Goodspeed Musicals News

Goodspeed Musicals is producing an invitation only workshop of the new musical Passing Through in NY February 12 -15, 2019. 

A "first-rate singer of unusual refinement" with "a voice that traverses genres" (New York Times), Michael Winther, making his Birdland Theater solo debut, joins forces with award-winning jazz pianist, Matt Baker for a unique mix of classic, romantic standards and contemporary love songs as well as some discoveries from the contemporary musical theater - just in time for Valentine's Day!

La Vie Productions in association with Playwrights Horizons will present a private industry reading of Into the Wild, a new musical featuring a book and lyrics by Janet Allard and music and lyrics by Niko Tsakalakos, today, Friday, February 8, 2019 in NYC. Inspired by the book "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer and the photographic history of Chris McCandless' journey as shown in The McCandless Foundation's published work "Back to the Wild," the industry presentation will be directed by Lila Neugebauer with musical supervision/ arrangements by Brian Usifer.

92Y announces a 2nd-anniversary celebration for Come From Away, the heart-stealing, Tony-winning, Grammy-nominated, critical and box office smash hit that tells the remarkable true story of 7,000 passengers stranded after 9/11 and the small Newfoundland town that welcomed them. Irene Sankoff and David Hein (book, music, & lyrics), and cast members Happy McPartlin, Jim Walton and Julie Reiber come to 92Y on March 3 to share favorite memories and inside stories in conversation with Playbill's Ruthie Fierberg. The event also includes special performances of two songs from the show - "Me and the Sky" and "Stop the World."

The Fox Cities Performing Arts Center is thrilled to announce the national tour of COME FROM AWAY, a Broadway musical about the true story of the small town that welcomed the world, will make its debut at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center for a limited engagement April 2-7.

Raven Theatre announces its 2019-20 Season, kicking off this fall with the Chicago premiere of Rachel Bonds' drama SUNDOWN, YELLOW MOON, directed by Artistic Director Cody Estle and featuring music and lyrics by The Bengsons. This warm, delicate play with music is an honest look at the hard work of holding a family together and re-connecting with what we've left behind.

Dr. Phillips Center announced today that individual tickets for the national tour of COME FROM AWAY, a Broadway musical about the true story of the small town that welcomed the world, go on sale today, Friday, February 1, 2019 at 10 a.m.

The Australian Discovery Orchestra, the world's first solely digital streaming orchestra, is proud to announce "16 STORIES" - a worldwide online vocal competition. Renowned musical theatre creators from around the world have contributed a song from a musical they have written that has never previously been recorded for commercial release; these 16 songs will comprise an upcoming Australian Discovery Orchestra album, to be released on the Broadway Records label.

Boston Lyric Opera's (BLO) season of rebels and dissenters continues into Spring 2019 with tales of strong women helmed by women directors. BLO's productions of THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA and THE HANDMAID'S TALE tell startlingly relevant stories -- both with extraordinary music, and both produced in distinctive, non-traditional spaces. Artistic and General Director Esther Nelson says the spring season highlights stories from which female characters emerge as moral and societal touchstones.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces Seeing Red by Joey Mazzarino and Aron Accurso, starring Kerry Butler and Directed by Jenn Thompson and presented by Laura Kriete-Bain as part of the 2019 TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series on February 4, 2019 at 7pm at the Actors Temple, 339 West 47th Street, NYC. The reading is free but reservations are required: please email name and number of tickets requested to TRUVoicesSeries@gmail.com, or use the bright red ticketing box at https://truonline.org/events/seeing-red/.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley announces a special post-show political forum for its production of the Tony and Olivier Award-nominated drama Frost/Nixon. Following the 2pm performance of Frost/Nixon on Saturday, February 2 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, audiences are invited to discuss the history and current relevance of the Watergate scandal with Dr. Theodore Glasser of Stanford University and Dr. Terri Bimes of University of California Berkeley in a conversation moderated by Cameron Wells, the assistant director of Frost/Nixon. Glasser, a professor emeritus of Communication whose research specializes in media practices and press accountability, and Bimes, a lecturer and Assistant Director of Research for the Institute of Governmental Studies who teaches about the presidency, will bring their unique perspectives to this free political forum, open to audience members and community members.

