Common News

SKANK SINATRA is Jens Radda’s latest queer cabaret creation, blending their personal story with a compilation of ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ well known standards.

The Russian Arts Theater and Studio (TRATS), a New York theater company founded in 2004, continues its 2023 season with Diary of a Madman, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol, newly adapted by Di Zhu and Aleksey Burago.

Opening Night of the 2023 season of the Stratford Festival is almost upon us, and for the first time in nine years, the Festival is staging a production of KING LEAR. A few weeks ago, BroadwayWorld had the opportunity to chat with the production’s director, Kimberley Rampersad about her vision for this production, what it means to be doing this show now, the complexity of the piece, the stellar company she is working with, and why Lear is a favourite of many a Shakespeare fan.

What do you get when you have a ballet dancer who dreams of making it professionally and showing the world that guys can dance too?  You have a real-life Billy Elliot story, which is happening to someone who played the titular role of Billy on the West End back home in the UK, and is now here in the US studying and training in professional ballet making his dancing dreams a reality! Not only does he dance, but he has done a few acting roles as well and even participated in a professional opera as a dancer. He is taking the role, and making it his real-life story!   At the end of the musical, we see Billy leaving his home and family to head off for training at the Royal Ballet School, so this is like getting to see the story continue beyond the stage!  Broadway World Detroit got a chance to catch up with Brodie Donougher, the last person to play the role of Billy, and see what he’s up to since his days on the West End stage 7 years ago!

Accent Dance NYC, a non-profit organization that promotes multiculturalism and community through dance education and concert performance, has announced a FREE Juneteenth Community Student Showcase event, Monday, June 12 at The Bronx High School of Science.

Michael Feinstein is about to once again burnish his long-held reputation as a leading interpreter of the music of the iconic composer and his lyricist brother – the team responsible for songs like “Fascinating Rhythm,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “The Man I Love,” and many more – when he brings “Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?” to Boston’s Symphony Hall, May 31–June 1, and Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, on July 18.

The album was produced by John Boecklin (Bad Wolves), mixed by Joseph McQueen (Bullet For My Valentine, Suicide Silence), and co-written by Josh Gilbert (Spiritbox, As I Lay Dying). “This album is about reflection, connection and inclusion through our brand of music. Beautiful things come from ugly places.”

 L.A. Theatre Works presents the world premiere of Exodus: The Shanghai Jews, an original, commissioned audio docudrama by Kate McAll.

Don’t miss Island City’s Stage’s National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of Tracy Jones by Stephen Kaplan a poignant story of individual connection in an increasingly complicated world, running through June 18.

Omnibus Theatre has announced the inaugural AI Festival, an urgent response to the cultural conversation surrounding the benefits and dangers of rapidly developing Artificial Intelligence.

SADEC 1965: A LOVE STORY, a solo show written and performed by DC-based storyteller Flora Le, is part of the 2023 Montreal Fringe Festival.

J Hus, the darling of UK Rap and the Afro-fusion pioneer releases his explosive new track ‘It’s Crazy’. Produced by Fumes (Rimzee, MoStack) and The Elements (Burna Boy, AJ Tracey, Headie One), ‘It’s Crazy’ comes with a frenetic visual directed by Taz Tron Delix (Stormzy, Headie One, Calvin Harris).

Taylor Swift: Storyteller includes ensembles from the music video for “Shake It Off” (2014); the red wedding dress and bellhop uniform from “I Bet You Think About Me (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault),” which featured Miles Teller and was directed by Blake Lively (2021); and the sparkling ensemble from “Bejeweled” (2022). Check out photos!

His Story: The Musical, the world-premiere musical is now playing at the new state-of-the-art Broadway Tent at Grandscape in Texas.  Check out an all new behind the scenes video here!

British poet, Simon Armitage describes LYR’s documentary masterpiece of meticulously placed lyrics and exquisite sounds as “a record of an extraordinary period of social history” as he and bandmates, singer-songwriter Richard Walters and multi-instrumentalist and producer Patrick J Pearson release their latest track.

Mike Birbiglia brings his latest one man show The Old Man & The Pool to the West End for a strictly limited 4 week run, following sell out performances across the US, including a Broadway run at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center.

Continuing their partnership with Fuller's pubs, 2023 will see Open Bar Theatre tour Sense and Sensibility followed by two Shakespeare plays to pub gardens up and down the UK, bringing classics back to the people. Updating the satire in the plays to suit modern day, and performing with a physical, high energy style and a dash of audience participation, Open Bar Theatre perform for today's groundlings, those who want to sit back with a big glass of something cold and be entertained.

Sage Theatre will support emerging artists again in 2023, as it presents its annual IGNITE! Festival of Emerging Artists. From June 7 -  June 10, 2023 at Pumphouse Theatres, the IGNITE! Festival will provide development, networking and presentation opportunities for Calgary artists. 

Arts Ed Newark has been approved for a $80,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support Cultivating a Creative Newark Through Collective Impact using a Trauma Informed Healing Centered Lens.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) will present Power of Trees, a summer and fall program series centered on the ways trees serve as pillars of our natural and cultural worlds, from June 17 to October 24, 2023.