Laurence Olivier News

North Carolina Theatre's Legally Blonde The Musical is being presented at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium October 9-14, 2012. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

The hit musical comedy SISTER ACT, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment, is coming to Birmingham Hippodrome for a glorious limited season, raising the roof and getting the congregation dancing in the aisles for the final time as part of the current national tour from tonight, 9 - Saturday 20 October 2012.

Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis will reprise the roles of Jervis Pendleton and Jerusha Abbott in John Caird's production of Daddy Long Legs, the second production at London's newest theatre complex, the St. James Theatre. Daddy Long Legs will run at the St. James Theatre from 31 October to 8 December, with press night on 7 November 2012. Get a first look at Hancock and McGinnis in character below!

The hit musical comedy SISTER ACT, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment is coming to Birmingham Hippodrome for a glorious limited season, raising the roof and getting the congregation dancing in the aisles for the final time as part of the current national tour from Tuesday 9 - Saturday 20 October 2012. Watch cast confessions from Michael Starke, Julie Atherton, Cynthia Erivo and Laurie Scarth below!

Disney's THE LION KING will make its South American premiere in São Paulo, Brazil. T4F (Time For Fun), will present the production with its opening night on March 7th, 2013 at the Teatro Abril. THE LION KING in São Paulo will mark two firsts: as the largest stage musical ever presented in Brazil and the first time the show has been performed in Portuguese. When the South American production opens, it will mark the sixth continent in which THE LION KING will have played and will become the 21st production, worldwide.

Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, will be on stage at the St. Jacobs Country Playhouse for three weeks only from tonight, October 3rd through October 21st. Described as 'a top-class thriller whose plot twists and turns are breathtakingly audacious and fiendishly cunning, Sleuth is in one of the cleverest thrillers ever imagined.'

Olivier Award-winning OperaUpClose in association with Malmö Opera will premiere a new production of Puccini's Tosca, directed by Adam Spreadbury-Maher from tonight, October 2.

Disney's THE LION KING continues to reign across North America with a sold-out, record-breaking engagement in Wichita, which concluded on Sunday, September 30 at the Century II Concert Hall. The premiere four-week engagement grossed over $4.3 million at the box office and entertained more than 60,000 patrons, making it the highest-grossing theatrical production in Wichita history.

MNA Productions, Inc. announces that Tony Lo Bianco will reprise his award-winning role as Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in THE LITTLE FLOWER, which begins performances Off-Broadway on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 (Opening Night) at the Dicapo Opera Theatre (184 East 76th Street between Lexington and 3rd Ave). Written and directed by Mr. Lo Bianco, adapted from the play Hizzoner! by Paul Shyre, THE LITTLE FLOWER will play a special limited-run through Friday, November 2, 2012.

The 6th season of the Bay Street Players Second Stage opens tonight, September 30 with God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza. This play won both the Laurence Olivier Award and Tony Award for Best New Play in 2009.

Feinstein's at Loews Regency will continue its Fall 2012 season with the return of singer and television star Linda Purl, in her new show "Midnight Caravan: Travels through the Great New York Clubs." Recapturing the glamour of New York's swank hotspots like The Copacabana and The Blue Angel, Purl invokes the smoky, after-hours world of the 1940s and 50s. With musical direction by Tedd Firth, "Midnight Caravan" includes songs such as "Easy Living," "I Thought About You," and "My Romance," to name just a few.

Today we are talking to a busy and very recognizable actress who has appeared in over 100 TV and film properties since her debut in the 1970s and just this year played arcs on both the freshly-minted 2012 Emmy-winning Best Drama HOMELAND, as well as HBO's hit nighttime vampire series TRUE BLOOD - the accomplished and arresting Linda Purl. Discussing her roles on the hit HBO and Showtime series she has appeared on this year as well as her recent multi-episode stint on NBC's THE OFFICE, Purl sheds some light on her long and rich career and also shares stories from the sets of some of her most famous forays - HAPPY DAYS, VISITING HOURS and more included. Additionally, we shed some light on her upcoming two-night-stand at Feinstein's At Loews Regency, MIDNIGHT CARAVAN… TRAVELS THROUGH THE GREAT NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS, with special guest Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she sets the stage for what we can expect from the noir-inspired cabaret piece featuring songs of the 1940s and 50s. Furthermore, Purl opens up about her theatrical roots - starring in plays and musicals like OLIVER, THE KING & I and THE MIRACLE WORKER growing up overseas, as well as observing no less than Tennessee Williams, a friend of her parents, as he oversaw a Tokyo production of IN THE BAR OF A TOKYO HOTEL and resided with the clan; and, later starring on Broadway in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER,GETTING AND SPENDING and in regional revivals, such as six seasons at Williamstown and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at LA's Rubicon. Additionally, she gives insight into many notable friends and collaborators - Edith Head, Angela Lansbury, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Laurence Olivier, Kim Hunter, Robby Benson and others. Plus, first news on the forthcoming studio album of MIDNIGHT CARAVAN - and much, much more!

