Frank Ford News

Adelaide's Cabaret Fringe Festival is back - and has an even brighter future with a newly-formed and energised board.

Shakespeare's Globe announced the full cast for William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Elle While, and Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, directed by Blanche McIntyre.

Escape to be seen at this year's Adelaide Cabaret Festival with a stellar lineup that celebrates diversity, challenges cabaret stereotypes and entertains in intimate new spaces. 

Adelaide's founding father of Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Adelaide Fringe, the late Frank Ford has bequeathed a long lasting legacy to his beloved SA arts community.

Now playing in Austin's oldest playhouse, The Scottish Rite Theater, THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR delights theatre goers with its gender-bending cast and lively performance. Austin's Scottish Rite Theater is a most appropriate venue for such a play to be presented, giving the audience a passage through time within the Masonic grand hall adorned with decorative antiques around the house. THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, written by none other than William Shakespeare, commands any space with a high level of detail, and Scottish Rite Theater fits the bill.  Given the historic nature of the theater itself, first opening in 1871 as a German Opera house, the play THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR was interestingly first published 269 years prior. The historic location introduces the audience immediately into another age and lends to the other worldly tone of the play's presentation. The experience within this show begins before the lights are up on the stage - a group of 'merry' players entertain the excited audience as they file in to find their seats. A bar, The Garter Inn, has an innkeeper polishing glassware as would any restauranteur on a Sunday afternoon. The mood is set well by The Weird Sisters Women's Theater Collective and when the curtain rises, the audience can disconnect and journey back into 15th century England.

'The Merry Wives of Windsor' will be performed at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey through Sunday, December 27th. Directed by Bonnie Monte, audiences will delight in the Bard's rollicking comedy about love, marriage, jealousy and revenge.

Mark Nadler showed just what can be done with a fine piano.

The marvellous Opening Night Gala Performance, like the whole Cabaret Fringe, has found audiences continually increasing. Even this much larger venue was sold out.

59E59 Theaters will welcome acclaimed actor Edward Petherbridge to Brits Off Broadway in MY PERFECT MIND, created by Told by an Idiot, written by Kathryn Hunter, Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge, directed by Kathryn Hunter. Produced by Told by an Idiot, Young Vic, and Theatre Royal Plymouth, MY PERFECT MIND begins performances on Wednesday, June 10 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 28.  Press opening is Tuesday, June 16 at 7 PM.  The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; and Sunday at 3 PM. Please note, there is an additional performance on Sunday, June 21 at 7 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org. 

William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor runs tonight, February 4, through March 7, 2015 at Orlando Shakespeare Theater. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Great Lakes Theater (GLT) will commence its 2014-15 season with Shakespeare's battle of the sexes, The Merry Wives of Windsor, presented in rotating repertory with Boublil and Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical epic, LES MISERABLES (September 26 - November 9, 2014). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the 'Merry Wives' cast in action below!

The Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (formerly the Australian Cabaret Showcase) has announced a huge line up of judges, hosts, contestants as well as a new Major Partner, ahead of the commencement of the 2014 event on January 6.

The annual Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (formerly the Australian Cabaret Showcase) is pleased to announce a stellar panel of judges, for the largest cabaret contest in Australasia. The panel will consist of some of the most respected entertainment industry professionals and producers from across Australia and New Zealand. Judges will act as both the selection committee for entrants to the contest, as well as at each live heat and final being held throughout January.

The success of the Australian Cabaret Showcase continues this year as the event undergoes some exciting developments. In its 11th year, event organizers have renamed the annual event the Your Theatrics International Cabaret Contest (YTICC). Executive Director of Your Theatrics and Producer of the contest, Jeremy Youett explains, "We considered the success and growth that the Showcase has enjoyed in previous years, and felt a rebrand of the event was necessary to accommodate new partnerships in New York and New Zealand, which are hopefully just the beginning of the International expansion of the contest."

Adelaide Festival Centre's CEO and Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier announced that the Artistic Director for Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2015 will be Barry Humphries. Barry Humphries needs no introduction: he is undoubtedly one of Australia's most loved comedians, satirists, artists, and authors. Best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, he is also a respected film producer and script writer, a star of London's West End musical theatre, an award-winning writer and an accomplished landscape painter.

Adelaide Festival Centre's CEO and Artistic Director, Douglas Gautier announced today that Artistic Director for Adelaide Cabaret Festival in 2015 will be Barry Humphries.

The Shakespeare Theatre Company announces casting for the two remaining productions of their 25th Anniversary Season. The Servant of Two Masters, running from May 15-June 24 at the Lansburgh Theatre (450 7th Street NW), and The Merry Wives of Windsor, running from June 12-July 15 at Sidney Harman Hall (610 F Street NW), both feature new and familiar faces to STC's stages.

Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP) continues its 8th season - Laughter, Loss & Longing ? with one of Shakespeare's later comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by ASP resident acting company member Steven Barkhimer. The play previews on December 7th, 8th & 9th, and opens on Saturday, December 10th at 8:00pm at the newly opened Davis Square Theatre (formerly Jimmy Tingle's), 255 Elm Street, right in the heart of Davis Square in Somerville. For this production we hope to be long on the 'laughter' part of our theme and, the holidays and Davis Square are a perfect match for the escapades of the Merry Wives. 'It's the time of year when we should be laughing off the crap we have to go through the rest of the year,' Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said. 'And what better place to perform but in the space once operated by the hilarious comedian Jimmy Tingle.'

Actors' Shakespeare Project (ASP) continues its 8th season - Laughter, Loss & Longing ? with one of Shakespeare's later comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by ASP resident acting company member Steven Barkhimer. The play previews on December 7th, 8th & 9th, and opens on Saturday, December 10th at 8:00pm at the newly opened Davis Square Theatre (formerly Jimmy Tingle's), 255 Elm Street, right in the heart of Davis Square in Somerville. For this production we hope to be long on the 'laughter' part of our theme and, the holidays and Davis Square are a perfect match for the escapades of the Merry Wives. 'It's the time of year when we should be laughing off the crap we have to go through the rest of the year,' Artistic Director Allyn Burrows said. 'And what better place to perform but in the space once operated by the hilarious comedian Jimmy Tingle.'

9 to 5: The Musical arrives at The 5th Avenue Theatre, just in time to brighten the final grey days of spring. Based on the wildly popular 1980s film of the same name, this outrageously funny Broadway delight features the original movie's blockbuster title tune, plus more than a dozen new songs by the queen of country music, iconic songwriter, movie star, and entrepreneur -- Dolly Parton!