Full casting has been announced for SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical on Broadway and rehearsals begin today, February 12. As previously announced, the three actresses who will play the role of musical icon Donna Summer will be Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple, Once on This Island) as 'Diva Donna,' Ariana DeBose (A Bronx Tale, Hamilton) as 'Disco Donna' and Storm Lever (Freaky Friday) as 'Duckling Donna.'
Summer, the new musical based on the life and career of disco diva, Donna Summer, is currently delighting audiences at La Jolla Playhouse, but has the bio-musical already found its Broadway home?
others/directed by Des McAnuff/choreography by Sergio Trujillo/music supervision by Ron Melrose/La Jolla Playhouse, Mandell Weiss Theatre/extended through December 24 The world premiere musical SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical currently onstage at the Mandell Weiss Theatre of the La Jolla Playhouse, extended again through December 24, is a kaleidascope of fun and a feast for the eyes and ears for every Donna Summer fan. Born in 1948 LaDonna Adrian Gaines who eventually became the Queen of Disco used to skip high school classes in Boston Massachusetts and take the bus to New York to audition. She landed her first professional gig in the rock musical Hair and performed it in Munich where she created a sensation. Her hit song 'I Feel Love' brought her back to the US...and the rest is history.
Due to popular demand, La Jolla Playhouse announces another week-long extension for its world premiere of SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, featuring songs by Donna Summer, Giorgio Moroder and others; book by Robert Cary, Colman Domingo and Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys); with direction by Des McAnuff;choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Memphis); and musical direction by Ron Melrose. The production will now run through December 24. BroadwayWorld has an exclusive first look at the cast in action below!
La Jolla Playhouse presents the world-premiere production of SUMMER: The Donna Summer Musical, featuring book by Colman Domingo, Robert Cary and Playhouse Director Emeritus Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys, The Who's Tommy); directed by Des McAnuff; choreographed by Olivier Award winner Sergio Trujillo (Memphis, Jersey Boys), with musical supervision by Ron Melrose.
BroadwayWorld has confirmed that Jared Zirilli will star as Summer's husband and bassist 'Bruce Sudano' in the show, which runs November 7 - December 17, 2017.
Pantry Boys, a new play by Daniel Sauermilch, directed by Carl Andress (The Divine Sister), and featuring Pico Alexander (Punk Rock at MCC, upcoming feature film "Home Again"), Jared Zirilli (Romance Language, Pretty Filthy with The Civilians) and Nick Imperato (Antony & Cleopatra: Infinite Lives) will be included as part of the Potomac Theater Project's (PTP/NYC) After Dark Series.
It's finally here, folks. Game Master Kimberly's wedding to #EnemyoftheShow Jay Schmidt (yes, we now have our own red-headed Kimmy Schmidt!) was yesterday! To celebrate the upcoming special day, the Broadwaysted Crew is chatting bout love with talented real-life Broadway couple Whitney Bashor and Jared Zirilli. It's an open bar for this 'Wedding' themed episode as Whitney dishes about her experience with THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY and Jared talks touring with WICKED and WE WILL ROCK YOU.
The Civilians, Ghostlight Records, and Jon B. Platt will celebrate the recent release of the PRETTY FILTHY original cast recording with an unforgettable evening of this groundbreaking show about the 'Other Hollywood' at Feinstein's/54 Below tonight, February 21, at 7:00 PM.
The Civilians, Ghostlight Records, and Jon B. Platt will celebrate the recent release of the PRETTY FILTHY original cast recording with an unforgettable evening of this groundbreaking show about the "Other Hollywood" at Feinstein's/54 Below on Tuesday, February 21 at 7:00 PM.
The Civilians, Ghostlight Records, and Jon B. Platt invite you to celebrate the recent release of the original cast recording with an unforgettable evening of this groundbreaking show about the "Other Hollywood!" PRETTY FILTHY will be feted at Feinstein's/54 Below on February 21, 2017.
Cleveland Music Theatre (CMT), the brainchild of native Clevelanders Miles Sternfeld and Sean Patrick, was created to provide Northeast Ohio with high quality, engaging, locally produced musical theater by uniting Cleveland's most talented artists with Broadway/national talent, while creating educational opportunities for rising professional actors.
Caiola Productions is pleased to announce a private reading of the new musical CAPONE. CAPONE stars Danny Aiello with book, music and lyrics by Robert Mitchell and directed by Alexander Dinelaris. The reading will be this Friday, November 18th.
WICKED!!!! You tingled didn't you? It's hard not to. No modern musical has had quite the impact that this mega musical has had all over the world. And I won't lie to ya, Wicked hold's a very special place in my heart (listen to track #2 of your cast album, you may hear a familiar voice asking 'Glinda, is it true you were her friend?') But humble bragging aside, Wicked is nothing short of a phenomenon. So this week we've compiled some of our favorite Broadway Sessions performances from Stephen Schwartz's box office blockbuster! 'The Wizard and I,' 'Popular,' 'As Long As Your Mine,' 'No Good Deed,' 'Defying Gravity' and even a cliff notes version of ensembling in Wicked w/ myself and original caster Marcus Choi, it's just too good…or is it Wicked?
I remember the first time I heard Songs For a New World. Mind. Blown. Melodic like Andrew Lloyd Webber, cerebral like Sondheim. Perfect. Of course now, Jason Robert Brown is a living legend and one of the most prolific theatre composers in history.
Jared Zirilli, of RAIN at The Old Globe, ROMANCE LANGUAGE at Ars Nova, The Civilians PRETTY FILTHY, Broadway LYSISTRATA JONES, touring WE WILL ROCK YOU and WICKED, as well as Off Broadway FAT CAMP, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, BARE, and TWILIGHT THE MUSICAL plus The Alley Theatre's A FEW GOOD MEN brings you the latest 'Jared's Broadway Boo's' # 73 with WICKED and BROOKLYN's Eden Espinosa.
Check out the episode below:
The Old Globe welcomes Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein, making his musical directing debut with RAIN, a sumptuous world premiere musical by one of the most significant teams working in theatre today: composer and lyricist Michael John LaChiusa and book writer Sybille Pearson. Based on the short story by Somerset Maugham, RAIN will play now through May 1, 2016 on the Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage in the Old Globe Theatre, part of the Conrad Prebys Theatre Center. BroadwayWorld has a first look at Eden Espinosa and the company in action below!
You cannot beat the Old Globe Theatre for its audacity in mounting the challenging musical Rain, based on a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. Rain was made into three separate films, a silent in 1928 starring Gloria Swanson, and then in 1932 starring Joan Crawford as Miss Sadie Thompson, and finally in 1953 Rita Hayworth assumed the role of the prostitute stranded on the South Pacific Island of Pago, Pago in 1924. This much anticipated musical version with book by Sybille Pearson and music by Michael John LaChiusa is the second time Rain has been performed onstage, the first being a play in 1922. For the entire cast and creative team in San Diego this enterprise has been enormous. It is truly an outstanding ensemble headed by Eden Espinosa as Sadie, and the set designed by Mark Wendland is by itself worth the price of admission.