The Off-Broadway League today announced nominations in 14 categories and two additional special awards for the 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Achievement Off-Broadway. The Lortel Awards will be handed out on Sunday, May 5, 2013 at NYU Skirball Center beginning at 7:00pm EST, and hosted by acclaimed stage and screen actors Aasif Mandvi and Maura Tierney. This year's event will once again benefit The Actors Fund.
MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) has just announced that Leslie Bibb (Iron Man, ABC's 'GCB') and Jenna Fischer (NBC's 'The Office') will be making their New York City stage debuts opposite Josh Hamilton (The Coast of Utopia) and Fred Weller (MCC's Still Life and In a Dark Dark House) in the world premiere of MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute's new play, Reasons to Be Happy, which LaBute will also direct. Reasons to Be Happy is a companion piece to LaBute's critically-acclaimed award-winning play, Reasons to Be Pretty, first produced at MCC Theater in 2008 before moving to Broadway where it was nominated for three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Play. Performances begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 16, 2013 and continue through June 23, 2013. An official opening is set for June 11, 2013 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are now on sale.
Performances begin tonight for Roundabout Theatre Company's second annual Roundabout Underground Reading Series. The actors involved in the series include: Penn Badgley, David Wilson Barnes, Noah Bean, Reg E. Cathey, Tracee Chimo , Liza Colon-Zayas, Patch Darragh, Erin Gann, Jordan Gelber, Kelli Giddish, Andre Holland, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Ezra Knight, Austin Lysy, Madeleine Martin, Chris Perfetti, Lorenzo Pisoni, Phillipa Soo, Stephen Stout, Andrea Syglowski, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Nitya Vindyasagar, Allison Williams.
MCC Theater presents the New York premiere production of Paul Downs Colaizzo's Really Really, directed by David Cromer (the Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of hits Our Town, Adding Machine and Tribes). The production, which marks Colaizzo's New York playwriting debut, plays at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) through March 10, 2013. The opening was last night, February 19.
BroadwayWorld was there for opening night and you can check out photos from the theatre arrivals below!
Country music fans awakened to the sad news that Mindy McCready was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. The singer had been struggling in recent years over a variety of issues including a custody battle for her two young children. On this morning's Today show on NBC, the father of one of McCready's two children spoke about the sad news. Watch his appearance below.
Boston Playwrights' Theatre final new play of the season is Dan Hunter's LEGALLY DEAD, a dark comedy about a dysfunctional family deciding how to deal with its missing Dad. The wacky, scary characters are immensely entertaining, but you wouldn't want them on your family tree.
Collegium Vocale Gent and Orchestre des Champs-Elysees, masterfully guided by Philippe Herreweghe, offer listeners a thoroughly transcendental experience with a new recording of Beethoven's Missa solemnis. This major sacred work-considered by the composer himself to be his finest-features a quartet of superb soloists in soprano Marlis Petersen, mezzo-soprano Gerhild Romberger, tenor Benjamin Hulett and baritone David Wilson-Johnson. Following the European release, Belgium's Le Soir declared that the recording "achieves a summit of fervor. Miraculous!' The new recording on Herreweghe's PHI label is available now from Allegro Classical.
The 30th Anniversary Edition of Reagle Music Theatre's CHRISTMAS TIME is an all-encompassing, radiant, musical holiday extravaganza. A pageant for all ages that has stood the test of time, the show features guest artists Sarah Pfisterer and Rick Hilsabeck, a cast of nearly 200 adults and children, and a full live orchestra. It is a feast for the eyes with outstanding costumes and beautifully rendered scenic backdrops.
MCC Theater has announced that MCC Playwright-in-Residence Neil LaBute will direct the world premiere of his new play, Reasons to Be Happy, as part of its 2012-13 Season. Performances of Reasons to Be Happy begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on May 16, 2013 and continue through June 23, 2013. An official opening is set for June 2, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. Additional information, including complete casting, will be announced shortly.
