Craig Lucas News

The Dramatists Guild Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative premieres the short film a?oeCredit the Librettist: Conversations with Today's Opera Makersa?? at Opera America's New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

It may surprise you to learn that Stephen King didn't write 'The Shining' and Sister Helen Prejean didn't write 'Dead Man Walking.' Even more, you may be startled to learn that Herman Melville didn't write 'Moby Dick' and Louisa May Alcott didn't have a hand in 'Little Women.' Well, of course they did--except when it came to turning the works into operas. Then, respectively, Mark Campbell and Terrence McNally took over, as did Gene Scheer and Mark Adamo.

The Kleban Foundation celebrates the 30th anniversary of the annual Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre with the announcement of the 2020 prize winners.

Lincoln Center Theater (under the direction of André Bishop) has announced casting for its upcoming production of Intimate Apparel, a new opera with music by Ricky Ian Gordon and a libretto by Lynn Nottage, based on her play. The opera, which will be directed by Bartlett Sher, will begin previews Thursday, February 27 and open on Monday, March 23 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (150 West 65 Street).

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

Opera America will feature a public discussion with The Dramatists Guild's Opera Committee's Librettist Initiative at their New Works Forum on Thursday, January 16 at 10am at the National Opera Center, 330 7th Avenue, 7th Floor, New York.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater announces four additional commissioned playwrights as a part of Power Plays, an ambitious initiative commissioning and developing 25 new plays and musicals from a diverse mix of writers, composers and lyricists over the course of 10 years. Playwrights Lauren Yee, Zack Zadek, Emily Feldman and Karen Zacarías join previously commissioned playwrights with projects underway, including Eduardo Machado, whose Power Play Celia and Fidel, a perceptive and authentic look at Fidel Castro's most trusted confidant and political partner, Celia Sánchez, enjoys its world premiere in Arena's Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, February 28 through April 12, 2020.

Get ready because BroadwayWorld is giving you the chance to win tickets to see Solea Pfeiffer, Renee Fleming, and more in The Light in the Piazza at Chicago's Lyric Opera House! The winner will receive two tickets to the production's December 27th performance. The contest will run now through December 22rd, at 11:59 PM EST. Be sure to enter for your chance to win TODAY!

Drury Lane Theatre has announced casting for the final show in its 2019/2020 season, the Regional Premiere of the beautifully captivating Gershwin musical An American in Paris. Leading the cast are Josh Drake as American GI Jerry Mulligan and Leigh-Ann Esty as Lise Dassin. Drake can currently be seen on Broadway in Disney's Aladdin, and Esty returns to An American in Paris after playing the role of Lise on the show's national tour. This Tony Award-winning musical features music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin with book by Craig Lucas and is directed and choreographed by Lynne Kurdziel-Formato. An American in Paris runs January 31 a?" March 29, 2020, at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace. The press opening is scheduled for Thursday, February 6, 2020, at 8:00 p.m.

The Public Theater (Artistic Director, Oskar Eustis; Executive Director, Patrick Willingham) announced complete casting today for the New York premiere of THE VAGRANT TRILOGY, a Public Theater commission, written by Emerging Writers Group Alumna Mona Mansour. Directed by Mark Wing-Davey, THE VAGRANT TRILOGY begins performances in the LuEsther Hall on Tuesday, March 17 with a Joseph Papp Free Preview performance, and will run through Sunday, April 26 with an official press opening on Wednesday, April 1.

Lyric Opera's special holiday engagement of Adam Guettel's THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, one of the few contemporary musicals written in a style that harkens back to the Golden Age, is beautifully sung with the composer's complicated and melodious score performed by a superb orchestra. The musical focuses on Margaret Johnson and her daughter Clara, who take a vacation to Florence, Italy in the summer of 1953a?'and find their lives forever changed after Clara has a chance encounter with Fabrizio Nacarelli, a young Italian man. It should come as little surprise that Renèe Fleming has a radiant turn as Margaret. Vocally, Fleming's take on the role is pristine, but she also plays out the tension between Margaret's fiercely protective instincts when it comes to her child and her yearning to empower Clara to lead her own life as a young adult. While I wish to avoid spoilers, it's key to share that the musical has a twist that includes a revelation about Clara that shines light on precisely why Margaret feels so compelled to keep watch over her daughter.

The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera House stars four-time Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Renée Fleming. The limited holiday engagement runs through Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera House stars four-time Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Renée Fleming. The limited holiday engagement runs through Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

The Big Chill meets This is Us in Rachel Bonds' play Goodnight Nobody. In this deeply moving and funny world premiere, a group of old friends reconnect after years apart. They reminisce with wild abandon, until the things they aren't telling each other come hurtling to the surface. The production runs January 10 through February 9 in McCarter's Berlind Theatre. More about the production at mccarter.org.

Rehearsals are underway for Scenario Two's presentation of the beloved Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza at Lyric Opera House, starring four-time Grammy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Renée Fleming. The limited holiday engagement opens this Saturday, Dec. 14 and runs through Sunday, Dec. 29, 2019.

a?oeTimes are hard for dreamersa?? but that won't stop Amélie Poulain. Falsely diagnosed with a heart condition as a child, she was home-schooled by her mother and kept at a distance by her germophobe father, forcing her to retreat into her imagination for amusement and company. Fast forward to August 1997 and she's working in a café in Paris, keeping herself to herself until she finds a box of childhood trinkets and becomes determined to reunite them with their owner. This sets her off on a mission to meddle in other people's lives a?' and maybe even change her own if she'll ever talk to Nino, who's fascinated by the identity of the mysterious photo booth man.

Drury Lane Theatre concludes its 2019/2020 Season with the Regional Premiere of the beautifully captivating Gershwin musical An American in Paris. This Tony Award-winning musical features music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin with book by Craig Lucas and is directed and choreographed by Lynne Kurdziel-Formato. An American in Paris runs January 31 - March 29, 2020, at Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane in Oakbrook Terrace. The press opening is scheduled for Thursday, February 6, 2020, at 8:00 p.m.

Three-time Olivier Award winner Alex Jennings (Netflix's The Crown), in Chicago rehearsing for his upcoming role in the Tony Award-winning musical, The Light in the Piazza, at the Lyric Opera House Dec. 14-29, will make a special appearance at the Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (164 N. State Street) following the National Theatre Live screening of the engrossing new work, Hansard, in which he co-stars with Olivier and Tony Award-winning actress Lindsay Duncan (Private Lives), Friday evening, December 6, at 7:45pm.  Jennings will be on hand afterwards to answer questions about his acclaimed Broadway, West End, and TV career.

a?oeRecklessa?? will be presented on the Nancy Gehrke Stage in the Herbert L. Williams Theatre at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Marinette Campus, 750 West Bay Shore Street. Performances will run November 15-17 and 22-24, with Friday and Saturday curtains opening at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for patrons 65 and older, $10 for non-UW-Green Bay students and free to current UW-Green Bay students from all campuses with campus ID.

The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, a program within the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University is delighted to present a play for those who are looking for a darker take on the holidays. Reckless by Craig Lucas, is the perfect way to celebrate. The outrageously funny story begins on Christmas Eve when Rachel's husband reveals he's hired a hitman to kill her.