Joe DiPietro News

Princess Diana is headed to the stage this year in the all new musical, Diana! Jeanna de Waal, who plays the titular princess, recently chatted with members of the creative team about how they found the perfect person to play the role.

Diana producers Grove Entertainment (Beth Williams), Frank Marshall and The Araca Group announced today the complete cast for Diana, the upcoming new musical which begins previews on Monday, March 2, 2020, and opens on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th St.). Rehearsals begin on Monday, January 20th.

New York Times bestselling author Chris Bohjalian's world premiere stage adaptation of his novel MIDWIVES is set to kick off 2020 in George Street Playhouse's new home at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Performances begin January 21st.

2019 has come and gone, which means it's time to get excited for the new shows coming in 2020! This year will bring anticipated revivals of Company, West Side Story, and The Music Man, fan favorite Six, brand new musicals Diana, Mrs. Doubtfire, and MJ, and many more.

Broadway has been home to a lot of incredible shows over the past decade, and what better way to keep on living through those memories than by listening to those cast recordings?

Rorschach Theatre's first musical follows Melvin Ferd the Third, who wants to clean up Tromaville, the most polluted town in New Jersey (just off Exit 13B on the Turnpike). Foiled by the mayor's bullies, Melvin is dumped into a vat of radioactive toxic waste, only to reemerge as The Toxic Avenger, New Jersey's first superhero. Affectionately known as Toxie, our new hero is a seven-foot mutant freak with superhuman strength and a heart as big as Newark. He's out to save New Jersey, end global warming, woo the blind librarian in town, and save the world.

Just last night, New York Stage and Film celebrated its annual Winter Gala, honoring six-time Tony Award-nominated producer and philanthropist Diana DiMenna, and Academy Award and four-time Golden Globe-nominated and Tony Award-winning actor and producer Tom Hulce. The Winter Gala, a fundraising event to support New York Stage and Film's year-round theater and film development initiatives, was held at The Ziegfeld Ballroom (141 West 54th Street, New York City).

Diana producers Grove Entertainment (Beth Williams), Frank Marshall and The Araca Group released a first look music video of 'If' - one of the songs from the upcoming new musical based on the incredible real life story of an icon to end all icons. Diana will begin previews on Monday, March 2, 2020, and open on Tuesday, March 31, 2020, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th St.).

This December, following the smash success of Dickens' A Christmas Carol: The Opera, Gramercy Opera returns to Brooklyn's exclusive Montauk Club to usher in the holiday season with 'A Gramercy Opera Christmas.'

This brilliantly written romantic farce takes place in an upscale Manhattan penthouse owned by the Maestro Vito De Angelis and his wife, the opera diva Raquel De Angelis, each convinced they are the best in the world at what they do. And pity the fool who attempts to convince either one otherwise! Continuously at odds about a?oewho is better at what,a?? it takes two comedically competent actors who can beautifully sing opera and walk the thin line between character and caricature to make these two self-centered talents come to life onstage. And without a doubt, director Perry Shields found them in Daniel Tennant and Allison McGuire who not only enchant with their amazing voices but fabulously demonstrate the true meaning of being a a?oedivaa?? to the utmost heights.

To launch the season of giving, the Williamston Theatre gives back! We'll be presenting readings of six plays a?" an entire season in a day. Readings begin at 10am and run through 10pm. The public is invited to come for one play, or stay for them all. This event is FREE and open to the public, no reservations are necessary. Information will be available in our lobby on several local charities doing amazing work in our community.

The first photo has been released of the four stars of Diana, the upcoming new musical based on the incredible real life story of an icon to end all icons. Performances will begin on Monday, March 2, 2020, at the Longacre Theatre (220 West 48th St.), with an official opening night set for Tuesday, March 31, 2020.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Regional Theatre, has announced the appointment of Tim Bond as its new Artistic Director. Bond will join the company officially in March 2020, stepping in as Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley winds down his 50th and final season at the helm of the theatre he created, ending one of the longest tenures in American theatre. Kelley previously announced his retirement at the conclusion of the company's current season in June 2020. Said Bond upon accepting the appointment, a?oeI am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue Robert Kelley's great work, and to lead this spirited company into its next exciting phase.a??

Stars of stage and screen, playwrights, composers, and supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley came together Saturday, November 2, 2019 to celebrate the acclaimed regional theatre at And the Tony Award Goes To…Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50, a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the company's half-century and its 2019 Regional Theatre Tony® Award. Some 480 guests attended this extraordinary event which raised nearly $800,000 for TheatreWorks marking it the most attended and most successful fundraiser in the company's history. Guests appropriately gathered in the heart of Silicon Valley at Mountain View's Computer History Museum for cocktails, dinner, and a lively auction, then proceeded to the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, where a stellar array of TheatreWorks alumni returned to pay tribute to its history through words and music.

Stars of stage and screen, playwrights, composers, and supporters of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley came together Saturday, November 2, 2019 to celebrate the acclaimed regional theatre at And the Tony Award Goes To...Celebrating TheatreWorks at 50, a once-in-a-lifetime event honoring the company's half-century and its 2019 Regional Theatre Tony® Award.

I Love You, You're Perfect....Now Change! is an upbeat, Off Broadway musical revue that ran for more than 5000 performances from 1996-2008. Traditionally set in New York in the late-20th Century this production is an updated version for 2018. The show takes us through numerous vignettes that depict life in terms of love and romance. The themes are glimpses into the reality of life and love - the Manhattan dating scene, mid-life suburban marriage and old age and all the humour, hurt and beautifully ragged emotion it entails. Jimmy Roberts' perky music with book and adorably humble lyrics by Joe DiPietro are cute, funny, poignant and totally relatable. It holds up a mirror with a gentle, warm and charming hand and encourages us to laugh at ourselves.

The new musical LAST DAYS OF SUMMER opened this past Friday, October 25th to unanimous rave reviews at George Street Playhouse. Under the direction of Jeff Calhoun (NEWSIES, GREASE, BIG RIVER), LAST DAYS OF SUMMER features book & lyrics by Steve Kluger (based on his best-selling novel) and music by Grammy Award winner Jason Howland (LITTLE WOMEN).

Only Make Believe (OMB), the non-profit children's theatre company, today announced its highly anticipated 20th Anniversary Gala on November 4th at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. The organization is celebrating two decades of bringing the magic of theatre into the lives of chronically ill and disabled children throughout the New York and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas, free of charge to every partner site, family, and child.

Street Theatre Company has been on a bit of a roll in 2019 a?' there's been a spate of terrific shows, the move into an impressive new space on Elm Hill Pike that will allow the company to grow, and they've continued the legacy created by company founders by continuing to push the envelope in ways creative and exhilarating a?' and theater-goers need no better proof of this than with their Halloween Season offering of The Toxic Avenger, which proves that entertaining musicals don't need huge casts or technical wizardry to be utterly delightful.  

'Art of Murder' is an overwrought, undercooked kind of mystery with surprises that fail to shock.