Jane Cox News

Paper Mill Playhouse is opening their 80th Anniversary season with a stirring musical production of The Color Purple that features brilliant direction and musical staging by Tony Award winner John Doyle with wonderful musical direction by Darryl Archibald. The show has a remarkable, stellar cast whose acting and vocal talents will take your breath away.

Classic Stage Company announces the full cast for The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Bertolt Brecht's unsettlingly timeless work, which kicks off CSC's 2018-2019 season on October 30, with rehearsals beginning this week.

Paper Mill Playhouse (Mark S. Hoebee-Producing Artistic Director), recipient of the Regional Theatre Tony Award in 2016, launches its 80th milestone season with The Color Purple, directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. The Color Purple is the Tony Award-winning musical revival based upon the novel written by Alice Walker and the Warner Bros./Amblin Entertainment motion picture with a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. Cast members from the 2015 Broadway revival lead the Paper Mill Playhouse company, including Adrianna Hicks (Aladdin, Sister Act - Germany) as Celie, Carla R. Stewart (Ghost - National Tour, Rent - Regional) as Shug Avery and Carrie Compere (Holler If You Hear Me, Shrek the Musical - National Tour) as Sofia.

Further casting has been announced for the upcoming Broadway production of King Lear, starring Glenda Jackson!

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced casting for The Color Purple, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle. Cast members from the 2015 Broadway revival lead the Paper Mill Playhouse company, including Adrianna Hicks (Aladdin, Sister Act - Germany) as Celie, Carla R. Stewart (Ghost - National Tour, Rent - Regional) as Shug Avery and Carrie Compere (Holler If You Hear Me,Shrek the Musical - National Tour) as Sofia. 

Roundabout Theatre Company has announced full casting for the new Broadway production of Sam Shepard's TRUE WEST, directed by James Macdonald, starring acclaimed screen and stage actors Ethan Hawke as "Lee" and Paul Dano as "Austin." Marylouise Burke and Gary Wilmes join the cast as "Mom" and "Saul Kimmer."

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival will open the U.S. premiere of Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig's Snow in Midsummer, directed by Justin Audibert, on August 5 in the Angus Bowmer Theatre. Preview performances are August 2, 3 and 4, and the play runs through Oct. 27, 2018.

The touring production of John Doyle's 2016 Tony Award-winning revival THE COLOR PURPLE has landed at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, where it will make hearts both soar and ache with the blaze of emotion it delivers. Doyle, a director best known for his stripped-down productions of American musicals, has applied that minimalist treatment here as well. And it works beautifully. The set only features a few modest risers flanked by a backdrop wall featuring several wooden chairs (Doyle also designed the scenery). When the actors first make their entrances, they bring more of these simple chairs along with them as they invite the audience into the story. This simplicity, also mirrored in Ann Hould-Ward's costumes and Jane Cox's lighting design, brings a profundity to the staging. THE COLOR PURPLE's modest production values never feel like they're skimpy, but rather they lay the foundation for the show's deeply human message.

THE COLOR PURPLE has announced that a digital lottery, powered by Broadway Direct, will begin Monday, July 16 at 10AM for the Chicago engagement of THE COLOR PURPLE.

Peak Performances kicks off its 2018-19 season with the world premiere of Hatuey: Memory of Fire, a rousing Afro-Cuban-Yiddish opera performed in English, Yiddish and Spanish, with music by Frank London, libretto by Elise Thoron, direction by Mary Birnbaum, and choreography by Maija Garcia.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature SWEENEY TODD, THE COLOR PURPLE, WEST SIDE STORY, and More!

Broadway In Chicago is delighted to announce that the pre-Broadway engagement of THE CHER SHOW, the Chicago premiere of HEARTBREAK HOTEL, prequel to Million Dollar Quartet, WAITRESS and THE COLOR PURPLE will make 1776 half-price tickets available through the League of Chicago Theatres' Hot Tix program through July 8, 2018.

While its original production, as most Broadway shows go, offered the expected big sets, first-rate costumes, and impressive production values, the 2015 Tony Award-winning revival production of THE COLOR PUPLE---currently slaying audiences for a week-long stop at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 24---is decidedly more subdued and scaled-down by comparison, allowing the songs, the story, and the cast performances to shine on their own merits instead. The resulting show is a powerful, uplifting one, bathed in a loving, spiritual embrace that shines a light on the struggles, the insecurities, the passions, and the tenacity of African-American women living in the early decades of the 20th Century. I can say without hesitation that this revival production is an excellent way to experience this beautiful, touching, and ultimately triumphant musical.

Producers announce the first North American tour and full casting of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE.  The tour will visit more than 30 cities in its first year on tour, including Seattle, at The Paramount Theatre from June 27 - July 1.

The Public Theater's Free Shakespeare in the Park production of OTHELLO is currently running at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park through Sunday, June 24. Get a first look at the production below! 

THE COLOR PURPLE, the Tony Award®-winning Broadway revival, will make its L.A. Premiere beginning next week at Hollywood Pantages Theatre, playing three weeks only; May 29 - June 17, 2018. Note: immediately after this L.A. Premiere engagement, the production will play a one week engagement in Costa Mesa at Segerstrom Center for the Arts (June 19 - 24).

The 9th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which honours the accomplishments of women working in the American theatre, just took place last night, May 21st, 2018, at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

The 9th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony, which honours the accomplishments of women working in the American theatre, just took place last night, May 21st, 2018, at the Minetta Lane Theatre.

From July 14 to August 18, join New York's most imaginative dance company and an ensemble of Australian dancers in a 50 minute exercise tour through the corridors and gallery spaces of Arts Centre Melbourne and the NGV, outside of opening hours. The Gallery Workout is sure to inspire new perspectives on the art of the ages through movement, unforgettable music and stories from celebrated American artist Maira Kalman. This season, supported by health promotion foundation VicHealth, will be part of MEL&NYC, a new program of multi-disciplinary events taking place this winter in Melbourne.

OTHELLO begins performances on Tuesday, May 29 and runs through Sunday, June 24 with an official opening on Monday, June 18. Check out the cast hard at work in rehearsal below!