Les Biller News

The Mark Gordon Company (MGC) today announced that it will produce and finance a feature film adaptation of the widely acclaimed Broadway musical Come From Away.

Due to overwhelming demand, 15 more weeks of performances 149,280 tickets, to be exact to the highly anticipated return engagement of COME FROM AWAY will go on sale 9AM Monday November 20, 2017. The multi-award-winning show set a record for theatre sales in Canada last month when it achieved $12M at the box office after only one week of public sales.

The Mark Gordon Company (MGC) today announced that it will produce and finance a feature film adaptation of the widely acclaimed Broadway musical Come From Away.

TURN ME LOOSE explores the influential life of 1960s comic genius Dick Gregory, the first Black stand-up to make white audiences laugh at the absurdity of bigotry. The play reveals how the power of activism enticed Gregory from one of the most successful show business careers of the postwar era into a life of sacrifice and danger alongside Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and other Civil Rights leaders. And I can tell you, when Joe Morton describes the tragic murder of Evans, his anger and tears seem to flow from his soul.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (The Wallis) announces the second extension of the West Coast premiere of the Off-Broadway hit Turn Me Loose - a comedic drama by Gretchen Law, produced by John Legend and Mike Jackson, about the life of trailblazing comedian and civil rights activist Dick Gregory who passed away in August at the age of 84. The first performance of the limited engagement begins tonight and now runs Thursdays through Sundays until November 19.

Junkyard Dog Productions announced today that the Tony Award-winning musical Come From Away recouped its $12 million capitalization in less than 8 months on Broadway.

Tickets to the return engagement of COME FROM AWAY have been on public sale for only a week and already the multi award-winning musical has achieved $12M at the box office. That's a new record for theatre sales in Canada.

Tickets for the highly anticipated return of the Tony Award-winning musical COME FROM AWAY will go on sale Monday October 2 at 9 AM in-person at the Royal Alexandra Theatre Box Office, 260 King Street West.

There has been much revealed in legal proceedings relating to what actually constitutes consent when it comes to physical entanglements that somehow go incredibly wrong, thus resulting in a rape charge. Lives can be sidetracked and careers often destroyed upon a court or jurors ruling on who was at fault in such cases, even when the evidence seems too point in both directions. So how do you decide? Such in the case in the award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler's ACTUALLY, directed by Tyne Rafaeli at the Geffen Playhouse.

The Drama League has announced the 2017 Drama League Awards Nominees for Outstanding Play, Outstanding Revival of a Play, Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Revival of a Musical, and the much-coveted Distinguished Performance Award. Scroll down for the full list of nominees!

The Geffen Playhouse today announced that Jerry MacKinnon (Sleepy Hallow) and Samantha Ressler (This is the End) will star in award-winning playwright Anna Ziegler's Actually, a co-world premiere with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Tyne Rafaeli will direct the Geffen's production which runs May 2, 2017 through June 11, 2017 in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater at the Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is May 10, 2017. 

JUNKYARD DOG PRODUCTIONS and THE MUSICAL COMPANY celebrated the release of the original Broadway cast recording of Come From Away with a special in-store performance and CD signing at Barnes & Noble. Creators Irene Sankoff and David Hein will be joined by the Come From Away cast: Petrina Bromley, Geno Carr, Jenn Colella, Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks, Kendra Kassebaum, Tony Award nominee Chad Kimball, Lee MacDougall, Caesar Samayoa, Q. Smith, Astrid Van Wieren and Sharon Wheatley, along with musical arranger and supervisor Ian Eisendrath. See all the photos from the event below!

The Canadian-written new musical COME FROM AWAY, a sold-out smash hit in Toronto and newly opened to great reviews and sold-out houses on Broadway, is set to take Winnipeg by storm, filling in the much-anticipated Royal MTC Mainstage Slot Three for the 2017/18 season.

JUNKYARD DOG PRODUCTIONS and THE MUSICAL COMPANY will celebrate the release of the original Broadway cast recording of COME FROM AWAY with a special in-store performance and CD signing at Barnes & Noble (150 East 86th St at Lexington Avenue) on Friday, April 7, 2017 at 4.30 PM. Creators Irene Sankoff and David Hein will be joined by the COME FROM AWAY cast: Petrina Bromley, Geno Carr, Jenn Colella, Joel Hatch, Rodney Hicks, Kendra Kassebaum, Tony Award nominee Chad Kimball, Lee MacDougall, Caesar Samayoa, Q. Smith, Astrid Van Wieren and Sharon Wheatley, along with musical arranger and supervisor Ian Eisendrath. Fans who purchase the CD at the store will be offered priority seating.

Due to continued extraordinary ticket sales and resounding critical response, Center Theatre Group is announcing a third and final one-week extension for the run of Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit' at the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum.

The new Broadway musical COME FROM AWAY has announced that a limited number of $38 general rush tickets (including the $2 facility fee) will be available at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre box office (236 West 45th Street) when it opens for that day's performance(s). Limited to two tickets per person, tickets are subject to availability. Cash and major credit cards are accepted.

Following an extensive nationwide search, Boston Court Performing Arts Center Board Chair Sarah Lyding announced today that Mr. Kyle Clausen will join the organization as its Executive Director, bringing dynamic new leadership to the acclaimed Pasadena cultural institution.

The Theatre @ Boston Court presents COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN 5 BOOPS, A West Coast Premiere written by Jen Silverman and directed by Lindsay Allbaugh. Collective Rage is presented on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, CA.

 The Theatre @ Boston Court announces its 2017 Main Stage Season.  The season begins February 18, 2017 with the West Coast Premiere of Collective Rage; a Play in 5 Boops by Jen Silverman, directed by Lindsay Allbaigh. The spring production is the World Premiere of The House in Scarsdale: a memoir for the stage by Dan O'Brien; directed by Michael Michetti. The Main Stage season closes in the fall with a West Coast Premiere of With Love and a Major Organ by Julia Lederer, directed by Jessica Kubzansky.  All Main Stage productions will appear at Boston Court Performing Arts Center, 70 North Mentor Avenue in Pasadena, CA.

The Theatre @ Boston Court, in collaboration with Missing Bolts Productions and NoPassport Theatre Alliance to present After Orlando: An International Theatre Action as a community event Tuesday, November 15th at 8pm on the Main Stage at Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena, CA.