Mary Ann News

The #1 New York Times Best Selling Novel THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows is about to hit the big screen, and the first trailer for Guernsey has dropped. The movie will be directed by Mike Newell (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME). It stars Lily James (Downton Abbey, War & Peace, Disney's Cinderella) as Juliet Ashton and Michiel Huisman (The Age of Adeline, Game of Thrones Orphan Black, Treme) as Dawsey Adams.

What began as an apparently loving couple on a kayaking trip across the Hudson River in New York State ended in tragedy when Vince Viafore drowned in the frigid water. His Latvian fiancée, Angelika Graswald, survived and was convicted of involuntarily killing her fiancé. On Friday, “20/20” revisits the case that made headlines nationwide. Anchor Elizabeth Vargas sits down with Angelika in her first television interview since she was released from prison. Angelika – the only person alive who knows what really happened that day – talks about the death of her fiancé and what life is like now that she is free again. “20/20” airs on Friday, Feb. 16 (10:00–11:00 p.m. EST), on ABC.

The New 42nd Street will honor J.K. Rowling in absentia with the New Victory Arts Award and host a benefit performance of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at The Lyric Theatre for its annual gala on Saturday, May 12, 2018. The event, which includes a strolling supper at The New Victory Theater, will provide critical support to the nonprofit's award-winning arts education and youth employment programs. 

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) Artistic Director Terrence Mann and Executive Producer Matthew J. Pugliese are pleased to announce the lineup for the 2018 Nutmeg Summer Series.  The second season under the artistic leadership of three-time Tony Award nominee Mann will include "Disaster!", "Sweeney Todd: A Musical Thriller In Concert" and "Jesus Christ Superstar". The Nutmeg Summer Series will run June 7 through July 22.  Subscription packages are on sale February 1 for the season. Single tickets will go on sale March 1, 2018, and are available at crt.uconn.edu or call (860) 486 2113.

Skylight Music Theatre Artistic Director Ray Jivoff today announced the cast, creative team and band for The Tales of Hoffmann, running March 16-29 in Skylight's beautiful Cabot Theatre.

Ain't nothing like the sizzling sound of rockabilly, and BRIAN SETZER always amps it up with his rockin' style and guitar assault to leave audiences smiling. Beginning June 1 in Santa Ynez, CA, the iconic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and three-time Grammy Award-winner will kick off his 2018 'ROCKABILLY RIOT!' Summer Tour. The U.S. dates will hit Sacramento, Napa, Austin, Tulsa, Atlanta, Charleston and Atlantic City, among other markets, before wrapping June 24 in the Boston area at the Lowell Summer Music Series Outdoors (see the full itinerary below). Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, February 16 at10:00am, local time. 

Quintessence of Dust Theatre Company/Rachel Kunstadt presented a one-night-only benefit staged reading of the Pulitzer Prize winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL on Thursday, February 1, 2018 at JCC Manhattan, (366 Amsterdam Avenue).

ELECTRICITY, the hit LGBT comedy/drama starring stars TERRY RAY ("My Sister is So Gay") & MEL ENGLAND ("Best Day Ever") returns to Palm Springs with upcoming show dates: February 6-8 & 26-28 & April 9-11, 2018.

FEINSTEIN'S/54 BELOW, Broadway's Supper Club, presents Award-winning songwriters Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich as they celebrate their 25th year of romantic comedy writing with a one-night only, all-original show.

DiamonDisc Records Announces Release of Andrew Heller's Latest Recording SINATRA ALL THE WAY

Lincoln Center presents Women in Music/Mujeres en M sica: A Musical Dialogue between the United States and Spain. Music by Women Composers Inspired by Shakespeare and Cervantes. Wednesday, January 24 at 7:30 pm Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center 111 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10023

Company of Fools' 22nd season of theatre continues in February with a production of Clybourne Park, a searingly funny play by Bruce Norris that won both the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2012 Tony Award for Best Play. Clybourne Park will run Feb. 21 March 10 at the Liberty Theater in Hailey and will be directed by Denise Simone, one of Company of Fools' founding members and a Core Company Artist until late 2016. The play is produced in conjunction with The Center's BIG IDEA project This Land Is Whose Land?

On Friday, February 16, 2018, 16 of the best young American and Canadian opera singers will perform with pianist Craig Rutenberg before a panel of judges and an enthusiastic audience at The Morgan Library & Museum. At the event's conclusion, six of them will be named this year's winners of the George London Award, an honor that has been conferred upon hundreds of the best young singers since 1971. The award, currently a $10,000 prize, is named for the legendary Canadian-American bass-baritone, one of the greatest opera singers of 20th century.

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario, playing January 5 14, 2018 at 4802 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

DiamonDisc Records Announces Release of Andrew Heller's Latest Recording SINATRA ALL THE WAY

The Gift Theatre is pleased to present TEN 2018, the company's annual season kick-off festival of ten world premiere ten-minute pieces by The Gift and guest artists, curated by Artistic Director Michael Patrick Thornton and Associate Artistic Director Paul D'Addario. Tickets for TEN are free for Gift subscribers and $10 for the general public. Tickets are currently available by calling the Gift's box office at 773-283-7071 or visiting thegifttheatre.org.

Equity president and former Miss America, Kate Shindle, released a statement tonight expressing her dismay and anger toward former leaders of the Miss America pageant, as a response to Huffington Post revelations of shocking misogyny and corruption within the organization's leadership.

Company of Fools' 22nd season of theatre continues in December with a production of Striking 12 - an un-holiday holiday musical by Brendan Millburn, Rachel Sheinkin and Valeria Vigoda. Directed by Company of Fools' Interim Artistic Director Ilana Becker with music direction by R.L. Rowsey and Grant Carey, this magical New Year's themed concert-theatre hybrid will run Dec. 14-30, 2017, at the Liberty Theatre in Hailey, followed by a special New Year's Eve fundraiser performance and celebration on Dec. 31.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants to 11 opera companies through the Repertoire Development Grants program, supported by The Opera Fund. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new American opera and music-theater works.

OPERA America, the national service organization for opera and the nation's leading champion for American opera, is pleased to announce that it has awarded grants to 11 opera companies through the Repertoire Development Grants program, supported by The Opera Fund. These grants provide vital financial support to opera companies developing new American opera and music-theater works.