Benjamin Franklin News

Long Beach Camerata Singers will open its 58th season on Sunday, October 8 with its annual themed Peace Project concert. Get event and ticket information here!

Pianist Haskell Small will tour nine key cities in the US with his program Celebration of Healing, performing Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. His first official out-of-town stop will be at the American Philosophical Society’s Benjamin Franklin Hall in Philadelphia on Nov. 4th. Learn more about the upcoming show here!

Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced the 10th anniversary of the Disney Musicals in Schools program in partnership with Disney Theatrical Group. Learn more about the partnership here!

Burning Coal Theatre Company will present the premiere of Jerome Davis' Butterfly Wings adapted from the book Life and Death in High Places by Bruce Miller and Robin Simonton, directed by Allison Acuff. Butterfly Wings will run September 29th and 30th at 6:30 pm and October 1st at 2 pm, 2023, at the Oakwood Cemetery, located at 701 Oakwood Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27601.

I teasingly have been calling this 1776 - THE FOUNDING MOTHERS EDITION all week, and it is finally here at the Hobby Center brought in by Theatre Under the Stars. This is a New York cast hitting Houston for a three night stop of a national tour. My question is, does it really make that much of a statement? The script for the show remains what it has been since 1776 debuted on Broadway back in 1969.

Prepare to party like it’s 1776 with a witty retelling of our founding fathers' stories and how our great nation came to be! This production was developed and premiered by the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University before playing on Broadway with Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre.

South Street Seaport Museum will present a free talk: A New Founding Figure at Pier 17, on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at 6:30pm. Historian and author Claire Bellerjeau offers a captivating, illustrated presentation based off of her book Espionage and Enslavement in the Revolution: The True Story of Robert Townsend and Elizabeth that delves into the discovery of a new founding figure named Elizabeth, known as 'Liss.'

Today’s subject Liz Mikel is currently living her theatre life on tour playing Dr. Benjamin Franklin, delegate from Pennsylvania, in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of 1776. The show is currently running through July 16th at Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theatre.

1776 is now being given a triumphantly moving and vigorous radically deconstructed interpretation at the Kennedy Center. There are many fans already who are firm believers in the message of this uniquely conceived musical but this production will lead them even further into intellectual and sensory depth.

The national tour of 1776 makes its premiere in Seattle at The 5th Avenue Theatre August 2-6, 2023. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at The 5th Avenue Theatre’s website, over the phone, or by visiting the box office.

Imagine walking into Jackson Hall on opening night, as I did, thinking, “Why did the directors reimagine this pleasant, if somewhat plodding, old-school musical with an ensemble of multi-ethnic women, trans and non-binary actors cast in the roles of America’s founding fathers?” Then leaving the theater after the final curtain wondering, “why on earth would anyone ever feel the need to cast the roles with men?” and reveling in the fact that 1776 tapped into my heart in unexpected ways, eliciting an emotional and, I daresay, patriotic response.

A pub theatre in Earl's Court turns into a Quaker Meeting House for Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker's intriguing play The Return of Benjamin Lay, which takes the true story of a farmer, sailor, and abolitionist who stands just 4 feet tall and makes his passion for equality universal.

Legendary drama professor, esteemed historian, celebrated director, and award-winning writer Amnon Kabatchnik has penned an extraordinary new volume in his critically-acclaimed award-winning reference series.

Richard Strand's BEN BUTLER highlights a seminal moment in the march to emancipation. Now on stage at Don Bluth Front Row Theater in Scottsdale AZ through July 8th, the play, directed by Lee Cooley and featuring an outstanding cast, is a compelling profile of courage.

What did our critic think of 1776 MUSICAL SHINES A LIGHT ON THE PRESENT at Broadway San Jose?

Quintessence Theatre Group, Philadelphia's professional classic theatre, concludes Season XIII: Celebrating the Extraordinary with a world premiere of Paul Oakley Stovall’s Written by Phillis, directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce. A new play exploring the life and poetry of America’s first published Black poet Phillis Wheatley, Written by Phillis is presented in association with Chicago’s New Classics Collective, opens tonight, May 13. Check out production photos here!

Theater Now New York, one of the nation's leading producers of original short form musicals, has selected 10 new musicals to be presented in its SOUND BITES X Festival of 10-Minute Musicals.

Quintessence Theatre Group will conclude Season XIII: Celebrating the Extraordinary with a world premiere of Paul Oakley Stovall’s Written by Phillis, directed by Cheryl Lynn Bruce.

American Repertory Theater/Roundabout Theatre Company’s new production of the Tony Award-winning Best Musical, “1776” kicked off its limited engagement in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre this week! See photos from opening night!

Liberty Point returns for a history-making second season on the Philadelphia waterfront starting on Thursday, April 13th.