'[Thank you] to an incredible cast of British and American actors who make the Atlantic look like a little creek you can just kind of pop across,' said Dame Helen Mirren upon receiving her 2015 Tony Award. The stage and screen star reprised her critically-acclaimed performance in THE AUDIENCE after a West End run in 2013, and she was just one of many to 'pop across' an ocean for a stab at Broadway. An unprecedented amount of British talent took over Broadway last year, bringing us such productions as THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, WOLF HALL: PARTS 1 & 2, and SKYLIGHT.
It doesn't seem like the trend is ending anytime soon.
This fall, Broadway will welcome a slew of British actors- some of whom will be making their US stage debuts in incoming productions. And it's not just performers. We're getting some complete British imports in shows like A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE and KING CHARLES III. Below, we're taking a moment to shine a spotlight on this season's British imports.
Tony nominee Elizabeth A. Davis and actor Gary Farmer lead the cast of Goodspeed's INDIAN JOE. Based on a true story, INDIAN JOE, a new musical about discovering the true meaning of family, will inspire Connecticut audiences this fall. An acoustic powerhouse cast of actor-musicians will weave a tuneful tale that beats with pure American heart and soul. Don't miss INDIAN JOE, tonight, October 22, through November 15 at The Norma Terris Theatre in Chester, Conn.
There are some familiar chords being heard at Cafe Carlyle as Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of music legend Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley has returned for a two week engagement. The New York Times called Joel, 'a singer following her own heart,' adding 'Her original work…is firmly grounded in a pop tradition in which streams converge, from gospel to Tin Pan Alley.'
Jonas Sills, Director/Producer of the show, played one the leads, Russian chess player Anatoly Sills is a fabulous singer and his stage presence outshined most of the other performers. His aim was 'to bring this production back to its roots with a simple, but carefully planned fully staged production that aims to focus on the beauty of the music and the images chess, the game, can invoke.' Besides Sills, the other terrific singer/performer in the show was Bob Cory as Molokov, the Russian player's coach and confidant. His physical presence and complete understanding of what it takes to bring a character to life onstage, was a highlight of the show.
66th & Broadway, WNET's local performing arts series, which showcases the town's thriving cabaret scene, returns with two new editions to its lineup: 66th & Broadway: Mark Nadler and 66th & Broadway: Frank Wildhorn & Friends.
With their trademark wit, virtuosity and irreverence for traditional genre demarcations, the members of the Turtle Island Quartet are the perfect candidates to put a thoroughly unique spin on the works of Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin and Thelonious Monk, drawing out surprising connections along the way. On their brand new program, Jelly, Rags & Monk, the Turtle Island Quartet reunites for the third time with the extraordinary jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut, after a series of special performances for TIQ's 25th anniversary season with mandolinist Mike Marshall that featured “astonishing versatility,” according to The Washington Post.
Mosaic Theater Company of DC announces its inaugural production, the epic world-premiere drama Unexplored Interior (This is Rwanda: The Beginning and End of the Earth) by longtime New York actor, first time playwright, Jay O. Sanders, to be staged by Helen Hayes Award-nominee Derek Goldman (Our Class, In Darfur) at the Atlas Performing Arts Center in the 260-seat Lang Theatre. This sweeping, assiduously researched play represents the scope and scale of Mosaic Theater Company's artistic and cultural ambitions as a space for bold art and big conversation around some of the most pressing social issues of our day.
Josh Groban's THE STAGES TOUR played to a standing-room-only house at the Providence Performing Arts Center, and this brilliant concert was one of the most impressive and enjoyable to grace the PPAC stage in recent memory.
First announced back in 2009, BroadwayWorld.com broke news earlier this year about the long gestating BAT OUT OF HELL Musical - revealing exclusively that musician and producer Todd Rundgren joined the team and that the show was hoping to make a 2016 world premiere in Toronto. Producers Michael Cohl and David Sonenberg have joined the project as co-producers, alongside the previously announced Elva Corrie.
Performances of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street are Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM and select Saturdays at 2 PM and Sundays at 7 PM. Tickets start at $28 and may be purchased online at actors-express.com or by calling 404-607-7469. The Actor's Express production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is sponsored by Stephen Michael Brown.
A brand new season of West End musicals, gripping dramas, dynamic dance and one night concerts with LESLEY JOSEPH, DERREN BROWN, RUSSELL WATSON, JOE McELDERRY, BRENDAN COLE, PASHA KOVALEV, DES O'CONNOR, JODIE PRENGER, JIM DAVIDSON and BILLY OCEAN.
UPRISING, premiering at MetroStage, is a powerful and engaging work that asks what choices we make to ensure freedom and for what would we sacrifice it.
ROMEO & JULIET by William Shakespeare is currently in previews for an opening tomorrow, 23 September, at Sheffield Theatres' Crucible Theatre. The production, starring Freddie Fox and Morfydd Clark in the title roles, runs through 17 October 2015, directed by Jonathan Humphreys. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the star-cross'd lovers in action below!
Drama Centre grad Morfydd Clark will take on the female lead in Sheffield's ROMEO AND JULIET at the Crucible this fall. Freddie Fox plays Romeo in the play, beginning tonight, September 17, 2015.
