Brooks Atkinson News

Riflettiamo su cosa vuol dire essere critico. Da un anno a questa parte, il Manifesto del Critico Teatrale e diventato la mia Bibbia. Di giorno in giorno, di recensione in recensione, cerco di attenermi ai punti elencati dall'americano Chris Caggiano: prima, per amore del teatro musicale tendevo a tacere sui difetti degli spettacoli che avevo davanti; adesso, proprio in virtu di quell'amore per il teatro musicale, mi sono reso conto che questo atteggiamento non e salutare. Il critico - specialmente in un periodo in cui la gente sceglie oculatamente cosa andare a vedere a teatro - deve fungere da guida per i suoi lettori e, pur non mettendo da parte il cuore, dev'essere onesto nei loro confronti.

THE FANTASTICKS, the world's longest running musical, will celebrate a record breaking 20,000th New York performance, today, September 15, 2013, announced producers Catherine Russell and Al Parinello.

The new Broadway Musical, After Midnight, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle and featuring the big-band sounds of nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, will begin previews on Friday, October 18, 2013 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 47th St) with an official opening night set for Sunday, November 3, 2013. According to the New York Times, singer K.D. Lang will make her Broadway debut in the show.

Jerry Ruiz (Love Goes to Press, Basilica) directs a cast that includes Cliff Bemis, Teddy Bergman, Bernardo Cubria, Carole Healey, Christine Toy Johnson,Kathryn Kates (replacing the previously announced Jennifer Harmon), Natalie Kuhn, Brian MacDonald, Jennifer McVey and Rachel Moulton. Philip Goes Forth will have scenic design by Steven C. Kemp, costume design by Carisa Kelly, lighting design by Christian DeAngelis, and sound design by Toby Algya. Performances began on August 24th and continue through October 20th. Opening Night is set for September 22nd at Mint's home (311 West 43rd Street). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast onstage below!

Producers Scott Sanders and Wynton Marsalis have announced the wildly eclectic opening night cast for the new Broadway Musical, After Midnight. The company includes a wide array of 25 cutting-edge performers from varied backgrounds who will come together to create an explosive, modern interpretation of Duke Ellington's years at the Cotton Club. Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle and featuring the big-band sounds of nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, After Midnight will begin previews on Friday, October 18, 2013 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 W 46th St) with an official opening night set for Sunday, November 3, 2013. Tickets are now on sale.

Directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle and featuring the big-band sounds of nine-time Grammy Award-winner Wynton Marsalis' Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, After Midnight, featuring Fantasia Barrino, will begin preview performances at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre (246 West 47th Street) on Friday, October 18, 2013 with an official opening night set for Sunday, November 3, 2013. Emmy Award-nominated actor Dule Hill will join Barrino onstage as 'The Host' of the evening. Check out photos of the marquee at the Brooks Atkinson below!

Joseph Kesselring wrote ARSENIC AND OLD LACE in 1939, and the darkly comic play premiered on Broadway on January 10, 1941 at the Fulton Theatre, now named the Helen Hayes Theatre. Brooks Atkinson, theatre critic for The New York Times, famously stated that the play was "so funny that none of us will ever forget it." Eventually, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE moved to the Hudson Theatre, and closed on June 17, 1944, after having played 1,444 performances. The zany, madcap comedy is considered to be Joseph Kesselring's most successful play and is one that still manages to captivate audiences today. A.D. Player's current production of the classic, well directed by Joey Watkins to pop with delightful enthusiasm and energy, proves that the roughly 74-year-old play is as funny as ever.

THE FANTASTICKS, the world's longest running musical, will celebrate a record breaking 20,000th New York performance, on Sunday, September 15, 2013, announced producers Catherine Russell and Al Parinello. The milestone will mark the first time a production (on Broadway or Off-Broadway) has ever reached 20,000 performances and will be commemorated in a month long celebration that includes performing at Broadway in Bryant Park and Little Italy, and with The Museum of The City of New York's future cyber gallery highlighting the history of the production. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you highlights of the current cast in action!

