Brian d'Arcy James News

The Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) announces their Tenth Anniversary Season Gala honoring Hal Rosenbluth (Kaufman Astoria Studios) and Council Member Peter Vallone Jr. The Gala will feature a special performance entitled BEAUTIFUL MUSIC: 10 YEARS OF APAC, music directed by APAC Alum Jeffrey Campos and directed by APAC Artistic Director Tom Wojtunik.

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Wayne Kelton, Executive Director) today announced the cast for the 25th Anniversary production of Benefactors. Carl Forsman will direct a cast that includes Vivienne Benesch (appeared opposite Maggie Smith in the London revival of Edward Albee's The Lady from Dubuque; OBIE winner for Lee Blessing's Going to St. Ives), Daniel Jenkins (Love Child, Mary Poppins, Tony nominee for Big River), Deanne Lorette (La Bete), and Stephen Barker Turner (Rinne Groff's Compulsion opposite Mandy Patinkin).

Highlights Include the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Natalie Cole, Michael Feinstein, Dudu Fisher, Kathy Griffin, Shirley MacLaine, Jackie Mason, Peking Acrobats, Itzhak Perlman, The Temptations & The Four Tops, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, Spring Awakening, Tango Inferno, West Side Story & the World Premiere Screening of Steven Caras: See Them Dance

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, January 30, 2011 - Sunday, January 30, 2011.

TIME STANDS STILL, will end its acclaimed run when stars Laura Linney, Brian D'Arcy James,Eric Bogosian, and Christina Ricci depart the production, as scheduled, on Sunday, January 30 at the Cort Theatre (137 West 48th Street). The play, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies and directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, will have played 16 preview performances and 126 regular performances.

MCC Theater (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, Artistic Directors; William Cantler, Associate Artistic Director; Blake West, Executive Director) will celebrate the company's 25th anniversary by honoring a host of MCC artists past and present at Miscast 2011. This highly anticipated annual gala will take place on Monday, March 14, 2011 at The Hammerstein Ballroom (311 West 34th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Andy Cohen (Host of Bravo TV's 'Watch What Happens Live') will host the evening. David Duchovny (star of the recent MCC Theater hit, The Break of Noon), Téa Leoni, Hugh Dancy (star of yet another recent MCC hit, The Pride) and Claire Danes are this year's honorary chairs. Funds raised from Miscast help MCC Theater produce some of the most talked-about new work Off Broadway and support their Youth Company and in-school partnerships that serve New York City public high school students, as well as their literary development work with emerging playwrights.

Lyric Theatre, Oklahoma's leading professional theatre company, opens its 2011 Season with the country musical legend, Always... Patsy Cline. See 'the velvet-voice of country music' star, Patsy Cline, come to life this winter at Lyric Theatre's Plaza stage. This musical play, complete with down home country humor, true emotion and even some audience participation includes twenty-seven musical renditions of her unforgettable hits such as 'Crazy,' 'I Fall to Pieces,' 'Sweet Dreams,' 'Walking After Midnight' and 'Honky Tonk Merry Go Round.' The power of friendship between Patsy and her number one fan, Houston housewife, Louise Seger, is also explored. Having first heard Cline on 'The Arthur Godfrey Show' in 1957, Seger became an immediate and avid fan constantly hounding the local disc jockey to play Cline's records on the radio. Their relationship, which began as fan worship, evolved into one of mutual respect for one another. This endearing story combines humor with sincerity and gives fans, old and new, a chance to remember the most acclaimed female country vocalist of the 20th century.

Highlights Include the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Natalie Cole, Michael Feinstein, Dudu Fisher, Kathy Griffin, Shirley MacLaine, Jackie Mason, Peking Acrobats, Itzhak Perlman, The Temptations & The Four Tops, Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, Spring Awakening, Tango Inferno, West Side Story & the World Premiere Screening of Steven Caras: See Them Dance

Alice Ripley, who received the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award®-winning Next to Normal, will return to San Diego, where she spent several years performing in local productions, to reprise her acclaimed performance in the musical's 36-week multi-city North American tour, launching November 23 at the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. It will play in San Diego January 18-23, 2011 at the Balboa Theatre, as part of the current season of Broadway/San Diego ~ A Nederlander Presentation.

