Bob Crowley News

Once: The Musical brings a taste of Ireland to Nashville this week as the national tour makes a stop at Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Once: The Musical, based on the 2006 indie film, is set in Dublin and centers on two characters known only as Guy and Girl. Their story is as much about the love and power of music as it is about the love between the two characters themselves. The movie's most famous song, 'Falling Slowly' won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Broadway production of Once: The Musical swept the Tony Awards in 2012, receiving 11 Tony nominations and winning 8 Tony Awards including the crown jewel, Best Musical.

On September 9th 2014, opening night of the NATIONAL BALLET OF CANADA's six-day run at the Koch Theater in Lincoln Center presented by the Joyce Theater Foundation, I found myself enchanted by most of Christopher Wheeldon's choreography for the evening-length production of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". I was also delighted overall with the inventive score by Joby Talbott as well as the elaborate costumes and sets by Bob Crowley. The dancing was first rate, too. What wasn't so wonderful was the silly love story that dramaturge Nicholas Wright felt compelled to introduce into Lewis Carroll's deservedly iconic childhood tale of a plucky young heroine off on her own for a great adventure in dreamland.

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play the Aronoff Center for a limited engagement from November 11-23, 2014. Tickets for ONCE are now on sale and can be purchased at the Aronoff Center Box Office downtown at 650 Walnut Street, online at CincinnatiArts.org or by phone at 513.621.ARTS. ONCE, which was also named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics' Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards, is currently running on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre where it started performances on February 28, 2012 and opened March 18, 2012.

Tickets for the Broadway production of The Audience starring Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will go on sale to the public beginning Friday September 12 at 12:01 AM at www.telecharge.com.

The Joyce Theater Foundation and The National Ballet of Canada today announced the casting for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, having its New York premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center today, September 9 - 14, 2014.

This spring, Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy will reprise their critically acclaimed West End performances when the hit London production of David Hare's Skylight, directed by two-time Tony Award-winner Stephen Daldry, comes to Broadway. The production played to sold-out houses when it opened in the West End in June.

Today (29 August 2014), the producers of Once announce that Jill Winternitz will be continuing in the role of Girl opposite the previously announced Ronan Keating as Guy. Keating will be joining the Olivier award-winning musical on 17 November 2014, with press night on Tuesday 25 November 2014. Once is currently booking at the Phoenix Theatre to 4 July 2015.

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, plays at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited engagement, now through August 31. ONCE national tour stars Dani De Wall (Girl) and Ryan Link (Emcee, u/s Guy) wanted to experience a true SoCal lunch at In-N-Out Burger today, August 28, in Costa Mesa. Check out photos below!

Subtle and, at times, molasses-slow in execution---yet ultimately powerful in impact---ONCE is a beautifully-staged, soul-searing musical that interchanges romantic entanglement for creative fulfillment---and how the line that separates these emotions are often blurred. The eight-time Tony award-winning musical---featuring a book by Enda Walsh and music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova---continues performances in Costa Mesa through August 31.

Houston Grand Opera's 2014–15 season, the company's 60th anniversary season, includes the world premiere of A Christmas Carol by Iain Bell—the company's 55th new commission —from award-winning Dickens authority Simon Callow; the continuation of HGO's first Ring cycle, with the American premiere of La Fura dels Baus's groundbreaking take on Die Walküre; the American premieres of Sir Nicholas Hytner's The Magic Flute and Lee Blakeley's Sweeney Todd; a 60th Anniversary Gala Concert featuring mezzo-soprano (and HGO Studio alumna) Joyce DiDonato; and a host of career-shaping role debuts that speak to Patrick Summers's gift for casting. Together with the company's first presentation of John Cox'sOtello, and the returns of Göran Järvefelt's beloved Così fan tutte and Michael Grandage's hit staging of Madame Butterfly, these rich offerings serve once again to illustrate some of the ways that HGO—still the only opera company with two Grammys, two Emmys, and a Tony—epitomizes “one model of what a forward-looking opera company could be” (Greg Sandow, Arts Journal).

