Brian d'Arcy James News

Reports are circulating that Jeffrey Katzenburg, who runs Dreamworks Animation, has been looking around the London Palladium with the creative team of Shrek: The Musical.

The cast and crew of SHREK THE MUSICAL®, the Tony Award®-winning production, will celebrate the show's one year anniversary on Broadway with a reception on stage at the Broadway Theatre on Sunday, November 8th after the matinee performance. Cupcakes will be provided to the cast by CRUMBS Bake Shop.

Wipe off the green makeup, bulldoze the castle and get rid of the tap-dancing rats- no, keep the tap-dancing rats - and Shrek, despite its fairy-tale setting and gentle lesson about embracing the qualities that make us different, reveals itself as just a good ol' musical comedy. And a darn enjoyable one at that. Of course, whether you find it sophomoric or smartass might depend on your reaction to fart jokes, anachronistic contemporary references and visual quotes from classic musicals, but director Jason Moore has his terrific cast performing their goofy antics with slick professionalism. Add some very humorous puppetry and bright, catchy tunes and you've got a fun night out.

As the 21st Century chugs along toward completing its first decade, perhaps Broadway's new role in American theatre with emerge as the place where talented composers and lyricists with interesting projects will premiere their less-inspired shows while their exciting, adventurous and better-written work continues to hide in the under-publicized shadows of Off- and Off-Off Broadway, festivals and the occasional cabaret appearance.  Just as Legally Blonde, the Broadway debut of composer/lyricists Lawrence O'Keefe (Bat Boy, Sarah, Plain and Tall) and Nell Benjamin (Pirates!, Sarah, Plain and Tall) doesn't match the quality of their Off-Broadway and regional work, last season composer Tom Kitt made his first main stem appearance with the catchy-tuned and enjoyable, but not especially notable, High Fidelity while musical theatre lovers in the know were anxiously awaiting a production of Feeling Electric, his substantially superior collaboration with bookwriter/lyricist Brian Yorkey, first seen at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival.

SIRIUS XM Live on Broadway featuring Alan Cumming and Kate Baldwin will be broadcast on Friday, October 30, starting at 7 pm ET, with encore presentations to air on Sunday, November 1 at 11 pm ET; Tuesday, November 3 at 7 am ET; and Wednesday, November 4 at 12 noon ET.

Tony Award nominee Brian d'Arcy James will reprise his Obie-winning role in Conor McPherson's The Good Thief for the Keen Company's one-night only benefit at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, on November 2nd.

SIRIUS XM Live on Broadway featuring Alan Cumming and Kate Baldwin will be broadcast on Friday, October 30, starting at 7 pm ET, with encore presentations to air on Sunday, November 1 at 11 pm ET; Tuesday, November 3 at 7 am ET; and Wednesday, November 4 at 12 noon ET.

SIRIUS XM Live on Broadway featuring Alan Cumming and Kate Baldwin will be broadcast on Friday, October 30, starting at 7 pm ET, with encore presentations to air on Sunday, November 1 at 11 pm ET; Tuesday, November 3 at 7 am ET; and Wednesday, November 4 at 12 noon ET.

SHREK THE MUSICAL®, the Tony Award®-winning production, will play its final performance on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. following 441 performances and 37 previews. SHREK THE MUSICAL® will launch a national tour at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited engagement, July 13 - September 5, 2010.

Tony Award nominee Brian d'Arcy James will reprise his Obie-winning role in Conor McPherson's The Good Thief for the Keen Company's one-night only benefit at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, on November 2nd.

Lynne Meadow (Artistic Director) and Barry Grove (Executive Producer) have announced that acclaimed actor and playwright Eric Bogosian (Talk Radio, 'Law & Order: CI') has joined the cast of Manhattan Theatre Club's upcoming Broadway production of Donald Margulies' TIME STANDS STILL directed by Daniel Sullivan.

SHREK THE MUSICAL®, the Tony Award®-winning production, will play its final performance on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. following 441 performances and 37 previews. SHREK THE MUSICAL® will launch a national tour at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited engagement, July 13 - September 5, 2010.

SHREK THE MUSICAL®, the Tony Award®-winning production, will play its final performance on Broadway at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) on Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. following 441 performances and 37 previews. SHREK THE MUSICAL® will launch a national tour at Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre for a limited engagement, July 13 - September 5, 2010.

The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. Jeff Award results, 'Ragtime' auditions, 'Young Frankenstein' and Broadway in Chicago tours, Zachary James, and more....

SIRIUS XM Live on Broadway featuring Alan Cumming and Kate Baldwin will be broadcast on Friday, October 30, starting at 7 pm ET, with encore presentations to air on Sunday, November 1 at 11 pm ET; Tuesday, November 3 at 7 am ET; and Wednesday, November 4 at 12 noon ET.

Ben Crawford will be performing live as part of the 'Broadway at Blend' concert series in Ridgewood, New Jersey October 19th. The series takes place at nightclub/restaurant Blend every Monday evening at 8 pm.

In the Chicago Tribune yesterday, theater critic Chris Jones reports that Shrek originals Brian D'Arcy James (Shek), Sutton Foster (Princess Fiona) and Christopher Sieber (Lord Farquaad) are scheduled to attend a preview event later this month surrounding the announcement of the Shrek National Tour, reported to be kicking off at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts in June 2010.

THE HAPPY EMBALMER -- a World-Premiere new musical with book, music and lyrics by Mark Noonan and Nick Oddy, directed and choreographed by Kelly Devine -- is presented by The New York Musical Theatre Festival, starting October 6, 2009 at Theatre Row's Acorn Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, btw 9th and 10th Avenues) in New York City.

THE HAPPY EMBALMER -- a World-Premiere new musical with book, music and lyrics by Mark Noonan and Nick Oddy, directed and choreographed by Kelly Devine -- is presented by The New York Musical Theatre Festival, starting October 6, 2009 at Theatre Row's Acorn Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, btw 9th and 10th Avenues) in New York City.

THE HAPPY EMBALMER -- a World-Premiere new musical with book, music and lyrics by Mark Noonan and Nick Oddy, directed and choreographed by Kelly Devine -- is presented by The New York Musical Theatre Festival, starting October 6, 2009 at Theatre Row's Acorn Theatre (410 West 42nd Street, btw 9th and 10th Avenues) in New York City.