Mary Stuart Masterson News

Just last night, Roundabout Theatre Company hosted the 50th Anniversary Gala: 'Spring Gala 2016: Celebrating 50 Years of Extraordinary Theatre' in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria (301 Park Avenue, NYC). The evening was a celebration of Roundabout's 50th Anniversary and recognized the accomplishments of six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald and Roundabout's Chairman of the Board Tom Tuft and present them with The Jason Robards Award for Excellence in Theatre. BroadwayWorld was there for the big night and you can check out photos from the red carpet below!

Sundance Institute tonight announced the prizes in feature filmmaking at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, with top awards going to Between Sea and Land, The Birth of a Nation, First Girl I Loved, Jim: The James Foley Story, Sand Storm, Sonita and Weiner.

?The Palmer House Hilton is proud to announce that it will once again host one of Chicago's premier New Year's Eve events Big Night America's Chicago New Year's Eve Party: Big Night Chicago, Thursday, Dec. 31, from 9 p.m. - 2 a.m. with host, from HBO's Entourage, Kevin Dillon, at the Palmer House Hilton, 17 E. Monroe Street.

Offering a first look at the year ahead in independent film, culture and new ideas, Sundance Institute announced today the 65 films selected for the U.S. Competition, World Competition and out-of-competition NEXT category set to premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, January 21-31 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Films that have premiered in these sections include Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station,Whiplash, Blackfish, The September Issue, The Cove, An Education, Animal Kingdom, Precious, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Obvious Child, Tangerine and Escape from Tomorrow.

Thanksgiving is a time for families to gather together, to share a meal, and to count all of the wonderful blessings that they have received over the past year. That is, of course, unless your family is filled with monsters, ingrates, and malcontents. For BroadwayWorld's readers not fortunate enough to have a loving family, Thanksgiving can be a time of sibling rivalry, domestic disappointments, and turke-time tantrums.

Transport Group, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and OBIE Award-winning theatre company, by special arrangement with Tony Award winning producer Larry Hirschhorn, will give a private developmental lab presentation of Benny & Joon, a new musical. Based on the 1993 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture starring Aidan Quinn, Johnny Depp, and Mary Stuart Masterson, written by Barry Berman and Leslie McNeil, Benny & Joon features a book by Kirsten Guenther (Breaking Through), music by Nolan Gasser (chief musicologist of pandora.com), and lyrics by Mindi Dickstein (Little Women). Under the direction of Transport Group Artistic Director and five-time Drama Desk nominee Jack Cummings III, the cast features Andrew Samonsky as 'Benny' (Queen of the Mist), Hannah Elless as 'Joon' (Bright Star),Colin Hanlon (Submissions Only), Mamie Parris (See Rock City & Other Destinations), Zak Resnick (Piece of My Heart), Tally Sessions (House of Blue Leaves), Natalie Toro (A Tale of Two Cities), and Jason SweetTooth Williams (Things to Ruin). John DiPinto will music direct.

Weber joins previously announced guest stars Valorie Curry, Demetri Martin, Fred Melamed, Jenny Slate, Larenz Tate and Alicia Witt. HOUSE OF LIES will premiere Sunday, January 11th at 10 p.m. ET/PT opposite the new seasons of SHAMELESS (9 p.m.) and EPISODES (10:30 p.m.).

Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE) brand, celebrates the 25th anniversary of Chances Are, a zany romantic comedy with an all-star cast.

Playwrights Horizons' New York premiere production of Stage Kiss, a new play marking the eagerly-anticipated return to PH of two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and Tony Award nominee Sarah Ruhl (Dead Man's Cell Phone at PH; The Clean House, In the Next Room..., Eurydice), just opened last night, March 2. BroadwayWorld brings you complete coverage from opening night below!

