Laurence Olivier News

The Old Vic announced that applications for The 2011 TS Eliot US/UK Exchange will open on Friday 28th January.

The new Broadway musical Baby It's You! tells the inspiring story of Florence Greenberg, the woman who changed the recording world forever when she discovered The Shirelles and created Scepter Records, becoming the music industry's first female powerhouse. Starring Tony Award winner Beth Leavel as Greenberg, conceived by Floyd Mutrux, directed by Floyd Mutrux and Sheldon Epps, and written by Tony nominated book writers Mutrux and Colin Escott, the team behind Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet, Baby It's You! begins performances at Broadway's Broadhurst Theatre (235 West 44th Street) Saturday, March 26, 2011, and opens Wednesday, April 27, 2011, at 6:30pm. Baby It's You! features a cast of 19 that includes Allan Louis, Geno Henderson, Erica Ash, Kelli Barrett, Kyra DaCosta, Crystal Starr Knighton, Barry Pearl, Christina Sajous, Brandon Uranowitz, Alison Cimmet, Erica Dorfler, Berlando Drake, Adam Heller, Jahi A. Kearse, Annette Moore, Zachary Prince, Ken Robinson and Chelsea Morgan Stock.

The West End Players Guild's 100th season continues in February with Shelagh Stevenson's dark and hilarious THE MEMORY OF WATER. Directed by Tom Kopp, the show features performances by Suki Peters, Leslie Wobbe and Belinda Quimby, with Meg Brinkley, Ben Ritchie and Chris 'Mr.' Jones in supporting roles.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) provides an introduction to William Shakespeare for all audiences with Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's Macbeth adapted and directed by David H. Bell.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) provides an introduction to William Shakespeare for all audiences with Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's Macbeth adapted and directed by David H. Bell.

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) provides an introduction to William Shakespeare for all audiences with Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's Macbeth adapted and directed by David H. Bell.

Theatre veterans Kenneth Branagh and Rob Brydon are set to star in The Painkiller at the Lyric Theatre. The production will be a new adaptation of the Francis Veber work by Sean Foley. The show will open on September 29.

The most important event in the UK's theatrical calendar, the presentation of the 35th Laurence Olivier Awards, will take place at the historic Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Sunday 13 March 2011. The Awards, which are undergoing a major relaunch, will receive extensive coverage on TV, radio and online, and promise to be a glittering night to celebrate London's outstanding creativity on stage.

Texas Performing Arts presents the Texas premiere of the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Black Watch, February 16-20 at Bass Concert Hall.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) rings in the New Year with William Shakespeare's romantic comedy As You Like It, staged by CST's Associate Artistic Director Gary Griffin. The acting company for Griffin's lush production includes a host of Chicago Shakespeare favorites who have collectively performed over 100 roles at CST. Among the returning cast members are Kate Fry, performing the role of Rosalind in her seventh appearance at CST; Chaon Cross as Celia in her sixth CST appearance; Matt Schwader as Orlando in his ninth appearance; Phillip James Brannon as Touchstone in his fourth appearance; and longtime collaborators Ross Lehman as Jaques and Kevin Gudahl as Duke Senior, who return to CST to perform their respective 13th and 27th roles. Chicago Shakespeare Theater's As You Like It runs now through March 6, 2011, in CST's Courtyard Theater. Tickets are $44-$75 with special discounts available for groups of 10 or more. All patrons receive a 40% parking discount at Navy Pier garages. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Box Office at 312.595.5600 or visit the Theater's website at www.chicagoshakes.com.

Trickery and deceit take over in Anthony Shaffer's SLEUTH, which kicks off Theatre at the Center's 2011 season. This edge-of-your-seat mystery begins February 17 and runs through March 20 at 1040 Ridge Road, Munster, Indiana, with the press performance on February 20, 2011 at 7 p.m. The production, directed by William Pullinsi, stars Larry Yando and Lance Baker.

Christopher Plummer will narrate Henry V: A Shakespeare Scenario, with music from Sir William Walton's score for the Laurence Olivier film of Shakespeare's Henry V, conducted by Music Director Alan Gilbert, The Yoko Nagae Ceschina Chair, Monday, April 11, 2011, at 7:30 p.m. The program will also include music of Shakespeare's time. Joining the New York Philharmonic will be the Manhattan School of Music Symphonic Chorus and Chamber Choir, Kent Tritle, director, and The American Boychoir, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, director.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) provides an introduction to William Shakespeare for all audiences with Short Shakespeare! Macbeth, a 75-minute abridged production of Shakespeare's Macbeth adapted and directed by David H. Bell.

Smuggler Films partners, John N. Hart & Patrick Milling Smith and film and theatre producers, Fred Zollo and Barbara Broccoli & Michael G Wilson have announced the creative team for upcoming stage adaptation of the 2007 Academy Award-winning film ONCE, coming to Broadway in Fall 2011. The musical will feature the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, a book by award-winning Irish playwright & screenwriter, Enda Walsh (Penelope, Hunger, The New Electric Ballroom), direction by the acclaimed Scottish director of Black Watch, John Tiffany, design by five time Tony Award winner Bob Crowley (The Coast of Utopia, Mary Poppins). Steven Hoggett (American Idiot, Black Watch) will provide musical staging and Martin Lowe (Mamma Mia!) is the music director.

Legendary jazz guitarist (and 92Y audience favorite) Bucky Pizzarelli performed and recorded with iconic singers from Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to Peggy Lee, Rosemary Clooney, Sarah Vaughan and countless others.

?Chicago Shakespeare Theater's (CST) Funk It Up About Nothin'-an exuberant hip-hop 'ad-rap-tation' of William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing-will thrill audiences in New York City, Chicago and Australia in the New Year.

It looks like off-Broadway's DRACULA, playing at the Little Shubert might have a shorter run than originally announced. The show, which just opened on January 5, was originally scheduled to close on March 13. Now, after speculation in the NY Post this morning about an early end for the revival, Telecharge.com is only offering tickets for the show through January 9.

Following 5 star reviews for Tracie Bennett's performance as Judy Garland, Peter Quilter's End of the Rainbow will extend its West End run taking bookings at the Trafalgar Studios until 16 April 2011.

Directed by Terry Johnson, End of the Rainbow combines humour and heartbreak to capture both the drama of Garland's final performances in London and her controversial life off stage. End of the Rainbow, which opened in Northampton in February last year, transferred to the West End in November where it has been receiving standing ovations at every performance since opening night.

Rehearsals begin for Arizona Theatre Company's world premiere production of Jeffrey Hatcher's Ten Chimneys this week in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin at Ten Chimneys, the historical former estate of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.