Sunday, September 4 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

The Finborough Theatre Announces two upcoming productions for August, 2011, Blue Surge and Portraits.

Manhattan Theatre Club's new Broadway production of Terrence McNally's MASTER CLASS, directed by Stephen Wadsworth, opened tonight on Broadway. Check below to see what the critics had to say!

The Ivoryton Playhouse will be flaunting it in full Broadway style when it opens The Producers on July 6. Complete with dancing girls and show-stopping numbers, The Producers was one of the hottest tickets on Broadway when it opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001.

The fact that Jonathan Larson won two posthumous Tony Award for writing and composing Rent is certainly bittersweet, but the fact that for one of those awards he bested the also posthumously nominated Rodgers and Hammerstein is just plain weird. But the last-minute addition of Rent to the 1995-96 Broadway season seemed to be the catalyst for one the oddest Tony nights ever.

The Public Theater kicked off the 2011 Shakespeare in the Park summer season with the official opening of ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, directed by Daniel Sullivan. The show, along with MEASURE FOR MEASURE, will run in repertory with the same company of actors through Saturday, July 30 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park.

Billy Elliot the Musical begins its San Francisco engagement tonight at the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street at 8th). This multi-award winning smash hit musical concludes the 2010- 2011 Best of Broadway series under the direction of Carole Shorenstein Hays. Billy Elliot the Musical, produced by Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions, is based on the international smash-hit film.

The Ivoryton Playhouse will be flaunting it in full Broadway style when it opens The Producers on July 6. Complete with dancing girls and show-stopping numbers, The Producers was one of the hottest tickets on Broadway when it opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001.

The Tony® nominated revival of Tom Stoppard's ARCADIA directed by David Leveaux, concludes its limited engagement tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). ARCADIA will have played 73 regular performances and 35 preview performances.

Billy Elliot the Musical begins performances on June 27 at the Orpheum Theatre (1192 Market Street at 8th).

Well, it's finally here. SPIDER-MAN Turn Off The Dark has officially opened on Broadway, on Tuesday, June 14 th at the Foxwoods Theatre. The show now features creative consultation by Philip William McKinley, original direction by Tony Award-winner Julie Taymor, music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, and book co-written by Taymor, Glen Berger and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa . This time, unlike back in February, the critics were actually invited. Let's see what they thought...

The Tony® nominated revival of Tom Stoppard's ARCADIA directed by David Leveaux, begins the final week of its limited engagement tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street).