Mark Kennedy News

Did the show 'score' with the critics? Let's find out!

Following sold out runs on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club and Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company, VENUS IN FUR, the acclaimed new play by David Ives, directed by Tony Award winner Walter Bobbie, will transfer to Broadway's Lyceum Theatre starring Tony Award nominee Nina Arianda and Emmy Award nominee Hugh Dancy.

Grammy and Emmy Award winner, Tony Award nominee and multi-platinum recording artist Harry Connick, Jr. stars as Dr. Mark Bruckner in the newly imagined production of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER which opened December 11, 2011 on Broadway at The St. James Theatre. Let's see what the critics had to say...

It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend at the family home on Martha's Vineyard... until the baggage got unpacked. Set at the elegant summer home of the well-to-do LeVay family, STICK FLY begins when two adult sons bring their significant others (one a fiancée, the other a new girlfriend) home to meet their parents for the first time. Soon, secrets are revealed, civilities are dropped and identities are explored in a harsh new light. Race and rivalry, class and family, all come together for an explosive comedy of manners about today's complex world.

BONNIE & CLYDE opened tonight at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. BONNIE & CLYDE has direction by Jeff Calhoun, music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Don Black, book by Ivan Menchell and music supervision/orchestrations/arrangements by John McDaniel.

VENUS IN FUR stars Nina Arianda and Hugh Dancy will appear on tomorrow's edition of "The Leonard Lopate Show." The interview with Lopate will air live tomorrow, December 1 at 12:40 PM on WNYC (93.9-FM, 820-AM).

The hit Broadway musical SISTER ACT recently partnered with God's Love We Deliver by outfitting runners for their 18th annual Race To Deliver on November 20th in Central Park. The cast of SISTER ACT also sang the national anthem and were involved with the official Warm-Up for the four mile run. God's Love We Deliver is the tri-state area's leading provider of nutritious, individually-tailored meals to people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves. Check out photos from the event below!

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin reunite on Broadway for AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN. Two Broadway legends who first appeared together giving Tony Award winning performances in Evita, are bringing their critically acclaimed theatre concert to the Barrymore Theatre (243 West 47th Street) for 63 performances through Friday, January 13. Opening night is tonight - November 21. Much more than a concert, AN EVENING WITH PATTI LUPONE AND MANDY PATINKIN is described as a funny, passionate, intimate and unique musical love story told entirely through a masterful selection of some of the greatest songs ever written for the stage. Have the two once again earned critical acclaim on the Broadway stage? Find out now!

This winter, from January 2, 2012 through March 4, 2012, SISTER ACT will be performed on the following schedule: Monday at 7pm, Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Beginning March 5, 2012, the performance schedule will be as follows: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, Thursday at 8pm, Friday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm.

Produced by Jeffrey Finn, Jill Furman, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith, Roy Furman, David Ian, David Mirvish, Amy Nauiokas and James Spry, SEMINAR officially opened on Sunday, November 20. What did the critics think? Let's find out...

Tonight, November 17, marks the opening night for Private Lives. What did the critics think of the show? Find out below!

The Tony award-winning Hugh Jackman has returned to Broadway in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. Jackman brings the one-man concert show to New York for a 10-week engagement. Previews began on October 25, 2011 and opened last night, November 10. The production will run through January 1, 2012. Did the critics find him Hugh-tastic? Let's find out!

Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway premiere of VENUS IN FUR, the new play by David Ives, directed by Walter Bobbie opened on November 8 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The production stars Tony Award nominee Nina Arianda and Emmy Award nominee Hugh Dancy. VENUS IN FUR is a limited 10 week engagement with tickets on sale through Sunday, December 18 only. So, what did the critics have to say? Let's find out!

The 40th Anniversary production and first-ever Broadway revival of Stephen Schwartz's rock musical GODSPELL officially opened at the Circle in the Square Theater on November 7, 2011. Were the critics charmed? Let's find out!

Local theatre artist Mark Kennedy, hot on the heels of world premiere solo piece Checkers produced in the 2011 Philadelphia Fringe Festival, directs the Philadelphia premiere of Ariel Dorfman's unrelentingly poetic drama Purgatorio under the brand new wings of theatre anti-company [ad hoc theatre project]. Purgatorio runs November 16th through 19th at the Arts Locker on the 3rd floor of the Wolf Building, 1200 Callowhill Street. 80 mins. Tickets are $10. See theadhoc.tumblr.com for more information.

Baz Bamingoye reports in today's UK Daily Mail that Tyne Daly, who led the Manhattan Theatre Club's Broadway production of Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning MASTER CLASS, directed by Stephen Wadsworth which closed on September 4 at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street) will bring her portrayal to London's West End in 2012.

In Other Desert Cities, Brooke Wyeth (to be played by Rachel Griffiths who is making her Broadway debut), a once promising novelist, returns home after a six year absence to celebrate Christmas in Palm Springs with her parents, former members of the Reagan inner-circle (Stockard Channing and Stacy Keach), her brother (Thomas Sadoski) and her aunt (to be played by Judith Light). When Brooke announces that she is about to publish a memoir focusing on an explosive chapter in the family's history, the holiday reunion is thrown into turmoil and the Wyeths are both bound together and torn apart as they struggle to come to terms with their past. LCT gratefully acknowledges that Ms. Griffiths will appear in Other Desert Cities with the permission of Actors Equity Association. What did the critics think? Find out now!

The SISTER ACT School Challenge Initiative is offering the chance for one lucky class from grades 5 through 9 to win a class field trip to SISTER ACT on Broadway. Teachers are invited to share their class' acts of kindness by submitting a photo of their class giving back to their community, along with the story behind it, for the chance to win a class field trip to SISTER ACT. For more information, visit www.schoolchallenge.tumblr.com. The SISTER ACT cast will choose the winning selection on January 13, 2012.

CHINGLISH will play at the Longacre Theatre making its Broadway premiere following its world premiere production at Goodman Theatre in Chicago this summer. The show began performances on October 11 and opened tonight, October 27. What did the critics thing? Find out now!

The world premiere production of RELATIVELY SPEAKING - three one-act comedies by the prolific writing trio of Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen, and directed by John Turturro - opened tonight October 20 at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre.