Lehman Engel News

Off-Broadway's tastiest new musical The Chocolate Show! opens tonight, Valentine's Day, February 14 at 7pm at the 47th Street Theatre, 304 West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. Audiences at the opening night performance will each receive the world's most expensive chocolate truffle by chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt. The Chocolate Show! is written by Alan Golub (book, music and lyrics) & Laura Goldfader (book and music), with direction by Dan Foster, choreography by Grady McLeod Bowman and under the music direction of Jeffrey Klitz.

THE LAST SHIP - the new musical with music and lyrics by 16-time Grammy winner Sting, and book by Tony winner John Logan and Puliter Prize-winner Brian Yorkey - will begin previews on Broadway at the Neil Simon on September 30 prior to opening night on October 26, according to producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker. The Last Ship is directed by Tony winner Joe Mantello and has choreography by Olivier Award winner and Tony nominee Steven Hoggett.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond:

After a sold-out run at NYC's Duplex Cabaret Theatre in 2013, the hit show Gay Camp will play a weekly run beginning February 28, 2014.

Urban Stages Founding Artistic Director Frances Hill and producer Peter Napolitano present the World Premiere of Character Man as part of its 30th Anniversary season. Jim Brochu's new musical memoir begins an Off-Broadway run at Urban Stages Theatre (259 West 30th Street) February 28th, with opening night set for Wednesday March 5th. This limited run will continue through March 30th only. Robert Bartley directs, with musical direction by Carl Haan. Character Man will have scenic & video design by Patrick Brennan, lighting design by Meghan Santelli and sound design by Sean Hagerty.

Performances of Off-Broadway's tastiest new musical The Chocolate Show! begin Saturday, February 1 at 8pm with an official opening set for Valentine's Day, February 14 at 7pm at the 47th Street Theatre, 304 West 47th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. The Chocolate Show! is written by Alan Golub (book, music and lyrics) & Laura Goldfader (book and music), with direction by Dan Foster, choreography by Grady McLeod Bowman and under the music direction of Jeffrey Klitz. Tickets for The Chocolate Show! are $39.50 - $59.50 and can be arranged online at www.ticketcentral.com or by calling 212.279.4200 or at the TicketCentral Box Office located at 416 West 42nd Street. The 47th Street Theatre box office (304 West 47th Street) will open 30 minutes before each performance.

Pittsburgh CLO presents the WORLD PREMIERE of the hysterical original musical comedy Judge Jackie Justice, which will run tonight, January 31 through April 27 at the CLO Cabaret.

Parade Productions will present Deborah Zoe Laufer's The Last Schwartz from tonight, January 31st through February 23rd at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center's Studio Theatre. The play received unanimously glowing reviews when it debuted at Florida Stage in 2002.

VOW is an inaugural and extremely ambitious musical theatre workshop being presented by the Marymount Manhattan College Musical Theatre Program (Pat Hoag Simon, Coordinator for Musical Theatre) and The Directory Of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers (David Sisco, Founder & Curator) that opens wide the creative process of the Broadway musical theatre industry to twenty very fortunate musical theatre students currently enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College's progressive Musical Theatre Program.

54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents David Alan Thornton in 'David Alan Thornton Vs. the Bunny Suicides' on February 17, 11:30pm. David Alan Thornton has escaped and he's at it again! He returns to 54 Below for David Alan Thornton Vs. the Bunny Suicides- an evening of fun, feelings, fruity love stories, robots with identity crises, determined hippopotamuses (yes, it's the correct plural), and BUNNY SUICIDES! With the cooperation of internationally-renowned comic-book artist Andy Riley and featuring an all-star cast, the night and the music are sure to make you laugh, sigh, snort, cry, and feel darn good.

Following a critically acclaimed reading at 2013's Pride Performing Arts Festival, Second Thought Theatre Associate Artist Alex Organ will direct the first play in STT's 10th anniversary season, Cock, by Mike Bartlett. Cock, a wildly comic exploration of identity and sexuality, will begin with previews today, January 29 and will run through February 22 at Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys Campus.

