John Gassner News

Beginning May 11, SpeakEasy Stage presents the Boston Premiere of the hit Broadway musical comedy XANADU. This acclaimed show will be the company's 100th production and opens May 11.

Some highlights from closed productions that have been receiving award nominations for the 2011-12 season.

James William Productions and Stephenie Skyllas will present Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory in 'When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments),' for one night only, Sunday April 29th (7:30pm) at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. They will be joined by a thirteen-piece band (Michael Rafter, Music Director), playing new orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick. Larry Moss directs, with musical staging by Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"). Carolyn Wong will provide lighting design, with sound design by Leon Rothenberg and projection design by Telegraphicmedia.

James William Productions and Stephenie Skyllas present Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory in When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments), for one night only tonight, April 29th (7:30pm) at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. They are joined by a thirteen-piece band (Michael Rafter, Music Director), playing new orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick. Larry Moss directs, with musical staging by Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"). Carolyn Wong provides lighting design, with sound design by Leon Rothenberg and projection design by Telegraphicmedia.

James William Productions and Stephenie Skyllas will present Kurt Peterson and Victoria Mallory in 'When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments),' for one night only, Sunday April 29th (7:30pm) at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. They will be joined by a thirteen-piece band (Michael Rafter, Music Director), playing new orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick. Larry Moss directs, with musical staging by Joshua Bergasse ("Smash"). Carolyn Wong will provide lighting design, with sound design by Leon Rothenberg and projection design by Telegraphicmedia.

Nominations Talley for 3 or more: 9 - Nice Work If You Can Get It; 7 - Newsies, Once; 5 - Follies, Death of a Salesman, Evita, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; 4 - One Man, Two Guvnors, Porgy and Bess, Tribes; 3 - The Best Man, Bonnie & Clyde, Death Takes a Holiday, The Lyons, Queen of the Mist, Sons of the Prophet;

Five years to the day after opening its doors to Detroit audiences, The Ringwald Theatre begins a four-week exclusive run of the holy comedy, The Divine Sister. Written by Charles Busch, author of the past Ringwald hits Die! Mommie! Die! and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, this outrageous comedy pays homage to Hollywood's most memorable nun movies and stars Ringwald's favorite "lady," Joe Bailey, and local radio personality Lisa Jesswein!

The Lyric Stage Company of Boston presents the Boston premiere of Jon Marans' Off-Broadway hit THE TEMPERAMENTALS, a chronicle of the love story between Harry Hay and Rudi Gernreich, founders of the Mattachine Society in 1950s Los Angeles. Director Jeremy Johnson's vision employs techniques of film noir to take the audience on a temperamental journey for a view of the grassroots effort that began to change the world, nearly two decades prior to the Stonewall Riots.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre's 30th Anniversary season comes to a close with Joyce Van Dyke's story of the Armenian genocide in Deported / a dream play, presented in association with Suffolk University.

Florida Studio Theatre (FST) will present the Florida premiere of Geoffrey Nauffts' contemporary drama Next Fall in FST's Keating Theatre (1241 N. Palm Avenue) on Wednesday, January 25 at 8:00pm.

Anne Commire, author, playwright and women's historian, passed away from cancer at her home in Waterford, Connecticut on February 23, 2012. Four of Commire's plays won O'Neill Awards and she received the prestigious Dartmouth Medal, from the American Library Association, for the groundbreaking 17 volume Women in World History, an encyclopedia of 10,000 women worldwide, published by Yorkin Publications.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2011-12 season with The Whipping Man, a Civil War drama by Matthew Lopez, directed by the Rep's Artistic Director Eric Rosen. The Whipping Man runs March 16-April 8, 2012 at Spencer Theatre in the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center where the Rep is the professional theatre in residence.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer) welcomes Pure Projects, Inc, in association with Uncle Frank Productions, with the Off Broadway premiere of THE MARIA PROJECT, written and performed by Marcella Goheen and directed by Larry Moss.

Boston Playwrights' Theatre's 30th Anniversary season comes to a close with Joyce Van Dyke's story of the Armenian genocide in Deported / a dream play, presented in association with Suffolk University.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre continues its 2011-12 season with The Whipping Man, a Civil War drama by Matthew Lopez, directed by the Rep's Artistic Director Eric Rosen. The Whipping Man runs March 16-April 8, 2012 at Spencer Theatre in the James C. Olson Performing Arts Center where the Rep is the professional theatre in residence.

According to the London Evening Standard, theater powerhouses Stephen Sondheim and David Ives have teamed up on a new musical, which is currently in the earliest phases of composition. The Standard reports: 'Sondheim speaks of pushing forward and says he has '20 or 30 minutes' written of a new musical that he is collaborating on with American playwright David Ives, a New York regular little known in London.'

Hartford Stage, under the leadership of Artistic Director Darko Tresnjak and Managing Director Mike Stotts, presents the Connecticut premiere of Matthew Lopez's acclaimed drama, THE WHIPPING MAN, from February 23 through March 18, 2012.

According to the London Evening Standard, theater powerhouses Stephen Sondheim and David Ives have teamed up on a new musical, which is currently in the earliest phases of composition. The Standard reports: 'Sondheim speaks of pushing forward and says he has '20 or 30 minutes' written of a new musical that he is collaborating on with American playwright David Ives, a New York regular little known in London.'

According to the London Evening Standard, theater powerhouses Stephen Sondheim and David Ives have teamed up on a new musical, which is currently in the earliest phases of composition. The Standard reports: 'Sondheim speaks of pushing forward and says he has '20 or 30 minutes' written of a new musical that he is collaborating on with American playwright David Ives, a New York regular little known in London.'

Philadelphia Theatre Company will present PTC@Play, a two-week festival of new work on February 2-March 11 at PTC's home at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre (Broad and Lombard Streets).