Des McAnuff News

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) has announced the selections for its 22nd Annual Festival of New Musicals taking place on Thursday, October 21 and Friday, October 22, 2010 in New York City.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. for the Des Moines premiere engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, playing the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, July 7-25, 2010.

Ramon Del Barrio has been in show business for some forty years. At the age of seven he became a Billy The Kid clothing model, officially entering this business we call show. Joining us as we travel through Ramon's life will be such names as JERSEY BOYS, GUYS & DOLLS, CHITA RIVERA, DONNA McKECHNIE, FRED ASTAIRE, GENE KELLY, BRIAN STOKES MITCHELL, DESI ARNAZ, JOSE FERRER, JUDITH JAMISON, DES McANUFF, BOB FOSSE, MICHAEL BENNETT, LUCIE ARNAZ, and a few others.

Tickets will go on sale Friday, January 29, 2010 for the Indianapolis premiere engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, playing the Murat Theatre June 9-July 3, 2010.

David Alan Grier is set to perform at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, on July 2.

The Chance Theater is pleased to announce that it has selected the innovative rock musical THE WHO'S TOMMY as its third production of the 2010 season, scheduled to run July 2 through August 8. Based on The Who's classic 1969 double album rock opera about a 'deaf, dumb and blind boy' who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, THE WHO'S TOMMY tells the dramatic story of a young boy's journey to manhood through the muted pain of catatonia after witnessing the murder of his mother's lover by his father. Tommy finds his calling as a pinball champion who becomes idolized by the public and the press, but his celebrity machine eventually begins to fall apart.

Celebrating two years on stage, one million tickets sold and three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Toronto production of JERSEY BOYS will say 'Bye, Bye Baby' to Toronto on Sunday, August 22, 2010, the date of their second anniversary.

Stratford, Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival has announced the lineup for the 2011 Festival.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival has announced that it has commissioned a new musical from Bob Martin, Don McKellar, Lisa Lambert, and Greg Morrison, the creators of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE. The musical will be presented at the 2011 Festival.

Elle Woods has arrived in Manila! Atlantis Productions' staging of the Broadway musical LEGALLY BLONDE opened on June 25th starring Philippine pop singer and recording artist Nikki Gil in the title role.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company is pleased to announce its 6th annual First Look Repertory of New Work - three developmental productions of new plays presented in repertory playing October 27 - November 14, 2010 in Steppenwolf's Merle Reskin Garage Theatre, 1624 N. Halsted St.

The G20 Summit in Toronto may be closing the downtown Entertainment District, but the show will go on at the Toronto Centre for the Arts where JERSEY BOYS is still going strong in its second year on stage.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), the professional producing arm of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, continues its Nutmeg Summer Series with the David Ives' comedy, All in the Timing, playing June 10 through 20, 2010 in the Nafe Katter Theatre.

According to published reports, Guys and Dolls alumna Lauren Graham may be joing the cast of Scream 4, which begins production on June 28 in Ann Arbor Michigan. No official statement on her participation has been released.

Tickets for the return engagement of the Tony®, Grammy® and Olivier Award-winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, will go on sale Wednesday, June 16 at 9:00am through an authorized ticket seller found only at Ticketmaster 1-800-982-2787, at all Ticketmaster outlets, by visiting www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston and directly at the box office of Boston's Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston, which will open early at 8:00am for ticket sales.

In April, it was announced that Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio - two of the original Jersey Boys of The Four Seasons - along with JERSEY BOYS: The Musical writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice filed a law suit against six former JERSEY BOYS: The Musical performers, claiming that their tour, 'The Boys in Concert,' rips off of the Broadway musical in unauthorized ways. The New York Post reported that 'The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer claims 'The Boys in Concert' steals songs, stage elements and copyrighted logos to dupe patrons into thinking it's an 'authorized road company' of the long-running Broadway musical.'

The American Theatre Wing's 64th Annual Antoinette Perry 'Tony' Awards were held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, June 13, 2010 and broadcast on the CBS Television Network. For more information visit tonyawards.com.

Previews will begin today at Virginia's Signature Theatre for the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees written by Ricky Ian Gordon, the award-winning composer of the opera The Grapes of Wrath and the musicals Dream True and My Life with Albertine. A starry Broadway cast portrays Gordon's own family story - complete with a tough Bronx-born father and former 'Borscht Belt' singer/comedian mother - in a tale of two generations' struggles and triumphs in the decades from World War II through the 1990s.

Signature Theatre, the current recipient of the Tony Award® for Regional Theatre, presents the world premiere musical Sycamore Trees by Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the acclaimed opera The Grapes of Wrath and the OBIE Award-winning Orpheus and Euridice, as well as the musicals My Life with Albertine and Dream True.

According to reports from The Star- JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR will be the main musical featured in the 2011 Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Artistic Director Des McAnuff will be control the staging.