Lucille Lortel News

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, announced today that acclaimed film and television actor Christopher Lloyd, will star as Azdak in the company's upcoming spring production of Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE, to be directed by Brian Kulick (who directed Brecht's Galileo last season), and featuring new music by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik, featuring translation by James and Tania Stern with lyrics by W.H. Auden. THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE will begin performances Thursday, May 2 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement. Tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 2.

Gerard Alessandrini and the cast of the acclaimed Forbidden Broadway: ALIVE AND KICKING just performed selections from the recently released cast recording, Forbidden Broadway: ALIVE AND KICKING, The UN-Original Cast Album at the Drama Book Shop (250 W 40th Street) yesterday, December 11th. BroadwayWorld was there for the festivities and you can check out photo coverage below!

Due to popular demand, the Huntington Theatre Company extends David Cromer's landmark staging of Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town to January 26, 2013. Tickets to extension performances are on sale now at huntingtontheatre.org and will be by phone at 617 266 0800; and in person at the BU Theatre Box Office, 264 Huntington Ave. and the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA Box Office, 527 Tremont St. in Boston's South End at noon today.

MCC THEATER (Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey, William Cantler, Artistic Directors; Blake West, Executive Director) announced today that Matt Lauria (NBC's "Friday Night Lights" & "Parenthood"), Zosia Mamet (HBO's "Girls", AMC's "Mad Men"), Lauren Culpepper (Signature's Really Really), David Hull (Broadway's Wicked & How to Succeed…), Evan Jonigkeit (Broadway's High with Kathleen Turner), Kobi Libii (Off-Broadway's CQ/CX), and Aleque Reid (Hair 1st National Tour) will star in the New York premiere production of Really Really by Paul Downs Colaizzo. The production, which marks Colaizzo's New York playwriting debut, is directed by David Cromer, the Obie Award and Lucille Lortel Award-winning director of hits Our Town, Adding Machine and Tribes. Performances of Really Really begin at the Lucille Lortel Theatre (121 Christopher Street, NYC) on January 31, 2013 and continue through March 10, 2013. An official opening is set for Tuesday, February 19th at 7:00 p.m.

The Huntington Theatre Company brings Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town home to Boston on its 75th anniversary in a landmark staging by Obie Award winner David Cromer (Tribes, Adding Machine). The remount of the acclaimed New York production that features a homegrown cast will inaugurate the Huntington's use of the intimate, 250-seat Roberts Studio Theatre in the Huntington's Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.

The Flea Theater announced today that Obie and Drama Desk Award winner Deirdre O'Connell has joined the cast of World Premiere of THE VANDAL by Hamish Linklater (TV's The New Adventures of Old Christine). This limited Off-Broadway engagement begins previews January 18 with opening slated for January 31. Tickets start at $45 and can be purchased online at www.theflea.org or by calling 212-352-3101.

Page 73 Productions will present a reading of the new hip hop musical comedy DUNKFEST '88 with book, beats, and rhymes by Matt Schatz and directed by Wendy C. Goldberg. The reading will be Tuesday, December 11 at 7:30pm at 311 West 43rd Street, 8th floor (MTC's Creative Center). The reading is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. Email info@page73.org to inquire about availability, seating is limited.

Vineyard Theatre, one of the nation's leading non-profit theatre companies, is currently celebrating its 30th anniversary. Several Vineyard artists, including Anthony LaPaglia and Kathryn Erbe (who appeared in the recent production of Doug McGrath's CHECKERS, which kicked off the current mainstage season), and writers Nicky Silver, John Kander and Rajiv Joseph appear in the Vineyard's just-released 30th Anniversary Campaign video. Click below!

From the author of Pride and Prejudice comes this heartwarming, humorous tale of two sisters struggling to move past a family disaster. Sensible, reserved Elinor and passionate, impulsive Marianne find the road to true love beset with dashing suitors and well-meaning relatives, devoted friends and devious rivals, and scandalous secrets and unexpected twists in a period-perfect adaptation that captures all of the deliciousness, flirtation and folly of Jane Austen's well-loved novel.

FREUD'S LAST SESSION, New York's long-running hit play by Mark St. Germain, is set to open in Los Angeles next month starring Judd Hirsch as Sigmund Freud and Tom Cavanagh as C. S. Lewis under the direction of Tyler Marchant, who helmed the original New York production. Rehearsals begin today in New York City. Presented by The Broad Stage and CRC Productions, FREUD'S LAST SESSION will begin performances January 11th for a strictly limited engagement through February 10th at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

Producers Letty Aronson and Julian Schlossberg have just announced a creative team of award winning Broadway veterans for the world premiere production of BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, the new Broadway musical adaptation of Woody Allen's and Douglas McGrath's screenplay of the 1994 film.

Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway premiere of THE OTHER PLACE, the new play by Sharr White, directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello starring Laurie Metcalf, Daniel Stern, Zoe Perry, and John Schiappa begins previews tomorrow. The limited engagement will open Thursday, January 10 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

Transport Group has announced that, Jenn Colella, Tyne Daly, Montego Glover, Ann Harada, Elizabeth Stanley, and Sally Wilfert will perform at its gala benefit GIMME A BREAK! honoring Christian Borle, Sue Frost, and Paul Huntley tonight, December 10, 2012 at the Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue. The evening will be hosted by Julie Halston and will feature a special performance by the cast of the Tony-winning Peter and the Starcatcher.

Vineyard Theatre continues its series of one-night-only readings of notable plays from its acclaimed history in celebration of the company's 30th Anniversary with Nicky Silver's award winning 1993 hit PTERODACTYLS, directed by Trip Cullman. An absurdist black comedy about the demise of the Duncan family, and, by extension, the species, PTERODACTYLS will feature Emmy Award-winner Penny Fuller (THE DINNER PARTY, APPLAUSE) as Duncan family matriarch, Grace; Tony-nominee Bobby Steggert (RAGTIME) as son, Todd; Virginia Kull (THE HEIRESS) as daughter, Emma; and Claybourne Elder (BONNIE & CLYDE) as Emma's fiance Tommy (the role of family patriarch, Arthur, is TBD).

As night comes quicker and cold sets in, getting into BC BEAT tonight, December 10th, 7pm sharp seems like the best thing going. Walking into Cielo's warmly lit interior with Declan Bennett spinning music as the evening's dancers and choreographers glide around the room conversing and playing on the dance floor, it's easy to order a hot toddy from the bar and say hello to old and new friends. BC BEAT has become a staple for the Broadway community. It's an access point to new work, new people, and an inspiring sense of possibility.

Members of the Naughton Family - two-time Tony Award winner and Weston, Connecticut resident James Naughton, daughter Keira Naughton, son Greg Naughton, and Greg's wife Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara - plus Blythe Danner, Jordan Coughtry, Edward Herrmann, Chad Kinsman, Jake Robards, Mark Shanahan, and Dana Steingold are cast in Westport Country Playhouse's Script in Hand playreading of "The Philadelphia Story," the romantic comedy classic by Philip Barry, set for one-night-only tonight, December 10, 7 p.m. Director is Anne Keefe, Playhouse artistic advisor.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, presents Anton Chekhov's IVANOV, starring Ethan Hawke, Joely Richardson and Juliet Rylance. Directed by Austin Pendleton, the show ends its limited run today, December 9, 2012.

Tonight, December 8th the Hangar's CabarETC series continues with a special one-day-only cabaret performance of Back Home for the Holidays featuring Jeremy Webb (The Glorious Ones and Hangar's The 39 Steps) and Nat Chandler (Spamalot, Kiss Me Kate, and Phantom of the Opera) with special guest Joseph Thalken.