Laura Michelle Kelly News

Good morning BroadwayWorld! Today's top stories: The Tony Award nominations are announced, and more!

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires (Pittsfield, MA) under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, is pleased to announce initial casting for the 2018 Season.

Encores! final production of the Encores! at 25 season at New York City Center will be Me and My Girl. Choreographer Warren Carlyle gives us a behind the scenes look at the one particularly popular dance headed for the stage, The Lambeth Walk. Check it out below!

New spellers have been added to Broadway Bound Kids' third annual Broadway Bee on Monday, May 7, 2018 at 7 PM at Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street). The comedic spelling bee, Broadway Bee, features actors from hit Broadway shows competing in a hilarious live event, while raising funds to provide a wide range of performing arts education opportunities for NYC youth. Tickets are now available.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) continues its 2017-2018 season with the Thousand Oaks premiere of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell (based on the Victor Hugo Novel and songs from the Disney film), musical direction by Dan Redfeld, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Misti B. Wills. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME opens on Friday, April 20, 2017 and runs through Sunday, April 29, 2018 at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.  

Encores! will close out its season with the musical Me and My Gal. Watch Artistic Director Jack Viertel and Victoria Clark discuss how this truly British musical fit into the 25th anniversary season of Encores below!

Smash fans' dreams came true last week when Katharine McPhee made her Broadway debut as Jenna in Waitress! So what's the rest of the star-studded cast of NBC's Smash been up to? We took a look at where just a few of our favorite Smash alums are now!

Amy Wolk and Nikki M. James present I Only Have Lies For You, a new live gameshow that pits Broadway panelists against each other in a lying contest.  Two teams of three will go head-to-head telling stories, some of which may not be true---it is up to the other team to guess, Truth or Lie.

Join some of Broadway and TV's finest on Monday, April 23rd at 8pm at the Highline Ballroom for the return of the Broadway's Babies Annual Benefit Concert to help raise awareness and money for children in need in NYC and around the world. Produced by Kate Pfaffl (War Horse) and Ben Houghton.

Me and My Girl, the final production of the Encores! at 25 season at New York City Center will star Christian Borle, Suzzanne Douglas, Mark Evans, Harriet Harris, Edward Hibbert, John Horton, Simon Jones, Laura Michelle Kelly, Lisa O'Hare, Ken Page, and Don Stephenson.

5-STAR THEATRICALS (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) continues its 2017-2018 season with the Thousand Oaks premiere of THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Peter Parnell (based on the Victor Hugo Novel and songs from the Disney film), musical direction by Dan Redfeld, choreography by Michelle Elkin and directed by Misti B. Wills. THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME opens on Friday, April 20, 2017 and runs through Sunday, April 29, 2018at the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature The Lion King, Finding Neverland, The Crucible, and more!

Featuring outstanding performances from a cast led by Laura Michelle Kelly and Jose Llana, the beautiful and exquisite national tour production of Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award-winning revival of the 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic THE KING AND I leaves audiences utterly spellbound by its sweeping opulence and gorgeous, reverent staging-which notably combines the elegance and grace of the classic musical many of us have known and loved for decades with a knowing sensitivity to modern times that we exist in today. The national tour production continues its two-week run of performances at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa that continues through March 11, 2018.

At 67, this King is timely and timeless in a lush tour based on the Tony-winning Lincoln Center Theater revival directed by Bartlett Sher. As on Broadway, Lady Thiang steals the show.

This March, the creative team behind Ragtime on Ellis Island will be developing new use of in-ear monitoring (IEM) technology in a Sound Workshop, meant to explore its potential use for audiences in a fully realized site-specific production.

On Monday, February 19, the Theater People podcast welcomes Broadway favorite Adam Kantor back to the podcast. Kantor, currently co-starring as Telephone Guy in the critically acclaimed new musical THE BAND'S VISIT shares stories of how he won the role, working with the creative team on creating the role, and perfecting his character's haunting and beautiful song 'Answer Me.'

On Monday, February 5 Theater People podcast welcomes Tony winner Lea Salonga. For the episode, Salonga Talks about taking on the role of Erzule, The Goddess of Love in Michael Arden's Broadway revival of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, which is currently playing at The Circle in the Square theater on Broadway.

Sumptuously designed and opulently mounted, the visual aesthetic for the Lincoln Center revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (a year-and-a-half into its national tour and now ensconced at Nashville's Tennessee Performing Arts Center for an eight-performance run through Sunday, February 4) is breathtakingly gorgeous, representative of the golden age of the Broadway musical. Add to those physical attributes the sublime performances of an ideally cast ensemble of multi-talented actors - including Laura Michelle Kelly as Anna Leonowens, Jose Llana as the King of Siam and Joan Amedilla as Lady Thiang - under the focused and imaginative direction of Bartlett Sher, whose revivals of some of the best-known masterpieces to be found in the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon have cemented his placement in the firmament occupied by the legends of musical theater, and you have a classic show rendered in such a way that audiences respond and react as if they are seeing the much-beloved and time-honored work for the very first time.

On March 21 and 22, Muny Magic at The Sheldon will star one of The Muny's most popular and acclaimed performers in recent years, the Olivier Award-winning Broadway star, Laura Michelle Kelly. Kelly starred in The Muny's productions of The King and I (2012) and South Pacific (2013) before spending several years developing and starring in the Broadway production of Finding Neverland (2015). In November of last year, Kelly starred in the highly-acclaimed Lincoln Center national tour of The King and I at The Fabulous Fox Theatre.

2017 BroadwayWorld Chicago Awards Finalists Announced!