On Twitter Watch, Ana Gasteyer wrote 'Nowhere is the depravity of the human spirit more evident than in the Machiavellian hustle for seats at an elementary school performance..'
Summer in Chicago continues this July with the Grant Park Music Festival, led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar and the Grammy Award-nominated Grant Park Orchestra, along with Chorus Director Christopher Bell and the Grant Park Chorus in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park. The Festival will bring performances by outstanding guest conductors and guest artists from around the world, in a month of exciting programming that includes a world premiere commission, a live concert screening of Frozen Planet, the latest hit series from BBC/Discovery Channel, a tribute concert to Broadway and Hollywood legend, Frank Loesser and other Festival favorites.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) concludes its 25th Anniversary season with Gala 2012 on June 11 at its home on Navy Pier. Funds raised will benefit the Regional Theatre Tony Award recipient's education and civic engagement initiatives, including Team Shakespeare, which serves over 40,000 students and teachers annually across the Midwest. Through the generosity of Gala Lead Sponsors Northern Trust, Donna Van Eekeren Foundation and Food for Thought Catering, the support of the Gala 2012 Host Committee, and the advocacy of CST's Board of Directors, the Theater anticipates raising $1 million in support of its continuing work as a partner in literacy for Chicago Public Schools.
It took two years, a Pulitzer Prize and an Olivier Award-winning London production before happening, but Bruce Norris' searing satire, Clybourne Park, has finally made the six-block transfer from Off-Broadway's Playwright's Horizon to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. The original ensemble of director Pam MacKinnon's excellent 2010 production has been reunited for the playwright's scathing telling of the racial integration of a Chicago neighborhood, as seen through the history of one very significant home.
Today we are talking to one of the busiest choreographers on Broadway who was recently represented by four shows running on the Great White Way simultaneously (a new record) - the long-running hit JERSEY BOYS, Pulitzer Prize-winner NEXT TO NORMAL, multi-Tony Award-winning MEMPHIS and THE ADDAMS FAMILY. His most recent Broadway credit is the new Alan Menken/Glenn Slater musical adaptation of the 90s hit Steve Martin comedy LEAP OF FAITH featuring Broadway superstar Raul Esparza in the lead. In addition to discussing the unique demands of his involvement with the aforementioned new musicals with a pronounced focus on his current project, Trujillo opens up about the process of collaborating with a director and what musical staging is all about at its core, as well as outlining his experiences working with a number of notable names on his impressive assortment of projects so far and taking a look back at his own career as a performer, having previously appeared in GUYS & DOLLS, FOSSE and the film version of CHICAGO among other illustrious resume entries. Plus, Trujillo shares his infectious enthusiasm and passionate dedication to his art and reveals what he will be taking on next after LEAP OF FAITH's opening night, which is tonight - a tryout tour of a screen-to-stage adaptation of the iconic 80s hit FLASHDANCE and an original dramatic musical included. All of that and much, much more!
Last night, April 24, Carnegie Hall presented its gala benefit performance of The Sound of Music in the Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. The cast was led by Laura Osnes (Maria Rainer), Tony Goldwyn (Captain von Trapp), Brooke Shields (Elsa Schraeder), Patrick Page (Max Detweiler), Stephanie Blythe (The Mother Abbess), Mary Michael Patterson (Liesl von Trapp), Nick Spangler (Rolf Gruber), Cotter Smith (Herr Zeller), and Reed Birney (Admiral von Schreiber). They were joined by and Joel Hatch (Franz, The Butler), Joy Hermalyn (Sister Berthe), Linda Mugleston (Sister Margaretta), Faith Sherman (Sister Sophia), and Veanne Cox (Frau Schmidt).
BroaadwayWorld was on hand for the exciting evening and brings you photo coverage below!
Carnegie Hall will present The Sound of Music tonight, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. A gala benefit for Carnegie Hall, this one-night-only concert performance of the beloved musical with a timeless score by Rodgers & Hammerstein will provide support for the music education programs of Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute.
