Keith Thompson News

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," presents the area premiere of YEAST NATION: THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE, the world's first bio-historical musical, a comic political thriller with book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, and music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann, the subversive geniuses behind the award-winning Broadway musical Urinetown, running May 31-June 23, 2018 at the Marcelle Theater in the Grand Center Arts District. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn ("Proof") will provide opening remarks and Rick Younger, featured actor in "Mean Girls," nominated for 12 Tony Awards, will introduce fellow Broadway performers in a celebration of student playwriting called LEAP OnStage: Rising Voices. The fundraiser will be held Monday, May 21, 6-9 pm, in the event space of National Geographic Encounter: Ocean Odyssey, 226 W. 44th Street. Proceeds will benefit LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program), an arts education organization that serves more than 20,000 students in 175 schools throughout New York City each year. Tickets range from $75 to $250 and can be purchased at leapnyc.org.

Choreographers are a rare breed of innovators. Moving dancers through space with humor, passion, elegance and power is their specialty. Now, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and South Orange Performing Arts Center proudly present Artists Who Innovate: A Celebration of New Jersey Choreographers, two spectacular evenings of performances from nine New Jersey choreographers on May 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. These award-winning choreographers have recently been granted fellowships by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for their excellence in choreography. The May 4 performance features the work of Claire Porter, Nancy Turano, Stephanie Nerbak and Kyle Marshall. On May 5 choreographers Hillary-Marie, Loretta DiBianca Fois, Lauren Connolly, Samuel Pott and Keith Thompson will be featured.

Q. Smith, featured cast member of Broadway's Come From Away, hosted the 10th annual New York City August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored by LEAP (Learning through an Expanded Arts Program, Inc.). Two winning students, first place Teslyne Junior of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, and second place Victoria Lino, of Repertory Company High School for Theater Arts in Manhattan, will move on to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition on Broadway in May. Anthony Perez, also from Repertory Company High School, took third place and is the alternate. The presentation was held March 5 on Stage 2 of New World Stages, 340 W. 50th St., New York, N.Y.

Check out what's coming up at Old School Square in March!

Nimbus Dance Works brings world premiere new dance, acclaimed repertory, and family performances to world-renowned venues, local communities, colleges, high schools, and elementary schools, throughout New Jersey and on tour across New York and New England.  

The Smith Center For The Performing Arts has announced events February - March 2018. See the full lineup below!

In theater cities such as New York City, many people begin the evening at a cabaret in an intimate venue before going to a show and dinner. The Cocktail Cabaret, a new live musical revue, is now part of the entertainment scene of Las Vegas. The revue will be performed at the iconic Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace. Las Vegas tourists and locals will be immersed in a new Vintage Vegas revue featuring modern standards and original music.

Las Vegas tourists and locals will be immersed in classic vintage Vegas with the debut of The Cocktail Cabaret, a new live musical show opening on Thurs., Nov. 30 at the famed Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace.

New Line Theatre, the bad boy of musical theatre, continues its 27th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, with a public reading of the new/old musical THE ZOMBIES OF PENZANCE, 'Gilbert & Sullivan's original operatic abomination,' free and open to the public, on January 8 for one night only; followed by Cole Porter's satiric masterpiece ANYTHING GOES, running March 1-24, 2018; and the St. Louis premiere of the world's first bio-historical musical comedy, YEAST NATION, written by the Urinetown team, running May 31-June 23, 2018. All shows will be in the company's home, the Marcelle Theater, in the Grand Center Arts District.

Las Vegas tourists and locals will be immersed in classic vintage Vegas with the debut of The Cocktail Cabaret, a new live musical show opening on Thurs., Nov. 30 at the famed Cleopatra's Barge at Caesars Palace.

