Don Walker News

'If musical theatre doesn't address important issues, who will?,' read a t-shirt I spotted at the Broadway Flea Market several years ago. And while America's theater history is rich with important issue addressing musical dramas like Show Boat and Ragtime, when Finian's Rainbow hit Broadway in 1947 it was pretty much unheard of for a musical comedy to have its main plot centered on attacking institutionalized racism.

Penned by a pair of downtown revue writers (Betty Comden and Adolph Green), composed by a wunderkind New York Philharmonic conductor (Leonard Bernstein), choreographed by a Ballet Theatre soloist (Jerome Robbins) and originally directed by musical comedy master George Abbott, there's never been a musical on Broadway that mixes highbrow and lowbrow with such a wondrous cacophonous clash as On The Town.

Perched above the stage in their private bleacher section, just beyond an outfield fence graffitied with the musical's title, conductor Rob Berman and his 25 piece Encores! Summer Stars orchestra might be mistaken for the conservatory cousins of Brooklyn's legendary Dodger Sym-Phony. But instead of serenading umpires from the Ebbet's Field grandstands with double forte arrangements of 'Three Blind Mice,' the musicians of director John Rando's cracker-jack production of Damn Yankees - a 1955 musical that opened in the early weeks of the baseball season that saw Brooklyn beat the Yankees for the borough's only World Series championship - treats 21st Century audiences to that thrilling sound of a Broadway Golden Age orchestra. The detailed movements and textures contained within Don Walker's orchestrations, whether giving comic accents to the pepper-upper 'Heart,' setting a satirical mood for the pseudo-vamp 'Whatever Lola Wants' or lifting a slow ballad like 'A Man Doesn't Know' with phrases that search the mind of the singing character, help bring majestic touches of artistry to this rousing vaudeville disguised as a book musical.

The Summer Play Festival (SPF) announces casting for the eagerly anticipated 2009 Festival in New York City. Casts include stage and screen actress Ally Sheedy; Ari Graynor, recently seen in NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLST; Maulik Pancholy, regular on the Showtime hit WEEDS and NBC's 30 ROCK; Katherine Waterston, who broke out in THE BABYSITTERS; Aya Cash, recently seen in Manhattan Theater Club's FROM UP HERE; and Eddie Kay Thomas, from the AMERICAN PIE movie series.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the Chicago Premiere of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Rick Snyder. The production, featuring Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang runs February 25- April 5, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press performance is Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Today's Broadway Blogs on BroadwayWorld.com from Sunday, March 29, 2009.

Kritzerland will present the first ever CD release of the Original Cast Recording of Anya, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest (based on themes by Sergei Rachmaninoff).

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the Chicago Premiere of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Rick Snyder. The production, featuring Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang runs February 25- April 5, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press performance is Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the Chicago Premiere of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Rick Snyder. The production, featuring Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang runs February 25- April 5, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press performance is Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. The stakes are high when half-sisters inherit a book of rare stamps that may include the 'crown jewel' of the stamp-collecting world. The battle for possession takes a dangerous turn when three rival collectors enter the sisters' world, willing to go to any lengths to stake their claim on the find. Named one of Time Magazine's 'Top Ten Plays of 2007,' Mauritius is a gripping blend of sharp comedy and heart-pounding drama that combines the best aspects of Hitchcock, Chandler and Mamet. Mauritius was written by the Pulitzer Prize nominated author of Omnium Gatherum and The Scene.

Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans announce the Chicago Premiere of Mauritius by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Rick Snyder. The production, featuring Anne Adams, Lance Baker, Gary Houston, Dan Kuhlman and Suzanne Lang runs February 25- April 5, 2009 at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie. The press performance is Thursday, March 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. The stakes are high when half-sisters inherit a book of rare stamps that may include the 'crown jewel' of the stamp-collecting world. The battle for possession takes a dangerous turn when three rival collectors enter the sisters' world, willing to go to any lengths to stake their claim on the find. Named one of Time Magazine's 'Top Ten Plays of 2007,' Mauritius is a gripping blend of sharp comedy and heart-pounding drama that combines the best aspects of Hitchcock, Chandler and Mamet. Mauritius was written by the Pulitzer Prize nominated author of Omnium Gatherum and The Scene.

CD Reviews: 'Jekyll & Hyde: Resurrection', 'The Pajama Game', 'The Jazz Train'

Reviews of 'Harry On Broadway, Act I', Murney's 'I'm Not Waiting' & Friedman's 'Now and Then'

Encores! takes a chance with a Kander and Ebb musical about shoplifting senior citizens

Confirmed by the star herself, Rosie O'Donnell will begin performances as Golde on September 20th.

On August 2, participants in the 'First Family Nights' saw Fiddler on the Roof and met Harvey Fierstein for a talkback.

David Leveaux' revival of Fiddler on the Roof will close on January 8th, 2006 after 817 performances

In the tradition of the theatre's most celebrated musical comedy performers, four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein stars as Tevye, and three-time Emmy Award winner, and Tony Award winner Andrea Martin stars as his wife, Golde in the Broadway production of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, with an official press opening of Thursday, January 20, 2005, at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street).