Deen Van Meer News

This past month was filled with exciting stage-to-screen news! In casting news, The In the Heights film rounded out its cast and Mike Faist joined the West Side Story film. The plays Outside Mullingar and The Father are getting the feature film treatment, and The Prom and The Boys and the Band are headed to Netflix!

Previews are underway for MCC Theater's New York Premiere production of BLKS, written by Aziza Barnes, and directed by Robert O'Hara. The cast features Marie Botha, Antoinette Crowe-Legacy, Alfie Fuller, Paige Gilbert, Chris Myers and Coral Peña. BLKS began performances on Saturday, April 20th in the Newman Mills Theater at The Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space (511 West 52nd Street), with an official opening night set for Thursday, May 9th.

Christopher Sieber is taking the stage in the musical that's touching hearts and funny bones alike, The Prom. Sieber took a moment to speak with us about what it's like being part of such a relevant and heartfelt show alongside some of the biggest stars in the biz.

BroadwayWorld has just learned that The Prom will perform at the WorldPride Closing Ceremony on June 30th in Times Square. Melissa Etheridge will headline the Closing Ceremony, which will also include performances by Jake Shears & MNEK. Additional talent will be announced in the weeks ahead.

Casting has been announced for the premiere engagement of Disney's THE LION KING in West Palm Beach.  THE LION KING will leap onto The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts' Bernard and Chris Marden stage on Wednesday, April 24 for a 2-week engagement through Sunday, May 5.

A fish with a porpoise, a lady of many (mad) hats, Grace McLean is currently living life down the rabbit hole in the thrilling new musical Alice By Heart.

Frozen recently celebrated its first anniversary on Broadway! The show has released all-new production photos, featuring original stars Caissie Levy (Elsa) and Patti Murin (Anna) and new principal cast members Joe Carroll as Hans, Noah J. Ricketts as Kristoff, and, as Olaf, Ryann Redmond, the first woman to bring the beloved snowman to life.

Ryann Redmond is an icon all on her own, but she's making a splash in an icy pond as the first ever female actress to portray Olaf in Frozen on Broadway. We took a moment to speak with Redmond about her experiences playing the lovable snowman and the powerful statement of adding yet another female lead to Frozen's girl-power narrative!

As Frozen celebrates its first smash year on Broadway on March 22nd, Disney Theatrical Productions has announced that the show will have three international productions, joining the previously announced North American tour launching this fall.

According to this reviewer's admittedly casual bit of Googling, the first Broadway production based on Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was playwright Alice Gerstenberg's version, which opened at the Booth in 1915. But undoubtedly there were many other variations before then.

Remarkably glitzy and broadly amusing, the delightful stage version of Disney's ALADDIN is a fun, lively, and entertaining repackaging of the originally fun, lively, and entertaining animated film classic, which will please both fans of the original and those in the mood for a great big dazzling (and bedazzled) Broadway musical. While this Casey Nicholaw-helmed big-budget extravaganza of dazzling sights and sounds is quite a faithful adaptation in terms of storyline and tone, the stage version abandons the impossible things it couldn't remotely replicate from the animated movie, but instead smartly utilizes the limitations of---and the unique qualities of---musical theater to produce a show that is, astonishingly, still an overall satisfying sensory treat. The show's national tour continues its three-week engagement at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, CA through March 23, 2019.

In honor of Kiss Me, Kate's opening on Broadway tonight, we're breaking down some of Broadway's biggest hits influenced by theatre's biggest playwright: William Shakespeare! The Bard's work is as pervasive as ever and unstoppable even in song.

The national tour of the hit stage adaptation of Disney's ALADDIN has finally arrived in Orange County, playing a three-week engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through March 23, 2019. The talented, terrifically nimble actor that can currently be found in the title role wearing the signature vest-no-shirt-parachute pants garb is Clinton Greenspan, who agreed to answer 20 Questions from BroadwayWorld's OC correspondent Michael L. Quintos.

 The ALADDIN tour's magic carpet has just landed at the San Diego Civic Theatre and will be playing here through March 3rd and Lissa was able to chat a bit about the importance of the swings in a show, why Jasmine is such a relatable Princess, and what the world looks like from that magic carpet.

We're rounding up some of the most heavily represented schools on Broadway to give students some stats to consider when getting ready to apply or even transfer.

MCC Theater announces a one week extension for Alice By Heart and the musical will now play through Sunday, April 7th with tickets now on sale. Ticket demand has been extremely high for the show which has music by Duncan Sheik ; lyrics by Steven Sater and book by Steven Sater and Jessie Nelson.

THE LION KING opened at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton on February 7 and will continue to play through February 24. Whether this is your first time seeing it or your 50th, it is an elaborate, engaging, immersive experience audiences are unlikely to forget.

From the producers of The Lion King and Aladdin, Disney's Frozen, the Tony-nominated Best Musical, will play a premiere engagement at the Civic Center Music Hall in the spring of 2021, with performance dates to be announced at a later time.

Previews are underway for the New York premiere of the musical Alice By Heart with book by Steven Sater with Jessie Nelson, music by Duncan Sheik, lyrics by Steven Sater and directed by Jessie Nelson. Get a first look at the production below!

Aladdin wants to change his life and he gets the opportunity when he befriends a Genie. Will three wishes be enough to help him win the heart of Princess Jasmine?