Howard Ashman News

Continuing its reputation as one of the nation's most successful theatrical houses, the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, now celebrating its 25th Anniversary season, is delighted to welcome a parade of Broadway hits next season including such current blockbusters as "Matilda The Musical," "Something Rotten!," and "Finding Neverland."

The first musical by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman was an adventurous sign of things to come.

The 2016 season will be Tesori's fourth and final season leading Encores! Off-Center.

YouTuber Daniel Coz returns with his latest viral medley featuring tunes from Disney's iconic animated film and musical ALADDIN. Check it out below!

In what has been a closely guarded secret until Tuesday when it was released to its newsletter and season ticket subscribers, the Alhambra Theatre & Dining announced that its summer show will be Disney's Beauty and the Beast. The show will be Alhambra's longest engagement of the year, running from June 15 through July 31. Tickets are now on sale to the public.  The Alhambra has traditionally staged a family-oriented show for its summer time period. Recent summer shows have included Shrek!, Wizard of Oz, Willy Wonkaand Cinderella. Last year's summer show, Seussical: The Musical, was a sell out, and the Alhambra expects the same for Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

The Fulton Theatre is thrilled to announce a season bursting with dance, iconic musical theatre heroes, and a music legend in its mainstage offering! The Ellen Arnold Groff Studio Series, now in its third season, will offer three selections, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. The popular family series again will offer four shows that are ideal for the entire family. The 2016/2017 season kicks off with the mainstage series on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, with the triumphant Billy Elliot. 

Take a trip under the sea with Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID. This fun-filled, timeless tale makes its Broadway Sacramento debut in a limited engagement at Sacramento Community Center Theater from tonight, Feb. 2, through Feb. 7. Directed by CMT Artistic Director Glenn Casale, the show features Alison Woods as Ariel, along with several Music Circus Alums, including Eric Kunze as Prince Eric. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Palo Alto Players, the Peninsula's first theatre company, announces its 86th season - 'From Stage to Screen and Back Again' - featuring a collection of plays and musicals whose time-honored stories have been theatrical hits both on stage and in film. The 2016-17 line-up, beginning September 2016, was unveiled Saturday, January 30 by Artistic Director Patrick Klein and Managing Director Diana Lynn Berenstein at the company's annual Season Announcement Party and includes Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID; THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK; A DAY IN HOLLYWOOD, A NIGHT IN THE UKRAINE; Monty Python's SPAMALOT and THE GRADUATE. All performances are held at the Lucie Stern Theater located at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto. Subscriptions are on sale now online at www.paplayers.org or by phone at 650.329.0891. Individual tickets for the September show go on sale in August and for the remaining season beginning in October.

New Musicals at 54 is a series presented by Feinstein's/ 54 Below Programming Director Jennifer Ashley Tepper. Some of the 10 new and diverse musicals by a selection of today's most talented writers have had out-of-town productions, some have had workshops... now's your chance to be first to see them in NYC! Join us at New Musicals at 54 for one-night-only concerts celebrating each new show with songs, behind-the-scenes stories, and all-star casts!

Disney Theatrical Productions has announced that Aladdin will launch its North American tour in Chicago. The 12-week engagement begins performances at Broadway in Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W. Randolph Street, Chicago, IL 60601) on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 and plays through Sunday, July 2. Future engagements and casting information will be announced in the coming months. To receive news about the Aladdin North American tour, please sign-up for email alerts at www.AladdinTheMusical.com/tour.

PNC Broadway in Louisville fills the Kentucky Center this week with the current tour of the 1993 Broadway hit Beauty and the Beast, the stage version of the 1991 Disney animated movie. The opening night audience included many family groups who clearly were fans of the movie.

We're taking you on a journey to the magical world of Beast, Belle, Gaston, and friends as we travel through time. Taking place in 18th century France, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve's Beauty and the Beast is making it's way to Atlanta's Fox Theatre. I had the chance to sit down with Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek (Gaston) to talk about bringing this great book, turned film, and now theatrical play to life.

Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the award-winning worldwide smash hit Broadway musical, is returning to St. Louis as part of the U.S. Bank Broadway Series. Produced by NETworks Presentations, this elaborate theatrical production will come to life on stage at the Fabulous Fox Theatre March 11 - 13. For information on the production, visit www.BeautyAndTheBeastOnTour.com.

Take a trip under the sea with Disney's THE LITTLE MERMAID. This fun-filled, timeless tale makes its Broadway Sacramento debut in a limited engagement at Sacramento Community Center Theater from Feb. 2-7. Directed by CMT Artistic Director Glenn Casale, the show features Alison Woods as Ariel, along with several Music Circus Alums, including Eric Kunze as Prince Eric. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Squeals of delight and blood-curdling screams of fright fill Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre, and that's partially due to Joey Taranto. The Centennial Season continues with a humorous and heartfelt production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (now through February 7), led by Ari Butler (Seymour), Lauren Molina (Audrey), and Taranto as the dentist with a mean-streak, Orin, as well as other various roles.

Squeals of delight and blood-curdling screams of fright fill the Allen Theatre as Cleveland Play House's (CPH) Centennial Season continues with a humorous and heartfelt production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. CPH's production brings this dark storyline to life with loads of gleefully twisted comedy and head-bopping doo-wop on the Allen Theatre stage now through Feb. 7. The theatre company just tweeted a first listen to original KINKY BOOTS cast member Joey Taranto performing 'Dentist!' - check it out below!

Popular Broadway Youtube personality, Tyler Mount, recently welcomed Aladdin's COURTNEY REED, for the latest episode of his web series, THE TYLER MOUNT VLOG. Below, catch the broadway pro discussing reworking one of the most iconic songs of all time, her advice to young actors, and a hilariously competitive game of Disney Name That Tune.

How does the musical black comedy LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS fit into the Cleveland Play House's 100th anniversary theme of paying homage to their history? To find the answer requires going back to May, 1916, when the theatre staged THE DEATH OF TINTAGILES. The avant-garde play starred marionettes created by Helen Haiman Joseph, who created The Puppet Players Theatre at CPH in the mid-1920s.

Squeals of delight and blood-curdling screams of fright will fill the Allen Theatre as Cleveland Play House's (CPH) Centennial Season continues with a humorous and heartfelt production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. CPH's production brings this dark storyline to life with loads of gleefully twisted comedy and head-bopping doo-wop on the Allen Theatre stage now through Feb. 7. Opening night is tonight, January 15, 2016.

Belle, in her bookish ways and reserved manner, was always a stand out princess of Disney's canon. Disinterested in being one of the aptly named "Silly Girls" who spend their idle time fawning over local hunk Gaston, she is a much different kind of Disney heroine.