As we count down the last days of 2014, New York City's top theatre critics have been taking stock of the theatre season- deciding on their choices for their favorite productions of the year. With so many stellar plays, musicals, revivals and new works, both on Broadway and off, a slew of shows have gained recognition from the critics.
Below, check out our roundup of 'Best of' lists for theatre this year. Be sure to check back later for new additions as they're released!
NBC has announced that the cast of Broadway's SIDE SHOW will perform live on TODAY tomorrow, December 12. Erin Davie and Emily Padgett will perform the show's beloved song 'I Will Never Leave You' during the 8 AM hour.
New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents the New York Premiere of THE INVISIBLE HAND, written by Pulitzer Prize Winner Ayad Ahktar. Directed by two-time Obie Award winner Ken Rus Schmoll, THE INVISIBLE HAND officially opens tonight, December 8, 2014, for a limited engagement through Sunday, January 4, 2015. Let's see what the critics had to say...
The Illusionists - Witness The Impossible, the world's best-selling touring magic show, makes its Broadway debut tonight, December 4. Let's see what the critics had to say...
Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced the publication of Quiara Alegria Hudes's The Happiest Song Plays Last, the final play in Hudes's award-winning Elliot trilogy. In 2013, The Happiest Song Plays Last premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, with a later Off-Broadway run at New York's Second Stage Theatre in 2014. A 2015 production at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has been announced.
Menier Chocolate Factory Artistic Director David Babani welcomes Jamie Lloyd's major revival of Stephen Sondheimand John Weidman's ASSASSINS as part of the theatre's 10-year anniversary season. Joining are Carly Bawden,Simon Lipkin, Mike McShane, Andy Nyman, David Roberts and Catherine Tate are Stewart Clarke, Harry Morrison ,Aaron Tveit and Jamie Parker.
I'll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers is a one-woman play about a ground-breaking Hollywood agent. For more than 20 years, Sue Mengers' clients were the biggest names in show business, and her dinner parties were the envy of Hollywood. Now, you're invited into her glamorous Beverly Hills home for an evening of dish, dirty secrets and all the inside showbiz details only Sue can tell you. Warning: This play contains profanity from a hard-drinking, pot-smoking catty Hollywood gossip! Sue had the scoop on all of her "twinkly" clients: Barbra Streisand, Faye Dunaway, Burt Reynolds, Ali MacGraw, Gene Hackman, Cher, Candice Bergen, Ryan O'Neal, Nick Nolte, Mike Nichols, Gore Vidal, Bob Fosse and more!
Side Show made history on Opening Night, last night November 17 at 7:45 p.m. when Clear Channel Spectacolor broadcasted the show-stopping Act I finale in Times Square with never before used audio technology on one of their digital billboards. The rousing Act I finale, 'Who Will Love Me as I Am?,' sung by the show's two leading ladies, Erin Davie and Emily Padgett, was the first live performance in history aired in Times Square.
Prior to the show's opening on Broadway at the St. James Theatre, the creative team behind the innovative revival of the musical Side Show - director Bill Condon, composer Henry Krieger (Dreamgirls), librettist/ lyricist Bill Russell and scenic designer David Rockwell - visited THEATER TALK to share stories about the remarkable revitalization the 1997 musical has experienced under the stewardship of Condon on its return this fall to Broadway.
The completely reimagined revival of Side Show officially opens tonight, November 17, at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street). Let's see what the critics had to say...
Side Show will make history on Opening Night, November 17 at 7:45 p.m. when Clear Channel Spectacolor will broadcast the show-stopping Act I finale in Times Square with never before used audio technology on one of their digital billboards. The rousing Act I finale, Who Will Love Me as I Am?, sung by the show's two leading ladies, Erin Davie and Emily Padgett, will be the first opening night performance in history aired live in Times Square.
Playwrights Horizons' world premiere production of GRAND CONCOURSE, a new play by playwright and two-time Obie Award-winning actress Heidi Schreck (author of There Are No More Big Secrets, Creature, Showtime's 'Nurse Jackie'), opens tonight, November 12, 2014. Let's see what the critics had to say...
The completely reimaged revival of Side Show is currently in previews at the St. James Theatre (246 West 44th Street), with official opening night on Monday, November 17. Below, BroadwayWorld is very excited to give you an exclusive sneak peek of the twins in costume, singing 'Who Will Love Me As I Am?'
Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Lost Lake, the new play by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, featuring Oscar nominee John Hawkes (The Sessions, Winter's Bone) and Tracie Thoms (Rent, 'Cold Case'), officially opens tonight, November 11 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street). Let's see what the critics had to say...
Rising Phoenix Repertory and Weathervane Productions have announced that they have commissioned new plays from three female playwrights--Charlotte Miller, Jessica Dickey, and Sarah Shaefer--and that the plays will each be produced over the next two seasons.
Since its founding in 1974 by Paul Zimet, Ellen Maddow, and Tina Shepard-all former members of Joseph Chaikin's seminal Open Theater- Talking Band has remained a cornerstone of New York City's avant-garde theater community. Ben Brantley of The New York Times recently called them 'one of the boldest and most venerable politically minded companies in New York experimental theater.' American Theater magazine has deemed them 'one of the most exceptional theater companies in the country.' The Talking Band celebrates their 40th anniversary with The Golden Toad, a four-part epic whose world premiere La MaMa presents January 23 - February 8, 2015.
Playwrights Horizons today announced several major initiatives that will expand the ways in which theater writers are compensated. As a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists and to the production of their new work, Playwrights Horizons is committed to establishing new standards in compensation that will directly benefit all of its writers and taking a leadership position in responding to the reality that theater writers are among the lowest-compensated creative artists in America.