The Guthrie today announced a slate of events taking place June 22-23, 2013, commemorating the theater's 50th season with options ranging from dinner and dance parties; BEHOLD, an original one-time gala performance; and a Community Celebration Day in which the Guthrie will open its doors for free all-ages activities, classes and behind-the-scenes access to the theater's inner workings. The Guthrie also announced the appointment of Jay Cowles, Margaret Wurtele and Charlie Zelle, the children of founders John Cowles Jr., Philip Von Blon and Louis Zelle as Honorary Chairs of its 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee.
The Guthrie today announced a slate of events taking place June 22-23, 2013, commemorating the theater's 50th season with options ranging from dinner and dance parties; BEHOLD, an original one-time gala performance; and a Community Celebration Day in which the Guthrie will open its doors for free all-ages activities, classes and behind-the-scenes access to the theater's inner workings.
Second Stage Theatre presents Jon Kern's world premiere comedy, Modern Terrorism, Or They Who Want To Kills Us and How We Learn To Love Them, which opened last night, October 15. Check out photos from opening night below!
MCC THEATER presents the world premiere production of Don't Go Gentle by Stephen Belber and directed by Lucie Tiberghien, which opened last night, October 14, at the Rattlestick Theater. Don't Go Gentle features David Wilson Barnes (Broadway's The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Becky Shaw at Second Stage), newcomer Maxx Brawer, Michael Cristofer (NBC's hit series "Smash," Broadway's A View from the Bridge with Liev Schreiber), Angela Lewis (Milk Like Sugar at Playwrights Horizons), and Jennifer Mudge (Roundabout Theatre Company's The Philanthropist).
BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the big opening below!
MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) begins previews today for the world premiere production of Don't Go Gentle by Stephen Belber and directed by Lucie Tiberghien, who also directed Belber's play Geometry of Fire at the Rattlestick Theater.
MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) today announced that individual tickets have gone on-sale for the first show of its 2012-13 season: the world premiere of Stephen Belber's Don't Go Gentle. Performances take place at The Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street) and tickets go on sale at 11AM today Thursday, August 23rd at www.mcctheater.org or by calling (212) 352-3101.
MCC THEATER today announced full casting for Don't Go Gentle and additional casting for Small Engine Repair, two productions in their upcoming 2012-13 season, which marks the company's 27th consecutive year producing and developing new work by today's most provocative and vibrant artists.
It's quite a shame when a well-written, absorbing play has three strikes against it from the onset. Such is the case with The Exorcist by John Pielmeier. The best-selling novel by William Peter Blatty and the 1973 boxoffice blockbuster film of the same name were so powerfully gripping and unforgettable that, with the play coming along 40 years later, for those of us that lived through the nightmare to end all nightmares, we've been there, seen that. For those of a newer, unfamiliar generation, it won't have enough special effects. Wisely, for my generation, the spinning head and green vomit in the original film are not recreated onstage. But, as a result, many may tune out or turn off preferring a midnight screening of the film on Netflix. As I already said, a shame, as Pielmeieir's script is psychologically thrilling on its own, so apt for the mature, questioning adult mind, and the production is extremely well directed by John Doyle and superbly acted by a first-rate ensemble headed by Brooke Shields in her best and most remarkable performance to date. But is all of this enough? Probably not.
The Geffen Playhouse's world premiere stage adaptation of The Exorcist features Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain in the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin, respectively, as well as Broadway actor David Wilson Barnes as the troubled young priest Father Damien Karras, Tony Award nominee Harry Groener takes on the role of Chris' charismatic director Burke Dennings and UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television graduate Emily Yetter plays the young Regan MacNeil.
The Exorcist opened last night, July 11, in the Gil Cates Theater at the Geffen Playhouse and runs through August, 12, 2012, starring Brooke Shields, Richard Chamberlain, David Wilson Barnes, Emily Yetter, and more. Check out the opening night party in the photos below!
