City Center News

Previews begin tonight for Manhattan Theatre Club's new Broadway production of Saint Joan! Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

New York City Center today announced a studio series of master classes and conversations with artists and other guests as part of the ¡Adelante, Cuba! Festival. This celebration of the rich and vibrant artists of Cuba begins Sunday, April 22, with an evening of music and conversation at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC & WQXR featuring jazz giant Arturo O'Farrill, tap artist Ayodele Casel, and trumpet player Yasek Manzano Silva. Offering an up-close look at the work of these inspiring artists, the festival also includes intimate conversations, held in City Center's studios, exploring the Cuban American Songbook and what it means to be an Afro-Latin artist today. Master classes for advanced students and professionals will be hosted by dancer Carlos Luis Blanco of Acosta Danza and choreographer Ronald K. Brown (City Center Choreography Fellow), and Arturo O'Farrill and Yazek Manzano Silva will deconstruct Afro-Latin jazz in a master class open to the public to observe.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is proud to present the return of 2013 MacArthur Genius Fellow and Princess Grace & Bessie Award-winning choreographer Kyle Abraham and his acclaimed modern dance company, under the new official name A.I.M, formerly Abraham.InMotion.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) for their 20th annual performance run on Mother's Day Weekend from May 11-13. The three-show celebration is the culmination of the Company's 21-city North American tour. Artistic Director Robert Battle leads Ailey's 32 extraordinary dancers as they continue the Company's legacy of using the African-American cultural experience and the American modern dance tradition to uplift, unite, and enlighten. Three diverse and exciting programs spotlighting premieres and new productions by influential choreographic voices will inspire audiences at Prudential Hall, all closing with a stirring finale of Alvin Ailey's always must-see American masterpiece, Revelations.

The NYTB REP program with a World Premiere by Richard Alston has now added encore performances of three of Jerome Robbins' rarely seen ballets: Septet, Concertino and Rondo, recently performed in sold-out shows in The Harkness Dance Festival 2018 at 92Y. The program will feature live music for all works.

Legendary Gypsy Flamenco dancer La Chana will perform after a screening of her Award-winning documentary film LA CHANA on April 11, 2018 at Merkin Concert Hall

Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway revival of Tom Stoppard's Tony Award-winning play Travesties begins previews tonight! Get to know the cast below as they begin Broadway performances!

The Play Company (PlayCo) is pleased to announce chefs and artists scheduled for Cabaret Gourmet: The Ultra Violet Party, on Monday, April 9 at Espace in mid-town Manhattan. This year's event will be hosted by Lauren Worsham and Kyle Jarrow, and will feature a live performance by Mwenso and The Shakes. Participating chefs and restaurants will include Graffiti, Miznon, Omar's, Chef Samira Nanda Sine, Ortzi, August, Serengeti Kitchen and more.

The NYTB REP program with a World Premiere by Richard Alston has now added encore performances of three of Jerome Robbins' rarely seen ballets

The calendar may say Spring (has anyone told the weather?) but things are heating up on Broadway! Performances begin tonight for Summer: The Donna Summer Musical at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway.

According to Deadline, Amber Riley has joined Tyler Perry's written/directed drama, The List, which follows a woman who gets released from prison and reunited with her sister, who is forced to accept that she might be getting "catfished" by an online boyfriend. The Paramount Players film stars Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter, Omari Hardwick, and Whoopi Goldberg. Perry is producing the pic, slated for release November 2.

The musical, The People in the Picture, is getting a makeover as a new production is being mounted at 3Below in San Jose, California with performances beginning April 26th. Making its west coast premiere, it's the first time the show has been back on stage since its 2011 debut on Broadway at Roundabout Theatre Company's Studio 54 starring Donna Murphy, who was nominated for a Tony Award for her role as Bubbie/Raisel.

Beth Leavel has joined the cast of DUETS with thewriteteachers.com Volume 6 on June 22 at Feinstein's/54 Below.

Bristol Riverside Theatre ends its mainstage season triumphantly with the farcical period-piece musical Triumph of Love, based on the play by Marivaux, with book by James Magruder, music by Jeffrey Stock, and lyrics by Susan Birkenhead on May 1-20. Directed by Keith Baker, music directed by Douglass Lutz, and choreographed by Stephen Casey, the ensemble cast features Jake Delaney, Joy Franz, Adam Hoyak, Alex Keiper, Rebecca Robbins, Danny Rutigliano, and Carl Wallnau.

Though the songwriting team of Robert Wright and George Forrest is best remembered by Broadway enthusiasts for adapting the music of Edvard Grieg into SONG OF NORWAY and similarly using the melodies of Alexander Borodin to create their score for KISMET, their greatest success came when director/choreographer Tommy Tune took interest in a musical of theirs that fizzled into obscurity on its way to Broadway, then known as AT THE GRAND.

Encores! is back for round two! The second production of this season is Grand Hotel, directed and choreographed by Josh Rhodes, featuring music direction by Encores! Music Director Rob Berman. Grand Hotel, The Musical will run for seven performances at New York City Center from March 21 - 25. The Encores! at 25 season concludes with Me and My Girl (May 9 - 13). Let's see what the critics had to say!

With the juggernaut that is Hamilton playing DC this summer, it was probably a good marketing strategy for the Kennedy Center to use its new Broadway Center Stage series to (re)-introduce local audiences to Lin-Manuel Miranda's first Broadway musical, the Tony Award-winning In the Heights. Avid local theatergoers have likely seen the show before and fairly recently at that. Last season, Olney Theater Center and Round House Theatre co-produced a well-received production and GALA Hispanic Theatre presented the U.S. Spanish language premiere. However, the five-night, sold out run at Kennedy Center offers another look at the show - this time with an Encores-like staging featuring some of Broadway's best talent directed by original cast member Stephanie Klemons.

Walnut Street Theatre's 2017-18 Independence Studio on 3 Season concludes with Andrew Lloyd Webber's romantic musical TELL ME ON A SUNDAY. Directed by Debi Marcucci and starring The Phantom of the Opera's Julia Udine, the production begins with previews on April 10th, opens on April 12th, and continues through June 10th in the Walnut's Independence Studio on 3.

Blackberry Smoke's new song “I'll Keep Ramblin'” featuring Robert Randolph recently premiered at Relix. Of the song, lead singer Charlie Starr describes it's, “high-gear, jump-blues/gospel.” Listen/share HERE.  

Cleveland Play House (CPH) is proud to announce the cast of the high-spirited, interactive musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Broadway and TV actress Ali Stroker (Glee, Deaf West's Production of Spring Awakening) joins Broadway veterans Kirsten Wyatt (Annie, Elf, Shrek), John Scherer (Sunset Boulevard, By Jeeves, Funny Girl), Lee Slobotkin, Chad Burris (both of Book of Mormon), Kay Trinidad Karns (Little Mermaid), and more in this laugh-out-loud musical directed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge on the Allen Stage through May 6th. This production is sponsored by Huntington National Bank and Zinner & Co.