Frances News

CALL THE MIDWIFE Holiday Special (2019) premieres on Wednesday, December 25, 9:00-10:30pm ET on PBS (check local listings)

New York: Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Founding Artistic Director and Tom Toce , Musical Director) announces the line-up for this year's award-winning series, WINTER RHYTHMS 2019, which will begin Wednesday, December 11 featuring some of New York's best musical performances through Saturday, December 21, 2019 at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th St., East of 8th Ave.)

Australian musical theatre star Anthony Warlow will revisit one of his most acclaimed roles, Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden, in the 25th anniversary production which will open at Sydney Lyric Theatre in August next year. Tickets for this sumptuous musical in Sydney are on sale from Friday 29 November.

Marsha Norman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for 'Night Mother, took home Tony and Drama Desk Awards in 1991 for a?oeBest Book of a Musicala?? for The Secret Garden. With music by Lucy Simon, The Secret Garden is based on the 1911 classic children's literature novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. And while it's tagged as a?oechildren'sa?? literature, The Secret Garden is not your typical light-hearted, happy-go-lucky matinee outing for the kids.

The Exponential team is gearing up for January 2020 - visiting the spaces with artists, consulting on projects and resources, and gathering information to share with our communities.

AMC announced today that Better Call Saul, produced by Sony Pictures Television, will return with a special two-night premiere event on February 23 and 24, 2020. The highly anticipated and explosive fifth season will premiere on Sunday, February 23 at 10:00 p.m. ET/9c following a new episode of The Walking Dead. The season will continue the next night, Monday, February 24, with an encore presentation of the season premiere at 8:00 p.m. ET/7c followed by the season's second episode at 9:00 p.m. ET/8c. Subsequent episodes will air Monday nights at 9:00 p.m. ET/8c. 

We all know that you should never judge a book by its cover a?' but should you ever judge a person by their name? This is the question posed to us in What's In A Name?, which has landed at Nuffield Southampton Theatres at the end of its first-ever UK tour.

Paines Plough have today announced casting for the transfer of Sam Steiner's YOU STUPID DARKNESS! to Southwark Playhouse, a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth. An urgent play about the struggle for optimism and community amid the chaos of a collapsing world, the production is directed by former Paines Plough co-Artistic Director James Grieve and the cast includes: Andrew Finnigan; Jenni Maitland; Lydia Larson; Andy Rush. The show opened at Theatre Royal Plymouth earlier this year and will run at Southwark Playhouse from 16 January - 22 February with a Press Night on Monday 20 January.

Hop Along's Frances Quinlan has made a name for herself as one of the most prominent songwriters with one of the most distinct and inimitable voices in the indie rock space over the past decade. The Philadelphia-based musician recently announced her stunning solo debut Likewise last month, sharing its first single 'Rare Thing,' and today she returns with a new song. Listen to 'Now That I'm Back,' featuring a gorgeous visualizer of Quinlan's own artwork.

Casting has been confirmed for Park Theatre's festive family adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic: The Snow Queen. Focusing on the origins of the Queen who brings endless winter, the cast includes: Frances Marshall, Ayesha Casely-Hayford, Esmonde Cole, Sarah-Louise Young, Justin Brett, Paula James and Matt Cavendish. The production is adapted by Charles Way and directed by Abigail Anderson, with a national press night on Friday 6 December, 7pm.

Catskill's adventurous Bridge Street Theatre opened its 2019 Season on January 6 with a take-no-prisoners performance by the Zelos Saxophone Quartet. Winner of the 2018 Frances Walton Competition, this vibrant and youthful ensemble, based in San Jose, CA, presented a jaw-dropping array of classic and contemporary works. Now, the theatre bookends its season with a performance by the ensemble's only female member, the astonishing Robin Lacey (accompanied at the piano by Dan Chien) on Saturday November 30, 2019, at 7:30pm.

Lin-Manuel Miranda received the Portrait of a Nation Prize from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery this weekend. The prize was presented to Miranda by former First Lady, Michelle Obama.

The Abbey Theatre Gala is an annual celebration of Ireland's National Theatre. Hosted by the Westbury Hotel, on Thursday 14th November, this year's event honoured Irish playwright Thomas Kilroy for his contribution to Irish theatre.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) has selected Dylan and Paris Brosnan as the Golden Globe Ambassadors for the 2020 Golden Globe Awards season. Dylan and Paris are the sons of two-time Golden Globe Award nominee Pierce Brosnan and filmmaker and environmentalist Keely Shaye Brosnan. In addition to aligning themselves with a nonprofit organization and working to raise awareness of a cause of their choosing, Dylan and Paris will assist with the distribution of statues during the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards. They will be joined by previously announced Carol Burnett Award recipient, Ellen DeGeneres; Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree, Tom Hanks; and recently announced host, Ricky Gervais, at the Party of the Year®, which will air LIVE coast to coast on NBC Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020, at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. from The Beverly Hilton.

Inspired by interviews with undocumented immigrants from Latin America living in New York, En Garde Arts (Anne Hamburger, Founder and Artistic Director) is thrilled to present the world premiere of Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes) in all five boroughs of New York City, kicking off on Thursday, February 6 at the historic Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa. The piece will take the form of a fandango, a community celebration where stories are brought to life through live performance, music, and dance.

The world premiere adaptation of KEY LARGO, already in previews, will open tonight, November 14, 2019 at the Geffen Playhouse. Packed with award winners all around, Oscar nominated actor Andy Garcia stars as Johnny Rocco in his co-adaptation with Jeffrey Hatcher (based on the play by Maxwell Anderson and the screenplay by Richard Brooks and John Huston). I had the wonderful opportunity to grill Johnny Rocco's moll Gaye Dawn, or rather, to ask a few questions of the wonderful actress who plays her - Joely Fisher.

The Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities at the University of Saint Joseph announced today a dynamic collaboration of Greater Hartford artists in 'Shaking the Core,' a multi-discipline production connecting ancestral struggle, resistance, resilience, and disruption.

ENSEMBLE THEATRE COMPANY (ETC) presents the second show of its 2019-20 Season, the can't-miss, holiday event of the season, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE: A LIVE RADIO PLAY, adapted by Joe Landry, from the screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra & Jo Swerling and directed by ETC's Director of Education and Outreach, Brian McDonald.

Showtime Networks Inc. and A24 Films have entered into an exclusive output agreement under which qualifying A24 films theatrically released through November 1, 2022 will air across SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL and FLIX®, as well as on SHOWTIME multiplex channels and streaming services. The agreement allows Showtime Networks Inc. to exhibit high-profile A24 features across its premium services on-air, on demand and online. The announcement was made by Kent Sevener, Executive Vice President, Content Acquisition and Business and Legal Affairs, Showtime Networks Inc. 

Irish Repertory Theatre (Charlotte Moore, Artistic Director and Ciarán O'Reilly, Producing Director), in association with the Wexford Arts Centre, is proud to present the U.S. premiere of The Scourge, written & performed by Michelle Dooley Mahon (The Eff Word), and directed by Ben Barnes (Madama Butterfly). The Scourge begins performances in the W. Scott McLucas Studio Theatre (132 W 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011) on January 22, 2020, with opening night set for January 23, for a limited run through February 2, 2020. The Scourge is an official selection of the 2020 Origin 1st Irish Theatre Festival.