Christopher Gattelli News

In a new interview with ET, legendary stage star Patti LuPone discusses her new Broadway musical WAR PAINT and her love for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's Rachel Bloom

The box office for WAR PAINT will open today, Monday, February 6, 2017 at 10am at the Nederlander Theatre (208 West 41st Street).

I've never been a huge fan of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The King and I", currently playing at the Paramount Theatre. It's kind of dated, the songs, while many are classics, don't really move the story along, and plot points often come out of nowhere, plus it's one of those staples from the Golden Age of musicals that's just been done to death. But as much as it's not one of my favorites, this current production was so filled with heart, talent and incredible staging that even I have developed a new appreciation for it.

Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC announce that Laura Michelle Kelly (Anna Leonowens) and Jose Llana (King of Siam) will lead the national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I that will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre from January 24 through February 3, 2017.

Producers David Stone and Marc Platt today announced complete casting for the upcoming Broadway musical, WAR PAINT.

At 5:30pm tonight, January 19, 2017, at sunset the eve of the Inauguration, more than 500 theaters, ensembles and companies, high school and university theater programs will gather across the country to light a light and make a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone - regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

As previously announced, at 5:30pm on January 19, 2017, at sunset the eve of the Inauguration, more than 500 theaters, ensembles and companies, high school and university theater programs will gather across the country to light a light and make a pledge to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone - regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

Thomas Schumacher, Jeff Calhoun, Christopher Gattelli, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Zina Goldrich, Marcy Heisler, Arielle Jacobs, Curt Hansen, Luca Padovan, and New York Times best-selling authors Jodi Picoult and Mary Pope Osborne are some of the talent confirmed for the 2017 iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival Atlanta (#JTF17, #JTFATL) happening January 13-15, 2017 in Atlanta, GA.

The 12th Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, kicks off its much-anticipated three-day festival of brand-new works today, January 13, 2017 at The Goodspeed with a staged reading of the intriguing new musical Picnic at Hanging Rock by Daniel Zaitchik based on the cherished novel by Joan Lindsay.

Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC announce that Laura Michelle Kelly (Anna Leonowens) and Jose Llana (King of Siam) will lead the national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I that will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre from January 24 through February 3, 2017.

From nationally acclaimed three-time Tony Award winner HINTON BATTLE, in association with YOSHIMOTO comes the 1st Annual DANZEOFF 2017 CONVENTION COMPETITION. DANZEOFF "the newest dance convention competition on the circuit"takes place Friday, February 3 - Sunday, February 5, 2017 at the Gaylord National Hotel, Washington, D.C. A spectacular dance event that features more than forty (40) top dance studios, collegiate teams, and dance artists from all over the United States competing in one of the largest annual dance competitions in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia (DMV) area.

Whether it be on Youtube, the stage, the screen (big or small), you've been listening to the music of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for years. And you're not going to stop hearing from them anytime soon.

A friend referred to The King and I as a war horse, an old chestnut, for it has surely surpassed time as an enduring musical classic, but upon seeing it again, one realizes just how potent, vibrant and topical a piece it truly is. Musicals of such depth and perspective with a keen eye to the future seem to be a thing of the past. Yes, it's a love story at the core, an unlikely one, but with many, many more levels. It entails issues of race, slavery, the urgency for a king of a tiny uncivilized kingdom to change his primitive, barbaric ways, and for his children to receive a truthful education as he embarks on assimilating 19th century Siam to western culture and civilization...and to repeat, it's a bigger-than-life love story that has become eternally revered not only for its music but for its intolerance of bigotry of any type. In this 2015 Broadway revival, currently onstage at the Hollywood Pantages Theater, nothing is lost; every gorgeous detail is present, and the story of Anna and The King is radiantly performed through January 21, 2017. In short, this production is a stunner.

The National Tour of The King and I, which won a Tony Award for Best Revival in 2015, is opened at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles last night, and will play through January 21st, 2017. Stars of the stage and screen, including original cast members of one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beloved classics, came out in droves to celebrate the opening, and we've got all of the lovely red carpet photos below!

Two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, returning to Broadway this spring in the acclaimed new musical War Paint, were featured guests at this week's New York Times 'War Paint Times Talk,' hosted at the Times Center. They were joined by Tony-nominated composer Scott Frankel and moderator Alexandra Jacobs. Below, watch their discussion, plus see them sing songs from the show!

The Muny announced today the directors, choreographers and music directors for The Muny's 2017 Season, which opens on June 12 with Jesus Christ Superstar.

Broadway director Alex Timbers is currently in talks to helm the live-action film CRUELLA for Walt Disney Studios.

Two-time Tony Award winners Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, returning to Broadway this spring in the acclaimed new musical War Paint, will be featured guests at this evening's New York Times 'War Paint Times Talk,' hosted at the Times Center. They will be joined by Tony-nominated composer Scott Frankel. The sold-out event will be streamed live.

Thomas Schumacher, Jeff Calhoun, Christopher Gattelli, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty, Zina Goldrich, Marcy Heisler, Arielle Jacobs, Curt Hansen, Luca Padovan, and New York Times best-selling authors Jodi Picoult and Mary Pope Osborne are some of the talent confirmed for the 2017 iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival Atlanta (#JTF17, #JTFATL) happening January 13-15, 2017 in Atlanta, GA.

Now, for the first time ever, you can see NEWSIES outside of the US - with a One Night Only satellite broadcast of the musical in UK cinemas nationwide on Sunday 19th February with tickets going on-sale today.