Mark Twain News

MTH (your source for all things Musical Theater in Kansas City) will present 20 performances of BIG RIVER, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, winner of 7 Tony Awards in 1985 including Best Musical and Best Original Score by Roger Miller (King of the Road). This unjustly forgotten masterpiece stands as a dazzling, heartwarming slice of musical Americana and the final crowning achievement in one of country music's most celebrated careers. Miller's music is a perfect fit to Mark Twain's classic American story of Huckleberry Finn, adapted for the musical by William Hauptman.

ABC announced today a new music series “Greatest Hits.” Each episode will highlight a five-year period celebrating the biggest hits from that time, hosted by Arsenio Hall and Kelsea Ballerini. Each week, iconic music artists, as well as today's music chart-toppers, will take the stage and perform the songs that defined the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. The six-episode series will feature special solo performances, never-before-seen duets and incredible tributes on “Greatest Hits,” premiering THURSDAY, JUNE 30 (9:00-10:00 p.m. EDT), on the ABC Television Network.

?Theater Works opens its 2016-17 YouthWorks Season on September 9 with Les Miserables School Edition. The tale of love and rebellion is set to be directed by Kelli James, a member of Les Miserables original Broadway company. James appeared in Theater Works' 2014-15 hit Follies. She has worked in the theatre for 40 years in Broadway Shows and many National tours and concerts. James has been coaching young artists for the theatre for 15 years. She is a top vocal coach and director who has co-directed Annie, Into The Woods, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown at Valley Youth Theatre, Charlotte's Web for DST and Suessical for Off Square Theatre Co. in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She has received 3 AriZoni Award Nominations for acting and directing and won an AriZoni Award for original Choreography as well as an Inspirational Award for her role as The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

New York City Center's Tony-honored Encores! series, led by Artistic Director Jack Viertel and Music Director Rob Berman, begins its 24thseason with Roger Miller's 1985 retelling of Mark Twain's classic novel, Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; followed by Cole Porter's 1930 Prohibition romp The New Yorkers, and The Golden Apple, John Latouche and Jerome Moross' 1954 reinvention of the Greek epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey into an all-American fable.

Writing musicals with existing song catalogs presents unique challenges.

Can't get enough of Bright Star? The show earned five Tony nominations earlier this week, and it's thanks to the work of the show's creators Steve Martin and Edie Brickell- nominees for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Score. Below, watch as they tell us why watching audiences react brings them so much joy!

In celebration of the production's 40th anniversary, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sholom Aleichem's yahrzeit (annual anniversary of his death), the award-winning Rudie-DeCarlo-Weisman 'AUTHOR! AUTHOR! - an evening with SHOLOM ALEICHEM,' the longest running Jewish musical in L.A. theatre history (4½ years in its initial run), returns to Santa Monica Playhouse for a limited run tonight, May 7, through May 29, 2016.

First Floor Theater (FFT) is thrilled to announce its fourth annual literary festival, FITZFEST, a festival of eight world premiere plays, by some of the country's most exciting playwrights, inspired by the life and work of F. Scott Fitzgerald. FITZFEST will play August 5 - August 13, 2016 at Collaboraction's Pentagon Theatre in The Flat Iron Arts Building. Tickets will be available at http://firstfloortheater.com/.

In celebration of the production's 40th anniversary, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sholom Aleichem's yahrzeit (annual anniversary of his death), the award-winning Rudie-DeCarlo-Weisman 'AUTHOR! AUTHOR! - an evening with SHOLOM ALEICHEM,' the longest running Jewish musical in L.A. theatre history (4½ years in its initial run), returns to Santa Monica Playhouse for a limited run May 7- 29, 2016.

In celebration of the production's 40th anniversary, and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Sholom Aleichem's yahrzeit (annual anniversary of his death), the award-winning Rudie-DeCarlo-Weisman 'AUTHOR! AUTHOR! - an evening with SHOLOM ALEICHEM,' the longest running Jewish musical in L.A. theatre history (4½ years in its initial run), returns to Santa Monica Playhouse for a limited run May 7- 29, 2016.

