David Rockwell News

The producers of Kinky Boots , the six-time Tony Award-winning musical that brings together four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein (Book) and Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper (Tony Award-winner for Best Score for Kinky Boots), are pleased to announce the show's tour dates for the 2014-2015 season. Kinky Boots will launch its national tour at the Smith Center in Downtown Las Vegas (361 Symphony Park Avenue) on September 4, 2014.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced complete casting for its production of Side Show that runs in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater from June 14 to July 13, 2014. Side Show features book and lyrics by Bill Russell and music by Henry Krieger, and is directed by Academy Award winner Bill Condon. Sam Davis will serve as musical director and arranger and will conduct the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra. The Kennedy Center production of Side Show is produced in association with La Jolla Playhouse. Press opening night is Thursday, June 19, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

Signature Theatre just held its Annual Gala celebration last night, April 7, 2014 honoring 108th New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and actor/playwright/director Ruben Santiago-Hudson. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from inside the gala below!

Producers Daryl Roth and Hal Luftig announced today that Kinky Boots, the Tony Award-winning musical, will celebrate its 100,000th fan 'Like' on Facebook by offering free tickets to lottery entrants for the week of March 18-23, 2014. For this week only, the production will offer 10 pairs of free tickets to each performance, in place of the regular $37 lottery price.

The new year has already brought notable success for Houston Grand Opera (HGO), where the hotly anticipated American premiere of the long-lost Holocaust opera The Passenger-hailed by the Associated Press as 'the latest coup for a company known for producing new works'-took the national and local press by storm, and where the company's Rigoletto revival was pronounced 'glorious' (Theater Jones). These accolades come at an exciting time for the company, which continues this season's extraordinary line-up with the launch of the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by La Fura dels Baus; the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve 'must-see opera events of the season' (Opera News); a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi.

Today in 2005, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels openend at the Imperial Theatre, where it ran for 627 performances.Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a Broadway musical, with music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a book by Jeffrey Lane; it is based on the 1988 film of the same name. The director was Jack O'Brien, choreographer was Jerry Mitchell, scenic design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg carves, and lighting design was by Kenneth Posner. The cast included John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, and Sherie Rene Scott, with Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara.

The new year has already brought notable success for Houston Grand Opera (HGO), where the hotly anticipated American premiere of the long-lost Holocaust opera The Passenger-hailed by the Associated Press as 'the latest coup for a company known for producing new works'-took the national and local press by storm, and where the company's Rigoletto revival was pronounced 'glorious' (Theater Jones). These accolades come at an exciting time for the company, which continues this season's extraordinary line-up with the launch of the first American presentation of a visionary and groundbreaking treatment of Das Rheingold by La Fura dels Baus; the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt, named one of the twelve 'must-see opera events of the season' (Opera News); a new HGO production of Carmen from Broadway sensation Rob Ashford; and Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, which boasts designs by fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi.

AFTER MIDNIGHT, currently playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, just welcomed k.d. lang as its special guest star. Lang will continue her Broadway run through March 9. Fashion duo Isabel and Ruben Toledo hosted a pre-opening night reception at their atelier in honor of for four-time Grammy Award-winning icon k.d. lang's Broadway debut in After Midnight. Scroll down for photos from the festivities!

The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Theatre, reveals its lineup for the 2014-2015 SEASON, featuring six blockbuster productions currently playing to sold-out houses on Broadway and a new production of a beloved title.

A representative for the show has confirmed to BWW that VENUS IN FUR playwright, David Ives, will write the book for HOUDINI. Ives has been attached to the project for a number of months, as first reported by BWW earlier this year in a video interview with Jack O'Brien. Aaron Sorkin had previously signed on to pen the production, but withdrew in January due to scheduling conflicts.

Stage and screen star Hugh Jackman has long been slated to return to Broadway starring as America's greatest showman in Houdini. Now according to Variety, the Tony winner has withdrawn from the production, which is now aiming for a Broadway run in the 2015-16 theatre season.

Just yesterday, it was announced that the Hartman Group, the Broadway press agency that was slated to represent the new musical, would close its doors in January 2014. Since then, Houdini producer Scott Sanders told the New York Times that the show is now aiming for a run in the 2015-16 theatre season. He told the NYT: "I'm very supportive of Michael's decision, as I think everyone is, because this is certainly the time in one's life to do something like this. We'll figure out how to successfully transition some of our projects to another firm or elsewhere."

"The lasting impact W Hotels has made on the hotel industry cannot be overstated," said Frits van Paasschen, Chief Executive Officer and President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. "Over the past 15 years, W has turned the staid hospitality landscape on its head and demonstrated that a hotel is more than a place to check in and checkout as it continues to reinvent the category it created with each new hotel opening around the world."

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, stage and screen star Hugh Jackman revealed that his next project, HOUDINI will hopefully come to Broadway 'within a year or 18 months'. In Houdini, Hugh Jackman will return to Broadway starring as America's greatest showman. One of the world's most fascinating figures takes center stage in Houdini, an original and contemporary look at the life--and death--of America's first superstar.

Side Show/book & lyrics by Bill Russell/music by Henry Krieger/directed by Bill Condon/La Jolla Playhouse/through December 15

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust honors playwrights Annie Baker and Rajiv Joseph at the Sixth Annual Steinberg Playwright 'Mimi' Awards tonight, Monday, November 18, 2013 at the Lincoln Center Theater in New York. The 'Mimi' Awards are presented biennially to honor the accomplishments of some of the most gifted up-and-coming American Playwrights and to recognize the promise they hold for the future of American theater.

Stage and screen illusion designer Michael Weber is currently working with composer Stephen Schwartz on the upcoming Broadway musical HOUDINI, starring Hugh Jackman.

In Stephen Belber's new play 'The Power of Duff' a lonely newsman seeks redemption by inadvertently turning his anchor desk into a pulpit, working miracles for strangers while still failing to communicate at home.

The Museum of the City of New York will hold a special program with architect and Broadway set designer David Rockwell and City Museum curator Donald Albrecht as they explore architecture as a narrative art and theater as inspiration for design innovation and visionary thinking on Monday, November 4, 2013.