John Napier News

The Best of Broadway series at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center announced the shows for the 2021-2022 season today.  The season will welcome five shows including: Fiddler on the Roof (October 29-31, 2021); Hairspray (December 11-12, 2021): Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (April 22-24, 2022) and more.

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts will raise the curtain once again and welcome patrons back for the 2021-2022 season of its highly popular Broadway Las Vegas Series. Get the full information on the season which features six Broadway stage productions.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre has announced the return of the U.S. Bank Broadway Series to the Fox stage. 

March is the month in which both Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim celebrate their birthdays and on the same date (March 22), albeit 18 years apart. To mark the occasion, we are givng over four weeks to honour some of their finest moments on the London stage, taking each composer in turn to fete five memorable productions and then five outstanding performances. And so, below are five Lloyd Webber stagings that I shall long remember, several of which (COVID permitting) may be back amongst us in due course.

The Kravis Center has announced Broadway is back in West Palm Beach with their 2021/2022 Kravis On Broadway series lineup. The series is headlined by winner of six Tony Awards DEAR EVAN HANSEN, the acclaimed Lincoln Center Theater production of Lerner & Loewe’s MY FAIR LADY, and the heartfelt COME FROM AWAY. 

Florida Theatrical Association, Dr. Phillips Center and Broadway Across America announced today the upcoming FAIRWINDS Broadway in Orlando series, which is expected to begin this fall. New subscriptions are now on sale and current subscribers are able to add to their packages.

Winners have been announced for the 2020 BroadwayWorld Austria Awards - which were back bigger than ever, celebrating the best in local theatre of the past decade!

Beloved Broadway production supervisor Arthur P. Siccardi has passed away at 89. Arthur P., II was one of the best-loved figures in the American theater, with a distinguished career as a production supervisor that spanned five decades working with the biggest stars, directors and producers on some of the best-known shows in Broadway history.

Rubicon Theatre presents the World Premiere of ESTELLA SCROOGE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL WITH A TWIST, a modern day take on Charles Dickens’ beloved 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. Stellar cast of twenty-four includes: Betsy Wolfe as Estella Scrooge, Clifton Duncan as Phillip 'Pip' Nickleby, Lauren Patten as Dawkins, Patrick Page as Mr. Merdle, Carolee Carmello as Marla Havisham, Danny Burstein as Ebenezer Scrooge.

The last few months have been unprecedented in the performing arts and entertainment industry. While COVID-19 has changed the world, Wharton Center Executive Director Mike Brand says, 'Wharton Center is ready to move forward and do what we do best: present the finest of the performing arts.'

Cats. Possibly the most recognisable Andrew Lloyd Webber creation, known worldwide for its elaborate feline choreography and signature song 'Memory'. Its profile makes it the perfect candidate to close the 'The Shows Must Go On' streaming series of Lloyd Webber productions, which has successfully raised over $500,000 across the past seven weeks.

Plan your escape now for a season of award-winning hits and powerful new musicals. The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts has announced its 2020-2021 Broadway Series.

BroadwayWorld has learned that the CATS National Tour has officially closed. Donna Vivino (Grizabella) shared the news in a Facebook post.

The touring production of CATS has changed in the more than fifteen years since I first saw it, but all of the elements that make the Andrew Lloyd Webber show a classic remain intact. The set is fairly simple: a junkyard where the cats congregate to celebrate the annual Jellicle Ball, when Old Deuteronomy (Adam Richardson) will choose which cat goes to the Heaviside Layer to be reborn. There are many contenders for the coveted position. We have Jennyanydots (Dani Goldstein), the seemingly lazy Gumbie cat who sleeps all day but works hard all night, demonstrated in a wonderful tap dancing sequence replete with a roaring twenties style flapper outfit. Then, there is the Rum Tum Tugger (McGee Maddox), the narcissistic, spoiled cat with the sexy swagger, who is a favourite of the lady-cats. Grizabella (Donna Vivino), the once glamourous cat, now past her prime and ostracized by the others. Gus, the Theatre Cat (Timothy Gulan), when aided by a toothful of gin, regales the audience with stories of his career on the stage, when he acted alongside theatre greats and once even 'understudied Dick Whittington's cat'. The Magical Mister Mistoffelees (PJ DiGaetano), shows off his impressive tricks and manages to conjure Old Deuteronomy, who was been kidnapped by Macavity (Brayden Newby), the nefarious 'Napoleon of crime'. Okay, so the plot is, perhaps, a little odd and the story may be disjointed. This is only natural, considering that the musical is based on a collection of whimsical poems written by T.S. Elliot for children. I think the reason CATS remains so popular after nearly forty years is because of the level of detail given to each character, from the costumes and make-up to each cat's story as they are introduced one by one, song by song, to the audience. Even the chorus cats have their own personalities. There is truly something for everyone in this show.

Broadway in Portland has announced its 2020/21 Season with a schedule full of classics, brand-new productions, and hit musicals direct from Broadway.

The Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) and Broadway in Columbus today announced the next exciting lineup for the PNC Broadway in Columbus series. The six-show 2020-21 season, supported in part by PNC, includes four productions never before seen in Columbusa?"the Tony Award-winning Come From Away, the dazzling musical production of the beloved movie Pretty Woman: The Musical, Disney's newest spectacular Broadway musical, Frozen, and winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, Hadestown. The season also includes the acclaimed new production of Fiddler on the Roof and the record-breaking, classic musical, CATS.

Producers announced casting for the North American tour of the first ever Broadway revival of CATS. The multi-year tour launched at Providence Performing Arts Center on January 22, 2019 and will play 40+ cities during its multi-year tour, including the Fabulous Fox Theatre from April 7-19.

Purchase College, State University of New York's Broadway Technical Theatre History Project, will present the Ninth Annual Broadway technical 'Backstage Legends and Masters Award' to theater legend, William M. (Bill) Mensching on Monday, April 20, 2020 at 7 p.m. at The Performing Arts Center on campus, located at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, NY. This free event will be recorded and archived for future viewing.

Broadway in Portland is pleased to announce its 2020/21 Season with a schedule full of classics, brand-new productions, and hit musicals direct from Broadway.

Dr. Phillips Center today joined Florida Theatrical Association and Broadway Across America to announce the full lineup of the FAIRWINDS Broadway in Orlando season. The 20/21 season launches with Academy Awarda?"winner Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prizea?"winning masterwork TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD and includes Tony- and Grammy Awarda?"winner HADESTOWN. The expanded season sees the Orlando premieres of TOOTSIE, THE BAND'S VISIT, THE PROM and THE CHER SHOW, along with audience favorite CATS. The previously announced season add-on HAMILTON will run for four weeks and season option WICKED will play the Dr. Phillips Center for three weeks.