Michael Clark News

Broadway Entertainment Group in association with New Adventures are delighted to announce that one of the most popular dance productions ever staged, MATTHEW BOURNE'S multi award-winning hit 'SWAN LAKE', will extend its current UK tour internationally from September 2014. The show will visit the Tokyo Theatre Orb, Shanghai Cultural Square, Singapore Esplanade, the Regent Theatre, Melbourne and the Theatre Royal, Sydney. Further venues will be announced shortly.

The Fulfillment Fund is proud to announce the 7th Annual "The Songs of Our Lives" concert, which will pay special tribute to the songs of internationally acclaimed Songwriter's Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, songwriter Lamont Dozier and the legendary Songwriter's Hall of Famer, two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, singer-songwriter, David Crosby. "The Songs of Our Lives" is a benefit concert showcasing award-winning songwriters performing the hit songs they have written over the course of their career. The Songs of Our Lives provides a unique opportunity to experience these pieces as the songwriter envisioned them. The intimate setting of this event gives guests the chance to be up close and personal with these artists. Award-winning songwriter Charles Fox, a longtime Fulfillment Fund board member along with his wife Joan Fox, created "The Songs of Our Lives" as an opportunity to combine entertainment and philanthropy in a meaningful way to support the Fulfillment Fund's important work in the community. Songwriters who have participated in The Songs of Our Lives include Academy and Grammy Award winning songwriters such as Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Hal David, Mac Davis, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, David Foster, Steve Karmen, Jerry Leiber, Kenny Loggins, Barry Mann, Alan Rich, Mike Stoller, Cynthia Weil, Paul Williams, Bill Withers, and many others. Freda Payne as well as Scherrie Payne and Lynda Laurence (Formerly of The Supremes) have been added to the program as well.

Performing Arts Fort Worth presents the Fort Worth premiere of Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical JERSEY BOYS, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, at Bass Performance Hall on June 3-15. Tickets start at $38.50 and are on sale NOW!

Essex-born Michael Watson will be playing one of New Jersey's most famous inhabitants, Frankie Valli, in the Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical JERSEY BOYS at the Piccadilly Theatre from Tuesday 29 April.

The Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, announces a season of original and eclectic dance from around the world as part of the 2014-2015 season.

The multi-award winning performer, Aindrias de Staic, flew in especially for this one night performance.

The one-night only performance marks Aindrias' return to the Adelaide stage since enthralling audiences and critics alike at the Adelaide Fringe in 2010

Writer, actor and activist Timothy Conigrave's best-selling memoir (winner of the United Nations Human Rights Award for Non-Fiction and listed as one of the '100 Favorite Australian Books' by the Australian Society of Authors) is one of Australia's great love stories. The stage version by Tommy Murphy captures all its special magic. Producers Nick Hardcastle and Nate Jones launch their newly formed Australian Theatre Company with the Los Angeles premiere of Holding the Man, featuring an all-Australian cast and directed by veteran Hollywood acting coach Larry Moss. Opening night is May 10 at the Matrix Theatre.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes back JERSEY BOYS, the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical about Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, playing in Orange County from June 24 - July 13, 2014. Single tickets, which start at $29.75, will go on sale Sunday, April 13 at 10 a.m. PST. Tickets will be available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, July 5 will include audio description, open captioning and sign-language interpretation.

Chicago-Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces a forthcoming artistic exchange with Ireland through the co-production of Chapatti, a new work developed through Northlight's Interplay program. The co-production of Chapatti will premiere at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, today, March 7-April 13, 2014, and will open at the Galway Arts Festival in July 2014. Chapatti, by acclaimed Irish playwright Christian O' Reilly, will be directed by Artistic Director BJ Jones and will feature John Mahoney and Penny Slusher.

I don't think there's any "jukebox musical" that's as entertaining and interesting as JERSEY BOYS, and there are a lot of musicals out there that rely on classic rock, pop, country and blues for their score. What sets JERSEY BOYS apart from the rest is the fact that it actually has a story to tell (book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice), and it integrates these timeless tunes seamlessly (music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe, although a plethora of other songwriters contribute as well) by examining how they were created and recorded. The current touring production playing the Fabulous Fox Theatre is a nostalgic blast that's sharply performed and staged.

The Nominating Committee of the Independent Reviewers of New England has just announced nominees for the 2014 IRNE Awards. The Independent Reviewers of New England (IRNE) Awards, founded by Beverly Creasey of the Journal Newspapers and Larry Stark of TheaterMirror in 1997, recognize the extraordinary wealth of talent in the Boston theatre community.

JERSEY BOYS celebrates its 2,500th performance in London tomorrow, Thursday 20 February 2014, at the Prince Edward Theatre, where it opened in 2008. Its last performance there will be on Sunday 9 March, and then it moves to the Piccadilly Theatre, opening there on Saturday 15 March. The show will celebrate its 6th Birthday in London on 18 March. The musical has now been seen by over 19 million people worldwide and is firmly established as one of the West End's longest running and most popular shows. The show will also be touring the United Kingdom for the first time from September 2014.

When GHOST: THE MUSICAL opened on Broadway it was met by a bevy of critical slams and was plagued by technical issues that would stall the production. Now, the troubled movie turned musical turned theme-park ride is limping, zombie-like, across the nation in a Non-Equity National Tour. Luckily, the production is employing a handful of theatre professionals. In many ways, that is this overblown clunker of a show's only saving grace.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH, prolific British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's opus #75, is a dark comedy satire and a cautionary tale which serves as a chilling reminder of recent events in our own country. Director David J. Miller's cast of four men and four women form a cohesive ensemble and find the humor in their quirky characters.

Bristol Old Vic & Handspring Puppet Company's A Midsummer Night's Dream will run at the Barbican Theatre, Barbican Centre, London, EC2Y 8DS, tonight 6 - Saturday 15 February 2014. Press night: Monday 10 February, 7.45pm.

Chicago-Northlight Theatre, under the direction of Artistic Director BJ Jones and Executive Director Timothy J. Evans, announces a forthcoming artistic exchange with Ireland through the co-production of Chapatti, a new work developed through Northlight's Interplay program. The co-production of Chapatti will premiere at Northlight Theatre, 9501 Skokie Blvd in Skokie, March 7-April 13, 2014, and will open at the Galway Arts Festival in July 2014. Chapatti, by acclaimed Irish playwright Christian O' Reilly, will be directed by Artistic Director BJ Jones and will feature John Mahoney and Penny Slusher.

The Tony, Olivier and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical JERSEY BOYS, which has been delighting audiences in London for six years, will be touring the United Kingdom for the first time from September 2014, whilst the production also continues in London at its new home of the Piccadilly Theatre from March 2014.

Following a critically acclaimed reading at 2013's Pride Performing Arts Festival, Second Thought Theatre Associate Artist Alex Organ will direct the first play in STT's 10th anniversary season, Cock, by Mike Bartlett. Cock, a wildly comic exploration of identity and sexuality, will begin with previews today, January 29 and will run through February 22 at Bryant Hall on the Kalita Humphreys Campus.

Tickets will go on sale today, January 17 at 11 a.m. for the return engagement of the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning hit musical Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, playing at PlayhouseSquare's State Theatre May 6-18, 2014. Jersey Boys is part of the KeyBank Broadway Series at PlayhouseSquare.