Harold Prince News

Broadway stars Teri Dale Hansen ('The Boys from Syracuse') and Norm Lewis ('The Little Mermaid' and the upcoming 'Sondheim on Sondheim') bring beloved music of the Great White Way to Princeton on Saturday, January 30, as part of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra's PSO POPS! sixth annual Broadway Concert.

The cast has been announced for Amas Musical Theatre's production of SIGNS OF LIFE. The cast will be led by Erika Amato, Wilson Bridges and Kurt Zischke. Performances begin on February 16 at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre.

Longtime casting director Shirley Rich passed away on December 28th, 2009 at the age of 87 in Greenwich Connecticut of natural causes. Referred to by the New York Times as the 'doyenne of New York casting directors,' Rich's career covered Broadway plays and Hollywood films, with actors such as Judd Hirsch, Sean Penn, and Tom Cruise.

The Diary of a Dancer, a brand new one-person show, debuts at The Bridge Theatre @ Shetler Studios for a limited engagement January 21-23, 2010. Written by and starring Wade Dooley, Diary is the autobiographical tale of Mary Shennanbargger, an eighty-something retired performer-turned-teacher.

"I am delighted to announce our Fantastic 58th Season of Musicals," states Christopher B. Manos, Producer of Theater of the Stars. "We have some wonderful world-class entertainment in store for 2010, from old-fashioned fun to brand new shows that are sure to dazzle. We are excited to bring the incomparable Melissa Gilbert to Atlanta in the new stage version of Little House on the Prairie, The Musical, to bring back Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, and to welcome the Blue Man Group for the very first time to our season. We've been asked for a long time to get The Sound of Music on our series and I'm pleased to say that we have it, along with the absolutely beautiful national touring production of Irving Berlin's White Christmas. Lastly, we'll add some comic relief with 9 TO 5: The Musical based on the smash hit movie with Music and Lyrics by Dolly Parton."

Off-Broadway's acclaimed Irish Repertory Theatre announces a two-week extension of its latest hit ERNEST IN LOVE - a musical adaptation of Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST -- with performances now scheduled to run through February 14 at the Irish Repertory Theatre (132 West 22nd Street) in Manhattan.

BRAT productions will be merging worlds in 2010 with their FINAL production of Eugene Ionesco's (24 HOUR) 'THE BALD SOPRANO' FRIDAY, JANUARY 22nd @ the Annenberg Center - Harold Prince Theatre 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA.

Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove have announced full casting for the New York premiere of EQUIVOCATION by Bill Cain (former artistic director of Boston Shakespeare Company), directed by Tony Award winner Garry Hynes (Translations, Beauty Queen of Leenane).

The longest-running show in Broadway history, Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, last week broke the house record at The Majestic Theatre (247 West 44th Street) to have its best weekly gross in the production's nearly 22 year history.

FROM MY FAIR LADY TO SPRING AWAKENING FOUR DECADES OF BROADWAY MUSICALS IN BRAZIL.

Composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim, who penned the score and lyrics for several critically acclaimed Broadway musicals including SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE and A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, currently running at the Walter Kerr Theatre, is the focus of a new interview on the theatre related podcast Downstage Center. The interview originally aired January 3rd and is currently available for download.

PS Classics and Nonesuch will partner is set to release the new Broadway cast album of Stephen Sondheim's A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC. The cast, led by Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury, will head into the studio January 4. No release date for the disc has been announced.

MUSICAL THEATRE WEST kicks off the new year with the Stephen Sondheim masterpiece, Sweeney Todd. Previewing on January 29, 2010, Sweeney Todd opens January 30 and runs through February 14 at the spectacular Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach. Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, is based on the 1973 play Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Christopher Bond.

The Cameron Mackintosh/Really Useful Theatre Company, Inc. production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Harold Prince, will make a return to South Florida as a major presentation of the 2009-2010 theatrical season when it opens Wednesday, December 23, brings in New Year 2010, and runs through Sunday, January 17. Well remembered by local theater goers for its phenomenal run when it opened on February 26, 1991 as the premiere presentation of the newly built theater, this 4-week run will mark another landmark presentation as a major 'special' of Broadway Across America-Ft. Lauderdale presented by Florida theatrical Association at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

MUSICAL THEATRE WEST kicks off the new year with the Stephen Sondheim masterpiece, Sweeney Todd. Previewing on January 29, 2010, Sweeney Todd opens January 30 and runs through February 14 at the spectacular Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

MUSICAL THEATRE WEST kicks off the new year with the Stephen Sondheim masterpiece, Sweeney Todd. Previewing on January 29, 2010, Sweeney Todd opens January 30 and runs through February 14 at the spectacular Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach.

BRAT productions will be merging worlds in 2010 with their FINAL production of Eugene Ionesco's (24 HOUR) 'THE BALD SOPRANO' FRIDAY, JANUARY 22nd @ the Annenberg Center - Harold Prince Theatre 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA.

Below are BroadwayWorld.com's most popular articles from 2009 - it's been quite a year. Here's a look at 40 of BroadwayWorld.com's most popular stories of the year in date order. Catch up below on anything that you might have missed from the past year on BroadwayWorld.com!

The New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, who recently attended the Broadway production of 'A Little Night Music', offers an exploratory analysis of artistic parallels between the Broadway revival and Ingmar Bergman's 'Smiles of a Summer Night', the 1955 film which served as the inspiration for Stephen Sondheim's'A Little Night Music'

The Last Night of Ballyhoo has been wildly popular with audiences and critics alike, and its run has been further extended through December 27.