James Lapine News

Today, multiple outlets reporting on the cancellation of THE ROSIE SHOW on the Oprah Winfrey Network report that when the news was revealed, O'Donnell was in New York, 'taking a meeting for a revival of ANNIE.'

The folklore passed on from parents to children under the deceptively superficial name of fairy tales is profound. The kitchen drudge who yearns to become a princess, the little girl vanquishing a wolf encountered on the way to grandmother's house, the simpleton who sells the family cow for a handful of magic beans, and their kindred, are archetypes of each of us, at various moments in the trajectories of our lives.

On Monday, March 12th, 2012 Roundabout celebrated Rob Marshall with the 2012 Spring Gala: From Screen to Stage. Rob Marshall began his career with Roundabout working on celebrated musicals such as She Loves Me, Company, Little Me and the Tony Award®-winning Cabaret. When Hollywood beckoned, he directed and choreographed the biggest film musical in years, the Academy Award® winning Chicago, the summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the star studded NINE among others. BroadwayWorld was inside the event to chat with the star-studded guests. Click below for the action!

Last night, March 12th, 2012 Roundabout celebrated Rob Marshall, with the 2012 Spring Gala: From Screen to Stage. Rob Marshall began his career with Roundabout working on celebrated musicals such as She Loves Me, Company, Little Me and the Tony Award®-winning Cabaret. When Hollywood beckoned, he directed and choreographed the biggest film musical in years, the Academy Award® winning Chicago, the summer blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the star studded NINE among others. BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities and brings you full photo coverage below!

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) Artistic Director Barbara Gaines and Executive Director Criss Henderson announced today CST's 2012/13 Season, which begins with a new production of Sunday in the Park with George by musical team Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine, and also includes the Chicago premiere of The School for Lies by playwright David Ives and productions of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Henry VIII. The Theater's extensive World's Stage lineup of international programming for 2012/13 ranges from the American premiere of A History of Everything by Belgian company Ontroerend Goed to the return of the National Theatre of Scotland's internationally acclaimed Black Watch and its inventive, supernatural The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart. CST's annual CST Family programming kicks off this summer with Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Additional productions will be announced for the 2012/13 Season later this summer, including an ongoing collaboration between Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Australia's one step at a time like this (en route) creating for the City of Chicago a world premiere pedestrian-based live art event inspired by Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and set in the city's urban landscape.

As previously reported, the Tony Award's Administration Committee has announced that Theatre Development Fund's Open Doors program will be among those honored with a special 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents its annual 2012 Spring Gala honoring Academy Award, Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rob Marshall.

Telsey + Co., casting office for the new Broadway production of ANNIE, will hold an open call in Chicago on Sunday, March 11, for girls ages 6-12 to audition for the roles of Annie and the orphans. ANNIE, directed by Tony Award-winner James Lapine, will open in fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

Telsey + Co., casting office for the new Broadway production of ANNIE, will hold an open call in Chicago on Sunday, March 11, for girls ages 6-12 to audition for the roles of Annie and the orphans. ANNIE, directed by Tony Award-winner James Lapine, will open in fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) presents its annual 2012 Spring Gala honoring Academy Award, Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Rob Marshall.

The Public Theater announced the dates today for the 50th Anniversary season of free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte. AS YOU LIKE IT, directed by Daniel Sullivan, will begin previews on Tuesday, June 5 and continue for four weeks through Saturday, June 30. Joining the previously announced Lily Rabe (Rosalind) will be Macintyre Dixon (Adam); Renee Elise Goldsberry (Celia); and Omar Metwally (Oliver).

The award-winning Musical Theatre Guild, a company of professional performers who present concert-staged readings of seldom seen musicals, will continue their 16th season with William Finn and James Lapine's Off-Broadway musical A NEW BRAIN. The one night only performance will take place on Monday, April 16, 2012 at 7:30 PM at the historic Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons will hold its annual Spring Gala on Monday evening, June 11th at the event space 583 Park Avenue. Titled "The Highest Standard", the evening will celebrate its five Pulitzer Prize-winning productions and honor the creators of these memorable works for the theater. The honorees are James Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George), Bruce Norris (Clybourne Park), Stephen Sondheim (Sunday in the Park with George), Alfred Uhry (Driving Miss Daisy), Wendy Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles) and Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife).

The cast and crew of Into the Woods are rehearsing to take the stage of The Pearlstone Theater tomorrow, March 7, with CENTERSTAGE's Into the Woods, a co-production with Westport Country Playhouse. Leading the adventure is director Mark Lamos (also Artistic Director at Westport), who last visited CENTERSTAGE with his staging of Sondheim's A Little Night Music.

Geva Theatre Center's 2012 Nextstage Season kicks off with I Got Sick Then I Got Better, written and performed by Jenny Allen which begins performances on March 7 and runs in the Fielding Nextstage through March 11.

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse announced today casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Riding Hood, Danielle Ferland, is making her way back Into the Woods. The production is set to run March 7-April 15 at CENTERSTAGE before moving to Westport Country Playhouse in May. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's beloved fairy tale musical will be directed by Westport Country Playhouse's Artistic Director Mark Lamos.

With less than two months before the curtain goes up on Westport Country Playhouse's 2012 season, single tickets are now on sale, beginning Tuesday, March 6, at noon. Single tickets may be purchased by phone at 203-227-4177, in person at 25 Powers Court,Westport, or 24/7 online at westportplayhouse.org.

Producers Broadway Across America (John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Beth Williams), Howard Kagan and Barry Brown have just announced that the new Broadway musical TUCK EVERLASTING will have its pre-Broadway world premiere at Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center Colonial Theatre (106 Boylston Street) in June of 2013. With a book by Tony Award nominee Claudia Shear (Dirty Blonde), music by Chris Miller (The Burnt Part Boys), lyrics by Nathan Tysen (The Burnt Part Boys) and directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw (The Book of Mormon), TUCK EVERLASTING is based on the novel by Natalie Babbitt. Broadway production details, design team and casting for TUCK EVERLASTING will be announced at a later date.

Telsey + Co., casting office for the new Broadway production of ANNIE, will hold an open call in Austin, TX. on Monday, March 5, for girls ages 6-12 to audition for the roles of Annie and the orphans. ANNIE, directed by Tony Award-winner James Lapine, will open in fall 2012 at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

59E59 Theaters will welcome The Directors Company in association with New Jersey Repertory Company with the New York City premiere of POETIC LICENSE, written by Jack Canfora and directed by Evan Bergman.