Jerry Zaks News

PlayhouseSquare announces today its entire seven-show line-up for the 2011 - 2012 KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare.

Broadway In Chicago has announced the complete 2011-2012 subscription series. The upcoming season will include WEST SIDE STORY; LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE; ANN: AN AFFECTIONATE PORTRAIT OF ANN RICHARDS; MEMPHIS; DONNY & MARIE: CHRISTMAS IN CHICAGO; LA CAGE AUX FOLLES and COME FLY AWAY. Off-season specials include CHICAGO, MARY POPPINS, ROCK OF AGES, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and THE ADDAMS FAMILY. Season ticket packages go on sale to new subscribers this Friday, April 1. Tickets are available now to all shows for groups of 15 or more.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomed five new principal cast members beginning Tuesday, March 8 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) when Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]) assumed the role of Alice Beineke, Adam Grupper (Brighton Beach Memoirs) the role of Mal Beineke, Brad Oscar (Tony-nominated for The Producers) as Fester, Rachel Potter (Wicked nat'l. tour) as Wednesday Addams and Jesse Swenson (Spring Awakening) as Lucas Beineke. Original cast members Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor will give their final performances on Sunday, March 6.

South Florida theater goers are in for a parade of solid hits direct from Broadway and South Florida premieres with the announcement that the current smash hit, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, opens the all musical Broadway in Miami 2011 - 2012 season at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. Scheduled as a lead-up to Halloween, from October 25 - 30, THE ADDAMS FAMILY will be followed by SHREK THE MUSICAL, a pre-holiday show that is great fun for ogres and ogresses of all ages, December 6 - 11; MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, introduces families to one of the greatest moments in rock ‘n' roll history, set to bring in the New Year, December 27 - January 1; and Twyla Tharps's loving ode to Frank Sinatra, COME FLY AWAY, locked in as the spring entry, March 20 - 25. For the first time in Miami, Disney's THE LION KING, the recordbreaking musical set in the African pride lands, will play May 15 - June 10 as the season's stunning finale.

Rehearsals are underway for the Broadway revival of John Guare's comedic masterpiece THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES starring Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, directed by David Cromer, will open on Monday, April 25, 2011 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street). The strictly limited 16-week engagement will begin previews on Monday, April 4, 2011. In the following video, HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES star stops by The Late Show to chat with David Letterman about the show.

Produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment, SISTER ACT begins preview performances tonight, March 24 and will open on Wednesday, April 20, 2011. SISTER ACT features an original score with music by multi-Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning composer Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and Enchanted), lyrics by Tony Award-nominee Glenn Slater (The Little Mermaid), a book by multi-Emmy Award winners Cheri and Bill Steinkellner ('Cheers'), and additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu, The Little Dog Laughed). Directed on Broadway by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks (Guys and Dolls, A Funny Thing...Forum, Smokey Joe's Café), the production features choreography by Tony and Olivier Award nominee Anthony Van Laast (Mamma Mia, Bombay Dreams) and is based on the Touchstone Pictures motion picture Sister Act written by Joseph Howard.

The new Broadway musical SISTER ACT will offer a limited number of $26.50 rush tickets (price includes $1.50 facility fee) in the front row of the orchestra for each performance. These rush tickets, which are available to all patrons, can be purchased at the box office only, beginning at 10:00am the day of the performance (12:00pm on Sundays). There is a limit of 2 tickets per person.

This class will be taught by Charlene Tilton and actor Bob Rusch.

SISTER ACT will begin preview performances at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) on March 24, 2011 and will open on Wednesday, April 20, 2011.In the following video, the cast chats exclusivly about Alan Menken's music in the new show!

Grandma Addams, the feisty potient-brewing matriarch of the Addams clan (played by comic actress Jackie Hoffman), turns 116 on Wednesday, March 30 and to celebrate, the producers of THE ADDAMS FAMILY are offering a free ticket to the matinee for 116 real grandmothers age 60 or older who were born in March.

