The Ojai Playwrights Conference launches its 19th season with its annual Benefit Gala themed "TOWN AND COUNTRY: THEÂTRE FANTASTIQUE.' This very special benefit, which includes a performance component and annual dinner, take place on Saturday, April 30, 2016, in Ojai.
Michael Childers' ninth annual One Night Only benefit concert, which is entitled Sondheim in Love, will be presented tonight at 6:30 PM at The McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert. Directed by Lucie Arnaz, the evening will feature musical direction by John McDaniel. The show will feature Sondheim's most romantic songs sung by a starry line-up of Broadway's most prolific musical storytellers.
Here's your opportunity to get to know two Katies and an Isaac in The Friday 5: Katie Bays (who shares the role Morticia with Lissa de Guzman), Katie Davis (who's playing Wednesday, along with Caitlyn Poryako) and Isaac Brotzman (cast with Zachary Martin Waters as Uncle Fester). Read on - and then sang your tickets as quickly as possible!
The Pasadena Playhouse presents the West Coast Premiere of CASA VALENTINA by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, the iconic playwright of the Broadway hits Torch Song Trilogy, La Cage Aux Folles, Newsies and Kinky Boots. The production opened on March 20 and will play through April 10, 2016, at The Pasadena Playhouse. Click below to go behind the scenes with the cast and creative team!
Harvey Fierstein's Casa Valentina won a deserved four Tony nominations in 2014 when it played on Broadway. This is a fine example of an unusual play, one of surprising depth, that goes out of its way to hit a nerve or two. Although comical, Casa Valentina is a drama at the core, with some shades of kitchen-sink reality. Currently onstage at the Pasadena Playhouse, Fierstein's latest opus takes a long look at yet another minority with fortitude and alacrity. Directed with finesse by David Lee, the cast is nothing short of luminous. Casa Valentina is set in a hotel in the Catskills, circa 1962, where a sorority club of straight men, who dress
Much like the opening night performance I experienced at the show's debut at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood last month, I was once again blown away by Menzel's incredible musical gifts with the show's opener at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa (which plays through January 24). Even better: she is still surrounded by the same equally astonishing support cast, particularly her original Broadway co-stars LaChanze, Anthony Rapp, and James Snyder. So how was the experience this time? While my initial reaction to the show itself hovered somewhere in the middle, I have to admit that I was genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed the show the second time around. Dare I say, I even think I *loved* it more.
In addition to Idina Menzel's predictably powerhouse vocals, IF/THEN features a stellar performance by LaChanze. She is a non-stop engine of energy, delivering one knockout song after another and acting up a storm. Janine DiVita stands out as well as a talent to watch.
Happy New Year, BroadwayWorld! As we eagerly anticipate the amazing musicals and plays coming up in 2016, we're taking a moment to look back at the significant Broadway closings of 2015.
The 2015 "Broadway's Carols for a Cure, Volume 17" now is available on iTunes. The 19-track album of original and traditional holiday music features stars and casts from the current Broadway line-up, and benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. The entire album is available for $15.99, and includes a digital booklet with liner notes about each participating cast, designating soloists and session photos. Individual tracks also may be purchased for $.99 each.
The L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN, starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee), began performances at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016. Menzel recently stopped by FOX 11 Los Angeles to talk about the show. Click below to watch her interview!
BroadwayWorld has just learned that theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI) has secured worldwide licensing rights to Broadway's Tony® nominated IF/THEN.
As expected, Tony Award winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel drew thunderous applause a mere second into the the start of IF/THEN's opening night performance at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre last Wednesday night. It's no stretch then to say that her mere existence in this very same role she herself originated in the original Broadway production seems, above everything else, to be the immediate draw to the recently launched national tour now on stage at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood for a four week engagement through January 3, 2016. The bonus? She is joined onstage by her original co-stars LaChanze, Anthony Rapp, and James Snyder!
Producer David Stone and the Nederlander Organization present the L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee), opening at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016. Go inside the opening night curtain call below!
Producer David Stone and the Nederlander Organization present the L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee), opening at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016. Check out the red carpet arrivals below!
The L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN, starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel(Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee), began performances at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016. Below, BroadwayWorld has photos from the opening night bows, featuring Idina Menzel and more!
The L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN, starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel(Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee), began performances at Hollywood Pantages Theatre on December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016. BroadwayWorld has photos from the starry opening night red carpet below!
?Producer David Stone and the Nederlander Organization announce that the L.A. Premiere engagement of IF/THEN starring Tony Award-winner and Broadway superstar Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent, Frozen, Glee) will begin performances at Hollywood Pantages Theatre tonight, December 8, 2015 for a limited four-week engagement through January 3, 2016.
Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? This weekend's big news: ONCE UPON A MATTRESS opens this Sunday!
Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, December 6, 2015 - Sunday, December 6, 2015.
JACKIE BURNS (Elizabeth) is thrilled to be starring in If/Then, returning to many of the same cities she visited playing Elphaba in Wicked, a role for which she received an IRNE Award nomination. She subsequently played Elphaba on Broadway, to great acclaim. Other Broadway: Hair (Revival, Original Cast), If/Then (Original Cast). Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages (Original Cast), Unlock'd, Ripper. Regional: Aldonza in Man of La Mancha (PCLO), Wedding Singer, A Grand Night for Singing (Connecticut Critics Circle Award), The Full Monty, Singin' in the Rain, Joseph..., Sweeney Todd, Drood, Candide, Smokey Joe's Cafe (Paper Mill). TV: 'All My Children.' Concept Albums: Lucifer (Michael Mott), Swept Away (Disney), Tears from Heaven, and Excalibur (Frank Wildhorn). ANTHONY RAPP (Lucas). Broadway: Rent; You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown; Six Degrees of Separation; Precious Sons (Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk nomination). Off-Broadway: Raised in Captivity, Sophistry, The Destiny of Me, Some Americans Abroad, among others. Film: Adventures in Babysitting, School Ties, Dazed and Confused, Six Degrees of Separation, Rent, Man of the Century, Roadtrip, Winter Passing, A Beautiful Mind. TV: 'The X-Files,' 'Law & Order: SVU' and 'Psych.' Author of Without You: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical Rent, which was adapted into the one-man show Without You and performed nationally and internationally. @albinokid on Twitter TAMYRA GRAY (Kate). After the acclaim that followed her appearances in the inaugural season of 'American Idol,' Tamyra parlayed the attention into a successful theater, televison, and film career. Broadway credits include: Bombay Dreams, Rent. Film: Sony's The Gospel, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married. Tamyra won the Hollywood NAACP award for 'Best Lead Female' for her role in Debbie Allen's Twist. Tamyra is a devoted wife and mother who leans on spirituality to maintain balance between work, home, and health. MATTHEW HYDZIK (Josh). Broadway: Side Show (Buddy), West Side Story (Tony), Grease (Kenickie), It Shoulda Been You. Off-Broadway: Tomorrow Morning. Some regional favorites: The Lyric Opera of Chicago, La Jolla Playhouse, Kennedy Center, Planet Hollywood Las Vegas, Fulton Opera House. National tours: Rent, Fame, Grease, and Flashdance. Proud grad of Penn State University. Insta/Twitter: @matthew_hydzik
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