Erin Mackey News

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Today's big news: TORCH SONG opens, Broadway unites for Puerto Rico, and more!

It's the hard-knock life! Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director, Todd Schmidt-Managing Director), recipient of the 2016 Regional Theatre Tony Award, has announced today the cast and creative team of the hit Broadway Tony Award-winning musical Annie, based on Little Orphan Annie, with book by Thomas Meehan, music byCharles Strouse, and lyrics by Martin Charnin, directed by Paper Mill's Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee, with choreography by JoAnn M. Hunter and musical direction by Jeffrey Saver. Performances begin Wednesday, November 22, 2017, at 7:00 p.m., for a limited run through Sunday, December 31, 2017, at Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive) in Millburn, NJ.

In addition to producing great theatre works, Primary Stages produced one of this season's most exciting Galas. The 2017 event, celebrating Artistic Honorees Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, Producer Honorees Janet B. Rosen & Marvin Rosen, and Corporate Honorees Jose Mendez and Katie Graziano, was a glamorous and talent-filled evening at Tribeca 360 with a full view of lower Manhattan as a backdrop to the festivities.

Primary Stages announced today additional performers, speakers and presenters for the Primary Stages 2017 Gala, which will take place on Monday, October 16, 2017 at 6:30 pm.

Erin Mackey (IN TRANSIT, WICKED) and Wade McCollum (ERNEST SHACKLETON LOVES ME) will lead a private reading of TILL SOON, ANNE, a new musical with book and lyrics by Christine Toy Johnson and music by Bobby Cronin on Friday, October 6.

Judy Kaye, Julia Murney, James Snyder, Erin Mackey, Mara Davi, Nicholas Barasch, Lauren Molina, Alexandra Silber, Ryan Vona, Peter Saide, and other surprise guests are scheduled to perform at the third annual Broadway's Got Guts benefit in honor of the late, great Nancy LaMott.

Primary Stages announced today that the Primary Stages 2017 Gala will take place on Monday, October 16, 2017 at 6:30 pm. The event, which will be held at Tribeca 360º (10 Desbrosses Street), will honor Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, the Tony-winning songwriting team of Ragtime, Once on This Island, and Anastasia (Artistic Honorees); Janet B. Rosen and Marvin Rosen, producers of In Transit on Broadway (Producer Honorees); and Jose Mendez and Katie Graziano of The Excel Group and MIC Floor Covering, LLC (Corporate Honorees).

As BroadwayWorld sadly reported yesterday, Barbara Cook has passed away at 89. This is an enormous loss for Broadway, the golden age of television and the music world.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature THE LITTLE MERMAID, RAGTIME, NEWSIES, and more!

Design. Pattern. Composition. Balance. Light. Dark. Harmony. These are the principles artist Georges Seurat-as imagined by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine-names in his struggle to paint in a new way. All these principles are present in the musical SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. The current production in Minneapolis is a delight, visually scintillating, gorgeously sung and orchestrated, and successful at melding the two disparate acts into a satisfying whole.

The Guthrie Theater has announced casting for the theater's summer musical, Sunday in the Park with George. Leading the cast will be Randy Harrison (Guthrie: The Glass Menagerie) who will play French pointillist painter George Seurat, a role originated by Mandy Patinkin in the 1984 Broadway production, and Erin Mackey (Guthrie: South Pacific) who will play Seurat's lover and model, Dot, a role originated by Bernadette Peters.

The Music Center named 14 outstanding Southern California high school students as Grand Prize Finalists in the 29th annual The Music Center's Spotlight program (Spotlight), a free nationally recognized scholarship and arts training program for teens.  Two Grand Prize Finalists were named in each of seven categories, including acting, ballet, non-classical dance, classical voice, non-classical voice, classical instrumental and jazz instrumental.  All finalists will receive $5,000 scholarships and appear in a ticketed Grand Finale Performance at The Music Center's Walt Disney Concert Hall on May 23, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.  Spotlight Grand Prize Finalists were chosen from more than 1,300 Southern California students who auditioned for panels of expert judges.  

Just in, Broadway's first a cappella musical In Transit will play its final performance on Sunday, April 16, 2017 after playing 36 preview and 145 regular performances at Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street).

Do you have your own crazy subway story? CLICK HERE to tell us all about it (via video or essay) and enter for a chance to win free dinner at Thalia (828 8th Ave) and two tickets to see IN TRANSIT on Broadway! Contest runs now through April 16.

Janet B. Rosen, producer of Broadway's first a cappella musical IN TRANSIT, just announced that the Original Broadway Cast Recording will be released on Hollywood Records. The original cast album is now available for preorder at Amazon. The album will be available wherever digital music is sold and streamed on Friday, April 28 and wherever CDs are sold on Friday, June 9.

IN TRANSIT, Broadway's first ever a cappella musical, and the MTA are teaming up to help audience members travel "Deep Beneath the City" free for one week! From March 27 through March 31, customers who purchase a full price ticket to IN TRANSIT for any performance through April 30 will receive a FREE 7 day unlimited MetroCard.

The Music Center named 111 of some of Southern California's most talented high school students as semifinalists in The Music Center's 29th annual Spotlight (Spotlight) program, a free nationally-acclaimed scholarship and arts training program for teens.  An important part of The Music Center's fundamental support for arts education, Spotlight is more than a competition.  The program provides opportunities for Southern California high school students to acquire the skills they need to pursue their dreams in the performing arts, ranging from the development of performance abilities in numerous genres to roles in arts management, along with valuable workforce readiness skills.

Perry T's latest New York Roundup includes six Broadway shows; NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET, HAMILTON, A BRONX TALE, IN TRANSIT, PARAMOUR, and ON YOUR FEET! plus three off-Broadway shows; PRUDENCIA HART, SPAMILTON, and CAGNEY

Below, watch IN TRANSIT's star Erin Mackey perform the original song 'Love Is the Greatest Gift' on this morning's TODAY. 

At last night's Westminster Kennel Dog Show, the cast of Broadway's IN TRANSIT sang the National Anthem, and BroadwayWorld has the video below!