Lynn Ahrens News

Thomas Kail's athletic and inventively theatrical directing chops (In The Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird) prove a perfect match for Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' Caribbean story-theatre musical Once On This Island. The beguiling new production gracing the Paper Mill stage is full of vibrant performances and colorful stagecraft.

The new musical adaptation of ROCKY has set casting for its German premiere, which will open this November in Hamburg under the direction of PETER AND THE STARCATCHER Tony nominee Alex Timbers.

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake offers a dazzling new production of the 1996 musical RAGTIME that makes a case for the show as a great American musical. A terrific cast wins standing ovations nightly at the Festival Theater where the show plays until October 14.

More than 20 years after its premiere, Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens have re-invented their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird), choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance, Jesus Christ Superstar) and new orchestrations by music director Lynne Shankel (Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Altar Boyz). Once On This Island just opened last night, June 3, and runs through Sunday, June 24, 2012.

Auditions for the Wilton Student Summer Production (WSSP) of Lucky Stiff a musical in 2 acts and 10 scenes continue tomorrow, June 4 at 7pm, with callbacks on June 6 at The Wilton Playshop, 15 Lovers Lane. The production will be directed by Meredith Walker with musical direction by Brendan Fox.

Playing in repertory now through - 8 September 2012, Timothy Sheader directs RAGTIME, a contemporary musical based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow; Olivier Award nominated Javier De Frutos is choreographing. Matthew Dunster is directing Shakespeare's most magical of plays A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM from tonight, 2 June - 5 September 2012.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: HARVEY returns to Broadway, Anne Hathaway dreams a dream, Norm Lewis get a caricature, and so much more!

More than 20 years after its premiere, Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are re-inventing their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird), choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance, Jesus Christ Superstar) and new orchestrations by music director Lynne Shankel (Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Altar Boyz). View highlights of the production below!

More than 20 years after its premiere, Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens are re-inventing their first musical with Tony-nominated director Thomas Kail (In the Heights, Lombardi, Magic/Bird), choreographer Bradley Rapier (So You Think You Can Dance, Jesus Christ Superstar) and new orchestrations by music director Lynne Shankel (Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Altar Boyz). Once On This Island began performances on May 30, 2012, and runs through Sunday, June 24, 2012. Get a first look at the production in the photos below!

Rob McClure, who originated the role of Chaplin at the La Jolla Playhouse, will star in the title role of the new Broadway musical CHAPLIN. A new musical depicting the life of film icon Charlie Chaplin, with music and lyrics by Christopher Curtis and book by three-time Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan (Annie, The Producers, Hairspray) and Christopher Curtis, CHAPLIN will open on Broadway on Monday, September 10, 2012 at the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street). Previews will begin Tuesday, August 21, 2012. Acclaimed director/choreographer Warren Carlyle (Finian's Rainbow, Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway) directs and choreographs the production. Additional casting and additional creative team to be announced soon.

Nick Jonas - the popular singer/songwriter who was most recently seen in the Tony-nominated How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying - will serve as master of ceremonies as hundreds of students from middle and intermediate New York City Public Schools in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan make their Broadway debut on stage at the Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44 St.) today at 10:30 a.m., the culminating event of the 7th annual Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway JR. Student Program.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK: GODSPELL sings Schwartz, Paper Mill preps ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, New Dramtists honor Bernadette, and so much more!

BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge brings you video interviews and performance footage from yesterday's Once On This Island press preview at New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse.

Today, May 22, Paper Mill Playhouse hosted a performance preview for its new production of Once On This Island at The New 42nd Street Studios (229 W 42nd Street, 7th Floor). BroadwayWorld was there and brings you stills from the event, featuring Thomas Kail, Bradley Rapier, Syesha Mercado, Stephen Flaherty and more. Check out the photos below!

The 2012 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre includes productions of RAGTIME and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Playing in repertory from tonight, 18 May through 8 September 2012, Timothy Sheader directs RAGTIME, a contemporary musical based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow; Olivier Award nominated Javier De Frutos is choreographing.

Nick Jonas - the popular singer/songwriter who is currently starring in the Tony-nominated How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying - will serve as master of ceremonies as hundreds of students from middle and intermediate New York City Public Schools in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan make their Broadway debut on stage at the Shubert Theatre (225 W. 44 St.) on Tuesday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m., the culminating event of the 7th annual Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway JR. Student Program. The students will perform a song from their school's production of a student version of a Broadway musical, including Annie JR., Once on this Island JR., Disney's Aladdin JR., Guys and Dolls JR., Bugsy Malone JR., Meredith Willson's The Music Man JR., Dear Edwina JR., Fame JR., Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka JR., and Thoroughly Modern Millie JR. (A list of schools participating in the May 29 celebration follows.)

Yesterday, May 16, Lincoln Center unveiled its brand new space, The Claire Tow Theatre. This latest theatrical venue on the complex will be the new home to LCT's programming initiative LCT3. It is now also the centerpiece of a $42 million, 23,000 square foot structure on the roof of the Vivian Beaumont Theater which also includes rehearsal and office space. It is the first live performance theater to open at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in over 40 years.

Several Tony Award-winners are teaming up to bring an adaptation of the 1988 musical "Lucky Stiff" to the screen. The show, based on Michael Butterworth's 1965 novel "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," was written by Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty and first performed at New York's Playwright's Horizons where it won the Richard Rogers Production Award before going on to London and hundreds of international productions. Ahrens & Flaherty went on to win the Tony for their musical "Ragtime" as well as two Academy Award nominations. Other notable credits include "Once On This Island" and "Seussical." Ahrens has adapted the play for the screen, while Flaherty and Ahrens have written additional songs.

Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale, "The Princess and the Pea," comes to the stage as a musical comedy in Once Upon a Mattress June 19 - August 5 at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center.

The DOMA Theatre Company has announced its first-ever season - a line up of six Broadway-style musicals sure to 'disturb and delightz': The Who's Tommy (March 23-April 15); Songs For A New World (May 11-June 3); Jekyll & Hyde, The Musical (July 6-29); Xanadu (Aug. 17-Sept. 9); Once On This Island (Sept. 21-Oct. 14), and a surprise, Tony Award-winning musical to be revealed at a later date (Nov. 2-Dec. 9).