Jon Driscoll News

THE WIZARD OF OZ is a must see!

Performing Arts Fort Worth invites you to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Bass Performance Hall for the brand-new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ, playing June 7-12. Tickets start at $55 and are on sale now!

Spectacular dancing, heartfelt story, brilliant actors, classic songs.... The iconic film, DIRTY DANCING had all the makings to translate seamlessly onto the stage. However, unfortunately, it failed to deliver on all accounts. Written and conceived by Eleanor Bergstein, who has little to no previous stage experience, DIRTY DANCING is a lackluster and disappointing version of the far superior original. Perhaps it would've been best to leave Baby in the corner.

Performing Arts Fort Worth invites you to follow the Yellow Brick Road to Bass Performance Hall for the brand-new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ, playing June 7-12. Tickets start at $55 and are on sale now!

?The Orpheum Theatre is delighted to announce that the North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play June 14-19 at The Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. Tickets are on sale now on and are available for purchase online at the official Orpheum Theatre website, www.orpheum-memphis.com, The Orpheum Box Office (901.525.3000), the ticket counter at The Booksellers at Laurelwood, and all Ticketmaster centers (901.743.ARTS). 

Overall, there's a lot of mass appeal in this production, some fun musical moments, and opportunities for the entire family to visit the familiar and well-loved. Unfortunately, it simply pales in comparison to what we have seen before.

The North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play the National Theatre for two weeks only, tonight, May 3, through May 15, 2016.

Since the dawn of the genre, stage shows have been adapted from various sources; books, other plays, poems, historical events, and, increasingly over the past two decades, movies. The best projects based on movies take what is special from the source material and use that as inspiration to form a fresh stage adaptation. However, the DIRTY DANCING National Tour, playing at Orlando's Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts through Sunday, April 3rd, focuses so intently on recreating the minutia of the film, that it completely misses what made it so captivating in the first place; authentic, compelling characters and an intimate, passionate story.

 Casting has been announced for DIRTY DANCING - THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE, coming to The Broward Center for the Performing Arts for a limited two week engagement.  Christopher Tierney and Rachel Boone will star as Johnny Castle and Frances "Baby" Houseman in the Fort Lauderdale premiere of Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage.

Rachel Boone joins Christopher Tierney as Frances "Baby" Houseman and Johnny Castle as Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage continues its North American tour.  BroadwayWorld has a first look at the new cast in action below!

Broadway/San Diego is delighted to announce that the North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play at the San Diego Civic Theatre from March 15-20th and tickets are on sale now!

The North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play a two week engagement at Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theatre this spring, running April 12-24, 2016. Presented by the Citi Performing Arts Center and MSG Entertainment, tickets are now on sale at the Citi Center box office, through www.citicenter.org or by calling 800-982-ARTS (2787). Press night is set for Wednesday, April 13 at 7:00 pm.

With some spectacular visual effects and thrilling performances, Ghost the musical opened at the Regent Theatre last night in front of an appreciative audience. From the outset Jon Driscoll's video projections set the scene for what is a particularly clever musical both optically and emotionally. While Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard's score isn't overtly memorable there are some stunning melodies that capture characters inner thoughts and feelings and move the action forward, staying faithful to the original film with Bruce Joel Rubin adapting his original screenplay for the stage.

The North American tour of the new stage adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ will play the National Theatre for two weeks only, May 3 - 15, 2016.

Jemma Rix as Molly and Rob Mills as Sam are an ideal duo.

Broadway Across Canada announced today that individual tickets for the Calgary premiere of THE WIZARD OF OZ will go on sale Monday, December 14 at 10am. Tickets are available at 1-855-985-5000 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.ca. Groups of 10 or more can call 1-800-889-8457. The staged musical of this worldwide smash-hit film will play the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium from February 16 - 21.

Little did Frank Baum realize in 1900 when he wrote the book, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ, that he was creating a cottage industry. 'Chachkas' such as snow globes, stuffed Toto dogs and figurines of the characters dot many a household. Clothing, including red crystal shoes, checkered gingham 'Dorothy' dresses and Halloween costumes galore, relate aspects of the tale.

Completing a trilogy of revelatory Ibsens, Richard Eyre returns to the Almeida Theatre with a new version of LITTLE EYOLF. Jolyon Coy (Alfred) and Lydia Leonard (Rita) lead a cast, which includes Sam Hazeldine (Borgheim), Eve Ponsonby (Asta) and Eileen Walsh (Ratwoman). The production runs tonight now through 9 January 2016 (Press Night: tonight 26 November). BroadwayWorld has a look at the cast in action below!

Completing a trilogy of revelatory Ibsens, Richard Eyre returns to the Almeida Theatre with a new version of LITTLE EYOLF. Jolyon Coy (Alfred) and Lydia Leonard (Rita) lead a cast, which includes Sam Hazeldine (Borgheim), Eve Ponsonby (Asta) and Eileen Walsh (Ratwoman). The production runs tonight now through 9 January 2016 (Press Night: 26 November). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!