Brian Crawley News

Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director Viswa Subbaraman today announced Skylight Music Theatre's 2016-17 Season.

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons will hold its annual Spring Gala on Monday evening, May 9 at the event space 583 Park Avenue.

 Bay Street Theater & Sag Harbor Center for the Arts is pleased to announce the 3rd ANNUAL NEW WORKS FESTIVAL, April 29 - May 1. THE READINGS ARE FREE. Reserve seats online at www.baystreet.org or by calling the Bay Street Theater Box Office at 631-725-9500, open Tuesday through Saturday 11 am to 5 pm.

There's no doubt that Jeanine Tesori's music in the musical "Violet", currently playing at ArtsWest, is stirring and powerful but it's the lyrics and book by Brian Crawley that truly pack the punch in the show. But of course they would as the show is rife with hot button topics of that era as well as our own. And while the ensemble manages some of the tightest and most technically proficient performances I've seen I didn't always get from them the importance or danger associated with the stakes of those issues and so didn't always feel the emotional connection to the story.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons has announced an extension of their New York premiere production of FAMILIAR, a new play by Obie Award-winner Danai Gurira (Eclipsed now on Broadway, In the Continuum, The Convert, Michonne on AMC's 'The Walking Dead'). Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at PH; The Oldest Boy; Marie Antoinette; Luck of the Irish; Orlando), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season.

The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia will welcome three of Broadway's biggest names as part of its new concert series at The Merriam Theater this season, produced by Mark Cortale.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, just announced the six productions of its 2016/2017 Season. The six new works will be presented at the theater company's home at 416 West 42nd Street.

DISGRACED and VIOLET heat up the winter with power and grace as the Huntington Theatre Company and SpeakEasy Stage enter the second half of their 2015-2016 seasons with winners.

? Mark Cortale, producer of the acclaimed Broadway @ The Nourse concert series in San Francisco has announced that superstar Rosie O'Donnell will join this season's lineup on Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Hosted by Sirius XM Radio Star Seth Rudetsky whom the New York Times dubbed "The Mayor of Broadway," the popular series returns after kicking off the 2015/16 season at The Nourse Theater with "Glee" star Darren Criss in past fall.  Immediately preceding Rosie O'Donnell's performance will be Sutton Foster, star of the hit TV series "Younger" and Tony Award winner for Broadway's "Anything Goes" on Sunday, March 13th (rescheduled from Jan. 16th).  The Broadway @ The Nourse concert series will benefit San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Project Open Hand, and San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.  Tickets are now on-sale - further information can be found at www.cityboxoffice.com/broadway or by calling (415) 392-4400.

While Violet may appear to be in new musical in some theatergoers' eyes, the show actually has been around for a couple decades. Making its start Off-Broadway in 1997, Violet was considered a revival for its 2014 Broadway run starring Sutton Foster. Adapted from Doris Betts' story 'The Ugliest Pilgrim,' the musical has a book and lyrics by Brian Crawley with music by Jeanine Tesori (whose work can currently be heard on Broadway in Fun Home).

Broadway Entertainment Group FZ LLC and NETworks Presentations LLC are pleased to announce their first ever, global tour of the English language production of SHREK THE MUSICAL with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori.  The production begins its journey in Istanbul, Turkey on the 22nd January, 2016 and will tour to diverse markets including Europe, the Middle East and Asia to cities including; Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and Singapore to name a few. 

Playwrights Horizons presents the New York premiere of 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist Marjorie Prime, a new play by Jordan Harrison (Maple and Vine, Doris to Darlene at PH; Amazons and Their Men; Kid-Simple; 'Orange is the New Black'). Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons and directed by Obie Award winner Anne Kauffman (Detroit, Maple and Vine, Your Mother's Copy of the Kama Sutra at PH; Belleville; This Wide Night; The Thugs), the play is the third production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season. The production opens tonight, December 14, at Playwrights Horizons' Mainstage Theater (416 West 42nd Street), and will play a limited engagement through Sunday, January 3.

From January 9 to February 6, 2016, SpeakEasy Stage Company will proudly present the New England Premiere of the recent Broadway version of the acclaimed musical VIOLET. 

Blue Saint Productions are thrilled to announce a highly desired Melbourne premiere season of VIOLET to be presented at Chapel off Chapel from March 3-20, 2016.

SpeakEasy Stage will receive an Arts Work Award of $10,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to help fund a unique collaboration between the company and area gospel choirs as part of its upcoming New England premiere production of the acclaimed Broadway musical VIOLET, running January 9 - February 6, in its home in the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts.

 Sutton Foster won two Tony Awards for her leading roles in "Anything Goes" and "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and starred in the ABC Family TV series "Bunheads."  She returned to TV this past spring as the star of the hit new series "Younger" on TV Land by "Sex and the City" creator Darren Star, which enters its second season in January.   She will make her debut with the celebrated Broadway @ The Nourse series in San Francisco produced by Mark Cortale, for one show only, on Saturday, January 16, 2016 at 8:00 PM.  Michael Rafter will join her at the piano.  The Broadway @ The Nourse concert series will benefit San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Project Open Hand, and San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.  Tickets are now on-sale - further information can be found at www.cityboxoffice.com/broadway or by calling (415) 392-4400.

Theatrical Outfit presents A LITTLE PRINCESS, running now through December 27, 2015 at The Balzer Theater at Herren's, starring Broadway actress and Atlanta native Emerson Steele, with Christy Baggett, Bryant Smith, Molly Coyne, Jeanette Illidge, Laughton Berry and many more. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

VIOLET is the poignant and powerful story of self-discovery as a young woman embarks on a cross country bus trip to heal the scars of her past and attain the beauty of movie stars.

Theatrical Outfit will present A LITTLE PRINCESS, running tonight, December 3, through December 27, 2015 at The Balzer Theater at Herren's, starring Broadway actress and Atlanta native Emerson Steele, with Christy Baggett, Bryant Smith, Molly Coyne, Jeanette Illidge, Laughton Berry and many more.

Broadway newcomer Emerson Steele opens up about her transition from New York back down South, sharing the stage with the legendary Sutton Foster, and her dream of being the first female to play Jean Valjean on Broadway.