Today we are talking to the composer of the Pulitzer Prize-winning rock musical NEXT TO NORMAL, Tom Kitt, about his influences - from Sondheim to Schwartz to Finn to Elton John to some of his own contemporaries - and working with Green Day on AMERICAN IDIOT and his own eponymous band, to the creation of a Broadway phenomenon by tracing the path of the show from FEELING ELECTRIC to NEXT TO NORMAL - plus, the many exciting projects that he has coming up this year and beyond, including a thorough discussion of his upcoming collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Amanda Green and Jeff Whitty on BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL and the very first news of a new, original Kitt/Yorkey musical on the horizon - and much, much more.

Lyric Theatre, Oklahoma's leading professional theatre company, opens its 2011 Season with the country musical legend, Always... Patsy Cline. See 'the velvet-voice of country music' star, Patsy Cline, come to life this winter at Lyric Theatre's Plaza stage. This musical play, complete with down home country humor, true emotion and even some audience participation includes twenty-seven musical renditions of her unforgettable hits such as 'Crazy,' 'I Fall to Pieces,' 'Sweet Dreams,' 'Walking After Midnight' and 'Honky Tonk Merry Go Round.' The power of friendship between Patsy and her number one fan, Houston housewife, Louise Seger, is also explored. Having first heard Cline on 'The Arthur Godfrey Show' in 1957, Seger became an immediate and avid fan constantly hounding the local disc jockey to play Cline's records on the radio. Their relationship, which began as fan worship, evolved into one of mutual respect for one another. This endearing story combines humor with sincerity and gives fans, old and new, a chance to remember the most acclaimed female country vocalist of the 20th century.

Rock tenor Rob Evan is perhaps most famous for his essaying of the dual title roles in Frank Wildhorn's JEKYLL & HYDE ten years ago on Broadway - and playing the leads in the new rock reinterpretation of the score known as JEKYLL & HYDE: RESURRECTION - but since that time he has appeared in entertainment entities as diverse as LES MISERABLES, Disney's TARZAN, Alan Menken & Howard Ashman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, concert performances of CHESS, THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, The Dream Engine and, of course, his muse-like work for Paul O'Neill, creator and composer of the international phenomenon known as the Trans Siberian Orchestra, as well as the Lord of Excess himself and a rock god like none other, BAT OUT OF HELL visionary Jim Steinman. There's a lot more to the story of Evan, Steinman and DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES than may seem at first bite. In this exclusive conversation, Evan and I discuss his many stage and concert appearances, as well as his extensive studio work - including BATMAN and many new, unheard compositions - with the resplendent and reclusive rock icon known to friends as just Jimmy. Here's a big bloody bite of my conversation with Rob Evan, who can be seen in a number of upcoming appearances on concert stages across the world, including his upcoming ROCK TENOR series of shows. More information is available at his official site here.

2010 was quite a year for Broadway with some spectacular opening nights. We'll be sharing highlights from the year in photos, videos, interviews and more throughout this final week of the year. First off is a look at some of the star and excitement filled opening night curtain calls of 2010. Photos by Walter McBride / WM Photos / Corbis

2010 was quite a year for Broadway with some spectacular opening nights. We'll be sharing highlights from the year in photos, videos, interviews and more throughout this final week of the year. First off is a look at some of the star and excitement filled opening night curtain calls of 2010. Photos by Walter McBride / WM Photos / Corbis

2010 was a year filled with all sorts of exciting BroadwayWorld interviews - here's some of this year's highlights!

New York Stage and Film (Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) will honor Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actress Laura Linney and Jujamcyn Theaters President, Jordan Roth.

TIME STANDS STILL, Broadway's best reviewed new play, will end its acclaimed run when stars Laura Linney, Brian d'Arcy James, Eric Bogosian, and Christina Ricci depart the production, as scheduled, on Sunday, January 30 at the Cort Theatre (137 West 48th Street). The play, by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies and directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, recently announced the lauded cast had extended their run at the Cort, through January 30. When it closes on that date, the production will have played 16 preview performances and 126 regular performances.

Paramount Home Entertainment releases the Dreamworks Animation movie 'Shrek Forever After' on December 7. The DVD will include a special preview of SHREK THE MUSICAL, as well as '12 Days of Christmas' pop-up book, deleted scenes, interactive games and an insider's look at the film.

LeftField Productions presents the annual All-Star Broadway Holiday Concert on Sunday, December 5th, 7:30PM, at The Irvington Town Hall Theater in Irvington, New York.

TIME STANDS STILL, the Tony nominated hit play at the Cort Theatre (138 West 48th Street), continues its talk back series Tuesday, December 7 following the 7 PM performance with an edition sponsored by the Associated Press.