Lehman Engel News

Cleveland Play House will close out their 2016-17 season with the joyful new musical romp, Freaky Friday. Based on the celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers which spawned two hit Disney films, Freaky Friday tells the story of a mother and daughter who magically swap bodies for 24 chaotic hours. The contemporary update of this American classic includes a hilarious new book by Bridget Carpenter ("Parenthood," "Friday Night Lights"), and a pop?rock score by Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then). Directed by Christopher Ashley, Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, it has been hailed as "a polished, peppy, modern fairy tale" by The Washington Post. With high-energy choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Memphis, Jersey Boys), this vivacious production is "delightfully spunky" with "timeless appeal" (Variety).

Remission, a new musical about vulnerability and hope, announces presentations open to industry professionals on March 31st. The presentations will be directed by Portia Krieger, with books/music/lyrics by Rebekah M. Allen, and casting by Tara Rubin Casting.

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) recently held their bi-annual Master Class for the renowned BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. The Master Class brings in celebrated composers and lyricists from the Broadway world to give feedback and critique musical theatre pieces developed by members of the esteemed workshop. Scroll down for photos, featuring writing team Alan Menken and Glenn Slater!

Gabi Does Gasparini is a collaboration between awarded contemporary musical theatre composer Drew Gasparini and powerhouse performer Gabi Garcia. The evening will be presented at The Green Room 42 on April 10, and will feature brand new music from Gasparini and special guest performers. Doors open at 6:30pm for dinner and cocktails. Show starts at 8:00pm. The Green Room 42 is located at 570 Tenth Ave, 4th Floor.

Katie Ladner, currently appearing in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, will perform Life Day: A Musical Memoir, written by Rachel Kunstadt about her experience with mental illness. The solo show follows her adolescent journey with panic disorder and agoraphobia, coming out, and choosing life.

The Atlantic for Kids 2016/2017 Season will resume today, March 4, with the family rock concert meets live theater adventure Wonderland: Alice's Rock & Roll Adventure, a New York premiere musical based on Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice and Wonderland tales, featuring book and lyrics by Rachel Rockwell, music and lyrics by Michael Mahler, and direction by Marshall Pailet.

New Musicals Inc. has announced that nine writing teams (with a total of 17 writers and composers) have been selected to participate in the 2017 New Voices Project, a musical theatre development program hosted by New Musicals Inc. in Los Angeles (with support from Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment), now in its fifth year.

Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues." 

Next Wednesday, March 1st, composer Jaime Lozano's new Song Cycle, 'A Never-Ending Line,' will have its world premiere at Broadway au Carre in Paris, France.

???????Synchronicity Theatre will present the world premiere of Andrea Lepcio's Strait of Gibraltar, a sexy romantic comedy turned terrorism thriller that looks at love, truth, prejudice, and civil rights in the age of the Patriot Act. Performances run from March 31 to April 23, 2017.

The well-reviewed, NY Times Critic's Pick Baghdaddy (formerly known as, Who's Your Baghdaddy?) by Marshall Pailet and A.D. Penedo will return to NYC beginning April 6, opening on Monday, May 1, 2017 and have an initial run through June 18, 2017 at St. Luke's Theatre (308 West 46th Street).

Join the Village Playwrights on February 22, 2017 from 8 to 10 pm at the LGBT Community Center for QUEERLY BELOVED, staged readings of 10 minute plays to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Chance Theater, Anaheim's official resident theater company, is pleased to announce the first show in its third season of Theater for Young Audiences… The Little Prince. Written by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar, based on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and directed by Darryl B. Hovis, The Little Prince will preview from February 17 through February 25; regular performances will begin February 25 and continue through March 5 at Chance Theater @ Bette Aitken theater arts Center on the Fyda-Mar Stage.

The Atlantic for Kids 2016/2017 Season will resume Saturday, March 4 with the family rock concert meets live theater adventure Wonderland: Alice's Rock & Roll Adventure, a New York premiere musical based on Lewis Carroll's beloved Alice and Wonderland tales, featuring book and lyrics by Rachel Rockwell, music and lyrics by Michael Mahler, and direction by Marshall Pailet.

Due to overwhelming demand, La Jolla Playhouse is adding a seventh week of performances for Disney's Freaky Friday.  The show will extend its run through March 19. 

Rubicon Theatre Company celebrates Black History Month with THE DEVIL'S MUSIC: THE LIFE AND BLUES OF BESSIE SMITH, starring singer and actress Miche Braden of the original Off-Broadway production (named one of the 10 Best Off-Broadway productions of the year by the N.Y. Daily Times). Described by CBC as a, "bawdy, bluesy, boozy rollicking night out at the theatre," the show follows the life, loves and career of blues and jazz singer Bessie Smith, called the "Empress of the Blues."

Join the Village Playwrights on February 22, 2017 from 8 to 10 pm at the LGBT Community Center for QUEERLY BELOVED, staged readings of 10 minute plays to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Pushcart Players, New Jersey's Emmy nominated and award-winning touring theater for young audiences presents "Stone Soup…and other stories" at 10:30 am today, February 8 at Union County Performing Arts Center, Rahway NJ.

The Tom Kitt Band will soon make its Feinstein's/54 Below debut, playing February 9 and 11. The Tony-winning frontman writes:

The Gallery Players' Overtures New Musical Reading Series presents staged readings of the award-winning musical comedy WE ARE THE TIGERS: A NEW MUSICAL on February 6th and February 7th at 7pm.