Leslie Becker News

It's a musical theater nerd's paradise and as a nerd one of my favorite times of the year. Village Theatre has once again brought together an incredible weekend of new works for workshop readings and one full production. Five shows put up for one performance as readings with music stands and scripts in hand and then one larger production put up for two weekends. And while the weekend may be over (and only for members anyway) there's still time to see the larger production and I've got some wonderful photos for you all. But let's start with the production you can still see and then we'll move onto the workshops.

The Village Theatre is the birthplace of new works such Next to Normal and Million Dollar Quartet. And now, it has announced its lineup for the 14th Annual Village Originals Festival of New Musicals, which runs today, Aug 8 to 17. They will be showcasing six new musicals which have been under development.

Over one jam packed weekend, today, August 8 -10, six new musicals will be brought to life with help from more than 100 artists and one dozen directors and authors from across the country.

Broadway veterans Sean McDermott and Sarah Litzsinger join a cast of seasoned performers in The New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF) The Music Box, An Evening of Lady Composers tonight, July 23. Performances will take place at 6 and 9 PM at the Ford Foundation Studio Ford Foundation Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

Broadway veterans Sean McDermott and Sarah Litzsinger will join a cast of seasoned performers in The New York Musical Theatre Festival's (NYMF) The Music Box, An Evening of Lady Composers on July 23. Performances will take place at 6 and 9 PM at the Ford Foundation Studio Ford Foundation Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

Broadway In Chicago has announced complete ensemble casting for the world premiere of AMAZING GRACE, the new musical with music and lyrics by Christopher Smith and a book by Christopher Smith and Arthur Giron, directed by Gabriel Barre (Andrew Lippas' The Wild Party) and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies).

The Village Theatre is the birthplace of new works such Next to Normal and Million Dollar Quartet. And now, it has announced its lineup for the 14th Annual Village Originals Festival of New Musicals, which runs from Aug 8 to 17. They will be showcasing six new musicals which have been under development.

Over one jam packed weekend, August 8 -10, six new musicals will be brought to life with help from more than 100 artists and one dozen directors and authors from across the country.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) will present The Music Box, An Evening of Lady Composers July 23. Performances will take place at 6 and 9 PM at the Ford Foundation Studio Ford Foundation Studio Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center.

Contestants in LA's Next Great Stage Star competition had an exciting second week on Sunday, January 12th. The theme for this round was Breaking New Ground - A Little New Music, and featured songs from some of today's most up and coming musical theatre writers.

The Ninth Annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, produced by Goodspeed Musicals' Max Showalter Center for Education in Musical Theatre, kicks off its much-anticipated three day festival of brand new works on Friday, January 17, at the Goodspeed Opera House with a staged reading of the timely musical Adam Lives. On Saturday, January 18, the musical fantasy A Proper Place debuts. On the final day of the festival, the unconventional Theory of Relativity by the team who wrote the Goodspeed and Broadway tuner The Story of My Life will be presented. Several special events will round out this exciting weekend. Tickets are available at the Goodspeed Box Office or by calling 860.873.8668 or online at www.goodspeed.org. Tickets are $15 each for one show, $10 each for students. This year's festival is sponsored in part by lead corporate sponsor RisCassi & Davis, P.C. with additional support by The Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation, Inc. and The Noel Coward Foundation.

Roundabout Theatre Company's national tour of the 2011 Tony Award-winning Anything Goes will complete 13 months of "Education@Roundabout" on the road with a student Postcard Production Workshop on Thursday, November 14 in Greenville, SC. Anything Goes will play at the Peace Center in Greenville, SC through November 17, 2013.

The national tour of Roundabout Theatre Company's ANYTHING GOES, the new Broadway revival of Cole Porter's timeless classic musical theatre masterpiece, recently made its Orange County premiere at Segerstrom Center for the Arts as part of the Curtain Call Series, now playing through September 29. Yesterday, some of the cast stopped by GDLA to offer up some tap dance lessons, check out the segment below!

A Proper Place, a new musical based on J.M. Barrie's 1902 play The Admirable Crichton, will be presented in two exclusive performances to a room full of invitation-only theatre enthusiasts and industry professionals in New York City today, September 17, 2013.

The new musical, 'A Proper Place,' was penned by Leslie Becker (Bonnie & Clyde, Anything Goes, Nine) and Curtis Rhodes and concerns 'an upper class British family that gets shipwrecked on an island,' according to press notes. 'With only their butler to help them survive, traditional class systems are questioned and unexpected love blossoms.'

The Roundabout Theatre Company's Anything Goes, the recent Broadway revival of Cole Porter's timeless classic musical theatre masterpiece, will make its Seattle premiere at The 5th Avenue Theatre, playing October 15 - November 3.

A Proper Place, a new musical based on J.M. Barrie's 1902 play The Admirable Crichton, will be presented in two exclusive performances to a room full of invitation-only theatre enthusiasts and industry professionals in New York City on Tuesday, September 17, 2013.

FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area. An hour-long version of the concert will premiere tonight, July 18 at 10 p.m on WLIW21, Friday, July 26 at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN and CPTV, and Tuesday, July 30 at 10 p.m. on NJTV. 'From Broadway With Love' was a concert of healing for the Newtown community where composers, musicians and more than 100 stars of Broadway came together with over 300 students from several Newtown dance groups, the Sandy Hook Elementary School 3rd and 4th grades and the Newtown High School Chamber Choir.

FROM BROADWAY WITH LOVE: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook?, which took place on January 28, 2013, at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut, will soon be airing on select public television stations throughout the tri-state area.

Portland Center Stage will soon present the upcoming world-premiere production of the new musical Somewhere in Time, based on the novel by renowned author Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come) and the subsequent hit film starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer. Somewhere in Time begins preview performances on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 with a new official opening night set for Wednesday, June 5. Tickets are on sale now at www.pcs.org/somewhere. Check out photos of the cast in rehearsal below!