Harold Wheeler News

The Lake Worth Playhouse continues its 58th season with the modern madcap musical comedy, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS. The production features a cast of Playhouse favorites mixed with new talent from throughout South Florida. Performances run from January 21 through February 6 2011, with a Preview Night performance on January 20, on the stage of the Lake Worth Playhouse located at 713 Lake Avenue in downtown Lake Worth.

The Lake Worth Playhouse continues its 58th season with the modern madcap musical comedy, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS. The production features a cast of Playhouse favorites mixed with new talent from throughout South Florida. Performances run from January 21 through February 6 2011, with a Preview Night performance on January 20, on the stage of the Lake Worth Playhouse located at 713 Lake Avenue in downtown Lake Worth.

Animals talk, sing and do complicated choreography in the kingdom of Lucky Duck, which runs Feb. 11-27 on South Coast Repertory's Julianne Argyros Stage.

The Lake Worth Playhouse continues its 58th season with the modern madcap musical comedy, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS. The production features a cast of Playhouse favorites mixed with new talent from throughout South Florida. Performances run from January 21 through February 6 2011, with a Preview Night performance on January 20, on the stage of the Lake Worth Playhouse located at 713 Lake Avenue in downtown Lake Worth.

According to Variety, UNCHAIN MY HEART might not move to Broadway this spring after all. The show, which was previously titled RAY CHARLES LIVE!, was to open at the Ethel Barrymore on November 7, but was postponed until spring. Now the production has been put on hold because a producer of the show is suing the show's primary investor. A rep for UNCHAIN MY HEART commented that he 'had no details about a new production timeline, but admitted a spring start doesn't seem viable.'

According to the Hollywood Reporter, RAY CHARLES LIVE! producer Stuart Benjamin is suing his primary investor, Maurice Grant, for fraud, and is demanding $20 million in damages. Grant reportedly 'promised him $9 million in several installments to get Ray Charles Live! to Broadway'. Grant's first payment of $150,000 never cleared, and he never received a $2 million payment from February.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF), a highly touted organization which provides financial grants and support services to deserving college students, will host the 5th Anniversary JAZZ on the Grass benefit concert (JAZZ) on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 2 p.m. in Sherman Oaks, California at the estate of Lynne and Oz Scott, renowned director and producer.

Castro's invading, integration is the new frontier and you have to be much larger than a size 6 to be considered plus-size.  Welcome to the '60s and welcome to Paper Mill's big, bubbly and thoroughly loveable production of Hairspray.

Michael Frayn's 1975 comedy, Alphabetical Order, is the type of play that, either as a compliment or as a dismissal, American audiences are likely to label as 'very British.'  Its humor is subtle, its themes are sub-textual and the characters all talk in these funny accents.  But even those who appreciate the delicacy of that type of play may find this early work by the versatile writer who went on to pen the riotous Noises Off and the heady Copenhagen a little padded and lacking in both humor and bite.  Still, director Carl Forsman and the Keen Theatre Company serve up a lively production that boasts its charms, particularly in the performances of the engaging ensemble.

Reworking a classic story is not a new concept in the theatre world. Just ask the creators of Wicked or West Side Story. Taking something that audiences are already familiar with and turning it on its ear can be quite a task and is not without its challenges. First, there are the constant comparisons to the source material (or previous adaptations). Next, there is the daunting task to "reinvent" the plot and bring audiences on a fresh and new journey. But with the Alliance Theatre's premiere of Twist - an American Musical (a modern, American take on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist) they beat the odds and have created a magical tapestry of music, story and life that, even with a classic tale at its heart, feels like a something completely new.

The Alliance Theatre's 2010-11 Season kicks off with Twist - an American musical, inspired by the Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, set in New Orleans in 1928. There, while the Roaring 20s dance their way down Bourbon Street, an orphan in search of home finds family in the most unexpected of places. Twist is the story of the emotional struggle of an orphan, whose father was a black song-and-dance man and whose mother was a southern white aristocrat, seeking a place to belong and a family to love while guided by a fierce yearning for home.

The Alliance Theatre's 2010-11 Season kicks off with Twist - an American musical, inspired by the Dickens' classic Oliver Twist, set in New Orleans in 1928. There, while the Roaring 20s dance their way down Bourbon Street, an orphan in search of home finds family in the most unexpected of places. Twist is the story of the emotional struggle of an orphan, whose father was a black song-and-dance man and whose mother was a southern white aristocrat, seeking a place to belong and a family to love while guided by a fierce yearning for home.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation (JRF), a highly touted organization which provides financial grants and support services to deserving college students, will host the 5th Anniversary JAZZ on the Grass benefit concert (JAZZ) on Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 2 p.m. in Sherman Oaks, California at the estate of Lynne and Oz Scott, renowned director and producer.

UNCHAIN MY HEART, the Ray Charles Musical, which was scheduled to open at the Barrymore Theatre on Broadway on November 7, will now open in the Spring of 2011 at a Shubert Theatre to be announced. The principal cast is expected to stay with the production. Producer Stuart Benjamin cited logistical reasons for the change in date.

Producer Stuart Benjamin has announced that UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical, will open at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th St.) on Broadway on November 7, 2010; previews begin October 8. Directed by Sheldon Epps, UNCHAIN MY HEART features the music of Ray Charles and a book by Suzan-Lori Parks.

The cast of UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical, will be lead by Brandon Victor Dixon (2010 Lortel, Drama League & Outer Critics Circle nominee for The Scottsboro Boys, 2006 Tony nominee for The Color Purple) starring as 'Ray Charles' and Nikki Renée Daniels (Promises, Promises, Nine) as 'Della'.

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that the producers of the West End production of Hairspray have posted a show closing notice for March 28, 2010. The closing will proceed Hairspray's National Tour, which launches on March 30, 2010.

UNCHAIN MY HEART, The Ray Charles Musical, featuring the music of Ray Charles with a book by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Sheldon Epps will begin previews October 8, 2010 and open officially November 7, 2010 on Broadway at a Shubert Theatre to be announced.

Whatsonstage.com is reporting that the producers of the West End production of Hairspray have posted a show closing notice for March 28, 2010. The closing will proceed Hairspray's National Tour, which launches on March 30, 2010.

The incomparable Film, T.V. and Broadway star Loretta Devine (Oscar Winning Best Picture CRASH, WAITING TO EXHALE, TV: Boston Public, Grey's Anatomy, Broadway: Dreamgirls (OBC)) performed three sold-out concerts at L.A.'s famed Upright Cabaret