Ed Krieger News

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's ‘This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix.

William Atherton, Matt Cavenaugh, Lisa O'Hare, Millicent Martin and Jason Graae are the acclaimed film, Broadway and West End stars who will lead the cast of Reprise Theatre Company's second production of the 2010-2011 season, 'Gigi', playing February 15 to February 27, 2011 (press opening February 16, 2011) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. The musical - with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe -- will be directed by veteran musical theatre director David Lee, with choreography by Peggy Hickey and musical direction by Steve Orich.

Gerald McCullouch CSI and Dan Via reprise the roles they created in the West Coast premiere of Via's Off Broadway hit play. When 'golden boy' Colin falls for a man half his age, his relationship with best friend Stew is put to the test. DADDY offers a provocative, humorous, and sometimes dark look at love, loyalty, and the consequences of living in a culture without marriage equality. 'Via has written a play that maps the human heart... McCullouch is a revelation!' - Show Business Weekly

Broadway Worlds brings you exclusive productions photos from the Fountain Theatre production of Athol Fugard's THE TRAIN DRIVER, starring Morlan Higgins and Aldolphus Ward.

Jason Alexander, Artistic Director of Reprise Theatre Company and Stephanie J. Block, Broadway star of '9 to 5: The Musical,' 'Wicked,' 'The Pirate Queen,' and 'The Boy From Oz,' will star in 'They're Playing Our Song,' the opening production of Reprise Theatre Company's 2010-2011 season, playing September 28 to October 10 (press opening September 29) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

On the weekend of August 6-8, the infamous 17,000-seat Hollywood Bowl plays host to a forcibly-scaled-up version of Jonathan Larson's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical RENT, directed by none other than Neil Patrick Harris. Harris' challenge-besides honoring a beloved show as well as living up to his stunt casting choices-was to take a relatively-intimate rock musical about financially-strapped bohemians living in the less-than-luxurious Lower East Side enclave of New York City and expand it on the massive stage entrenched in the Hollywood Hills. The results-a mixed bag of technical gaffes, surprisingly excellent performances, and a few disappointments-prove to be admirably and genuinely entertaining overall.

RENT, written by Jonathan Larson, will be performed at the Hollywood Bowl for three performances only, Friday and Saturday August 6 and 7 at 8:30pm, and Sunday August 8 at 7:30pm. Neil Patrick Harris will direct the production, with musical direction by Tim Weil and choreography by Jamal Sims. The cast includes Skylar Astin, Wayne Brady, Vanessa Hudgens, Telly Leung, Collins Pennie, Nicole Scherzinger, Tracie Thoms, and Aaron Tveit.

The Katselas Theatre Company continues its 2010 Season with the World Premiere of 'The Jesus Hickey,' a modern day fable about the seduction of celebrity. Written and directed by Luke Yankee, the production stars acclaimed film/television/stage actor Harry Hamlin. Producing is Gary Grossman. The production premieres Saturday, June 12 at the Skylight Theatre in Hollywood.

Los Angeles Ovation Award nominee CISSY CONNER stars as Katharine Hepburn in TEA AT FIVE which will end its run May 2, 2010 at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center in North Hollywood, CA, it was announced today by Producer Mary Todhunter of RBI Productions in Los Angeles.

The Katselas Theatre Company presents The World Premiere of The 'Hook Up' Comedy Altar Ego by James Lyons and Directed by Audrey Moore and Leila Vatan. The show is produced by Gary Grossman and opens Saturday, April 10 at 8pm at The Beverly Hills Playhouse.

Los Angeles Ovation Award nominee CISSY CONNER stars as Katharine Hepburn in TEA AT FIVE March 26 - May 2, 2010 at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center in North Hollywood, CA, it was announced today by Producer Mary Todhunter of RBI Productions in Los Angeles.

The Katselas Theatre Company launches its 2010 Season with the World Premiere of Shem Bitterman's dark comedy, Influence, directed by Steve Zuckerman. Producing is Gary Grossman. The production stars acclaimed film/television/stage actor, Alan Rosenberg. The production opens Saturday, March 6 at the Skylight Theatre.

Los Angeles Ovation Award nominee CISSY CONNER stars as Katharine Hepburn in TEA AT FIVE March 26 - May 2, 2010 at the Whitmore-Lindley Theatre Center in North Hollywood, CA, it was announced today by Producer Mary Todhunter of RBI Productions in Los Angeles.

The Ballad of Emmett Till - Part history, part mystery and part ghost story, IfaBayeza's lyrical integration of past, present, fact and legend turns the story of the 1955 murder of 14-year old Emmett Till, whose shocking death helped spark the nascent civil rights movement, into a soaring work of music, poetic language and riveting theatricality. The Fountain Theatre presents the West Coast premiere of this daring new work in celebration of Black History Month.

Performances began on Tuesday (January 12) for 'The Pee-wee Herman Show' at Club Nokia @ L.A. LIVE for a limited 4-week engagement, through February 7.

LAGUNA BEACH, CA-With the holidays upon us, the arrival of aptly-themed shows also permeate the theatrical landscape. And like tinsel, egg-nog and Santa, perennial traditions are still what most people crave, especially in these unknowing, unstable times. Hummable, familiar holiday tunes are always a crowd-pleaser, so it's no surprise that WINTER WONDERETTES (now playing at the Laguna Playhouse through December 30) delivers a pleasantly cheerful, though altogether a routine, by-the-numbers, jukebox musical. Tied neatly with a pretty bow, the show is packaged precisely to induce just the right amount of laughs and to entertain enough to fill its audience with yuletide giddiness, without bombarding us with pesky heavy themes or intrusive thought-provoking lessons. Much like the show that preceded it, the holiday-themed sequel to Roger Bean's off-Broadway hit The Marvelous Wonderettes is cute, adorable, cheery and exactly the kind of safe, holiday entertainment that is as tried and true as its music. It is by no means a groundbreaking piece of theater, but judging from the laughter and ovations bestowed by its opening night audience, this show certainly entertains.

The Katselas Theatre Company continues its landmark 2009-2010 Season with the World Premiere of Detention of the Dead by Robert Rinow, directed by Alex Craig Mann. Producing is Gary Grossman. The production opens Saturday, November 7 (10pm) at the Beverly Hills Playhouse Research Space.

When you've got a prestige project like Gone With The Wind in your hands, your goal as a director or a producer or a writer or, hell, even a craft services caterer, is to make it be the Best. Movie. Ever. In 1939, in what seemed like a banner year for celluloid masterpieces, David O. Selznick was a young, ambitious, forward-thinking producer that knew this film, based on Margaret Mitchell's global best-seller, should be better than how it was progressing. Thus, according to Hollywood legend, he decides to shut down production on this massive film project, fire his original director, and bring in a trusted script doctor to fix the flaws in what would eventually prove to be one of history's most successful and celebrated pictures of all time. Thus is the premise of Ron Hutchinson's MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS, now playing at the Laguna Playhouse through November 1. There's plenty of laughs here, but can be slow and too long at certain moments.

The sophisticated cannibals of modern day Hollywood are comically ravaged when a self-serving movie deal morphs into a plethora of jaundiced shenanigans, including a slight-of-hand real estate negotiation, a sexually rapacious screenwriter, a litigious fitness instructor and much, much more.

Tickets for the Guthrie's presentation of Ella, the exhilarating musical about the First Lady of Song, go on sale to the general public on Sunday, June 14 at 11 a.m. Tina Fabrique stars in the title role of this summer theatrical event, weaving myth, memory and music to tell the uplifting and poignant story of one of the greatest jazz and pop vocalists of the 20th century.