I. Fell News

Tampabay.com has published an article that gives further casting information about Wonderland: A New Musical Adventure, including

WONDERLAND: A New Alice. A New Musical Adventure will open on Broadway Sunday, April 17, 2011 and performances will begin Monday, March 21, at a Nederlander theatre to be announced. The musical will be directed by Gregory Boyd, the artistic director of the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, with a book by Gregory Boyd and Jack Murphy (The Civil War -Tony nomination) and lyrics by Jack Murphy, music by Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde - Grammy nomination, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Civil War - Tony nomination, Dracula, Victor/Victoria) and choreography by Marguerite Derricks (Fame, Emmy Awards for '3rd Rock From The Sun' and 'Fame LA'). WONDERLAND: A New Alice. A New Musical Adventure will play a pre-Broadway engagement at the Ferguson Hall at the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts (Judy Lisi, President and CEO) in Tampa, Florida January 4 through January 16, 2011.

Broadway actress and jazz vocalist Luba Mason will be taking on the role of Mrs. Young from the 1998 Broadway production of The Capeman. This concert version, directed by Tony Award nominee Diane Paulus, will play the Delacorte Theater for three shows only. Mason has appeared on Broadway as Velma Kelly in Chicago (with Brooke Shields), Hedy LaRue in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (opposite Matthew Broderick), and Lucy in Jekyll & Hyde.

Tony award-winning actress Lea Salonga has tripped and sprained her ankle as she was heading to her first stage entrance during the technical and dress rehearsal for the Philippine premiere of the musical 'Cats: Now and Forever' Thursday at the Nicanor Abelardo Theatre of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) . Ms. Salonga, who dons Grizabella's scruffy costume, and the Australian touring cast and crew of the T.S. Eliot/Andrew Lloyd Webber musical officially open 'Cats' Manila run Saturday, July 24, 2010.

When a show is a huge success on Broadway, it has the potential to run for years and years and years. This is wonderful news for theatre fans who only come to New York City every once in a while -- and especially for those who make it to Broadway just once in a lifetime!

BABALU was a fine night at the theater. I am not positive yet if it is a revue, a nightclub act, or a Broadway musical trying to find its way. Filled with the music of Desi Arnaz, and a few others, this show is a love letter from Lucie Arnaz to her much adored father, Desi. She talks a lot about her father, sings and dances to music from his career and spends the performance as a charming host. Lucie looks beautiful, and her singing is wonderful. She appears to be having a fine time, and certainly wants the audience to have a great time.

Actor, producer, director Aurelien Roulin is an opinionated Frenchman, to be sure, but also a very talented one. His Beyond plays the El Portal mainstage through August 1. In our interview, he tells us how it all came into being. He also shares his thoughts about certain aspects of American versus French culture.

You know it when it hits you. That feeling in your gut that says, 'Seeing this show one time is NOT going to be enough!' Sometimes it happens during the curtain call. Sometimes it strikes during an 11:00 number or big finale. Other time it's obvious at intermission, or during the first act, or even when the orchestra strikes up the first notes of the overture. And for me, it's happened more than once that a show lodges itself in my heart before I even get to the theatre -- when the cast album precedes it, for example, and I know that I'm going to get stuck on the production like a schoolgirl with a crush on the captain of the football team.

Academy Award®-winning producer Bruce Cohen and acclaimed television producer/director Don Mischer will produce the 83rd Academy Awards telecast, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak announced this evening. Mischer will also serve as the telecast's director.

No Exit Cafe is being reconfigured to resemble a late 1940s/early 1950s neighborhood cabaret by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre for its next show, "Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen," performed in association with Michael James, opening Sunday, June 20.

No Exit Cafe is being reconfigured to resemble a late 1940s/early 1950s neighborhood cabaret by Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre for its next show, "Sweet and Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen," performed in association with Michael James, opening Sunday, June 20.

Philadelphia Orchestra Association Chairman Richard B. Worley and President and CEO Allison Vulgamore announced today that Yannick (Yah-NEEK) Nézet-Séguin (NAH-zay SAY-gahn) has been named as the Orchestra's next Music Director.

I had a most difficult time falling asleep last night. It was one of those nights when something kept going over and over in my mind, preventing sleep from happening. As a creature of the theater, I get most excited by a show that gives me goose bumps and keeps me riveted from beginning to end. Disney and Cameron Mackintosh have teamed to bring us a stage version of MARY POPPINS. Last night, MARY POPPINS opened at the Broward Center. It is a 'Jolly Holiday' for me to tell you, MARY POPPINS is one of the greatest musicals in years.

During my first theater job in New York, I was asked to go to a reading of a play called The Mistakes Madeleine Made, by Elizabeth Meriwether. The play - about a young woman facing family tragedy and a fear of cleanliness -- ended up being produced by Naked Angels, and I've remembered it fondly for years because I enjoyed it so much. It was dark, but funny; deeply disturbed ideas somehow created infectious laughter, and it didn't feel gimmicky for a second. There was something paradoxical about how grounded Meriwether's writing made the zany premise of the story feel - and it worked. I looked forward to seeing her future endeavors.

Actress/singer/dancer Lesli Margherita is a super talented artist. She's been in The Grave White Way, Beehive, Zorba for Reprise!, among many other shows. And...she's already won an Olivier Award (Great Britain's Tony) for Featured Actress in a Musical - unusual for an American artist - and is currently finishing up her run in the controversial world premiere of Michael LaChiusa's See What I Wanna See on Sunday May 30 at the Blank Theatre. On Tuesday June 8 she will perform her acclaimed one-woman show All Hail the Queen once more for one night only at Level 3 in Hollywood. We talked about her theatrical successes here and abroad.

Currently off-Bway in 'Restoration', Cake is a regular on NY and London stages as well as TV and film.

Broadway actors Christine Toy Johnson and Jose Llana, in partnership with The Eastern Region Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of the Actors' Equity Association, held a sold-out, all Asian-American concert performance of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Tony Award-nominated musical 'Once On This Island' at the York Theatre in New York, NY on Sunday, May 16, 2010.

The Huntington Theatre Company's 29th Season will include two world premieres directed by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois, an American classic, two Shakespeare plays in repertory, a three-play festival from a breakout writer, and the 2009 winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

The American Shakespeare Center today announced that its board of trustees has selected Amy Wratchford to serve as its new managing director. She will begin work on May 10.