James Lapine News

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

CENTERSTAGE and Westport Country Playhouse have announced casting for their co-production of Into the Woods, and Broadway fans will be excited to hear that the original Little Red Ridinghood, 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, who directed A Little Night Music in 2008.

One of the greatest joys of our job is seeing our audiences transformed by a theatre performance. At some point in Roundabout's 46-year history, you've likely experienced a play or musical that has inspired you. Roundabout has been fortunate to produce award-winning productions on Broadway for 20 years now. You may even recall our first Broadway production of Anna Christie at the Criterion Center in 1992.

The Dramatists Guild of America presents its In the Room series, broadcasting archived audio, unheard by the public since their original recording. In the Room features some of the most influential and celebrated playwrights, composers and lyricists in American theatre, sharing their insight to craft, process and personal stories behind creating some of their most celebrated work. Featured this week is a vintage interview with theatre legend Stephen Sondheim as he chats about lyrics back in 1971.

Bay Street Players will present the Tony Award winning musical, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE through February 26th.

According to a report by Michael Riedel of nypost.com, The Public Theater is already considering a Broadway transfer for the revival of INTO THE WOODS which plays the Delacorte in Central Park this Summer.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present 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 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.

Today in 2008, the first Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George opened at Studio 54, where it ran for 149 performances. Sunday in the Park with George is a 1983 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting 'A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte' by Georges Seurat. The musical won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for design (and a nomination for Best Musical), numerous Drama Desk Awards, the 1991 Olivier Award for Best Musical and the 2007 Olivier Award for Outstanding Musical Production.

Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 19, 2012 - Sunday, February 19, 2012.

Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of the season, plays its final performance today at New York City Center, and features Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Elizabeth Stanley, Betsy Wolfe and Adam Grupper. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, is directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Check out performance highlights from the production below!

Director James Lapine and Choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler talk about the return of ANNIE, which is headed to Broadway in the Fall. See audition footage and hear what the have to say about the new revival below!

The original Broadway cast album of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along is one of those handful of recordings - like Mack and Mabel and Candide - that a musical theatre lover can listen to hundreds of times without hearing a clue as to why the show flopped.  The quick answer, and usually the most unfair one, is 'the book.'  More often, though, the more complete answer is ambition.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes 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. POETIC LICENSE begins performances on Thursday, February 9 for a limited engagement through Sunday, March 4. Press opening is Wednesday, February 15 at 7:15 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:15 PM; Friday at 8:15 PM; Saturday at 2:15 PM and 8:15 PM; and Sunday at 3:15 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $35 ($24.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.

According to the New York Times, Playwrights Horizons will present FAR FROM HEAVEN, a new musical with book by Tony Award winner and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain), music by Tony Award nominee Scott Frankel (Grey Gardens) and lyrics by Tony Award nominee Michael Korie (Grey Gardens, The Grapes of Wrath), in Spring 2013. The show will also play Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer. The musical was adapted from the acclaimed, award-winning 2002 Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture Far From Heaven, written and directed by Todd Haynes.

Fledgling Asian-American theatre company STIRFRY THEATRE will present, as its San Francisco debut, a staged concert version of William Finn's & James Lapine's masterpiece, FALSETTOLAND, exploring the universal themes of love, loss, and family.

Whether you've been living under a rock for the past week, or you're just in the mood for a recap of everything theatre, BroadwayWorld's feature, 'This Week in Pictures' is here to satisfy your end of the week fix. Take a look below to catch up on the latest happenings from the Great White Way to the West End (and everywhere in between) with coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights and more! For last week's biggest events: visit THIS WEEK IN PICTURES: January 28-February 3.

Spotlight Theatre Productions just announced that their spring musical will be Stephen Sondheim's INTO THE WOODS. Auditions are open and will take place February 6 and 9 at 7:30pm-9:30pm, with callbacks on February 11 at 9am-12:30pm at the Peekskill Senior Center.

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.

Stephen Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, the first New York City Center Encores! production of the season, opens tonight, February 8 at New York City Center, and features Colin Donnell, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Elizabeth Stanley, Betsy Wolfe and Adam Grupper. Merrily We Roll Along, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, is directed by James Lapine with music direction by Rob Berman and musical staging by Dan Knechtges. Merrily just opened, and will play a two-week run through February 19, 2012.