Des McAnuff News

The loveable characters from Charles Schulz's iconic comic strip Peanuts learn life's lessons in the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. The production, which is directed and choreographed by Donna Feore, begins previews at the Avon Theatre on May 15.

Today we are continuing BroadwayWorld's month-long salute to the 2012 Tony Awards - which will take place June 10 on CBS - with a spectacular performance captured only last year, featuring three generations of J. Pierrepont Finches - originator Robert Morse, revival Tony Award-winner Matthew Broderick and Hollywood/Broadway crossover superstar Daniel Radcliffe - with the former two introducing the latter as he leads "Brotherhood Of Man" from the Pulitzer Prize-winning HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, a true blue Broadway classic.

Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and Rene Pape in New Production of Gounod's Faust on THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met, today, May 13 at 12 p.m. on PBS stations, with director Des McAnuff in his Met debut, with Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting the classic opera for the first time at the Met, Three of the opera world's leading stars-Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and Rene Pape-sing the principal roles in a new production of Gounod's Faust, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts his first Met performances of the opera, which airs on THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met Sunday, May 13 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN premiered the program Thursday, May 10 at 8:30 p.m. with an encore presentation today, May 13 at 12:30 p.m.

Hilarity and hijinks ensue as the characters in Thornton Wilder's romantic comedy The Matchmaker. Head to New York for adventure and find love instead. The production, directed by Chris Abrahamand set in the opulence of the Victorian period, begins previews for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Festival Theatre on May 12.

The DOMA Theatre Company has announced its first-ever season - a line up of six Broadway-style musicals sure to 'disturb and delightz': The Who's Tommy (March 23-April 15); Songs For A New World (May 11-June 3); Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical (July 6-29); Xanadu (Aug. 17-Sept. 9); Once On This Island (Sept. 21-Oct. 14), and a surprise, Tony Award-winning musical to be revealed at a later date (Nov. 2-Dec. 9).

In his fairy-tale romance Cymbeline, Shakespeare pits the strength of true love against false accusation and familial discord. Directed by the Festival's General Director, Antoni Cimolino, this hauntingly beautiful play begins previews at the Tom Patterson Theatre on May 10.

Academy Award® Winner Christopher Plummer's critically-acclaimed performance in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival's production of The Tempest storms into select U.S. movie theaters on Thursday, June 14 at 7:00 p.m. local time followed by an exclusive Q&A with the actor and director.

JERSEY BOYS, the Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical, is proud to announce the return of John Lloyd Young who won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his role as Frankie Valli. Young will again perform the role of Frankie Valli on Broadway from Tuesday, July 3 through Sunday, September 30.

The Tony, Grammy, and Olivier Award-winning musical JERSEY BOYS will make its much-anticipated return to Providence to play the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) on Wednesday, August 15, 2012 through Sunday, September 2, 2012. Tickets go on sale today, May 6 at 8am.

Voting opened on May 3, 2012 and runs through June 4, 2012 for the 10th Annual BroadwayWorld.com Awards! Here are the current standings as of 5/5

This Tuesday marked the second most exciting day of any given year for Broadway babies - the Tony Award nominations. The actual awards ceremony on CBS - Broadway's night of nights - is still a few weeks off, but now is certainly an ideal time to size up the competition(s) and see who will most likely walk away with Tony gold come June 10 - and this year's ceremony, more than most before, could very well be as surprising as this season was; or Tuesday's nominations themselves were, for that matter. While the 2011-2012 Broadway season certainly fell far short of the heady promise many ascribed to its prospects way back last Summer, we certainly saw the fulfillment of some big dreams for some notable names if not an all-in-all banner year for Broadway when collectively considered. The highly-praised Off-Broadway critical darling LYSISTRATA JONES landed with a thud early in the season, as did the re-jiggered, gender-bending revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and its star Harry Connick, Jr., and, even the lauded and relatively successful revival of Stephen Sondheim's peerless masterpiece FOLLIES failed to make any money and closed. GODSPELL did not fare much better, though it is still running. The two highly-anticipated revivals of Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic early successes JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and EVITA were met with indifferent reviews - with the latter receiving some nasty press for its stars, neither of whom received Tony nominations - but receptive audiences so far. THE GERSHWINS' PORGY & BESS could take Best Revival, after all - but will NICE WORK's Kelli O'Hara edge out four-time Tony recipient Audra McDonald? New plays did not fare much better than the measly crop of musicals, but OTHER DESERT CITIES and VENUS IN FUR seemed to hit their target demographics squarely, but CLYBOURNE PARK looks to be the frontrunner for Best Play despite all that. We shall see. Mike Nichols may take home another Best Director for his sensitive, if workmanlike revival of Arthur Miller's DEATH OF A SALESMAN, as conceivably could Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield. John Lithgow is offering up some fierce competition in THE COLUMNIST, though. The acting races are tight, for sure, in both plays and musicals, with more newcomers and first-time nominees than any season this century.

