Mark Lamos News

Westport Country Playhouse will open its 2014 Season with Noel Coward's witty and poignant tale, 'A Song at Twilight,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, tonight, April 29 - May 17, a co-production with Hartford Stage where it ran earlier this year. Broadway veterans Mia Dillon, Brian Murray and Gordana Rashovich will headline; also in the cast is Yale School of Drama graduate Nicholas Carriere. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

Westport Country Playhouse will open its 2014 Season with Noel Coward's witty and poignant tale, 'A Song at Twilight,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, tonight, April 29 - May 17, a co-production with Hartford Stage where it ran earlier this year.

A.C.T. kicks off its 2014-15 season with the West Coast premiere of the Signature Theatre production of Old Hats (September 10-October 5, 2014), starring Tony Award winners Bill Irwin and David Shiner. Using music, technology, and movement - plus a few other tricks up their sleeves - Old Hats combines the inimitable magic, slapstick and hilarity of Irwin and Shiner into a wild and remarkable outing of theater for generations old and new. Directed by Tina Landau, Old Hats was the recipient of the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience and the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revue. Old Hats marks the first collaboration for Irwin and Shiner since the smash Broadway hit Fool Moon, which set A.C.T. box office records during its sold-out 1998 run and their return engagement in 2001. Press night for Old Hats will be on Wednesday, September 17, 2014.

Westport Country Playhouse is one of 886 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant announced by Joan Shigekawa, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) acting chairman. The Playhouse is recommended for a $30,000 grant to support its community engagement initiative, "Threads of Time, Fabric of History: 'Intimate Apparel' in Context," which will run concurrently with the Playhouse production of Lynn Nottage's play, "Intimate Apparel," in October.

Westport Country Playhouse will host a '2014 Season Kick-off Block Party,' today, April 12, 4 to 7 p.m., offering a fun, party-like atmosphere with food trucks, games and activities for adults and kids, prizes, special ticket offers, and a look at the Playhouse's 'backstage experience.' Admission is free and open to the public.

Funny girl, singular talent, American icon. Fanny Brice hit stardom in the 1920s and, almost a century later, still inspires the public imagination. On May 3, 4, and 5, Lyrics & Lyricists pays tribute to Fanny with Ziegfeld Girl: The Many Faces of Fanny Brice, a night of songs she put on the Broadway map, led by artistic director Ted Sperling, music director of the smash 2008 Broadway revival of South Pacific. Vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Leslie Kritzer, Faith Prince and Clarke Thorell sing classics like "Second Hand Rose" and "My Man"-as well as songs she inspired in Funny Girl.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were established hit makers when they teamed up to make a musical about cowboys and farmers. What follows was a miracle-Oklahoma!, then Carousel and South Pacific; the list of extraordinary hits goes on. Tonight, April 5 and April 6 and 7 get to know these legends even better at Getting to Know You: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lyrics & Lyricists first look at the two songwriters as a team. Guest artistic director, writer and host Ted Chapin, head of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, shares an insider's perspective on the pair, gleaned from his years with the Rodgers and Hammerstein families; joined by vocalists Lewis Cleale, Mandy Gonzalez, Jonathan Groff, Rebecca Luker, and Phillipa Soo.

Westport Country Playhouse will open its 2014 Season with Noel Coward's witty and poignant tale, 'A Song at Twilight,' directed by Playhouse artistic director Mark Lamos, April 29 - May 17, a co-production with Hartford Stage where it ran earlier this year. Celebrating its 84th season, Westport Country Playhouse was recently named Theater Company of the Year by The Wall Street Journal.

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were established hit makers when they teamed up to make a musical about cowboys and farmers. What follows was a miracle-Oklahoma!, then Carousel and South Pacific; the list of extraordinary hits goes on. On April 5, 6 and 7 get to know these legends even better at Getting to Know You: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lyrics & Lyricists first look at the two songwriters as a team. Guest artistic director, writer and host Ted Chapin, head of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, shares an insider's perspective on the pair, gleaned from his years with the Rodgers and Hammerstein families; joined by vocalists Lewis Cleale, Mandy Gonzalez, Jonathan Groff, Rebecca Luker, and Phillipa Soo.

