Ben Brantley News

IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, is coming to DeVos Performance Hall in Grand Rapids, MI from January 4-9, 2011.

Billy Elliot The Musical, winner of ten 2009 Tony Awards including Best Musical, debuts in Minnesota at Hennepin Theatre Trust's Orpheum Theatre December 16, 2010 to January 9, 2011.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions celebrated the opening of the 2009 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot the Musical at the Durham Performing Arts Center. The show, currently playing through November 14, 2010, celebrated their opening week with a kickoff party at Pops, a local Durham restaurant, on Sunday evening. Joining the company were director Stephen Daldry, writer and lyricist Lee Hall, American Idol-runner up Clay Aiken along with other producers and show management.

The Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning musical, Next to Normal, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, January 16, 2011, announced Producer David Stone. Upon closing, the musical will have played 21 previews and 733 performances. Next to Normal is performed at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th street).

Ben Curtis stars in the upcoming production of 'Take Me Out' by Richard Greenberg and directed by Robert OHara at Tisch Drama Stageworks 2010 - 2011

Based on Pedro Almodóvar's internationally acclaimed 1988 film, WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN is set in late 20th-century Madrid and tells the story of the intertwining lives of a group of women whose relationships with men lead to a tumultuous 48 hours of love, confusion and passion and now it's come to Broadway!

IN THE HEIGHTS, winner of four 2008 Tony Awards® and the 2008 Grammy® Award for Best Musical Show Album, is coming to the Sacramento Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street, from November 3-14, 2010. Tickets are now on sale for the Broadway Sacramento presentation. Advance tickets are available through the Wells Fargo Pavilion Box Office, 1419 H Street, the Community Center Theater box office, 1301 L Street, by phone at (916) 557-1999 or (916) 808-5181 or online through Tickets.com.

niversal Pictures Stage Productions, Working Title Films and Old Vic Productions bring the 2009 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Billy Elliot the Musical to the Triangle's DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center from November 2-14, 2010. Based on the international smash-hit film and featuring music by Elton John, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, choreography by Peter Darling and direction by Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot the Musical has earned critical acclaim on Broadway including 10 Tony Awards.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Tracy Aron, announced that two time Tony® Award-winner Donna Murphy will star in the new Broadway musical THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE, directed by Leonard Foglia. THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE features book & lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler.

Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation, continues its 34th Season of great theatre with a variety of choices for all audiences. We offer the hottest ticket in town to ten of Broadway's best, from classic musicals to rock icons to beloved family fare - not to mention dance!

Signature Theatre Company presents the first New York revival of Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, directed by Michael Greif. ANGELS IN AMERICA opens Thursday, October 28 at the Peter Norton Space (555 West 42nd Street). The play began previews on September 14. Millennium Approaches and Perestroika, the two parts of ANGELS IN AMERICA, alternate in repertory.

The Golden Apple Dinner Theater is pleased to announce their 2011 winter theater season. This season will include a Tony winning Best Musical, as well as an appearance by Dame Edna! Take a look at what the Golden Apple will be presenting this winter!

Alfred Hitchcock's THE 39 STEPS , Off-Broadway's smash-hit comedy thriller based on the beloved Hitchcock film, is proud to be a sponsor of the 2010 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer New York.

It's an opportunity to see acting legends James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave together on stage when they star in one of the most beloved and celebrated American stories of the late twentieth century, Driving Miss Daisy, which will have its Broadway premiere this fall. Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play (later adapted into an Oscar-winning film) is a timeless, searing, funny, and ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America, told through the complex relationship between Daisy Werthan (Redgrave) and her driver Hoke Colburn (Jones), two of popular culture's most enduring characters.

Ben Curtis stars in the upcoming production of 'Take Me Out' by Richard Greenberg and directed by Robert OHara at Tisch Drama Stageworks 2010 - 2011

The talented cast and crew of Disney's THE LION KING and BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL join together to present CITY OF HOPE: CHICAGO CARES - a concert featuring song, dance, and spoken word.

The Tony Award-winning AVENUE Q celebrated its first anniversary at New World Stages yesterday, October 21, 2010. After a triumphant, six-year run on Broadway, AVENUE Q continued its record of unexpected accomplishments last fall when the show's producers made the surprise announcement on the musical's Broadway closing night that they were, in fact, moving AVENUE Q to New World Stages, a mere five blocks away from the Golden Theatre, where the show had delighted audiences of all ages for more than 2,500 performances on Broadway. AVENUE Q began preview performances at New World Stages on October 9, 2009, officially opened on October 21, and continues to play to large and happy audiences one year later. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the anniversary celebration and brings you photo coverage below.

The talented cast and crew of Disney's THE LION KING and BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL join together to present CITY OF HOPE: CHICAGO CARES - a concert featuring song, dance, and spoken word.

The Tony Award-winning AVENUE Q will celebrate its first anniversary at New World Stages (340 W. 50 St.) in Manhattan on October 21, 2010.

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, will reprise her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour, launching November 23 with a six-week engagement at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Following the premiere, the tour has confirmed engagements in Denver, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Des Moines, Providence, Hartford, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, St. Paul, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Washington, DC, and Toronto.