Ben Brantley News

Wilmington Drama League proudly kicks off their 2018-19 Season with the Delaware Community Theater premiere of the 2015 Tony Award winning musical, 'Fun Home',

Porchlight Music Theatre's Mainstage 2018 - 2019 season launches with Gypsy, A Musical Fable, October 12 - November 25, at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street, with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim.  Porchlight Music Theatre's Gypsy stars E. Faye Butler as "Rose," is directed by Michael Weber, music directed by David Fiorello and choreographed/associate directed by Chris Carter.

Fall semester has begun at Cornley University as Broadway's longest running comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, welcomes Toccarra Cash and Mara Davi to the Drama Society beginning tonight Tuesday, September 11th. Cash and Davi will join the cast as Annie and Sandra respectively.

11th Hour Theatre Company brings its consistently sold out concert series back home and as the series begins its 2018-2019 season it has grown. 11th Hour's Next Step Concert Series is now set to run over two weekends. They begin their season with a concert performance of Grey Gardens. Grey Gardens features Music by Scott Frankel, Lyrics by Michael Korie and a Book by Doug Wright. 11th Hour Theatre Company Associate Artistic Director and Co-Founder Steve Pacek directs.  Amanda Morton is the Music Director. Grey Gardens runs October 6-14. The official Media Opening is Sunday, October 7 at 2 p.m.  Tickets cost $36 (which includes a $4 service fee). $19 tickets are available online for Students and Industry. Tickets are available online at www.11thhourtheatrecompany.org or by phone 267-987-9865. All performances will take place at The Proscenium Theatre at The Drake, 302 South Hicks Street.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit School of Rock - The Musical will welcome back to the halls of Horace Green, Mamie Parris, as Principal Rosalie Mullins beginning on Tuesday, September 25, 2018. She will play the role through the show's final performance on January 20, 2019 and succeeds Katherine McLaughlin, who plays her last performance on Sunday, September 23, 2018.

The second production of Pride Films and Plays's 2018-19 season will be IT'S ONLY A PLAY, by Terrence McNally. McNally is arguably Broadway's most prolific gay male playwright, with 20 Broadway credits to his name, plus many other plays produced off-Broadway.

University Theatre is pleased to present the Central Valley premiere of 'The Wolves' by Sarah DeLappe. The production is directed by Kathleen McKinley and runs September 28 - October 6, 2018 in the Dennis & Cheryl Woods Theatre in the Speech Arts building on the campus of Fresno State.

Actress Lexie Dorsett Sharp remembers very clearly when the father of a former castmate came backstage after an opening night during a national tour in which the two women were performing to wish them well and to express how much he enjoyed the show.

Cape Rep Theatre continues its 2018 season with the 5-time Tonywinning Broadway musical Fun Home, book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, September 19 through October 14: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7 pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm. There is no performance Sunday, September 23. Tickets are $35 and $40. Pay-What-You-Can-Night is the first Friday, September 21. Student Rush tickets also available. Call the box office for details. Cape Rep Indoor Theater. North Side Route 6A E. Brewster. 508.896.1888 or www.caperep.org.

Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber's high-octane Broadway and West End hit, School of Rock - The Musical is coming to Walton Arts Center Oct. 23-28 for an eight-show engagement.

Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber's high-octane Broadway and West End hit School of Rock - The Musical is coming to the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans for a one-week engagement Oct. 30 - Nov. 4, 2018. Presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association, School of Rock - The Musical, is part of the Hancock Whitney Broadway in New Orleans 2018-2019 season.

Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber's high-octane Broadway and West End hit School of Rock - The Musical is coming to the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans for a one-week engagement Oct. 30 - Nov. 4, 2018. Presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association, School of Rock - The Musical, is part of the Hancock Whitney Broadway in New Orleans 2018-2019 season.

St. Ann's Warehouse and Eva Price have extended the celebrated Bard SummerScape production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma, directed byDaniel Fish, to November 11. Reviewing this re-imagined Oklahoma! for the New York Times in 2015, Ben Brantley said that it 'elicits what has always been just below the surface of this magnificent musical.' Now bringing audiences and artists together in this production under the vast canopy of St. Ann's Warehouse, Fish illuminates the musical form's essentials to better expose the show's emotional range and layered characters. The result is a production as fresh and revelatory as if it were written for today's America.

Wilmington Drama League proudly kicks off their 2018-19 Season with the Delaware Community Theater premiere of the 2015 Tony Award winning musical, 'Fun Home',

Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash hit School of Rock - The Musical will welcome eight new cast members to the national tour on Tuesday, August 28th in Ft. Worth, TX.

Mint Theater will open Days to Come by Lillian Hellman on Sunday August 26th. Performances have been extended through October 6th at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street). 

Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber's high-octane Broadway and West End hit School of Rock - The Musical is coming to the Saenger Theatre in New Orleans for a one-week engagement Oct. 30 - Nov. 4, 2018. Presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association, School of Rock - The Musical, is part of the Hancock Whitney Broadway in New Orleans 2018-2019 season.

Dixon Place (Ellie Covan, Founding & Artistic Director) presents the co-production of world-famous beatboxer and Drama Desk Award recipient Chesney Snow & critically praised director Rebecca Arends's THE UNWRITTEN LAW opening Friday, September 7th. Snow comes direct from his run in Broadway's In Transit, where Ben Brantley of the NY Times called him 'a one-man sound effects wiz.' Directed and choreographed by Rebecca Arends, with original live music, Snow delivers a brilliant blend of spoken word, dance, and visuals. THE UNWRITTEN LAW, will play a limited engagement at Dixon Place (161A Chrystie Street). Tickets for THE UNWRITTEN LAW range from $18 to $25. For tickets and further information please visit www.dixonplace.org/performances/the-unwritten-law-2018/ or call 866-811-4111.

After opening its first permanent home in November 2017 and presenting an inaugural season that included a "tantalizing production" of Pay No Attention to the Girl, a New York Times critic's pick, Target Margin Theater (Founding Artistic Director David Herskovits, Associate Artistic Director Moe Yousuf) is pleased to announce its second season at The Doxsee. The 2018-2019 season continues Target Margin's multi-year focus on The One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Silk Road, MENA (Middle Eastern / North African), and South Asian stories, and includes a new presenting series.

Complete casting and production team have been announced for The Artistic Home's production of ROCK /N/ ROLL, by Tom Stoppard, set to open Sunday, October 7th.