David Jennings News

This week, producers Ken Davenport and Hunter Arnold announced that Hailey Kilgore has been cast as Ti Moune in the new Broadway production of Once On This Island following an extensive international search by the show's casting team.

Today, producers Ken Davenport and Hunter Arnold announced that Hailey Kilgore, an 18 year-old Oregon native, will make her Broadway debut as Ti Moune in the new Broadway production of Once On This Island, which will play the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 W. 50th street, NYC) this fall. Click below to go behind the scenes on the international search for Ti Moune, plus see a message from Hailey!

Today, producers Ken Davenport and Hunter Arnold announced that Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, Alex Newell ('Glee'), Merle Dandridge('Greenleaf'), and Quentin Earl Darrington (Cats) will join the cast of the new Broadway production of Once On This Island, which will play the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 W. 50th street, NYC) this fall.

Today, producers Ken Davenport and Hunter Arnold announced that Tony Award nominee Phillip Boykin, Alysha Deslorieux, Kenita R. Miller, and Isaac Powell are joining the new Broadway production of Once On This Island, which will play the Circle in the Square Theatre (235 W. 50th street, NYC) this fall.

In celebration of Columbia's 50th year, Toby Orenstein, Artistic Director of Toby's Dinner Theatre in Columbia, rotates one powerhouse leading lady per decade into the well-written Narrator role of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. Toby Orenstein and co-director Mark Minnick put together a fun, energetic production. Add new arrangements and musical direction by Ross Scott Rawlings, and the resulting show is engaging, sassy, funny, family-friendly and stuffed with talking points for the car ride home.

FREAKY FRIDAY is my life. Well, minus the switching bodies with my mom and misplacing my brother.

FREAKY FRIDAY, a new musical from Disney, is based on the 1976 original movie and 2003 remake of the same name. It's a simple premise. Career mother and teenage daughter don't get along. (Stop me if you've heard this one.)

Freaky Friday has made its way to Houston! See stars Heidi Blickenstaff and Emma Hunton talk about the show with Houston Life Reporter, Stephanie Gonzalez in the video below!

The Alley Theatre announces the cast and creative team of its 2016-2017 season finale production - Disney's new musical Freaky Friday.

The body-swapping duo in Cleveland Play House's (CPH) musical production of Disney's Freaky Friday will be played by Heidi Blickenstaff (Broadway's Something Rotten!) and Emma Hunton (Broadway's Spring Awakening). Blickenstaff and Hunton will reprise their roles as Katherine Blake (mother) and Ellie Blake (daughter) from La Jolla Playhouse's production, which launched a three-theatre co-production that will move to Cleveland Play House and conclude with a run at Houston's Alley Theatre. Get a sneak peek at them in action at La Jolla Playhouse before they hit Cleveland!

If you love Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, there's not a single reason you wouldn't like the show at Toby's Dinner Theatre. It's a fun production. There's a lot to love about it. Dinner is tasty. Everyone at Toby's is unfailingly polite, cheerful, helpful and speedy, including each member of the actor/wait staff. The productions are done with attention to detail and the actors are well cast. That combination of elements is rare in ANY public forum these days, so all credit to the management for creating this wonderful environment. If you enjoy dinner theatre, you will be pleased.

Cleveland Play House will close out their 2016-17 season with the joyful new musical romp, Freaky Friday. Based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers which spawned two hit Disney films, Freaky Friday tells the story of a mother and daughter who magically swap bodies for 24 chaotic hours. The contemporary update of this American classic includes a hilarious new book by Bridget Carpenter ("Parenthood," "Friday Night Lights"), and a pop?rock score by Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then). Directed by Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, it has been hailed as "a polished, peppy, modern fairy tale" by The Washington Post. With high-energy choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Memphis, Jersey Boys), this vivacious production is "delightfully spunky" with "timeless appeal" (Variety).

Due to overwhelming demand, La Jolla Playhouse is adding a seventh week of performances for Disney's Freaky Friday.  The show will extend its run through March 19. 

La Jolla Playhouse presents Freaky Friday, book by Bridget Carpenter (TV's 'Friday Night Lights,' 'Parenthood'), music and lyrics by the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning team of Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then), based on the novel 'Freaky Friday' by Mary Rodgers and the Walt Disney motion pictures, to be directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley, running tonight, January 31 , through March 12, 2017 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre.

A Sign Of The Times, A New '60s Musical headed to Goodspeed's Norma Terris Theatre this summer, will hold a private industry reading on April 28-29.

Voting has opened for the 2015 BroadwayWorld Baltimore Regional Awards! Check out the latest live stats as of November 27th. Nominations were reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors. Voting runs through December 31.

Portland Center Stage hits a home run with fantastic, high-energy production of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'.

Superb cast at Toby's is not to be missed.

The world premiere, Broadway-bound musicalWaitress, based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly, with a book by Jessie Nelson, music & lyrics by Sara Bareilles, direction by Diane Paulus, and choreography by Chase Brock, wraps up this weekend at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University. The show won't open in New York until the Spring, but fans need not wait that long for a taste of what's to come. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Bareilles will release an album of songs from the show, titled What's Inside: Songs From Waitress, this fall through Epic Records. The single 'She Used to Be Mine' will be released digitally tomorrow, September 24.

The world premiere, Broadway-bound musicalWaitress, based on the motion picture written by Adrienne Shelly, with a book by Jessie Nelson, music & lyrics by Sara Bareilles, direction by Diane Paulus, and choreography by Chase Brock, wraps up this weekend at American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University. The show won't open in New York until the Spring, but fans need not wait that long for a taste of what's to come. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Bareilles will release an album of songs from the show, titled What's Inside: Songs From Waitress, this fall through Epic Records. The single 'She Used to Be Mine' will be released digitally tomorrow, September 24.