David Shiner News

Two-time Tony Award-winning Goodspeed Musicals has assembled six exciting teams - three led by prominent women directors - to helm the diverse productions planned this season: a tap-happy musical comedy, a beloved classic, a completely reinvented musical from some of the finest creative minds in musical theatre, two bold new musicals, and a holiday show for all ages.

Joe's Pub at The Public announces the new class of Joe's Pub Working Group (JPWG), formerly known as "Pub Club," the venue's artist development program dedicated to enhancing the career sustainability and growth of performing artists.

The Public Theater kicks off the 2016-17 season this month with a free Public Works musical adaptation of TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub.

The Public Theater will kick off the 2016-17 season in September with a free Public Works musical adaptation of TWELFTH NIGHT, conceived by Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub, with music and lyrics by Shaina Taub. Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, TWELFTH NIGHT will once again feature over 200 actors and community members alongside five equity actors, including this year Nikki M. James as Viola and Jose Llana as Orsino.

The 'half-lament, half-rallying cry' was originally written in response to the Sandy Hook shootings.

The show will include the two songwriters doing arrangements of each other's work.

CoHo kicks off its Summerfest 2016 lineup.

Irwin received four Tony nominations in 1989 for his neo-vaudeville adventure.

The sparkling new Broadway musical Shuffle Along boasts an all-star cast and one heck of a tap-happy, super talented ensemble. Dancer Phillip Attmore is among those skillful hoofers who tear up the floor nightly at The Music Box Theatre. This guy has charisma to spare and literally bursts out of the chorus performing a rapid-fire succession of rhythm turns that are reminiscent of the dynamic tapping from the old classic movie musicals.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) presents HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).

Ghostlight Records will release a special EP of world-premiere recordings by acclaimed singer/songwriter SHAINA TAUB - which she wrote for and performed in the hit Off-Broadway production of Old Hats - on Friday, April 29.

CoHo has announced its Summerfest 2016 lineup. Four shows in four weekends will feature an unknown drag legend, a masked Shakespearean fanfic, an acrobatic Downton Abbey, and laughable panic attacks.

The Public Theater announced an additional one-week extension today for the New York premiere of Head of Passes, part of Oskar Eustis' 10th anniversary season.

Following The New Group's BURIED CHILD live stream this past Wednesday, BroadwayHD will present Signature Theatre's special return engagement of OLD HATS, created and performed by Bill Irwin and David Shiner, with music and lyrics by and featuring Shaina Taub, and directed by Tina Landau, this Saturday, April 2, at 8:00 PM EDT. 

Signature Theatre has announced casting is confirmed and tickets are now on sale for Signature Plays, which revisits the work of three Legacy playwrights with Edward Albee's The Sandbox, Maria Irene Fornes' Drowning, and Adrienne Kennedy's Funnyhouse of a Negro. Directed by Lila Neugebauer (A.R. Gurney's The Wayside Motor Inn), this trio of plays, all produced during their author's original Playwright-in-Residence season and presented together for the first time, celebrates Signature's rich and diverse history over the past quarter century.

The Public Theater presents the New York premiere of HEAD OF PASSES, written by TarellAlvin McCraney and directed by Tina Landau. Part of Oskar Eustis' 10th anniversary season, HEAD OF PASSES officially opens tonight, March 28, in the Newman Theater and runs through Sunday, April 17, 2016.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) has announced the cast for HADESTOWN, written by celebrated singer-songwriter Anais Mitchell and developed with and directed by the inventive two-time OBIE award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Three Pianos; Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812).

The Public Theater presents the New York premiere of HEAD OF PASSES, written by TarellAlvin McCraney and directed by Tina Landau. Part of Oskar Eustis' 10th anniversary season, HEAD OF PASSES begins previews tonight, March 17, in the Newman Theater and runs through Sunday, April 17, with an official press opening on Monday, March 28.

The singer-songwriter's music and performance complement Bill Irwin and David Shiner's baggy pants silliness in this revival of the side-splitting show.

Dear Readers, I'm back from the Mothership (New York of course) to let you all in on some of the wonderful and not so wonderful things I saw with a few brief notes on each. And yes that includes my catching the juggernaut of all shows on Broadway right now, 'Hamilton'. Now there are some shows that I saw that are still in previews so I can't really review them but wanted to let you know about them anyway. So let's start at the top.