Matthew Broderick News

Tony Award winner and recent Encores! 'Music In The Air' leading lady Kristin Chenoweth is set to perform a special benefit concert for L.A.'s Reprise Theatre Company on Monday, February 23 at the UCLA Freud Playhouse.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) in association with Sonia Friedman Productions and Ostar Productions announces the dates and theatre for the American premiere of playwright Patrick Marber's drama After Miss Julie, directed by Mark Brokaw. Making her Broadway debut, Sienna Miller will star as 'Miss Julie.'

BILL KRAKAUER will be singing popular songs from the 20's to the 2000's - famous or forgotten - written by women or sung by great women performers at THE CELL PERFORMANCE SALON for just two nights only. JONATHAN CERULLO directs, PAUL TRUEBLOOD is the accompanist and music director, and JERED EGAN performs on double bass. The production plays two nights only, Monday, February 16th and Monday, March 2nd at 8:00 pm. All Tickets are $25.00 (no minimum) and can be reserved by calling 212-724-7933. THE CELL is located at 338 West 23rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.

Tony Award winner and recent Encores! 'Music In The Air' leading lady Kristin Chenoweth is set to perform a special benefit concert for L.A.'s Reprise Theatre Company on Monday, February 23 at the UCLA Freud Playhouse.

Van Hill Entertainment is proud to announce that the Off-Broadway premiere of ROOMS a rock romance, starring Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger, will begin performances on Friday February 27th at New World Stages/Stage 2 (340 West 50th Street). Opening Night is set for Monday March 16th (7 PM). ROOMS a rock romance has music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman (Bright Lights Big City) and book by Goodman and Miriam Gordon, and will be directed by Scott Schwartz (Golda's Balcony, Bat Boy: The Musical, tick, tick... BOOM!, Jane Eyre).

Broadway's most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award?-winner in years is coming to the Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award? winning Broadway musical, will play a two-week engagement from February 10-22, 2009. Curtain times for the U.S. Bank Broadway Series presentation are Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 & 8 p.m.; Sunday, February 15 at 2 & 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, February 22 at 2 p.m. There is also a weekday matinee on Thursday, February 19 at 1 p.m.

BILL KRAKAUER will be singing popular songs from the 20's to the 2000's - famous or forgotten - written by women or sung by great women performers at THE CELL PERFORMANCE SALON for just two nights only. JONATHAN CERULLO directs, PAUL TRUEBLOOD is the accompanist and music director, and JERED EGAN performs on double bass. The production plays two nights only, Monday, February 16th and Monday, March 2nd at 8:00 pm. All Tickets are $25.00 (no minimum) and can be reserved by calling 212-724-7933. THE CELL is located at 338 West 23rd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is proud to announce the full cast for the upcoming New York premiere of Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw. Distracted will begin previews on Saturday, February 7th and open officially on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

Roundabout Theatre Company (Artistic Director, Todd Haimes) is proud to announce plans to establish a permanent archive, generously funded by a major grant from the Leon Levy Foundation. Roundabout's archive will permanently document the company's illustrious 43-year production history as well as provide a resource for the theatre community, Roundabout's audience and the general public.

Steven Weber, Jonathan Cake have joined Matthew Broderick in the Roundabout Theater Company revival of 'The Philanthropist.' Weber will play a friend of the leading character portrayed by Broderick in Christopher Hampton's 1970 take on 'The Misanthrope,' while Cake will play a writer. Anna Madeley is the female lead, reprising a role she played in the 2005 staging of the play at the Donmar Warehouse. Tate Ellington, Jennifer Mudge and Samantha Soule complete the rest of the casting. Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present Tony? Award winner Matthew Broderick as 'Philip' in a new Broadway production of The Philanthropist by Tony? and Academy Award winner Christopher Hampton, directed by David Grindley.

Directed and choreographed by Robert Longbottom, Bye Bye Birdie will begin performances in the fall of 2009. After 48 years, Bye Bye Birdie returns to Broadway in a new production at Roundabout Theatre Company. The good news of 'Birdie's' return has brought up the usual discussions of casting Conrad Birdie himself, Newsday reached out to the original Broadway 'Birdie', Dick Gautier, who was a 1961 Tony nominee for his hip-swiveling to see what his thoughts on the subject were.

Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words continues its sit-down, open-ended run at the Triad Theater, 158 West 72 Street, Monday, February 2, at 7:30pm, with a cast that includes Scott Adsit, Kristen Johnston, Carson Kressley, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Claudia Shear, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Urie, Kristen Wiig, Alan Zweibel

Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words continues its sit-down, open-ended run at the Triad Theater, 158 West 72 Street, Monday, February 2, at 7:30pm, with a cast that includes Scott Adsit, Kristen Johnston, Carson Kressley, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Claudia Shear, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Urie, Kristen Wiig, Alan Zweibel

'Awkward 10 Minutes With Mike' continues into February after each Wednesday evening's performance of Sleepwalk With Me starring Mike Birbiglia at The Bleecker Street Theater. February's lineup: February 4: Judy Gold ('Mommy Queerist,' '25 Questions for a Jewish Mother,' 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show) February 11: John Oliver ('The Daily Show with John Stewart,' 'The Love Guru') February 18: Michael Ian Black ('I Love the 80's,' 'Spy TV,' 'Ed') February 25: Matthew Broderick ('Ferris Bueller's Day Off,' The Producers)

Broadway's most talked about new musical and the biggest Tony Award-winner in years is coming to Cleveland. Spring Awakening, the 8-time Tony Award? winning Broadway musical, will open at PlayhouseSquare's PalaceTheatre and play for 16 performances, March 3-15. Spring Awakening is part of the KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare. Spring Awakening swept the 2007 Tony Awards? winning eight out of its eleven nominations, including Best Musical, Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Book (Steven Sater), Best Choreography (Bill T. Jones), Best Orchestrations (Duncan Sheik), Best Lighting Design (Kevin Adams), Best Featured Actor (John Gallagher Jr.).