Today we are talking to a supremely talented triple-threat who has carved out an astonishingly impressive career thus far onstage with her string of stupendous performances ranging from her blazing debut in the late-90s revival of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and WONDERFUL TOWN through to SWING!, INTO THE WOODS, NINE, THE WEDDING SINGER and her Tony Award-winning work in the recent revival of GYPSY - the alluring and simply phenomenal Laura Benanti. Touching upon many of her past stage and screen roles and expressing candid insights into many of her most celebrated characters to date, Benanti opens up about the productions and properties which have made her one of the most exciting and in-demand Broadway crossover performers of the 21st century. In addition to all about her many Broadway bows - including her most recent runs in IN THE NEXT ROOM (OR THE VIBRATOR PLAY) and WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN - Benanti also shares thoughts on her multiple TV and film projects, new and old, shedding light on THE PLAYBOY CLUB, GO ON, STARVED, THE BIG C, her current arc on USA's ROYAL PAINS, prior and upcoming film roles and even more. Most importantly, Benanti provides us with all the details on her new live solo album, IN CONSTANT SEARCH OF THE RIGHT KIND OF ATTENTION: LIVE AT 54 BELOW, as well as gives a preview of her series of upcoming concerts at 54 Below in promotion of the sterling new release. Plus, Benanti looks ahead to taking on Shakespeare via the new Public Theater production of THE TEMPEST as well as tackling a particularly operatic part in 2014 (byway of the just-announced THE MOST HAPPY FELLA). All of that, Benanti's recollections of performing a hilarious specialty song at this year's spectacular Tony Awards, as well as roles she would love to play in the future and much, much more!

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present a new production of Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle featuring Christopher Lloyd (Azdak), directed by Brian Kulick (who directed Brecht's Galileo last season), and featuring new music by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). The Caucasian Chalk Circle will begin performances tonight, May 3 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 9. The official opening is Thursday, May 30.

Classic Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Brian Kulick and Executive Director Greg Reiner, will present a new production of Bertolt Brecht's THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE featuring Christopher Lloyd (Azdak), directed by Brian Kulick (who directed Brecht's Galileo last season), and featuring new music by Tony Award-winning singer/songwriter Duncan Sheik (Spring Awakening). THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE will begin performances Friday, May 3 at CSC (136 East 13th Street) for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 9. The official opening is Thursday, May 30. Tickets are now on sale.

Today we are continuing our 30-day Tony Awards countdown - ending, of course, on the 2012 Tony Awards, June 10 - with a salute to a Tony-winning Best Musical directed and choreographed by the one and only Tommy Tune and composed by Maury Yeston - NINE. Based on Federico Fellini's 8 ½, NINE is a surrealistic concept musical that concerns itself with the mid-life crisis of a glamorous Italian film director and the many, many women in his life - his wife, his mother, his mistress, his muse, his agent and many, many more.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre honors two of its most distinguished members, the acclaimed actress Lois Smith and two-time Board chair G.H. 'Denny' Denniston, Jr with its 2012 Distinguished Member Award at a "Fun-Raiser" benefit celebration this evening, May 14.

The Ensemble Studio Theatre will honor two of its most distinguished members, the acclaimed actress Lois Smith and two-time Board chair G.H. 'Denny' Denniston, Jr with its 2012 Distinguished Member Award at a "Fun-Raiser" benefit celebration Monday evening, May 14.

Today we are talking to an Emmy Award-winning actor perhaps most well-known for his title role in the iconic and ground-breaking millennial NBC sitcom hit, WILL & GRACE, who can now be seen eight times a week on Broadway playing a pivotal role in the starry revival of Gore Vidal's politically-themed satire, THE BEST MAN - the affable Eric McCormack. Shining a spotlight on his theatrical roots at the Straford Shakespeare Festival in Canada all the way up to his small-screen sensation in WILL & GRACE and, now, his forthcoming new dramatic series, PERCEPTION, McCormack illustrates all aspects of his career and generously offers his insights, observations and shares his lessons learned over the course of his near-thirty-year career onstage and onscreen. In addition to all of that, McCormack outlines his experiences sharing the stage with titanic talents such as James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, Candice Bergin and the rest of the ensemble of THE BEST MAN, as well as sharing his thoughts about the relevance and poignancy of the play today, more than a half decade after its premiere, and what it says about our society, then and now, in addition to expanding on the play's pertinent political themes and their exploration in the classic drama. Plus, McCormack clues us in on his own favorite plays and musicals, initial theatrical inspiration, his stint portraying the eponymous THE MUSIC MAN, future career plans and first news about his new TNT series, PERCEPTION - all of that and much, much more!

The Ensemble Studio Theatre will honor two of its most distinguished members, the acclaimed actress Lois Smith and two-time Board chair G.H. 'Denny' Denniston, Jr with its 2012 Distinguished Member Award at a "Fun-Raiser" benefit celebration Monday evening, May 14, at 6:45pm at SIR Stage 37, 508 West 37th Street. Tickets are $350. Jill Jaffe is the event designer and producer and Jason Bruffy is director and producer. Additional ticket, table and ad packages are available. For information contact Benefit Coordinator Aubrie Fennecken at (212) 247-4982 x.106