Matt Farcher News

The 2017 awards honor productions which opened between October 1, 2016 and September 30, 2017. Nominations were completely reader-submitted and after the nomination period ended October 31, BroadwayWorld's local editors proofed the list for eligibility and errors.

The Broadway at Birdland concert series welcomed songwriter Scott Alan 'Home Again,' with a very special concert on Monday, October 2nd. BroadwayWorld has photos from the evening below!

The Fulton Theatre takes great pride in announcing our 2nd annual Robert Fulton Awards. Affectionately known as the Robbies, the awards showcase and honor the great talent that has performed on our stage during the 2016 / 2017 Season. Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you for being part of the magic!

Today is Saturday, and that means it's time for what has become one of the theatre community's most beloved traditions- BroadwayWorld's 'Saturday Intermission Pics' roundup! This week BANDSTAND is 'Quillon It' and SWEENEY TODD is saying 'Happy trails' to a few cast members! Check out more Saturday Intermission Pics below!

In a season that continues to top itself, one show after the other, Maine State Music Theatre's fourth and final main stage production of Disney's Newsies is an epic accomplishment for the company and one that firmly establishes it as one of the finest regional theatres in the country. As one of only three companies to get the regional rights to this mega Broadway hit, MSMT has mounted a thrilling, large scale production that is an electrifying, heart wrenching, and profoundly uplifting theatrical experience that will leave you in what Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark has called a state of “ecstatic exhaustion.”

Maine State Music Theatre closes out its 2017 season with the New England Regional Premier of the all-singing, all-dancing, high-energy show, Disney's Newsies. Featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken, Newsies runs from August 9 - 26. A matinee performance has been added on August 19 at 2 PM.

“She a woman standing up in a man's world, and she won't take no for an answer,” Kate Farhner says admiringly of her current role in Maine State Music Theatre's new production of Disney's Newsies. “Katherine is one of the principal storytellers in the show, and [as a writer], she is unique because she is a woman modeling herself after a man.” The actress who created a sensation last season as Eva Peron returns to the Pickard Theater to work once again with director/choreographer Marc Robin and her Evita co-star Matt Farcher. Farhner recounts how she came to be cast as the young journalist, Katherine Plumber, who becomes involved with strike leader, Jack Kelly, and helps the newsboys win their objectives. “I had gone in to audition for Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls, and Marc Robin asked me if I knew Katherine's song “Watch What Happens.” I didn't, but I prepared it and sang it for them at the callback. When Matt walked in, I knew this was going to be a dream to play this part. We didn't get to interact much in Evita, but we do as Katherine and Jack, and there is a little more of ourselves in these roles.”

'It has been a very cool year for me!' Matt Farcher exclaims, as he reminisces about the last twelve months since he made his Maine State Music Theatre debut as Che Guevara in Evita last summer. The actor, who will star as Jack Kelly in the upcoming production of Disney's Newsies that begins performances at Brunswick's Pickard Theater August 9, has had a very busy and artistically stimulating year - 'working back to back shows for most of the time' - appearing as the Beast in Beauty and the Beast and in his role debut as Jack Kelly at the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, PA.

Maine State Music Theatre closes out its 2017 season with the New England Regional Premier of the all-singing, all-dancing, high-energy show, Disney's Newsies. Featuring a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken, Newsies runs from August 9 - 26. A matinee performance has been added on August 19 at 2 PM.

BroadwayWorld presents a comprehensive weekly roundup of regional stories around our Broadway World, which include videos, editor spotlights, regional reviews and more. This week, we feature THE LITTLE MERMAID, RAGTIME, NEWSIES, and more!

The Disney classic soars on the Fulton stage with fabulous choreography by director Marc Robin

The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre will present the Pennsylvania Premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical Disney's Newsies, June 6 through July 23. The inspirational Disney's Newsies, based on the real-life Newsboys strike of 1899 and the 1992 film, was the toast of Broadway for more than two years.

Pennsylvania's theatre gem, The Fulton, is currently presenting the Pennsylvania Premiere of the Tony® Award-winning musical, Disney's NEWSIES, June 6 through July 23, 2017.

The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre will present the Pennsylvania Premiere of the Tony Award-winning musical Disney's Newsies, June 6 through July 23. The inspirational Disney's Newsies, based on the real-life Newsboys strike of 1899 and the 1992 film, was the toast of Broadway for more than two years.

Fulton Theatre's current production, DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, due to popular demand, is being held over until January 7, 2017. The storyline is one that reminds each of us to value, above all else, one's inner strength and beauty. Through exquisite swirls of colorful costumes and melodic trills of voice, this production is a feast for the soul and enlightenment for the spirit.

The nationally regarded Fulton Theatre is thrilled to announce the extension of Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Having had the privilege to serve as Broadway World's Maine Editor for more than three years now, I can say with pride that the state, though remote as it may seem from the epicenter of the theatre world, Broadway, is blessed to be home to so many thriving theatre companies who produce exciting, vibrant seasons. As I compiled my list for 2016 with many familiar names, I was also struck by the extraordinary consistency of excellence these companies maintain. Here are my personal choices of the best in Maine, grouped by theatre and show.

It's not just big, it's huge. It's colorful. It's amazingly costumed. Marc Robin brings the wonderful world of Disney into high relief at the Fulton in his BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

History- actual 20th century events and the theatre's own story and legacy - became the joint focus of Maine State Music Theatre's second Peek Behind the Curtain talkback, held on July 7 at the Curtis Memorial Library. The panel examined the characters and forces that formed the basis for MSMT"s thrilling production of Evita, now playing at the Pickard until July 16, and also took several excursions into MSMT's history, which forms the basis of a new retrospective exhibition, MSMT Past, Present, and Future, which serendipitously celebrated a gala opening that same date. Moderated by Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, the panel featured the three stars of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, Kate Fahrner, Matt Farcher, and Nat Chandler, as well as the Artistic Directors of two of the areas leading theatres, MSMT's own Curt Dale Clark and the Good Theater's Brian P. Allen.

Twenty-five years after it was last presented at the Pickard Theater, Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice's masterpiece has returned in triumph to Maine State Music Theatre in a stunning new production directed and choreographed by Marc Robin. Boasting the largest cast in the company's history (46), this Evita is gripping and epic, at the same time that it is touchingly intimate and magnificently detailed. The size of the endeavor is both literal and figurative, for MSMT's Evita succeeds not only in its grand sweep, but also in the magnitude of its intangible assets - unsparing honesty, intensity, and emotional depth.