Westport Country Playhouse will host a '2014 Season Kick-off Block Party,' on Saturday, April 12, 4 to 7 p.m., offering a fun, party-like atmosphere with food trucks, games and activities for adults and kids, prizes, special ticket offers, and a look at the Playhouse's 'backstage experience.' Admission is free and open to the public.

The Old Globe today announced two of the stars of Shakespeare's classic tragedy Othello, the first show of the Globe's 2014 Summer Shakespeare Festival. Making their Globe debuts are Emmy Award-winner Richard Thomas ('The Americans,' 'The Waltons') as Iago and Kristen Connolly ('House of Cards,' The Cabin in the Woods) as Desdemona. Both artists continue collaborations with Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein that began in New York: Thomas starred in Edelstein's critically acclaimed production of Timon of Athens at The Public Theater in 2011, and Connolly in three Shakespeare plays that Edelstein helped produce at The Public. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Westport Country Playhouse announces a world premiere musical revue, 'Sing for Your Shakespeare,' as the second production in its 2014 season, running June 3 - 22. Directed by Mark Lamos, and co-conceived by Lamos, Wayne Barker, and Deborah Grace Winer, the show is based on an original idea and production for 92nd Street Y's Lyrics & Lyricists, New York, NY. Celebrating its 84th season, Westport Country Playhouse was recently named Theater Company of the Year by The Wall Street Journal.

When the Vienna State Opera visited New York at the end of February, it brought Alban Berg's WOZZECK to Carnegie Hall as part of the “Vienna: City of Dreams” festivities. With the big sound of the Vienna Philharmonic central to the concert performance, it set out to show what a quintessentially Viennese opera sounded like played by the hometown band. Sorry, boys [and it's still mainly a male bastion], but the Met Orchestra, conducted by James Levine, could show you a thing or two.

The Old Globe today announced it will present two Shakespeare-themed events. On Monday, April 28 at 7:00 p.m., Tony Award winner Roger Rees will return to the Globe for a one-night-only engagement of What You Will, his hysterical (and somewhat historical) 90-minute gallop through the world of Shakespeare. On Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m., Old Globe Artistic Director Barry Edelstein will offer an encore of Thinking Shakespeare Live!, his 90-minute exploration of the language of Shakespeare. This fast-paced, funny, and altogether fascinating program based on Edelstein's book, Thinking Shakespeare: A How-To Guide for Student Actors, Directors, and Anyone Else Who Wants to Feel More Comfortable with the Bard, reveals a performer's approach to Shakespearean language so audiences may easily understand the poetry of the Bard.

In Noel Coward's time, and when one of his last plays, A SONG AT TWILIGHT was written in 1966, it must have been shocking to have the possible outing of a closeted gay man be the driving force of a plot. In 2014, when such a play is just one of a plethora of stories written by men, featuring male characters and very often, gay men's issues, we have to wonder why two of Connecticut's theaters have chosen to include a revival of it on their stages this season (currently it's at Hartford stage through March 16. It moves to Westport Country Playhouse April 29), especially when there are so many other great plays out there just begging to be produced.

The Glimmerglass Festival, the Central New York hub for lovers of opera and musical theater, has appointed bass-baritoneEric Owens as chairman of The Glimmerglass Festival Artistic Advisory Board, making him an ex-officio member of the company's Board of Trustees.

The Glimmerglass Festival, the Central New York hub for lovers of opera and musical theater, has appointed bass-baritone Eric Owens as chairman of The Glimmerglass Festival Artistic Advisory Board, making him an ex-officio member of the company's Board of Trustees.

Hartford Stage invites college students to College Night today, March 4, featuring a night of theatre with a performance of Noel Coward's A Song at Twilight, and a free pre-show event including pizza, drinks, and moreHartford Stage invites college students to College Night tonight, March 4, featuring a night of theatre with a performance of Noel Coward's A Song at Twilight, and a free pre-show event including pizza, drinks, and more!

With less than two months before the curtain goes up on Westport Country Playhouse's 2014 Season, single tickets will go on sale, beginning Tuesday, March 4, at noon. Single tickets may be purchased by phone at 203-227-4177, in person at 25 Powers Court, Westport, 24/7 online at westportplayhouse.org, or by using the Playhouse App or mobile website.

Hartford Stage invites college students to College Night on Tuesday, March 4, featuring a night of theatre with a performance of Noel Coward's A Song at Twilight, and a free pre-show event including pizza, drinks, and more!