Mark Blum News

We never meet young Richie and Lonna, whose marriage is on the rocks.  But miles and miles away, in the affluent southwestern suburb where their parents live, this couple's separation is disturbing the tranquility of a community they've barely met.  In Dan LeFranc's comedy of anxiety and awkward neighbors, the residents of Rancho Viejo drift from one gathering to the next, wrestling life's grandest themes while fending off existential despair - set against the lustful, yearning strains of a distant bolero.

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) begins accepting entries today, Monday, October 31, for the LIVEforFIVE online lottery for $5 tickets to their world premiere production of RANCHO VIEJO.

Playwrights Horizons will soon presnt Rancho Viejo, the world premiere of a new play by Dan LeFranc (The Big Meal at Playwrights, Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, In the Labyrinth) and directed by three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin (Placebo, This at Playwrights; Fool For Love; Bad Jews; 4000 Miles; [sic]). Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, Rancho Viejo will be the third production of the theater company's 2016/2017 Season.

Today's big news: Christine Ebersole brings AFTER THE BALL to Cafe Carlyle, THE CLEARING opens Off-Broadway, and the company of RANCHO VIEJO meets the press, so stay tuned for coverage!

Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for RANCHO VIEJO, the world premiere of a new play by Dan LeFranc (The Big Meal at Playwrights, Sixty Miles to Silver Lake, In the Labyrinth) and directed by three-time Obie Award winner Daniel Aukin (Placebo, This at Playwrights; Fool For Love; Bad Jews; 4000 Miles; [sic]).  Commissioned by Playwrights Horizons, RANCHO VIEJO will be the third production of the theater company's 2016/2017 Season.   

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Nancy Dussault in "MY LIFE UPON THE WICKED STAGE" on September 27, 2016 @ 7:00PM. Nancy will take the audience on a musical journey, returning to those heady days of her Broadway life. Expect this Golden Age leading lady to sing the brilliant songs of Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Burton Lane, and Stephen Sondheim. You'll also get to re-live the time when she introduced the classic, "Make Someone Happy". Nancy will regale with tales of being the first co-host of Good Morning America, co-starring in the New Dick Van Dyke show, and starring with Ted Knight in "Too Close For Comfort", before returning to Broadway in Side By Side By Sondheim and Into The Woods. In "My Life-Upon The Wicked Stage" Dussault brings her musicality, comedic storytelling, and unique personal accessibility to songs including "Getting Married Today", "Look To The Rainbow", "Where Is The Tribe For Me", "Old Friend" and of course, " Make Someone Happy".

Monterey Media has bought the U.S. and Canada rights to Lee Wilkof's comedy drama NO PAY, NUDITY, starring Broadway's Nathan Lane (IT'S ONLY A PLAY), Frances Conroy (THE RIDE DOWN MT. MORGAN), Boyd Gains (AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE), Jeremy Shamos (NOISES OFF), Gabriel Byrnes (LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT) and many more theater favorites.

Below, get a first look at the trailer for Lee Wilkof's NO PAY, NUDITY, starring Broadway's Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf, Boyd Gains, Jeremy Shamos, Gabriel Byrnes and many more theater favorites.

MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, Amazon's music industry-centric show, has won Golden Globe Awards!

Today, December 31st, Broadway's Bernadette Peters will stop by NBC's TODAY to talk about the new season of the Amazon series MOZART IN THE JUNGLE. Be sure to set your DVR's!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: Two classics begin off-Broadway, Brian Stokes Mitchell is feted at lunch, Darko Tresnjak directs KISS ME, KATE, and JASPER IN DEADLAND comes to Seattle!

Manhattan Theatre Club's New York premiere co-production of The Country House, the new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies, directed by Tony Award winner Daniel Sullivan, opened last night on Broadway, and BWW was on the scene to catch the red carpet arrivals!

Dorset Theatre Festival is proud to present the World Premiere of Leslie Ayvazian's new comedy Out of the City beginning July 10th. This is the third world premiere that Dorset has produced in the past five seasons, continuing a tradition of New Play Development to which Artistic Director Dina Janis has proven deeply committed. "Fostering new work is one of the most important things we do here at Dorset, from our Young Playwrights workshops, to our New Play Reading Series, to these exciting World Premieres. It's a thrilling and rewarding process." Past world premieres have included Theresa Rebeck's The Novelist and The Whore and Mr. Moore by Michael Cristofer.

Second Stage Theatre's 35th Anniversary Gala celebration just honored Carole Rothman, Artistic Director of Second StageTheatre, for her 35 years of supporting new works and artistic development in New York City theatre. This year's rock n' roll themed gala was attended by over 250 Second Stage Alumni who have worked at Second Stage Theatre during the past 35 years, from Brooke Adams and Polly Draper who appeared in the very first season, to cast members from the currently running The Substance of Fire and the upcoming American Hero which will make its New York premiere this summer at Second Stage Uptown. Special guests participating in the evening's festivities include Lynn Nottage, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Goldwyn, and more. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special evening below!

In FALSE SOLUTION, Anton Seligman is a renowned architect, working on his designs for a new Holocaust museum to be built in Poland. He encounters Linda Johansson, a beautiful young intern and first-year architecture grad student, who challenges his conceptions. The tensions created by their differing ideas are complicated by their mutual attraction to each other: The lovely young woman is drawn to this man by his accomplishments and influential position in addition to his considerable personal charm; He, in his turn, is stimulated by her beauty, vitality, and probing intellect. Given the subject matter of the project, identity politics are also part of the mix.

Center Theatre Group has a big hit in Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy 'Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,' currently in performances at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum. With strong ticket sales and critical acclaim, CTG has extended the run by a week, now closing on March 16, 2014. Below, director David Hyde Pierce and playwright Christopher Durang discuss the process of bringing the hit comedy VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE to the stage and to the Mark Taper Forum!

Yesterday's shots come from CTG/Mark Taper Form's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE with Christine Ebersole, David Hull, Kristine Nielsen and more; Broadway's IF/THEN; Max von Essen, currently taking part in York's TENDERLOIN, and others!

Center Theatre Group has a big hit in Christopher Durang's Tony Award-winning comedy "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," currently in performances at the CTG/Mark Taper Forum. With strong ticket sales and critical acclaim, CTG has extended the run by a week, now closing on March 16, 2014.

The four-time Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce stopped by to talk with Tavis Smiley about his latest projects, including directing the L.A. production of the Tony-winning VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, as well as the possibility of acting in the show in London. Pierce told Smiley: 'And in the fall the plan is to take Vanya to London, the original production, and I'll go back to acting in it.' Watch the full interview below!

After a stellar off-Broadway run in 2012, and a Tony-award winning Broadway production in 2013, the Los Angeles premiere of Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike", opened Sunday night at the Mark Taper Forum, and it was well worth the wait to see.