Continuing to bring the best of music, theater and dance to Southern Nevada, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts announced today that single tickets are now on sale for dozens of winter shows, with additional titles going on sale at 10 a.m. on Friday, November 10. This lineup of more than 60 shows includes Tony Award -winning musicals and world-renowned entertainers, as well as acclaimed productions visiting Las Vegas for the very first time. For more information and the full lineup, visit TheSmithCenter.com.

Pentacle Presents: Fall Further VI is Pentacle's annual fall showcase featuring the works of Pentacle Gallery artists and guests. Now in its sixth year, this year's performance includes works from CoreDance Contemporary, danceTactics performance group, Hanna Q Dance Company, SYREN Modern Dance and The Moving Architects

Pentacle Presents: Fall Further VI is Pentacle's annual fall showcase featuring the works of Pentacle Gallery artists and guests. Now in its sixth year, this year's performance includes works from CoreDance Contemporary, danceTactics performance group, Hanna Q Dance Company, SYREN Modern Dance and The Moving Architects

Backstage Bistro Award-winning recording artist and Broadway actress Rebecca Spencer (JEKYLL AND HYDE, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) releases her third recording on the LML Music label, entitled STILL, STILL, STILL, today, September 22nd.

Backstage Bistro Award-winning recording artist and Broadway actress Rebecca Spencer (JEKYLL AND HYDE, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) has announced a September 22, 2017 release date for her third recording on the LML Music label, entitled STILL, STILL, STILL.

Originally conceived by artistic director Scott Miller over 20 years ago, OUT ON BROADWAY (THE THIRD COMING), is, as titled, the third incarnation of a revue designed to reinterpret songs from an array of classic and offbeat, but brilliant, musicals ( this time with a new song from Jason Robert Brown, 'Hope'). This production acts to show just how much these works still retain their emotion, even when the players in each are now gay. I can assure you that the meaning remains, and so does the depth of feeling. It's a collection of over 30 pieces that are arranged to weave together a kind of narrative. Some people might find some of the choices obscure, but that actually adds to the charm for me, because then I'm exposed to things that I'll want to seek out afterwards. I'm late with this review, so forgive me, but life intrudes sometimes. But, if you didn't catch it you really missed an exceptional theatrical cabaret of sorts, which was truly wonderful, and which I hope sparks a fourth coming!

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," closes its 26th season of adult, alternative musical theatre with the world premiere of the third installment of New Line's own creation, the new revue OUT ON BROADWAY: THE THIRD COMING, running now through August 19, 2017, at the Marcelle Theater, the new blackbox theatre in Grand Center, St. Louis' arts district. Tickets are on sale now.

Trisha Brown Dance Company (TBDC) performs at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Ted Shawn Theatre, August 16-20, representing the work of one of the seminal choreographers of the 20th century. Since Brown's passing this past March, witnessing TBDC in an evening-length program is an increasingly rare experience. Echoing Brown's choreographic innovation, timeless aesthetic, and 1960s postmodern approach to dance making, TBDC will perform a version of Opal Loop (1980) prepared especially for Jacob's Pillow, featuring former dancers of the company and an original cast member. Acknowledging Brown's more recent choreography, TBDC will also perform Groove and Countermove (2000) and L'Amour au théâtre (2009). As the company ventures into a new era, viewing Brown's work in a proscenium venue “feel[s] increasingly essential” (The New Yorker).

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," has announced that for the first time in its history, New Line is selling season tickets, for its 27th season of adult, alternative musical theatre, including the St. Louis premiere of the four-woman rock opera LIZZIE, a very different take on the Lizzie Borden legend, running Sept. 28-Oct. 21, 2017; followed by Cole Porter's satiric masterpiece ANYTHING GOES, running March 1-24, 2018; and the St. Louis premiere of the world's first bio-historical musical comedy, YEAST NATION, written by the Urinetown team, running May 31-June 23, 2018. Tickets go on sale Aug. 1. All New Line's mainstage shows will be in the company's home, the Marcelle Theater, in Grand Center, St. Louis' arts district.