Ghostlight Records will release the Original London Cast Recording of SISTER ACT in the U.S., on March 22nd (digital) and on March 29th (brick-and-mortar). The acclaimed musical comes to Broadway beginning March 24th, and CDs will be available for purchase at the Broadway Theater as well. Fans who order the album now via Ghostlight's site will have hard copies shipped upon check-out: http://sh-k-boom.com/sisteract.shtml. Oliver Award nominee Patina Miller, star of the London production, reprises her role as Deloris on Broadway, and appears on the new CD. The album was produced by Doug Besterman, Michael Kosarin and Alan Menken.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre continues its tradition of bringing the best of Broadway to St. Louis audiences since 1982.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomed five new principal cast members beginning Tuesday, March 8 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) when Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]) assumed the role of Alice Beineke, Adam Grupper (Brighton Beach Memoirs) the role of Mal Beineke, Brad Oscar (Tony-nominated for The Producers) as Fester, Rachel Potter (Wicked nat'l. tour) as Wednesday Addams and Jesse Swenson (Spring Awakening) as Lucas Beineke. Original cast members Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor gave their final performances on Sunday, March 6. BroadwayWorld brings you a look at their first new family photo below!

THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomed five new principal cast members beginning Tuesday, March 8 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) when Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]) assumed the role of Alice Beineke, Adam Grupper (Brighton Beach Memoirs) the role of Mal Beineke, Brad Oscar (Tony-nominated for The Producers) as Fester, Rachel Potter (Wicked nat'l. tour) as Wednesday Addams and Jesse Swenson (Spring Awakening) as Lucas Beineke. Original cast members Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor will give their final performances on Sunday, March 6.

Veteran Production Stage Manager Beverley Randolph died Tuesday, March 15 at her home in Bloomingdale, NJ, surrounded by family and friends. The cause was cancer. The highly-respected Randolph, 59, stage managed more than 20 Broadway productions over the course of a 30-plus year career. At the time of her death and since 2009, she was Production Supervisor for the musical The Addams Family. Her credits include the Kander & Ebb musical Curtains, the musical Little Women, the 2002 revival of Into the Woods, the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music, Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning best musical Passion, Kander & Ebb's The Kiss of the Spider Woman, William Finn's Falsettos, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Follies in Concert at Avery Fisher Hall, the 1987 revival of Kander & Ebb's Cabaret and Neil Simon's Chapter Two. In the 1980's, she stage managed eight Broadway productions for legendary producer/director Hal Prince.

This class will be taught by Charlene Tilton and actor Bob Rusch. Classes will be on-camera audition technique for half hour comedy, hour long drama and film roles by putting the actor in a professional audition setting. Helps the actor make strong choices, improve their cold reading skills, and how to have better 'In the room' presence, which enables them to audition with more confidence.

The national tour of the new musical comedy THE ADDAMS FAMILY, based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, will make its Boston premiere February 7-19, 2012 at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre as part of the LEXUS 2011-12 Broadway Across America - Boston Series.

PNC Broadway Across America - Pittsburgh, presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Symphony and Broadway Across America, proudly announces the 2011/2012 season. PNC Broadway Across America - Pittsburgh, one of the city's premier entertainment series, is sponsored by The PNC Foundation. This season presents an exceptional array of live entertainment on the Cultural District's world-class stages.

The American Theatre Wing (Theodore S. Chapin, Chairman, Board of Trustees; Howard Sherman, Executive Director) is now accepting applications for the 2011 SpringboardNYC summer program, being held June 6 - 17 in New York City.

Rehearsals are underway for the Broadway revival of John Guare's comedic masterpiece THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES starring Ben Stiller, Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES, directed by David Cromer, will open on Monday, April 25, 2011 at the Walter Kerr Theatre (219 West 48th Street). The strictly limited 16-week engagement will begin previews on Monday, April 4, 2011. BroadwayBeat was on hand to meet the company on press day!