David Lind News

Thus, we are happy to present one of our most popular features: The Nashville Theater Calendar, a comprehensive - maybe even exhaustive (lord knows we're exhausted from putting it together, gathering all the info from all over the interwebs!) - listing of theatrical openings for the 2016 season. We'll update the calendar every Monday, clearing out the shows that have closed and adding additional information on the shows still to come.

BroadwayWorld is excited to report that Callie Cooke, Tahirah Sharif and Phaldut Sharma will reprise their roles in Phil Davies' debut play, FIREBIRD, following a run at Hampstead Downstairs last autumn.

Broadway Entertainment Group FZ LLC and NETworks Presentations LLC are pleased to announce their first ever, global tour of the English language production of SHREK THE MUSICAL with book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire and music by Jeanine Tesori.  The production begins its journey in Istanbul, Turkey on the 22nd January, 2016 and will tour to diverse markets including Europe, the Middle East and Asia to cities including; Abu Dhabi, Jakarta and Singapore to name a few. 

The Royal Players will hold auditions for its upcoming production of Shrek: The Musical on Saturday, January 30th and Sunday, January 31st at 6:00pm (Open Call). If necessary, callbacks will be held on Tuesday, February 2nd.

Mary's Wedding" premiers January 28 - February 21, 2016 at the Malibu Playhouse, officially launching their 2016 season under the helm of Jeremy Skidmore, world-renowned theater director and formerly Artistic Director of Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C.

Refuge Theatre Project's second season will open on January 29, 2016 with High Fidelity - the musical based on Nick Hornby's 1995 novel and on Stephen Frears' 2000 feature-film adaptation that starred Chicago natives John Cusack, Joan Cusack and Lili Taylor.

The 2016 season at BSC will include the world premieres of two new musicals - Jonathan Larson Award winning composer Joe Iconis's Broadway Bounty Hunter and Presto Change-O, directed by Marc Bruni of Broadway's Beautiful The Carole King Musical, BroadwayWorld has learned.

The Kleban Foundation is pleased to announce that the 26th annual Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre lyricist has been awarded to Stacey Luftig and the 26th annual Kleban Prize for the most promising musical theatre librettist has been awarded to Daniel Goldstein.

Hampstead Theatre presents the UK premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama RABBIT HOLE, which previews from Friday 29 January 2016. Directed by Artistic Director Edward Hall, the full cast features Claire Skinner, Tom Goodman-Hill, Penny Downie, Georgina Rich and Sean Delaney. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

Are you 'good people'? Find out as the Bergen County Players (BCP), NJACT's 2015 Community Theatre of the Year, kicks off 2016 with GOOD PEOPLE, by award-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Peter Colletto, a BCP life member who has directed eight previous productions for the group.

Next up at the Echo Theater Company: the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan's newest play - a funny, sexy and unconventional romance with music. Jennifer Chambers directs Kate Morgan Chadwick, TW Leshner and Johnathan McClain in BED, opening Feb. 6 at Atwater Village Theatre.

Tony Award-winning Composer Jason Robert Brown (The Bridges of Madison County, Parade) and acclaimed singer Shoshana Bean (Wicked, Hairspray) will perform a special One Night Only concert entitled 'JASON ROBERT BROWN IN CONCERT WITH SHOSHANA BEAN' on Monday, January 4th, 2016 at 8:30pm (Doors at 7:00pm).

Are you 'good people'? Find out as the Bergen County Players (BCP), NJACT's 2015 Community Theatre of the Year, kicks off 2016 with GOOD PEOPLE, by award-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Peter Colletto, a BCP life member who has directed eight previous productions for the group.

As previously reported, Hampstead Theatre will present the UK premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama RABBIT HOLE, directed by Edward Hall. Now, The Daily Mail writes that a restrained Claire Skinner (as Becca) and Alison Steadman (as Nat, Becca's mother) will star in the production, which begins on January 29, 2016.

Live @ Benaroya Hall jumps into 2016 with new shows and big names including three very different types of Seattle Symphony collaborations. Creator, writer, director and singer Seth MacFarlane swings into Seattle wearing his 'crooner hat' to perform with the Seattle Symphony on April 8, 2016.

The new season will feature the Los Angeles premiere of Dry Land by Susan Blackburn Prize finalist Ruby Rae Spiegel, and four world premieres by Los Angeles-based playwrights including BED by Sheila Callaghan; Captain of the Bible Quiz Team by Tom Jacobson; One of the Nice Ones by Erik Patterson; and Blueberry Toast by Mary Laws.

It's SHREK on steroids, with a feisty Fiona, a smaller-scale, singing dragon, and a lord short on ideas as well as height while the world's favorite ogre rescues a princess and the land of Duloc, all unintentionally.

Phil Davies' debut play FIREBIRD, directed by Hampstead's Artistic Director Edward Hall, will open at the Trafalgar Studios in the New Year. This searing new thriller movingly illustrates how easily young people are exploited and used.

Public radio show and podcast PLAYING ON AIR, which features live recordings of short American plays, returns to BRIC House (647 Fulton Street in Downtown Brooklyn) on December 7 at 7:30pm with three shorts by David Auburn, Max Baker and Jessica Dickey, all recorded live. And the show just announced the addition of award-winning actor Peter Gallagher ('American Beauty,' TV's 'The O.C.') to its impressive roster of talent performing at their annual benefit for the organization.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.