Des McAnuff News

SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical will close on Broadway Sunday, December 30, 2018. A North American Tour will launch on September 30, 2019, playing dozens of cities across the US and Canada, including Los Angeles, Nashville, Rochester, Washington DC and West Palm Beach.

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Our Town, by Thornton Wilder and directed by Kim Walsh.

Tickets will go on sale Monday, December 3 at 10 AM for the Lowcountry return engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, playing the North Charleston Performing Arts Center May 7 & 8, 2019.

They were just four guys from Jersey, until they sang their very first note.  They had a sound nobody had ever heard... and the radio just couldn't get enough of. But while their harmonies were perfect on stage, off stage it was a very different story-a story that has made them an international sensation all over again. Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony Award®-winning true-life musical phenomenon, Jersey Boys. From the streets of New Jersey to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, this is the musical that's just too good to be true.  The premiere engagement of Jersey Boys in Grand Rapids in 2013 was seen by over 15,000 theatregoers in our city at DeVos Performance Hall.  I recently talked to former Jersey Boy Actor and choreographer about His role with the production not only on the Canadian tour, and North American tour as well as currently on the Norwegian Cruise Line ship. This is what he had to say:

Austin Colby joins the cast of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award winning musical Jersey Boys, tonight, Monday, November 19, at New York City's New World Stages (340 West 50th Street) Stage 1.

Tickets are now on sale to the general public for the upcoming Broadway musical Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations. Get your tickets now by visiting www.Telecharge.com, by calling 800-447-7400, or by visiting the Imperial Theatre Box Office (249 West 45th Street). For groups of 10 or more, visit www.BroadwayInbound.com or call 866-302-0995. For more information, please visit www.AintTooProudMusical.com

The boys are back in town! This month features the limited engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The musical will make its much-anticipated return to West Palm Beach to play the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts on November 23 through November 24 for three performances.

It's another packed weekend on Midlands stages; plus JERSEY BOYS rolls through town early next week!

Winter seems to be creeping into Mississippi at the moment, but on November 10th, Jersey Boys brought all Four Seasons to the stage at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson.

Jersey Boys is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and eventual breakup of The Four Seasons. When I last met up with these boys, it was during their return engagement at DPAC back in 2015. Since then, the Broadway production celebrated its 10th anniversary, closed up shop, and is now running Off-Broadway at New World Stages.

Official casting has been announced for the Broadway premiere of Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations. Also announced today are the ticket on-sale dates for the Broadway production.

As the Toronto run of AIN'T TOO PROUD enters the last few weeks of its run, so too does the pre-Broadway tour of the ground-breaking new show based on the formation, life, and legacy of The Temptations. For E. Clayton Cornelious, who's been involved since initial readings, it's been a life and career-changing opportunity. He's earned his first regional nomination in the 2018 TBA Awards for Outstanding Performance In A Featured Role In A Musical, and is preparing for a range of shows and charity work in both New York and his hometown Pittsburgh before opening the show on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in early 2019.

Some girls would kill to be on the team! Midnight Theatricals and Producers S. Asher Gelman & Matthew Hui have announced that WE ARE THE TIGERS, an original pop/rock musical and teen horror comedy written & composed by Preston Max Allen, will make its New York Premiere Off-Broadway in February 2019. Michael Bello will direct the pitch-black comedy about a dismally low-ranking team of cheerleaders terrorized by a serial killer. Patrick Sulken is the Music Supervisor. The cast, creative team and theater are soon to be announced. www.tigersmusical.com

The UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance presents Our Town, by Thornton Wilder and directed by Kim Walsh.

The soul of Motown is alive in Toronto. On its final stop before Broadway, AIN'T TOO PROUD busts open the Motown catalogue at Mirvish's Princess of Wales Theatre. With explosive vocals that reach every extreme of the human voice, high-energy choreography, and a playlist of 31 Motown favourites - AIN'T TOO PROUD works hard to be a hit.

Tony Award-winning Producer Ken Davenport (Once On This Island) has announced complete speaker lineup for the 2nd annual Producer's Perspective Super Conference on November 10th and 11th at the NYIT Auditorium on Broadway.

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations plays a strictly limited pre-Broadway engagement beginning tonight, October 11 - November 17 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre following this summer's highly acclaimed engagements at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. and the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Media night in Toronto is Tuesday October 16, 2018.

The boys are back and ready to tell the story behind the iconic music of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical, Jersey Boys. Kicking off Walton Arts Center's 2018-19 P&G Broadway series, Jersey Boys will run Oct. 5-7 for a limited five-show engagement.

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations has broken the Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre records for the highest grossing pre-Broadway engagement with a gross of $5,992,378.50, and for highest attendance with 82,792 people having seen the show in Los Angeles.

Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of The Temptations will begin performances on Broadway on Thursday, February 28, 2019, with an official Opening Night set for Thursday, March 21, 2019. As previously announced, Ain't Too Proud will play the legendary Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street). Additional information will be announced shortly.