In the continuation of creating products on American true-to-life modern day cultural icons St. Louis based publisher Really Big Coloring Books, Inc. releases factual 'unauthorized biography' on Donald J. Trump. The book, The Real Man Donald J. Trump - 'Making America Great Again', is accompanied with a new CD-song 'Upgrade America' written and performed by The Color Tones. The St. Louis four member band has a combined 50+ years of experience in the creation, design and performance of music. For a full version of the song please contact the coloring book company and an MP3 will be emailed immediately.

The Adobe Theater will present American playwright Horton Foote's play DIVIDING THE ESTATE April 29th through May 22nd, 2016.

The two great Shakespearean actors are patrons of an organization that has serious doubts about the authorship of The Bard's plays.

Little Theater of Manchester's Evenings@7 series continues on May 10, with a reading of the drama Proof by David Auburn.

Awards for Shakespeare's most popular moments and staged readings of the works of Shakespeare and Mark Twain are just some of the festivities. Capital Classics Theatre Company, in partnership with The Mark Twain House & Museum, presents 'The Shakespeare Olden Globes Award Show' tonight, April 23, 2016 - the 400th anniversary of the date William Shakespeare 'shuffled off [t]his mortal coil.'

The publisher is releasing the first sample page of the new book, The Ghost of Mark Twain:

Shows are opening (Carolyn German unveils her latest, Go From Here, and Nashville Ballet revives Carmina Burana, both this weekend), shows are closing (your last chance to catch The Taffetas at Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre before they go the way of The Plaids is this weekend) and The Miss Firecracker Contest is back onstage at Donelson's Larry Keeton Theatre for the second of three weekends. Obviously, the 2016 theater season continues to reveal itself at a breakneck pace, giving audiences a veritable buffet of offerings from which to choose.

Know Theatre of Cincinnati wants you take a chance by picking a show, any show, at the 13th Annual Cincinnati Fringe Festival, running May 31-June 11, 2016. With 12 days full of of opportunities to catch 50 live productions, Visual Fringe art projects, musical guests, and the nightly Fringe Bar Series at Know Theatre (Fringe Headquarters), you'll find yourself lucky to have more to experience at Fringe this year than ever before.

In recent years, there has been an explosion in the popularity of memoir writing. Why? Stories connect us as a species, and no connection is stronger than with family. We want our family - especially future generations - to understand who we were, and we want to have an impact on them. For those who struggle with writing their memoirs or don't know how to start, they're in luck. June 3-5, 2016, Jay Speyerer will lead 'Stories of Your Days Memoir Writing Retreat' at Ligonier Camp & Conference Center in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. Get info at Mia Terra Retreats. Known as 'Pittsburgh's Mark Twain,' Jay Speyerer is one of the Pittsburgh region's most popular memoir writing coaches. He has been a writer, a humorist, a speaker, a trainer and an educator for more than 30 years, successfully helping people achieve their goals in memoir writing. 'All of us are made up of our stories. We are each a living library of anecdotes, short stories, tall tales, half-truths, half-lies, jokes, facts, opinions, musings, and life lessons. Then you reach a point in your life when you realize it's time to turn your library into your legacy,' says Jay. Stories of Your Days Memoir Writing Retreat, in the beautiful Laurel Highland Mountains, promises to be a weekend to remember. In fun and easy steps, Jay will help participants awaken long lost memories, identify key moments of their lives, reveal who they are through their own words and get their stories on the page. To register, visit the Mia Terra Retreats website. Jay notes, 'If you're already a writer, great; get to it. But if you're not a writer, and yet you have a lifetime of stories bursting to be told, let's work together to create your book.' Mia Terra Retreats is producing Stories of Your Days Memoir Writing Retreat. For more information and to register, please visit the Mia Terra Retreats website.

Sometimes it seems there is so much theater happening that it's difficult to keep track of it all. From personal experience, despite all the datebooks, smart phones, tablets, desktop computers and laptops...it's hard to keep everything straight in this wacky business of the show.