Marsha Norman News

The 2015 winners of the Lilly Awards, celebrating and honoring women of distinction in American theater, were recently announced by The Lilly Awards Foundation. The winners will be celebrated at the 6th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony tonight, June 1, 2015 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street) and hosted by double 2015 Tony Award nominee Lisa Kron (Fun Home).

Court Theatre's 'The Secret Garden' began previews on May 21, and will officially open on May 30. With book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, this classic musical based on the book of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett will delight audiences in Chicago until June 21. Take a look at the production photos below!

 Margot Harley, who co-founded The Acting Company with John Houseman in 1972, will step down as its Producer effective the end of this year.  The Acting Company began with the first graduating class of Juilliard's Drama Division, which included Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, David Schramm and David Ogden Stiers.  "They were classically trained, superbly talented and had worked together for four years," stated Ms. Harley.

'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.' Especially when you're the one paying the bills. It might not make for a joyous reunion, though, as we discover to hilarious effect in Christopher Durang's 2013 Tony-winning Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, beginning its 6-week run on Thursday, June 4.

DANIELLE BROOKS, who plays 'Taystee' on the hit TV show, Orange Is the New Black, will make her Broadway debut as 'Sofia' in the upcoming Broadway musical revival of THE COLOR PURPLE. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Ms. Brooks joins the previously announced JENNIFER HUDSON and CYNTHIA ERIVO in the critically acclaimed staging from London's Menier Chocolate Factory.

The public is invited to an Open House and Preview Event showcasing the Fabulous Fox Theatre's 2015-2016 U.S. Bank Broadway Series on Sunday, May 31 from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Fox Theatre, 527 N. Grand Blvd. Visitors will be treated to live previews of MATILDA THE MUSICAL and BEAUTIFUL-THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL along with video previews from the other season shows.  

The 2015 winners of the Lilly Awards, celebrating and honoring women of distinction in American theater, were announced today by The Lilly Awards Foundation.  The winners will be celebrated at the 6th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 1, 2015 beginning at 5:00 p.m. at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street) and hosted by double 2015 Tony Award nominee Lisa Kron (Fun Home).  The ceremony will be live-streamed on the Lilly Awards website (www.thelillyawards.org) and HowlRound TV (www.Howlround.com/tv). #lillyawards #howlround

The Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Musical Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company continues with three concerts celebrating the genius of two of the most prolific and most important writing teams in musical theatre history in a show entitled RODGERS & HART & HAMMERSTEIN.

The A.R.T. won seven Elliot Norton Awards given by the Boston Theatre Critics Association honoring Boston's best theatre productions. The annual awards are named for Boston's dean of American drama critics, Elliot Norton, who died in 2003 at the age of 100, and were held last night, May 11 at the Citi Shubert Theatre.

Joseph Alsop, America's most powerful political commentator, is the subject of The Columnist, a new play by the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning author of Proof. Dominating Washington's political scene in the years between World War II and the Vietnam War, Joe is both feared and admired. But as America enters the turbulent 60s, his unyielding political views and dark personal secrets threaten to destroy his influence. Opened on Broadway in 2012 with John Lithgow.

Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) has dazzled the world with her matchless talent. This fall, she makes her long-awaited Broadway debut in the joyous and triumphant musical The Color Purple. This unforgettable and intensely moving new production mesmerized audiences when it premiered in London. Click below to prep for the show's debut on the Great White Way with scenes from the Meiner Chocolate Factory production!

The Janet and Mark L. Goldenson Broadway Musical Concert Series at Rubicon Theatre Company continues with three concerts celebrating the genius of two of the most prolific and most important writing teams in musical theatre history in a show entitled RODGERS & HART & HAMMERSTEIN.

Today, we begin the 5 SONGS BY... series with multiple Tony Award-winning composer, lyricist and orchestrator Jason Robert Brown who discusses his work on the fan favorite two-character musical THE LAST FIVE YEARS which was recently translated into a successful movie musical iteration earlier this year and is now available on DVD and Blu-ray as well as comments on selections from his stage musicals SONGS FROM A NEW WORLD, PARADE, 13 and THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.

BWW interviewed Claudia Weill who directed 'The Belle of Belfast.' The show currently on stage at Irish Rep through June 7th.

Emily Mann, McCarter Theatre Center's Artistic Director and Resident Playwright, has been named the recipient of the 2015 Margo Jones Award presented by The Ohio State University Libraries and OSU Arts and Humanities. The award honors those who have demonstrated a significant impact, understanding and affirmation of the craft of playwriting, and who have encouraged the living theatre everywhere.

Today in 1991, The Secret Garden opened at the St. James Theatre, where it ran for 709 performances.The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical's book and lyrics are by Marsha Norman, with music by Lucy Simon. Directed by Susan H. Schulman with choreography by Michael Lichtefeld, the cast featured Daisy Eagan, Mandy Patinkin, and Rebecca Luker. It won the 1991 Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical, Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Daisy Eagan), and Best Scenic Design (Heidi Landesman).

Composer Jason Robert Brown has built quite a catalog of his own songs, having written the music to such Broadway shows as Parade, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Bridges of Madison County, and many more, but now he is branching out into the works of the Piano Man himself. Brown recently released his own covers of songs from Billy Joel's 'The Stranger' album- check them out below! He writes on his official website:

The 6th Annual Lilly Awards Ceremony will be presented Monday, June 1, 2015 beginning at 5 p.m. at Playwrights Horizons (416 West 42nd Street) and hosted by writer and performer, Lisa Kron.

The Guthrie Theater previously announced that its outgoing Director Joe Dowling, the longest tenured artistic director in Guthrie history, will appear for an In Conversation moderated by New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel tonight, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. on the Wurtele Thrust Stage.

The Fabulous Fox Theatre is thrilled to announce its remarkable 2015-2016 U.S. Bank Broadway Series featuring five new hits that are making their St. Louis debuts.