Jonathan Larson News

Today's top stories: Andrew Garfield will lead the film adaptation of tick, tick...Boom! directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda!

Andrew Garfield will star in the Netflix film adaptation of in tick, tick…Boom!, according to Deadline. Lin-Manuel Miranda will make his feature directorial debut on this adaptation of the autobiographical off-Broadway show written by  the late Jonathan Larson.

The 2020 presidential candidates just got a little more musical! With the presidential campaigns officially underway, Twitter user @absobyrne took to social media to compare the current candidates to some of Broadway's Tony-winning Best Musicals. To help you get a better understanding at the comparisons, we're giving you a look inside each of the shows, from older classics like South Pacific and Hello, Dolly! to more recent shows including Rent and The Producers. Check it all out!

The documentary Revolution Rent will have its premiere at SVA Theatre on Friday November 8, 2019 at 9:30 PM.

Broadway Across Canada has finally brought the much anticipated 20th Anniversary Tour of Jonathan Larson's acclaimed rock opera, Rent, to Ottawa. Rent is loosely based on the classic Puccini opera, La Bohème but, instead of 1890s Paris, Larson's scene is set in the gritty back alleys of New York's Alphabet City at Christmastime in the early nineties. We meet the two main protagonists, who are down on their luck. Mark (Cody Jenkins) is an aspiring filmmaker and Roger (Coleman Cummings) is a former musician. They live in a slum apartment, burning items in a steel trash can for warmth. Mark's girlfriend, Maureen (Kelsee Sweigard), left him for a woman named Joanne (Samantha Mbolekwa). Roger's girlfriend, April, committed suicide after she discovered that both she and Roger had contracted AIDS. To make matters even worse, Mark and Roger are about to be evicted by their former friend and roommate, Benny (Jason Taylor Smith), who recently purchased the building with the intention of converting it into a high-tech cyber arts studio.

Tony and Drama Desk nominees Kate Baldwin (Hello Dolly, Big Fish, Giant, Finnian's Rainbow) and Bob Stillman (Grey Gardens, Dirty Blonde, Saturn Returns, Hello Again) team up on November 20 for a special recital in the Fabbri Chamber Concerts series, in the magnificent library of the historic Fabbri Mansion (now the House of the Redeemer) on the Upper East Side (7 East 95th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues).

After a celebratory 18th season full of awards, nominations and tons of critical-acclaim for the main-stage productions of Queen and Caroline, or Change, Astoria Performing Arts Center (APAC) kicks off their 2019-20 season with Tony award-winner actress Cady Huffman in the New York premiere of Marguerite, a new solo musical with book and lyrics by Anton Dudley, music by Michael Cooper and direction by APAC Artistic Director Dev Bondarin.

A one-night-only concert of songs from the new musical Days of Rage will be presented on Friday, October 25th, 2019 at 7PM at Green Room 42 (570 10th Avenue) in New York City, and in New York City. From the inventive minds of two unique female writers, Days of Rage features book and music by Hyeyoung Kim, and lyrics and additional material by Shoshana Greenberg.

Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning masterpiece RENT will return to the National Theatre by popular demand with its 20th anniversary tour production. The musical will run Tuesday, November 12 through Sunday, November 17, 2019, and is the fourth production in the venue's recordbreaking 2019-2020 Broadway at the National season.

Originally created by RENT composer Jonathan Larson as a solo work, it was revised and revamped by playwright David Auburn and premiered Off-Broadway Since then, the show has had a West End production, an American national tour, two Off-Broadway revivals in and numerous local and international productions.

Footage has been released of Georgie Ashford, James Hume and Alex Lodge from the the acclaimed Bridge House Theatre production of the musical 'tick, ticka?? Boom!' by Jonathan Larson, directed by Guy Retallack.

In October, Maggie-Kate Coleman will join University of the Arts' Ira Brind School of Theater Arts as the Suzanne and Doug Kreitzberg Director of the Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Musicals, a position that is generously supported by the Kreitzbergs.

In Part 2 of our interview with Adam Pascal, Adam talks about two traumatic Broadway experiences: going on with 'Rent' right after the sudden death of Jonathan Larson and having to do 'Aida' two days after the 9/11 tragedies.

RENT is coming back to Detroit! The limited engagement is part of the Fox Theatre series and a stop on the 20th Anniversary Tour. It will here October 11th and 12th at the Fox Theatre. In 1996, an original rock musical by a little-known composer opened on Broadway and forever changed the landscape of American theatre. Two decades later, Jonathan Larson's RENT continues to speak loudly and defiantly to audiences across generations and all over the world. The Pulitzer Prize and Tony-Award winning master piece returns to the stage in a vibrant 20th anniversary touring production. A reimagining of Puccini's La Bohème, RENT follows an unforgettable year in the lives of seven artists struggling to follow their dreams without selling out. BroadwayWorld Detroit had a chance to speak with Cody Jenkins, who plays the role of Mark in the 20th Anniversary Tour of RENT, about the show, his iconic role, and why RENT is still going strong 20 years later. Check out our conversation below!

High school theater students from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC will perform their original songs on The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Millennium Stage on October 11. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be the culmination of a groundbreaking new ASCAP Foundation songwriting workshop for high school students. 

The only other musical written by Rent composer Jonathan Larson, tick, tick...Boom!, opens at the Bridge House Theatre this evening. The show is semi-autobiographical, based on Larson's own career. Set in 1990s New York, it follows the complex life of Jon, a 'promising' young composer, approaching 30 and with no idea where his life and career are heading. This thought-provoking yet funny show is packed with great songs, and is just as relevant today.

Singer Lynn Henderson will reprise her performance of A Skitch in Time: My Friendship with Maestro Skitch Henderson, on Nov. 2nd at Don't Tell Mama, at 4pm. A Skitch in Time tributes the New York Pops founder who built the Pops from an idea to a beloved international institution. Lynn Henderson and Skitch were not related a?" they shared a surname and admiration of the Great American Songbook. After bonding over music at a benefit in their Connecticut town,

Charles Sanchez ('Mrs. Subplotnik') is a gay, HIV+ writer, performer, director and activist living in New York City. He is one of the co-founders of Skipping Boyz Productions, and conceived, writes and stars in the musical comedy web series, Merce, which was named Best HIV/AIDS Content at America's Rainbow Film Festival in 2016 and won the Audience Award for Short Film at the 2017 Kaleidoscope Film Festival. 

Single tickets for seven shows in the Fabulous Fox Theatre's 2019 a?" 2020 U.S. Bank Broadway Series will go on sale Monday, October 14 at 10:00 a.m.  Tickets will be available online at MetroTix.com, by phone at 314-534-1111 and in person at the Fox Theatre Box Office for the following shows: SUMMER: THE DONNA SUMMER MUSICAL; JERSEY BOYS; RIVERDANCE 25th Anniversary Show; RENT; THE BAND'S VISIT; Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY; CATS.  

Broadway star Adam Pascal (the original Roger Davis in 'Rent') comes to Thousand Oaks to play flim-flam man Harold Hill in 5-Star Theatrical's new production of 'The Music Man,' which opens Oct. 18 at the Fred Kavli Theatre. Cary Ginell interviews Pascal about his approach to the show, which he has never seen on stage and has only seen Robert Preston's iconic film version once.