The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to Broadway. 'Hairspray' at Oakbrook, two projects from Team StarKid, 'Rise Of The Numberless' from Bailiwick and New Colony, a new theater in Naperville, 'Bab Fab' and so much more!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today the return of British film and stage actor Simon Callow to Chicago for CST's 25th Anniversary engagement of his acclaimed Being Shakespeare-a virtuosic solo performance that weaves together excerpts from William Shakespeare's plays and poems, breathing new life into his unforgettable characters and the real man behind the legend.
The 'inspiring story of a small-town girl chasing her dream in the big city is told through exhilarating tap dance numbers' in the hit musical 42nd Street. Featuring Cynthia Dale and directed by Gary Griffin, this production begins previews at the Festival Theatre on Thursday, April 12.
Carnegie Hall today announced the complete cast for its gala benefit performance of The Sound of Music on Tuesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage. New to the cast are Mary Michael Patterson (Anything Goes) as Liesl von Trapp, Nick Spangler (The Book of Mormon) as Rolf Gruber, Cotter Smith (Next Fall) as Herr Zeller, Drama Desk and Obie Award recipient Reed Birney as Admiral von Schreiber, and Joel Hatch (Billy Elliot) as Franz, The Butler.
West End star Kerry Ellis recently wrote article for the Huffington Pst, in which she urges tourists to see a show while in London for the 2012 Olympics. Ellis writes: 'Theatre is part of the city's lifeblood and I know I'm not alone when I say that the Olympic Games this summer is a wonderful opportunity to introduce many of the fantastic shows currently being performed in the capital to the thousands of people visiting the city in July, most for the first time.'
The Bay Area premiere of San Jose Rep's God of Carnage begins previews tonight. This winner of the 2009 Tony Award® for Best Play was written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton. The production runs from March 22 to April 15, 2012, with Opening Night on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 pm.
The latest in unauthorized gossip and buzz from the heart of Chicago's showtune video bars, and musical theater news from Chicago to New York. The latest on the big musicals in Aurora, Oakbrook, Munster and Lincolnshire, two retro-60s jukebox shows, season announcements from Porchlight, Boho, Chicago Shakes and Court, plus the Light Opera Works gala!
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson announced today CST's 2012/13 Season, which begins with a new production of Sunday in the Park with George by musical team Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, and also includes the Chicago premiere of The School for Lies by playwright David Ives and productions of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Henry VIII. The Theater's extensive World's Stage lineup of international programming for 2012/13 ranges from the American premiere of A History of Everything by Belgian company Ontroerend Goed to the return of the National Theatre of Scotland's internationally acclaimed Black Watch and its inventive, supernatural The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. CST's annual CST Family programming kicks off this summer with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Additional productions will be announced for the 2012/13 Season later this summer, including an ongoing collaboration between Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Australia's one step at a time like this (en route) creating for the City of Chicago a world premiere pedestrian-based live art event inspired by Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and set in the city's urban landscape.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) presents its 25th Anniversary Season production of The Feast: an intimate Tempest, an original CST commission and artistic collaboration with Redmoon.
Carnegie Hall today announced that its one-night-only concert performance of The Sound of Music on Tuesday, April 24 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage will star Laura Osnes (Bonnie & Clyde, Anything Goes, Grease) as Maria Rainer alongside Tony Goldwyn (Broadway's Promises, Promises and film version of Ghost) as Captain von Trapp.
Chicago Shakespeare Theater's (CST) 25th Anniversary Season production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin (CST's Follies, Broadway's The Color Purple) is now playing through April 8, 2012, and features a celebrated company of artists that includes stage and screen actor Ron Orbach as Nick Bottom, former Saturday Night Live funnyman Tim Kazurinsky as Peter Quince, and veteran CST actors Tracy Michelle Arnold as Hippolyta/Titania and Timothy Edward Kane as Theseus/Oberon. Performing the role of Puck is Elizabeth Ledo.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company today announces the appointment of Communications Director Jeffrey Fauver. Fauver will begin at Steppenwolf on February 21, 2012.