Chante Carmel News

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) presents a very special benefit event, ONE NIGHT ONLY - DREAMGIRLS IN CONCERT, music by Henry Krieger, book & lyrics by Tom Eyen, musical direction by Patrick Gandy, choreography by Lesia Kaye and directed by Robert Clater. DREAMGIRLS IN CONCERT will perform Saturday, February 16, 2018 at 8pm at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.    

Casting has been announced for the return engagement of Disney's The Lion King in the Fox Cities. The Lion King will leap onto the Fox Cities P.A.C. stage Thursday, Feb. 7 for a 3-week engagement through Sunday, Feb. 24.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) presents a very special benefit event, ONE NIGHT ONLY - DREAMGIRLS IN CONCERT,music by Henry Krieger, book & lyrics by Tom Eyen, musical direction by Patrick Gandy, choreography by Lesia Kaye and directed by Robert Clater. DREAMGIRLS IN CONCERT will perform Saturday, February 16, 2018 at 8pm at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.    

The North American Tour of Disney's The Lion King has released new production photos of the current cast, check them out below! 

Dear Readers, I'm going to start out by coming clean to a fact that may cause a few gasps. I've never liked "The Lion King". Unlike much of the rest of America I didn't think the movie was that great and I seriously don't care for the stage version. The story is just a watered-down version of "Hamlet", the music is written by committee with many different composers contributing to the score making for an inconsistent show, and it's all flash and spectacle trying to overshadow songs that don't move anything along by throwing everything they can on stage to distract. It's just overrated. "But," many have retorted, "the costumes are so great." To which I always reply, "Yes, and you see many of them in the first five minutes of the show in the costume parade disguised as an opening number, "Circle of Life". And then after you've seen that, then what? The show has blown their big moment at the beginning of the show and it's all downhill from there. Plus, this is a musical. I come for more than costumes." But we're not here for me to eviscerate "The Lion King", which I could do all day. We know I don't care for it but that aside, how was the current production at the Paramount? Let's discuss that.

Casting has been announced for the Seattle engagement of Disney's THE LION KING.    In addition, due to the overwhelming demand for tickets, a new performance has been added and will occur on Wednesday, January 2 at 1:00 p.m.

Casting has been announced for the Las Vegas engagement of Disney's THE LION KING, which will leap onto The Smith Center stage on Nov. 7 for a limited three-week engagement through Nov. 25.

Casting has been announced for the Boise engagement of Disney's THE LION KING, which will leap onto the stage at The Morrison Center from Wednesday, October 17 through Sunday, November 4.

It seems impossible to improve upon a classic, but the touring company of THE LION KING has managed just that. It has shown that classics become so for a reason, and they can still take on new life in the hands of a talented director and cast.

Casting has been announced for the Indianapolis return of Disney's THE LION KING, which will leap onto the stage at Old National Centre from September 12 for a limited three week engagement through September 29.

This coming Monday, May 21st, the hit acoustic concert series BROADWAY AT W launches in the nation's capital at W WASHINGTON D.C. Overlooking the White House and the National Mall, this marks the fifth location of BROADWAY AT W after previous launches in W New York- Times Square, W Hollywood, W Chicago-City Center, and W Leicester Square (London).

Casting has been announced for the upcoming Washington, D.C. premiere of the irresistible Broadway musical hit WAITRESS, which comes to the National Theatre for a 3-week limited engagement from May 15 thru June 3, 2018.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre announced today that Christopher Tierney and Bronwyn Reed will star as Johnny Castle and Frances "Baby" Houseman in the St. Louis premiere of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage.

The success of the awkwardly titled Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage depends primarily on whether or not you were a fan of the motion picture it was closely modeled after. It's easy to say this since the stage version is nearly identical to the film, and in many ways works better as a live production. For the uninitiated or those who steered clear of the film, Dirty Dancing was one of the most successful motion pictures of the 1980s. The low-budget film became a surprise hit, earning $214 million at the box office and becoming the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video. The soundtrack LP, featuring a combination of original songs and vintage hits from the early 1960s, sold 32 million copies and spent four months on top of the best-selling album charts. Looking at the film from today's perspective, 30 years later, one wonders why it was so big. Though many remember the film as a charming coming-of-age story, critics called it 'schmaltzy,' citing the formulaic portrayal of its stock characters spouting trite dialog.

Last year, when I passed up my first opportunity to see DIRTY DANCING at Belk Theater, I had this naive idea that it would be a musical adaptation of the 1987 film starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. With the return of the national tour Charlotte, this time at cavernous Ovens Auditorium, I persisted in my folly long after the curtain rose. Silly me, I overlooked the fine print in my playbill under the florid romance novel italics of the DIRTY DANCING logo: 'the classic story on stage.'

The Broadway return engagement of Motown the Musical, the last stop on the First National Tour, will play its final performance  today at The Nederlander Theatre.

The Broadway return engagement of Motown The Musical, the last stop on the First National Tour, will play its final performance at The Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street) on Sunday, July 31, 2016.

Motown the Musical has just announced its digital lottery and student rush policies for its Broadway return.

The best of Broadway will be performing FREE on six consecutive Thursdays this summer with '106.7 LITE FM's Broadway in Bryant Park 2016' - a lunchtime series that continued this week, July 14 on the Bryant Park Stage. Hosted by LITE FM's on-air personalities, the 16th annual presentation of open-air, On- and Off- Broadway lunch hour performances will run through Thursday, August 11.

In attendance today was the cast of Motown (Chester Gregory, Allison Semmes, J.J. Batteast, Elijah Ahmad Lewis, Rashad Naylor, Marq Moss, Rod Harrelson, Galen J. Williams, Jarvis B. Manning, Jr., Trisha Jeffrey,Krisha Marcano, Chante Carmel, Nik Alexander, Chadae, Julius Thomas III, Loren Lott,Ramone Owens, Olivia Puckett, Jamison Scott, Joey Stone, Martina Sykes, Anissa Felix, Talya Groves, Nicholas Ryan) who performed the songs 'I Want You Back,' 'Stop! In the Name of Love,' 'Do You Love Me,' 'Get Ready,' 'Dancing in the Street' and more. Check out highlights below!