Mark Twain News

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts today announced its 2019–2020 theater season, with more than 15 productions from New York, London, and across the globe, plus original Kennedy Center productions.

A city rich in history and diversity, St. Louis is also becoming the "capital" of Indian classical dance. From April 19, 20, 201st 2019, the city will once again host Indian dancers from around the world at the 11th American Natya Festival.  

Opening for it's first time at the Hale Centre Theatre in Gilbert is the acclaimed Broadway musical Big River! Playing April 4th, 2019 through May 11th, 2019. Directed by Tim Dietlein, Choreographed by Cambrian James, with Musical Direction by Elizabeth Spencer. Big River is a musical adventure with book by William Hauptman and music and lyrics by Roger Miller - Yes that Roger Miller. Based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, it features country and bluegrass music styles to keep with the rustic and adventurous setting of the novel.

It has been reported that comedy legend Carol Burnett's memoir Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story will get a big screen adaptation. 

Horatio Alger's Boys will be presented by Off-Broadway's Saint Luke's 2nd Monday Play Reading Series, part of their 2018-2019 season. Written by David Lally, Horatio Alger's Boys imagines the real-life meeting between Alger and his friend, William James, brother of Henry and Alice, one Spring night in 1870. Alger has come to share the truth of his life, and James, his friend, later to become known as 'the father of psychiatry', will listen. The saga of Horatio Alger did not begin and end with his 'rags to riches' stories.

The National Comedy Center and legendary producer, director, and writer Carl Reiner announced today, on Carl Reiner's 97th birthday, an initiative to digitally preserve Reiner's extensive personal collection of production-used scripts from "The Dick Van Dyke Show" - one of the most iconic, innovative, and beloved comedy series in television history.

The Nashville Comedy Festival is excited to announce the addition of legendary comedy icon Bob Newhart to their 2019 lineup. Newhart is set to bring his award-winning stand-up comedy to TPAC's Andrew Jackson Hall Wednesday, April 10th at 7pm.

Adapted for family audiences from the Tony Award- winning Broadway musical, BIG RIVER: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck and his friend Jim, a slave, as they travel along the mighty Mississippi River. Huck tries to help Jim escape to freedom and reunite with his family. Their shared journey of discovery proves humorous, suspenseful and heartwarming. Mark Twain's timeless classic comes alive on stage at First Stage in this coming-of-age musical which features live bluegrass music with fiddles, guitar, harmonica, piano and more.

Adapted for family audiences from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, BIG RIVER: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck and his friend Jim, a slave, as they travel along the mighty Mississippi River. Huck tries to help Jim escape to freedom and reunite with his family.

Hartford Stage announced today three plays for the upcoming 2019/2020 season, including Quixote Nuevo by Octavio Solis, Cry it Out by Molly Smith Metzler and Jane Eyre, adapted and directed by Hartford Stage Associate Artistic Director Elizabeth Williamson. Three additional mainstage productions will be announced in the coming weeks.

Four Humors is finally brave enough to portray a theatre troupe that is brave enough to tell the story of a corrupt tyrant who has been dead for 1800 years.

Adapted for family audiences from the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, BIG RIVER: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn tells the story of Huck and his friend Jim, a slave, as they travel along the mighty Mississippi River. Huck tries to help Jim escape to freedom and reunite with his family.

Magician Daniel GreenWolf brings two magic show to the Little Theatre of Manchester at Cheney Hall on March 23-24, 2019.

Letters to the President is a multi-composer song cycle in development with The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.  A concert presentation of the new work is set for Monday, April 8, 2019 at 7pm in the historic Great Hall at Cooper Union.

There are many thoughts about life after death, most tied to one organized religion or another, but there is one less denominational fantasy afterlife...let's call it the Hollywood version, in which flights of literary fancy that violate most of the rules of Heaven are always possible.

The 1985 Broadway season might have been one of the weakest on record for musicals; in fact, only three shows were nominated for Best Musical at the Tony Awards that year. We had an Ellie Greenwich jukebox musical (Leader of the Pack), one of Harold Prince's big budget disasters (Grind), and a musical based on Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Big River). Needless to say, at least in my opinion, Big River won the Tony Award for Best Musical and several other awards in part due to a lack of competition. Despite some catchy songs by Roger “King of the Road” Miller the show suffered, in my opinion anyhow, from there simply being too much of it. William Hauptman's book tried to focus on multiple stories as opposed to having Huck and his relationship with runaway slave Jim be the true heart.

Lewis University's Philip Lynch Theatre (PLT) continues 'chasing the dream' with the 3rd installment to Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy, Broadway Bound. Simon has won three Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and has been nominated for four Academy Awards for his various plays and screenwritings. He has written over 30 plays and during the 1967 Broadway Season had four of his plays in production at the same time (Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, and The Star-Spangled Girl). In 1987, Broadway Bound received four nominations for the Best Play and Drama Desk Award, was a nominee for the Tony Award Best Play, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

The Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival returns to the historic French Quarter for its 33rd annual celebration of contemporary literature, culture, theater, and the works of Tennessee Williams. From March 27-31, 2019, attendees will enjoy celebrated award-winning speakers alongside fresh new voices on the literary scene.

Theatre enthusiasts packed the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts last night to hear Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley and Executive Director Phil Santora of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley reveal the lineup for the company's 50th season, which launches this summer. Kelley's 50th and final season as Artistic Director of TheatreWorks Silicon Valley includes triumphant returns of TheatreWorks favorites, bold premieres developed at the company's annual New Works Festival, and celebrated works from the nation's leading playwrights.

Fresh off the heels of their critically acclaimed revival of Happy Birthday, Wanda June, Wheelhouse Theater Company and its Founding Members, Matt Harrington, David Kenner, Michael Schantz, and Jeffrey Wise, has announced that it will present the New York Premiere of Aaron Posner's Life Sucks., March 22nd through April 20th at The Wild Project (195 East 3rd Street). The cast features Jeff Biehl, Nadia Bowers, Kimberly Chatterjee, Barbara Kingsley, Stacey Linnertz, Austin Pendleton, and Michael Schantz. Wheelhouse's Jeff Wise directs the production, which will have its official opening night on March 27th at 7:00PM.