David Lutken News

The Ivoryton Playhouse builds on its growing reputation as a home for new and developing works when it presents the original play with music THE PORCH ON WINDY HILL, opening September 23.

Goodspeed has announced a new fun and foot-stomping evening of live music featuring fan-favorite David Lutken and The Seat Of The Pants Band. Based on the huge success of the first set of outdoor concerts, Goodspeed Musicals has scheduled three new weekends of jubilant Americana music by the riverside!

Frequent People's Light guest artist David M. Lutken is coming to a screen near you. The fan-favorite folk troubadour leads a stellar ensemble of musicians for two virtual hootenannies on Thursday, May 14 at 7:30pm and Sunday, May 17 at 2pm.

TheaterWorks announced additional artists today to their virtual series LIVING ROOM and GET SAUCED:

TheaterWorks announced today that their virtual series LIVING ROOM and GET SAUCED will continue to stream weekly on Wednesdays and Thursdays through the spring season.

Milwaukee Rep has announced the complete cast and creative teams for the final productions of the 2019/20 Season including the world premiere Antonio's Song / I Was Dreaming of a Son by Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith and Antonio Edwards Suarez in the Stiemke Studio March 24 - April 5, 2020; the world premiere event Hootenanny: The Musicale by celebrated musician David Lutken in the Stackner Cabaret March 27 - May 24, 2020; and the telenovela of passion and deception Destiny of Desire by Karen Zacarías in the Quadracci Powerhouse April 21 - May 17, 2020.

WOODY SEZ: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF WOODY GUTHRIE, the internationally acclaimed West End and Broadway hit, opened at the Ivoryton Playhouse on Wednesday, October 23rd. The tumultuous, touching, tragic and joyful tale of “America's greatest folk poet” told in his own words and featuring Bound for Glory, Pastures of Plenty, The Ballad of Tom Joad, This Land is Your Land, and two dozen more of Woody Guthrie's indelible protest songs, is brought to vivid life with an award winning cast including creator David Lutken* as Woody, with Darcie Deaville, David Finch*, Maggie Hollinbeck* and Andy Christopher*.

WOODY SEZ: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF WOODY GUTHRIE, the internationally acclaimed West End and Broadway hit, opens at the Ivoryton Playhouse on Wednesday, October 23rd. The tumultuous, touching, tragic and joyful tale of a?oeAmerica's greatest folk poeta?? told in his own words and featuring Bound for Glory, Pastures of Plenty, The Ballad of Tom Joad, This Land is Your Land, and two dozen more of Woody Guthrie's indelible protest songs, is brought to vivid life with an award winning cast including creator David Lutken* as Woody, with Darcie Deaville, David Finch*, Maggie Hollinbeck* and Andy Christopher*.

People's Light wraps up summer with a music-infused production of Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Long after it won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Wilder's masterwork remains one of the most popular plays of all time, reminding audiences across the country that there is beauty in the ordinary.

Broadway Records today announced that Mimi Bessette: Lullabies of Broadway and Lullabies of Broadway Act II will be released in stores on Friday, March 1, 2019. The album is currently available for pre-order at www.BroadwayRecords.com and Amazon.com, and is now available digitally.

Artistic Director Mark Clements and Executive Director Chad Bauman have just announced Milwaukee Repertory Theater's 2019/20 Season, which celebrates the 10th Anniversary Season of Artistic Director Mark Clements with 15 productions across four venues in the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex.

From the first chords they strum, the terrific trio of Harvy Blanks, David Lutken, and Spiff Wiegand plant smiles on faces and set toes a-tappin'.

On March 20th, 2019 The Ivoryton Playhouse opens its doors for a new season - a year full of exciting, affordable professional theatre. Plays for romantics and plays for cynics; shows for families and shows for sweethearts;  music from the movies and Broadway as well as zany comedies and classic dramas- the Ivoryton Playhouse 2019 season has something for everyone and more than you ever expected.

Milwaukee Repertory Theater is pleased to announce the complete cast and creative team for the world premiere of Mark Twain's River of Song, from the creators of The Rep's hit production Back Home Again: On the Road with John Denver Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman in the Stackner Cabaret, January 18 - March 17, 2019.

Four wildly talented actor-musicians deliver a toe-tapping, hand-clapping, sing-along summer experience for all generations in Woody Sez: The Life & Music of Woody Guthrie, back by popular demand at People's Light. Folk revolutionary Guthrie showed you can strum a revolution with joy. Current troubadour David M. Lutken and friends celebrate the fascinating, beautiful, and sometimes tragic life of the legend who inspired Dylan, Springsteen, DiFranco, and an entire songwriting tradition. Featuring 15 instruments, 25 songs, and comprised almost entirely of Guthrie's own words, Woody Sez runs August 1-26 on the Leonard C. Haas Stage in Malvern.

Every once in a while, a person is born who is destined to influence the world in ways yet to be seen. Sometimes these men and women are born into a position of power, such as a king or queen, and other times they do whatever it takes to become great and powerful business or political leaders on the backs of others. But once in a blue moon there comes a man who gains fortune and fame for simply being someone who people connect with, who speaks the truth, and who does his best to make the world a better place than he left it. One such man is the sage from Oologah ,Oklahoma, William Penn Adair Rogers. As time passes, fewer and fewer people are alive who had first-hand experience reading Will Rogers' column, listening to him on the radio, or seeing his films. It is for that reason, that we are lucky a show like THE WILL ROGERS FOLLIES exists, and even luckier that Goodspeed Musicals chose it for the opening production of its 2018 season. Telling his life story over the course of a Ziegfeld follies extravaganza (another thing that many today have no memory of), this dazzling, colorful, and heartwarming musical takes audiences on a journey from rags to riches with America's "Cowboy Philosopher".

The 2018-19 season at People's Light explores love, appetite, loss, and legacy through script and song.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, announces the 2018 season of performances at Mr. Finn's Cabaret, located on the lower level of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

Wisconsin native Ayad Akhtar, winner of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and newly elected Milwaukee Rep trustee, and Artistic Director Mark Clements will adapt Akhtar's critically acclaimed first novel American Dervish for the stage to make its World Premiere at Milwaukee Repertory Theater in an upcoming season as part of the John (Jack) D. New Play Development Program. The Rep's multi-year exploration of Akhtar's work, including The Invisible Hand (2015/16), Disgraced (2016/17), The Who & The What (2017/18) and the upcoming regional premiere of his new Broadway play Junk in the 2018/19 65th Anniversary Season, have delighted audiences and reinforced The Rep's commitment to producing entertaining and thought-provoking world class theater.

Goodspeed Musicals kicks off its 2018 season with the Broadway hit The Will Rogers Follies, A Life In Revue. The exuberant dance-filled musical will be running April 13 - June 21 at The Goodspeed in East Haddam, Conn.