Marc Acito News

Today's top stories: Sea Wall/A Life and Bat Out Of Hell officially open tonight!

Casting has been announced for Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz at Paper Mill Playhouse! The musical features a book by Marc Acito, musical adaptation & additional music by David Libby and is conceived by and additional lyrics by Tina Marie Casamento.

Storytelling & Broadway, a new leadership lab experience from Masie Productions, welcomes corporate America to Broadway with this fresh take on learning and development. Created by producer and learning guru Elliott Masie (The Prom, The Cher Show), Broadway star Telly Leung (Aladdin,Allegiance), and storyteller and Broadway press rep Emily McGill (The Lion King, A Raisin in the Sun), Storytelling & Broadway features a panel conversation with theatre professionals discussing storytelling on stage and off, as well as exploring the skills and tactics that help Broadway shows to come together.

Over 400 guests including current and past New York City high school students and their mentors who have participated in the TDF Wendy Wasserstein Project, the theatre arts mentoring program, (formerly called "Open Doors"), that TDF founded in 1998 with playwright Wendy Wasserstein, will attend this year's graduation ceremony at 5:30pm on Monday, June 3at The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College (524 West 59th Street, NYC). The graduation ceremony will open with a performance by Aisha Jackson who covers the role of Anna in Disney's Frozen.

BroadwayWorld has an exclusive look inside a visit by the original creative team to the Hawaii debut production of ALLEGIANCE, now on stage through April 7th, 2019.

Paper Mill Playhouse announces the lineup for its 2019-2020 season with three premieres and a total of five musicals.

The York Theatre Company continues the 25th Anniversary of its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series celebrating the work of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, whose hundredth birthday was August 31, 2018. The series honors one of the creators behind such classics as Brigadoon, Camelot, Love Life, and My Fair Lady.

Opening in November of 1945 and closing up shop less than four months later, the sophomore Broadway effort of the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, THE DAY BEFORE SPRING, would be the last musical by the composer of sumptuous melodies and the scribe of urbane wit that would lapse into obscurity.

The 6th season of New York Theatre Barn's Choreography Lab launches on Monday, April 22nd, 2019. The lab is currently seeking submissions for choreographers through February 18th. Funded in part by a generous gift from the Amber Foundation, the Choreography Lab was created to elevate and expand the use of dance in musical theatre. It is also the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation.

York Theatre Company celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Musicals in Mufti series honoring the works of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. For the second show in the 2019 Winter series, York revisits one of Lerner and Loewe's lesser-known gems: 1945's Day Before Spring, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by his longtime collaborator Frederick Loewe.

Celebrating the centennial of Alan Jay Lerner! The York Theatre Company celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series honoring the works of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. For the second show in the 2019 Winter series, The York revisits one of Lerner and Loewe's lesser-known gems: 1945's The Day Before Spring, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by his longtime collaborator Frederick Loewe.

Celebrating the centennial of Alan Jay Lerner! The York Theatre Company celebrates the 25th Anniversary of its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series honoring the works of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner. For the second show in the 2019 Winter series, The York revisits one of Lerner and Loewe's lesser-known gems: 1945's The Day Before Spring

Celebrating the centennial of Alan Jay Lerner. The York Theatre Company continues the 25th Anniversary of its acclaimed Musicals in Mufti series celebrating the work of the legendary librettist and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, whose hundredth birthday was August 31, 2018.

The York Theatre Company (James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director; Evans Haile, Executive Director), dedicated to the development of new musicals and rediscovery of musical gems from the past, will present a return engagement of the hit Off-Broadway musical, Enter Laughing: The Musical with book by Joseph Stein, music and lyrics by Stan Daniels, based on the play Enter Laughing by Joseph Stein from the novel by Carl Reiner, produced in association with Riki Kane Larimer and Alene Daniels. Enter Laughing: The Musical returns to kick off The York's year-long 50th Anniversary Celebration at The York Theatre Company at Saint Peter's (entrance on East 54th Street, just east of Lexington Avenue).

As BroadwayWorld reported last week, Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, a new Broadway-bound musical about the early life of Judy Garland, from her vaudeville sister act through her rise at MGM to win the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, just had an industry presentation in New York City. The musical has reportedly earned the approval of one very important guest, Liza Minnelli. She told Deadline: 

Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz, a new Broadway-bound musical about the early life of Judy Garland, from her vaudeville sister act through her rise at MGM to win the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, will have an industry presentation today, January 10, in New York City.

The fifth season of New York Theatre Barn's Choreography Lab concludes on Monday, December 3rd, 2018 at 2pm at The Cell. Funded in part by a generous gift from the Amber Foundation, The Choreography Lab was created to elevate and expand the use of dance in musical theatre. It is also the only curated choreography platform where choreographers and writers collaborate to develop movement for new musicals during incubation. Director/Choreographer Shea Sullivan (R.R.R.E.D., Pageant!) will serve as the lab's guest moderator.

Manoa Valley Theatre is thrilled to announce a star-studded cast for Allegiance, the headliner of its 50th Anniversary season, presented at the Hawaii Theatre March 28th - April 7th, 2019. Allegiance, a musical drama by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, is about the Japanese American internment during WWII and one family's extraordinarily divisive experience, was inspired by the true-life experience of its original star, George Takei. It tells the story of one family's extraordinary experience suffering the wrongful imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II, creating familial turmoil in a troubling time of a nation at war.

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) today announced the cast for its season-opening production, Allegiance, directed by Lily Tung Crystal, with music direction by Kenji Higashihama and choreography by Allison Paraiso.

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) presents Allegiance, directed by Lily Tung Crystal, with music direction by Kenji Higashihama and choreography by Allison Paraiso. This musical about the World War II experiences of Japanese-Americans in the US, with book by Marc Acito, Jay Kuo, and Lorenzo Thione, and music by Jay Kuo, makes its Bay Area premiere September 21 through October 21 at CCCT. For tickets and information visit the theatre's website at www.ccct.org or call 510.524.9012.