Brian Stokes Mitchell News

Fresh off its world-premiere run in Minneapolis, where Star Tribune declared "Akeelah and the Bee triumphs," Children's Theatre Company's new production about an 11-year-old spelling prodigy comes to Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. The show is adapted for the stage by veteran playwright Cheryl L. West (Arena's Pullman Porter Blues, Jar the Floor), who partners with celebrated director Charles Randolph-Wright (director of Broadway's Motown and an inaugural resident playwright with Arena Stage, where he premiered his play Love in Afghanistan). Akeelah and the Bee runs November 13-December 27, 2015 in the Kreeger Theater.

Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell made his Cafe' Carlyle debut last night as he opened the Carlyle's fall season. The two-week engagement, entitled Plays With Music which featured Broadway favorites and standards.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald, who will star next spring in Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, will take a break from the show next summer. An official show rep commented: 'Due to a pre-existing commitment, Audra McDonald will not appear in Shuffle Along from Tuesday, June 21 to Sunday, September 25, 2016.  Miss McDonald will return to Shuffle Along beginning Tuesday, September 27 and is currently contracted to stay with the production through  Sunday, June 11, 2017.'

On Friday, October 9, noted orchestrator and conductor Fred Barton will bring the music of Broadway and the American Songbook to the Schimmel Center at Pace University, in American Showstoppers: An Evening of Johnny Mercer. In his seventh concert at Pace, Fred Barton now brings the power of Mercer's music and lyrics front and center, with a 14-piece orchestra and a cast of 16 Broadway singers and dancers, with direction and choreography by Scott Thompson. The cast is headlined by Damon Kirsch, Tony nominee Lee Roy Reams, two time Tony nominee Vivian Reed, Nick Spangler, Tony Nominee Lauren Worsham, and Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba. The cast also features Jesse Luttrell, Sean McGibbon and Molly Pope.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Saturday, September 12 for SHUFFLE ALONG Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, the striking new production that presents both the landmark 1921 musical itself, and additionally details the events that catalyzed the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles to create this ground-breaking work. 

NJTV, New Jersey's public television network, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) announced a talent-rich line-up for season three of the award-winning American Songbook at NJPAC series.

BROADWAY LEGACY is a photographic and editorial exhibition that boldly celebrates African American achievement in the Broadway industry. Broadway vets Carly Hughes and Grasan Kingsberry are the latest to be highlighted - check out their portraits below!

Norm Lewis Wishes You a Swingin' Christmas, running December 20-24 at 54 Below, is an all-new show that will help you ring in the holidays and remind you why he is one of Broadway's greatest singers and most sought-after leading men.

The Broadway company of the Tony Award-winning, record-breaking hit musical Chicago will welcome back Drama Desk Award nominee Ryan Silverman in the role of Billy Flynn beginning tonight, Wednesday, September 2 at the Ambassador Theatre (219 W. 49th St., NYC).

Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell makes his Cafe Carlyle debut to open the fall season, September 15-26. The two-week engagement, entitled Plays With Music, will feature Broadway favorites, standards and jazz filled with beauty, joy, whimsy, romance and of course, his inspired vocal interpretations. Stephen Holden of The New York Times recently said that Stokes "brings an unprecedented fusion of theatrical heroism, pop-jazz sizzle and emotional vulnerability" and that he has "revealed an expressive fearlessness that among male pop singers has been matched only by Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles." He will be accompanied by a trio led by his long-time pianist and collaborator, Tedd Firth with Gary Haase on bass and Mark McLean on drums.

Next spring, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Joshua Henry will star in Shuffle Along Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, a striking new production that presents both the 1921 musical itself, and additionally details the events that catalyzed the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles to create this ground-breaking work. Check out the just-released artwork for the show below and visit the official website here!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Off-Broadway celebrates two show openings and more!

The Carlyle, A Rosewood Hotel has announced the Cafe Carlyle's fall 2015 season, which features the venue debuts of the Broadway veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell, who kicks off the season, and jazz vocalist Kurt Elling; as well as the return of audience favorites Buster Poindexter (aka David Johansen), Alexa Ray Joel, John Pizzarelli & Jessica Molaskey, and Steve Tyrell. 

Audra McDonald has a big year ahead of her! After embarking on a concert tour this fall, the six-time Tony winner, who recenty wrapped filming for Disney's live action Beauty and the Beast, will be back on Broadway, starring alongside Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Joshua Henry and Brandon Victor Dixon in SHUFFLE ALONG. Before all of that, McDonald will head to Provincetown, MA to take part in the acclaimed Broadway @ Town Hall concert series, hosted by SiriusXM radio star Seth Rudetsky. For one show only on Monday, August 24 (6:30 PM), she will be joined onstage by her husband and fellow Broadway star Will Swenson, with whom she is currently starring in Williamstown Theatre Festival's A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN. McDonald recently checked in with BroadwayWorld about Monday's concert, and updated us on all of her upcoming projects! Check out the full interview below:

Tennessee Shakespeare Company, in partnership with the University of Memphis' Department of Theatre & Dance, presents its third and final developing musical reading on the University of Memphis mainstage with The Oliver Experiment by Jeremy Desmon and Jeff Thomson tonight, August 15 at 7:00 pm.

The Public Theater presents Cymbeline, the second show of The Public's Free Shakespeare in the Park season at the Delacorte. Directed by Tony Award winnerDaniel Sullivan and featuring the previously announced Hamish Linklater as Posthumus Leonatus/Cloten and Lily Rabe as Imogen, Cymbeline runs through Sunday, August 23, and opened last night, August 10. The Public began the Free Shakespeare in the Park season with THE TEMPEST.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: CYMBELINE takes the stage in Central Park, OKLAHOMA! dances into The Muny and more!

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, August 9, 2015 - Sunday, August 9, 2015.

Next spring, Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Billy Porter, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Joshua Henry will star in SHUFFLE ALONG Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed, a striking new production that presents both the 1921 musical itself, and additionally details the events that catalyzed the songwriting team of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, and librettists F.E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles to create this ground-breaking work.