On March 12, 2009 at 7:00 p.m., The Collegiate Chorale appears with The New York City Opera Orchestra at the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall in a performance of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's 1945 Broadway operetta The Firebrand of Florence. The performance, led by guest conductor Ted Sperling, stars baritone Nathan Gunn, soprano Anna Christy, baritone Terrence Mann, and soprano Victoria Clark. Krysty Swann, David Pittu and Patrick Goss complete the cast, and narration will be provided by Stage Director Roger Rees. Boasting a score by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and a book by playwright and screenwriter Edwin Justus Mayer, The Firebrand of Florence had a short run on Broadway in 1945. The work was subsequently not heard for over a half-century until three presentations - Ohio Light Opera (1999), the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London (2000) and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna (2000) - shed new light on the relatively obscure work. The performances were not only accepted, but widely acclaimed, thus giving hope for a new life in a new century. Variety's theater critic Steven Suskin says 'I have long believed that Firebrand in concert should be a dazzling delight.' Benvenuto Cellini, the great Florentine artist, is sentenced to hang, but he is pardoned when the duke realizes that he has not completed a previously commissioned sculpture. Freed, he is able to turn his attention to his favorite model (and object of his affections), Angela. The Duke also is interested in Angela. In a typical operetta plot, Cellini swashbuckles around the stage, keeping the Duke away from Angela, keeping himself away from the Duchess, and escaping yet another death sentence by fleeing to Paris, as the end of the show recapitulates the beginning.

Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words continues its sit-down, open-ended run at the Triad Theater, 158 West 72 Street, Monday, January 26, at 7:30pm, with a cast that includes Matthew Broderick, Jackie Hoffman, Eugene Pack, Dayle Reyfel, Sherri Shepherd, Michael Urie, and Alan Zweibel. The comedy sensation Celebrity Autobiography: In Their Own Words features a line-up of rotating performers who interpret the actual words and stories written by the famous and the infamous, in both solo and ensemble 'chamber' pieces. Some of the 'authors' that are featured include Ivana Trump, Vanna White, Mr. T, Star Jones, Kenny Loggins, Tommy Lee, Sylvester Stallone, 'N Sync, Zsa Zsa Gabor, David Cassidy, Neil Sedaka, Britney Spears, Madonna, Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson, as well as the infamous memoirs of Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds, which are edited together to create a Rashomon-esque playlet in the participants' own words.

Van Hill Entertainment is proud to announce that the Off-Broadway premiere of ROOMS a rock romance, starring Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger, will begin performances on Friday February 27th at New World Stages/Stage 2 (340 West 50th Street). Opening Night is set for Monday March 16th (7 PM). ROOMS a rock romance has music and lyrics by Paul Scott Goodman (Bright Lights Big City) and book by Goodman and Miriam Gordon, and will be directed by Scott Schwartz (Golda's Balcony, Bat Boy: The Musical, tick, tick... BOOM!, Jane Eyre).

The New York Times is reporting that The Roundabout Theater Company has announced two more productions for its 2009-10 season. Roundabout will offer the first Broadway production of 'Bye Bye Birdie' since its original production in 1960. There have been rumors for the last sevral years that the compnay would mount a revival and the rumblings were heating up for the past few weeks, Robert Longbottom ('Flower Drum Song') is the director and choreographer for the new production. Also reported was the news that the Roundabout will revive Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter,' with Victor Garber as the put-upon matinee idol Garry Essendine. Nicholas Martin, who directed the comedy for the Huntington Theater Company in 2007, which also starred Mr. Garber, will direct the new revival.

Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) presents the Broadway premiere of Richard Greenberg's THE AMERICAN PLAN which is directed by Tony nominee David Grindley (Journey's End). Lily Rabe and Mercedes Ruehl are joined by Benjamin Eakeley (Sweeney Todd), Austin Lysy (A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Delacorte), and Brenda Pressley (The First Breeze of Summer). The limited engagement of THE AMERICAN PLAN began previews Friday, January 2, 2009 and opened last night, Thursday, January 22, 2009 at MTC's Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). BroadwayWorld's cameras were there to capture the star-studded arrivals! The Broadway production of THE AMERICAN PLAN marks MTC's eighth collaboration with Richard Greenberg; a relationship that includes the original New York production of THE AMERICAN PLAN which premiered in 1990 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage II and then transferred to Stage I. Other MTC productions of Greenberg plays include: Eastern Standard, The Extra Man, Jenny Keeps Talking, Night and Her Stars, the Pulitzer Prize nominated Three Days of Rain, and The Violet Hour.