Five theater artists will be honored by the Henry Hewes Design Awards Committee during the presentation of its 2014 Awards in a luncheon ceremony scheduled for October 6. Bob Crowley (The Glass Menagerie), Linda Cho (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder), Justin Townsend (Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play) and G. Lucas Crane and Keith Skretch (This Was the End) will be honored with 2014 Henry Hewes Design Awards. Three of the five are receiving his or her first Henry Hewes Design Award. Bob Crowley was previously honored in 2007 for his work with Scott Pask on The Coast of Utopia. For the 2014 honors, 91 theater artists were nominated for outstanding artistry in 59 productions presented during the 2013-2014 New York theater season. (A complete list of 2014 nominees follows this awards announcement.)

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play the Orpheum Theatre for a limited engagement from October 28th through November 2nd, 2014. Tickets for ONCE will go on sale today, August 22nd at 10:00 AM and will be available for purchase online at the official Orpheum Theatre website, www.orpheum-memphis.com, The Orpheum Box Office (901.525.3000), the ticket counter at The Booksellers at Laurelwood, and all Ticketmaster centers (901.743.ARTS).

The Joyce Theater Foundation and The National Ballet of Canada today announced the casting for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, having its New York premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at the Lincoln Center, September 9 - 14, 2014.

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited engagement from tonight, August 19 through the 31st.

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play the Hippodrome Theatre for a limited engagement from September 9- September 14. Tickets for ONCE are available now at the Hippodrome Theatre Box Office, Charge-by-Phone 800-982-ARTS and online at www.broadwayacrossamerica.com. Groups of 10 contact 443-703-2401.

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play the Orpheum Theatre for a limited engagement from October 28th through November 2nd, 2014. Tickets for ONCE will go on sale Friday, August 22nd at 10:00 AM and will be available for purchase online at the official Orpheum Theatre website, www.orpheum-memphis.com, The Orpheum Box Office (901.525.3000), the ticket counter at The Booksellers at Laurelwood, and all Ticketmaster centers (901.743.ARTS).

Academy Award winner Helen Mirren will return to Broadway this spring as Elizabeth II in Peter Morgan's THE AUDIENCE, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Stephen Daldry. The limited engagement will play at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, 236 West 45th Street. Previews forTHE AUDIENCE begin on February 17 and opening night is March 8. It will run through June 28 2015.

2014 Tony Award-winning Best Featured Actor In A Musical himself, James Monroe Iglehart, recently appeared on long-running TV talk show THE VIEW and takes viewers behind the scenes of his appearance as part of a new clip now available to view.

Houston Grand Opera capped a financially and artistically successful 2013–14 season by presenting Mieczyslaw Weinberg's The Passenger —the Polish-Jewish composer's long-suppressed Holocaust opera—to wide acclaim at New York's Park Avenue Armory as part of the Lincoln Center Festival, July 10–13. Earlier this year, HGO gave the American premiere of the work in Houston with the same cast. There was special praise for the production and performances, conducted by HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers. New York magazine described David Pountney's staging as “a multi-story set so vivid you can practically smell the machine oil and coal smoke,” while the Financial Times said: “The production, imported from Houston, is imposing in every way.” The New York Times called the cast “flawless,” adding: “The conductor, Patrick Summers, drew a surging, textured, richly detailed performance of this challenging score (lasting three hours) from the inspired musicians of the Houston Grand Opera.” WQXR's Operavore summed up the import of the performances: “The Passenger shows how a Holocaust opera can hold the stage while examining important, complex issues—and could certainly point the way for future composers to deal with such important but delicate subject matter.”

The new musical, AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, will open at the Palace Theatre on April 12, 2015 following its world premiere in December, 2014 at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris. Below, check out a first look at the show's stars, Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope, in just-released publicity images!