Laurence Olivier News

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) announced today casting for its 25th Anniversary Season production of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by CST Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin (CST's Follies, Broadway's The Color Purple) and featuring a celebrated company of artists that includes stage and screen actor Ron Orbach as Nick Bottom, former Saturday Night Live funnyman Tim Kazurinsky as Peter Quince, and veteran CST actors Tracy Michelle Arnold as Hippolyta/Titania and Timothy Edward Kane as Theseus/Oberon. Performing the role of Puck is Elizabeth Ledo.

The Old Globe today announced principal casting for the Globe's 2012 Shakespeare Festival. Craig Noel Award winner Jay Whittaker returns to the Festival for his third consecutive season to appear in the title role of William Shakespeare's Richard III. He will also appear as Oliver in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Also returning to the Festival are Craig Noel Award winner Robert Foxworth and Adrian Sparks, who will take to the courtroom floor as titanic lawyers Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady, respectively, in the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee classic Inherit the Wind. Foxworth, an Old Globe Associate Artist, will also play Lord Hastings in Richard III, and Sparks will play Lord Mayor of London in Richard III and Corin in As You Like It. Festival veteran Dana Green will star as Rosalind, and Dan Amboyer, new to the Festival stage, will play Orlando, the object of her affections, in As You Like It. Green will also play Queen Elizabeth in Richard III. Amboyer will also be featured as Bertram Cates in Inherit the Wind and the Earl of Richmond in Richard III. Festival newcomer Jacques C. Smith will play Jacques in As You Like It, the Duke of Buckingham in Richard III and Mr. Meeker in Inherit the Wind. Adrian Noble returns for his third outing as Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Festival and will helm As You Like It and Inherit the Wind. Renowned British director Lindsay Posner makes his debut at the Globe with his production of Richard III. Noble recently directed the World Premiere stage version of The King's Speech, which is currently touring England, and Posner's hit revival of Noises Off is currently playing at London's Old Vic and will transfer to the West End in March. The 2012 Shakespeare Festival, performed in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, runs June 3 - Sept. 30, 2012.

The Original Theatre Company is bringing Timberlake Wertenbaker's award-winning play, Our Country's Good to Rose Theatre Kingston this January. The production tours nationally from January 25th to April 27th, starring Aden Gillett and Philip Whitchurch.

It's time to let your hair down and dance the night away! Hairspray, Broadway's musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture is coming to Peoria as a Theater Works special presentation. Audiences will be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this 'international smash-hit musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter and romance - and enough deliriously tuneful songs to fill a nonstop platter party.' It's Hairspray, live on stage, in living color! Performing on the Gyder Mainstage Hairspray runs February 3 - 19 and tickets are on sale now!

York native, Ken Ludwig is an award-winning playwright of international acclaim. His six shows on Broadway and six in London's West End have not only made his name synonymous with modern comedy but also earned him the Laurence Olivier Award, three Tony Award nominations and two Helen Hayes Awards. February 3-12, York Little Theatre, York's oldest and largest community theatre, is proud to focus attention on York's historic and vibrant arts community by presenting Ken Ludwig's classic comedy farce, Leading Ladies, which is set in York, PA.

Acclaimed actor Michael Sheen and actress Lizzy Caplan have been cast as the leads in the SHOWTIME drama pilot MASTERS OF SEX, where they will portray 1960's human sexuality pioneers William Masters and Virginia Johnson. Directed by Academy Awardnominee John Madden ('Shakespeare in Love'), the pilot will begin production in New York in March.Michelle Ashford (THE PACIFIC), Judith Verno, and Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly (JUSTIFIED) are executive producers. Michael Sheen and Tammy Rosen will serve as producers. MASTERS OF SEX is produced by Sony Pictures Television.

Coward's comedic genius is on full display in Private Lives, which follows the saga of perpetually dueling lovers Amanda and Elyot, two divorcees who unwittingly book adjoining rooms while honeymooning with their new spouses. They soon realize the folly of their new marriages and impulsively flee together to Paris, only to be caught days later by their jilted spouses. This stylish, savvy and still-timely comedy is loaded with pointed barbs about modern romance and the people we can't live with-or without.

It's time to let your hair down and dance the night away! Hairspray, Broadway's musical comedy phenomenon that inspired a major motion picture is coming to Peoria as a Theater Works special presentation. Audiences will be swept away to 1960s Baltimore in this 'international smash-hit musical, piled bouffant-high with laughter and romance - and enough deliriously tuneful songs to fill a nonstop platter party.' It's Hairspray, live on stage, in living color! Performing on the Gyder Mainstage Hairspray runs February 3 - 19 and tickets are on sale now!

Nick Pitera, known for his one man Youtube medleys, has released a new video that is a medley of hits from Andrew Lloyd Webber's PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. 'I am such a huge Phantom fan. Andrew Lloyd Webber is a genius! This is my attempt at paying tribute to such a great piece of musical history!' Pitera wrote.

New Edgecliff Theatre today announced an exciting addition to NET's performance line up with the regional premiere of Conor McPherson's "St. Nicholas". This chilling one-man show features NET Executive Director Michael Shooner and is directed by Brian Robertson. "St. Nicholas" will run in NET's newly-created major production slot, Feb. 23-March 10.

Adelaide Festival Centre's Performing Arts Collection will present a collection of one of the greatest dramatic actors of the 20th Century, Dame Judith Anderson.

The Original Theatre Company is bringing Timberlake Wertenbaker's award-winning play, Our Country's Good to Rose Theatre Kingston this January. The production tours nationally from January 25th to April 27th, starring Aden Gillett and Philip Whitchurch.

BroadwayWorld brought you the winners as they were announced throughout the evening; check below for a complete list!

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed "Best of New York" by New York Magazine and "an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post will continue its Winter/Spring 2012 season with the debut of Emmy nominated dancer and singer, MARK BALLAS. The show will celebrate the release of Mark's debut album "HurtLoveBox." With guitar influences ranging from Kurt Cobain, Paco de Lucia, Gypsy Kings, John Mayer and Eric Clapton, the recording is an intimate, personal journey of the trials and tribulations of life and relationships. His rhythmic style and soulful melodies showcase his talent not only as an accomplished singer, but also as a skilled guitar player. The show will run for one night only - Sunday, January 29 - at the Loews Regency Hotel (540 Park Avenue at 61st Street).

Alive Theatre is set to present Orson's Shadow by Austin Pendleton, directed by Ricci Dedola, the first in the 2012 Collaborative series at the Long Beach Playhouse's Studio Theatre.

Nominees for the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards for outstanding performances in 2011 in five film and eight primetime television categories and for the SAG honors for outstanding action performances by film and television stunt ensembles were announced this morning in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center's SilverScreen Theater in West Hollywood.

Robert Lindsay and Joanna Lumley will lead the cast in Trevor Nunn's production of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater brings the National Theatre of Scotland back to Chicago for CST's World's Stage Series on the heels of its acclaimed production of Black Watch, presented by CST at the Chicago Park District's Broadway Armory. See photos from LONG GONE LONESOME below!

The Finborough Theatre's 'Celebrating British Music Theatre' series follows Perchance to Dream with Ivor Novello's last musical.

Disney Theatrical Productions, Broadway Across America and the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County announced today that tickets for the long-awaited production of THE LION KING will go on sale to the public on Saturday, February 11. Tickets will be available for purchase in person at the box office starting at 8 a.m., online at www.arshtcenter.org and by phone at 11 a.m.