In the annals of musical theater, Norma Desmond is one of those larger than life characters, like Mame Dennis, Dolly Levi, and Eva Peron, who cries out for an actor with a specific and rare combination of skills to play the role. Tony Award-winner Alice Ripley ascends to playing the faded silent-screen star in the North Shore Music Theatre production of SUNSET BOULEVARD, after originating the role of Betty Schaefer in the 1994 original Broadway cast which starred Glenn Close. In so doing, Ripley joins the pantheon of singular talents who have put their personal stamp on the musical iteration of Norma, stepping out of the shadow of the indelible mark Gloria Swanson made on celluloid in Billy Wilder's 1950 film.
North Shore Music Theatre has announced complete casting for the upcoming production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's masterwork, SUNSET BOULEVARD, which will star the previously announced Alice Ripley as the fading Hollywood star, Norma Desmond.
Jersey Boys opened this week to one of the most enthusiastic welcomes I have ever witnessed at NSMT. The show stopping ovations were so heartfelt & sustained that the actors literally had to stop, numerous times, to wait for the applause to finish before continuing, and the show deserved the adoration, it is simply terrific.
Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) continues the 2019 Musical Season with JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. This special extended engagement plays for four week starting Tuesday, August 6 and playing thru Sunday, September 1, 2019. JERSEY BOYS is sponsored by Abiomed.
What happens when you mix Agatha Christie, dueling pianos, and a Broadway-quality stage production? No, it's not the next big show coming to Vegas - it's Murder for Two at Gretna Theatre.
In celebration of 86 Years of Theatre By The Sea, owner and producer Bill Hanney presents the Rhode Island regional premiere of Saturday Night Fever which will be presented from August 14a?'September 8, 2019.
Inspired by the actual newsboys strike of 1899, Disney's NEWSIES is a slightly updated stage version of the 1992 film of the same name. Despite the movie's lack of success at the box office, it became a cult favorite, and bringing it to Broadway in 2011 seems like a no-brainer. The source material is perfect for a high energy stage musical with outstanding dance numbers and supremely catchy songs. Theatre By The Sea's production is heavy on the dance, and includes some fantastic scenic design and a cast brimming with energy and charisma. Despite the seriousness of some of the subject matter--child labor, unions, capitalist opportunists, this show is pure fun with just enough drama in it to create and raise the stakes.
Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) continues the 2019 Musical Season with JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. This special extended engagement plays for four week starting Tuesday, August 6 and playing thru Sunday, September 1, 2019. JERSEY BOYS is sponsored by Abiomed.
Disney's Freaky Friday just opened at North Shore Music Theatre. Based on the 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers. It was then made into a movie by Disney in 1976 staring Jody Foster and Barbara Harris, with a less memorable movie remake in 2018. It is now a newly created, fun family musical with all the bells and whistles.
In celebration of 86 Years of Theatre By The Sea, owner and producer Bill Hanney is proud to present the Rhode Island professional premiere of Disney's Newsies which will be presented from July 17-August 10, 2019.
Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) continues the 2019 Musical Season with Disney's FREAKY FRIDAY, a brand-new motherdaughter body swap musical playing for two-weeks only from Tuesday, July 9 thru Sunday, July 21, 2019. Disney's FREAKY FRIDAY is sponsored by Big Jim's Auto Body.
In celebration of 86 Years of Theatre By The Sea, owner and producer Bill Hanney presents the joyous musical, Singin' in the Rain, which will be presented from June 19 - July 13, 2019.
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by the team of composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in farm country outside the town of Claremore, Indian Territory, in 1906, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLaine and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry. A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker and his flirtatious fiancee, Ado Annie.
In celebration of 86 Years of Theatre By The Sea, owner and producer Bill Hanney is proud to announce the opening of the 2019 Summer Season. The season begins with the World Premiere of a brand new romantic screwball musical comedy, Love and Other Fables, which will be presented from May 29 - June 16, 2019.
Bill Hanney's award-winning North Shore Music Theatre (NSMT) kicks off the 64th Annual Season with Rodgers and Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA!, one of the greatest classic musicals of all time, playing for two-weeks only from Tuesday, June 4 thru Sunday, June 16, 2019. OKLAHOMA! is sponsored by Beverly Bank.
In an eclectic explosion of music, raging from Disco to Elvis and all things in between, The Palace Theater presents Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!
The Cleveland Opera has fallen on hard times and the only person who can saver it is Tito Merelli, or El Stupendo as he is known. Tito (Magnificently portrayed by Jamie Michael Parnell) has been hired to perform as the lead I Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Otello. The issue initially is that Tito has failed to arrive at the allotted time, sending the General manager of the opera into a panic.
The 2018 BroadwayWorld Rhode Island Awards, honoring regional productions, touring shows, and more, which opened between October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2018, were recently announced. Theatre By The Sea is proud to have been recognized with a total of ten awards - nine of which were for last summer's unprecedented five-week sold-out run of Mamma Mia!