Today we are talking to a busy and very recognizable actress who has appeared in over 100 TV and film properties since her debut in the 1970s and just this year played arcs on both the freshly-minted 2012 Emmy-winning Best Drama HOMELAND, as well as HBO's hit nighttime vampire series TRUE BLOOD - the accomplished and arresting Linda Purl. Discussing her roles on the hit HBO and Showtime series she has appeared on this year as well as her recent multi-episode stint on NBC's THE OFFICE, Purl sheds some light on her long and rich career and also shares stories from the sets of some of her most famous forays - HAPPY DAYS, VISITING HOURS and more included. Additionally, we shed some light on her upcoming two-night-stand at Feinstein's At Loews Regency, MIDNIGHT CARAVAN… TRAVELS THROUGH THE GREAT NEW YORK NIGHTCLUBS, with special guest Desi Arnaz, Jr., and she sets the stage for what we can expect from the noir-inspired cabaret piece featuring songs of the 1940s and 50s. Furthermore, Purl opens up about her theatrical roots - starring in plays and musicals like OLIVER, THE KING & I and THE MIRACLE WORKER growing up overseas, as well as observing no less than Tennessee Williams, a friend of her parents, as he oversaw a Tokyo production of IN THE BAR OF A TOKYO HOTEL and resided with the clan; and, later starring on Broadway in THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER,GETTING AND SPENDING and in regional revivals, such as six seasons at Williamstown and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at LA's Rubicon. Additionally, she gives insight into many notable friends and collaborators - Edith Head, Angela Lansbury, Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Laurence Olivier, Kim Hunter, Robby Benson and others. Plus, first news on the forthcoming studio album of MIDNIGHT CARAVAN - and much, much more!

Among the over 300 individuals who gathered this week to honor the late PR Icon, Dale Olson, with an exhibit at the Hollywood Museum and former offices of make-up wizard, Max Factor, included Ruta Lee, Valerie Harper, Garry Marshall, George Schlatter, JoAnne Worley, Kate Linder, Jackie Joseph, Patricia Barry, Ann Jeffreys, Barbra Van Orden, Theodore Bikel, Ilene Graff, Ben Lanzarone, Leonard Maltin, Renee Taylor, Karen Sharpe-Kramer, Martin Wiviott, Hunter and Stan Frieberg. Scroll below for photos from the event.

American Theater Group is a new performing arts company at the new Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts in Rahway, New Jersey. They begin their season with Jim Brochu's ZERO HOUR: a one-man tour-de-force about the life and times of the famed, talented and controversial actor Zero Mostel.

Intendant Christian Struppeck freut sich bereits jetzt die Hauptdarstellerin bekannt geben zu können, die ab Februar in der Rolle der „Elle Woods“ zu sehen sein wird. Barbara Obermeier, gebürtige Münchnerin und bereits bekannt aus VBW-Produktionen wie SISTER ACT (Mary Roberts) TANZ DER VAMPIRE (Sarah) und REBECCA überzeugte die Castingjury und niemand geringeren als Broadway-Starregisseur und Choreograph Jerry Mitchell von ihrem außergewöhnlichen Gesangs- und Schauspieltalent.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today the 2012 partnership with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), CPS Shakespeare! Hamlet in which an ensemble of 28 students and teachers from nine CPS high schools will stage an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today that the prestigious Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, home to the world's largest and finest collection of Shakespeare materials, will present CST's Education Department with the Shakespeare Steward Award. Inaugurated in 2007, the Folger Shakespeare Steward Award is presented annually to a person or organization for innovative teaching of Shakespeare in American classrooms. Chicago Shakespeare Theater will be the first theater to receive this prestigious award.

On October 4 at 7 PM, world-renowned, classically trained German cabaret singer and Broadway star Ute Lemper will debut a new, original song cycle inspired by the love poems of 20th century Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973). Conceived and composed by Lemper herself in collaboration with Marcelo Nisinman, Ute Lemper Sings Pablo Neruda will continue at Joe's Pub throughout the month of October with dates on October 4, 5, 6, 30 and 31. Joining Lemper for the run at Joe's Pub are Tito Castro and JP Jofre on Bandoneon, John Benthal on Guitar, Steve Millhouse on Bass and Andy Ezrin on Piano.

In keeping with the trans-Atlantic relationship, Chicago Shakespeare and Scotland's theater community are engaged in a cultural exchange-one CST production, The Q Brothers' Othello: The Remix, is now playing to wildly enthusiastic response at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the very festival that launched two critically acclaimed National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) productions that are slated for Chicago Shakespeare's fall 2012 World's Stage series: The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart, and the return engagement of Black Watch.