VOW is an inaugural and extremely ambitious musical theatre workshop being presented by the Marymount Manhattan College Musical Theatre Program (Pat Hoag Simon, Coordinator for Musical Theatre) and The Directory Of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers (David Sisco, Founder & Curator) that opens wide the creative process of the Broadway musical theatre industry to twenty very fortunate musical theatre students currently enrolled in Marymount Manhattan College's progressive Musical Theatre Program.

Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab's Co-Producing Artistic Directors Frank Evans and Stephen Hanks are proud to announce that the final production of the 2013-14 season from the not-for-profit musical theater development is CURIOUS & RARE, written by Broadway, film, and TV actress and playwright Tracy Sallows (who has also appeared in previous MMTL productions). The presentation will be on Thursday, February 20 at 6:30 PM at The Snapple Theatre Center on Broadway and 50th Street. 3rd Floor, Jerry Orbach Theatre. Reservations at 212-989-6706 or MusicalMondays@aol.com. Regular Admission: $18. Students/Seniors $13.

Musical Theatre students at Marymount Manhattan College are thrilled to be performing two shows this January: a revival of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, and VOW, featuring writers from The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers.

Pace University's Pace New Musicals (PNM) program (est. 2007 by Program Head Amy Rogers), dedicated to the discovery of new theater works, and Ryan Scott Oliver, composer- lyricist and producer, will present a staged reading of Little Miss Fix-It (book and lyrics by Kirsten A. Guenther and music by Joy Son) today, January 23-27, 2014.

Joey Contreras, Bobby Cronin, Jonathan Reid Gealt, McGuire & Simo, Michael Mott, Drew Overcash, Zoe Sarnak, and Brad Simmons will star in INSPIRED 3: A Benefit Concert for A PLACE TO BARK (TN) & SECOND CHANCE RESCUE NYC, on Sunday, January 26 at 7pm at Stage 72, NYC. Watch a trailer for the show below!

The award-winning Vital Theatre Company has announce the World Premiere of PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES THE MUSICAL with Book, Music and Lyrics by Rick Hip-Flores, directed by Jennifer Curfman and based on the popular chapter book, PEACE, LOVE, AND CUPCAKES: THE CUPCAKE CLUB written by Sheryl Berk and her 11-year-old daughter Carrie Berk. The production opens at Vital Theatre on 76th Street on Saturday, March 15th at 7:00 pm. Performances continue Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00 pm through April 27th, 2014. All tickets are $30.00. For tickets and information, please visit vitaltheatre.org, peaceloveandcupcakesthemusical.com or call (212) 579-0528. Vital Theatre is located at 2162 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY (at West 76th Street and Broadway) on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Back for a third season of all new works, 4x4=Musicals has realized that producing musicals on a tiny four foot platform had become too easy. So this year, they all need to DANCE! Seven brand new musicals will twirl and leap as well as sing. Pirates, Sheep, Mad Cattle, Claustrophobics and more come together to prove once again that less is more.

Musical Theatre students at Marymount Manhattan College are thrilled to be performing two shows this January: a revival of Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens, and VOW, featuring writers from The Directory of Contemporary Musical Theatre Writers.

The not-for-profit musical theater development group Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab (formerly Musical Mondays Theatre Lab) has announced that the third presentation of its 2013-2014 season is the new musical, WATER FROM THE MOON, written by MAC Award Winning Cabaret Performer Rosemary Loar and her husband Robert W. Atwood. In fall 2011, MMTL presented the Loar/Atwood musical Spoolie Girl, which was subsequently nominated for 11 'Best of the Fest' awards at the 2012 Midtown International Theatre Festival, including winning the award for 'Outstanding Music and Lyrics' and a nomination for 'Best Production of a Musical.'