Joan Marcus News

A giant Mazel tov to Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof, which will play its 100th performance this Friday, March 18th at 8 pm! The same day, the 2016 New Broadway Cast Album will be released worldwide by Broadway Records.

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: IRONBOUND opens off-Broadway and more!

The Public Theater presents the world premiere play Dry Powder by Sarah Burgess and directed by Thomas Kail. Part of Oskar Eustis' 10th Anniversary season, this deliciously funny new drama about the people shaping, and skewing, the American economy began previews on Tuesday, March 1 and has now been extended a final week to Sunday, May 1, with an official press opening on Tuesday, March 22. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Since opening in October 2003, the blockbuster musical WICKED has grossed over $1 billion solely from its Broadway Box Office, a milestone reached in a record 12½ years -- faster, by far, than any other production in Broadway history.  It joins The Lion King and The Phantom of the Opera as the only shows to have grossed $1 billion in Broadway Box Office.

Leapin' lizards! With more than 400 performances under her belt, the new U.S. National Tour of ANNIE will play the National Theatre for one week only, March 15 - 20, 2016. Directed by original lyricist and director Martin Charnin for the 19th time, this production of ANNIE is a brand new physical incarnation of the iconic 1977 Tony Award-winning original.

Producers Fox Theatricals (Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson) and Barbara Whitman just announced that the National Tour of Fun Home, the groundbreaking and Tony Award-winning Best Musical, will re-open San Francisco's iconic Curran Theatre, playing January 25 - February 19, 2017. The news was announced on Monday night by Carole Shorenstein Hays, live from the stage of the Curran, where the Tony-winning creative team appeared on-stage with Lieutenant Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, where they discussed details of the new national production of the musical.

The Tony & Grammy Award-winning Broadway hit BEAUTIFUL - THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its Fort Lauderdale premiere at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for two weeks, May 10 - 22, 2016. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the cast in action below!

Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman's Mississippi musical steals hearts with style.

With a book by Winnie Holzman and music and lyrics by the great and powerful Wizard of Broadway, Stephen Schwartz, Wicked has won over 50 major awards and, as Variety stated, it truly is 'A Cultural Phenomenon." All the elements of great theater conspire and come together in this gravity defying show. Playing now through April 16, Wicked is guaranteed to thrust you into the stratosphere of sheer artistry and visual delight even if you've seen it before and especially if this is your first time.

The Public Theater announced a final one-week extension today for HUNGRY, continuing Oskar Eustis' 10th Anniversary season. Play one, part of THE GABRIELS: Election Year in the Life of One Family, written and directed by Richard Nelson, HUNGRY officially opened on Friday, March 4 and has now been extended a final week through Sunday, April 3. Featuring the same core acting company for all three productions, the second play in the cycle, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?, will premiere in September and the final play in the new cycle, WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, will open on election night, November 8, 2016.

The East Jefferson General Hospital Broadway in New Orleans 2016-17 season was announced today. Presented by the New Orleans Theatre Association, the new season will commence at the historic Saenger Theatre in fall 2016.

Das Theater Bielefeld hat kurzlich die 2016/2017 Saison prasentiert, die auch in diesem Jahr wieder zwei Musicals enthalt. Eroffnet wird der Reigen am 4. September mit der Premiere des Broadway Musicals HOCHZEIT MIT HINDERNISSEN (THE DROWSY CHAPERONE). Ab 19. Mai 2017 ist dann die Urauffuhrung des neuen Musicals DAS MOLEKÜL zu sehen. Beide Shows werden im Stadttheater laufen. Besetzung und Spieltermine werden zu einem spateren Zeitpunkt bekannt gegeben.

OK I'm back and let's just dive right in for the rest of the amazing shows I saw in New York.

The producers of the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof have announced that the production successfully raised nearly $30,000 for The United Way of Genesee County's Flint Water Fund, which directly provides aid the Michigan city's residents, currently suffering from a critical drinking water contamination crisis.  This contribution was a result of Fiddler on the Roof's donation of $2 from every full-price ticket purchased to the show for all February 2016 performances.

Dear Readers, I'm back from the Mothership (New York of course) to let you all in on some of the wonderful and not so wonderful things I saw with a few brief notes on each. And yes that includes my catching the juggernaut of all shows on Broadway right now, 'Hamilton'. Now there are some shows that I saw that are still in previews so I can't really review them but wanted to let you know about them anyway. So let's start at the top.

MOTOWN the Musical could've been a hokey disaster that tried to cobble great hits together in some strained reach of a storyline, but it isn't. MOTOWN's plot is not contrived but completely realistic and heart-warmingly human. Baltimore and Motor City may be more like strained siblings than kissing cousins, but in some deep sense, Detroit IS Baltimore and this musical will resonate most particularly here, most particularly now. MOTOWN deserves to be not just a Broadway phenomenon but a part of our collective culture. It's fun, it's funny, it's sexy and it's full of the sort of hopeful commitment to brighter futures that used to be part of the American Dream.

Due to critical acclaim and popular demand, Playwrights Horizons has announced an extension of their New York premiere production of FAMILIAR, a new play by Obie Award-winner Danai Gurira (Eclipsed now on Broadway, In the Continuum, The Convert, Michonne on AMC's 'The Walking Dead'). Directed by Rebecca Taichman (Stage Kiss, Milk Like Sugar at PH; The Oldest Boy; Marie Antoinette; Luck of the Irish; Orlando), the play is the fourth production of the theater company's 2015/2016 Season.

Kauffman's deft hand with the quirky work of contemporary playwrights has earned her awards in NY and regionally.

Decisions big or small can alter your life forever. That's the lesson from IF/THEN, opening at Minneapolis' Orpheum Theatre, and of one of it's stars, Anthony Rapp.

The national tour of the Broadway musical HAMILTON will play in Houston as part of the 2017-2018 Broadway at the Hobby Center season, it was announced today by producer Jeffrey Seller and Broadway at the Hobby Center in Houston, TX.