John Waters News

Producer, Mark Goucher announced today that he has managed to extend his rights to tour Hairspray the Musical, with another tour being booked through 2020/21. This tour of Hairspray has taken to date over £10million at the box office with 4 months of performances still to come. Playing to packed houses, it has been a commercial and critical smash hit. A tour for 2020/21 is currently being booked.

Director and playwright Stan Zimmerman has found his quartet of actors for his new comedy Knife to the Heart, co-written with Christian McLaughlin. The show will play a limited run of 3 WEEKS ONLY for 9 performances (May 4-20) at the Dorie Theatre, part of The Complex on LA's famed Theatre Row (6476 Santa Monica Blvd, LA CA 90038). Show times are Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm. The cast includes Chelsea Kane ('Baby Daddy'), Todd Sherry ('Parks & Recreation'), Josh Zuckerman (A Delicate Ship) and four-time Emmy-nominee Patricia Richardson ('Home Improvement'). Tickets are $35 for Reserved Seating /$25 General Admission/$30 at the door, if available, and can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com. A special preview performance is Friday May 4 with an Opening Night of Saturday May 5.

LA MAMA presents COFFEEHOUSE CHRONICLES #146 "MARIO MONTEZ" -- Saturday March 24, at 3:00pm - 5:00pm?-- Located at, La MaMa, Downstairs (66 East 4th Street, NYC). Moderated by CONRAD VENTUR, Panelists include Brian Belovitch, Bibbe Hansen, Joe E. Jeffreys, Tom Kalin, Agosto Machado, and Lola Pashalinski.

On March 12, Broadway Belts for PFF! featured a "Sweet Sixteen" reunion of the Tony Award winning musical Hairspray. Broadway's Julie Halston emceed the evening, joined by Broadway stars Bryan Terrell Clark, Robert Creighton, Stephanie Gibson, Lesli Margherita and New York Yankees legend and Latin Grammy-nominee Bernie Williams.

RuPaul's Drag Race Star Mimi Imfurst (Braden Chapman) will star as HEDWIG in reTHEATER's production of the 4th wall smashing, gender bending rock musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. The production will begin June 1st in Philadelphia at RUBA CLUB, a former Russian Social Club, and will be set as the backdrop for this new immersive production of the cult pop-culture phenomenon. With its incredible score and hilariously heartfelt book, this 20th anniversary production re-examines John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's explosive rock musical with a fresh eye while paying homage to its iconic flair.

Stephanie Gibson (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Chester Gregory (Motown: The Musical) will join the star-studded list of performers at this year's Broadway Belts for PFF!, hosted by Broadway's Julie Halston. The event will take place on Monday, March 12 at The Edison Ballroom. This once-in-a-lifetime event is sold out. Click here to make a donation to the event.

internationally acclaimed artist Zoe Leonard will join FotoFocus Artistic Director Kevin Moore in conversation on March 29, 2018, as part of the organization's Lecture and Visiting Artist Series. 

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to announce that due to overwhelming demand, the fifth show in its 97th season, Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner MELANIE GRIFFITH starring as Mrs. Robinson in THE GRADUATE, adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews (Twelve Angry Men, Billy & Ray) is EXTENDING through SUNDAY, MARCH 25 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Drive in Laguna Beach. THE GRADUATE will begin previews on Wednesday, February 21 and will open on Sunday, March 4 at 5:30pm.

The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, and Graeme Flegenheimer (El Club Detroit) are pleased to present TOM House: The Work and Life of Tom of Finland, opening April 19, 2018 at Mike Kelley's Mobile Homestead at MOCAD.

Sibling punk-rock trio Skating Polly are excited to announce their fifth studio full-length album – The Make It All Show – due out May 4th via El Camino Media.  The threesome tracked the record this past Winter at Seagrass Studio in Los Angeles with producer Brad Wood (Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair) who helmed last year's New Trick EP (feat. Louise Post and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt).  Skating Polly are also premiering the video for “Queen For A Day” on NPR today, the first new track from The Make It All Show, which features guest vocals from the song's co-writer Exene Cervenka –  the producer of the band's 2013 album Lost Wonderfuls and singer of seminal punk band X.

After 25 years as director of the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, Sherri Geldin has announced she will leave the helm at the end of December 2018.

Artistic Director Ray Jivoff unveiled Skylight Music Theatre's 2018-19 Season line-up of "firsts" -- five shows that have never been produced at Skylight.  "We are thrilled to announce this exciting season of well-known and well-loved shows that have not been produced by Skylight before," said Jivoff. "These are blockbuster titles that perfectly capture Skylight's mission of presenting the full spectrum of music theatre, from musicals to revues to classical repertoire. Each show is joyful and exuberant in its own way and highlights our dedication to producing inventive and theatrical musical storytelling."

The AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dallas Theater Center jointly announced today an unprecedented new collaboration to coproduce the Broadway musical HAIRSPRAY which will be the first title on the AT&T Performing Arts Center's Broadway Series 2018/2019 season. The smash hit musical comedy HAIRSPRAY will play 12 performances July 7 through July 15, 2018 at the Winspear Opera House in the downtown Dallas Arts District.

This year's Broadway Belts for PFF!, hosted by Broadway's Julie Halston, will be an even bigger celebration as Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman bring together members of the original Broadway cast of Hairspray to celebrate its 'Sweet 16.' The HairspraySweet 16 segment will honor Margo Lion, a lead producer on the original production, for her theatrical career and her support for Broadway Belts for PFF! and the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation (PFF). This once-in-a-lifetime event is exclusively available through sponsorship opportunities that can be purchased at www.BroadwayBeltsforPFF.org.

Noir starlet Virginia Lee played the pivotal role of Jeannie in the infamous bar scene in the 1950 film noir classic, D.O.A. She was never credited for her pivotal role in the film. Now, in director Alex Webb's modern-day noir thriller To The Flame, Lee finally gets her name in the credits thanks to a bit of movie magic.

Lennon - Through a Glass Onion will return to Melbourne for a limited season in March 2018 to celebrate this major milestone of 25 years on the road.

FotoFocus, the nonprofit arts organization that champions photography and lens-based art, is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed artist Zoe Leonard will join FotoFocus Artistic Director Kevin Moore in conversation on March 29, 2018, as part of the organization's Lecture and Visiting Artist Series. 

LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE is thrilled to announce that due to overwhelming demand, the fifth show in its 97th season, Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner MELANIE GRIFFITH starring as Mrs. Robinson in THE GRADUATE, adapted by Terry Johnson, based on the novel by Charles Webb and the screenplay by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, directed by Ovation Award-winner Michael Matthews (Twelve Angry Men, Billy & Ray) is EXTENDING through SUNDAY, MARCH 25 at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Drive in Laguna Beach. THE GRADUATE will begin previews on Wednesday, February 21 and will open on Sunday, March 4 at 5:30pm.

After My Leonard Cohen, the sold out smash hit of the 2017 Adelaide Fringe, multi-award winning performer, composer and artistic director Stewart D'Arrietta returns to Adelaide with the world premiere of his latest work, 'Belly Of A Drunken Piano'.

Stage and screen icon Kathleen Turner makes her Cafe Carlyle debut with Finding My Voice, May 22-June 2. In Finding My Voice, Turner lends her trademark husky voice to classic songs from the Great American Songbook and shares personal anecdotes and stories from her celebrated career.