Does your child dream of seeing their name in lights? Why not have them learn from the best at Goodspeed Musicals! Aspiring young performers ages 8 and older are invited to register for up to eight different Master Classes taught by professional artists who have performed on the Goodspeed stage, on Broadway and around the country. Classes will include Acting Through Song, Comedy Acting, Vocal Performance, Audition Technique and Musical Theatre Dance among others.

For the Toronto company of Come From Away, their return to Newfoundland this week is a homecoming of sorts - bringing back to the island the musical that tells the stories of those who were stranded there, and the Canadians who took them in, following the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001. For the first time since the original TorontoBroadway company performed the musical in concert for the town of Gander - the musical has returned to 'the rock,' this time for a week of performances in St. John's, Newfoundland at the Holy Heart Theatre.

Andrea Wolff's I Can't Trace Time, a passionate and whimsical musical memoir, will play a show at downtown's alt-cabaret, Pangea, on Feb. 22nd, 2019 at 7pm. With a signature mixture of pop and Broadway played only by Music Director/Pianist Jude Obermuller and with an appearance by Special Guest, Sean Harkness, I Can't Trace Time features a master entertainer who has been widely lauded for her strong comic timing, offbeat and compelling characterizations and superb taste in music.

Michael Medeiros will be one of the writers at the 2019 Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals with his rock musical, WILD THING (book, lyrics and music by Michael Medeiros).

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will kick off the new year with the Tony and Olivier Award nominated drama Frost/Nixon. Written by Golden Globe winner Peter Morgan (creator of Netflix's The Crown), Frost/Nixon is a riveting political prizefight where the cameras roll, the truth spins, and it becomes clear that he who controls the medium controls the message. With America caught in the riptides of Watergate and Vietnam, the former leader of the free world and a lightweight British talk-show host clash in a legendary series of TV interviews that will determine the President's legacy forever. Directed by Leslie Martinson, Frost/Nixon will be presented January 16 - February 10, 2019 (press opening: January 19, 2019) at Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro Street, Mountain View. For tickets ($40-$100) and more information the public may visit TheatreWorks.org or call (650) 463-1960.

The Old Globe today announced the cast and creative team for the West Coast premiere of Tiny Beautiful Things, based on the best-selling book by Cheryl Strayed (Torch, Brave Enough, Wild, 'Dear Sugar'), adapted for the stage by Academy Award nominee Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Instant Mom). Co-conceived by Marshall Heyman ('Dietland'), Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Fox's Grease Live!), and Vardalos, and directed by Globe favorite James Vasquez (American Mariachi, Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!), Tiny Beautiful Things will run February 9 - March 10, 2019 in the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, Conrad Prebys Theatre Center, opening on Thursday, February 14. Tickets are on sale now starting at $30.00 and can be purchased online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, by phone at (619) 23-GLOBE, or by visiting the Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park. 

As BroadwayWorld reported last week, Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, a new Broadway-bound musical about the early life of Judy Garland, from her vaudeville sister act through her rise at MGM to win the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, just had an industry presentation in New York City. The musical has reportedly earned the approval of one very important guest, Liza Minnelli. She told Deadline: 

Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, a new Broadway-bound musical about the early life of Judy Garland, from her vaudeville sister act through her rise at MGM to win the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, will have an industry presentation today, January 10, in New York City.

In what has become an annual ritual, a total of 34 established and emerging composers, lyricists, and librettists will converge on the Goodspeed campus from mid-January through mid-February 2019 to participate in the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals. The writing teams, representing 21 new musicals, will populate the campus, creating a truly exciting environment for discovery and inspiration.