Mark Koss News

59E59 Theaters presents SONGBIRD, opening tonight, October 28, as part of its 5A Season.

59E59 Theaters (Elysabeth Kleinhans, Artistic Director; Peter Tear, Executive Producer; Brian Beirne, Managing Director) is thrilled to welcome SONGBIRD, written by Michael Kimmel, with music & lyrics by Lauren Pritchard, and directed by JV Mercanti. Produced by Allison Bressi and Diana Buckhantz by special association with Less Than Rent Theatre for the 5A Season, SONGBIRD begins performances on Tuesday, October 20 for a limited engagement through Sunday, November 29. Opening Night is Wednesday, October 28 at 7 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7 PM; Friday at 8 PM; Saturday at 2 PM & 8 PM; and Sunday at 3 PM. Please note: there is an added performance on Sunday, October 25 at 7 PM; there is no performance on Thursday, November 26 in observance of Thanksgiving. Tickets are $70 ($49 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or visit www.59e59.org. 

After auditioning performers in New York City, Los Angeles and Sacramento, California Musical Theatre has confirmed casting for all six shows in the 65th Music Circus season. The stellar cast for the season is loaded with Broadway veterans, some of whom are making their Music Circus debuts, Tony nominees and audience favorites from previous Music Circus productions.

Closing the summer season with its first production of the Kander and Ebb classic, 'Chicago,' Music Circus gives Sacramento the 'old razzle dazzle them' this week at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. The production features Fosse's well-known jazz hands, which influenced so much of musical theatre, and it glitters under Randy Slovacek's choreography and David Neville's dramatic lighting. A flexible cast shows off its muscles with amazing flips and twists of the body, while the story unfolds in vaudeville-style, complete with sensual black costumes designed by Mark Koss.

Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's screenplay for the 1959 cult classic film Some Like It Hot relied on one comedy gimmick, that two men, played by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, could escape from Chicago mobsters by donning drag and joining a girl band ...and convince everyone around them that they were really women. Could they pull it off? Wilder himself reputedly stated that he never thought the movie would be as successful as it became due to its meager plotline. But... with Marilyn Monroe alongside Lemmon and Curtis as Sugar Kane, the hilarious trio really blended uproariously...and the rest is history. When in 1972 Jule Styne and Bob Merrill collaborated with book writer Peter Stone to create Sugar, their Broadway musical flopped, probably for two reasons. Firstly, Styne's music, with the exception of one or two songs, is not memorable. Secondly, the book, too faithful to the screenplay, has tremendous holes for a stage play and just does not, no offense to composer Styne, come up roses.

By Disney standards the year and a half run of the original Broadway production of The Little Mermaid was a bit of a disappointment.  In theory, a competently created musical based on the hit animated film would probably run for a year and a half based on the title recognition alone.  My opinion of that show was higher than most of my colleagues.  I enjoyed it, but mostly for the vaudevillian pleasure of seeing a cast of terrific Broadway performers each getting a star turn or two.  But after some script revisions and a whole new visual concept, director Glenn Casale's production of the new Mermaid that just opened at Paper Mill is a well-crafted, delightfully designed and performed charmer.

Paper Mill Playhouse's The Little Mermaid is beautifully imagined in an underwater world full of vibrant colors, aqueous movements, and dazzling visuals.

Paper Mill Playhouse has just announced the cast and creative team for Disney's The Little Mermaid, based on the classic animated film of the same title.

This year's Critics Circle Awards, sponsored by Actor's Equity Association, today announced is nominees for excellence in San Francisco Bay area theater. Berkeley Rep's production of American Idiot, which played in the fall of 2009, leads with 12 nominations and will open on Broadway this spring.

Ray of Light Theatre (www.roltheatre.com), San Francisco's inimitable non-profit musical theatre company, announces the opening of its 9th season with the rock music spectacular, The Who's Tommy.

Ray of Light Theatre (www.roltheatre.com), San Francisco's inimitable non-profit musical theatre company, announces the opening of its 9th season with the rock music spectacular, The Who's Tommy.

Ray of Light Theatre (www.roltheatre.com), San Francisco's inimitable non-profit musical theatre company, announces the opening of its 9th season with the rock music spectacular, The Who's Tommy.

Ray of Light Theatre (www.roltheatre.com), San Francisco's inimitable non-profit musical theatre company, announces the opening of its 9th season with the rock music spectacular, The Who's Tommy.

Ray of Light Theatre (www.roltheatre.com), San Francisco's inimitable non-profit musical theatre company, announces the opening of its 9th season with the rock music spectacular, The Who's Tommy.

The SF Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) is pleased to announce casting for the Bay Area Premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone which will fill the previously unannounced 5th slot in its 2008-09 season line up.

The SF Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) is pleased to announce casting for the Bay Area Premiere of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone which will fill the previously unannounced 5th slot in its 2008-09 season line up.

San Francisco State University's Theatre Arts Department and Player's Club presents 'Urinetown,' the musical by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollman, directed by Joey Price. Performances begin February 1 through 11 at the Studio Theatre.