Ghostlight Records will celebrate their Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical HANDS ON A HARDBODYwith two special events in September. Amanda Green, the show's co-composer and lyricist and book writer Doug Wright, as well as several stars of the show, will appear at an in-store performance and CD signing at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side (150 East 86th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues). The event will feature original Broadway cast members Keith Carradine, Keala Settle, Janet Krupin, Corey March, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Jim Newman, Connie Ray, Jon Rua and Dale Soules. The exclusive event will take place tonight, September 4 at 7:00 PM. Call (212) 369-2180 for details.

Fall is quickly approaching, which means that Broadway will soon be blowing up with brand new productions. Soul Doctor and First Date already opened over the summer, but five upcoming musicals will also be eligible for Best Musical Tony nominations next year, including: Big Fish, A Night with Janis Joplin, After Midnight, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. Get the scoop on all five incoming musicals below!

As a fan of S.R. Bindler's acclaimed and quirky 1997 documentary, I closely followed the creation and development of HANDS ON A HARDBODY. Previews for the initial La Jolla Playhouse production begin in April 2012, and it officially opened on May 12. The musical was well received by critics and audiences alike in California, generating buzz for it transfer to Broadway. The entire La Jolla cast reunited for the New York premiere of the show, which started previews on February 23, 2013 and officially opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on March 21, 2013. Sadly, the well-reviewed small show had a hard time finding an audience and had its final Broadway bow on Saturday, April 13. However, Ghostlight Records excited fans and those of us who were interested in the project when that announced they'd be recording an Original Broadway Cast Recording on that same fateful Saturday in April.

Ghostlight Records will celebrate their Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical HANDS ON A HARDBODYwith two special events in September. Amanda Green, the show's co-composer and lyricist and book writer Doug Wright, as well as several stars of the show, will appear at an in-store performance and CD signing at Barnes & Noble on the Upper East Side (150 East 86th Street, between Lexington and Third Avenues). The event will feature original Broadway cast members Keith Carradine, Keala Settle, Janet Krupin, Corey March, Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone, Jim Newman, Connie Ray, Jon Rua and Dale Soules.

The Performing Arts Department Theatre program at Eastern CT State University is pleased to announce its Fall 2013-Spring 2014 Harry Hope Theatre (High and Valley Streets, Willimantic, CT 06226) performance schedule.

Ghostlight Records will present the Original Broadway Cast Recording of the new musical HANDS ON A HARDBODY both in stores and via online outlets today, August 27.

Mint Theater presents Philip Goes Forth by George Kelly. Jerry Ruiz (Love Goes to Press, Basilica) directs a cast that includes Cliff Bemis, Teddy Bergman, Bernardo Cubria, Jennifer Harmon, Carole Healey, Christine Toy Johnson, Natalie Kuhn, BrIan MacDonald, Jennifer McVey and Rachel Moulton. Philip Goes Forth will have scenic design by Steven C. Kemp, costume design by Carisa Kelly, lighting design by Christian DeAngelis, and sound design by Toby Algya. Performances begin tonight, August 24th and continue through October 20th. Opening Night is set for September 16th at Mint's home (311 West 43rd Street).

The cast of PSYCH talks about making their highly anticipated musical episode and when we may see them on the stage again.

The National Asian American Theater Company's solid if unexceptional production of Awake and Sing, Clifford Odets 1935 drama of a struggling immigrant Jewish family in The Bronx, is opening just a few days after the 50th anniversary of the death of Odets

Now in its fifth consecutive year, the multi-award-winning Finborough Theatre - the coalface of British Theatre - presents Vibrant 2013 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, its annual explosion of new writing, running between 6-25 October 2013

Today in 2007, the second Broadway revival of Grease opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 554 performances. Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School (loosely based on William Howard Taft School), follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love, cars, and drive-ins.

Stephen Sondheim and Wynton Marsalis will collaborate on A BED AND A CHAIR: A New York Love Affair, a new musical event featuring Sondheim's music arranged and performed by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. This Encores! Special Event, directed by frequent Sondheim collaborator John Doyle, with choreography by Parker Esse and musical supervision by David Loud, was conceived by Peter Gethers, Jack Viertel and John Doyle, and will run for seven performances, November 13 - 17 at City Center.