Sources Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood that Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine 'clawed' a whopping $35 million debut Friday in part to heavy attendance at evening shows and the studio's widest release ever into 4,099 theaters.
Broadway luminaries Jane Fonda, John Lithgow, Tyne Daly, Sutton Foster and Patick Wilson will appear as awards presenters at The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 15, 2009 (noon) in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street). The event will be co-hosted by Jeremy Irons (Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Distracted).
The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President; Gabriel Shanks, Executive Director) proudly announces nominations for the 2008-09 Drama League Awards, to be awarded at The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on Friday, May 15, 2009 (noon) in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square (1535 Broadway at 46th Street). The event will be co-hosted by Jeremy Irons (Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Distracted).
Scotland's Daily Record reports that Patrick Stewart upset fans following a theater performance of 'WAITING FOR GODOT' in Scotland by launching a 'foul-mouthed tirade at a man who allegedly took a picture of him onstage', according to people who attended the show.
Elton John (Billy Elliot: The Musical) will receive the Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award, Arthur Laurents (West Side Story) will be honored with the Julia Hansen Award for Excellence in Directing, and Angela Lansbury (Blithe Spirit) will receive the Unique Contribution to the Theatre Award. In addition, Broadway producer Herb Blodgett will receive The 75th Anniversary Leadership Award.
God Of Carnage will be transferring back to London in a revised format. The play will be returning to the West End in its original French setting as opposed to the 'Americanised' version of the show. Theater Royal Bath Productions owns the rights for a major UK tour of the play which is due to launch later this year.
When Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot exploded on to the London stage 50 years ago, it shocked as many people as it delighted. There had never been a play like it; two men clowning around, joking and arguing, repeating themselves, as they wait through one day and then another, waiting for the mysterious Godot. The combination of music hall, poetry and tension redefined what is possible in theatre, so that these days, Waiting for Godot is accepted as one of the most significant plays of the 20th century.
Sean Mathias directs Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot which is his first production as Artistic Director of the 2009 Theatre Royal Haymarket Company. Waiting for Godot will tour the UK prior to its opening in London in April.
WNET.ORG, New York's public media provider, teams up with leading American composer John Williams to score new theme music for THIRTEEN's award-winning performing arts series Great Performances.
Sean Mathias will direct Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot which is his first production as Artistic Director of the 2009 Theatre Royal Haymarket Company. Waiting for Godot will tour the UK prior to its opening in London in April.
The Drama League (Jano Herbosch, President) is pleased to announce that Jeremy Irons (Broadway's Impressionism) and Cynthia Nixon (Off-Broadway's Distracted at the Roundabout Theatre Company), who first starred together as father and daughter in the 1984 Broadway production of The Real Thing, will reunite this spring to serve as co-hosts for The 75th Annual Drama League Awards Ceremony and Luncheon.
BAM and The Old Vic announce The Bridge Project Benefit, celebrating the inaugural year of repertory co-productions from BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street Productions. The February 17 event begins at 6pm with cocktails and dinner onstage at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House followed by an 8pm performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the BAM Harvey Theater, directed by Sam Mendes and featuring a star-studded, transatlantic cast including Simon Russell Beale, Sin?ad Cusack, Richard Easton, Rebecca Hall, Josh Hamilton, and Ethan Hawke. The evening concludes with a post-performance dessert reception with the cast onstage at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. Benefit tickets can be purchased though BAM Patron Services at 718.636.4182.
BAM and The Old Vic announce The Bridge Project Benefit, celebrating the inaugural year of repertory co-productions from BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street Productions. The February 17 event begins at 6pm with cocktails and dinner onstage at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House followed by an 8pm performance of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale at the BAM Harvey Theater, directed by Sam Mendes and featuring a star-studded, transatlantic cast including Simon Russell Beale, Sin?ad Cusack, Richard Easton, Rebecca Hall, Josh Hamilton, and Ethan Hawke. The evening concludes with a post-performance dessert reception with the cast onstage at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House. Benefit tickets can be purchased though BAM Patron Services at 718.636.4182.
Alan Ayckbourn's comic trilogy of plays, THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, will come to Broadway directly following its sold out critically acclaimed run in London. The production, the latest success for The Old Vic Theatre Company under the artistic leadership of Kevin Spacey, will play for 16 weeks only. THE NORMAN CONQUESTS, directed by Matthew Warchus, opens Thursday, April 23 at Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street). Previews begin Tuesday, April 7.
Two Broadway faves, Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber star in the upcoming action-packed 20th Century Fox film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the trailer for the film is now online. Opening May 1st, you can view the trailer here, or in high-def by becoming a friend of the film's MySpace page.
Simon Callow (Pozzo) and Ronald Pickup (Lucky) will join Ian McKellen (Estragon) and Patrick Stewart (Vladimir) in Sean Mathias' Theatre Royal Haymarket production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Waiting for Godot will preview at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 30 April with press night on 6 May 2009 and is booking until 28 June 2009 for a strictly limited season. Designs are by Stephen Brimson Lewis and lighting is by Paul Pyant. Waiting for Godot is produced by the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in partnership with Duncan C. Weldon Productions Ltd.
Prior to the Theatre Royal Haymarket run, Waiting for Godot tours to Malvern Theatres (5 - 14 March), Milton Keynes Theatre (16 - 21 March), Brighton Theatre Royal (23 - 28 March), Bath Theatre Royal (30 March - 4 April), Norwich Theatre Royal (6 - 11 April), Edinburgh King's Theatre (13 - 18 April) and Newcastle Theatre Royal (20 - 25 April).
Waiting for Godot follows two consecutive days in the lives of Vladimir and Estragon, who divert themselves by clowning around, joking and arguing, while waiting expectantly and unsuccessfully for the mysterious Godot. Beckett's Waiting for Godot exploded on to the London stage over 50 years ago when it shocked as many people as it delighted.
Yahoo News reports that stage and screen star Ian McKellen is fine that his full-frontal nude scene as King Lear is missing from an upcoming public TV version. On stage the actor let it all hang out and them some in his portrayal of Shakespeare's mad king.
McCarter Theatre Center announces the complete cast of George Bernard Shaw's still provocative Mrs. Warren's Profession, the third show of the theater's 2008-2009 season. Directed by McCarter Artistic Director Emily Mann, the production will feature Suzanne Bertish, Robin Chadwick, Edward Hibbert, Madeleine Hutchins, Michael Izquierdo, and Rocco Sisto. Mrs. Warren's Profession begins performances in the Berlind Theatre on Friday, January 9 and runs through February 15. (Press opening Friday, January 16).
The LA Times is reporting that Sir Ian McKellen and the rest of the key KING LEAR cast taped the play for television cameras in a British studio, under the eye of director Trevor Nunn. The result is scheduled to be broadcast starting March 25 on PBS stations, courtesy of the 'Great Performances' series produced by New York's WNET.
The Bridge Project's inaugural 2009 season, which pairs a new version of The Cherry Orchard by Tom Stoppard with The Winter's Tale begins tonight, January 2nd with the first performance of The Cherry Orchard.