Artistic Director Des McAnuff will receive the National Arts Centre Award of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards at a ceremony at Rideau Hall tonight. The ceremony is followed by a gala performance at the National Arts Centre, honouring each of Governor General Performing Arts Award recipients. Mr. McAnuff is being recognized for his extraordinary accomplishments over the past performance year.

The Festival renews its long-standing Gilbert and Sullivan tradition this season with The Pirates of Penzance. Directed by Ethan McSweeny, this new production begins previews at the Avon Theatre on May 3.

Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and Rene Pape in New Production of Gounod's Faust on THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met, Sunday, May 13 at 12 p.m. on PBS stations, with director Des McAnuff in his Met debut, with Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting the classic opera for the first time at the Met, Three of the opera world's leading stars-Jonas Kaufmann, Marina Poplavskaya, and Rene Pape-sing the principal roles in a new production of Gounod's Faust, directed by Tony Award winner Des McAnuff in his Met debut. Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducts his first Met performances of the opera, which airs on THIRTEEN's Great Performances at the Met Sunday, May 13 at 12 p.m. on PBS (check local listings). In New York, THIRTEEN will premiere the program Thursday, May 10 at 8:30 p.m. with an encore presentation Sunday, May 13 at 12:30 p.m.

Contemporary and classical pop culture converge in the multimedia production MacHomer. The one-person show, which tells the story of Shakespeare's Macbeth through the characters of the television series The Simpsons, begins previews at the Studio Theatre on May 2.

Earlier this morning, stage and screen stars Kristin Chenoweth & Jim Parsons announced this year's Tony nominees from the New York Public Library. In a season as rich as this past theatrical season though, there are only so many spots for nominees and some very talented shows and performers were not nominated. Below are the eligible performers and shows who were not nominatined in the major categories.

'I feel pretty damn good! I'm exhausted because it's six in the morning here in LA, but it still feels pretty damn good! My phone started buzzing and I ran to my computer because I wasn't sure. People were texting me and saying 'I'm crossing my fingers to you' and stuff like that. So, I ran to my computer and because we're in this housing, first you have to enter your log in information and I couldn't get it to work. I'm like 'Why now?!' I finally got it to work and it was only after a friend sent me a text saying 'CONGRATULATIONS' that I thought 'Thank God!' I'm in tech right now so I'll spend the rest of the day in tech until midnight, but for this I'll do it!'

After 6 seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Julius returns to B'way in a Stratford production, with his brother in the cast as well.

Paper Mill Playhouse just announced full casting for the Millburn, New Jersey, theater's production of Once On This Island (book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty). More than 20 years after its premiere, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are re-inventing their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird), choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance, Jesus Christ Superstar) and new orchestrations by music director Lynne Shankel (Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Altar Boyz). Once On This Island begins performances on Wednesday, May 30, 2012, and runs through Sunday, June 24, 2012. Once On This Island is proudly sponsored by Bank of America. The official press opening is scheduled for Sunday, June 3, 2012.

Today we are talking to a Broadway superstar beloved from the time of her breakthrough performance in the original cast of Stephen Sondheim's PASSION nearly twenty years ago all the way to two tremendous revivals in the early 00s - KISS ME, KATE and MAN OF LA MANCHA - to her most recent trio of roles on Broadway, first appearing in the straight drama ENRON, then as the troubled lead character of Diana in the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL, and, most recently, as the tortured Margaret White in the long-awaited New York return of CARRIE - the one and only Marin Mazzie. Recalling many memories of working on the original productions of such seminal musicals as INTO THE WOODS, PASSION, RAGTIME, SPAMALOT and NEXT TO NORMAL with some of Broadway's best and brightest talents, Mazzie expresses her sincere appreciation for the unforgettable shows she has been associated with and opens up about her experiences as both an originator of a role, as in the cases of PASSION and RAGTIME, and also as a replacement star and the challenges that that position poses for a performer. Additionally, Mazzie shares her enthusiasm for the words and music of the Tony Award-winning RAGTIME creators Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, whom she will be saluting alongside a starry assortment of notables on Monday at the NY Pops JOURNEY ON Gala at Carnegie Hall. Plus, Mazzie clues us in on all aspects of her journey with the recent New York reworking and reappraisal of CARRIE and gives us first news on recording the cast album, which is set for a Fall release, as well as news on her second duets album with husband, Jason Danieley and solo album thoughts. All of that and much, much more!