Gordon Leary News

At long last, Hedwig comes to Diversionary! This iconic musical is an integral part of the LGBT theater canon and truly rocked the musical form when it debuted Off Broadway 20 years ago. It has since been made into a movie, enjoyed productions all over the world, and had its Broadway debut starring Neil Patrick Harris, winning the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Our 20th anniversary production will find a thrilling new aesthetic and a renewed authenticity as we conclude a nationwide casting search for the right gender non-binary performer to fill Hedwig's boots! Get ready to rock!

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to present its 5th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. This year's Festival features full productions of nine new musicals plus two free readings. The Festival will be performed simultaneously on two stages at The Edge Theater: the Broadway (5451 N. Broadway) and the new Off Broadway (1133 W. Catalpa Ave.) in Chicago Edgewater neighborhood. Each full production will receive at least five performances during the Festival. Single tickets and festival passes are currently available at www.cmtf.org. The press 'Sneak Preview,' featuring a sampling of songs from the 2019 Festival, is Monday, February 4 at 8 pm.

After a sold-out Wallis debut in July, A Little New Music will spotlight another lineup of emerging musical theatre talents for The Sorting Room's 2018 Winter Session at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, December 20 at 7:00 p.m. A Little New Music's audiences will enjoy original musical theatre songs firsthand before they hit Broadway or the regional circuit.

Underscore Theatre Company is pleased to present its 5th annual CHICAGO MUSICAL THEATRE FESTIVAL, created to showcase and support the growing field of musical theatre creators from Chicago and beyond. This year's Festival features full productions of nine new musicals plus two free readings.

Applications for the 2018-2019 Writers Alliance Grants will open on October 1, 2018, and close on November 2, 2018. Interested theaters will be able to find the application at https://dgf.org/programs/grants/.

As part of its Developmental Reading Series, The York Theatre Company presents two-time Emmy Award Winner Sally Struthers and Head Over Heels Star Bonnie Milligan in Staged Readings of New Musical Oh My God...Broadway!!

After the lauded World Premiere of The Boy Who Danced On Air, Diversionary is proud to produce the World Premiere of another groundbreaking new musical.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce the latest recipients of Discovery Grants from the Opera Grants for Female Composers program, made possible through the generosity of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

PAGE 73 PRODUCTIONS (Page 73) (Michael Walkup, Producing Artistic Director; Jenny Lagundino, Managing Director; Liz Jones and Asher Richelli, Founding Directors) has named C.A. Johnson the 2018 P73 Playwriting Fellow. Selected from over 400 applicants, Johnson will receive a $10,000 award and additional $10,000 budgeted for developing several new plays over the course of the year.

The Dramatists Guild Foundation announces 10 writers and 10 nonprofit theaters as the inaugural recipients of the DGF Writers Alliance Grants. 

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Interim Executive Director; David McCoy, Chairman of the Board), dedicated to the development of new musicals and the preservation of musical gems from the past, as part of its acclaimed Developmental Reading Series, will present the staged reading of OMG...BROADWAY!

Next week, FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club & Private Event Destination, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond, including Liz Callaway, Steve Kazee, the cast of CATS, the New Writers at 54! series, and a HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDUH! reunion concert. Scroll down for details!

Feinstein's/54 Below presents "New Writers at 54: Songs by Julia Meinwald & Gordon Leary" on Sunday, July 30. Julia and Gordon write aggressively empathetic musicals. In the tradition of their shows Pregnancy Pact (Weston Playhouse, 2012) and The Loneliest Girl in the World (Diversionary Theatre, 2018), their three newest musicals explore unlikely (and sometimes unlikeable) characters behaving badly.

New Writers At 54! is a summer series at Feinstein's/54 Below showcasing exciting work by today's hottest emerging voices, curated by Creative and Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper.

The YALE INSTITUTE FOR MUSIC THEATRE (Mark Brokaw, Artistic Director) announces the creative teams and casting for the two original book musicals, COWBOY BOB, created by Molly Beach Murphy, Jeanna Phillips, and Annie Tippe, book by Molly Beach Murphy, music and lyrics by Jeanna Phillips; and GUMBO, music by Brett Macias and book and lyrics by Christina Quintana, conceived by Brett Macias and Christina Quintana, which are being developed in an intensive two-week summer lab at Yale School of Drama, June 13-24. Scott Frankel is the Artistic Advisor, and Catherine Sheehy is the resident Dramaturg for this year's Institute, which culminates with open rehearsal readings of each project, presented as part of New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas on June 23 and 24.

The National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT) announces 16 awards granted from their National Fund for New Musicals, a major funding program to support NAMT member not-for-profit theatres in their collaborations with writers to create, develop and produce new musicals.

The Yale Institute for Music Theatre announces the two original book musicals which have been selected for this year's two-week summer lab: COWBOY BOB, created by Molly Beach Murphy, Jeanna Phillips, and Annie Tippe, book by Molly Beach Murphy, music and lyrics by Jeanna Phillips; and GUMBO, music by Brett Macias and book and lyrics by Christina Quintana.

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its nightly performances, February 22 - March 5, 2017. Scroll down for details, or visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows!

Joe's Pub at the Public has announced its nightly performances, running February 15-26, 2017. Scroll down for more information, and visit www.joespub.com for a complete list of shows!

CastAndLoose Live! returns for its 5th full-length installment to present CastAndLoose Live! Body Language on Thursday, February 23rd, 2017 at 9:30pm at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC. Tickets are $20 and are available at http://www.publictheater.org/reserve/index.aspx?performanceNumber=33697. Run time is one hour.