Des McAnuff News

Twenty years after its Broadway premiere, Tommy returns to the stage in a new production helmed by its co-creator and original director, Des McAnuff. The spectacular musical that swept the Tony Awards in 1993 starts previews on Saturday, May 4, at the Avon Theatre.

Calling all pinball wizards! The Stratford Festival invites you to be a part of history. On Thursday, May 16, the Festival will be in Toronto to host Pinballapalooza, an exciting event to celebrate the opening of its much-anticipated rock musical, Tommy.

Cast members from the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS will be featured on 'Wheel of Fortune' beginning tonight and through the month of May to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the popular TV game show. Cast members will appear tonight, Monday, April 29; Tuesday, May 7; Friday, May 17 and Friday, May 24. 'Wheel of Fortune' airs at 7:30pm on Channel 7 in the New York area. Check local listings for time outside the New York area.

The Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, ends its first national tour at San Francisco's SHN Curran Theatre today, April 28, 2013, after playing a total of 2,598 performances on the road. The second national tour continues to travel throughout the country. Jersey Boys worldwide has been seen by over 15 million people.

Showtime Management, South African producers of Jersey Boys, the sensational Broadway hit musical that has taken Johannesburg by storm, today announced a two-week extension of the show's season at the Teatro at Montecasino owing to overwhelming public demand. Jersey Boys must close on Sunday, 9 June 2013 in time for its Cape Town season at Artscape that opens on 19 June.

According to Deadline, Fox has landed the rights to the classic musical, and though no writer or director is attached to the project, execs reportedly have their eyes on Channing Tatum and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to take on the original roles made famous by Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando.

Broadway San Jose, a partnership between the Nederlander organization of New York and Team San Jose, announced the six shows in its 2013-14 Season today at an event attended by approximately 500 Subscribers and community leaders at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts in downtown San Jose. Headlining the Broadway San Jose season will be a three-week run of WICKED, the Tony Award winning musical that maintains its position as the top selling musical on Broadway, nine years after its premiere.

Full casting has been announced for the Orange County engagement of FLASHDANCE - THE MUSICAL, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation. Joining Jillian Mueller as Alex and Matthew Hydzik as Nick are Katie Webber as Tess, Kelly Felthous as Gloria, DeQuina Moore as Kiki, Jo Ann Cunningham as Hannah, David R. Gordon as Jimmy, Matthew Henerson as Harry and Christian Whelan in the role of C.C.

The Stratford Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of the provincial government through Celebrate Ontario, which has just announced funding of more than $1 million to support the 2013 season's productions of The Merchant of Venice, Fiddler on the Roof and Tommy.

I Am Harvey Milk, the new oratorio with music and words by Tony and Grammy Award nominee Andrew Lippa, will have its world premiere at The Nourse Auditorium (201-299 Hayes Street, San Francisco) as part of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus 35th Anniversary Celebration concert, "Harvey Milk 2013." The special two-night engagement will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 27 and Friday, June 28. Starring Mr. Lippa as Harvey Milk and Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti as the Soprano soloist, I Am Harvey Milk is directed by Noah Himmelstein, conducted by Dr. Timothy Seelig, orchestrated by August Eriksmoen, and will feature the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus accompanied by the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony. I Am Harvey Milk is produced by Bruce Cohen, in association with Robb Nanus and Jessica Leventhal.

La Jolla Playhouse announces its final production for its 2013/14 season: the world premiere of The Who & The What, by Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced), directed by Kimberly Senior (The North Plan), running February 11 - March 9, 2014 in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre.

La Jolla Playhouse announces a special engagement of Steppin' Out with Ben Vereen as part of its cabaret series, running tonight, March 29, 2013 at 8:00 pm, Saturday, March 30 at 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm and Sunday, March 31 at 2:00 pm. The four performances will take place in the Playhouse's specially-designed performance space in the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, created by the Playhouse's scene shop artisans for the theatre's 2011, 2012 and 2013 Galas.

Since its premiere in 1859, Faust has been a moderate success in comparison to its counterpart, Goethe's epic drama of the same name, and the Mets current revival of the 2011 production holds true. This production, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff does well to add interest where the original opera falls short. Looking at the opera for its musicality, the production is spot on; for its modernized atomic design complete with beautiful projections that fill the Met stage, the production is again spot on; though somehow when combined with the five act score, expertly conducted by Alain Altinoglu, the night at the opera tends to be remembered as again just a moderate success.

On Thursday, March 21, 2013 the smash-hit show JERSEY BOYS celebrated its fifth anniversary in Las Vegas by presenting a star to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons on the "Las Vegas Walk of Stars" outside of the show's home, Paris Las Vegas. Original Four Seasons group members Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio were at the event to receive the commemorative star. It was the 64th star to be unveiled on Las Vegas Boulevard. Scroll down for photos from the event!

My first experience with JERSEY BOYS was the Broadway company's rousing performance at Broadway in Bryant Park last summer. After their fun, toe-tapping set, I was looking forward to seeing the 2nd National Tour company perform in Houston, TX. Last night, I took my seat for JERSEY BOYS anticipating hearing some timeless pop classics of yesteryear brought to dazzling life with an intriguing book that strings the hits together for a cohesive and moving story. However, after the 2 hour and 30 minute performance, I felt I was robbed of what should have been a completely entertaining and extravagant theatrical treat.

Piotr Beczala will sing the title role in Gounod's Faust for the first time at the Met beginning tonight, March 21, opposite Marina Poplavskaya as Marguerite, a role she sang in the 2011 premiere of Des McAnuff's production. Alain Altinoglu, who led Faust at the Met last season, returns to conduct the opera, which also stars John Relyea as the diabolical Mephistopheles, Alexey Markov as Valentin, and Julie Boulianne as Siebel.

PlayhouseSquare revealed its 2013-2014 KeyBank Broadway Series yesterday evening in the State Theatre. The exciting seven-show Series was announced by Senior Vice President of Theater Operations, Gina Vernaci, and the evening was capped off with a special performance from Anne Brummel, star of the 2nd North American Tour of Wicked, which will be delighting Cleveland audiences once again with its return in December of 2013.

The 2013-2014 Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre season was announced today by CTG Artistic Director Michael Ritchie.

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo just announced that its 2013-2014 subscriber season will include What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined, with musical arrangements by Kyle Riabko and directed by Steven Hoggett; Fetch Clay, Make Man written by Will Power and directed by Des McAnuff; and Love and Information written by Caryl Churchill and directed by James Macdonald. In the coming weeks NYTW will announce an additional production that will round out the season.

Touring the nation in a show is nothing new for Colby Foytik, currently playing Tommy DeVito in the 2nd National Tour of the smash hit musical JERSEY BOYS. In fact, audiences around the nation may remember seeing him star as Perchik in Topol's 2009 Farewell Tour of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. However, like most of us use the weekends to get caught up on life, many actors use Mondays for similar purposes. Enjoying some downtime in Norfolk, VA and putting the glamour of being on stage aside so he could get some laundry done, Colby Foytik talked with me about his career, playing Tommy DeVito, and the JERSEY BOYS 2nd National Tour.