Marsha Norman News

Flashback of some of Allee Willis' Broadway memories from her illustrious career with a collection of vintage photos from our archives. 

BroadwayWorld is sad to report that THE COLOR PURPLE's co-writer, Allee Willis, died on December 24, 2019 at 72.BroadwayWorld is sad to report that THE COLOR PURPLE's co-writer, Allee Willis, died on December 24, 2019 at 72. Willis' long-term partner Prudence Fenton shared news her death on Instagram.

25 Shows & Performances in the Tampa Bay Area That Rocked Our World from 2010 to 2019!

The Kavinoky Theatre, a professional theatre on the campus of D'Youville, continues its 40th season with the musical The Bridges of Madison County. Book by Marsha Norman with music by Jason Robert Brown.

Lambert Jackson Productions today announce a search to find talented young people to star as Mary Lennox and Colin Craven in their concert performances of The Secret Garden, alongside Lucie Jones, Ramin Karimloo, and Jac Yarrow. The performances will take place at The London Palladium, on Saturday 4 April, 3pm and 7.30pm.

The 5th Avenue Theatre has announced complete casting for the world premiere of Bliss, an empowering original musical fantasy that flips the traditional princess narrative upside down.

The Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of The Color Purple returns to Houston, presented by Society for the Performing Arts (SPA), on Friday, January 3 and Saturday, January 4 at The Hobby Center. With a soul-raising, Grammy-winning score of jazz, gospel, ragtime and blues, The Color Purple gives an exhilarating new spirit to Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Don't miss this stunning re-imagining of an epic story about a young woman's journey to love and triumph in the American South.

Lambert Jackson Productions has announced that they will present concert performances of the Tony award-winning musical The Secret Garden starring Lucie Jones, Ramin Karimloo and Jac Yarrow, directed by Nick Winston. The performances will take place at The London Palladium, on Saturday 4 April, 3pm and 7.30pm.

Kansas City Actors Theatre has completed casting and will soon begin rehearsals for its production of Marsha Norman's Pulitzer Prize-winning a?oe'night, Mother,a?? which will run from January 8th to January 26th, 2020 at the City Stage in Union Station. The production will be directed by Sidonie Garrett, who last directed a?oeA Streetcar Named Desirea?? for Kansas City Actors Theatre in 2016. The production will feature Jan Rogge (a?oeA Lie of the Mind,a?? a?oeMy Old Ladya??) and Cinnamon Schultz (a?oeA Streetcar Named Desire,a?? a?oeSea Marksa??) and will feature scenic design by Ken Martin, costume design by Mary Traylor, lighting design by Shane Rowse, sound design by David Kiehl, properties design by Deb Morgan, and technical direction by Kyle Dyck.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK star DALE SOULES guest stars in the highly-anticipated Season 3 of the phenomenally successful THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL which begins streaming Friday, December 6 on Amazon Prime Video. Soules plays Margaret, the unflappable secretary to Angie, boss at the Phoenician Hotel.

Marsha Norman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for 'Night Mother, took home Tony and Drama Desk Awards in 1991 for a?oeBest Book of a Musicala?? for The Secret Garden. With music by Lucy Simon, The Secret Garden is based on the 1911 classic children's literature novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. And while it's tagged as a?oechildren'sa?? literature, The Secret Garden is not your typical light-hearted, happy-go-lucky matinee outing for the kids.

Just how far would you take sisterly devotion? Would you be willing to take years in a loveless marriage, with a man who believes that the way to get a woman to do whatever he wants her to is to beat her, after already spending years being assaulted by your own father? That's exactly how Miss Celie spends much of her life, in hopes that her sister, Nettie, doesn't have to. Brought to Jackson's Thalia Mara Hall as part of their Jackson Live! Series, The Color Purple's national tour brought those questions, and many more, to mind on November 14th and 15th.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, recipient of the 2019 Tony Award for Regional Theatre, has announced the appointment of Tim Bond as its new Artistic Director. Bond will join the company officially in March 2020, stepping in as Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley winds down his 50th and final season at the helm of the theatre he created, ending one of the longest tenures in American theatre. Kelley previously announced his retirement at the conclusion of the company's current season in June 2020. Said Bond upon accepting the appointment, a?oeI am thrilled to have the opportunity to continue Robert Kelley's great work, and to lead this spirited company into its next exciting phase.a??

Holding On Too LongIn The Secret Garden, Pulitzer-prize winning playwright Marsha Norman writes, 'They're only a ghost if someone alive is still holding on to them.' It is very clear from the top of Haunting Julia that the three characters we meet are haunted by Julia long before she gets the chance to do any haunting of her own. Set in November of 1993 at the newly established Julia Lukin Music Centre, Haunting Julia tells the story of Julia Lukin, a piano prodigy who apparently committed suicide at the age of 19. Twelve years later, her father (Joe), her would-be boyfriend (Andy), and a psychic (Ken) gather to revisit that fateful night, and, from there, the plot begins twisting.

Tupelo Community Theatre will present 'Night, Mother by Marsha Norman,  November 21-23 at 7:30 p.m. at  TCT Off Broadway,  213 East Franklin Street.  The 1983 Pulitzer Prize winning play was also nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.

Evan Yionoulis, Richard Rodgers Director of Juilliard's Drama Division, announced today that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marsha Norman will step down as co-director of Juilliard's Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the end of the 2019-20 academic year

BroadwayWorld has a first listen to the  2019-20 North American tour cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE. Preview performances will begin October 19, 2019 in Largo, Maryland at The Center for the Performing Arts at Prince George's Community College. The tour will have its official opening October 25, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana at The Mahalia Jackson Theatre.

Multi-Award winning Musical The Color Purple comes to the Broadway Orange Park season on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Producers Matthew Henderson and Neil Gooding are thrilled to present the Australian premiere of the Tony Award winning musical The Bridges of Madison County. Based on the best-selling novel and developed by the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning creative team of Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World) and Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden, The Colour Purple), The Bridges of Madison County will have its Australian Premiere in March 2020 at Hayes Theatre Co. 

Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning novel, The Colour Purple chronicles young Celie's journey from abused teen to confident woman. Poignant and powerful, the Citadel Theatre's adaptation of the beloved Broadway musical is not to be missed.